Season 1 : Episode 1 : Coming Together

[Ramsey]

Captain’s Log; Stardate 2395.5.9 – I am enroute to my newest assignment.  Citadel  Complex is in a remote sector of the Gamma Quadrant.  Had it not been for the discovery of the Hydra Wormhole towards the end of the Dominion War, it would have fallen by the historical wayside, never to be talked about again.

However, it was discovered and now this sector is as important or more so, than the Bajoran Wormhole.  With so much discovery waiting at our doorsteps, I had to jump at the chance to command this area.

Currently I am enroute to Citadel Complex aboard the USS Redemption, a Galaxy Class Starship that was re-commissioned and permanently assigned to me to be my flagship.  The amount of resources that Starfleet is re-routing to the area is impressive… do doubt they still do not trust the Dominion even though they there was technically a peace with them.  

And then there is always the Borg.


=/\= Computer End Log=/\=

Shala watched as the console go dark as it saved her log.  She stood up and stretched, walking to her viewport and looked outside.  Currently, they were in Warp… they had been for several weeks now.  Gollram Sector was 100 light years away from the Bajoran Wormhole.   All in all at Warp 8, it will take the Redemption and the convoy she was going with 25 days to arrive.

Maybe they can find a wormhole to get us from Idran to there… or a Borg Conduit, she thought.  The mere thought of the Borg made her shudder and she reflexively put her hand on her abdomen, where the Itris Symbiont was at.  Its first host had had a run in with a Borg Scout ship and it was one that it would not like to have again.  Sometimes, the memories of past hosts weren’t all rosy.

Turning from her window and shaking the thought away, Shala left her quarters and headed to 10-Forward, the main lounge.  She was still trying to meet some of her department heads before they all arrived.

[tag crew]

{OOC - Feel free to join me in the lounge, or if your character is arriving another away, feel free to post that here.}

[Ramsey]

== Convoy SF 289 ==
== Independent Freighter Albatross ==
== Bridge ==



"No Rae, we are not there yet.  We are in a convoy and unless you want us to punch it past the Redemption there, we probably want to stay where our assigned position in the convoy is."

A hint if irritation was creeping into Grahm's voice.  They had been with this convoy for at least 2 weeks now, and there were at least 3 weeks left to go.  If it had been just them alone, Grahm would have punched it up to Warp 9.997 and been there in 4 weeks, but that would give away just some of the modifications that the Albatross had hidden under her hull.

Rae, the XO and being the violent passionate one just snorted and left the bridge.  "Xenos", commented Grahm,  "why don't you see if you can talk her down from the ledge.  Give her some Bajoran breathing treatments.  Check her spirituality out."

Both Xenos and Zeke shot Grahm a look like he had just welcomed the Borg on board.  But Xenos shrugged and left the bridge, leaving Grahm and Zeke alone.

"Thank you Captain.  Not only is it stuffy in here, but her attitude was crowding me out."

"No problem, Zeke."

"So Captain, do you mind telling me why we took this milk run assignment?  I mean, we are used to running supplies on the grayer side of the law.   Why go legit?"

It was an honest question, thought Grahm.

"Well, I'm hoping to build some good will with the Admiral over there on the Redemption.  That way if we come across any lucrative dealings, she might look the other way.  The Alpha and Beta Quadrants are too crowded and the Ferengi seem to have their damn hands in everything in the Gamma Quadrant near Idran, so I thought I would try to do the same thing with this wormhole.  Three mouths... triple the opportunity for profit."

Zeke snorted, "You sound just like a Ferengi."

Grahm gave her a look of mock hurt.  "I can't believe you just compared me to one of those midget ear lobes.  But seriously, in 2 months the Wayward Son will be here and we can operation two ships.  Starfleet hauling provides us steady income... the fringe gets us rich."

Zeke nodded and felt no need to continue the discussion.  That's what Grahm liked about her.  She didn't say many words.  The bridge became quiet as Grahm looked out into space at the underbelly of the Redemption.

[Celeste Day]

:USS Redemption:


Celeste knew that she was getting on her roommates nerves. She couldn't help it, though. Why do Tellerites have such a horrible disposition, she had wondered. She knew that it would take time, but Bertha would open up and smile.

