“Ring of Fire, part I”
Stardate 74447.2;
June 13, 2397
Episode 60
Written by Chris Adamek
Prologue
Ambassador Kaid was tired.
It was not the sort of fatigue one
experienced after a long day’s work; this fatigue was of a completely different
origin. It lingered for days at a time,
draining Kaid of his energy, and bringing morbid images of death and
destruction to mind. Normally, he
enjoyed such gory thoughts, but now these mental images were only a reminder of
his own life.
Kaid’s past was a dark one. He had personally exterminated seventeen
unique civilizations. Of course, he had
no qualms about it—those species posed a grave threat to the Velora’s genetic
purity and needed to be wiped from the face of the universe—and if given the
opportunity to relive those events, Kaid knew he would not do anything
differently. It was his job to ensure a
future for the Velora Aggregate. And to
his chagrin, it was the future of the Aggregate that brought Kaid to his
current situation…
“… and the target is heading 1-6-1 mark 3.”
Sor Tovar had spoken. That usually indicated that something of
consequence was about to happen—or that Kaid’s mind had wandered a bit too far,
and his executive officer was politely bringing him back into the fold. Either way, Kaid knew it was time to bring
his mind from the dregs of the universe.
The viewscreen depicted a relatively dense
asteroid field. The Adaris had
entered the region several hours ago after tracking their target to a
particularly large, craggy asteroid near the center of the field—but as he stared
at the screen, Kaid saw neither the asteroid nor the ship. “Where is the vessel?” he asked a moment
later.
Tovar hastily moved to the large, triangular
workstation behind Kaid’s chair and keyed a sequence of commands into the
computer. Seconds later, the image on
the viewscreen changed to depict another similar view of the asteroid field—but
with one major difference: a hellish, squid-like vessel hung in space just
beyond the nearest asteroid, its forward section aglow with a fiery orange
energy.
“It is waiting for us,” Tovar noted,
carefully watching the ship. “If we
attack now, we may be destroyed.”
Despite his sudden tendency to nap on the
bridge, Kaid was well aware of the dangers involved with the vessel. “We must attack it now,” he said sternly. “If the vessel flees, we may never catch it
again.”
There was no argument from Tovar. He immediately turned his eyes upon Vakal,
the tactical officer situated at the aft workstation. “Arm all conventional weapons and prepare to fire. Helm, take us into weapons range.”
“Vakal,” said Kaid suddenly, “transfer some
additional power to the forward shields.
I don’t want a repeat of last time.”
They were still repairing the damage sustained during the last
attack, and Kaid didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.
“Aye sir,” said Vakal. His deft fingers flew over the control
interface, and moments later, he announced, “Shields and weapons are ready.”
Kaid’s heart rate kicked up a few notches at
the prospect of battle, but given his recent bout of malaise, his body failed
to produce the adrenalin rush that had driven him to victory so many times
before. “How long until we enter
weapons range?”
“Thirty seconds,” said the helmsman.
“We are already in range of the alien
bioship’s weapons,” added Tovar, “however, its systems are still charging.”
At this point in their previous engagement
with the alien vessel, it had already taken out a large portion of deck
nine. “We must be wearing it down,”
mused Kaid. “Perhaps this time we will finally
capture it.”
“We are about to find out,” said Tovar. His voice was brimming with
excitement—filled with drive and ambition.
It very much reminded Kaid of the way he used to be.
The alien ship slowly came about, shunting
three large sails from its aft section as it forged its way into battle. Kaid grabbed the arms of his chair and
prepared for the worst. “Shields?”
“At maximum,” Vakal reiterated. “We’ll be in weapons range in ten seconds.”
Wiry tendrils of orange energy danced around
the nose of the alien bioship. “They’re
preparing to fire,” warned Tovar.
Kaid nodded his acknowledgment. “Brace for impact,” he said. “Have damage control standing by.”
An instant later, the Adaris was
under siege. Kaid was able to glimpse a
ragged tendril of blazing orange energy surge from the alien bioship, but
little more. The force of the impact
prompted the Adaris to lose attitude control, and left the ship to
haphazardly spin on its axis. Still, as
far as Kaid could tell, everything was relatively intact. “What is our weapon status?”
“Ready to fire!” exclaimed Vakal.
Kaid nodded. “Then do so!”
