Star Trek TOS: Ruse - Chapter Five "Let the Game Begin" (standard:Fan Fiction, 3024 words) [6/10] show all parts
Author: Kirk	Added: Aug 06 2006	Views/Reads: 2462/2019	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The Romulan invasion begins.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

way to his drive ship faster. 

“Aye, that will free up quite a bit of power. But, if the Romulans
attack us, I canna guarantee that I can get the shields back up before 
they seriously damage us,” replied the Chief Engineer. 

“Do it,” said Kirk. 

Scotty pushed several buttons on his console. The Red Alert lights
stopped blinking and several indicators went dark on Scott and Sulu's 
stations. 

Kirk walked over to his chair and hit ‘All Ship'. The Bosun's whistle
was heard. 

“This is the Captain. Even though I've ordered the ship to stand down
from Red Alert, all personnel are to remain at ‘battle stations'. 
Captain out.” 

Kirk walked back to Scott's station and watched as the power curve
dropped on the warp engines, as the weapons and shields were taken 
off-line. Scott made a few adjustments and channeled that power to the 
drive itself. 

“Captain, speed is increasing,” Sulu said, in a raised voice. 

Kirk gave Scott a few pats on the shoulder. 

“Our speed has increased to warp 9.6, now 9.8. Speed is still
increasing.” Sulu had to make a few adjustments on his gauges to 
continue. “Speed is now warp 10.3,” he said, winking at Finney, who had 
a grin on his face. 

Kirk turned to look at Scott. “It's those new crystals, Sir,” he said,
feeling proud of his engine room. 

“Okay Scotty, just keep it coming. ETA, Mr. Sulu?” 

“One hour, seven minutes,” replied the helmsman. 

Kirk knew that each increase in warp was exponential, so the dramatic
decrease in time wasn't a surprise, merely welcome. 

EXCALIBUR: 

The science officer stood and yelled, “Multiple contacts on the movement
sensors! I count six ships crossing the Neutral Zone, heading into 
Federation space!” 

“Red Alert! Battle stations! On screen!” commanded Captain Carmela Diaz.
She hit the ‘All Call' on the arm of her chair. “Admiral Komack to the 
bridge!” 

On the view screen there was nothing there but a star field. 

“Captain! I'm receiving calls from the other four ships, wanting to talk
to the Admiral,” shouted the Comm officer. 

“Hail, them all!” snapped Diaz. 

“Hailing frequency's open, Sir,” replied the young Ensign. 

“Diaz here, do not wait for the Admiral! Target those ships with your
motion sensors and fire at will. Do not let them slip through and head 
to Earth!” she bellowed. “Navigator, target the closest ship and fire 
photon torpedoes, proximity fuse, spread pattern Sierra!” Diaz 
commanded. 

The navigator switched the target lock to manual, adjusted the angle of
launch and released the photons. On the view screen, three torpedoes 
raced away from the ship and detonated within seconds.  The first two 
hit the warp capable Warbird, the cloak failed, and it became visible 
as a regular target. The third missed. 

“Ready phasers!” Diaz yelled to the helmsman. 

“Sir, I'm still getting calls from the other ships to talk to the
Admiral,” stated the Ensign, as an arm reached over his shoulder and 
opened a channel. 

“This is Komack. What more do you need to know from me? Diaz told you
what to do! Open fire!” snapped Komack, even as the turbo lift doors 
swooshed shut following his entrance to the bridge. 

“Sir, there is a massive buildup of power on the Warbird,” stated the
science officer. 

“Fire phasers!” shouted Diaz. 

Twin beams of fury shot out from the forward phasers of the Excalibur to
the Warbird. It was struck, but withstood the attack. 

“Full reverse! Maximum warp!” ordered Komack, within a split second of
the Warbird firing it's plasma weapon at them. The starship turned on 
its axis and shot into warp a fraction of a second before the weapon 
could envelope them. Then the weapon itself accelerated into warp in 
pursuit. 

POTEMKIN: 

Captain Ivan Golov had just ordered a full photon spread on an anomaly
showing on their motion detectors, when there was a tremendous 
explosion that rocked the ship. The shock wave had come from the 
direction that the Excalibur had jumped into warp. The bridge personnel 
were thrown from their seats and were scrambling to regain their 
stations. On the view screen, two photons hit a Warbird and it was 
briefly illuminated to the point of the vessel being visible. 

“Target that ship and fire all weapons!” Golov shouted to his navigator.


The navigator punched several buttons and two photons spewed from the
ship as well as four phaser beams from the forward and mid-ship phaser 
rooms. The phasers hit first, preventing the shields on the Warbird 
from being raised. The photons then hit their target and the Romulan 
vessel went up like a small star exploding. The Potemkin's forward 
shields absorbed most of the force of the blast, but it still rocked 
the ship. 

“Lieutenant, hail the Admiral! Commander, scan for the Excalibur!” he
excitedly uttered to his comm officer and science officer. “Navigator, 
target the Warbird that fired on the Excalibur and destroy it,” he 
said, watching the view screen. 

