Blinding the hawk

"Admiral... they're dropping out of warp."

On his own command chair, Tomalak looked at the tactical display with a furrowed brow.

"distance?"

"Half a light year, Sir."

"You're sure of that? Both of them?" now inquired Commander Kraetaek, also turning towards the tactical station in his chair besides that of the admiral, the same frown on his angular face.

"The Prometheus warship shifted position behind the Ambassador cruiser a few minutes ago," now reported more in detail the officer. "The mass and size of the larger ship is hiding it from detection."

"File formation to hide their numbers," recognized the admiral. "Do they really think they can fool us so close to contact now? Pathetic..."

"We did loose sensor contact for a few seconds, Admiral," admitted the tactical officer, not without some hesitancy in his voice, his eyes glued to his monitor so as to not meet those of his superiors. " The unusally large power signature of the cruiser made for a massive tachyon burst as they reintegrated normal space. Since there is no other signal, we can only assume the smaller warship is still hiding behind it."

"Why have they dropped out of warp? Engine failure? Changing course?"

As if to answer Tomalak, a loud "ping" was heard through their evesdropping comm channels as if reverbarating throughout the hull. Then another... and another...

"Got a positive contact, Sir," Valencia Irksos confirmed to her commanding officer as the same loud signal was also perceived a moment later on the bridge of the Artemis.

"Bearing 0 mark 5, half a light year distance; mass and displacement matching that of the expected Scimitar class signal, Sir," specified Tyvya at tactical.

"Is the Alsea away?" asked the Andorian, reviewing again data of the Scimitar class scrolling on one side of the main viewer.Again, the giantess reported:

"Aye, captain; their jump to warp 9.91 was perfectly timed with our reentry into Einsteinian space, right from astern and at close range. They must have taken some of our paint along with them... But it most assuredly blinded their sensors long enough to be out of detection range by the time they got functional again. They will think we are still futilely trying to hide them behind us. By the time they will get to close range or bring active sensors online, the Alsea will be well on her way to intercept the Romulan task force."

"And now, they must know that we dropped out of warp so that we could spot them," added helmsman Aguk Snow.

"Let's make sure of that," then said Kheren straightening up in his oversized twenty-third century-style command chair. "Open a channel to them."

"Channel open," confirmed Doctor Nasaro-Myth with a smile on his handsome face.

"This is Captain Kheren of the Federation starship Artemis. IRW Shavok, we are monitoring your illegal incursion into Federation space with a heavily armed vessel. Unless you stand down, this will be treated as an Act of War."

"That should grab their attention alright," mumbled Elliago still smiling. But his smile was strained. The Romulans now knew without a doubt that they could not hide anymore; if they took this as an excuse to fight...


Admiral Tomalak grunted a sinister laugh at the threat from the Captain of the Artemis. "Hail them," he stated simply.

"But that will give away our position!" shouted Commander Kraetaek. "And I give the orders here."

"By all means, Commander, do what you think is best. But once you fire, your position will be known anyway. You know how Starfleet types like to talk, however, and we do not need to destroy them, only distract them. Why not give them what they want?"

The Commander raged, but thought it over and decided that it was of course the right action. Why risk a fight with two of Lotus Fleet's most powerful ships when you could simply talk?

"Hail them," he repeated to his communications officer, gesturing to his seat, allowing Tomalak to proceed with the discussion knowing he was much more adept at it.

The Admiral's old but still hard and stern face with his pointed, white eyebrows appeared on the Artemis' viewscreen.

"Captain, I am Admiral Tomalak. My sincere apologies for our intrusion," he said with the usual Romulan snide, false smile. "But we had heard of some radicals trying to seize control of this Azimuth Horizon and we could not let them succeed. We came to offer our help against these... what do you call them... 'Children'?"

The Andorian stood up in an obvious gesture of respect. his voice was soft but firm, the tone proper for an officer talking to a senior one.

"Tomalak? THE Admiral Tomalak? The one that fearlessly faced the Federation flagship at Galorndon Core and then outwitted Captain Jean-Luc Picard himself at Nelvana III?"

The Andorian Captain having typically not picked up on, or ignored, the subtle humorous jab levied toward the Federation in reference to enemies labeled 'Children', Admiral Tomalak decided to take a more straightforward and equally respectful approach.

