USS POLARIS (HORIZON): Rescue of the freighter

The cool, austere voice of dark-haired, darke-eyed Vulcan ops officer S'Tron followed his words with a finger dance on his console that brought a static garbled audio message to their ears. "I'm picking up a subspace transmission, very faint... audio only."

"Put it on" Redding said, clasping his hands in front of his chin.

*Mayday! Mayday! This... hiss... the U... hiss... Champlain. Hiss... have an Invidium leak... hiss... cargo cont... hiss... three. All... hiss... systems ... hiss... shutting down. Warp and impulse... hiss... offline, transporters and life support... hiss... mayday! mayday!*

"Ptolemy II class of freigther alright," strategic ops officer Nathaniel Gray stated, his tall gaunt frame a step behind the command chair. "One hundred and ninety-eight officers and crewmembers."

"An invidium leak will also affect our own propulsion systems if we get in contact with it," warned the Andorian Sheenea with blue skinned fingers, grey eyes and slim forehead antennae glued to her helm controls. "That's why they can't evacuate with their own shuttlecrafts either. Even lifepods will emerge powerless and adrift. And that, if their ejection mechanism works in the first place."

"Bad containement protocols and plain negligence must have caused this. But why would they carry such foul stuff in the first place?" growled the frighteningly muscular security Lieutenant Carmillia Julian behind the weapons station. "No one has been using it anymore for over a hundred years."

"No one in the Federation," the smooth, mesmerizing Deltan voice of bald Doctor Sheelya Osaro-Lyth explained. "But out here, the colonists of Eden III need it for their medical stasis fields until they can finish building a proprer hospital with modern technologies... also on board this cargo vessel."

"Sir, I have the Champlain on sensors." Science Lieutenant Valencia Irksos reported.

On the small viewer before them all on the compacted bridge, a saucer flanked by a pair of nacelles tugged three long cylindrical sections linked like the segments of a carterpillar to what o other starsips was the neck section under it. Some orange-tinted gas seemed to be seeping from the last container and partly obscured the whole view of the vessel. It was slowly drifitng with lights flickering all over the hull. The woman at the science station turned her chocolate-hued face towards the large man sitting in the spartan command chair, barely two meters on her right side.

"Sorry for the delay, Commander, but there are some intermittent anomalous distorsions in the area." From the technical station, the six-limbed Edoan engineer Taegae Jeonghun turned his bald, ovoid chitous head around so that his gravelous, thin voice could better be heard.

"In it's natural, gaseous state, invidium disrupts molecular bondings. It becomes inert liquid at minus two-hundred and twenty degrees Celsius. Although space's average temperature is minus two-hundred thirty-three Celsius, here it is at least as high as minus one hundred ninety because of the proximity of the Azimuth Horizon anomaly. That's why we can see it still and clinging like this to the hull of the even hotter vessel."

He visibly swallowed before finishing his analysis. "With all this invidium floating around it, a transporter beam would be disrupted. Whatever or whoever we would try to beam through that might. just might end up in one piece... or alive... but not for long."

Nathaniel Gray stepped closer to Redding.

"We cannot get too close, we cannot use transporters and we cannot send shuttlecrafts. We don't have the capacity to evacuate so many people... and it is dubious that they will survive four more hours for the Horizon to arrive in time." "Invidium poisonning, slow asphixiation and acute hypothermia, brutal decompression... On some worlds, such painful, inevitable death sentence would call for a mercy killing," mused Doctor Osaro-Lyth, clearly not agreeing at all with the idea.

The conclusion was grim, but they all felt it was essential to state it as factually as possible. Only then could their commanding officer properly asess the situation and make a proper decision.

Redding sighed in thought, several seconds ticked by as he pondered the situation. "Okay... how about if we fine tune some low yield torpedoes and scatter the heavier concentrations of gases away from the ship, and then grab it with a tractor beam draging it along until we can pull out the crew. It hasn't taken any structural damage it seems."

"Their structural integrity field has collapsed but their hull is still intact," confirmed Jheonghun.

"What do you think Gray, better odds that an easy death?"

There was no sign of sarcasm in his voice.

The strategic operations officer for his part just shrugged his shoulders.

