Mizu and Rubi were more than excited to be in the briefing room with other junior officers, with the senior staff. While their own mentors were literally the Captain and First Officer of the ship, to be here amongst their heroes, was quite the giddy feeling. Unfortunately, Rubi has not seen Captain Maxwell or Commander Graves and wondered why. It has been almost an hour and neither of those two were here.

That is because Maxwell was in his ready room, where the holographic display was playing a time lapse of where a large crystal spike impaled and pierced through the starboard side of the saucer section. The diameter of the spike that lodged itself into the saucer placed it essentially below the long phaser array, above one of the rows of escape pods, and pretty much in between the two rows of escape pods that followed along the phaser array. That was how it looked from a dorsal view; the ventral view was slightly wider in diameter. The only loss was crew quarters, and on top of the survivors of a romulan republic bird that they had taken, they had to shuffle cargo around to make room in the cargo bays for lots of bunks.

“No matter how many times you replay it, you’ll never find any solution where Tagg could have avoided it.” Said Graves. And he was right. The shard moved at incredible speed, like it was faster than full impulse speeds, and it had also acted as if it was guided, that even a slight shift on the z-axis to try and avoid being impaled was fruitless when the shard simply followed the ship. And it knew exactly where it wanted to go, because as soon as it was lodged into the ship, crystalline-like creatures came out of it. Luckily they were able to bring back the hazard team and most of the romulan crew to fight the creatures off. Once it was safe, they quickly got the rest of the crew back on board, and left orbit when the rest returned on the small crafts. Now their bays were full, with some extra romulan crafts parked on deck.

“I know. It just pains me that we had to leave part of it in.” Said Maxwell. They shaved most of it off but could not pull the rest out, in fear the structural integrity would be compromised. Essentially, pull it out and they could hemorrhage and that was something they did not want to risk. But the areas were sealed off with forcefields. Not much more they can do until they return to a fleet yard. Unfortunately, this has limited them to only warp six and took them a couple months or so to reach the nearest comms relay. And when they did, they got a bunch of messages from DS Nine and Fourth Fleet Command. Ever since Maxwell found out what was going on, he had been in his ready room, on edge, for several days, while the ship was rerouted to the nearest underspace aperture. They were going to Chin’toka and they were going to hit the enemy hard.

Maxwell’s thoughts were interrupted when the door hissed open and closed, with a new individual in the room. “Jadek. Thank you for coming. I’m sorry about your team.”

“Nonsense, Captain. If it wasn’t for your hazard team, I would have been dead like the rest of them. You said you wanted to speak to me?” Jadek asked.

Maxwell walked around from his side of the desk and leaned back against it while he took place in between Graves and Jadek. “Soon as we reach the underspace aperture, we plan on launching all of our small crafts again. We would like yours to join ours.”

Graves chipped in, “Command intelligence has stated that there are outposts inside the underspace that are responsible for this subspace interference field. The Sovereign will enter the Chin’toka system and hit the invasion fleet with every weapon we have at our disposal. We need all crafts to engage and destroy the outpost.”

“Command is working with Central Command of the Cardassian Union in creating some sort of device to keep the Vaadwaur from using their underspace to enter both Alpha and Beta quadrants.” Maxwell paused for a minute. “That being said, Central Command has been kind enough to let us know that there is a small fleet of Keldon Class ships a system away from Chin’toka, but they are under the control of the Obsidian Order, who are awaiting orders from one officer in Chin’toka. That officer happens to be assigned to Rentak Nor.”

Jadek nodded his head in understanding of the situation. “I will find some pilots who will take up this mission.”

“Find them quickly and send them to the briefing room,” said Graves, who watched Jadek leave the ready room to do just that. Graves then looked to Maxwell, “Are you coming?”

Maxwell took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily before he pushed himself off of his desk. “The Sovereign has been out of the fight for too long. I will not let the Sovereign miss out on another crisis.” He said as he walked past Graves and headed for the briefing room.

Back at the briefing room; Mizu and Rubi looked towards one of the doors that had opened and watched as several Romulan officers filed in. It was about to get a little more crowded. Then they noticed a Romulan figure who just looked like he had more authority who was the last to come in behind the other Romulans. Then Commander Graves and Captain Maxwell were the last two. Mizu and Rubi looked at each other with a slight smile before they looked back at Graves and Maxwell, who stood at the head of the table with the authority looking Romulan.

Maxwell put his hands on the top of his seat as he stood behind it. “For those who do not know yet, this man here is Sub Commander Jadek. He is currently the commanding officer of his people on board this ship, and the man who will be leading this mission.” Maxwell then went on to explain in detail the situation, the Vaadwaur Invasion, their new course to an underspace aperture and what all the junior officers will be doing.