Of course not understanding Tellarites very well, Celeste really ended up just pissing her off all the more. So, here she was, off duty and not allowed to go to her room. That meant there weren't many places for Celeste to hang out, so off to Ten-Forward to liven up the place a bit.

As the doors opened with the familiar swoosh, Celeste stepped in... and her smile broadened. The place wasn't full to capacity, but there was a pretty good "Buzz" to the room. People were happy and talking and that's just where she wanted to be.

Cel crossed over to the bartender and caught the man's attention. "What do you have in the way of wines?"

The bartender didn't even need to look over his list. He named off the 15 or so wines that he knew he had.

"Great I will have a class of Bajoran Springwine."

The bartender nodded and handed her a glass. Nodding in thanks, Cel made her way over to a table that was out of the way a bit, but still pretty close to the action. Deep in her soul, she knew that this was going to be a good night.

[Allana]

"I'm not even at the Friggin' Starbase yet, and my day is already filled with work", muttered Allana as she tossed down one PADD and grabbed another. When she had accepted the job of Chief of Operations, she might have been faintly aware that it was a tad more than being Chief of Operations aboard the Redemption. Granted, the Redemption was a very large ship and it took all her on duty time to make sure it was running efficiently, but a Starbase?!?!?!

"I must have been mildly sloshed when I posted for it", she said to no one in general. Thinking back, she actually might have been. Her friends sent her that case of Andorian Ale, and it was gone pretty quick. "Well I can't back out now", she thought. "Just need to tough it out. Besides, this could be fun.... or a pain in the @ss."

Looking at the chronometer, Allana saw that she had just a few minutes of her shift left and she also had 12 more PADDs to look through. "Well, those can wait. We won't even reach the Starbase for 3 more weeks, so time to relax."

Allana tossed the last PADD onto the floor with the growing number of PADDs and stood up and stretched. Her back popped and tinged with pent up stress from slouching in the chair for a long time. Then she headed for the door. Ten Forward was calling her name!

[Donovan James]

Sirens and Klaxons blared throughout the station. The Dominion had invaded the station and were systematically destroying the station. Donnie checked the charge level of his rifle. It was still at 80%. Time to drain some of this, he thought.

"This way, squad. Sensors read a demolition team 30 meters ahead." Getting nods from his remaining squad, they hugged the walls until they reached the intersection. Donnie motioned to his heavy weapons guy, Reynolds. Reynolds removed two grenades and activated them. As he threw them towards the Jem Hadar soldiers, Donnie activated a level 10 forcefield. The grenades cleared the field and exploded, killing the Jem Hadar squad. The forcefield contained the blast so that there was no collateral damage.

just as Donnie looked around the corner, Reynolds took a phaser bolt to the chest from behind.

"Behind us, scatter." The remaining squad took cover where they could, but they were severely outnumbered. Donnie ended up grabbing Reynolds heavy blaster rifle and pumped out shot after shot until he took a shot into the chest. He was thrown backwards onto the Promenade floor.

"Computer, end program"

The station disappeared as the projection from the holodeck ended. All around the deck his squad was picking themselves up.

"Promising, but we need to pick it up people. We don't know what we face out there, but we will be stuck in the Gamma Quadrant almost a month out from any resources. We will be on our own and I don't intend to be left without a home."

"We continue to drill to be successful. Dismissed."

Squad 827 saluted and left the deck. Donnie walked over to the console. "Computer, send all trainings to my office. I will look over them there." The computer beeped, indicating that it had done so. With that Donnie left the deck and headed to his quarters. The bolt that hit his chest still stung, but he wanted them to feel the pain. It makes it more real.

[Ramsey]

Shala smiled as she walked through the doors of 10Forward. The activity in the room paused for an awkward moment and then resumed sporatically. Shala wanted to laugh, but fought against it. Still the corners of her mouth turned up in a way that communicated mirth.

The issue that most of the officers were facing was this... she was an Admiral, but not in command of the ship. Also, she had decided to wear a stylized dress instead of an uniform. She did this for two reasons... first, she loved the dress and second, it communicated that she would not be recognizing decorum... or ranks while she was in 10 Forward.

