Stardate 76398.5.7; May 26, 2399
EPISODE
106
Edited by Peter Bossley
Written by Chris Adamek
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
Lt. Commander
Turathan Karalis
Lt. Commander
Ian Meade
Justin Reinbold
Commander Amy
Robinson
Commander Taurik
Prologue
“Enemy shields are failing!” Lieutenant Bator’s deep
voice boomed over the roaring engines as the Starlight maneuvered around
its adversary.
“Their warp drive is offline!” added Erin Keller a scant moment
later, her deft fingers dancing over the surface of the operations
console. “I’m detecting a minor hull
breach forming along their secondary hull!”
On the surface, the sudden wealth of information seemed like good
news. It seemed like the battle’s tide
was turning, starting to favor the Starlight. But Alan Christopher knew better—looks could certainly be
deceiving, and in this instance, he wasn’t going to take any chances. “What about their weapons?”
Bator checked the sensors.
“They appear to be coming back online—phasers and torpedoes!”
“Take them out!” shouted Lucas Tompkins.
“And make it quick,” said Christopher, right on the heels of
Tompkins’ proclamation. “We can’t allow
them to reinitialize their weapon systems again!” The first instance had proven disastrous
enough; Christopher didn’t even want to think about a second coming of this
adversary’s arsenal.
But the news from tactical was not good. “They are constantly remodulating their shielding,” called Bator,
just as the deck started to rumble. “I
am having difficulty establishing a weapons lock!”
Christopher grabbed hold of the command chair—even though he
suspected the Starlight was not in much danger. This battle had long ago left behind the raging
classification… now it was becoming little more than a drawn-out game of
cat-and-mouse. Unfortunately, when the
mouse bared its teeth, the Starlight’s shields usually paid a hefty
price. The enemy might have had
extremely limited armaments, but they certainly packed a punch.
The Starlight was still in a far superior position. All they had to do was track down this vile
adversary. Obviously, a task easier
said than done. Wearily, Christopher
shook his head. “People should know
when they’re beaten…”
“Their tactics aren’t without merit,” said Bator between failed
attempts to lock onto the enemy vessel.
“The longer they elude our sensors, the more they can repair their
ship…”
“Heh… that’s a luxury they can’t be allowed to have,” said
Tompkins. His gaze briefly crossed
paths with Christopher’s, and in that instant, both men knew what had to be
done.
Christopher quickly took the initiative. “Neelar,” he called, hastily abandoning the command chair in
favor of watching the Bolian in action, “how far away is our sneaky little
foe?”
Drayge glanced at the helm display. “They’re currently running evasive maneuvers about three thousand
kilometers off our port bow.”
“Any discernable pattern?” asked Tompkins.
“No,” said Drayge, shaking his head. “Their movements are completely random.”
Utterly random evasive maneuvers…
Constantly remodulating shielding… And if this continued, the enemy
would soon have weapons back. Of
course, Christopher wasn’t about to let that happen. “Bring us closer, Neelar!”
The Bolian started to set a course, but he paused after only a few
keystrokes. “How close?”
A devious grin fell upon Christopher’s face. “Metaphorically speaking… I want them to
feel us breathing down their necks—technically speaking, that means really, really
close.”
“Aye, Captain…” And Drayge hastily concluded his work. “Course set.”
“Engage!” said Christopher, nodding his approval—and quickly
turning his gaze back to the tactical station.
“Bator,” he called, “arm all phaser banks, and prepare to fire on my
mark—use the manual targeting scanners if necessary”
Bator must have been anticipating the order, because his response
was almost instantaneous, “Phasers ready!”
The battle was over. The
decisive shots had yet to fire, but in his beating heart, Christopher knew that
the end was definitely near—and a victorious smile subsequently fell upon his
face. “Fire!”
Blazing streaks of vivid orange light sliced through the heavens
as the Starlight hurtled toward its nemesis. At first, none of the countless phaser beams hit the little
starship in the distance, but as the Starlight drew nearer, its hit
percentage made a dramatic increase.
Three… five… ten direct hits, all of them coming in rapid
succession. For a moment, it was
difficult to see the enemy ship amidst all of the explosions—but as the fiery
haze began to clear, the Starlight’s target became all too clear: USS Columbia, NX-97502…