Title: Back to Work
By:Ensign Rose Isis MacAllen

Rose walks back and forth as the young male ensign checks to see if there any planet or stars in the area.

"Yes I got it ma'am there a four M planets in this area." the young ensign say with a smile on his face. Rose smiles along with him. *Yes I found something worth wild in this area.* she said to herself.

They some unknown person enter the Lab, she didn't pay no mind because she was happy that she found something to be proud of.

Suspend Disbelief

Lt. Jake T. Olson
USS Galaxy
Watership barf

Jake Olson was fine until he wound up on board the dingy, and bouncing on the water caused the delicate stomach to loose its lunch.

Still, Jake took inventory of his team, "Every one here?" Every one said 'aye'. "I see Captain Price," Jake pointed to the Gothos. "We need to get there,"

"We've only primitive weapons and gear." the Doctor, noticing the pale green pallor to Jake's skin said.

"Sword, phasers gone. I noticed. Who or whatever behind all this likes the old fashioned, but I am not real versed in old Earth history details. Just the basics." Jake admitted.

Getting to the Gothos wasn't terribly easy, but they did manage it. With assistance, the team climbed aboard.

"I'm getting used to the swaying under foot," Jake assured. "Every one alright?" The strange blue eyes took in every thing as Olson performed his second roll call.

The one person he didn't recognize had to be the creature responsible for this bull shit. When Trelaine introduced himself, Jake merely nodded, looking to a superior officer for guidance. Olson wasn't rude. Still, he would dearly love to....

When Price suggested they dump the 'treasure', Olson agreed, but couldn't voice his mind, for he lost a chunk of memory. When he regained, the crates of gold were still sitting there.

Olson's sharp eyes took every thing in, as he was a fish out of water. Sullax didn't appear as out of water as Jake, despite his Vulcanoid background.

"Man overboard!" A voice rang out.

"Shit and double fuck!" Jake muttered under his breath. He exchanged a look with Maxwell which spoke volumes. "I'm getting worried, this 'game' may have lethal consequences for the kidnapped life forms."

All movement stopped, none of his shipmates moved, like a photograph of real life, then Trelaine appeared along side Jake. The thing wrapped an arm about the slender Human's waist. Jake didn't resist, simply looking at Trelaine.

"You think I'd allow you to get hurt?!" the fop sounded wounded.

Jake was spun in Trelaine's arms as if he was a feather light girl with which Trelaine danced. The being stopped, not receiving the outraged answer he expected, or was hoping for, Jake Olson just rested against his chest, not even trying to break free. Trelaine set the slight scientist down on his feet, not letting go but perplexed.

"You wouldn't be..." the fop insinuated.

"No. But I can't fight you either." Jake replied reasonably. Jake allowed himself to be waltzed on the deck of the ship, cooperating just enough to avoid a foot being stepped on.

"No," Trelaine admitted bemused. Music played on the open air. "Still, you don't trust me. Your passive, but you don't trust."

"No, not until I am given reason to trust."

"Reason, reason," Trelaine mocked softly. "Must every thing have a reason?"

"Without reason, there is chaos. In chaos, comes disaster. And the fun is lost in the game." Olson said calmly, far more calmly then he felt.

"You are no fun!" Trelaine declared, and snapped his fingers arrogantly. The 'photograph' became life again, Olson stood along side a thoughtful Trelaine.

"Red Alert, Oh My!"
By Lt. Brooke Ames-O'Connell

Brooke had gone to see about getting her shift changed when the red alert klaaxon went off. The first thing she thought of was Tim and Liam. Did he get him to a safe place? Was he okay?

She rushed down the corridors of the ship but then she was pulled the other way to sickbay. They needed her and so she had no choice but to worry about her own family. She knew that Tim would know what to do.

Once she got there, it was a mad house. She began to help another doctor when she heard a crying baby in the background. First she thought it was T'prea's but that cry sounded way too familiar. She ran towards the crying and to her surprise, it was Liam. She didn't see Tim because of being focused on her son so much. She wanted to help him but there was a rule about working on your kin. So all she could do was watch.

One of the doctors looked up at her, recognising her. "Brooke, he'll be okay, I promise, go help the others. I'll let you know when we are done. It's only a little fracture. Go."

She hated to leave but did it anyway. She had no time to think about him, there was just too much commotion going on around her. That same doctor called her over and put him in her arms. She hugged him and then gave him to one of the nurses to get him to a safe area of the ship and then went back to work. She would talk to Tim later once this craziness had calmed down.

"Where are we?"
by Lt. (jg) Ragnald Gustavson
and Ensign Rose Isis McAllen
with an excerpt from "The usual ten minutes"

Ragnald walked the corridor to science. He was a little bit disappointed. Few minutes before shift changed, Commander Casey ordered Lieutenant Olsen to collect an away team to examine the Gothos. How much did Ragnald wish to go with that team to have a close look at the Galleon. But the shuttle was gone without him.

The door of stellar cartography swished open. On a platform in the middle of the high room, two scientists were working at a giant map filled with several points blinking in different colours. Ragnald walked to the two scientists who were discussing constellations with their backs turned to him. Ragnald cleared his throat to draw their attention.

The female Ensign turned around and looked at him.

"Lt Gustavson what a surprise what brings you here sir." Rose said with a smile on her face. She was happy that Ragnald was ok, she prayed to the gods to heal him quick. But one thing for sure his is a very handsome young man.

Ragnald was surprised the woman seemed to know him. After a look into her eyes he was sure they met before. But where? Academy? mess hall?

"Sir?" the woman asked, waking him from his daydream.

"Ergh, sorry Ensign. I`m here to have a look at the star map. Did you find any stars with class-M or class-N-planets nearby? I`m searching for planets with signs of life where a holo-projector large enough to produce an object like the ship out there can be build." Ragnald explained.

Rose looked at him with a sad look on her face, *Did he forget her so soon?* She looked into his eyes and then back at the map. "Yes sir we found 4 planets in this system."

Ragnald watched every step the Ensign made while describing the space around the Galaxy. Maybe this was one of the most interesting lectures ever held about stellar cartography but the words reached Ragnald inarticulate like through fog.

"Anything ok with you, Lieutenant?" Rose asked.

"Four planets ... yes ... ergh what?" Ragnald`s reacted.

"Is anything ok with you, Lieutenant Gustavson?" Rose asked again.

"Sorry again, Ensign. Since I came into this room I`ve been sure we met before. But I can`t remember when. Usually I don`t forget a name or a face assigned to it. This time it`s different. I`m sure I must know you but I seem to have a large hole in my memory." Ragnald explained his absentmindedness.

Rose looked at him trying to read his thoughts and feeling but to no use, then she sighed when she gave him the information. "Maybe it will come back to you one day sir." Rose said to him while giving him the PADDS.

This moment red alert lights started flashing, the klaxons wailing, and Commander Casey's voice broke through on the comm. system.

"I have to get back to bridge. I`m scheduled as a backup helmsman. Thank you Ensign McAllen" Ragnald said, turned around and left.

"I have to get back to the science lab now thank you Ensign." Rose looked at Ragnald as she walked out.

"Scurvy Scalawags"
By Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
With excerpts from "Getting into Character"

***Gothos***

"Awe!" this just isn't possible!" Mike declared as he stood on the poop deck, gazing back over the stern of the Gothos at the pursuing British warships. He'd caught a favorable wind. The crew in the rigging had run up extra bonnets on the fore and main masts, but still, the HMS Victory and HMS Royal Sovereign were closing at a rapid pace, faster than Mike could have possibly anticipated. So he grabbed the log line and lowered it into the water, watching his sand glass as the knotted rope slipped though his hands. He hadn't been mistaken. The Gothos was easily making seven knots headway, which meant the enemy was closing at around thirteen knots.

And that was impossible for those ships with the current wind, unless someone had summoned the gods and given Lord Admiral Nelson and his fleet their own private hurricane to push them along.

"Trelane!" Mike growled as he stormed back to the wheel house. The scurvy scalawag was cheating! He was going to give the would-be pirate a piece of his mind, but the Captain had already beaten him to it. Price was fed up and not about to play by Trelane's rules. The Captain ordered the extra ballast, namely the thousands of pounds of gold coins they had plundered, tossed over the side.

Mike wasn't sure it would by them more than a few extra minutes, but in this nautical duel, he'd take every second he could get. The idea of discarding their ill-gotten loot did not sit well with Trelane.

Price ignored the bothersome pirate and pointed at the gold. "Let's toss these chests and lighten the load, mate's" He ordered.

"Like Bloody hell ya will, you banjaxed wanker!" Mike shouted, affecting a previously unseen English accent. His hand instinctively went to the shark tooth club leaning against the wheel house.

'Awe! What did I just say?' Mike thought, his mind reeling. 'And what the heck is a wanker?' He struggled to regain of his senses, fighting the sudden inexplicable anger that had infused him when Price had threatened to dump their hard-earned swag. It wasn't easy. Trelane, it seemed, could manipulate thoughts just as easily as he could manipulate matter.

Price relented, realizing that there was no escaping the upcoming battle. "Bring us about, 'mates." He ordered. "Ready all cannon and prepare for the fight of your lives!"

Mike hauled the wheel over, letting the polished oak spin through his hands. The Gothos leaned into the turn, it's sails biting the wind. The sound of cannon fire made him look over his shoulder. "Aia! They are right on top of us!" he shouted. The Victory had unleashed the first salvo, firing her bow chasers and coming up just short. If the Gothos did not complete her turn quickly, the Victory would be able to bring her long guns to bear and deliver raking fire to their stern.

"Cricky! Bring us hard to port! Bring us hard to port!" The Captain yelled.

Mike gave it everything he had, Leaning his full weight on the wheel and holding it down with his massive arms to keep the protesting rudder in line. The Gothos leaned to port at an incredible angle, the swells of the waves lapping at the mid-deck. Above, the rigging crew held on for dear life as Gothos completed her turn, narrowly avoiding a volley of chain shot intended to shred her sails.

"Order's Captain?" Mike shouted.

"Full speed ahead, mate. Head straight for the HMS Victory. Collision course."

Mike didn't question the order, even though it seemed like suicide. He'd trusted Price as a helmsman on the Galaxy and he was going to give him the same faith on the high seas. Mike made the course adjustment, and pointed the bow of the Gothos directly at the Victory. At the rate they were closing, he saw only two options, a collision that would smash them to pieces or a sudden turn to deliver a point blank broadside, where they would be outgunned 3 to 1.

Neither would be a pleasant way to go, but at least they would go out fighting.

*** ***

Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
Chief Helmsman, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

"Torn duties"

Lt Tim O'Connell
Security
USS Galaxy

He should be in there with his son, not running to security and preparing to repel Breen borders. Not what he wanted to do, but then it's what he had to do.

That was always the hardest part, doing what he had to do when a higher duty was telling him different. He should be in sickbay with his son making sure he kept him safe. But then what business did he have raising a child on a starship, every day they were exposing Liam to all sorts of horrors of space travel, he could have died and it would have been his fault.

Perhaps they should discuss transferring to some place safer.

"Stubborn Mortality"
USS GALAXY
Commander Deiran Casey, Acting Captain
Lt. Commander Karyn Dallas RN, Chief Counselor/Nurse
Lt. Commander Matthew Albrecht, Acting First Officer
Lt. Commander Endris Gakor, Chief Medical Officer

Casey could feel his innards twist and constrict like he was a wash cloth and someone was wringing the blood from his lungs. Excruciating pain. But the man knew all eyes were on him and he was needed to get them out of this dangerous predicament.

But, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't stand up, his rib cage wouldn't allow him to even bend. He grimaced with each attempt and didn't have the *stomach* to crawl in front of the entire Bridge crew. He was just too proud for that.

He was giving commands that would protect the Galaxy until they could come around for another re-direction attack when Karyn came onto the bridge.

Casey could see her coming down the ramp of the archway and he rolled his eyes. "Oh great, all I need," Deiran tried to smile but he couldn't. He did love Karyn tremendously like his little sister, but she always turned up at the most inopportune times. He knew that the lecture was coming.

"There are better ways to get me here you know," said Karyn sarcastically, as she whipped out her tricorder. Deiran's left rib cage was completely collapsed. It was getting harder for him to breathe. She gave him 10cc's of Rexlin for the pain, and then she checked for internal injuries. There was bulkhead debris everywhere.

"You're bleeding internally, I can't do anything here. I have to get you to sickbay."

"No Kar, the crew needs me, we've got to survive this!" Deiran replied, coughing up some blood onto the carpet.

Karyn was too concerned to care about his stubbornness, because if the bleeding wasn't stopped soon, he was going to go into shock. He was already starting to sway. She wasn't going to argue with him. "So help me Dee, if you die, I'll never forgive myself and it'll be my ass! Now shut up and stay still. We'll have you feeling better in a moment. Where the hell is Matthew?" With Deiran incapacitated, Matthew was the next in line to assume command. If she had to get a Security escort to help drag Deiran to Sickbay she would do it.

Lieutenant Commander Albrecht stepped down from the tactical arch. Until this point, he hadn't realized the gravity of commander Casey's injuries. "My god, Deiran. Look at yourself! Do as Karyn says or you will be the first casualty of all this."

"I'm not leaving even if I have to command on my hands and knees!" Deiran replied, and he was literally on his hands and knees now. He finally rolled over on his right side and faced upward, it even hurt on his hands and knees.

Karyn lowered her chair via the control panel on the left side, so that she was eye to eye with him. She whispered to him so no one else could hear. "Stop it right now, you hear me? You're acting like a spoiled little boy. I may have to bury one person I love, I'm not going to make it two. Jesus Christ Dee, I thought one bat'leth in the belly was enough of a wake up call. I will not help you die!"

Deiran gazed into Karyn's eyes just for a moment and saw compassion, something he longed for. He couldn't let the crew down, he wasn't going to be some piss ant coward and leave simply because he was bleeding. Well, that 's how Deiran saw it at least. He could see Karyn's caring manner for him, but he was just too stubborn to relent.

Karyn nodded to Matthew to contact Endris.

Matthew tapped his commbadge. "Bridge to 'commander Gakor-Albrecht. Doctor, Deiran's seriously wounded. He's refusing Karyn's wish to move him to Sickbay," he explained, in the formal manner they used when a situation was critical.

"Snacks! What kind of injuries has he sustained?" his wife's voice responded with concern.

Matthew listed the wounds to his rib cage, a possible punctured lung, and major blood loss. Gakor added an item or two to her emergency kit so she would be better prepared to heal Deiran's stubborn hide. After closing the cover on her case, she replied "I'm on my way, 'commander."

The blood on Deiran's stomach area was clearly seen now, red blood staining the red dye of the tunic he wore, it was the undertunic, as he had used his jacket to comfort the young Yeoman.

"Hey Matthew, help me up okay? Just to the command chair?" Deiran asked, forcing a smile.

Matthew reached down and took the commander's hand. But he didn't lift. Instead, he got down on the deck and gently pressed his CO back into a reclined position. "Come on, Deiran. You're making your injuries worse."

"Matthew! I'm trying to save our skins here! Help me up man!" Deiran retorted.

"And we're trying to save yours!" retorted Karyn, no longer trying to hide her concern or annoyance. Karyn could feel she was getting near tears, things were moving in slow motion and for a moment she could see flashes of Teb on the Bridge sprawled on the floor, dead before her body hit the ground. By the time they got there, it was too late, something that was rapidly becoming a reality for Deiran. With each second, it was getting harder for him to stay conscious. She felt powerless, the exact same emotion she had experienced when Endris informed her that Michael was in a coma.

"Okay, you two are getting on my nerves, someone help me to the command chair please? That's an order!" Casey replied, in too much pain to yell the order.

"Belay that!" shouted Karyn and Matthew at the same time.

"Anyone here that goes against standing medical orders will find themselves in the brig." Karyn looked to Matthew, who nodded his support.

Lieutenant Commander Albrecht looked up from his wounded friend to check on the status of the battle. He looked over to helm and called, "Mister Gustavson! How are you doin' over there?"

Ragnald was intently focused upon his controls, which he manipulated constantly. He replied, "We're hanging in there, sir. 'commander Hermedhie is keeping me updated with evasive maneuvers. We haven't shown 'em our tail yet!"

"Good work," he said to encourage the young jaygee. "Keep it up for another minute or two."

Again the ship rocked from a small salvo of phaser fire striking the Galaxy's weakening shields. Matthew was becoming angry at his CO's stubbornness.

"Make sure the aft shields are being repaired, get Suder to get a team to fix them immediately. Raesene, go to a heading of 075, mark 120 flip around, with our aft away from them, putting all power to forward shields and give those buggers all we have! Aim for their weapons systems! Max torp spread too!" Deiran replied, barely able to speak but the command was heard.

During all of this a certain harpsichord playing being observed the argument going on between the Acting Captain of the Galaxy and a few other senior officers. As far as Trelane could tell, Deiran was as stubborn as any Q he'd ever known. Gallant too.

"Quite heroic, he's willing to endure such mortal pain just to fight a few Breen?" Trelane laughed. "Heroic indeed," he replied. He then returned to his own interests, the battle between his Gothos and the two British ship-o'-the line's.

Meanwhile Deiran was still arguing. Here he was practically dying right there on the floor and he was begging people to get him to the command chair and was serious about it. He was going to stay right there and continue commanding in battle, and if he wasn't being checked by Matthew and the others he would have gotten to the command chair.

The security chief and second officer placed his hand on the acting captain's shoulder to hold him still. "Drop the Iceman act, Casey. It's time to save your own skin here. You're just going to have to trust me to get us out of this jam. Now you're just wasting our time!"

Karyn looked at her tricorder and then looked to Matthew. "I can't do anything else. I've given him pain meds, but I have nothing to stabilize the rib cage or to stop the internal bleeding. If she's not here in thirty seconds, I'm beaming him out. I'll answer to Endris when the time comes."

Endris entered from the turbo lift just in time. She was breathing heavily, an indication that she ran much of the way due to the severe emergency. In one hand, she held a terry cloth towel that could absorb blood. The other held a dermaplast cast, which could temporarily immobilize his ribs to prevent further damage. And somewhere she managed a unit of whole blood to replace that which Deiran had already lost.

The bridge was a mess. Deiran had a collapsed left rib cage and was obviously in pain. The medical tricorder indicated a sharp edge of bone had ripped a small hole in his lung, and it was filling with fluid. In addition to this, there was rapid blood loss. Delay would force him to die from simple pneumonia! Due to her earlier conversation, she had some of the equipment in her emergency kit to deal with injuries this extensive, but some things (like the lung knitter) just weren't portable. The acting Captain lying still near the left wall, right where he'd landed, his stillness was a sure sign his chutzpa would run out sooner than the Breen crisis was over.

Deiran didn't like going to Sickbay under even normal circumstances, but this trip would be necessary. Gakor injected him with a pain killer and applied the bone brace to keep the rib cage from shifting further. She noticed Dr. Russel on the bridge and Nurse/Counselor Dallas beside Deiran. Deiran did not want to give up command, and began yet another verbal battle.

"Karyn, the damage is too extensive to stop the blood flow here, I am doing what I can. Please set up the portable plasma infuser while I immobilize his rib cage. We can at least put some blood inside him," Gakor said.

Karyn was glad for something practical to do to help. She had the blood infuser set up in only a few seconds. Placing the blood inside the unit for it to work, the nurse saw it was slightly richer in color than normal human blood. Consulting the tricorder, she saw Endris had thought ahead and mixed the blood with a mild sedative. That clever Tellarite was going to make Deiran take a much needed nap.

Outside, the harpsichord twanged meanly, as a string unexpectedly snapped. "Oh look, here's one of those pig-faced women. Maybe she could whip me up a nice Snack! All they seem to do is fight or eat..." With a thought, the broken string was repaired as the eloquent but oddly misplaced music continued. From somewhere, a large sandwhich materialized. Trelane took a bite out of it and proclaimed it delicious. Then he resumed playing his harpsichord.

"I can still command, patch me up, give me a painkiller and let me at 'em! I 'm still a great tactician, we can get out of this!" Deiran complained. He moved a hand over to stanch the blood flow. The towel which the Doctor provided was a big aide in keeping the red juice inside his injured body.

Karyn sighed with exasperation. As if daring to save the man's life was a personal insult according to the entire galaxy and they were the last to know.

"Snacks! I have no complaints about your tactics! But your injuries are too extensive for you to function for long.", the Tellarite doctor countered. "You will die if you don't get to Sickbay in a few minutes. In addition to your visible injuries, there is internal bleeding and lung damage. We don't have portable equipment to treat you on the bridge."

Captain Casey obviously did not believe the doctor. He was still complaining, after all. Sympathetically, he looked towards his friend, the Chief Counselor. "Karyn, don't give me that look, I'm fine. I'm okay, it hurts like hell but I'm tough." Deiran smiled at the counselor, and it took a lot to even move his face muscles.

"I think you're nuts! That's what I think! We're not going to stand here debating this much longer, and in a moment we won't be able to! Any sentient being worth his salt can see that what's coming out of you, isn't coming out of them, so something must be wrong! But, I will look at this neat and nifty thing here," she points to her medical tricorder, "to get you to stop second guessing us, and then we're relieving you." She patted him on the shoulder. "Save your strength, I sense whining ahead."

"I'm trying to do my duty as the Commander of this vessel!" Deiran barked and then started coughing, blood spraying from his mouth.

Karyn, took one of the towels and wiped the blood from Deiran's face, "You stubborn targ! You're spitting up blood!" Karyn studied her tricorder carefully before responding. "My tricorder confirms her observations. I don't know how the hell you've lasted this long, your skin is gray Dee. She's right, I'm right, and you're going...now let them take you before you get more blood on the carpet." She was trying to stay light, but none of them were sure what the outcome would be. Complications happened, something she knew all too well from her experiences at Russel and with Michael's situation.

"It's just a little blood, I have tons of it," Dee replied with a grimace, grabbing her hand and giving it a tight squeeze.

"Computer, begin ship's log. Please note Acting Captain Deiran Casey, objects to the event about to be entered by ship's medical personnel."

"Under the circumstances, it would be best if you turn over the reigns voluntarily rather than by force. The medical log will show the extent of your injuries, and support whatever decision I choose to make," Endris cautioned one last time out of politeness, even though protocol did not require the warning.

"You're going," repeated Karyn, in a tone Dee knew not to argue with. There was no other explanation necessary. Deiran knew the regs as well as any of them, he quite literally had no legs to stand on. Any further 'politeness' would just make things worse.

Deiran was stubborn as a mule. He didn't want to give up, not while he was still conscious. He frowned in Gakor's direction, knowing she had the prerogative of relieving him for medical reasons. Deiran looked a bit sad and defeated, but he understood the others were acting to save his life, didn't mean he liked it though. He also felt a bit woozy. Did the good doctor slip him a sedative? It was certainly possible...