"Death is death, Sir; nothing ever easy about it. but firing torpedoes this close without damaging the ship will be tricky. Even at low yield, quantum torpedoes still detonate powerfully. But if Lieutenant Julian is good enough, they will be quite shaken in there but unhurt and the quantum resonance will displace enough of the gases for us to try and lock on it with a tractor beam. If then we drag it far enough where standard space temperature is low enough, we will avert the immediate crisis."

"I recommend a fixed steady position abeam, Sir," The tactical woman said in her throaty voice.

"No problem," assured the Andorian at the helm; "we,re far enough from the anomaly to not be heavily affected by it's presence. I can keep her steady as rock for you."

"Alright people, lets get to it. S'Tron.." He swiveled the chair in his direction;  "Apprise the Horizon of our situation as well as our solution."

"Acknowledged."

Then he swiveled around towards Irksos.

"While there setting up for that, get me a sensor sweep of the area. Even if this wasn't a planned ambush, it could still be an opportunity for someone."

"Aye, Sir; scanning," the dark-skinned woman answered, her eyes and fingers already busy at her instruments.

After a few minutes, Carmillia Julian was first to report readiness.

"Weapons team confirm a volley of torpedoes reconfigured to low yield and widest dispersal pattern of detonation in the forward tube. Full firing arc spread programmed into the firing sequence. target lock confirmed. Proximity detonation calculated to safest distance to the vessel. Ready to fire on your order, Sir."

"Confirming tractor beam sensor lock," chief of ops S'Tron added. "Activation upon clearing out of the gaseous field."

"Ready to move away once tractor lock confirmed, full impulse," the Andorian pilot followed right after the Vulcan. "Heading 090 mark 45 to also get away from the vicinity of the anomaly."

"That will further help cooling the gases that will still leak from their cargo," Jeonghun commented.

"Medical team ready. I'll go join them," Doctor Osaro-Lyth said as she moved to leave the small, spartan bridge.

Redding left arm was supported by the chair arm, his hand remained on his chin. "You my fire when ready Mr. Julian, all stations stand at the ready."

At that very moment, a red light blazed on Irksos, Sheeneea and Julian's panels simultaneously.

"Sir! Shields just snapped on!" blared the powerfully built woman at tactical.

"We're going into evasive!" the Andorian zhen at the helm reported as the main viewer's image canted sharply to the right without her even having time to touch the controls.

"Three ships decloaking,  equidistant  twenty thousand kilometers, port, starboard and aft!" Irksos read out loud from her scanners.

The tactical chief was confirming from her own tactical sensors.

"Klingons Birds of Prey, Sir!  Boxing us in and arming torpedoes!"

"Target any incoming torpedoes and move us into a position to better cover of the freighter, extend our shield around it if possible."

The phasers of the Polaris fired in all three directions but only Sheeneea's deft maneuvering allowed them to evade full impact. Nevertheless, the entire vessel shook from the close proximity detonations, activating their personal dampening fields just in time to keep them in their seats as they were grazed by the salvos.

"Minor damage to outer hull plating port and aft ventral, starboard dorsal!" declared  Jeonghun, his voice shriller than ever. "Shields holding at ninety-four percent. "

"Mark XXV photon torpedoes, Sir!" Julian reported between clenched teeth. "They go to warp 9 with five seconds shielding and a yield of at least twenty-five isotons. Impossible to intercept!"

"They've cloaked again; standard Klingon multiple angle, hit and run tactic," analysed Gray. "They'll use random timing to confuse us."

Disabled freighter, impossible to rescue crew and an ambush, am I stuck in a Kobayashi Maru test? He thought .

It was almost impossible for Redding to take the situation seriously, but he really had no choice.

"Open a Channel" and waited for the acknowledgement before he continued. " This is commander Redding of the USS Polaris to klingon vessels, we request clarification of your intentions." his voice was confident and firm, without even a hint of excitement or distress.

"They're jamming all frequencies," S'Tron replied in his imperturbable voice. But the tension of the moment shone in his eyes. "We can extend our shields to cover the freighter or the cargo but not both... and this will put us dangerously close to the invidium cloud."

"Which will also make us a sitting duck," warned the strategic ops officer. "And if that gas touches us, we will be a lacquered duck."