"The very same, Captain, though you flatter me. Your Captain Picard was a formidable opponent... some would say I was just at the right place at the right time... 'good luck', as the humans call it?"

He then quirked an eyebrow. "But shall we not involve the other Starfleet captain in the vicinity in this dialogue we have formed? It seems proper decorum and respect would require it."

Kheren nodded in obvious agreement, but then retorted with unquestionable frankness:

"Unfortunately, the officer in the center seat of our escort is no captain. I would not disrespect the Admiral by having him discuss delicate matters of interstellar relations with a mere junior officer."

Playing with the aristocratic mentalitry of the Romulans, he knew Tomalak would be hard-pressed to dispute the point, especially with the silent, brooding ship commander and war hero forced to silence besides him. The longer Kheren could keep the Romulans unaware of the absence of the Alsea, the better.

But after this parry, it was time to counter strike: An acidic smile could almost be guessed on the rigid face of the Andorian.

"You are certainly aware, Admiral, that our last war with the Borg left Starfleet sorely depleted of too many experienced officers. Unfortunately, the Empire did not deem worthy to... answer our request and offer its selfless and courageous assistance, back then."

The underlined message was clear: you really must think us foolish children to make your lies so transparent. And your pretense at honor and courageous selflessness does not impress us at all...

The captain of the Artemis let this moment of embarrased silence sweep the Romulan bridge before taking the offensive and asking pointedly:

"May you care to explain, Admiral, why the Empire now feels compelled to... help us... with a mere domestic affair?"

"I can't speak for the decisions of our superiors at the time, Captain," Tomalak said, somberly, in what almost appeared to be a sincere apology.

He presumed his air of snide superiority quite quickly, however. "All I know is that now, at this moment, we have been sent to offer our assistance, and to be frank we weren't sure how far this cult had succeeded in infiltrating the Federation."

"Can you deny, Captain, that this renegade component has succeeded in gaining a foothold in not only several of your ships, but as high-ranking officers aboard your station? How could we be sure you weren't completely infiltrated to the highest levels?"

With a smile, he added, "I notice that you decided not to bring up the fact that we were cloaked. Diplomatic of you, I'm sure. But why do you believe we did so, while at the same time, freely decloaking at your hail? Did you consider it might have been to ascertain the state of your Federation before potentially revealing ourselves to your enemy?"

More sternly, he continued. "I will admit that our presence here is not entirely selfless. When the Borg attacked, it was only the Federation that was at risk at the time. These Horizon's Children threaten the entire Galaxy by helping the Anomaly expand. For this reason, we will not allow them to take over the Federation. One way or the other, they will go down. You can graciously accept our help..."

His final words were soft, but with an undertone of a harsh growl. "Or you can defy us be destroyed along with them!"

Kheren looked back at the Romulan with a stare that was as much hot steel as his voice was of cold silk.

"So... you would kill us to save us, Admiral? Truly you have moved far away from the logic of your Vulcan cousins."

The Andorian sat back in his command chair before continuing on the same calm tone but with the same hard stare:

"Your fears are totally unfounded and your facts in error, Admiral. The Horizon Children have no mean or intention to touch the anomaly; they just wish everyone to let it be, because they beleive it a doorway to paradise. We on the other hand have worked and already started to implement no less than three effective ways to stop it's expansion, defuse it and ensure that it will never again threaten our universe."

Sitting back in his chair, Kheren then softened his gaze just enough to show the sincerity of his words.

"You are an intelligent man, Admiral Tomalak. Let us share with you our knowledge and research. We will all wait on our current respective positions, to defuse this apparent violation of space and avoid any regrettable mistake, while you examine as thoroughly as you like our data and see for yourself that I speak the truth."

Crossing his fingers between his knees as he sat forward to plunge all four eyes into those of Tomalak, he finished with a slightly harder tone:

"Consider the alternative carefully, Sir. Would you really choose to be remembered by History as the man who's impatience left war in heritage to his people, already threaten by the Klingons, barely out of civil war and of a cosmic catastrophy that decimated your empire?"

There was more here than just a genuine attempt at solving the situation peacefully; Tomalak had intended to divert and delay them from the anomaly, long enough for his covert task force to reach it before it could be stopped. Staying in place here, as Kheren offered, would serve his goal perfectly and he would bask in having fooled the idiot Starfleet captain... unaware that his task force was about to be intercepted.