The Tellarite was the one woman on the ship that could do something about Casey's inappropriate heroics! Not known to back up in a pinch, it was medically advisable to relieve him, as his injuries would attest. Knowing he could not win a battle on 2 fronts under these conditions, he still stubbornly refused to capitulate, even in the presence of medical professionals that knew he was dying. His wounds would take time to mend, but the Breen were proving merciless.

Gakor knew it was not time to back down. Not even from the Iceman. Glancing at the chronometer, she noticed the sedative should be taking effect now. Surely enough, Deiran entered a light sleep. She spoke her decision into the log. "Computer, this is Chief Medical Officer Endris Gakor. Due to Deiran Casey's current medical injuries, which forced me to sedate him, I am formally relieving him of duty until such time he recovers."

Karyn drew her chair over to the center chair. Decisions of this magnitude required confirmation if it was available. "Computer, recognize Karyn Dallas, Chief Counselor of the USS Galaxy. I concur with the medical opinion of the Chief Medical Officer. Command of the Galaxy should be switched to Commander Albrecht, Acting First Officer."

Endris looked truly reluctant to take such drastic methods, but the amount of pain Deiran was in made him nearly collapse before she sedated him. Pain that intense could lead to fuzzy thinking and poor decisions. Endris was reminded of Karyn's experience with the Russel people on Earth. (Probably because both of them were forced by the emergency to work in close proximity and were within eyeshot.) The events that occurred so many months ago that put ill ground between them was one more example of how manipulation could lead to hazards...

Matthew moved over to the helm, where he had been supervising the junior officers to give the Doctors plenty of room. Matthew was standing beside helmsman Gustavson, helping him coordinate with tactical and ops while the medical team worked their wonders on the injured officers. He was studiously keeping the ship on a defensive posture. He wasn't going to risk another major disruption at this point while the bridge was so crowded with nonessential personnel.

He did not want an argument with Deiran over tactics; that would just result in more acts of defiance by the acting captain. Another minute of arguing, had he not been sedated and Matthew would have the chair to himself anyway and he could implement a couple of ideas he had. The Galaxy was taking a beating, however, and shook again from a near-miss. He knew he had to act and act soon.

The security chief glanced again at Deiran and Endris, and saw that his wife was motioning him over. He checked the Galaxy's position one last time then stepped over to the center seat to see what his wife was cooking up.

Gakor motioned him over to the center chair, where she entered the appropriate code for him to assume command into the bridge log. "Deiran has been injured too much to continue duty, and is sedated. I have entered this into the log. Please confirm you will assume command of the Galaxy." she explained with the log paused.

"Computer, resume ship's log. This is Lt. Commander Matthew Albrecht, Acting First Officer. Recognize code Zelphlen 123 Tango. Commander Casey has been declared medically disabled by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Counselor. Please log change of Command, effective immediately."

The computer beeped in acknowledgement. Matthew looked over at his friend, whose uniform tunic was slick with red human blood. "I'm sorry, Deiran. You're going to have to trust me from here." Gakor, Russel, and Nurse Dallas soon had him as stable as possible under the circumstances.

Deiran was a warrior that was for sure, clean through, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet and right smack in his heart, he was all warrior.

Endris personally gave the command to energize the transporter. Deiran materialized in Sickbay where he began to get the help he sorely needed.

Looking around, Endris saw other people that were wounded, but ambulatory. She ordered the junior medics to heal cuts, abrasions, broken limbs, and minor burns so the crew could return to their stations if possible. Two more injured comrades had to be beamed to Sickbay since they were too mangled to walk on their own.

"Matthew, do you need me?" Her primary duties as Chief Counselor required her to be available to assist the Commanding Officer whenever possible. Karyn really wanted to be in Sickbay. She wanted to be moving, not thinking about what could be happening to all the people she cared about. She knew she wasn't going to be able to bear the waiting if she had to sit there. She 'd been through too much of that already. At least with her skills as a surgical and trauma nurse, she had reason to assist.

Matthew dropped into the captain's chair and immediately began tapping his commands into the panel on the arm of the chair. He looked up at Karyn for a second and said, "Counselor, this crew needs you in Sickbay more than anywhere else. People are going to need all your skills before this is over," Matthew called to Brandis at Ops, "John, change main viewscreen to tactical overview."

Looking back at the chief counselor, he said, "Karyn, thanks for making Deiran see reason. You're a hell of a shrink."

"I concur with that assessment," Gakor said, "Karyn will be needed in Sickbay. Doctor Russel can stay behind with all of our med kits. That way you will have medical care here if it again becomes necessary." the CMO decreed.

While the junior medical officers worked, the Tellarite CMO talked briefly with her husband, mentioning the Breen hate high temperatures and this might provide a good way to 'cook' them. Metaphasic shielding was also discussed, if a sun were close they could easily 'fry'.

Then Endris gave him a good luck kiss, and then said she needed to get back to Sickbay to ensure Deiran and the other patients were getting proper medical attention.

Entering the turbolift again, she wondered what plan her husband would come up with to deal with the Breen. In short time, she was back in Sickbay attending Deiran's extensive list of injuries....

"Out of the Loop"
by Lt. Commander Thomas
Starfleet Liaison Officer
USS Galaxy

** USS Galaxy **

Chris had been spending many hours in his office working on reports and reviewing the Galaxy old records. He'd received orders to review the ships performance since it was first launched several years ago. It was taking most of his day to read through the captain's logs, crew logs that were available and department head logs.

He'd continued to do his research, while at the same time trying keep up with what was happening around him. The ship had encountered an old wooden ship from Earth's past, but it was sailing here in space. Which of course didn't make a lot of sense, of course sometimes nothing made much sense out here.

** presently **

Chris had been helping out where he could on the ship, with a number of the officers that went on the away team trapped on the wooden ship that was attracting attention. He'd been trying to stay on top of what was happening, but it was very easy given that things were changing constantly.

He felt completely out of the loop on the ship, he'd been trying to keep up with the changes and everything, but time just was on his side for the past several days. He'd honestly felt lost and was struggling to catch up again with the happenings on the ship, but he was just going to have to figure out what he really wanted. The toughest part for him these days was trying to figure where he did belong, when he served onboard before there was no doubt where his position was on the ship. Today it was a new story he was in a position that at times had little activate for him, and other days there would be more.

Right now he was just trying to lend a hand to his fellow officers and help them keep the ship in one piece.

From what Chris had been able to learn, which wasn't much things weren't very good at the moment.

** Later **

Lt. Commander Thomas stepped onto the bridge of the Galaxy for the first time in several days. With everything going on, he figured that coming to the bridge might be the best thing he could do for the ship. He walked around the tactical station and entered the command well. He took up an empty seat on the bridge and started observing what was happening, before making any more or saying anything.

This for now was the best he could do to help, just being on the bridge and ready to aide the ship. He knew the ship well and could cover almost any position if the situation called for it, but right now everything was under control so to speak. Commander Casey was in charge of the ship and it seemed that was the case on more then one mission he'd been in. However he was more than capable of handling almost any situation.

"At least not all of us are wearing loin cloths"
Ensign John Xavier

John stood on the deck of the Gothos and looked around to locate all the crew from the Galaxy, he remembered the Gothos looking almost exactly the same from space and then seeing the two Breen ships heading for the Galaxy and then the Galaxy opening a channel to the Buster Keaton, then the entire away team found themselves in a life boat in the middle of some ocean.

"What the hell am I wearing?" John said quietly to himself looking at the costume he was wearing.

He looked at the others from his away team to see they were all wearing costumes much like his own except one man who was wearing a loin cloth, John shook his head and looked away.

John stepped forward feeling the Awkwardness of his new uniform, "I should shoot my tailor." He held up his small musket, "I think I'll wait till I get a real weapon." He dropped the small gun on the deck and helped man one of the ships cannons.

"Playing Hero."
By: Ensign Mhari Stone

-=Gothos=-

Mhari glanced around. What she could pull together was that this "game" was being led the "want-to-be pirate" at the harpsichord. She could make things fun. She could make anything fun. Her child-like mind had always had a nack for it.

"So what's the point?" She asked Trelane.

"Point?" He turned from his harpsichord with a smile. "Must it have a point?"

"Having fun at other's expense...I see how it is." Mhari smiled and turned towards the ships they were in the process of ramming.

He didn't say anything but gave a short laugh. "How are you liking all this, Lass?" He asked, suddenly taking an interest in her.

"Sucks, but the good part is, you don't live forever," she said with a smile and looked towards the closing ships. "And in this case forever seems quite short. Are you enjoying yourself?" She turned back to him.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, but wait...something seems to be missing." He put his hand to his chin as if thinking. "Ahhh, yes." He snapped his fingers and Mhari's clothes changed. "That's better."

Mhari looked down at the tight bodice, off the shoulder blouse, revealing skirt, and shoeless feet. "Perfect," she whispered to herself with a grimace. The whole crew was looking at her in surprise by now.

Suddenly, as if it wasn't bad enough, Lt. Jake Olsen slapped her on the butt. "Get us some ale, wench," he shouted in a gruff pirate voice.

Confused but up to play along, she smiled, winked, and walked away, swinging her hips.

"Good man," Trelane said with a big grin. He snapped his fingers again and a tray appeared in Mhari's hands filled with mugs of ale. Mhari continued to smile and walked over to Ensign John Xavier.

"Care for a drink?" she asked politely.

"No, thank you."

"Good. Hold this, please." With a confused look on his face, he took the tray. Mhari then took a mug and gulped down the liquid. Setting it back on the tray, she smiled. "Now I kill him." She turned back towards the Pirate but John grabbed her arm.

"Hold on now."

"Mhari, still smiling happily, turned back to the group. "He shall die a long painful death or I shall. Either way, someone will pay for his treatment towards me. I will be no body's wench," she whispered cheerfully, trying to control her anger.

Suddenly one of the ships fired and the sound ended all conversation.

"First we get out of this."

She turned back to the fanciful pirate. She smiled and winked at him. "The thing will die if I have anything to do with it," she said through clenched teeth. "I love these little sea voyages," she shouted loud enough for Trelane to hear. He smiled from where he sat.

Mhari took the tray from the Ensign. "I'll work on getting us out of here." A hand fell on her shoulder. "Work on the battle. I will work on this one," she whispered and ripped her skirt up the leg a bit.

Walking towards Trelane, she smiled like the cat that ate the canary. She set the tray on top of the harpsichord. "Care for a drink, Captain? Oh, wait...are you the captain? It looks like that man over there is in charge," she said, pointing to Price. She then leaned on her elbows, exposing some cleavage. "I'm sure it wasn't that you couldn't handle the situation. You probably gave it to him to show how powerful you are." She made a pouty face. "You know..." She let her fingernails grace the Pirate's face as she talked. "I'm sure you could take care of those ships over there, no problem. Powerful pirate captain that you are."

He pulled her into his lap. Mhari didn't try to get away. He went to touch her and Mhari backflipped out of his arms and kicked him in the face. Just as she landed on her feet, she was thrown to the other side of the ship. Her body was thrown through the wooden side and she quickly grabbed the side.

Dangling from the side of the ship, a cannon ball splashed near her and got her soaked. She tried pulling herself up but the pain in her back was too great and she started to slip. She heard curses from Trelane but the noise on the side of the ship was too loud and she couldn't make out the exact words.

Then her fingers slipped but there was a hand to catch her. He pulled her up without much strain. She smiled faintly at the large form. She saw Lt. Mikala Pailaka form but it was drowned out by a bright white light.

"I'll watch those borg reefs next time and I promise I won't throw daggers at the captain anymore, daddy," she mumbled before passing out.