On the screen, one of the raptor-shaped destroyer shimmered into view. But this time, Carmillia and Sheeneea were ready. The Polaris shifted angle so abruptly that they even felt the jolt through their PIDs.  Phaser cannons blasted directly at  it and the Klingon attacker recloaked. Because of the time it had took to orient the heavier weaponry of the Polaris, it's shields had reformed just in time to avoid complete destruction.

"Damage to their bow plating, but their torpedo launcher is disabled," reported the tactical officer, now smiling savagely. "At least this one will not spit anymore at us for a while!"

The hull around them vibrated and the image on the screen swirved dizzyingly as the Polaris moved into wild evasive maneuvers. Blinding flashes of light obscured the view at the same moment.

"But it can still be an effective lure," Nathaniel then reminded his commanding officer.

"Shields down to seventy-six percent!" the Edoan engineer announced. Ventral hull plating weakening!"

"They're ignoring the Champlain completely; they must want it and it's cargo," the strategic officer suggested then.

They knew it was a matter of seconds before a new attack would strike. Their survival was counted in seconds as well. But no one suggested a retreat. They were all Starfleet officers, ready to lay down their lives to protect Federation citizens and rights. But they would not just lay down and die. They were all poised to follow Redding's next orders.

Redding still couldn't convince himself that he wasn't suffering from temporal reversion, but those torpedo impacts felt real enough.

"Move us away from the Champlain, best possible speed." he said without a hint of hesitation.

"Abandoning the Champlain, Sir?" wondered Lieutenant Gray, eyes wide.

"A little tactic I call the spoilsport maneuver, so far its worked every time on pirates." Redding gave a slight grin. " Arm one of our modified torpedos and target the freighter, fire at maximum optimum range, make sure the Klingons have enough time to target and shoot it." 

Whether or not they were actually Klingons, the three birds of prey wouldn't have time to decide which one of them should target the torpedo, making it most likely all of them would. He had no doubt that his apt crew would take full advantage of their greed.

If this really was the product of a layered memory, those three ships would be captained by the Ferengi. Given their predictable level of greed, he hoped for once that this was the case.

"Quantum torpedoes are just as fast and shielded as their latest photon types," the tactical woman stated. "The only way to do that is by launching the torpedo as a mine,". Ready, Sir."

"If we use it as a mine to provoke harsh action, we have to drop it as close as possible to the freighter," the strategic officer noted. "Helm; plot our trajectory to fly by the Champlain at maximum impulse, then maximum warp away from here."

He turned to Redding.

"At your command, Sir. Heading?"

"I..." Redding paused. "No, they'd never... fall for a mine attack against..." What was going on? he knew that quantum torpedoes moved to fast for that maneuver.. didn't he?

Then, with a look of painful frustration on his face he stood up. "Gray.. take the conn." Never in his life did he want to give that order, it was harder than he imagined.

"Sir?"

"Just do it!" he said with a bitter snarl, and stood off to the right of the captain's chair.

His pride churned against the walls of his stomach but he ignored it, this was what had to be done.

Puzzled and definitely nervous, the lieutenant stood before the command chair but did not sit in it. His hand went to his sweating brow.

He... helm..." he stuttered as he swallowed hard. " full impulse... bearing... err bearing 020 mark 15, standby warp drive. Science, Full... full sensor scan to get those Klingons as soon as they decloak. Tactical... drop mine as we cross the Champlain's path."

His nervousness contaminated everyone on the bridge but they all answered "Aye, Sir" and the image of the freighter suddenly loomed very large before them.

"Klingons decloaking!" shouted Valencia Irksos, louder than usual. "Same attack formation!"

On the screen, the round bow of the freighter went past them on the starboard side.

"Drop mine!"

"Torpedo away!" Carmillia Julian confirmed through clenched teeth. 

"Warpspeed!" yelled Gray.

Instantly, the stars stretched all around the screen then a flash shifted the blurry luminous lines into swiftly moving points of light. The jump was so sudden that it took their PIDs for them to stay in place.

"Maximum warp," said Sheenea, the only one apparently calm and composed among all of them junior officers. But that was only because Andorians were physiologically hardwired to get calmer and more focused in a crisis. but that also made her quite dangerous; a wrong word or move and she could lash out like a savage predator.