And with all the subspace interference coming from the direction of the Azimuth Horizon, there was no way for them to know it; no subspace message could get to them and no sensor sweep could read anything from over there.

Now, either they would review the data and realize the utter folly and uselessness of their plan and turn back, at best; or at worst, realize too late that time had played against them instead of the other way around. Again, they would, at best, realize their gamble lost and return to Romulan space... or at worst, prove themselves utter fools and start a two-front war, caught between a needlessly roused up Federation and an already harassing Klingon Empire; a war their own shattered empire could never survive, cosmic-consuming anomaly notwithstanding.

A moment, Kheren glanced at Elliago sitting on his left in his CMO command chair. The Deltan simply nodded. Again.

All right, Tomalak, silently said Kheren with his eyes; your next words will either prove you to be the great man my own words told of you in front of your own men... or you will call out yourself a witless fool. Your choice now.

"Very well, Captain, I will review your data," responded Tomalak dryly. "However, I would request that as a return of the good faith developing here, you tell your fellow Captain, or Acting Captain, if Captain Kalten Siduri is no longer in command, to reveal his ship from the Artemis' shadows. After all, how could we develop true diplomatic relations and cooperation while all the while my people know that Starfleet's most powerful warship is lurking behind yours, waiting to attack?"

"Oh, and to of course show we're serious about cooperation..." he then turned to Commander Kraetaek, and said, "Shields down."

"But Sir..."

"NOW!" growled Tomalak. The massive bird-like Scimitar then immediately registered zero shield energy on the Artemis' Tactical console.

Turning back to the viewscreen, he said, "I will return in ten minutes after had time to verify your data. I am looking forward to speaking to your fellow Captain, 'Acting' or otherwise, as even such a temporary position deserves to be treated with respect and included on these negotiations."

And with a wry smile, he turned off his viewscreen.

"This is a mistake!" the Romulan Commander raged. "They could attack with a volley of torpedoes any minute and we'd be defenseless to stop them!"

"They won't... Starfleet never attacks first, Commander. You should know that by now."

"Then WE should," the Commander retorted, green blood boiling through in anger. "Why should we waste time mincing words when we can simply destroy them? They're no match for us! Then there will be no Starfleet left to stop our forces, AND we can take their Starbase as well!"

"Against a refit Ambassador and a Prometheus? Don't be stupid... it won't be as easy as you think. No, we will wait. They are hiding something about the Alsea that I intend to find out."

Not much could embarrass a ship commander quite like being shot down and humiliated by a superior right in front of his crew. So he sulked off to his Commander's ready room, leaving the Admiral to study his precious 'data'.

Once the Romulans cut off communications, Kheren turned his head to his right at the Vulcan who had silent stoic and silent but with a most alert mind behind his deep gaze for the whole exchange.

"Number One; see to it that the Romulans receive our data on the Azimuth Horizon anomaly and our methodologies to tackle it; all of it."

Nodding affirmatively to the Captain Syntron responded “I will have these comprehensive files completed and ready for transmission in 2.14 minutes.”

As he compiled the files for transmission, the First Officer of the Artemis experienced reservations regarding the last file on the imposed hypothermia reaction proposal.

Two minutes later Syntron turned toward the Captain and informed him that the files were ready for transmission, and then added “This is quite a calculated risk presenting them with all of this data and these plans Captain. Utilizing the information contained within these files has the potential to literally backfire on us should the Romulans ultimately choose a path of deception rather than that of cooperation.”

"I understand your caution, Lieutenant Commander; being honest and truthful is always risky... but never as much as being deceitful and hiding the truth."

Straightening in his seat to exult confidence as much as keep it stolid within his own heart, he looked back at the main viewer.

"Let us be scientific about it, Mister Syntron; one step at a time."

There was so much data that it would certainly take quite some time for the Romulans to sift through it, even if ony looking at the three plans Samji, Syntron and K'leysha had come up with. All that time would allow not only the Alsea to intercept the covert task force, but for the rest of the fleet to effectively be well on its way to corral the anomaly. It has been almost twelve hours now since the operation began; telltale signs of the containement should very well start to be detectable by now. And it would further confirm that the data was thorough and genuine; they would see that the Federation had things firmly in hand and especially that there would be no danger involved for the Romulan Empire.

