Death of a legend. Chapter 1

11

‘Captain, status report from Starfleet Command,’ Commander Janice Harper approached the top of the ramp to the command position at the highest level of the bridge. ‘It’s not good, I’m afraid.’

Captain George Rex took the data padd she offered him, and skimmed through it, getting the general gist as fast as he could. She was right; things weren’t going very well at all. Six ships had been lost without trace in the Mutara Nebula leaving that sector completely undefended, the Enterprise had been destroyed in the cross fire between the Romulans and the Dominion, and three ships in the Delta Quadrant had run into a convoy of unidentified vessels and not been heard of since. Ten ships in twenty four hours. Not good. The Federation would be hard pressed to recover from those losses in time for the defence of Wolf 359 - especially with the Enterprise gone.

‘We also received a distress signal from the Rednapp sector,’ Harper continued, ‘apparently they’re facing a large anomaly that has been approaching them for at least two days now. By the sounds of it, they’ve intercepted a fleet of Borg vessels heading their way.’

Rex looked up, searching her eyes for a sign that the base at Rednapp three had misunderstood their sensors. ‘Have our signals people confirmed this?’

‘Yes’ she told him, matter of factly. ‘It doesn’t look good for them, Captain.’

‘How many vessels are at the base?’ Rex asked as he handed her back the padd, his mind already focussed on how they would stop the Borg before they got to their target.

‘Eight.’ Harper replied, staring intently at him as though wondering what he was thinking. She glanced down at the padd in her hand. ‘The Farragut, Flying Fox, Redoubt, Belfast, London, New York, Excellence and Hood.’

‘Hmm, three cruisers, two escorts and a bunch of amateurs pretending to be Federation specialists.’ Rex mused to himself.

‘Are you kidding?’ asked Harper ‘The Flying Fox, a cruiser?’ she half laughed. ‘That thing is as old as the Mutara Nebula!’

‘So is her Captain.’ Grinned Rex, just as amused by her quick retort. ‘But if that’s all we’ve got, then that’ll have to do. Send them all a message and have them rendezvous with us at Rednapp four ASAP.’

‘Aye, sir.’ Harper sauntered off, heading for the communications section.

Rex thought for a moment, considering his options as he began planning his defence strategy. If they could get there in time, then maybe they could give the Borg a welcome they weren’t expecting. ‘Helm, set course for Rednapp four, maximum warp.’

‘Aye, sir. Rednapp four maximum warp.’ The helmsman’s fingers danced over the console before him. ‘Engaging warp drive now, sir.’

The rising hum of the warp engines filled the air as Rex surveyed the bridge around him.

On the second level, just three feet below the command pedestal where he sat, the Tactical and Weapons officers were conferring with each other at their stations. While just beside them, the helmsman hunched intently over his console, gently guiding the ship on her course. On the lowest deck, the communications and sensor operators were equally busy at their consoles as they prepared for the coming rendezvous.

Rex sat back and relaxed in his chair for a moment, thinking carefully about the ways in which things worked so efficiently these days, compared to the way they used to be. Nothing was left to chance, even the tiniest detail was considered important in the workings of this vessel. And no wonder. The sheer size of the ship made her awkward to steer at slower speeds and her flight controls were slightly “clunky” to quote the helmsman, although perfectly sufficient for higher warp speeds. Thankfully he had an experienced helmsman at the controls who was more than able to compensate. He would have to use that to his advantage if they were going to survive this onslaught.

The Borg were not going to be easy opponents. That tractor beam of theirs had caused enough havoc over the years to warrant the production of this ship, the Federation’s Greatest Experiment, as it was known.

Large enough to engage even the biggest Borg vessel, while capable of performing well against even the smallest fighter. She was a formidable craft. Her twenty-four quantum torpedo tubes were mounted to cover as many arcs as possible. And with thirty two phaser banks, twelve at long range, ten at medium range and ten at short range, she could match up against almost any ship in a combat situation, even on her own. Add to that the thirty medium range fighter bombers she carried as close range defence, and she added up to quite a sizeable problem when encountered by anything smaller than a battleship. Her shields could re-modulate at a phenomenal rate, and were triple-redundant, so that when one shield collapsed another would take its’ place.

Almost as an aside, she could repair other ships that could fit between her nacelles as if they were in dry dock – even under battle conditions.

Her only failing was that most of her crew were inexperienced in the vagaries of combat, and could easily buckle if things got tough. He would have to keep them under control as much as possible during the up-coming fight. He really could have done with a more battle experienced crew, but this was just gonna have to be good enough. Starfleet didn’t have any choice these days, as experienced personnel were becoming harder and harder to come by as the war rolled on.