The only one truly in control was Vulcan ops chief S'tron. His deep, calm tone did much to counter Nathaniel's infectious nervousness.

"We have cleared the jamming zone."

"One of the Klingon ships is near the freighter, apparently disabled. It's the one we shot earlier," Irksos reported with a forced grin.  "Apparently, detonating it themselves sent the invidium gas cloud straight to it's face and contaminated their systems before their shields could be fully raised."

The strategic lieutenant let a sigh of relief blow from between his dry lips, then turned his blinking eyes to Redding standing beside him.

"And I... I thought the Kobayashi Maru was just a... a useless simulation... N-nice tactic there... Sir..."

"And it's not over yet," Carmillia growled. "The other two Birds of Prey are in pursuit, We are distancing them... but not by much."

"They can't match our emergency speed," engineer Jeonghun informed them, finally able to regain a fraction of his thin voice. "And just to try to keep up, they will need all of their reserve power; which means no cloak and minimal shields." 

"And as long as we stay at warp, they can only use torpedoes as well," the tactical woman reminded them all to try and calm down everyone.

Then the ship's comm beeped.

"Sickbay to bridge; what's going on out there? Are we helping out that freighter or not? Any casualties?"

Silence weighted heavily on all of them. No one looked at Redding but they were all waiting.

Suddenly Reddings mind cleared, he was sure where, WHEN he was again.

He answered the Comm. "Stand by Doctor, it's not over yet." and placed his hand on Nathans shoulder. "Good work Gray, return to your post."

He would have liked to play it off as though he was just testing the young man, but it might happen again, so until he checked it out he had to err on the side of caution.

As such he would now do what he almost would never do, ask advice.

"Tactical; can we take the two remaining birds with a reasonable chance of success?"

"With a ship like the Polaris, aye," Carmillia answered. "We have superior firepower and speed... but they match our armor and maneuverability. They have cloaking which is basically a tactical advantage but which can prove detrimental if they rely too heavily on it, since it drains much of their power, unshielding them in transit. And with only about a dozen officers and men aboard, they cannot sustain casualties as well as we do with our own crew five times theirs."

She turned in her seat to face him.

"It all comes down to their commander and their tactics compared to ours, Sir. Two against one, they can afford a few mistakes. We might very well go down at the first one we will do."

She knew her analysis sounded like criticism; but she was a straightforward, non-nonsense woman. If she had been shy about ruffling feathers when speaking her mind, she would have chose diplomacy or counselling as a career.

And she knew enough of the flagship's first officer to know that he could take it... and then give some back. And that's the way she liked it... and him.

"So.." Redding said thoughtfully. " What your saying is we have them badly out classed?" And grinned. "I like those odds."

"One on one, aye, " the muscular woman confirmed." But they have numerical advantage. In tactical terms, that means that, as a pair, they have four times our effective power."

This reminded Redding that not all aliens got human hubris jokes, he of course meant all their commanders against him.

Now calmer, Nathaniel Gray stepped closer to Redding's right.

"Klingons revel with the idea of dying in battle. I estimate one would maneuver to sacrifice itself to allow the other a killing shot at us. As Cyrano De Bergerac said; an officer does not abdicate the honor of being the target. The question is, witch one of those two ships will get that honor?"

"These are Klingon raiders, Mr. Gray, if they're Klingon at all." He shrugged slightly.  "I served four years on a Klingon ship doing boarder patrols. I assure you, they don't subscribe to that kind of honor."

He did his best to say it without criticism, Gray didn't deserve that.

"But to answer you question, I don't think either ship will get that honor." Redding said seriously.

He stood up to better address the room.

"Drop us out of warp and bring us about. As soon as they go to impulse, I'm expecting them to activate cloaks. If that happens, take us immediately back to the freighter."

He then turned to the Vulcan.

"S'tron, we need to jam any signals they try to send back to their third ship. I want to catch them in the act, if you understand my meaning."

"Sir, if we also drop a jamming probe targeted to one of them, it will not only do the job but force them to destroy it."

Carmillia Julian grinned towards the  ops officer.

"Diverting their firepower and attention, providing at least a few seconds to surprise them with our maneuver; quite devious for a Vulcan..."