"Captain, the Shavok has lowered shields." confirmed Tyvya.

"Both of them?"

"Aye, Sir. Primary and secondary shields. They have come to a complete stop, as requested. Their weapons however are on standby but no target lock. We are still much too far away in any case, so any manual targeting to hide their intentions would be impossible until we close in."

"Alright then; lower ours and stand down from tactical alert but maintain security alert."

"Aye, Sir, we are secured from general quarters."

"Helm, all stop."

"Helm answering all stop, Sir," soon reported helmsman Aguk Snow.

From the left hand of the commanding officer of the Artemis, Doctor Nasaro-Myth leaned towards his captain.

"Seems our bluff is being called..."

"We'll have to call up their own bluff, then," shot back Kheren with an audible sigh of relief. "Maybe for once we will settle things like civilized people, even if it is with a few harsh words."

The Andorian sat deeper into his large seat and crossed his thick arms on his wide chest.

"Now, we wait on our celebrated Admiral to see the light."

"You sound like a cultist," whispered the Deltan with a smirk.

The long, glowering stare Kheren shot back could have melted the bulkheads.

------------------------------

As the Romulan Commander left the bridge, Admiral Tomalak continued giving orders, to the annoyance of the first officer who had just taken the Commander's seat.

"Bring up the data the Artemis has transferred on operations station two."

"Sir, it's still transferring," said the Sublieutenant at communications.

"They must really want to keep us busy... very well, transfer all of it to the station in my quarters, but first have the computer analyze and emphasize the most important parts. And inform the Artemis that my time to speak with them will be moved back."

"Yes, Sir."

As the call was received by the Deltan doctor on the bridge of the Federation starship, Kheren simply nodded and crossed again his arms on his thick chest.

"Step one over and done; now we wait... but with all eyes open, people. Step two might just surprise us."

After almost an hour of reading and consulting with the computer, Tomalak stretched and moved to the replicator to get another cup of Earl Grey tea, an annoyingly human drink he had come to rely on thanks to Picard.

The voice of the Centurian first officer came over the comm. "Admiral Tomalak, here."

"Sir, we've received an encoded message from the D'vinn. They say a Federation ship is on its way."

"Appears my suspicions were well founded. The Alsea is not with us," Tomalak replied. "Tell the Commander of the D'vinn to not engage."

"Sir, there was no direct communication because of their proximity to the anomaly. It was transmitted from a cloaked probe." He hesitated, then added. "I can't find Commander Kraetaek anywhere. Shall we set a course for the Anomaly?"

"Not yet," Tomalak replied.

"But Sir, our orders..."

Tomalak cut him off, with force. "I'm well aware of our orders! You heard me Centurian. I am coming to the Bridge."

He set down his unfinished tea and moved across the door to his quarters. Opening it, he was surprised to come face to face with a disruptor pistol. The owner, Commander Kraetaek had the pistol in his left hand and a bottle of Romulan Ale in his right. His combadge was missing.

"Commander...?" Tomalak said, as a question laced with a slight threat.

Commander Kraetaek said nothing but waved him back into the room. "Admiral Tomalak, I place you under arrest for disobeying a direct order and treason. I appoint myself summary judge, jury, and executioner." His slightly slurred speech finished, he smiled and attempted to hold the pistol straighter and more directly at the Admiral's head. "How do you plead?"

"You're drunk Commander," Tomalak said evenly, without flinching.

"I'm off duty... you made damn sure of that, didn't you?"

"Very well, I plead not guilty. Now give me the weapon, Commander. Are you really so stupid as to think you can get away with killing the Empress' right hand."

"If she knew how you betrayed her... you wouldn't be so glib... Admiral," the Commander spat the last word with contempt.

"You have no idea the intricacies that are involved here. You just want to fight. I understand that, but trust me... there's more that needs to be learned first."

"Learning time is over... for you. You put our mission at risk, that's all I need to know." The Commander had said all he needed to, and Tomalak knew it. He closed his eyes with acceptance as the cold titanium of the disruptor was pressed against his flesh.