If there was any one he could rely upon, it was Harper. She was a rock when things turned ugly. Her stoic attitude bolstered the crew often, even when things got really difficult. Untried and relatively untested as they were, it made it even more difficult for him to be sure they were going to survive the day. But, in the best traditions of Starfleet, they would do what they could to win through.

‘How long before we reach our destination?’ He demanded, impatient now to get on with the fight.

‘Two hours and thirty five minutes, captain.’ The navigation officer, Jensen James, responded almost immediately.

‘How about if we go to Trans-warp?’ Rex enquired.

‘About twenty-five minutes, sir’ James replied, adding to himself: ‘If we make it.’

‘Open a Trans-warp conduit and engage Trans-warp drive.’

‘Conduit opening,’ Harper announced her voice unsteady for the first time, ‘engaging drive.'

The ship lurched forward, throwing him back into his seat before the inertial dampers could engage properly. Engines screaming, the Thunderchild raced toward Rednapp four.

**********

Out in deep space, near to a single bright red star called Rednapp, a blur of light appeared. It stretched out in a multicoloured hue as though a rainbow had flown past the stars with phenomenal speed. Thunderchild had arrived.

‘Shields up, slow to impulse,’ Rex commanded, watching the readouts on the large plexiglass globe to his left for signs of enemy activity. Good. Nothing so far. If things worked out for the best, maybe they might have a chance.

‘Sensors indicate the anomaly is three hours from Rednapp six at this time.’ Lieutenant Hadley reported with a touch of nervousness in his voice. ‘No change in course or speed.’

‘Understood.’

Rex absorbed as much information about the surrounding area as he could before deciding on the best course of action. Things could change at a moments’ notice he knew, so he wanted to be prepared for any possibility. ‘Shields up, red alert’ He added. Something didn’t feel right about this. There was a touch of uncertainty in the information that was coming from the sensors. The sirens clashed loudly against the sounds of the crew preparing for battle. Something was very, VERY wrong. Rex kept thinking as he reviewed the data over and over again. What was he missing? Where was that little piece of information that told him things weren’t quite what they seemed? And where were the other ships he was expecting? ‘What’s the status of the fleet?’

‘No sign of them as yet, sir.’ Hadley reported, then, almost as an afterthought: ‘I’ve lost contact with Rednapp four base as well.’

That’s what was wrong! ‘How long ago?’ He turned to look at the lieutenant intently.

‘Only a couple of minutes so far, but the signal just seemed to switch off suddenly.’ Hadley paused, as if checking something momentarily. ‘Also,’ his voice trailed off, thoughtfully. ‘It seems to have originated from an unknown source. A point somewhere between Rednapps five and six, sir.’

‘On screen,’ Rex peered at the main viewer, hoping he was wrong.

The main view screen jumped to the point where the signal had originated, and there, in the middle of the image was a small device about the size of a satellite dish. It looked a little like it had come from a junk yard, and was festooned with small protuberances that were crazily angled like someone had just thrown it together higgledy-piggledy.

‘Definitely Borg in origin,’ Harper noted, examining the image on the repeater screen on her console.

‘It’s a trap!’ Rex exclaimed, suddenly realizing how foolish he’d been. Thank God for his instincts, he thought. ‘I want a full spectral analysis of the sector immediately! Arm all quantum torpedoes, charge all phaser arrays. Now!’

Klaxons sounded yet again as the ship lurched to one side under the impact of something massive.

‘Report!’ Rex demanded, ‘What the hell hit us?’

‘Two Borg cubes abeam of us! They’re firing again!’ Harper shouted above the din of yet another crashing clang. ‘Shields at thirty five percent and holding.’

‘Cycling shield frequency.’ Reported Ensign Salver at the shields station, as he performed the task.

‘All batteries open fire, target their main power relays!’ Rex watched the lances of phaser energy stabbed at the Borg vessels, to no effect. Suddenly, another smashing clang rocked the ship from side to side.

‘Another cube, it’s just emerged from the anomaly!’ Harpers’ voice was almost a shout as she reported the event. ‘It’s firing again!’ Another clang buffeted the crew. ‘No damage to shields, secondary scarring to primary hull.’

‘Fire quantum torpedoes! Full spread!’ Rex braced himself for yet another smash as the third vessel approach them through the void. Bright Blue sparkling orbs sped toward the new enemy, closing rapidly with it as if guided by some unseen force. They smashed their way into the cube, rending parts of it with immense force. Secondary explosions ripped into the already crippled vessel, leaving it floundering.

‘They’re disabled, sir.’ Explained the tactical officer, Lieutenant Randalf, switching targets automatically.