She nodded to a few of the guests and made her way over to the bar, where a Bolian Man was serving drinks and food.

"What will it be, ma'am?" he asked.

"I'll have White Zinfandel if you have one. Thank you", Shala responded. She nodded her thanks and took her glass and made her way across the floor to a few small rows of tables that bordered the windows.

Looking outside, she noticed that the Redemption was not in Warp anymore and it wasn't moving. They must be at their rendezvous point, there another convoy of freighters and the USS Tirpitz would be joining them for the last leg of their journey.

She was lost in thought and so it was only mildly surprising when someone came up to talk to her.

(OOC - Okay, I don't bite, so feel free to converse)

[Dushall]

=== Citadel Station Command Center===

Commander Trylo was the acting Captain of the Starbase until the Admiral and her fleet arrived. The station was all but complete with little repairs and some final touches here and there. The station itself was the epitome of all scientific advances that the Federation currently had at it's disposal. "Well at least for the next 5 years give or take." He thought to himself.

He sat at his desk with a commanding view of all the stations that monitored the station and the surrounding space. At any given moment there were billions if not trillions of data processes at any given second and if one of them was off or failed it would be catastrophe for everyone on board. In his hand was a PADD that contained a letter from his wife. He had received it weeks ago. It stated that they were leaving Andor and coming to the station in the convoy that was now in-route. The joy of the letter made his antennae twitch each time he read it.

"Uh, Commander" a voice from below brought his attention back to the real world.

"Yes, what is it Lieutenant." Trylo said as he made his way to the sensor station. 

The Lieutenant moved his monitor to the main viewscreen in the middle of the room. "I'm picking up a wormhole opening up off of schedule." 

"What, how is that possible!?!" Suppressing his Andorian tendencies to quick anger he walked up to the main viewscreen with his hands behind his back. "Which one is opening? Set Yellow Alert!"

"Then Andromeda rout is the one that is opening sir, I don't know how this is possible. None of our sensors are picking up anything coming through." Worry sounded in the Lieutenants voice. 

Trylo was equally concerned. The routine and pattern of this wormhole was a great strategic value to the Federation. If it's pattern was starting to degrade and was becoming unreliable then it's strategic importance was less valuable and all the resources committed to it were for nothing. "Lieutenant, Give me a visual of the opening. If sensors aren't picking up anything maybe visuals will, maximum magnification."

The Lieutenant did as ordered and the mouth of the wormhole filled the screen infront of him. After a minute the mouth closed shut and the deep vastness of space filled the screen in it's place. "Lieutenant, are you picking anything up?"

"Nothing sir. I'm going to try adjusting the sensors and tighten some of the frequencies." The Lieutenants fingers raced across his console as he went to work. After another minute the Lieutenant spoke again. "All I'm picking up sir is a space rock the size of a baseball sir."

The strangeness of the sensor reading concerned him. Why would a wormhole open for nothing more then a space rock? "Give me a visual on it's coordinates."

A box highlighted it's location on the screen and then that area was zoomed in and filled the view. Trylo was taken aback. Instead of there being a barely visible rock there was a Flyer class shuttle floating derelict. Obvious signs of damage to the hull, the warp nacelles flickering on and off. "How the hell did a Flyer class shuttle get all the way out here?" Trylo looked at the officers on the bridge with disbelief on the bridge. "Send out our runabouts and dispatch 2 squadrons. Tell them to remain alert. For all we know it could be a trap." 

Orders were given and were promptly followed and sent out. Within minutes all ordered craft were on their way to the derelict shuttle. He watched as the fighters flew in a defensive formation and the Runabouts followed them. He heard the communications from the pilots as it filled the command deck of the station. They communicated among themselves as they neared the shuttle. As they neared the shuttle the lead pilot came over the channel. =^=Citadel this is Echo Leader, over.=^=

"Echo Leader, this is Citadel Alpha. What is the Status over there?" Trylo started to sweat as the anticipation built up inside him.