At that moment, the doorbell to his quarters chimed and Tomalak's eyes snapped wide open. Capitalizing on a chance provided only by the Commander's inebriated state, he swiftly grabbed the pistol which fired off a shot past his head into the bulkhead causing alarms to blare. Taking hold of the disruptor, he smashed it across the Commander's head and knocked him out cold. The Uhlan who, at the First Officer's request, had originally come to see what was taking the Admiral so long, entered and saw him strike his Commander. He instinctively drew his weapon and unfortunately for him, the Admiral was more spry in his old age than he looked. Before the Uhlan knew it, a disruptor blast was carving a large hole in his chest and he collapsed dead a second later.

After exiting the quarters, the Admiral blasted the door controls to make it more difficult for the officers to learn from the Commander what happened. Hiding his weapon, he made his way to the transporter room, occasionally shouting, "he went that way!" to the security officers passing by.

Upon entering the transporter room, the Sublieutenant on duty turned and looked at him with suspicion. Unfortunately for the confused officer, Tomalak didn't have time to trick him with talk and just shot him dead where he stood. Using the console's communications controls he put a call in to the Artemis. "Artemis, this is Tomalak. I request political asylum and that you lower your shields so I can beam over immediately!"

The sudden call over the speakers of the Artemis' bridge made everyone there look at one another in genuine disbelief.

Kheren looked sharply at his tactical officer.

"Both ships' shields are still down, Sir," Tyvya confirmed to his silent inquiry. "Sensors detect a security alert status on board the Shavok... and indications of weapon fire inside."

As she turned to add something, her captain raised a hand to interrupt her before she could speak.

"Mister Cheonghi; lock on to that comm signal and have any lifeform in a two meters radius beamed aboard, full security protocol."

The Edoan chief of Ops immediately went to work. Then turning towards the Andorian giantess at tactical, Kheren quickly explained:

"A very clumsy and ineffectual trap if it is one, Lieutenant. Stay alert for any sign of hostility from the Shavok and have security take care of our guest."

"Tyvya to Mriish," then called out the chief of tactical; "take Ensign Tylok with you and see to our guest in brig cell 1 until further notice."

"Aye, Lieutenant," came back the purring voice of the Caitan woman. between her sharp senses and reflexes and the Ensign's Betazoid mind probing, there would be no trick from their unexpected guest as he would be directly beamed into a security holding cell, any item or weapon on his person scanned, deactivated and removed in transit, be it a simple transponder beacon sewn into his clothing or an implanted molecular detonator within his very flesh.

A Romulan Admiral requesting asylum was an almost unheard of happenstance; but sending a living bomb aboard an enemy starship was standard Romulan tactic. Tyvya was taking no chances.

"I too doubt it to be a trap, Captain," then said Elliago. "Tomalak undoubtebly knew our shields were already down for a good while... and an experienced man like him is well aware that we can transport through our own shields. For him to ask for us to lower them indicate a highly distressed state of mind. If this slip is not genuine, then he is the galaxy's best actor."

"We soon shall see," nodded the Andorian captain, his four oculars straight at the ominious warship on the screen.

Sitting forward, elbows on knees, in that familiar posture of his when decisive action was about to be taken, he simply said:

"Step two."

A few heartbeats later, Tyvya listened to the report from the brig and turned towards her captain.

"Sir, brig reports our guest is clean and identity confirmed."

Kheren nodded, fully confident that even an Undine in genetic disguise hiding a molecular explosive within its own flesh would have been recognized and neutralized by the severe security protocols dilligently applied by his carefully selected crack crew.

"Have security escort him immediately up here. Maintain full intruder protocols."

"Here? On the bridge, Sir?" wondered the giantess..

"And quickly, before his pals over there start screaming accusations of abduction through the mouth of their torpedo launchers."

The order was given; and when the captain of the Artemis said "quickly", they all knew he meant it. And so, a few seconds later, their unexpected Romulan guest appeared within the annular confinement beam of a site to site transport, flanked by Caitan security officer Mrriish and Betazoid colleague Tylok, both a step behind with a phaser compression rifle held accross their own chest. Following safety protocols, the computer was tracking him as well, ready at the first sign of danger to confine him within a localized level 10 forcefield where he stood on the bridge.

Kheren did not rise from his seat or even look a centimeter away from the main viewer as he greeted them.