"Guile would be a more proper term, Lieutenant," S'tron retorted impassively.

Redding sat back down.

"If we engage and they fight, fine. But I think their trying to keep us away from the prize."

Indeed, if they did fight, it might mean there was more going it than a simple heist.

Gray stepped closer to the big man in the captain's chair to speak more privately.

"If I may, Sir; why do you think these are raiders? There's easier, richer and tactically better suited targets on the other side of the anomaly, along their own borders where they can haul it back to base, or take refuge, even get reinforcements... And how could they have known there was a disabled freighter on this side in the first place? And how could simple raiders reach it so quickly and despite the satellite surveillance net  and patrolling ships guarding the anomaly?"

Then, something else that the flagship's first officer had said struck him suddenly. He leaned closer.

"And, Sir... what makes you think they might not even be Klingons?"

"All valid and well thought out reasons Gray, but think about what you just said. If the Klingons are out here in a military action, that means that they have slipped past our net guarding the Azimuth portal and managed to stay out of site until now. So they can steal cargo from a freighter or ambush the Polaris? I don't think so."

He shook his head slightly.

"And I think they are Klingons, but something's off with them. Their ships are well equipped and their tactics very efficient, but there's no... joy... in their actions. Klingons take all forms of combat very personally, and I'm just not feeling it."

The young officer blinked at this.

"Now that you say it, Sir... indeed, they are a bit odd; no boasting, no challenge... even this three against one assault is rather... cowardly, especially for Klingons. Something is amiss here."

He looked at the big man in the command chair.

"We are ready to invite them to the dance, Sir. Just give the word."

"Take us in Sheeneea, and try to make us look determined to fight."

"Droping out of warp," she answered as the streaks of lights coalesced into flickering bright points spread all accross the screen before them. "Coming about, full impulse."

The Raiders might be expecting a dosey doe but Redding was planning on doing more of a rope a dope maneuver.

The Andorian at the helm and the woman at the tactical station didn't look at one another; yet they were ready to work  together.

"Launching probes," Julian announced.

On the viewer and on their sensors, the low-winged alien destroyers appeared one on top of the other. As soon as they came out of warp, they opened fire with their disruptor cannons. But the sudden, unexpected turn of the Polaris sent their four streaks of reddish fire tear empty space. Before they could cloak, two probes, one from each end of the Starfleet warship, shot out and arced straight at them. As they were built on the same casing as torpedoes, the enemy ships used their best defense against what they taught were attacking warheads; they cloaked.

"Jamming active," S'tron confirmed.

"Warpspeed," Sheeneea said as the stars turned again into lightstreaks.

Completely taken by surprise and for a moment more concerned with the incoming pseudo-torpedoes with no way to communicate and sensors momentarily muffled, the Klingon ships took several seconds before they realized what happened. Only after those several seconds did they reappear to sensors as they jumped to emergency warp, again trying to keep up with the much faster Aquarius class vessel. The two long range class VIII probes for a while would keep up with them.

"One good roll of the dice for us," Gray sighed with relief. "If they want to destroy the probes, they will have to turn around to shoot them down with torpedoes from their lone forward tube or drop out of warp to blast them with disruptors... and in doing either, risk loosing us. They'll be jammed all the way back to the freighter and will not be able to warn their accomplice back there."

Redding stood up and grinned.

"Excellent work everyone. If I was still an Admiral, I'd be handing out a few commendations right now, so instead I'll just recommend them. Now, get us back to that freighter and push it a bit if you can, the more time we have before those two..." he jacked his thumb back words in the main view screen, " catch up, the better chance we have to figure out what their up to and secure the freighter."

"Aye, Sir," Shheneea and Carmilla Julian answered in unison.

"We can easily maintain emergency speed back to the Champlain," Jheonghun assured him. "Estimating they will go to emergency warp as well, that will give us nine minutes over them."

He walked up to Gray.

"Have a security detail standing by for transport. They might have already boarded the ship, and it's crew likely wont be able to put up a decent fight. life support belts of course in case the gas didn't properly vent."

"Carmilla, you better lead the assault. I'll take over tactical."

"Suits me just fine," the muscular woman said as she left the chair for Gray and headed for the turbolift. "Klingons give good exercise."