=^=Citadel, we are within 100 meters of the shuttle and we just picked up a human life sign, sir. Request permission to tractor the shuttle in sir.=^=

Tactical scenarios filled his head. Decisions like this could save or cost lives and without more information a decision was hard to make. "Echo Leader, Beam a medic on board with a security detail and secure the ship. Then beam any injured onto the runabout and return." 

=^=Aye, Sir.=^= 

Once more commands were given out and were followed with efficiency. Trylo only hoped he made the right decision.

[Ramsey]

== USS Redemption ==
== Main Bridge ==
== 26 Days Later ==

At last I will be able to get off this ship, thought Shala.  What she had thought to be a large ship was rapidly turning into a smaller and smaller ship each and every day.  And she wasn't the only one who was feeling it.  She felt sorry for the smaller ships too.  They must seem like tiny coffins to the crews of those ships.  There had been a few instances of stir-craziness, so the Admiral had ordered the continual operation of holosuites and holodecks across the convoy.  They stopped more often and allowed the docking of ships and rotation of crews so that everyone could use the holosuites, which had been set to a variety of wide open spaces and locales.  It had helped, but it had added another day onto the travel.

Now though, as the final timer counted down, Shala was interested in getting to her command.

"Arrival in 5 seconds, Admiral", came Commander Thompsons voice.  She nodded and stood up, stretching her legs, but also ready to officially greet Citadel Station and take command.

After 5 seconds, the convoy reverted to realspace and the modified Starbase came into view.  Shala was impressed with the size and functionality of the station on paper, but now, seeing it in person, she was amazed.  The station was in the configuration of a Starbase, though only 85% its size.  Then it supported a habitat / docking ring that ran around the equator of the station and then another one that ran vertically from pole to pole.  So while smaller, it's bulk was almost 50% more than the typical starbase.

"Where is the Starfighter base and the shipyards?", asked a puzzled Thompson.  Shala smiled.  "They are built into the rings.  So instead of having assets way out of way, they are all incorporated into the construction of the station.  While it isn't Planetia Utopia by any means, it is quite considerable."

"Commander please contact the station for me.  Advise the CO that I am ready to accept command."

Thompson nodded and complied.  Seconds later, on the screen, was a Commander.  Shala recognized him from her files.

"Commander Tyrlo, I am Admiral Itris.  I am reading to take command of Citadel Station."

[tag Tyrlo]

[Ramsey]

== Convoy SF 289 ==
== Independent Freighter Albatross ==
== Bridge ==



"I never thought I would ever say this, but I'll be glad to leave this here little Albatross in the docks for a while and stretch a might on the station", remarked Grahm. He knew his crew was feeling the same way. At the last drop out of warp, he had impressed on the Admiral the importance of docking the freighters for a complete check through, making sure his was the first one. It would give the crew at least 2 weeks before having to return to the ship.

"Now when we dock, we'll lock it down and I don't want to see any of y'all for at least 7 days, is that understood?"

Grahm was only partly joking. Like sandpaper on the sensitive underside of your genitals, they could be quite grating and leave a sore rash sometimes. They all grumbled the affirmative and sat quietly... they needed time away as well.

"Come on Admiral, that the legal mumbo jumbo done so we can dock."

Xenos was already angling the Albatross in to the closet port. Grahm wouldn't be surprised if he didn't do a micro warp jump to get there first.

[Donovan James]

oc - Glad to see this site getting active again. I am intrigued with the Hydra concept *oh gawd, I sound like Data*

Donnie dove left and rolled toward a broken down console as it was the only cover in the immediate area. He came up firing, albeit wildly in the direction of the Borg drones. The first couple of shots hit off the ceiling, but the next few shots found their target. The first few drones went down under the phaser fire, but the third and forth drones had adapted. He backed up a bit.

"GRENADES!"

From all around his security team tossed grenades at the feet of the drones. Eight grenades came to a stop for a mere second and then exploded. Donnie ducked down as the blow back reached his console. With his phaser now basically useless, he reach down and grabbed a broken piece of bulkhead and ran at the drones, yelling as he ran. His team did the same thing with whatever objects they could find. They attacked the 4 remaining drones, pummelling them with their primitive weapons. While they were able to overwhelm the drones, they did lose 5 more security officers.