“We believe with the combined force of the entire ship’s complement of shuttles and runabouts, along with half a dozen of the Romulan shuttles, you can destroy the outpost. While I have full confidence in the Sovereign’s fighting capability, Command has given us what details they have on the larger Vaadwaur vessels. Their artillery guns are very powerful and will knock out our shields in a matter of three, maybe four shots. So once our shields are gone, we will be forced to retreat. With that being said, once you are successful in destroying the outpost, do not come to Chin’toka! Any one of you decide to disobey that order and try to be a hero, if you don’t die, I will have your ass court martialed. Is that understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” All the junior starfleet officers said in unison, Mizu and Rubi included. Though they looked at each other again when they noticed that Maxwell’s voice and tone made it sound like he was a little high strung.

“Then get to your crafts and prep them. Soon as we arrive at the underspace aperture, we will begin launch procedures. Dismissed.” Maxwell then left the room as soon as he was finished.

Mizu and Rubi got up quickly and after they snaked through a bunch of people, they caught up to Commander Graves who was talking to Jadek. “Sir,” Mizu spoke up first.

“Lieutenants,” said Graves before he gave Jadek a nod, who then turned and went to talk with his own pilots. “I am certain that you wanted to speak to your mentor, Lieutenant Mizu but right now, he is in a terrible mood and needs to be left alone for right now.”

“What’s wrong with the Captain?” Rubi asked.

Graves sighed. “I’m sure you already know this but in case you somehow forgot, Lieutenant. This is his home. It has been his home since he was assigned here after the academy. But most importantly, he is very patriotic to the Federation. So while his home has a broken blade in its chest, learning that the Federation is at risk because of some old empire has a grudge against us.” Graves shook his head. “Maxwell is very annoyed with the course of events. Being thrown here into the Gamma Quadrant, just months away from the wormhole at our current speeds, then finding out that we’ve missed the majority of the fight… Basically, the man is beating himself up, despite the fact that none of it is his fault.”

“I never knew anyone could be so passionate like him,” said Mizu.

Graves chuckled. “I love Starfleet. But not all at once. When I first joined the academy, it was mainly because I wanted something to do with my life. I was young, naive, and had no ambition. But as the years went, I grew more and more ambitious, and then I began to love my job and love being part of what we do. Maxwell, he comes from a family that only knows and loves Starfleet and the Federation. He lives, breathes and eats for it. And this ship? He knows it like the back of his hand. He loves how versatile it is, how quickly it can be a symbol of peace and an instrument of war. But he also sees it as one of Starfleet’s masterpieces. But this ship also had a sour moment in its history, a moment that Maxwell has not been able to let go, which again, was not his fault.”

“What happens if someone tries to take his command away?” Rubi asked.

Graves laughed and shook his head. “He has turned down promotion to Fleet Captain a couple of times already, in that fear that he would not be in command of this ship anymore. I think the only thing that could remove him from this ship, is either an Admiral who doesn’t give Maxwell a choice, or if he died while on duty. That man will not give up this ship so easily, and he absolutely hates it when his ship is not where it is supposed to be. And that is doing its job when a quadrant or the entire galaxy is in crisis. Whether it be flooding the corridors with refugees or giving the enemy a bloody nose.”

Mizu smirked. “I bet there are plenty of others who are doing that. I mean, giving the Vaadwaur a bloody nose.”

Graves nodded his head. “No, but missing out on it is definitely not Maxwell’s style.” Graves then looked toward the windows to see just in time that the ship dropped out of warp. He then looked back at them before he raised his voice to the whole room. “Get to your crafts, everyone. We’re going to begin launch procedures in just a few minutes.”

—

MD-2: 30 mins past Midnight

“We can’t keep this up,” said Reade. “Both our ships have sustained too much damage to continue this fight. No shields, weapons barely operational. We got injured being treated in sickbay, and we’ve lost people.” Reade shifted her eyes from Ford to Gul Terek and Kamek. “They continue to remain in orbit of Chin’toka Three, blockading both of your planets, with no way to reinforce your people against the Vaadwaur troops.” The four of them stood around the central display console. “That battleship of theirs is just too powerful, even if they only have sixteen destroyers left. We did eliminate the fighters, but what’s the point if our ships cannot sustain another hit?”

“We cannot lose those planets to them. We need to find a way-” Gul Terek was interrupted by one of his officers, who had a shocking tone in their voice.

“The phenomenon! It’s gone! Sensors can reach outside of the system and…we are linked back up with Central Command!” Said one of the officers.