Twin beams lashed out and dissected the Romulan vessel. 

“Commander, have you found the Excalibur?” 

“No, Sir.” 

“Lieutenant, anything on our hails?” 

“Negative, Sir.” 

Golov leaned forward in his chair and put his head in his hands. 

“God, no,” he said quietly. 

REPUBLIC: 

“Captain!” shouted the science officer. 

“Yes?” replied Captain Morgan Williams from his chair. 

“Ship decloaking aft!” 

“180 degrees about and fire!” he screamed to the navigator, as he leaped
from his chair. The Romulan vessel launched its weapon; just as all of 
the Republics weapons came to bear on the Warbird. The invading ship 
was torn apart, but the plasma weapon still hit the Republic fully on 
it's forward deflector screens. 

The shields lit up and cascaded up the spectrum from visible light to
ultraviolet until they collapsed. The ship was then enveloped by the 
weapon, and the ship's hull imploded, which released the matter and 
anti-matter in the warp core, resulting in total annihilation. 

Four hundred and twenty four souls went to their death. 

DEFIANT: 

Captain Ronald Jones, as well as most of his bridge crew, were thrown
from their chairs with the force of an explosion. The Science officer 
was able to hold his ground and peered into his viewer. 

“That was the Republic, Sir. It's gone,” yelled the Ensign, over the
alarms. 

“Shit! Get me a target. Any target, now!” bellowed Jones to his bridge
crew. 

“Motion detectors show two targets, both moving toward The Hood,” the
Science officer replied. 

“Weapons to manual! Fire!” commanded Jones. 

“I can't, Sir. At his angle, if we miss, we stand a chance to hit The
Hood!” shouted the navigator. 

“Evasive! Get us to an angle to attack and not put The Hood in the line
of fire.” 

“Sir! One of the two Romulan ships is decloaking and powering up its
shields and weapon!” shouted the Science officer. 

“Helmsman! Set for ramming speed! Execute now!” screamed Jones. 

The Defiant accelerated to the Romulan ship and hit it with its forward
shields. That caused the Warbird's shields to act like a bumper as the 
two ships bounced off of each other. 

“Navigator, fire all weapons at that vessel!” shouted Jones. 

“Sir, we're too close!” 

“Fire!” Jones said, shaking the back of the navigator's chair. 

The navigator swallowed hard and punched the buttons that more than
likely seal their own fate as well as the Romulans. 

Nothing happened, except a massive burnout that rendered all the weapons
useless. 

“Shit!” said the Science officer, as he dropped to the floor and pulled
a cover off the base of his station. The circuits were fried. “Get the 
ship out of here, Sir. We're defenseless!” 

“Navigator, any heading, helmsman, maximum warp, now!” snapped Jones, as
the Romulan vessel fired its weapon at them. The Defiant hit warp, but 
the weapon failed to make the jump with them. It collapsed on itself 
and ceased to exist. It was a dud. 

HOOD: 

All of this was not lost on Capitan Charles Uda. 

“Fire on that ship!” said Uda, as he gripped the back of his navigator's
chair. 

Four phaser beams emanated from the Hood to strike the Warbird that
launched on the Defiant. The photons failed to fire. On the view 
screen, they could see that the phasers had ripped a hole in the 
starboard side of the Warbird, but it was still maneuvering to face 
them. 

“Fire photon torpedoes!” said Uda, shaking the navigators chair. 

“I gave the order, Sir! They didn't fire!” answered the young Ensign. 

Uda went to his chair and hit ‘All Call'. The Bosun's whistle was heard.
“Photon room! What's wrong down there? Fire!” 

“For the Empire!” was the response, as a photon, still loaded in the
launcher was detonated. Six decks were damaged as well as ruining any 
chances of launching any photons. 

“Fire phasers again!” shouted Uda. 

The navigator punched several buttons on his console, but nothing
happened. 

“Oh no,” someone uttered. 

The Warbird steadied itself and built up power to fire it's weapons on
the Hood. Suddenly its hull was ripped open by phaser fire from The 
Potemkin, as it shot passed at half impulse. It tried in vain to regain 
control of itself but failed, as the ship ripped itself apart. 

“Thanks, Ivan,” said Uda into the Comm on his chair. 

POTEMKIN: 

“You're welcome,” replied Golov. “What happened? Did you have a photon
malfunction? We could see the explosion from here.” 

“No, we had a saboteur onboard,” answered Uda over sub-space radio. “He
killed our photon ability and our phasers are off line.” 

“Follow the Defiant. Fix your phasers and get back here,” he said,
looking at his Science officer as he waited for any other sensor 
anomalies to appear. 

The Hood jumped into warp in the direction that The Defiant took,
leaving The Potemkin alone to defend the Zone. 

“Commander, there are three more Romulan ships still here. Where are
they?” asked Golov, staring at the screen. 