At the end, there was Donnie, Ensign Carter, and Crewman Arthos. The sim ended and all of the drones disappeared and the rest of the team appeared.

"So what did we learn from this exercise?" asked Donnie.

Ensign Carter spoke up first. "Well it is obvious that we need a Thor's Hammer or some swords or something because our phasers are almost useless... even with modulation efforts."

Donnie nodded. "That is a great idea." He made a mental note to have some physical melee weapons added to their caches. A timer beeped letting Donnie know that they were arriving at the base.

"Okay, get cleaned up and report to your Alpha Position on the station. Dismissed."

As the team left the holodeck, Donnie checked to see that they had 30 minutes until arrival. Just enough time to get cleaned up and report to the bridge. He hurried to his quarters.

[Ramsey]

OOC - Hey guys, I'm going to go ahead and push this mission forward a bit. I hope to see more posting soon.

In the CIC of Citadel Station, Lt Jonas was on duty at the sensors. The latest convoy had arrived at the station carrying their bridge staff, including Admiral Itris. Commander Trylo was in command and they were in the middle of transferring command and docking the ships when an alert went of off his screen. He magnified the area and began to scan it.

"Sir we have two contacts coming through the wormhole sir." Lt. Jonas looked over at the schedule of openings... he hadn't quite yet memorized the Hydra's shift. "It is the Delta Quadrant's rotation. I'll have a better reading when it appears, but currently we are not scheduled to receive any visitors, sir."

Lt. Jonas looked up and out the viewport windows to where the convoy had arrived. Out past it was the fleet of ships that were assigned to Citadel Station. They had been move away from the station during the final completion phase. Out beyond that, the Hydra wormhole burst into view, showing the visible opening. It had several names from the Eye of God to what the locals call the Eye of the Tryst.

Two ships appeared at the mouth of the wormhole, one larger sphere and a smaller oblong ship. Both ships moved toward the convoy and reserve fleet. Lt. Jonas's console pinged and his stomach turned to cold stone. "SIR", yelled Lt. Jonas hi voice rising with stress. "WE HAVE A BORG SPHERE AND SCOUT SHIP CLOSING ON THE CONVOY."

Out in space, as the Borg ships closed with the reserve fleets in standby status, they opened fire on the undermanned ships.

[tag all - let's get this rolling]

[Ramsey]

== USS Redemption ==
== Main Bridge ==

"Admiral, we have two contacts... They're Borg!"

Ice filled Shala's gut. If she was on the station with her command crew around her, she would have felt better. If there wasn't a convoy of unarmed freighters hanging between the station and the Borg, she would have better. But battles never really followed her wants and desires.

"Red Alert, Shields up and charge weapons. Helm put us between the convoy and Borg. Ops, scatter those freighters around the station. Conn, contact the reserve fleet, get them moving to defend that station."

As the bridge crew rushed to comply with the Admiral's orders, Shala watched as the Borg Vessels close with the fleet. Phaser beams and slicing laser lanced out from the Borg ships, targeting the reserve fleet as the ships began to respond to the threat. Shala knew from briefings that those ships were running with minimal crews. They wouldn't stand up in a slugfest.

The Redemption began to move towards the Borg Sphere. As they cleared the freighters, one of the ships exploded.

"Admiral, Station defenses are now online... shields and weapons online." There was a pause, then another comment. "We've lost the Incursion, Ma'am."

The USS Incursion gone... Intrepid class.

"Ma'am, it looks like they are going after the ships first. I'm not showing any boarding parties... they are just destroying them."

"Helm, speed us up. We need to get in that battle."

[Ramsey]

== Convoy SF 289 ==
== Independent Freighter Albatross ==
== Bridge ==



"Cap, I'm detecting Borg Vessels."

Grahm swore a rich curse that would have been inappropriate at any other time. He looked over the sensors.

And he swore again.

"Xenos get us out of here!"

"Sorry Cap, we have already docked and are on lockdown. We aren't going no where, sir."