“Another underspace aperture opened up but it’s close to Chin’toka Three,” said another.

“Vaadwaur reinforcements?” Kamek asked before Terek could.

Ford pressed a few buttons to bring up where the aperture was and stared at it when one blip came out of it. That blip was soon replaced with a Starfleet Insignia when the sensors picked up its IFF. A huge smile grew on Ford’s face when he read the name. “No. It’s much worse. Worse for the Vaadwaur, that is.”

—

Maxwell knew it was about to get loud on the bridge, but after they spent most of the day inside the underspace preparing for this moment. His people were tired, hell he was tired, but they were focused on the mission. That he was sure of.

“Tactical situation!” Maxwell ordered as he pushed himself out of his seat and stood dead center of his bridge.

Graves pulled up the ship’s main sensors. “Sixteen destroyers and one battleship in orbit of Chin’toka’s colony worlds.”

“Speed.” Maxwell requested.

“We are moving under two-third impulse power toward the blockade,” said Tagg. “We will be in weapons range in thirty seconds!”

“Once we reach phaser range, reduce speed for maneuverability, Mr. Tagg. Avoid fire from that battleship as much as possible.”

“Yes, sir!” Tagg responded.

“Torpedoes?” Maxwell requested.

“Ten seconds to fire!” Said Bates.

“Pick your targets and empty those magazines, Bates!” Maxwell ordered.

Bates selected three Vaadwaur destroyers among the group that were closer and looked as though their shields had been weakened from a fight from before. Then he selected all forward torpedo launchers, selected all torpedoes in the tubes or in their staging chambers. Then the second the button to fire lit up due to the ship having reached optimal range, he pressed it. On the view screen, they could see twelve photons and five quantums zipping across space to reach their targets, only seconds later the bridge staff got to see three Vaaudwaur ships light up in plumes of plasma fire. “Direct hits! Thirty seconds for all tubes to be reloaded!”

“Tagg, rotate thirty degrees to port on the z-axis, show them our underside.” Maxwell ordered. It was time to get a little technical but they practiced this. “Underbelly ventral, overload, full spectrum! Run it like a knife across their belly!”

Bates selected the phaser array under the engineering section, bypassed safeties to increase power to a hundred and twenty five percent. He selected the closest destroyer, picked where the beam was to start and swiped to the end before he pressed the button to fire. The phaser whined to life before it screamed at the destroyer and the beam first smacked against the shields but as it ran across the entirety of the ship, that facing shield soon failed and the beam was melting through its hull. As the Sovereign pulled away from the destroyer and the beam disengaged, it soon erupted into a plume of plasma fire like the three before.

“Sixty seconds for that array to cool and recharge,” Bates reported. It was expected and an unfortunate length of time to use that array again but Maxwell was not going to go easy on them. So if it meant sacrificing a few phaser arrays to reduce their forces, then so be it.

Maxwell saw two destroyers that they were about to go over. “Ventral one and two! Repeat!”

Bates did the exact same thing he did before and both arrays whined up before they screamed at the enemy, one array per destroyer until both of them were torn apart.

—

The Ops was full of cheers and shouting as they were nothing more than an audience that watched the Sovereign take out not three, but six enemy vessels in a single pass before the blip pulled away from the blockade, clearly on a hit and run maneuver. The display showed them that many more torpedoes from the Sovereign came from the aft launchers, had zipped towards two more destroyers and took them out.

“Oh man, the Sovereign is tearing them up!” Ford shouted followed by a laugh. He had never been more excited and thrilled to see another ship come to their rescue like the Sovereign just did. Granted, it was just one ship, but the ship had taken only small bits of damage to their shields from the Vaadwaur destroyers. It was difficult for Ford not to get excited. But then Ford saw Reade lean in closer.

“The battleship, it’s turning to engage the Sovereign! Its artillery guns are going to rip her apart!”

—

“Divert power to the maneuvering thrusters!” Graves ordered as they just took a single hit from one of the battleship’s artillery guns and had thrown just about everyone out of their seats.

“Shields down to forty percent!” Bates reported after he pulled himself back to his station, this time with a more firm grip onto the edges of his console. “With the weapons fired at us from the destroyers, we can only withstand one more hit of that attack from the battleship, Captain!”

“Forget the destroyers! We need to take out the battleship’s shields before we retreat! Tagg, full ninety degree rotation on the z-axis, bring our dorsal phasers to bear on the battleship!” Maxwell ordered.

“Consider it done, Captain!” Tagg replied.

