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On Stardate 54167, the Federation Starship Ivanhoe observed a fleet of some forty warships emerging from a transwarp conduit similar to those used by the Borg. The ships, identified as belonging to the Hirogen — a nomadic race native to the Delta Quadrant — immediately moved to engage the Ivanhoe, which retreated toward the nearby Wolf system and Starbase 565. Over a dozen ships from three task forces were mobilized to the starbase to combat the attack. Unfortunately, the Ivanhoe never reached safety, as she was overtaken after being forced to reduce her warp speed and lost with all hands.
Despite the loss of the Ivanhoe, the battle proved a crushing Federation victory against a force that statistically outrated the Starfleet defenders by nearly 2 to 1. While this can partly be attributed to the lack of coordination within the Hirogen force, this engagement also serves to prove that, though still feeling the effects of the tremendous personnel and equipment losses in the Dominion War, the United Federation of Planets is more than capable of defending itself. The USS Argo suffered moderate damage in the engagement, but only minor casualties.
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As the Hirogen approached the Starbase, a minefield was hastily deployed in order to stay the attackers' superior numbers. While this was being done, the Klingon ship Bat'leth sneaked unnoticed into the field, intending to decloak amidst the Hirogen fleet for a glorious surprise attack. Also, the Hirogen fleet began to split up, and the USS Hood diverted to engage what seemed to be an isolated scout ship. It was, however, a Hirogen trap, as a small number of capital ships attacked the Hood and threatened it with destruction. Only intervention by nearby starships including the USS Argo, Wildcat, and Aquarius eventually scored a decisive victory for the Federation.
After this, the battle began to disintegrate. A few Hirogen ships attacked the USS Civilization before it could reach the starbase, while the Bat'leth's attack on the main force succeeded in disorganizing the Hirogen main attack force. The USS Archangel and Cavalry were disabled, and the captain of the Archangel, assuming command of the starship Matrix, chose to attempt to close the transwarp conduit rather than directly reengage the enemy. Starbase 565 was boarded by the Hirogen. Further chaos resulted from Starbase 503's Commander Jacob Xavier — commanding from the USS Archangel — in disrupting the Hirogen fleetwide communications.
In the end, the battle was decided by a brilliant maneuver on the part of Starbase 565's executive officer, Commander Ajon Mox. The starships Patton and Wildwynd worked in concert, nullifying the Hirogen shields with tachyon bursts then transporting tricobalt devices directly on board. This succeeded in effectively eliminating the combat capacity of the entire Hirogen fleet attacking the starbase. All that remained was a modest exercise in mopping up the remaining opposition. During all this, the USS Matrix succeeded in collapsing the transwarp conduit, preventing the arrival of any further Hirogen attackers.