"Damn it. Okay, arm up then. I hate waiting for them to arrive, but I want to be ready."

The station by now would be on high alert and having a crew of armed beings enter the station now that wasn't associated with Starfleet would end badly.

"Rae, contact the station and see if they will let us go. Maybe we can find someone with a heart."

[Guest]

Tris was just finishing up her lunch. She was in the middle of her shift and having a delightful meal of spring salad with a lemonade, laughing with her roommate, Ensign McCarty from Engineering. That's when the Red Alert sounded, calling the crew to battle stations.

Tris jumped up, and downed the last bit of lemonade and ran for the door. At the door she heard a gasp at the window and she turned. The Redemption was turning to the right and coming over the convoy. Out farther away, two ships were attacking some other ships, though Tris couldn't really tell which ships were being attacked.

Her attention was drawn to the larger ship. A borg sphere. She yelped out and then clamped her hand over her mouth. Running from the café, she made her way to her battle station position, which was the auxiliary Operations bridge station. She entered the bridge and took up her position. She didn't want to let anyone know,

but Tris was scared.

[Ramsey]

The Borg Sphere continued to attack the response fleet. So far the Valour, and the Incursion were awashed with flames. Secondary explosions gutted the larger Valour as her warp core exploded. The Concorde Class cruiser, supposed to be the main deterrent to pirates and marauders, was vaporized by the matter / antimatter explosion. As luck would have it, the USS Orion had moved out of range of the explosion. The resulting fireball did incorporate the smaller borg vessel... overwhelming its shields. The scout ship was destroyed, but the cost far outweighed the results.

With the death of the Valour, the Sphere began to concentrate its attack on the Redemption. It latched on to it with its tractor beam and began to use its cutting laser to carve into the mighty ship.

[Donovan James]

Donnie had been on the bridge of the Redemption when the alert had been raised about the Borg. Quickly he called his security teams to their battlestations and also had them began replicating handheld weapons. Then he quickly raised the ships and armed all torpedoes and phasers.

"Admiral, the Valour and the Incursion are gone, ma'am. It looks like the only ship making it out alive is the Orion. I report the Borg Scoutship has been destroyed and the sphere has taken moderate damage. Citadel Station reports the launch of all fighter squadrons. Estimated time of arrival will match our arrival."

Though the mere mention of the Borg could freeze anyone's heart, the fact that it was just a sphere and not a cube was helping. With the help of the station, they should win this battle."

"Twenty Seconds until firing range." Mentally, Donnie went through their approved sequence of steps. Ensign Bortas was on the auxiliary console and her sole responsibility was maintaining the random fluctuations and modulations of the shields.

[Guest]

Tris tried not to look out the viewscreen at the everlooming Sphere that was trying to captured the Redemption. The ship shook when it started to cut into the hull.

"I have multiple hull breaks on desks 18, 19, and 20. Force fields are in place and holding. Re-route auxiliary power to shields and engines, ma'am",she called out. With ever shake of the ship, Tris' heart froze a bit more. Her hand shook as she was at her console, though with the ship shaking, it was hard to see. "Please calm down", she repeated to herself.

[Ramsey]

The Redemption had passed the convoy, who's captains were smart enough to scatter toward the station but out of phaser's paths. The ship shook as the sphere locked onto the Redemption. Shala knew that the crew was pretty new and that many were scared. She projected her confidence to everyone.

"Mr. James, please lock on to the source of the beams and destroy them please. Helm rotate the damaged side away from the sphere and bring us to a heading of 349, half impulse. We have this people."

Shala looked down at her console. She was angry about losing her fleet of ships, but anger wouldn't help her right now. "Conn, coordinate our attack with the Orion and the station so that we inflict the most damage. Tactical, please begin shield and weapon modulation.

[tag Ramsey / James / helm]

[Ramsey]

"Status Report, Ops. How are we sitting?"

Eleanor wiped the bloody gash on her forehead and shooed away the medic that was trying to bandage. "If you don't get out of my way, this will be the least of all our concerns. If you want to wait, sit over there", she said, pointing to an empty seat. The medic, for his part, shrugged and went to help the next person. Eleanor turned to her Ops officer for the report.