Redding too then went to tactical.

"I what that Bird of Prey disabled ASAP if it's not already, priority is getting a full sensor sweep of it's crew, systems and cargo."

"Understood, Sir," the strategic ops officer responded as he keyed the tactical console to his own command code.

"S'Tron, do you know what a 'wild weasel' is? and if so, does it still work in this day and age?"

The Vulcan eyebrow's went up.

"Indeed  I do, Sir. An old tactic rarely used nowadays... From what we know of standard Bird of Prey technology and the proper use of our own equiptment for this option, I estimate a ninety four point seven percent chance that it will work as expected."

"Better than I hoped for, get on it then."  then turned to address the bridge.

"Okay everyone, we all know what we need to do and how to do it. There's a freighter with a scared crew out there that only has us to pin hope on, so lets not let them down." and with a reassuring nod to each station he returned to his seat.

Their flight was as swift and silent as when they had retreated to drag the Klingons away from the endangered freighter. When they dropped out of warp, they immediately saw on their viewer that the third Bird of Prey was in a stationary orbit around the the Champlain, albeit at the respectable distance from the gaseous haze still clinging to part of it's cargo pods behind it.

"The klingon ship is trying to raise shields," Gray reported, "but the power levels are fluctuating on and off."

"They've been affected by the invidium that our torpedo blew into their faces," Irksos understood. "They probably have no clue what is happening to them since Klingons never used the stuff.. Even when such an accident had happened on the Enterprise D, it had taken quite some time before they figured it out. And Bird of Prey crews do not usually carry that many scientists and top notch technicians to begin with."

"But they do carry intimidating warriors," the strategic ops officer shot back. "I read half a dozen of them on the Champlain's bridge. No weapons fire detected yet. The ship is locking weapons on us."

"eight minutes, thirteen seconds before the other two arrive," reminded Sheeneea. 

"Curious... " Irksos stated as her eyes where glued to her sensor readout. "Sir... the lifesigns of the Klingons on their ship are difficult to detect because of their shield's interference; but those on the Champlain... they do not seem to conform exactly to what we have in the database."

This knowledge made Redding pause. Although he had already expected news like this, but now that it was confirmed...

"Update the security detail on this and have them stand by for transport," Redding said a bit uncomfortably.

"Lieutenant Julian is acknowledging. She has a full security team with her in the transporter room, her and two of her men already on the pads."

He really, REALLY wanted to go himself; and not long ago, from his perspective, it would have been the normal way of doing things. But with the two other Birds of Prey on approach, it would be improper to leave the ship.

"Disable that ship, whatever it takes, we don't have the luxury of being polite." he said firmly.

"They did draw first blood," Gray answered stiffly. " Phaser cannons and phaser strips locked on target, quantum torpedoes in both tubes, wild weasel ready to launch from shuttlebay.."

He blinked before turning an alarmed expression towards his commanding officer.

"Sir they... they are maneuvering behind the Champlain... using it as a shield between us and them!"

He didn't have to say more. Even with their ship disabled, warriors of the Empire would still welcome the fight; all the more glory if they died battling with such a tactical disadvantage against a state-of-the-art Federation warship, giving time for their comrades to come and finish the enemy as they sacrificed themselves. But this, such a cowardly maneuver, hiding behind civilians, it was definitely unklingon.

"Yes.. yes it is." his eyes narrowed.

They want to play peek-a-boo; fine. They left their people wide open.

"Redding to transporter room; lock on to three of the Klingons aboard the freighter and perform a concurrent transport, they just gave us a clear shot at them. If you can't get a solid lock on them, proceed to transport our team over anyway; but if you do get the Klingons, disarm and contain them."

If nothing else, Redding wanted at least one of these people to talk too when the immediate threat was over.

"Aye, Sir," came back the throaty voice of Carmillia Julian over the intercom.

The soft whine of the transporter was heard before the com closed. Since the freighter,s shields were inoperative, they could obviously board her just as easily as the Klingons had done.

"Mr. Gray, I still want that ship, but don't rush in. They might be trying to draw us into a surprise." he said and gave him a stiff nod.

"Aye, Sir. Sheeneea, try to maneuver so that we change places with them in the next... fifty-three seconds."