"Welcome to the Artemis, Admiral Tomalak. From what do we owe the singular honor of your unexpected visit?"

"No time for pleasantries, Captain," replied Tomalak. "I recommend you go to Red Alert and leave this place immediately. Your fellow ship will need assistance as well and I don't believe either the Commander of the Shavok who just tried to kill me, or that of the D'derdiex that will be lurking around the Alsea will wish to talk."

The Romulan had barely spoken that the voice of Tyvya rose from the tactical station.

"Sir! Shields just snapped on!"

"Full evasive, pattern Kirk Epsilon!" instantly barked Kheren.

As if on cue, the Shavok let loose a volley of plasma torpedoes that no ship in the Federation could ever hope to match. Several struck the Artemis, burning partially through her shields and setting portions of the hull ablaze.

Under such a warhead barrage at such close range, the Federation vessel would have been instantly vaporized... as it not been for the old twenty-third century automated shield activation program tied into tactical sensors that Kheren, since his days as tactical chief on the Lotus, had insisted on implementing then and afterwards on board his ship the very day he took command. As soon as a target lock or a weapon port lighted up in the vicinity of the tactical sensor array, the computer instantly activated all defensive measures even before the red alert klaxon was heard.

The Artemis thus, scarred with blazing pockmarks and blackened armor plates, survived... but still reeled under the onslaught.

Following that up was a series of disruptor fire like a horrifying green light show that struck the shields from several different angles, coming from the tips of the massive wings of the Shavok that spanned even the Artemis' girth twofold, wrapping her in their fiery grip. Several of the disruptor blasts punctured through the shields and knocked out auxiliary systems, but no real damage was done to the key systems yet.

Keenly on the alert like the rest of the bridge crew since facing the monstrous warship, helmsman Aguk Snow was already sending the surprising agile starship in a corkscrew flight around and away from the Shavok's main armament's firing arc and range.

"Kirk Epsilon, aye!" he retorted. "Shavok pivoting but not pursuing." he added with a perceptibly puzzled tone.

"Report!" ordered the Andorian in the center seat.

"Hull breaches on decks 4 aft, 10 and 11port and 23 to 25 forward!" first answered chief engineer Robert Baoule from his master display behind his commanding officer. "Automated damage control systems activated. But warp power transfer compromised, reserve fusion reactor 1 and 3 offline and near twenty-five percent of our batteries are melted scrap."

Another impact shook the entire starship.

"Secondary power transfer to nacelles, deflectors and shields offline; rerouting... but we lost at least fifteen percent system efficiency" then completed Ops chief Cheonghi, all three arms flying over the multitask console before him, just below the main viewer where the monstrous Scimitar class dreadnought tried to strike with rays of green fire the much smaller but nimbler Federation starship.

"Shields down to fifty-one percent!" then reported Tyvya. " Armor plating at twenty-one percent forward and port side! Target lock not responding; targeting manually. Port forward phaser array and torpedo launcher inoperative!"

"Attempting to jam their target lock with sensor feedback," now announced Valencia Irksos from the science station on the other side of the aft part of the bridge. "But we lost a couple of sensors on our forward port angle."

"No casualties," finally told Elliago Nasaro-Myth to the captain's left ear. "All ravaged decks were unoccupied. Seems your idea of a skeleton crew is saving a lot of lives, Captain Sir."

"Let's keep it that way," grunted the Andorian. He was not one to gloat or pat himself on the back for his foresight. All the egos he had bruised back then for those officers that had showed little faith in him meant nothing compared to the lives that were spared now. Then and now, that was all that ever mattered to him.

And they were far from being out of the fire yet.

Sparks flew around the bridge of the Artemis, and a console exploded quite near where Tomalak was standing. As he recoiled from the blast, he shouted, "Recommend we leave at once, Captain!"

Thumbing over his shoulder the burned out auxilliary station and the Admiral, Kheren simply shot back:

"Secure all moorings, Admiral... Stormy seas ahead."

"Catching on out of habit the peculiar seafaring speech of their commanding officer, the guards moved Tomalak to the empty seat of the blasted console. Tylok extracted from it's side panel a personal inertial dampener he fastened on their guest while Mriish kept her sheated claws on the Admiral's padded shoulder as the Artemis trembled from another disruptor shot on her weakening shields.