‘Second spread on the other two; let’s get rid of them ASAP.’ Rex commanded, fidgeting in his seat. He always wanted to do things on his own, being in command wasn’t enough sometimes.

More points of light spun towards the two remaining cubes, smashing into them and starting fires almost everywhere. One of the cubes - still alight - swung around and came at them from the left side, the other continued to attack from the right.

‘Split fire, torpedoes and phasers!’ Rex ordered, barely able to contain the excitement in his voice. He loved battle, it was in his blood. More and more torpedoes flayed towards the cubes, followed by lances of light that stabbed at the enemies like swords of energy that punched even more holes in their hulls as if they were papier mâché. One exploded into a massive fireball, spreading debris and junk across the shields of the Thunderchild. The other pressed forwards, charging headlong into the massive starship in an insane attempt to ram it.

‘Sound collision!’ Rex barked, watching the readouts intently. He gripped the armrests of his seat as he spoke, expecting to feel the smash of the two hulls coming together at any point, but was pleasantly surprised to find it never arrived. ‘What the-?’ he wondered, not able to finish his question before the whole world just suddenly stopped. It seemed as if time froze for a second, and he could feel himself moving in slow motion as he began to rise from his seat, his face agog. A sudden smashing sensation threw him to the ground as the ship lurched beneath him. Explosions rocked the bridge, sending smoke and debris flying high across the expanse. He heard the screams and yells from the crew as they pulled themselves from the wreckage and responded as quickly as they could to the fires that now spread out of control all over the room.

Rex picked himself up from the floor near the console to his command seat, and found he was looking at blood. Dazed, he touched his head. His hand ran through something wet and warm on his forehead, and he knew he was bleeding. Unperturbed, he got to his feet. Almost slipping again, he soon realized that the bridge itself was at fault. The ship was leaning to the left, listing badly to port as the cube had embedded itself into the primary hull and part of the starboard wing.

‘Damage report, what the hell happened?’ He heard his own voice but it seemed as if it came from someone else, as his ears were ringing so bad that he could hardly understand what he was saying.

‘They hit us!’ Ensign Darla shouted above the noise of rending metal as the two vessels settled into their new attitude. To him, it looked as if the Borg could simply walk onto the primary hull and step into the bridge at any moment. Fear took hold of him and he began to shake violently, staring at the huge cube now embedded into the side of the ship and feeling kind of small.

‘Snap out of it, Ensign!’ Rex barked, suddenly aware of the poor youths’ mental plight

‘Y-yes, sir.’ Darla shuffled his feet like a little lost puppy, but got back to work quickly. The last thing he needed was Captain Rex on his back!

‘Well, who’s gonna give me a damn report? Or do I have to do it myself?’ The demand did not fall on deaf ears, as soon reports were coming from all over the ship. The crew re-awoke and began to get on with the task of cleaning up the wreckage.

‘We have hull penetration on decks 1 through 36, and 74 through 81, with starboard nacelle damage to the bussard scoop. Also, we have reports of temperature rises on decks ten and twenty one.’ Harper reported, her voice catching nervously.

‘Engineering, status?’ Rex demanded of no-one in particular. A shaky voice came through the comms link, a little frightened and overawed.

‘S-sir? This is Ensign Beatty, s-sir.’ He gulped. ‘We’re pretty banged up at the moment. Not too sure about the rest of the ship, but we’re holed in two places at once here.’

‘Where’s Commander Telkus?’ Rex’ voice took on a calmer, kinder tone. No need to panic the kid further, he thought.

‘D-dead, sir. He was killed when his console exploded.’ Beatty gulped again. ‘We need some help down here, sir. M-medical aid as fast as you can, we’ve got wounded all over the place.’

Rex flicked his fingers at Harper to get that done, then said: ‘on the way, son. Now, is there anyone of a higher rank with you?’ He was hoping that he wouldn’t have to rely on a fresh-faced youngster to do all the work.

‘N-no. They’re all dead. There’s a big hole here...’ Beatty’s’ voice trailed off at that moment, as if he were lost in thought.

‘Stay with me, Ensign.’ Rex reassured him. ‘You’re in charge of engineering now. Understand? I need you to help me as much as you can for as long as you can. Do you hear me?’ Silence pervaded the bridge speakers, covered only by the general murmuring of the crew doing their bit to run the ship as best they could under the circumstances. Rex ran out of patience. ‘Do-you-hear-me, Ensign?’ He repeated.

‘Aye, aye, sir. From now on, I’m in charge here. Yes, sir.’ Rex could almost see the poor lad standing to attention down there. Still, whatever works, he thought.