"Sir, Starfleet command is calling, Admiral Stewart wants to speak to you personally"
"I'll take it in the breifing room First" replied Lane, "In the interem pull the Bastion out of space dock and ready the ship for departure from the system."
"Aye Captain." Lane moved briskly through the ship, noting the grim looks on most of his crew.
"They know where we are going" he thought and then laughed at himself for the observation. "How could anyone miss it, when you are assigned to one of the most destructive ships in the fleet and a war is raging all around." He seated himself in the breifing room and promted to computer to put the Admiral through.
"Captain Lane." stated Admiral Stewart, his features conveying his feelings far better than mere words "I have your orders here in front of me."
"By all means sir, lets go over them, the crew is ready to be tested by fire."
"Make sure you keep a eye on crew morale Max, I know the stories about the war aren't painting a pretty picture, but don't count us out by any means. We are beginning to stage some strategic victories, ones that will begin to payoff soon."
"I wouldn't think of giving up hope sir, and from what I've seen of my crew I don't think they would either."
"Excellent.... now to your orders, the Bastion has been commited to a new destroyer group, It's the 967th and it consists of 2 Defiant class ships, yours included of course, 2 Galaxy class, 1 Akira and 1 Steamrunner. I'll send the ship names over to you now."
USS BASTION NCC 75898 CAPTAIN M. LANE
USS MONITOR NCC 74982 CAPTAIN J. LEWINSKI
USS SWANSEA NCC 69001 CAPTAIN T'POLLIS
USS VENTURE NCC 56009 CAPTAIN B.TAYLOR
USS AKIRA NCC 63646 CAPTAIN X. ARDEV
USS YAMATO NCC 77711 CAPTAIN H.DALING
"The 967th's command will be under Captain Taylor, with you second in line. I've informed Beth of the plans already and she is contacting the other ships now. You will rendezvous with the group at sector 883 and begin patrolling the border. At the first sign of enemy activity, engage them with extreme predjudice. Do not however, prolong the conflict, hit them hard and fast and then withdraw. No drawn out battles, just raids across the border unless an opportunity arises. I want the Jem'Hadar to be very concerned about finding your group in that sector, do you understand Captain?"
"Yes sir."
"Now you'll have two other groups in that sector also, the 811th commanded by Captain Stiles, and the 456th headed by Captain S'lolis. They are acting under the same standing orders unless otherwise informed. One group will always be held back in case things get ugly, to move in and stabilize the situation. Above all things, keep a cool head out there, don't try to take out the entire Dominion in a single phaser blast. We will see this thing through, but it's going to take patience on our part."
"I understand sir, we'll do our best."
"That's all I expect from you Max, that's all I expect. Godspeed to you and your crew, Stewert out"
Lane stared at the console for a second or two, thinking about his orders. Obviously they were creating a diversion for something, since the firepower his group packed was really wasted on simple hit and run raids. Nevertheless, that was the standing order, and that was what they were going to do.
"Computer, open a ship-wide channel"
"Channel open" stated the ships AI
"Attention crew of the Bastion, this is Captain Lane. We have recieved our orders and are heading to the Cardassian border. Officially, we now belong to the 967th destroyer group and we will be expected to engage the enemy upon sight. The ship will be leaving the starbase within the hour with an e.t.a. of 5 days. I want all section leaders in the breifing room at 1900 hours for status reports on their respective teams. Captain out."
For the next five days time seemed to move at an accelerated pace, except for the moment when they came upon a group of Nebula class tow ships dragging the remnents of another group of ships. Lane recognized the Concorde, the Kearsage and the Prokofiev, all had suffered massive damage. The other ships were mostly large chunks of salvageable material. A nacelle here, a deflector dish there, he recognized what class of ship they came from, but there was no way to identify the ship anymore.At that moment he finally realized that this was no training exercise they were going to participate in. A moment of crystal clarity opened up before him and he vowed to himself that the Bastion wouldn't leave the battlefield looking like that. He owed it to the crew and the ship itself to bring everyone home in one piece. At the sector coordinates the Bastion met up with the other ships in the group and they made their way towards the border. The 967th had either been outfitted or retrofitted with the newest defensive and offensive systems Starfleet had to offer. For the Bastion, Monitor and the Yamato this meant they carried the new cloaking system. Captain Taylor had thought it a wise idea to keep all three ships in cloak leaving the impression of three ships on patrol. She thought this would certainly draw the attention of the enemy and give a great tactical advantage to the group. For the most part she was correct.
"Sir, " blurted ensign Jax Belowon "Sensors show 3 galor class Cardassian warships and 6 Jem'Hadar warships approaching"
"Inform the Venture, and ask for attack posture"
"The Venture aknowledges sir,and wants us to approach the Jem'Hadar from sector 883.767 attack pattern omega"
"Tell the Venture we will comply" said Lane "Ready the ship to drop out of warp and decloak, lock on the nearest Jem'Hadar warship and fire on my mark"
"Aye sir" The Bastion came within 2500 meters of the lead Jem'Hadar warship and then dropped the cloak.
"FIRE!" roared Lane. The phaser cannons on the Bastion opened up, ripping through the Jem'Hadar sheilds and vaporizing large sections of its hull and internal structure. The Monitor dove in between two of the craft, raking one with cannon fire and slamming another with multiple quantam torpedos. The Yamato tore apart its first target and then veered off towards the Cardassian ships. The Galor class ships were taking everything the Swansea, the Venture and the Akira could dish out and were giving it back,until the Yamato veered around and hit the lead warship with its heavy graviton based plasma driver. It stripped the warship of its sheilds, and practically blew it into a million pieces. This provided the Venture with an excellent shot on another warship which it took, hammering the craft with multiple phaser and quantam torpedo hits. A mini-nova sprang up where the sheilds failed, spewing the ships enginering section, now molten or vaporized, into space. The Swansea moved into position on the other Cardassian only to find the last Jem'Hadar warship which had eluded the Bastion and the Monitor was attempting to ram it. The Swansea managed to outmanuever the Jem'Hadar, only to expose its weakend starboard sheilds to the Cardassian ship which fired on her. The sheilds collapsed, and great molten gouges were ripped into her side, almost severing the support pylon for her nacelle and completely destroying her deflector dish.