With the security team securing him, Tomalak was able to take a look at one of the readouts. "Shavok is charging its Thalaron generator!"

"We surprised and confused them it seems," estimated acting science chief Irksos from her sensor readout. " The thalaron weapon requires several minutes and all their available power to work; they can't deploy and use it if they arm torpedo launchers, fire disruptors, keep shields up, cloak or even try to move... and it's next to useless against a moving target like us."

"Either they're panicking, lack competent leadership... or both," added Elliago nodding his bald head towards the secured admiral.

"They did not maneuver," confirmed helmsman Snow. "We have moved at five point two million kilometers, out of weapon range, Sir."

"Keep us there and bring us about on their stern," ordered Kheren. "Baoule, Tyvya, bring our shields back up as full as possible. Irksos, Cheonghi, reinforce them with deflector pulse and reserve power."

The Artemis swiftly completed its flight to position herself at one of the least well armed angle of the powerful warship and where their thalaron emitter was totally unable to target. It took no time for the faster, more maneuverable Ambassador starship to get there while the other futilely worked to activate its doomsday weapon, thus unable to counter the maneuver.

"Doc, open a channel to the Shavok."

"Channel open," the Deltan immediately answered.

"Romulan vessel; this is the Federation starship Artemis. Stop your attack! Admiral Tomalak requested asylum on board our ship. He will address you presently."

The captain of the Artemis sat deeper into his large chair as he then said without turning his gaze away from the screen:

"Please calm down your people, Admiral... for all our sake."

"The Commander wants me dead as much as you, Captain. Why do you think I had to request asylum?"

The Romulan Commander scoffed at the transmission. "We will not hear the traitor of the Empire!" he said only to his bridge and made a signal to his communications officer to cut off all transmissions.

To confirm the Admiral, the Shavok turned and moved toward the Artemis in an attack vector, this time without the thalaron generator. It seemed that the pause in the fighting gave the Commander a chance to clear his head or get his troops online. When it got back in weapons range it began firing disruptors again. They were more ineffectual than before due to the Artemis jamming their targeting lock, but nonetheless, the deadly barrage continued to lower their shields.

This time, in addition to just firing on the shields, when they could aim they focused all their fire on the Artemis' impulse engine subsystem.

"They're aiming for our engines!" confirmed Tyvya, her fingers trembling with restraint over the firing controls. "Shields down to forty-seven percent even with deflector reinforcement!"

The Artemis shook under the Shavok's salvo. Despite their ship's nimbleness and speed, the sheer massive power of the dreadnought was enough to batter the Starfleet vessel even as it managed each time to get back out of range as the Romulan ship tried to close in.

"Hull breaches on deck 15 and 17 aft, damage control in progress!" announced Baoule. "External armor and hull plating over secondary impulse engine is gone, internal armor exposed; crew quarters and cargo bay 2 also exposed to space. Primary impulse overheating under strain!"

"Trying to compensate with plasma venting," then said Cheonghi. "Unused subsystems are handling the power rerout."

"Fortunately again, no one hurt yet," reported the chief medical officer from his own command chair. "If those sections had been crewed, we would have now at least a hundred casualties and twice as many wounded."

"We managed to get out of range again... for now..." confirmed the Inuit helmsman as a lull came to the pounding against their buckling shields. "They're slow and cumbersome alright, but they can cover quite a bit of space with all those weapon ports!"

On the Shavok, the Commander roared, "Helm, keep with them!"

"Sir, we can only maneuver so much. The Artemis doesn't want to fight and can keep up this dodging and getting out of range indefinitely."

"How can we close the gap. Tactical?"

"We could divert power from auxiliary and shields into weapons. It would increase our firing range."

"Do it now!" the Commander ordered, his drunken blood lust fully flushing his face a solid tint of green.

"You missed your chance to get away, Captain," Tomalak roared angrily.

"Wrong Admiral... they did," shot back the Andorian now with equal irritation. "Security; since our guest decline to even try and save his own people, beam him off my bridge back to the safety of his cell... deck 9. He'll answer for them about this act of war before the Federation Council."

"Captain... they're out for blood now... But the Artemis does not have the firepower to face alone a Scimitar class dreadnought," grimly estimated Tyvya. "And since their initial surprise attack, they left us in no shape to take that kind of pounding for very long."