=/\= "Back in the Fray" =/\=
by Lt Cmdr Matthew Albrecht

*** Bridge, USS Galaxy ***

The turbolift doors slid shut on the last of the bridge personnel headed for Sickbay. Replacement officers were taking up stations and a pair of ensigns from engineering was already hard at work on the bridge systems that were damaged in the explosion that wounded commander Casey. Ensign Rose MacAllen took up the science station that was left vacant by a young man with a shattered arm.

Once again, the bridge was a functioning nerve center for the premiere Galaxy class cruiser. Matthew was seated in the captain's chair. "Tactical. 'Commander, please bring our crew up to speed on the state of the battle," he called out firmly. He was frightened, but playing ultra cool and collected as was expected of a starship's commander.

Raesene Hermedhie, the chief Tactical officer of the Galaxy, responded crisply and succinctly. "Sir. We are engaging two B'Rile class battleships of the Breen navy. Bogie one has received minor damage to her primary reactor, hull damage over twelve percent of her surface, unknown damage to secondary systems. Her weapons systems appear to be intact. Her shields are operating at sixty percent. Bogie two has received moderate damage to maneuvering thrusters, moderate damage to her weapons systems and hull damage to seven percent of her surface. Her shields are operating at fifty-three percent."

The tactician tapped out a quick command on his panel. "The Galaxy is in worse shape. We have hull damage over nine percent of our surface, including hull breaches on decks nine and ten. Life support is failing on decks fifteen through seventeen. Aft shields are down. Aft photon torps are non-functional. Aft phaser arrays are off-line," he announced in a dark tone.

A gasp went around the bridge from officers who hadn't realized the extent of their predicament. Matthew stood from the center chair and tapped his comm. badge with his bandaged hand. "Albrecht to Suder. 'Commander, when will we have our aft shields back?"

Ethan's voice responded immediately. "I'll be ready to try again in thirty seconds, 'commander. I think they'll work, but I don't know for how long."

Matthew nodded, "Good work, chief. How about aft phasers?" he asked hopefully.

Suder was less encouraging, "We're borrowing the unused weapons power to make the shields work now, 'commander. Once the EPS grid is restored, we'll be able to give you both. Give us ten minutes," he explained.

"You have three minutes, if we're lucky. Albrecht out," he concluded. "I think we can skip the casualty report. I can't spare the tears." He was serious. He didn't know how he could lead his crew into a situation which would cost lives, if he started counting the injured and dying in the middle of the fight.

No one argued. Matthew addressed the last unresolved matter. "Commander Jamson, have 'commander Genestra beamed aboard immediately, before our aft shields are restored. Once they are functional, I'm dropping them for nobody." He turned his head to look behind, "Ensign MacAllen, keep me informed on the status of that damn boat if anything changes."

The ensign nodded, "Aye, sir." She set to work on configuring her scans.

"Lieutenant' Gustavson, continue evasive maneuvers. Until we get word from Engineering, we bide our time. Raesene, discontinue attacks on bogie one. Target bogie number two's offensive systems only for now," he instructed.

As the Galaxy lurched into another series of sudden direction changes designed to keep her stern away from her enemies, the Galaxy sent out a spread of phaser and photon torpedo fire that danced across the battleship's ventral sector. "Severe damage inflicted to enemy's ventral phaser array," announced Hermedhie.

Both Breen warships fired upon the dodging Galaxy. Fortunately, the strikes were uncoordinated, but given their superior firepower, the damage was significant. The lights on the Bridge went out, plunging the shaken command crew into darkness for a second before the emergency power came alive. Control panels lit up and resumed their function as if without interruption.

Jamson announced, "minor damage to port nacelle. Power failures on decks one through six. Emergency power is online."

Lieutenant commander Hermedhie reported, "Shields at forty percent, sir." A split second later, he called out, "Aft shields are online!"

Matthew smiled. "Excellent. Helm, tactical, implement maneuver Sigma. Take us within five kilometers of Bogie two, maintaining position opposite Bogie one," he explained for the benefit of the other crewmembers.

Realizing that the Galaxy bore little chance of surviving a range battle with such overpowering opposition while still protecting the Gothos from attack, Matthew chose to get into close quarters and gather the full attention of his opponents, while still maintaining a measure of tactical advantage.

Lieutenant commander Hermedhie recognized the maneuver as one commonly used by small fighters doing battle with larger ships of the line. Considering the larger size of the breen battleships and the slower-moving Bogie number two, it seemed a sound strategy for the moment. "Aye. Use the wounded ship as a shield," he said.

*A shield that fights back,* thought the Security chief.

The relative closeness of the enemy now made it inadvisable to use photon torpedoes, a disadvantage that affected all three ships and gave a slight advantage to the Galaxy. Their proximity also enhanced the punch inflicted by phasers from both the Galaxy and Bogie two. "Fire!" ordered Matthew Albrecht.

The bridge crew watched in awe as

the Galaxy's phasers penetrated the weakened shields of Bogie two, plowing a forty meter channel into the hull of the Breen warship and decimating a phaser array in pyrotechnic fashion. Few men or women had ever seen that kind of destruction up close.

Bogie two had two functional phaser arrays that could still strike the Federation ship. It fired twin beams that lanced across the short distance and struck the saucer section of the Galaxy. Shields temporarily buckled under the intense energy assault, and the phaser beams drew twin lines of destruction across the Galaxy's hull.

Engineering stations one and two exploded on the bridge. One of the ensigns repairing that station was hurled over the tactical arch with a yell. She landed on the floor at 'commander Thomas's feet and lay still. Chris dropped beside the woman to check her condition. Doctor Russel jumped to the aid of the other young man, who was unconscious at his station.

Matthew clenched the fist of his torn-up hand, and winced in pain. Instinctively, he wanted to flee the battle; He wanted to take the Galaxy away, hailing StarFleet command the entire way for help. But they had missing crew to recover, whom he would not abandon. Evin Genestra was the key to finding their lost crewmembers. He hoped the 'commander was well and on his way to the Bridge.

The bridge crew regained their balance after the shaking. Ragnald Gustavson continued to fight to maintain a position that would refuse an angle of attack to Bogie one, lurking just out of sight on the other side of Bogie two. Beads of perspiration were forming on his forehead from the concentrated effort.

Matthew again yelled, "Fire!" Raesene targeted, and fired all available phasers at the battleship. Again, the viewscreen showed in vivid detail the horrible damage a starship's phasers could inflict at such ranges. The Galaxy's beams hesitated only a moment to overwhelm the shields and tore a channel of destruction down a hundred meters of the B'Rile class battleship's skin. Another Breen phaser array shattered under the force of the attack.

When the Breen ship fired again, its single blue beam cut quickly through the shields and carved a destructive runnel up the saucer. The tear ran from deck eight, to deck seven, six, five, four, and three- Stopping just shy of cleaving the command deck as well.

A fire broke out at Rose MacAllen's station, which she set to putting out immediately with an extinguisher canister. Smoke was filling the bridge and recyclers weren't keeping up. A roof beam hung at an angle from the ceiling; its lower end planted firmly and heavily upon doctor Russel's left leg, which was bent at an impossible angle. The doctor was grimacing and gasping in pain.

Damage reports were flooding in from all over the ship. Injury reports, however unwanted, flowed in as well.

'Commander Albrecht was coughing and couldn't yell 'fire,' but the Chief Tactical officer knew he had to eliminate Bogie two from the fight. The Galaxy was coming around the perimeter of the enemy ship, bringing another Breen phaser array into the fight. Raesene reached down inside himself and summoned up the clarity he needed. He targeted a single point on the Bogie's shields, shredding it with the concentrated firepower. Then he separated the beams to take out the two remaining phaser arrays...

"Transcending Darkness"

Lieutenant Michael McDowell
Engineer
USS Galaxy

Excerpt from "Showtime" by Lt. Commander Karyn Dallas, R.N
Chief Counselor/Nurse

Darkness, emptiness,...nothingness. The was mind enshrouded in shadows. The same blackness had ruled for more than a month, but that would come to an end soon. Slowly the subconscious mind climbed out of the black pit. Something had 'disturbed' its deep sleep.

The images and sounds came trough in flashes. It were no memories, but brief blurry pictures of times long gone. Water, high waves, big ancient galleons, and men in ragged clothes with swords and pistols. All used the rather peculiar language that was common in that time.

It all moved so quickly and randomly that normally it would confuse any person. A pirate captain swaying with his sword towards the horizon, and right after that a view of a black flag with a skull on it. The sails were raised and the ship sliced through the water, the waves breaking on the bow.

And then it became even stranger. A female pirate flew across the whole deck after the pirate captain made only a simple move with his hand. Another pirate's mouth vanished with the same simple gesture. After that the scene changed. The pirate ship moved along side another sleeker, longer ship. Cannons fired with a deafening sound, shooting their deathly load towards the other ship. Everything was destroyed in their path. The violent view ended with someone screaming "Fire!!". The words echoed in Michael's subconsciousness then slowly faded away in the background. The shadows had returned again.

*** An unknown amount of time later ***

The fog cleared but slowly. Some 10 meters ahead the mighty bow of the ship could be seen. However, this bow was different from other ships. It had the characteristic feature of the greatest of warships in the 20th century.

The sea appeared to be calm this day and the wind had dropped to only a few knots. It was so peaceful and quiet. Only sounds of waves and nearby escort ships could be heard. Large threads of mist blew over the flight deck of the enormous aircraft carrier. Michael found himself just standing there, staring into the gray/white vapor clouds.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him and he turned around. He was greeted in the official way by a leading seaman. The man didn't speak but, strangely enough, Michael knew exactly why he had come to him. The man turned on his heels and Michael followed him. He looked at the three EA-6A Prowlers as they were near to the tall command tower. The rest of the deck was empty, except for two Sea King helicopters standing at the back of the command tower. The F-14 Tomcats and F-18 Hornets all were in the hangars. Michael looked one last time in the direction of the bow. Then he looked up and there, dimmed by the still relatively dense fog, he could see the pure white outline of the sun. It wouldn't be long now. In about half an hour, an hour at most, there would be a clear blue sky again.

*** Bridge ***

Both men were greeted by curious glances from others present on the bridge. The Captain, a man well in his forties, turned in his chair, nodded, and pointed to his office. That struck Michael as odd but he knew better than to object, so he entered the office. The Captain followed right behind him.

Michael walked past a man-sized mirror and for a brief moment saw the official white uniform he was wearing. The insignia, carefully stitched onto the uniform, displayed the rank of Lieutenant. Another symbol, which resembled an eagle, was pinned on the front of his uniform. Then, totally unexpected, the Captain began to speak. He pointed to the display on the table.

"Someone desperately wants to talk to you,...and I have the feeling you know who." he said. "Really, I've never met a woman so determined and so focused on what she wants."

Although Michael wanted to say something back he discovered that he couldn't. All he could do was listen. The Captain, however, didn't seem to mind.

The Captain continued with his monologue. "But,...I guess that makes her one of the best 'Commanders on the USS Galaxy. You're very lucky man Lieutenant. She could have picked any man in the fleet, but she chose you." The Captain smirked. "...She could've done far worse I'd say. Well,...I leave you two alone. Oh, it's possible that the message is of poor quality. The Galaxy is in heavy weather right now."

The Commanding officer was already at the door of the office when the he stopped and turned. "I know its none of my business...but tell me, what did you do to impress her?"

Michael thought for a moment but shrugged, indicating that he didn't knew either. The Captain shook his head and chuckled.

"The girl is completely devoted to him and he doesn't even know why."

The door was closed and Michael turned towards the display. It indicated that there was one new recorded message. He struck a random key to start the message. The screen was filled with Karyn's face. Michael smiled when he saw her and felt an indefinable but very pleasant feeling. It was like every muscle and every fiber in his body told him that this was the woman he loved. She was the one he lived for.