“Bates! Use dorsal one on overload to weaken the shields as much as possible! Then have the remaining dorsal saucer phasers at seventy-five percent, rapid fire! But as soon as you can locate their shield generator, have the two aft dorsal phasers fire at full power, pinpoint strike!” Maxwell ordered.

Bates selected the main, the largest or longest one of them all, phaser array. He bypassed safeties, raised power to one twenty-five percent like before and ran the beam from stern to bow. At the same time, he selected the six remaining arrays on the dorsal side of the saucer, reduced power to seventy-five and had them fire gradually to maintain the assault on the enemy shields. But as soon as those shields went down, he quickly scanned to locate the shield generator and once he had it, he had both arrays at the tail end of their ship dig for it.

“Got it!” Bates shouted before he, and other bridge crew were thrown to the deck again. Bates quickly got back up as best as he could. “Shields are gone, Captain! Our ablative armor is taking damage!”

“Set course for the station, full impulse!” Maxwell ordered.

—

“Eight destroyers remain, including that battleship,” said Kamek.

“Impressive,” said Gul Terek. “But it looks like they are done with the fight.” He watched as the Sovereign rapidly approached his station.

“Request from the Captain of the Sovereign. He wishes to beam directly to Ops.” Reported one of the officers. Gul Terek gave the nod and in seconds, Maxwell stepped off the transporter pad and took his place between Commander Reade and Ford.

“Your ship did a valiant effort, Captain. I am only saddened that you could not finish off that battleship,” said Gul Terek.

Maxwell stared at Terek before he looked at Kamek and then his stare turned into a glare. “You.” Maxwell growled as he pointed a finger at Kamek. “You need to give the order, right now.”

“I do not know what you are talking about, Captain.”

In Maxwell’s other hand was a data padd, which he raised up for everyone to see before he continued. “There is a small fleet of Keldon class ships literally one system away from us that can eliminate the rest of the Vaadwaur ships. Including the battleship, which currently has no shields.”

“That is absurd, Captain. There is no-” Kamek was interrupted when Maxwell grabbed him by the collar and slammed him down on top of the display table. Several Cardassians had pulled out their weapons and trained them on Maxwell. But Maxwell was too focused on one thing.

“You listen to me you stupid moron! I do not have time for games! We do not have time for twenty questions or this Obsidian Order lying bullshit!” Maxwell grabbed the side of Kamek’s face and pushed the other side towards the screens. “I will not sacrifice the lives of my crew, or any other Starfleet, for your complete arrogance!” Maxwell felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Sir, if you please.” Ford hoped to calm Maxwell into letting Kamek go.

“You should listen to your fello-” Kamek was interrupted when Maxwell grabbed Kamek’s collar and pulled him off to the side of the table, just to let go and watch the Cardassian fall to the floor. Maxwell then took the data padd and handed it over to Gul Terek.

“On that padd contains very important details. Fourth Fleet Command is working with your Central Command in closing these underspace apertures in Alpha and Beta quadrants, forever. The Vaadwaur will not be able to just casually invade our space with their technology. They would have to do it the old fashioned way, if they have the motivation and desire to do so afterwards.” Maxwell took a deep breath. “Furthermore, on that padd, contains a message directly from Central Command stating that there are at least half a dozen, or more, Keldon class warships in an adjacent system from here. Those ships are more than capable of eliminating the Vaadwaur blockade, and provide reinforcements to your people on the ground to fight off the Vaadwaur troops.”

Gul Terek spent a moment reading, while Kamek slowly pulled himself off the deck with a harsh glare at Maxwell. “You cannot believe what he is saying, Terek. Whatever is on that padd is fabricated-” Terek interrupted Kamek when he gave Kamek one hard look. Terek then handed the padd over to Kamek.

“The information about this Keldon fleet has Central Command’s insignia. That, Kamek, cannot be fabricated.” Terek told him.

Maxwell spoke up before he could let the snake continue to try to deny the existence of such a fleet. “Gul Terek. You’re an experienced tactician and stratagem kind of man.”

Terek looked at Maxwell with a slight surprise look on his face. “You’ve studied me, Captain. I’m flattered.”

Maxwell took a deep breath, his nerves more calm than they were before, as he let a smirk cross his face. “I take the time to study my adversaries, Gul. Point being, what happens if your people can’t stop the invading Vaadwaur troops on your worlds?”

Terek sighed. “They will come for this station, and I won’t let them have it.”

Maxwell threw his arms up with a shrug. “It does not matter whether they get the station or destroy it. What matters is that they will have a foothold in the quadrant. If Command is successful in stopping the Vaadwaur from waltzing into our quadrants, where do you think their remaining forces will go?”

