Aboard the ISD Invader, the crew gave a sigh of relief as they saw the strange electric storms of the wormhole give way to normal space. Their relief was short lived however, as the tactical systems began urgent beeping as they raced to scan nearby space to provide a tactical picture for the command staff. "Sir," shouted a weapons officer. "We have bandits inbound, directly ahead." "All batteries engage at will. Launch all fighters!" shouted the captain. The captain could see that this was not going to be a neat engagement. Both forces were emerging almost on top of one another. Three Imperial Star Destroyers were through the wormhole already. Other smaller ships, cruisers and frigates were following quickly, spreading out to cover the ISD's blind spots. Ahead of them the bio-ships were streaking inwards, obviously intent upon destroying the Imperials as they came through the wormhole one at a time. Turbolaser bolts fired from the massive batteries, and in the heat of the moment, the Imperials didn't notice that the two closest alien ships bore no resemblance to the bio ships. In fact, in the heat of the moment, it is doubtful that they would have cared.
The Commander of the species fleet swore as his ships emerged from fluidic space. The wormhole was directly ahead, but alien ships were already emerging from it. "All ships engage! Destroy them as they come through the wormhole!" he ordered. In the heat of the moment, he didn't notice that the two closest alien ships bore no resemblance to the other Imperial ships he had seen. In fact, in the heat of the moment, it is doubtful that he would have cared. After all, the weak will perish!
Damage alarms shrieked aboard the Enterprise as the first bio blast slammed into the shields. The blast sending the ship tumbling out of control despite everything that the helm systems could do. The sudden movement caused the first few turbolasers to miss, but then a number of turbolaser bolts smashed into the weakened shields, wiping them out and opening three decks to space. "Shields are down," shouted La Forge. "I'm trying to re-route power." "Helm, full evasion, pattern omega five. Get those shields back up Geordi." Ordered Picard urgently. "Open fire, full phasers and torpedoes." ordered Riker. "Helm controls aren't responding" shouted ensign Ro desperately. At tactical, Worf locked onto a bio-ship that was about to fire, sending a phaser blast and a volley of photons. It was a perfect combination attack, the torpedoes striking the area of the shield weakened by the phasers. The torpedoes struck with deadly precision, killing the species 8472 crewmember, and wiping out the bio-ships navigation system. Unfortunately, without anyone at the helm control, the bio-ship spun directly towards the Enterprise. The shields had just started to come back on line when the Species 8472 ship struck the starboard nacelle. The Duranium shell was immediately ruptured, and drive plasma began to flood from the damaged nacelle. An enormous power feedback caused a surge in the ship's power systems, causing consoles to explode, and many critical systems to go off line. The inertial dampers failed, and the Enterprise lurched to one side. People who were not strapped in were immediately thrown from their feet, and smashed against the bulkheads. The remains of the bio-ship smashed through the nacelle, and crashed into the engineering section. A huge gash was torn in the side of the ship, and the atmosphere rushed out, pulling people and equipment with it. Even if the emergency force fields had been on line, it is doubtful that they could have coped with the huge rip in the Enterprise. Without them, over half the ship depressurised in just less than ten seconds, killing more than half the crew. The saucer section was the least damaged part of the ship, but even there the damage was widespread. Most of the saucer's fusion generators were ejected to prevent a catastrophic explosion. Only two remained operational to provide power to the saucer. Aboard the remains of the bio ship, a fusion generator exploded causing the Enterprise to lurch again. People had just begun to get to their feet when the ship staggered once more. Once again people were smashed into walls, and more of the ships systems went off line. The Enterprise's warp core was ripped from its mountings, and toppled slowly over. Coolant spewed out, killing many of the engineering staff instantly. The computer detected the warp breach, and sealed engineering with a combination of blast doors and force fields. On the bridge, La Forge wiped some blood off his forehead and saw what had happened in engineering. "Captain, engineering is gone. We have a warp core breach in progress. We've got less than two minutes before the whole thing goes up." shouted La Forge desperately. Picard glanced quickly at his chair's damage control display, and saw that the situation was hopeless, the damage was too extreme. The saucer was almost completely cut off from the remains of the engineering section. "Sir, most of the lifeboat ejection systems are off line." shouted Riker. "Initiate saucer separation," ordered Picard hoarsely. "All hands this is the captain. The saucer will separate in thirty seconds. If you can't get to the saucer by then, try to find a working life pod. Good luck everyone." "Sir," called Data. "The automatic separation system is off line, we will have to explode the connecting bolts." "Prepare to seal all hatches and fire the emergency separation system." ordered Picard. "Sir, the core is going critical" shouted Geordi from the back of the bridge. "Fire the separation system NOW!" shouted Picard Around the saucer of the Enterprise, the explosive separation bolts fired, disengaging the saucer from the stardrive section. As the bolts fired, the thrusters propelled the saucer away from the ship at over 10 meters per second.
The saucer escapes the damaged stardrive
This page was last updated on Wednesday 12th June 2002.