["Hi love, it's me again. See, I told you I would come back. Well, I guess I (...static...) you about the Gothos. I wish you could see it, Michael, it's (...static...)thing I've ever seen! Science and Engineering are having a field day trying to make sense of it. Of course, these mi(...static...) teams (...static...)ve us really concerned, but at the moment, there's nothing any of us can do at this point. Deiran did the right thing by sending another team over, but naturally he doesn't see it that way now I'm sure of it."]

Karyn smiled. That infectious smile! It caused Michael to smile with her, although he knew she could not see that.

["You're right, I sho(...static...) up there and calm him down. I'm probably the only one who can. Ever since the SSM when we discu(...static...)sination, people have been looking to me keep him straight. Nothing is said you know, but when he becomes impossible to live with..., which I might a(...static...) all the time,..."]

Michael chuckled and saw Karyn laugh. She always made him laugh with her witty remarks or jokes.

["...they looked to me to reign him in. It's become a game, but between you and me, I love him like the big brother I never had. Not the same way, I love you of course, but I love him all the same. If I had to cho(...static...)een Deiran and the Ferengi right now? ...Well, the Ferengi are looking better and better."]

Again she laughed and Michael laughed wholeheartedly with her. After a few seconds of good laughter Michael noticed that he alone was still laughing. He stopped and looked at the view screen. What he saw there was hurting him deep inside. Karyn had averted her eyes and she looked sad. Michael instantly knew that she missed him,...so much so that it was difficult for her to hold back the tears. He could see that.

Michael touched the display. At this moment it was as close as he could get to Karyn. He imagined he could really touch her now. Following the fine lines of her face, beginning by her temples and slowly going down along her cheek, feeling her soft skin against his hand. Karyn continued, still looking down.

["We need you...I need you. Please ke(...static...) this thing. I've never been good be myself you - well, Ethan's pretty pissed you(...static...)re beside him right now. We ha(...static...) theory that you're faking just so you can get me to go on vacation with you. Well, Mister McDowell, I said I (...static...)ith you, but you're just going to have to be a livelier companion. The least you can do is squ(...static...)y hand, come on Michael..."]

Karyn paused. She was on the verge of crying. Michael clenched his teeth together. It tore him apart to see Karyn this way and he couldn't do anything about it. Still, she continued and tried to make a little joke out of it all. It was so typically her.

["Well, I see you're ju(...static...) to milk this thing for all it's worth. Really I just (...static...)ou like my sponge baths... The-"]

Suddenly the screen only showed only "snow-images" making it clear that the signal was cut off at the time the message was recorded. Michael almost shot forward, one hand tightly holding the display. About half a minute later the signal returned. Michael could see Karyn's disappointment. A tear rolled down her cheek.

["I guess I need to go now. It's showtime. I'm done try (...static...)ke sense of it all. Breen, Ferengi. I wou(...static...) all surprised to find (...static...)ind all this. I sure wouldn't mind making a wish right now..."]

At that moment Michael experienced the strangest thing. It was almost too subtle to feel, but it felt like he was being kissed. It warmed him from the inside. It was very confusing, no, unbelievable since Karyn wasn't with him...he was all alone in the Captains office. Michael was still trying to figure out what happened when he noticed Karyn saying goodbye.

["Bye love, don't do anything without me ok?"]

Michael moved his hand over the display in slow-motion as if to check that it really was an image of Karyn that he saw and nothing more. Then the screen went blank. All seemed normal again, but that was certainly not the case for Michael. That special moment proved to be a turning point for Michael. All he wanted now was to go back. Back to Karyn,...back to the Galaxy where he was officially enlisted. And nobody that was going to stop him from accomplishing that.

Duty Calls
Michala Lynn Casey

Michala had been resting in their quarters when the first shock shuddered through the ship. The klaxons of red alert had been clanging away for a while, but she had remained in her quarters since it was not her shift in the medical bay. However, the amount of tremors moving through the Galaxy told her they were under fire and the length of the attack meant there had to be damage.

Michala instructed the Nanny to take the children to one of the safer internal areas of the ship, set aside for battles such as these. Quickly changing into uniform, Michala headed for the medical bay. It was already chaos when she arrived. Andree, Karyn and Gakor were not present. The one of the other doctors said something about being called to the bridge. Nodding, she left him at his current patient and looked around. There was no organization without one of the leading doctors.

Michala worked with one of the leading nurses and got a system of triage running. It wasn't that the medical lab wasn't prepared or trained to do triage. It was just that at first the amount of patients had been slow, but the sudden onslaught had not allowed time for anyone to organize. As soon as she was satisfied that this sorting process was in place, Michala took the next critical patient.

The young woman had a head wound and internal bleeding. Apparently, she had been struck by a loose piece of equipment during one of the more direct hits. She was hearing rumors of intensive damage all over the ship. Michala worked quickly to stabilize the woman. They would have to operate and quickly or they would lose her.

Michala was focused and self-assured. She gave commands as if she had been a physician for years. She was totally immersed when Karyn and Gakor returned to the sickbay with their patient. She gave no more then a cursory nod to the two and she was back to her own patient. She had no idea that their patient was actually Deiran.

"You be the Telepath - Part II"

Lt. Jonathan Brandis
Chief Operations Officer

* * * * * Bridge * * * * *

The smell of over headed plasma coils filled the Bridge almost immediately after the first hit. The Bridge had been seriously damaged. Science stations I had a discharge and II was on it's way. The adrenaline was pumping, even I was excited. I could hear Deiran mentally cursing up a storm from the pain he was in. And he was bound and determined to stay on the Bridge. But, I knew I couldn't obey his orders. He was hurt too badly and fighting the pain was draining him as he fought to stay conscious.

"Rerouting Auxiliary power to primary hull integrity shields. Breach in aft section deck 34 section alpha and beta. Evacuation proceeding and almost complete." I reported the information on my Ops station. Bracing myself with the seat, I knew it we could not hold up with out the secondary shields at least operation in aft sections.

"Lt. Brandis to Engineering, Operations is giving primary resources for repair of aft section secondary shields and integrity containment of the primary aft shields, currently at 5% and failing." This was too important. This forward of those decks held deuterium that was injected directly to the warp core, even a chance hit would set those deck a blaze.

=^= We hear you, Sir. On it now. =^= That was all we need to say and the comm channel disconnected.

The away team had vanished, so at least I don't have to track that. But, pretty soon we may have to make a break for the Battle Bridge. Tapping the bottom right corner area of Ops panel, I evacuated the aft decks for essential personnel only. It would take a command decision to fully evacuate those areas and right now, I was not about to interrupt the fray that was going on behind me.

Karyn was pissed that Deiran was not being cooperative in relinquishing command. I feel the intensity of her concern and now I am starting to feel bad for Deiran. Telepathically, I send a beta wave signal toward him. I know there is no way he can pick it up. The Human brain was not a telepathic receiver, lacking the necessary frontal lobe, but, I though maybe he could feel it and stop the stupidity of attempted Heroism. He never had it within him to let go of control. I think it was even a part of his psy evaluation back at the Academy.

The ship rock again, knocking one of the medical people off their feet. I looked over and could see the hit was in the forward section, thank the God. Helm was doing a good job of flying us around, so that aft section was as little a target as possible.

"Jon, give me tactical view on main screen." Albrecht ordered from the center chair. The situation display on my Ops display showed he had just be medically promoted to Acting Captain. I knew they would have to pry Deiran off the carpet.

"On screen now, Sir." I punched up the display. It had some cross hairs and circular navigational displays and ship's status as well as armament all in one glance. The forward torpedo tubes were firing volleys at the weapons systems of the Breen vessels. It succeeded in knocking out one of the ship's phaser systems, but they were firing torpedoes to compensate.

This was not going to be easy. I saw that non-essential personal evacuation of the Star Drive was complete and fed the information down to the support divisions of the Ops department which would send out to the rest of the ship so people could locate each other in the saucer section.

=^= Operations, we need more power in the EM conduit in aft section six, what can you give us. =^=

I was ready, Sciences were for the most part off-line, except for a mating experiment that Jake Olson was working on. It was truly amazing all the information available at Ops. I smiled to myself remembering what one of my instructors said about being able to tell when someone's on the crapper on deck 4 section six and how much they'd deposited to the waste systems was all stored at Ops. I made the call and siphoned all the power from Life Sciences lab 3. Engineering took precedence over Science in battle. But, Jake might not be to happy, but Ops was about making the hard, unpopular decisions.

"Incoming torpedo, 'Commander."

"Brace of impact!" Albrecht called out.

( To be continued...)

Obnoxious Noises
by SubDamon Dorlon

*** Cargo Bay 2 ***

It was a good thing security was maintaining a presence in Cargo Bay 2. With the battle jostling the ship around, the Ferengi were grunting and making all kinds of nasty, unprofitable noises. It looked like a circus. "Sub-damon why does Damon Buratt not protect us?" one of the crew inquired.

"Our Damon is arguing to win back our profits with Acting Captain Casey at this moment", he theorized. There was no way for him to know the Damon's skull had been injured in a fall, or that he had been moved to Sickbay by two of the Galaxy's finest security agents.

"Where is the proof? I heard their communication channel. Two Breen ships are attacking us!", the trouble monger said. The ship lurched to one side as his point was proven, and a large hole was rammed above their heads, scaring them further. They screeched louder that Klingons at a funeral, scampering in all directions to avoid being struck with falling pieces of roof.

Embolded by the proof that was supplied serendipitously, the trouble maker began a chant with the other Ferengi. It was impossible to keep information out of their lobes in such confined circumstances, so Balak decided to state the obvious. "We have Ears! We have Ears! We have Ears!", the Ferengi chanted in unison. "Do your worst, but we Hears!"

The security team did their best to restore order. But the bad poetry had them riled up, and they started grabbing things to throw around. The contingency did not mess around. They could not afford to loose resources to rampaging Ferengi, so they activated canisters of knock out gas to put their guests to sleep. Outside the bay, guards with gas masks pulled the Federation officers inside out of the trap and revived them, then set the canisters to keep enough gas inside the bay so the obxious trolls wouldn't wake until after the Breen were dealt with.

*** Sickbay ***

Seth and Ensign Salt dropped Damon Buratt off in a surgical suite, and a male Andorian nurse entered to attend him. The security officers waited outside, since they saw the space was busy. On cue, the one doctor on the ship who wouldn't be annoyed by the Ferengi came in to check the crainial monitor and the head wound. The EMH mark 1, with its sarcastic Zimmerman persona, was perfect for dealing with the Damon's constant stream of objections. The program simply ignored his comments unless they had possible medical relevance.

"This latest attack is further proof of Casey's incompetence. The fool is going to get us all killed!", the Damon hissed. "I demand to see him at once!"

"You know, constant verbal agitation will increase the time needed for your wound to heal, you sustained a minor concussion after all." Zimmerman said nonplused.

"What do you mean hu-mon?", the Ferengi reacted in confusion.

"You will heal much faster if you just shut up!"

"This is an outrage! You pee-ple are breaking all the Rules! I will not be silent! I demand to be heard!"

"Your blood pressure is rising, if it goes any higher I will have to sedate you, Damon. He was gratefull for the straps holding him on the exam table, there was less struggle to restrain him that way. Take a deep breath and try to relax. I can record your comments in the ship's supplementary log and make sure the Captain reviews them."

"That is not good enough you lobeless vermin! You trifle with me! Where is Commander Casey?"

"If it makes you happy, Ferengi, the Captain has sustained major injuries and is on his way here. But he is not conscious, so he won't be able to hear your constant stream of ludicrous complaints. Those Breen outside are giving us no breaks."