The deck plates shuddered as the alien ship
fired again, and Kaid could feel his ship beginning to waver. If Vakal faltered, there was a distinct
possibility that the battle would be forever lost. Then again, considering Vakal’s track record, Kaid knew that
defeat was not a likely outcome.
Suddenly, the alien ship streaked across the
viewscreen, its forward section again awash in orange light. Knowing it would not be long before they were
again under the gun, Kaid braced for impact while the rest of his crew worked
to see the squid-like vessel brought down once and for all.
“Target locked!” exclaimed Vakal. “Firing axionic energy charges!”
The ship jolted, and sparks rained down from
the ceiling. Kaid could see bright
pulses of crimson light flash across the viewscreen, but they did not appear to
strike anything more than rock—several asteroids promptly exploded into clouds
of dust—and the alien vessel remained at large.
Kaid turned back to Vakal. “I thought you had a target lock!?”
“I did,” he replied, still working
frantically the controls. “The ship
altered its bio-signature. Attempting
to reacquire the target!”
“That should not be hard,” Tovar suddenly
announced, staring at the viewscreen with a mortified look upon his face.
Kaid quickly came about to see the alien
ship lurking dead ahead, its forward section brimming with energy. “We won’t be able to sustain another hit to
the forward section,” he soon realized.
“No need to worry!” replied Vakar.
Another barrage of axionic energy pulses
promptly darted across the viewscreen, headed straight for the alien
bioship. It made a valiant effort to
evade the pulses, but could not get out of the way fast enough. Its organic brown hull absorbed the majority
of the blasts, but the last few exploded more to Kaid’s liking, leaving the
alien vessel’s hull blackened and charred.
“The alien weapon systems are offline,”
Tovar said. “Prepare for the final
assault! Remember, we want the vessel
disabled, not destroyed!”
Vakar glared. “I know our orders!”
Just when Kaid began to lower his guard, the
deck began to vibrate once more. His
eyes immediately darted back to the alien ship, but the viewscreen clearly
indicated the alien ship was dormant. “What’s happening?”
“Another ship has just dropped out of warp…
they’re right on top of us!” exclaimed Tovar.
And he was not kidding. A massive vessel almost twice the size of
the Adaris suddenly eclipsed the alien ship on the viewscreen—and Kaid
immediately grumbled. “What are they
doing here?”
The answer was more concise than Kaid could
have ever hoped, for the moment the question fell from his lips, a volley of
verdant plasma torpedoes streaked from the new arrival’s torpedo bay and
blasted into the Adaris’ shields.
They flickered, shimmered, and ultimately failed—along with the lights,
and the majority of the workstations.
“We still have weapons!” cried Vakar.
“Helm control is nominal,” Tovar promptly
added. “And the helmsman is dead.”
They would have to grieve later. For now, all that mattered was
survival. “Fire whatever weapons we
have at our new friends,” Kaid ordered, unable to keep the sarcasm from
slipping into his voice.
“I’ve got a lock on their engines,” said
Vakar. “If we—”
“Sir!” Tovar interrupted. “The alien bioship is powering weapons
again!”
Kaid’s heart skipped a beat. Now he was beginning to get that
adrenaline rush. “Target?”
“Us!” said Tovar. “And one more hit will finish us!”
“Then don’t let them get that chance,” Kaid
said. “Quickly! Maneuver us behind our new friends and let them
take the blow for us.”
“Aye, sir!”
Tovar made haste to move the Adaris
out of harm’s way, his fingers dancing wildly over the control interface. For a brief moment, Kaid thought they just
might get away with it… But then the bioship fired, and all hell broke loose.
The bulkheads screamed as they began to
shift beneath Kaid’s feet. Fire rained
down from the ceiling, and the majority of the remaining workstations went
dead. As a thick smoke filtered into
his lungs, Kaid knew the damage to the Adaris was extreme. The viewscreen was barely functional, its
display garbled with fuzz—but Kaid could see enough to know that his plan had
indeed worked.
The battle was as good as over—but far from
a decisive victory. The Adaris
was on the brink of destruction, the massive starship looming ahead of the Adaris
was severely damaged, and the alien bioship was gone.
“Our target just jumped to warp,” gleaned
Tovar from his barely functional workstation.
Crestfallen, Kaid slumped down into his
ash-laden command chair. “We’ll get
that ship,” he assured his crew. “It is
only a matter of time…”