“If they succeed in capturing this system, or any other system, the remaining of their forces would rendezvous to those systems.” Terek said.

“On that padd, includes a report from Captain Janeway when she first dealt with the Vaadwaur. They get control of your worlds here, they will dig in, quite literally.” Maxwell told him, just to see Terek take the padd back from Kamek and skim over said report on the padd.

Terek then looked up at Maxwell when he read the line about subterrain tunnels and cryopods. “They would be incredibly difficult to remove from this system.”

“Point being, even if we amassed a fleet of ships from every major faction, the loss of life on both sides would be enormous.” Maxwell explained and then he looked at Kamek. “Unless we stop them, right here, right now.”

Kamek looked at Terek, then Maxwell then back at Terek. “Terek.”

“Lower your weapons,” Terek ordered when he realized that his officers were still aiming their rifles and pistols at Maxwell for his aggression towards Kamek. Then he looked at Kamek. “Give the order.”

Kamek shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t have that author-”

“Enough!” Maxwell shouted, as he felt his temper rise again. He was so done with this man. “Central Command made it clear that those ships are awaiting orders from one person, who is of the Obsidian Order, on this station! That is obviously you, and I swear to god if you-” Maxwell was interrupted when Terek pulled out his own pistol and trained its emitter to Kamek’s head.

“You will give the order or I will give it under your name.” Terek demanded.

“They will not believe you.” Said Kamek.

Terek flipped the switch on his pistol, where everyone could hear it begin to whine as it powered up, ready to fire. “Our brothers and sisters are dying on our worlds. Give the order, or I will and I do have my ways, Kamek.”

There was a pause in the room for what seemed like an eternity before Kamek finally went to the console on the side of the table and made several taps. “They will be here shortly. You must understand, Terek. There are policies and procedures that I had to follow. By doing this, I have broken several.”

Terek powered down his pistol and slid it back into its holster. “Guards. Take him to his quarters and keep him there until this is all over.” Terek watched as Kamek looked at him with a plea in his eyes. “If you wish to remain my friend, Kamek, then I suggest you go with the guards and remain in your quarters without question. But I want you off my station.”

“My report to Command will reflect this, Terek.” Said Kamek.

“And so will mine. We shall see who will be judged for their actions.” Terek gave a nod and the guards escorted Kamek out of Ops. Once he was gone, Terek looked to Maxwell. “I must apologize, Captain.”

Maxwell shook his head. “You are not the one who should be apologizing, Terek. Either case, it is done. Your system should be secured in a matter of moments. When those Keldon ships get here, I suggest you have them focus on the battleship before they find a way to restore shields. The sooner that ship is gone, the better the odds they will have against the destroyers.”

Terek nodded his head. “Consider it done, Captain. And Captain, thank you. But were you really considering leaving us to our fate if Kamek had not made the order?”

Maxwell stared blankly at Terek. “As I had said earlier. I will not risk the lives of my crew, or any Starfleet, in the attempt to defend your system. We did our part, both Decker and Echelon are in no condition to resume the fight and the Sovereign, while she has a wound from before, took enough damage from the enemy. The fact that Echelon and Decker stayed and helped defend your system for as long as they did against a force of that size is luck in itself. I for one did not expect to win the fight alone with my ship, but we did what we could so those Keldon ships could have better odds at winning this fight.”

Terek was not sure how to absorb that information but he did understand. “Then I will make sure that Central Command knows of your deeds here. All of you. When we sent out that distress call, we were not certain if anyone would come to our rescue. We will make sure that people know that three Starfleet vessels tipped the balance into our favor.”

Maxwell made a slight grimace face, “Ehh…you could say that, just don’t forget the dramatic flare that my ship made.” Then a smirk followed after the joke.

Terek smiled. “Of course, Captain.”

“We will remain to ensure that the Vaadwaur are removed from your system, but once that is done, we will depart right away.” Maxwell told him before he tapped his badge. “Let’s go, everyone.” With that, Reade, Ford and Maxwell were whisked away via the blue sparkly effect of the transporter beam.

—

The remainder of the Vaadwaur invasion fleet was destroyed by the Keldon vessels, and it took most of the day for the Cardassians to eliminate or capture Vaadwaur troops. Sovereign, Decker, and Echelon remained in the system around Rentak Nor, conducting what repairs they could make to each other, before they departed the system in full confidence that the system was secure. The Sovereign, however, was beginning to experience issues with their warp drive and decided to consider the slipstream option to get to a fleet yard for repairs. Although…they have no idea what that piece of crystal in the saucer will do if they use this option…