"Breen! Did you say Breen? We were negotiating to sell merchandise to the Breen! If you get me an audience with the current commander, I may be able to negotiate a truce. Then we can talk more about repayment of the Persell's loss."

"Very well, but Lt Commander Albrecht is also the head of security. I suggest you don't try to finagle worthless products on him. He has the keys to all the jails hereabouts. And his wife is twice as ruthless."

The Damon was escorted by security to a waiting area and given new quarters. The sedative kicked in and he got a few hours of healing sleep. Meanwhile, the Zimmerman program noted the Ferengi's latest offer in the Bridge log, flagging it for priority. If the Ferengi could legitimately negotiate a cease fire, Sick Bay would not be as full. A doctors dream, everyone healthy and no patients to treat!

Rude Rude!

Lt. Jake T. Olson
USS Galaxy
Watership barf

Suddenly, as if it wasn't bad enough, Lt. Jake Olson slapped her on the butt. "Get us some ale, wench," he shouted in a gruff pirate voice.

"Trelaine's doing things to people's minds, and using them like puppets. I've had several blackout episodes. Also, I experienced an episode where all other movement stopped like a photograph. There is other evidence of omnipresence in our host. Perhaps we need to discuss this with Price and the other officers." Jake told Mhari as she passed, still close enough to her to elude the attentions of Trelaine.

She nodded, and continued with her strategy.

by Lt Jg. Seth Zonhieb, Gorn Security Guard
reviewed by Lt. Tim O'Connell, Human Security Guard

Seth watched as O'Connell deposited his son down on the bio bed and stood by as the doctors hovered over him. Minutes later Commander Casey was brought in. Tim was still in shock over his son so the gorn blocked his view of what was going on. "Sir with Casey here that means Lt. Commander Albrecht is in command. You will be needed in the security office."

Tim nodded and told Brooke to inform him of any change. Reluctantly he walked to the door always looking back. "Sir. Ensign Salt is with Damon Bruatt. We will need her if the ship is boarded. We can't leave the Feringi alone."

Blinking a few times to clear his thought the human came back into focus. "Have the nurse sedate him. Then arm yourselves and get to engineering."

The lizards tail wagged back and forth as he flexed his huge biceps. "I'm always armed sir."

"Skirmish part I"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

*** Gothos ***

By Lieutenant Pailaka's reckoning, the Gothos was traveling at just over ten knots as it headed towards the HMS Victory on a collision course. Staring down at the beam of the giant British warship, it was nearly impossible to tell how fast she was moving. But if the favorable 'mystery' winds were still propelling her along as they were before, it was a good estimate that the warship was doing nearly fifteen knots if not more.

Captain Price stood steady on the upper deck of the Gothos. Next to him, Trelane stood and watched tentatively. He looked uncertain as to the tactics the Starship commander was deploying. For a moment he thought that Lee was intending to ram the Victory with the Spanish galleon. A shear suicide maneuver given the berth and mass of one of Britain's finest ship's of the line. Almost nervously, Trelane walked back to his harpsichord and started playing music, which seemed to reflect his anticipatory mood.

Lee no longer needed the brass telescope to see the approaching ships that the Gothos was closing on. The HMS Victory was straight ahead, while the HMS Royal Sovereign was maybe a length or two behind and giving the Victory room to maneuver by sailing wide.

Gailyn stepped over to where Captain Price was standing. "Are you going to ram them sir?"

"No 'mate. Just closing the gap."

Gailyn gave a nod. It was a good tactic. If a confrontation was going to take place, it's better to have a good deal of speed going into the battle to allow a quick passing. If it was a race. . . one that was obviously rigged to make the Gothos loose, the two British ships could bide their time and blast the Gothos into splinters at their leisure. At least this way, once the Gothos was past (and assuming she survived the first servo of cannon fire) the two war ships would be forced to reduce their speed and turn to pursue. Their wider beams and heavily tonnage would make them maneuver much more slowly than the smaller galleon. That would give them a slight advantage if it could be exploited.

Mikala called out from the large wooden wheel that controlled the ship's rudder. "Rotheram is creating a gap and giving Hardy room. They are going to try and force us down the middle and attack from both broadsides." Mikala pointed out.

Lee gave a gentle nod, as did Gailyn. They seemed to agree with Lieutenant Pailaka's assessment.

"Aye." Lee stated pointing at the HMS Victory, "You can see she's widening ever so slightly and trying to make it look like the prevailing winds have shifted."

"If they get us between their two ships,. . ." Gailyn stated and paused looking at the Captain, ". . . well it was nice of you to allow me to come on this away mission sir."

Lee smiled. He liked Gailyn because he was always able to look on the lighter side of things. Be that in Ten Forward when the world of responsibly and command was crushing down upon his shoulders as Captain of the USS Galaxy, or now when they were likely to be facing the battle that will mean their deaths.

"We won't let that happen 'mate. Adjust course, keep heading straight for the bow of the Victory."

"Aye aye Captain!" Mikala called out.

The Gothos drew closer to the approaching HMS Victory. Ensign Xavier called back from the main deck where he was assisting Lieutenant Sanchez with one of the cannon. "What are your orders Captain?"

Lee called out, "Standby on the cannon. When I give the command, open fire on the Victory. Try to take out as many of their cannon as possible. Every one of their weapons we knock out is one less that will be returning fire upon us."

Captain Price turned and looked back at Mikala at the wheel. "When I give the word, turn us hard to port as far as sharp as the rudder will allow. When I give the command, drop sails and fire the starboard cannon at the Victory, targeting her weapons." Lee turned and explained to the crew, "Once the Victory turns to her port, tighten the sails and crank her hard starboard as tight as she'll go. We will swing back around and give the Victory our port side cannon, only this time, target high on her rigging."

The crew understood the orders and gave the appropriate acknowledgments. The battle was less than a minute away.

"Now I see your strategy Price. I must say I am quite pleased. Not how I would approach matters mind you, but it is good to see that you are finally getting into the spirit of things." Trelane stated nonchalantly while he continued to play the keyboard of his harpsichord like he hadn't a care in the world.

Captain Price just gave him a dirty look and turned away. He knew it would be a miracle if they survived the opening engagement, let alone the battle. At the very best, the HMS Victory will have reduced fire power on her starboard side and be immobilized if they manage to splinter her rigging sufficiently enough. At the worse, they would get a full broadside from her and then wait for the Royal Sovereign to swing over and finish the job.

"Steady 'mates. . ." Lee called out with a raised hand. In the final moments as the HMS Victory's bow grew larger and larger on the collision course, every minute detail of the ship was able to be seen. Even the people that were manning her weapons and rigging could be seen from the decks of the Gothos. "Now! Hard port 'mate."

Mikala began spinning the mighty rudder wheel and the Gothos began turning to port. Unfortunately, the HMS Victory didn't maintain a straight course and instead began turning hard to her starboard, basically forcing the Gothos to either collide with her or scrape down her broadsides in the ally between her and the HMS Royal Sovereign.

Lee hadn't counted on Captain Hardy's ruthlessness. "Crickey! Belay that order Lieutenant, bring us hard to starboard and cut sails now!"

Struggling, Lieutenant Pailaka ran his hands over the spinning wooden wheel, slowing it down until he finally could get a grip of it. With all of his might, Mikala put his back into turning the rudder back against the swirling current they had just created by turning hard port.

The HMS Victory closed. Her pointed bow came into contact with the Gothos, which had just angled enough to skid down her starboard side. Glancing over Captain Price could see the sailors manning the Victory. They were all outfitted in Royal naval uniforms. On the command deck, Admiral Nelson and Captain Hardy glared back at the white haired Captain wearing a Starfleet uniform.

"Open fire with port side cannon!" Lee hollered.

As the Gothos and Victory scraped paint, both ships discharged their weapons in a broadside like no other. The Gothos fired first, causing explosions on board the HMS Victory. But the mighty ship of the line wasn't without her own bite. Several of her massive balls pierced the decks of the Gothos, sending splinters, metal fragments, and body parts flying. Lieutenant Heather Sanchez was one of the unfortunate ones standing directly next to the cannon line of the Victory. Captain Price watched as a huge ball tore through the outer hull of the ship and blew her torso apart. It was fast, violent and brutal. The sting of gunpowder from the cannon smoke filled everyone's nostrils and made it difficult to see through the smoke. In the swirls, Lee yelled out, "Turn us hard to port! Prepare starboard cannons for firing on the Royal Sovereign's rigging!"

Mikala once again struggled to regain control of the giant rudder wheel and turn in the direction the Captain had commanded.

While all the cannon fire, death and destruction was going on, Trelane seemed oblivious to the consequences of the battle. He continued to smile and play his harpsichord as if he was watching his favorite holo-novel without a care in the world. Were he to start snacking on popcorn it wouldn't have surprised Captain Price at all, given his casual attitude about the skirmish.

The Gothos began to respond to the new direction. The HMS Victory was well past the Gothos and starting on it's long turn-about to reengage. The ship's shear size would take her out of the battle for a few minutes. The HMS Royal Sovereign was another story. Having lurked behind the Victory and far to the port side, she was set up in perfect position to attack the Gothos. Captain Rotheram waited for the Gothos to turn to her port, making the largest target possible, before ordering her cannon to fire.

Lee wasn't going to give him the chance. Soon as the ship began to straighten out, he hollered, "Steady on the cannon, aim for the rigging 'mates. FIRE!"

The Gothos starboard side cannon fired high, striking the Royal Sovereign's rigging and with a lucky shot, splintering one of her main masts.

Undaunted by the lucky blow, Captain Rotheram's vessel returned fire, causing several more explosive strikes against the right side of the Gothos' hull.

When the vessel rocked violently, Trelane glanced up from his music playing, "Careful now Price. This ship was in perfect condition when I was her Captain. I expect that better care should be taken of her."

Lee didn't even bother with the pesky super-being. He had other concerns, like his ship being pounded and his crewmembers dying. From the explosions, there wasn't a soul on board that hadn't been stricken with wooden and metal splinters, or wasn't bleeding from at least one injury taken in the opening battle.

"Hoist sails, and catch the wind. Hold present course. See to it that he cannon are reloaded." Captain Price ordered.

"My my, it does seem you've made a wreck out of my nice little ship here Captain. While it does pain me to see the Gothos in such a condition, I must also admit to being pleased that you are doing such a fine job of failing as a naval commander!" Trelane taunted, taking a pause from his harpsichord for a moment. When he saw that Captain Price was ignoring him, Trelane's smile faded. He returned to play his music when he noticed a bit of Lieutenant Sanchez' hand lying on his harpsichord. Picking it up like it was a disgusting rodent rather than a human appendage, Trelane tossed it over the side of the ship with obvious disgust. He then took a kerchief and wiped off the finely crafted wood harpsichord surface, giving it a puff of breath to polish it to a shine before sitting back down, satisfied and returning to his music playing. All the while screams, moans, explosions and battle noises were raging around the decks of the Gothos.

"Broadsides"
By Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
With appearances by Captain Price and the crew of the Gothos.

***Gothos***

"Awe! This is it!" Mike said through clenched teeth as the Gothos began to slide past the HMS Victory, their hulls mere inches apart. There were no fancy maneuvers, no tricks of command that would stem the tide of what was to come. From his position at the wheel, Mike could look across directly into the eyes of the enemy. Worse, he could stare directly down the black gaping maws of the three decks of cannons, pointed directly at them.

"Open fire with port side cannon!" Captain Price hollered. An instant later, commanding voice of Lord Admiral Nelson gave a similar order aboard the Victory.