“I don't see any movement, Sir.” 

“They're here and waiting to see what we are going to do. One ship
against three cloaked ships,” muttered Golov. 

“Maybe they jumped into warp and are on their way to Earth,” speculated
the helmsman. 

“Impossible. I would have seen that on my motion sensors and the star
bow from their entry point into warp would have been visible, whether 
they were cloaked or not,” replied the science officer, still peering 
into his viewer. 

The hair on the back of Golov's neck stood up. 

“180 degrees about! Fire photon torpedoes!” he commanded. 

The hands of the helmsman flew over his console and the navigator pushed
the buttons ordering a blind launch of the photons. Three torpedoes hit 
a Warbird that had been sitting just 3000 meters from their stern. The 
simultaneous explosions consumed the Warbird. The resulting shockwave 
struck The Potemkin fully on the forward shields, causing them to 
overload and collapse, leaving the ship utterly exposed to a frontal 
attack. 

Golov hit the Comm on his chair as he pulled himself from the deck after
the shockwave passed. “Engineering, status report!” he snapped, looking 
at all the warning lights flashing on several consoles around the 
bridge. 

There was a moments pause and then the reply, “Forward shields are down.
They were drained, but not damaged. We are attempting to reenergize as 
quickly as possible. There was major damage to the forward saucer 
section in the outer hull near the enlisted quarters. I've sent a crew 
there to seal off the sections. No one was in that area at the time.” 

“Captain, I have another Warbird decloaking to port!” interrupted the
Commander. 

“Helm, evasive!” ordered Golov. “Engineering, get those forward shields
back up!” 

“Sir, the forward shields have come back on-line, but are only at 20
percent. It will take several minutes for them to be at 100 percent,” 
stated a shaky navigator. 

“We can't fire at this distance without those shields. We'll go up along
with the Warbird,” mumbled Golov. 

“Sir, the Warbird is more maneuverable. She keeps getting a weapons lock
on us,” said the helmsman, as he and the navigator continued to 
randomly change course and speed. 

“Shield status?” barked Golov. 

“Thirty two percent.” 

“Sir! It's locked on to us. She's right on our aft!” 

“All reserve power to the aft shields!” ordered Golov. 

The Romulan vessel cut power to its drive and waited for some distance
to open up between the two ships and then fired. The weapon traversed 
the distance and detonated on the aft shields of The Potemkin. Somehow, 
the shields held just long enough to absorb most of the implosion and 
The Potemkin continued to exist. 

The bridge crew fumbled in the pitch dark. Most had been thrown to the
floor in the attack. Now they were suspended by weightlessness. Golov 
tasted blood in his mouth. “Emergency lights!” he ordered. They did not 
come on. Then he realized that not only was it pitch dark, it was also 
dead quiet on his ship. No lights of any kind were lit on any console, 
not that he could see any console as it was. There were no sounds of 
telemetry or engines pulsing. The most ominous lack of sound came from 
life support. At this moment, The Potemkin was powerless and totally 
vulnerable. 

************ 

The remaining Warbird decloaked close to the other that had fired on the
Potemkin. Both studied the drifting starship to detect any deception on 
its part. The last Warbird began charging its main weapon to finish the 
kill. They both maneuvered to a safe distance and dropped their shields 
enabling them to charge their weapon faster, confident that they would 
no longer need them. The Warbird took aim. 

The Excalibur dropped out of warp two kilometers away and opened fire on
the shieldless Warbirds. The Romulan vessels took severe damage but 
still were space worthy. They spilt up and circled the Excalibur. 

EXCALIBUR: 

“Fire phasers!” yelled Diaz. 

“Ma'am, our one working phaser bank is still charging!” hollered the
navigator. 

“Then fire torpedoes!” she commanded. 

“They are still loading the bays!” he replied again. 

“Evasive!” she ordered. 

“Ma'am, we are on limited impulse power,” stated the chief engineer. “It
will be like us running on sand while their skating on ice around us.” 

“Ma'am, both ships are locking on!” stated the science officer at his
station. 

“Go to warp, any direction,” she ordered the helmsman. 

The helmsman punched a button and a red indicator came on. 

“Warp drive is not available!” 

“Torpedo bays loaded.” 

“Fire torpedoes!” shouted Diaz. 

Two torpedoes reached one of the Warbirds and it was blown out of
existence. The other fired on the Excalibur. Just as the plasma weapon 
left the Warbird, it detonated, destroying the Warbird, instead of The 
Excalibur. 

Diaz started at the view screen, shaking, unable to believe what had
just happened. “Did their weapon malfunction?” she asked the science 
officer, swallowing hard. 

“No, Ma'am,” he replied, nodding his head to the view screen as he
changed the view to port. There sat another starship. “It was The 
Enterprise that fired at the weapon and detonated it.” 

Carmela placed her head in her hands and blew out a huge sigh of relief.


“Thanks, Jim,” she said softly. 

Next: Chapter Six - "Much Ado About Nothing" 


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