"Our warp engines have sustained substantial damage, and we are getting deaths and injuries on several decks. Shields are coming back up and I am reroute power to defensive systems. Currently we are on an outbound course away from the Sphere. They seem to be targeting the Redemption."

"Tactical, how are our weapons?"

"We've lost one of our photon launchers and our shields are at 63%. Phasers stand ready."

"Excellent. Helm turn us around and put our nose to the Borg. Tactical, stand ready to fire, modulating frequencies randomly on shields and phasers. I want you to punch a hole in their shields and deliver a fully volley of torpedoes when it goes down."

"Understood, Ma'am." came back the emotionless voice of her Vulcan Tactical Officer. "We should be in range in 20 seconds."

Mentally, Eleanor began to countdown.

[Donovan James]

"Tactical, please begin shield and weapon modulation."

"Aye Ma'am." was all that Donnie responded. His hands flew across his console as he began the modulation of both the offensive and defensive systems.

"Shields are holding at 86%. Borg tractor beams are broken."

The ship shook again as the Borg tried to lock on.

"Firing all weapons, full spread of quantum torpedoes. Phasers targeting beam locations".

Phaser and phaser pulses lanced out from the Redemption, slamming into the larger sphere. Torpedoes raked damage across the bow of the Borg vessel.

"Moderate damage to the Sphere, tractor beam is destroyed. Their shields are down to 91%."

Donnie sighed a bit. "Slugging Match", was the term that came to his mind.

[Ramsey]

The Borg Sphere lost its lock on the Redemption and it's cutting laser was destroyed. Inside, drones began to activate to repair the damage caused by the Redemption and her support ships. Working as one, the drones estimated that they could have the damaged fixed within 30 minutes depending on the damage they continued to take.

The Sphere rotated, presenting a new weapons arc to the Redemption. Two more tractor beams attempted to grab the ship, trying to work their way past the shield modulations. Torpedoes and cutting lasers also targeted the Redemption, this time cutting into her saucer section near the bridge.

[Ramsey]

"Captain, the Borg are turning the damaged side toward us. They seemed to be rotating a new arc towards the Redemption. I believe that we have an advantage." Again, the Vulcan Tactical Officer was calm in his demeanor, but Eleanor felt charged by the information.

"Press the attack. Deliver everything we can in one salvo. I want to knock them on their butts. Helm, after we attack, evasive maneuvers, Pattern Delta Ramsey Alpha, but keep us within the damaged area. We need to keep them from regenerating. If we can stay with in damage zone, we might be able to cause some severe damage."

"Aye Captain."

The Orion fired again, this time a massive volley at one time, aimed at the previously damaged section of the sphere. Deep grooves were carved into it, reaching deep into the larger ship. Parts of armor and even a section of the ship blew out from Sphere. Eleanor could even see some of the drones floating away from the ship. Whether they were alive or not... well there would be clean up missions later.

A set of fast moving ships flew past the Orion. Squadrons from the station were engaging the Sphere at the damage section. While having weaker shields, they were more maneuverable and began to overwhelm the Borg defenses. The station, sitting just at range, opened fire with their torpedo launchers.

[Ramsey]

"Admiral, I show significant damage to the sphere. Shields have weakened on the Borg Vessel. The Orion and fighter squads are inflicting serious damage."

Shala hid her smile. "Press the attack, Mr. James. I want that ship destroyed. Advise the station to launch shuttles and have them standby for rescue operations."

[tag James]

As she looked at the screen, she saw the debris from the sphere blast out from the side of the ship. If they could continue to hammer the sphere, they could destroy it. The cleanup would last a lot longer as each individual drone would have to be rounded up and destroyed. Given that they could exist in the void of space, a single drone could wreak havoc. Still, this battle was well at hand.


And then one of the freighters from the convoy behind them exploded, buffeting the Redemption with an explosion shockwave. The Redemption shook and Shala was thrown from her chair. She landed on the floor, pain searing through her shoulder.

"Commander James, what happened?"

What they didn't know was that a transwarp conduit had opened up near the station and a Borg Cube had arrived.

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