For a split second, it was the loudest sound Mike had ever heard, like a hundred thunderclaps cracking in unison. He felt a wave of pressure slam into him, followed by a wave of heat and a stinging sensation that made him gasp for breath. His world went white as both ships were enveloped in a billowing cloud of spent powder. He gripped the wheel with both hands, momentarily blind and deaf. His only measurable sensation was the thump of his heart pounding in his chest, telling him that somehow, amidst the carnage, he was still alive.

Each second seemed to take an eternity as the smoke cleared and his hearing returned. Mike immediately wished he could return to the comfort of the silence. All around him the agonized screaming of the wounded formed a hellish symphony. He looked down at his arms and chest. He was covered in blood, far too much to be his own. He looked around at the wheelhouse and what he saw sickened him. Tattered shards of what were once men and women littered the deck, strewn haphazardly amongst shattered timbers and metal fragments. The stinging sensation stayed with him. Some of the blood was definitely his own, caused by the flying shrapnel. He ignored the pain and gripped the wheel as his eyes searched the deck for Captain Price. "God, let him be alive!" he murmured.

"Turn us hard to port!" The Captain's voice called out, sending a flood of relief through Mike. "Prepare starboard cannons for firing on the Royal Sovereign's rigging!"

"Hard to starboard, aye!" Mike shouted in response, spinning the wheel and pressing down with all his weight as the stubborn rudder fought against the sudden turn. Mike glanced back over his shoulder. The HMS Victory was now well past the Gothos. It would be minutes before either ship could maneuver to engage each other again. Meanwhile, the Royal Sovereign was preparing for its initial volley.

The Gothos beat them to the punch, completing its turn first and firing its starboard cannons as the ship pivoted on the up roll, angling the guns towards the enemy rigging. Their aim was true. The thunder of the cannons was followed by the crack of the Royal Sovereign's main mast. Mike watched in numb horror as mast, rigging and sail crashed to the enemy ship's main deck, bringing down dozens of broken sailors along with it.

Though injured, the Royal Sovereign still had plenty of teeth. She returned fire, her cannons blowing large chunks out of the right side of the Gothos and prompting more screams of pain from those unfortunate enough to catch the brunt of the attack. Mike had been in combat before, but nothing like this. At least in space, a hull breach would cause a blast door to close or the vacuum to rush in. Unless the damage was to the bridge, the helmsman never heard the cries of the wounded. On a galleon, there was no avoiding the sounds of death.

"Hoist sails and catch the wind. Hold present course. See to it that the cannons are reloaded." Price ordered.

Through it all, Trelane, undaunted and unfazed, continued to play the harpsichord, lending an air of absurdity to a situation that was otherwise deadly serious.

"Captain!" Mike called out. "It's going to take time for the Royal Sovereign to adjust to the loss of her main sail, and the Victory is still coming about into the wind. We have a chance to deliver raking fire to the Sovereign's stern. We may not get such a chance again!"

Price thought about it. It might give them a disadvantage in their next pass with the Victory, but it could allow them to deliver a decisive blow to the Royal Sovereign without the chance of return fire. Raking fire, delivered to the bow or the stern of a ship, was far more deadly and damaging than a broadside, with the cannonballs smashing through the entire length of the ship.

"What to you think, Gailyn?" Price asked.

"We could cripple them if we're lucky." He said. "But if we miss our mark, then we're trapped between the two warships.

It was a risk, but the alternative was round after round of broadsides, a game the Gothos must eventually loose.

"Do it!" Price ordered. "Hard to starboard, 'mate. Bring us around for a shot into their stern galleries. Lower the sails as we pass and give the gunners as much time as possible to pick their shots."

"Aye sir!" Mike replied as he brought the Gothos about. The once proud galleon was beginning to respond sluggishly and was listing to one side. One or more of the cannon balls must have smashed their way below the waterline. That meant they were sailing on borrowed time.

The Royal Sovereign was desperately trying to trim her remaining sails to account for the loss of the main mast. Their ship was mostly intact, except for the rigging, and it frustrated Captain Rotheram to no end to see the accursed pirate galleon slipping in behind him. Unable to bring guns to bear, he ordered a mass of soldiers armed with muskets to the stern of his ship, where they might pick off some of the enemy gunners before they got the chance to fire.

Mike allowed himself a grim smile as the Gothos maneuvered behind the Royal Sovereign's stern. They had them right where they wanted them. Below, Gailyn had the starboard cannons ready. Half were loaded with cannon balls while the rest had been loaded with grape shot. Together they would form a lethal combination.

There was a loud crack from the enemy ship as a line of muskets fired in unison. Mike flinched as one of the wheel handles was shot away, just inches from his left shoulder. Someone cried out on the forecastle as one of the enemy musketeers found their mark.

"Fire!" Price ordered as the Gothos slid past the rear of the Sovereign. The cannons fired one by one in sequence. The first volleys smashed into the galleries, and tore deep into the heart of the enemy ship. The next volley raked the decks with grapeshot. Mike watched as the entire line of musketeers was torn to shreds in the storm of lead. The third and final volley, from the guns near the starboard rear, were fired on the down roll, angling the cannon balls through the stern and deep into the enemy's keel.

What followed was a thunderous explosion that knocked nearly everyone off of their feet. Mike dragged himself back to a standing position, unsure of what had just occurred. He heard cheering from the main deck and turned to look at the Royal Sovereign.

"Awe! We must have hit her powder stores!" He declared. The stern of the enemy ship had been shorn away and black trails of smoke indicated that a fire hard started below decks. She was still afloat, still struggling to maneuver, but as the flames licked at her timbers, survival, rather than the hunt, had become the Royal Sovereign's number one concern.

But the crew's elation over the stunning turn of events was short lived. Up in the rigging, Ensign Murphy cried out in alarm.

"Sir! The Victory! She's almost on us again!"

Mike stared wide-eyed as the HMS Victory bore down on the Gothos like an angry predator. There was no possible way she could have completed her turn and started another run, not with the wind against her.

Mike's heart sank. Of course she could do it. She could defy every law of nautical physics if she wanted to. After all, it was Trelane's game and Trelane's rules. And Trelane did not like to loose.

"We are all dead men." Mike thought. He looked at his Captain, bloodied like the rest of the away team from flying bits of wood and metal. He stood grim faced and resolute. He had to know as well as Mike did that the deck was stacked against them, that the next exchange of fire from the Victory could be the last. But there was no fear, no panic. Mike drew strength from him. He gripped the wheel firmly and mentally prepared himself for another round of hell.

"Captain, what are your orders?"

*** ***

Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
Chief Helmsman, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

"Organized Mayhem."
By Ensign Peter Lockhart
With liberal unauthorised use of Lieutenant Elaithin Jii

Shortly after Ensign Mason had warned security that the aft shields had failed and that unexpected guests might be heading there way, the battle seemed to calm for a minute or so.

"What's going on?" Peter asked. "Have we won or escaped?"

"The USS Galaxy is presently undertaking evasive manoeuvres, which are proving very effective at avoiding damage at the moment. However, we do not appear to be firing back." Ensign Sovok reported.

"Have we lost weapons?" Ensign Smith question.

"It doesn't appear so. I am not fully aware of why the Galaxy is returning fire." the Vulcan continued.

It was about now that Lieutenant Gartner and Lieutenant Elaithin walked in. Elaithin, seeing that the area was under the command of a bunch of junior officers and Ensign Lockhart, decided to take charge. Unfortunately, it was about this time, back on the bridge, that 'Commander Albrecht took command and decided to engage in a slugging match with on the Breen Battleships.

"Okay people." Jii called, "We need to evacuate the star drive of all non essential...." he never managed to finish as the ship took several sever hits and a console exploded into the face of Ensign Smith, burning his face and lodging pieces of shrapnel in his upper chest. Suddenly, the area turned in organized mayhem, as everyone tried to keep their wits about them, whilst the ship was rocked violently from side to side.

"Mr. Lockhart. How's your medical cross training?" Lieutenant Elaithin called.

"Shite." Peter replied truthfully, but bounding off towards the medikit nonetheless.

"I'm not bad sir." Ensign McElvogue called from somewhere.

"Give that medikit to Andy then." Lieutenant Elaithin called.

"'Commander Albrecht has assumed command of the Galaxy. Commander Casey has been taken to Sickbay." Ensign Sovok called out, still monitoring the situation on the bridge.

"We're dead then!" Peter cried, before answering Jii, "and YES SIR!" he finished handing the medikit to Andy McElvogue.

"Ensign Mason to security." the comm. channel broke in. "We need an extra security team in cargo bay two. Seems the Ferengi are getting a little restless. Ensign Rios wants to sedate them with gas."

"No doubt he does." Elaithin replied quietly, not heard over the screams that Ensign Smith was emitting from the other corner of the room.

"We've got a hull breach on deck 34." Ensign Sovok called out, as the ship rocked from another blast.

"James!" Elaithin bawled again, trying to attract the attention of Ensign Torricle. "Get Ensign McQueen and head to cargo bay two. Help Kornan Rios."

"Lieutenant O'Connell to main security. I'm on my way now. How's the situation down there?"

"Bad." Peter replied, whilst trying to hold Ensign Smith still whilst Andy McElvogue was quickly refamiliarising himself with a dermal regenerator. "Elaithin's in command down here, whilst the chief is up playing hero on the bridge. The Ferengi are causing trouble in cargo bay two and..."

"Another hull breach, deck three to eight." Ensign Sovok reported as gravely as a Vulcan could.

"And we've got more holes than a piece of cheese." Peter relayed to the Lieutenant.

"We need two more security teams to help evacuate decks three to eight." Heidi Mason called down from the bridge. In the background the voice of 'Commander Albrecht could be heard shouting orders to Lieutenant Commander Hermedhie.

"Loud bugger isn't he?" Peter remarked to Andy McElvogue.

"Peter. Grab your phaser and get to deck three. Help them evacuate the area. Meet up with Chris Aaron, he should already be there!" Lieutenant Elaithin bawled again as emergency lights failed for a few seconds under another blast from the Breen ship.

"Where's my phaser?" Peter cried. "I need my phaser!"

"Main engineering to Security, we're cutting power down to minimal levels on deck 38. We need it for the shields." Lieutenant' Dana called down.

"We read you engineering." Ensign Sovok replied.

"Mr. Lockhart! Deck three! YESTERDAY!" Jii called again for the second time.

"I'm gone!" Peter replied, finding his phaser and storming out the door, narrowly avoiding Lieutenant O'Connell as he walked in. Peter managed a strangled, "Sir!" as he sprinted to the turbolift, hoping that it was still working.

Based on STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Suder - Chief Engineer

"Need For More Power"

Suder kept tapping command codes to access the primary and raw power systems. In an attempt to create some sort of protective shielding in the aft section, Suder noticed that the power fluctuations had increased. Cadet Jason relayed a message to Suder, informing him of the Ops report given by some Lieutenant.

Suder figured it was Brandis, but didn't really need him to be telling him what was needed right now. Of course he was doing his job. They all were.

A small rumble through Main Engineering was enough to stop Suders thinking. Glancing at the damage report screen, he could see power being drained from the ship. "Bridge, this is Engineering. Power regulators have just been fused. I'm guessing the Breen have adapted their energy weapons. Either that or they just knew where to hit us. Shields won't be up until we can get those power regulators back online."

Suder quickly tapped his communicator and looked at the manifest of damage control teams. "Suder to, Ensign Carlton, we've just lost the primary power regulators." Suder informed him.

"On my way to fix them now, Chief." the Ensign replied.

"Hurry, Ensign, we need those shields." Suder replied.