Under the apt fingers of the Andorian Helmswoman, the Polaris circled the Starfleet freighter at an oblique angle, leaving the crippled Bird of Prey only three choices; go again through the disabling invidium cloud, confront the Starfleet warship head on, or follow a circuitous route of his own under and around the immobilized USS Champlain.

"They're trying weapons lock but their targeting system seems to be malfunctioning," the SOO Lieutenant grinned, his eyes on his firing controls.

Both ships danced around the crippled transport for a few tense seconds until the other two Klingon destroyers dropped out of warp, right behind it.

Gray's fingers were poised over the torpedo controls, his board tracing their path over the Champlain so as to force the Klingon ships to take a lower angle to evade them and avoid a collision with their crippled accomplice... right where the Polaris cannons were already poised. Near him, S'tron's own index was ready to launch their wild weasel from the shuttlebay.

"Gentlemen.. unleash hell." was Reddings only remark.

Not knowing if the Klingon boarders had what they wanted or how they would react to the news that they also had people on it, the risk that they would simply destroy the freighter now was to great to allow them the opportunity to do so.

"Fire the Wild Weasel at your discretion, Mister S'Tron." He would hold off on the Weasel until the right time, and he was sure S'Tron would know when that would be.

"Torpedoes away!" announced Gray.

There was a sudden vibration and some distant booming from somewhere under their feet. On the viewer, what appeared at first as a big blob of blueish light split into five distincts stars that flew faster than any ship towards the incoming Klingon ships, right over the saucer section of the Ptolemy class freighter. And then, the Birds of prey did a very peculiar and unexpected dance; as the foremost, crippled one dragged itself backward to regroup with the other two, those moved swiftly in line right behind it.

"What the..."

The Strategic Ops officer understood just as he wondered about the maneuver; but still he couldn't beleive it. At so short a distance and so close for such fast moving projectiles, the ships movements confused their tracking sensors and, before they could compensate and correct their course, they all impacted the first warship.

One standard quantum torpedo was more than enough to level a city; on a ship with minimal shields, five of them left only a thin cloud of sparkling dust, glowing vapors and remants of antimatter radiation. When the blinding detonation subsided, there was no other trace left of the crippled Klingon destroyer.

And none at all of any of the other two.

"That was.. inspiring." Redding said in amazment.

But there wasn't time to be awestruck.

"Mister S'Tron; dim the lights and launch the weasel, weapons stand by to acquire new targets."

He was fairly sure they had re-cloaked.

"Manual targeting on standby, all weapons hot," Lieutenant Gray spoke in a hushed tone.

"Can we get a status update on Carmilla's team? are there still Klingons on board?" For they knew if the Klingons had what they wanted, then they where sneaking off under cloak.

" Wild weasel launching," the Vulcan confirmed first." Transporter room reports boarding is underway."

He spoke in a whisper as lights dimmed and all systems but the most essential were put offline. With the modified shuttle emitting the equivalent of a starship's power signature, reducing theirs as much as possible would ensure the lure would be convincing enough. That was also the reason why Gray targeted without active instruments; a target lock would be detected and betray their true location.

And for several long, tense seconds, all was deadly quiet.

Then, on their viewer, two raptor-shaped vessels appeared in a converging pattern and fired torpedoes at the instant they became fully visible. But the two torpedoes were not aimed at the Polaris but several hundreds of thousands of kilometers in front of it. 

"Ready to fire!" Gray managed to murmur despite his excitement at the fleeting opportunity they had created the moment the two destroyers appeared.

What detonated was the wild weasel they had launched for just this purpose. Both barely decloaked Birds of Prey were now still raising shields, torpedo tubes not yet reloaded and offering both their flanks to them.

"Fire all batteries!" Reddings lips were drawn back in a tight smile, he lived for these moments, outwitting his opponents and turning it to an advantage.

During his command of the Klingon scout ship Terren Koth, he often refused to engage his cloaking device in combat unless directly ordered to do so, declaring it a handicap that only poor commanders needed to rely upon, routinely quoting the old saying that 'striking from the dark is the way of an assassin, not a warrior.' While this made a powerful impression on his crew, the other commanders in his battle group complained and challenged him on it constantly.