"I know," answered Kheren with a tone that had no hint of resignation whatsoever. Quite the opposite.

"But we can't let them continue on their way to the starbase... or the anomaly... If they calm down and realize they can simply ignore us and go away at full warp, we will never be able to keep up. "

I know, " he repeated with the same growling tone.

Coming forward again on his seat, all four eyes to the screen, Kheren's typically Andorian "fight or fight" physiological response to danger started to show as he ordered in an almost detached tone of voice:

"Lieutenant Irksos; cut jamming," he said before turning towards the Vulcan at his right to add: "Mister Syntron, your expertise is needed to handle sensors to maximize our jamming effect once we will need them again... on my mark."

"Affirmative Captain" Syntron quickly replied.

As his First officer moved to the science station, Kheren brought his gaze forward again.

"Helm; keep our starboard flank to them and, on their next volley, all stop. Prepare for high energy turn and... nine seconds emergency impulse, bearing 090 mark 2."

"Sir?" wondered Lieutenant Snow also looking at the nav screen.

"On my mark," insisted Kheren. "Engineering; keep our power steady, all reactor, battery and warp power to shields and all impulse power to propulsion; Ops, standby to launch all lifepods on my command."

"Err... aye, Sir," acknowledged a puzzled Cheonghi.

"Doc, use site to site beaming to proceed with phase 1 of evac procedures."

"Phase 1? But that will only..."

"Save everyone on board," again cut the captain. Then he glanced at the Andorian giantess at tactical. "Lieutenant Tyvya; standby for emergency disengagement protocol at five seconds from my mark, exactly."

"Emergency disengagement, mark plus five... Aye, Captain," she said, tapping her board to readiness. Her own Andorian reactions had already grasped what was about to come... knowing the Romulans would not.

When the Shavok's sensors became fully operational again and confirmed target coming again into range, it pounced readily on it.

"Fire at will!" the Commander shouted as the increased range allowed them to bridge the gap and hit the Artemis with all it had.

Its next volley struck the starboard shield in full. The Artemis swerved, listed on a side and came to a stop, like a harpooned whale on a shoal, just out of range again of the monstrous dreadnought.

"We have them now!" the Romulan Commander said with a smile. "Our victory is at hand. For the Empress!" he shouted and the Romulan warbird then rushed in for the kill, all weapons charging up once more, their targeting computers now unhampered with the sudden failing of the jamming emissions of their wounded prey. Eighteen disruptors and a dozen torpedo launchers spat fire and death from the bird-like bow as the Shavok swooped straight for the finishing blow.

"Mark!"

Then, everything happened at once.

Jamming emissions suddenly hit again full force the tactical sensors of the Romulan ship, disrupting it's aim in mid-firing sequence; just as all the lifepods of the Starfleet vessel bursted out of its ravaged hull like a blooming flower between the volley and its intended target... which suddenly wasn't there anymore.

As over two dozen lifepods were pulverized instantly by the incoming fire, and others nearby exploding as well from the proximity blast, they acted like antique chaff to cover from sight and harm the sudden pivot and flight of the starship..

It took a few seconds for Romulan sensors to clear out from the unexpectedly blinding explosion of the densely packed lifepods, barely managing it because of the returned jamming emissions... barely enough to see then the Starfleet vessel coming at almost the speed of light... straight at them.

It took a few seconds more for the crew of the Shavok to realize what was happening... and to even accept what was happening... and then, they had barely seconds left to react.

"Sir, they're... heading straight for us!" the Romulan tactical officer shouted and the Commander gave the word to helm to perform evasive maneuvers.

It could never have been enough.

The immense pursuing warbird barely started to move it's ponderous mass away that the onrushing Artemis rammed it fully in the prow. The Romulan Commander pondered with his last thoughts the unlikelihood of a Federation suicide run and watched as a massive blur of white hull barreled into them. The ensuing antimatter explosion from its rupturing class 9 warp core created an explosion powerful enough to knock a small moon off it's orbit, already pulverizing the colossal vessel before its own power core itself could even explode. And when it did, it added to the deflagration tenfold, creating a sudden burst of energy that flared up like a miniature nova visible parsecs away.