Act V

Captain T'Cirya entered the bridge and proceeded directly toward her now-vacated command chair. "Status?"

Leone pulled herself up out of the captain's chair the moment the turbolift doors closed behind her commanding officer. Without hesitation, she answered, "Lieutenant Dawkins and his team are aboard the freighter, now, sir. They're ready to get underway."

"Signal Commander Elannis, disengage the tractor beam."

Ariel's fingers danced over the console. "Tractor beam disengaged, Captain." Upon the screen, the shimmering blue light of the tractor beam disappeared as the Flying Dutchman drifted without further aid. "Lieutenant Dawkins is reporting they're now clear and free to navigate."

"'Captain' Dawkins," corrected T'Cirya.

"Yes, sir."

T'Cirya turned her head slightly to address the chief petty officer seated at the communications console. "Inform the captain that he may proceed at full impulse power to clear the ship, then approach the Turkana system at warp four."

The message's effect was nearly immediate; the Dutchman's impulse engines glowed brightly and the freighter dwindled quickly as it sped away from the Potemkin. Moments later, the warp engines flashed and accelerated the ship to warp, with the telltale blue-white starburst in the distance.

"Their ETA to the system is fifteen minutes," reported Ariel, immediately.

"Very well," said T'Cirya with a short nod. She did not turn her head as she called to her executive officer, "Commander Leone."

Leone stepped forward from behind the captain and replied, "Aye, sir." A series of orders flew from her lips, and the bridge's alert status indicator flashed amber as the ship went to yellow alert. She punctuated each order by standing over each manned station. Finally, Leone stood over the helm; "Ahead warp seven. Bring us out of warp close enough to Turkana III to approach the pole opposite the Dutchman."

Dawkins' plan called for Potemkin to lie in wait as they drew the fighters out of hiding. Once they approached and swarmed the freighter, he would release the escape pods and let them float within the swarm before activating the photon torpedoes that lay within each one. The proximity of the torpedoes would be enough to collapse the fragile hulls of the aged fightercraft. Should the plan fail, or the freighter's shield generators fail and the reinforced armor buckle, Potemkin could sail forward within an instant, transport their crew back to the ship, then retreat from the system.

Although Leone presented her misgivings about the plan to her captain, T'Cirya decided in favor of the brash strategy, much to the surprise of the senior staff. However, the captain assuaged them that the highest priority, according to the Starfleet mandate, was to protect all shipping lanes from piracy. The fighters presented a dangerous threat to shipping passing through the Turkana system. At the very least, they could place a warning buoy to avoid entering the system, but they would be severely remiss in their duty if they did not attempt to remove the threat permanently.

The stars streaked by on the main viewscreen until the ship slowed the sublight speeds. By her own count, they spent less than thirty seconds at high warp before reaching the system. Quickly, the ship angled toward the planet and dived down beneath its southern pole.

"We're in position, sir," said the helmsman.

Captain T'Cirya replied, "Very well. Reduced power mode, all non-essential systems. Passive sensors only."

As soon as the captain gave her order, the bridge lighting disappeared. The cerulean band of the status indicator provided only a modicum of illumination, and it was the consoles that made up the difference.

Ariel reported, "Active sensors offline. Passive sensor data available on tactical display."

"On viewer," said Leone.

The scene on the main viewscreen shifted from the southern curve of Turkana III to a top-down view of the range of the ship's sensors. Seconds after the change in view, the Federation seal representing the Flying Dutchman appeared near the bottom of the screen.

"Dutchman on sensors, now, sir."

"Thank you, Commander Elannis. Send our traffic as planned, Chief."

The communications chief nodded. "Sending tactical data, aye, sir." Potemkin transmitted their most recent sensor data to the Dutchman, encoded. "We're receiving their acknowledgment, Captain."

"Very well." T'Cirya uncrossed her legs to swivel her chair to face Leone. "Commander."

"Aye, sir. Helm, lay in a rendezvous course for the Dutchman."

"Course laid in, sir."

Leone looked up toward the ceiling. "Bridge to engineering."

"Engineering; Johansen, here."

"Oleg, keep an open commlink. Stand by to turn it all on."

"We're ready to go down here, sir."

"Captain," said Ariel, "the Dutchman is now adrift. Their warp drive is offline, and impulse engines are damaged."

"They're sending out a low-powered distress call," reported the communications chief. "Doesn't look like it will reach outside the star system."

"Everything's going according to plan," the captain said. "Prepare to execute on the XO's order."

No one spoke from that point on. The standard hum of bridge activity served as white noise to the heightened tension of waiting for the enemy. Nearly all eyes glued to the tactical display as they waited.

A minute passed.

Then five.

Nearly fifteen more minutes passed before Ariel's voice pierced the festering silence.

"Multiple inbound contacts, Captain!"

Leone snapped her head toward her friend. "Identify."

"Remora-class impulse fighters, sir. Same as before. They're on a fast intercept toward the Dutchman." She added, "Without active sensors, sir, I'm unable to determine if they're weapons hot."

"We could request a sensor packet from the Dutchman," offered the helmsman helpfully.

The captain shook her head. "Negative. Maintain radio silence per Captain Dawkins' instructions."

Leone asked, "Ariel, what's their ETA?"

"At present speed, thirteen minutes, forty-seven seconds."

Once the fighters entered weapons' range, they wasted little time in firing on the freighter. Their powerful phasers lanced through the dark to make ferocious contact with the Dutchman's shields. Energy interacting with energy made for an impressive display of light as they altered their view from tactical to a high magnification real-time scene of the one-sided battle.

As planned, the escape pods began to float away from the freighter. Unplanned, the fighters began shooting at the pods before they could clear the ship. The first pod exploded after its hull broke away under the power of the fighters' phasers.

"Oh, no!" cried Ariel.

The phaser's energy made contact with the active warhead immediately. A massive explosion appeared on the screen. It obscured their view of the battle completely. Once the fireball died in the vacuum, an almost collective gasp sounded on the bridge of the Potemkin.

Leone drew a hand to her mouth in disbelief.

The viewscreen showed nothing but a field of stars.