But no one on this ship challenged him now... nor the Champlain; as the Polaris fired, a phaser beam shot out also from the front arc of the freigther, adding it's power to the escort vessel against one of their assailants.

"Port target suffered heavy damage to starboard weapons arrray shield emitters and wing armor plating," reported Irksos from or sensors following the powerful phaser beams and pulses the Polaris weapons poured out on both Birds of Prey. " Starboard target port hull is breached, plating gone and impulse engines damaged. They are recloaking."

"Coming around the Champlain so as to draw their fire away from it," the Andorian helmswoman added as the form of the freighter was swept away to offer an unobstructed view of the wounded Klingon ships turning away and fading.

"They're running away!" engineer Jeonghun wondered outloud.

"Target locked!" now exclaimed Gray without any further restraint as they had fully revealed themselves. He knew the lock would be lost in the next second.

"Continue firing until disabled or destroyed, preferably the former." he said with slightly less enthusiasm in his voice, he disliked shooting at a wounded fleeing target but regardless of how wounded they were as long as they had an active cloak they would remain a threat.

"Issue a surrender signal, not that I think it will matter regardless if they're Klingon or not.." he would in fact be disappointed if they accepted.

"They're still jamming all frequencies, Sir," S'tron reported as the Polaris phasers struck again.

They had barely cloaked and the targeting computer helped Gray make a perfect evaluation of their possible speed, direction and orientation. Seemingly firing at empty space, the orange streaks of lights from the phaser strips and drops of fiery energy of the cannons illuminated starkly the silhouette of the two Klingon destroyers. They both reappeared as one exploded from receiving direct fire to it's warp core; the other warped away, leaving duranium, deuterium and plasma behind like a wounded beast limping away, broken and defeated.

"Jamming has stopped," the Vulcan ops officer announced. ". All decks report no damage or casualties. USS Champlain's condition now stabilized and secured for the moment but their invidium leak and damage still need to be addressed."

"Second enemy ship destroyed, third one moving away again under cloak," Irksos confirmed from her science station. "Last bearing was..."

She stopped then, frowning, her soft, dark features frozen in obvious perplexity. 

"Sir... in the direction this Bird of Prey seemingly took, long range sensors are picking up... disturbance in the local area. Too far to make a clear identification as the nearby emissions of the Azimuth Horizon are causing much interference but... but it seems to be local cyclic distorsions of space-time."

"Like what we find in the anomaly itself?" wondered engineer Jeonghun.

"Not exactly; this one seems cyclic like the emissions of a pulsar... and it is not a sensor echo from the anomaly," Irksos said, anticipating the Edoan's train of thought. "There is no space anomaly in this area of space... but there is... something... there are gravitational waves consistent with the presence of a planetary-sized body... but there is no star system located there and still, this is where those distorsions come from."

"And where our friendly Klingons flew away to," mused Gray.

They were all interrupted by the ship's com and the voice of Doctor Osaro-Lyth.

"Sickbay to bridge; Commander Redding, if you are through dancing with your friends out there, I strongly suggest you come here."

"Suggestion noted, I'll be there as soon as I can." but made no immediate move to leave his chair.

"Hail the Horizon," he said to the communications officer.

"Sir," answered S'tron, "the Horizon is already hailing us."

On the viewer appeared the stern countenance of Captain Kheren sitting in his command chair. The image was slightly distorted by the proximity of the Azimuth Horizon. It looked as if he was in a tank of syrupy water.

"Commander Redding here, Sir; two Klingon ships destroyed and another heavily damaged and heading towards what could be a temporal anomaly. With verification that we can leave the freighter safely, requesting permission to pursue remaining ship."

The Andorian's deep soft voice had a faint echo as he spoke.

"Horizon to Polaris; Good job Commander. Take care of the freighter as best you can and stay on alert. That fleeing Klingon might come back with reinforcements. We will reach you in less than an hour. We will assess the situation then. Horizon out."

Redding frowned and noted that communications were cut off before he could respond. "Reinforcements?" he mumbled with disdain. In his opinion letting the ship go increase the likelihood of reinforcements, as there was nothing keeping them from calling them anyway.

But ultimately the captain was right, protecting the freighter had to come first, and the Horizon was far more capable of dealing with the anomaly than they were.