"They took out the Swansea!" growled Lane "Helm, get me onto that Jem'Hadar's back, make sure we have a good weapons lock!" The Bastion closed the gap and began to rip into the Jem'Hadar ship, as it tried to break off and loop around. It couldn't escape and soon succumbed to the vicious pounding of the phaser cannons. Meanwhile, the remaining Cardassian ship fell before the Venture, its hull split open by a tri-cobalt torpedo and exposed to the cruel ravages of the vaccum.
"Captain Taylor to the 967th, we will apply tractor beams to the Swansea and extract her, Akira instiute long range sensor sweeps to monitor enemy movement, all ships prepare to go to warp."
"Ensign, institute long range scans for ememy movement." Captain Xavier Ardev walked back to his tactical officers console.
"Aye sir, commencing scans now..." In the interim, the crew of the Swansea prepared for the tow back to starbase by removing the heavily damaged nacell and support plyon. This section was tractored onto by the Swansea herself, who in turn was grabbed by the Venture. Within minutes, the entire group left the area, leaving the shattered remains of the small Dominion fleet to drift aimlessly through space. Several hours later they met with a Nebula class tow ship, and the Swansea was handed over for return to a spacedock where she could be repaired. Lane watched as the Swansea disappeared, and said a silent prayer for the crew who had died in that short and violent clash. The casualty list had several familiar names, including the cheif engineer Commander Reymon Junsly. He had been a class mate at the academy, and more importantly, a dearly loved friend. Thoughts of sorrow quickly turned dark, fueling a cold rage which was quickly taking hold in the core of Max Lane's psyche.
"Captain, we are recieving orders from Captain Taylor."
"What are our instructions?"
"Proceed to sector 776 to meet up with the 811th and a replacement for the Swansea. Then proceed to sector 887 and eliminate a Dominon supply depot."
"Acknowledge the Venture, and prepare for warp." Lane felt the cold
impersonal thing inside him begin to assert itself, and he offered no
resistance. For the thing, this cold engine of destruction, reveled in
combat and carnage. Lane knew it would have its fill in short order...
--M. D. Halperin
Doctor Ethan Gerard sat in the Bastions mess room watching the USS Bastions Chief Engineer slurp his bowl of borsht ( beetroot soup ).
The tall Russian looked up at the CMO.
"She is a good ship, no ?" said Alacheyev.
"Very ... would you mind not slurping your soup, please ?"
"Very well," the Engineer laid his spoon down in his bowl and stroked his designer stubble, "... when I was serving on Deep Space 9, I met a curious creature called a Morn ... he told me in good faith that slurping was considered good manners in Egribian customs ... can you guess where my next assignment was ?"
"No ..." replied a frankly bored Dr. Gerard.
"The UFP Embassy on Egribia !!! Fancy that ..."
Alacheyev's communicator trilled, he tapped it gently. "Alacheyev, here ..."
"Chief ? It's Lieutenant Shalvidar in Main Engineering .... Lakora and I, well, we were scanning the core and ... well you'd better see for yourself ..."
"I'll be right down, Alacheyev out," he tapped his badge and closed the link, "you will tidy up, no ?"
"Very well ..." replied Gerard as Alacheyev walked off, under his breath he whispered, "... thank god he's gone ..."
Alacheyev entered main engineering moments later to find the young
Bolian Lieutenant, Shalvidar standing near the core ...
--Lawrence J. Chestnut
Alacheyev walked over to the engine core. Shalvidar leaned down and whispered into Alacheyev's ear, "I was doing routine maintenance scans when I found this." He pointed to his tricorder.
An unusual structure, obviously mechanical in nature, was in the core, with nodes linking outward into the main systems of the Bastion.
"Damn," Alacheyev yelled. Everyone in main engineering looked at her. "Have all crew with basic engineering experience check all computer consoles and Jefferies tubes. These are the same thing the crew of the Defiant found a few years ago which nearly started a second Federation-Tzenkethi war. I'll prepare a breifing about it. We may have just lost all control of the ship. We need to evacuate the crew. I'll talk to the captain."
She hurried up to the bridge where one of the monitors displayed the face of Captain Benjamin Sisko of Starbase Deep Space Nine. He was obviously worried about Captain Lane.
Alacheyev said to Captain Lane, Pardon me sir. We have an emergency situation."
"Pardon me, Ben," was the only response from Lane. He hit a button on his desktop console and the screen went blank.
"Number one, what did I tell you about interrupting me in the middle of an important conversation?"
"Sir, I'm sorry, but..."
Alacheyev never finished the sentence, because by tat time Lane had right hooked her. She fell unconscious to the deck. Lane suddenly morphed into a gelatinous state and traveled to the engine room. It quickly disarmed every guard and engineer who was in the room. "Computer," said the Founder. "Activate autodestruct, set countdown for 10 seconds. Activate."
The Founder hit a hidden combadge and said, "Jtrane, transport me, immediately."
A Jem'Hadar transporter beamed the Founder away. 5 seconds later,
the Bastion exploded with all hands aboard.
--Lee Jamilkowski
If you feel this story ended too abruptly, Captain Lane showed up alive and well in a Dominion Prey, a sequel started by Stephen Errity.