Another small rumble seemed to vibrate across the deck a lot more this time. There was something unusual going on. Hits to the hull usually created a quick shake to the ship. But this rumble was something else. Like a different weapon was being used on the hull. Or maybe it was just the lower, or maybe even upper decks getting hit and the vibrations just echoed through the rest of the ship.

"Cadet!" Suder snapped.

"Sir?" Daniel Jason replied.

Suder saw the Cadet looking after some of the wounded. But he needed him. "Those fires on the secondary levels. Put them out." he ordered.

Jason nodded and made his way to the secondary levels.

"Suder to Ensign Minchi and Daarla, report back to Engineering immediatley."

"On our way, Chief." came the response.

Suder looked once again at the damage report screen. Things were controllable at the moment, but it wouldn't take long for things to get seriously out of hand. Suder just wished that if Casey was up there, on the Bridge, maybe, just maybe the crazy, unpredictable and wreckless side of the Commander might just come out and beat the Breen ships. Not destroy them, Suder might enjoy a quick look at a Breen ship from the inside. But the chances were slim. Commander Casey was most likely fighting for the kill. Not just a disabling blow, but ultimate destruction.

Suder would probably have just as much fun studying the debris. Time would tell. Maybe the Breen would be studying the Federation ship. What an interesting turn of events that would be...

"Regaining memory"
by Lt (jg) Ragnald Gustavson, helmsman
USS Galaxy

(OOC: This occurs between "Running The Gambit" and "Stubborn Mortality")

Ragnald ran through corridor heading the bridge. Red alert could mean two different things. Either the Galaxy was attacked or Commander Casey was standing behind the bridge`s door, a stopwatch in his hand waiting for the staff to arrive. None of both was a reason to dawdle around.

Ragnald tried to remember the young female Ensign he met at the stellar cartography. He knew her, but from where and when? Didn`t he call her McAllen? So he even knew her name. Oh yes Rose Isis McAllen., the woman he met during the zero-G-incident few weeks ago. Didn`t Dr Dothan tell him Ensign McAllen carried him all the way to sickbay? More and more small fragments of that day reappeared in his mind.

Suddenly the klaxons` wailing was intermitted by a loud bang. The impact made Ragnald stumble against a bulkhead.

*So this is definitely no training* Ragnald thought as he stood up and continued his run to the bridge.

Few seconds later he reached the turbolift and jumped in. “Bridge” her ordered. The turbolift started to move. Then the Galaxy was hit again and the turbolift was shaken by the impact. The light flickered. Ragnald heard thing flying around and the sound of metal parts falling to the floor.

The turbolift door opened and Ragnald was able to have a look at his workplace. Wall covers covered the floor. A severe wounded Yeoman was lying on the floor. Commander Casey sat on the floor leaned at the wall on the left of the Bridge bleeding. Smoke came out of a console.

The flight control console was manned by Lt Cmdr Hermedhie who looked at Ragnald as he entered the bridge. “Hurry up please!” Hermedhie shouted “Ensign Taggart was wounded. You have to take over the helm!”

Ragnald sat down and looked at the screen. Two Breen cruisers strayed around out there damaged but still a threat. The CO in charge wounded, the shield down, several controls off-line. The things didn`t really look good.

*McAllen? I have to search for her to thank her and to excuse me when this is over.* Ragnald thought.

Adjusting the flight controls he grew nervous more and more. *If we survive this.

Guts of a Commander
by LCDR Endris Gakor, Doctor
with Commander Deiran Casey, patient
and LCDR Karyn Dallas RN, Chief Counselor/Nurse

*** Sick Bay ***

Before leaving for the bridge, Gakor had mobilized the trauma team in Sickbay. Matthew reported an extreme list of injuries Deiran had sustained, and every minute would count. While the Tellarite worked on the bridge to save their acting captain, others in Sickbay prepped the surgery suite, set up suction pumps to drain internal bleeding, brought in plasma of the correct type to replace blood loss, connected the lung knitter, and initialized other various machines that were available only in the ship's medical hub.

The first thing Endris noticed was that Sickbay was crowded. Karyn was on one side, trying to calm an upset injured child. There were alot of wounded crew, the less injured and ambulatory were helping the best they could with their more harshly wounded mates. Karyn glanced up and gave Gakor a smile of encouragement. There was no way now she could use her original plan and help the surgery team, way too many bodies needed counselling here. Endris paused long enough to nod to Karyn in acknowledgment of her countribution, then the doctor entered the surgery room.

Grazella seemed a little sad. The Saurian's surgical skills were a great boon to the crew. It just seemed she was only pressed to duty when things were grim. Like now. Two Breen cruisers were outside, pounding to get in and blow the Galaxy to bits. She put a tray of suctures, thread, and sponges on the table. When Deiran beamed in after being stablized, his temporary cast was removed. By the time Gakor arrived, he had been strapped in to the surgical support frame, and the Saurian operation specialist had opened a tunnel to the area inside the human where his internal injuries were.

There was a great deal of fluid in the lungs. Suction drained two entire pints of blood and water. Had another few ounces collected, and Deiran would be visiting the undertaker now. *That stubborn human! Snacks! No wonder he doesn't like Sickbay, he only comes here when he can tax all my systems!*, Gakor cursed mentally. After pumps syphoned off the excess fluid, Endris could see the lungs had somehow imploded, as if someone had stuck a grenade under his skin. The damage pattern was unusual, as if it were guided by an unseen hand.

Bypassing speculation, Gakor and Grazella began to use the lung knitter to mend the tears in the lung's surface. None of the tears were large individually, but there were a lot of them.

Just when they were making important progress, the ship was hit hard by Breen weapon's fire! The artificial gravity went out. Strapped to the frame, Deiran went nowhere. But everything else started to float. Doctors, nurses, supplies, knives used for surgery, you name it. Endris gave a verbal command for backup power to be generated, but that system was incapacitated.

Endris saw internal organs floating out of the cavity they made in the XO. At least this way he would never complain of appendicitis. Fortunately, life could continue without the appendix. Gakor opened a hatch on the roof containing emergency supplies. There were two pairs of gravity boots inside. When redesigning Sickbay, they had put lockers on the roof, knowing if gravity went out medical personnel would have no problems floating to the ceiling.

Gakor put on one pair of boots, then clamped herself to the surface. Taking the other pair, she headed for the Saurian surgeon. Once both Doctors were able to walk somewhat normally, Endris used an electro magnet to collect the surgical steel implements and account for them. When gravity returned, she didn't want a stray knife descending and puncturing something vital. While the Tellarite collected the supplies, Grazella went outside and got extra gravity boots for the nurses and support team. Likewise, she corralled the stray appendix so it couldn't lodge in the vents when this was through. Soon all the humanoids were back on the deck.

The Breen's cruel weapons struck again, hard and vicious. This time a new threat happened to hinder the operation. The power went out! The backup generator was no help, the power couplings themselves had fused. Doctor Martin (who had been assisting) excused herself. The holographic doctor informed them that power conservation methods were in place, and she was forced to shut down.

15 minutes later, the lung machine beeped. It was not done, but the battery had run out of power! The machine had cleared out old, damaged material, but did not have time to manufacture healthy replacement tissue. If a solution was not found soon, the cavity might fill back up with fluid, and they had no power for the pumps now either!

"Quick, Nurse. Find Counselor Dallas and liberate the battery from her mobility chair, we need a power source before Deiran's lungs fill back up with liquid."

Endris was happy Karyn had just finished annual maintenance on the chair. A fresh battery had been installed, as were gravity clamps in case gravity cut out. Karyn was found outside in the triage area, trying to help the latest onslaught of casualties coming to Sickbay. The chaotic pace was enough to keep thoughts of Michael and Deiran from dominating her every thought, but seeing Deiran bleeding to death on the floor was a reminder that life in Starfleet was more than just cold procedure. The battery was swiftly connected, and the lung generator began to create new textured matter to replace the torn lung fragments. His blood pressure had finally stablized, after dipping dangerously low. The CMO was glad there was now more blood inside him than spilling out cracks.

With only batteries as a power source, the main lighting panels were down to a low glow. Endris hoped a repair team would be dispatched soon, but given the Breen's effective tactics, it probably wouldn't happen. Gakor asked Karyn to locate some self-powered porta lights. The Counselor departed, grateful the task would get her out of Sickbay long enough to catch her breath.

The lung machine completed its task a quarter of an hour later. Deiran sighed. Sedated, he was still apparently in great pain. Endris gave him a minor dose of Qualtrapan. Now that his internal injuries were less, he could handle it. His physiological reactions calmed down, a sign that he was adjusting to healing.

Karyn came back with the lights, and Endris had the ship's newest nurse get some forceps and surgical pliers. It was time to remove shattered bone fragments from the patient's rib cage. The extra light helped earnestly, as did the magnification scope (which, thank lenses, did not require further power sacrifices.) It took both Grazella and Gakor nearly an hour scrutinizing for slivers of bone. While Karyn was unable to help Endris remove the tiny fragments from Deiran's body because of her decreased motor skills, Karyn helped monitor Deiran's vitals and the amount of anesthesia entering his blood. Finally, a tricorder reported there were none left big enough to cause problems.

By this time, the blood infusers were off, as was the lung machine. But the battery did not have enough power to knit a new rib cage. Endris placed the rib templet tissue that would guide the placement of the new ribs inside the patent. There were no signs of rejection. Then the surgeons sewed Deiran up. He would live, but would have to wait for standard power sources to be restored before receiving a new rib cage.

Endris looked reassuringly to Counselor Dallas. "Karyn, Deiran is going to be all right. But, he will be upset and require your speciality when he wakes. I have fixed as much as possible given power failures in Sickbay. He will have to remain immobilized until power comes back on and we can create him a new rib cage. All his other damage has been fixed."

She gave a sigh of relief. Karyn was glad the Commander was safe. Then she smiled, a comical picture entering her mind. "Deiran will be furious he is not ready to command when he wakes up." She was stating fact, she could already see what he was going to be like. She was recharging her resolve even as they spoke.

"Starvation! With all the interruptions to his surgery, he's lucky to wake up at all! Had a less innovative crew worked on him, his guts would have all flown out when gravity went bye bye. Then he would be in the morgue."

Karyn smiled. "I wish he could be as logical as we are. Maybe it's a man thing...or just a Casey thing. Don't worry, I'll make sure he knows how lucky he is." Nothing would give her more pleasure in fact.

Gakor responded, "Okay. I wonder how I can get food now that replicators are down...."

Karyn smiled once more. This was one problem she had a solution for. She told her friend in a whimsical tone, "When the power grid showed the first signs of trouble, some of the off duty Nurses replicated a big Oinkus for the staff. Some of it was undoubtibly spoiled when gravity failed, but I bet a sandwhich or two survived. It is in the corridor outside to the left."

With renewed vigor, Endris headed for the promised Snacks...

"Pre-Battle"
By: Pirate Ryak Sullax
Pirate ship Gothos

Ryak stood on the deck of the ship near the Captain as everything began. Ryak listened as Evin told the Captain on his opinion on where they were. Leaning on a barrel Evin made a few additions with the leaky, gold-embossed stylus Evin found on the rosewood desk in Trelane's cabin. As Evin worked the Ryak, having been searching through some of the log books from the Gothos, and checked up on his colleague.

"Looks as though we have a position at least." Genestra said, looking up from pile of papers assembled on top of the oak rum barrel.

"Very good." Lieutenant Commander Sullax remarked. Looking at the series of equations the Romulan nodded and left the Human-Betazoid scientist to continue his work.

Ryak worked away as the sun began to rise. All of a sudden Ryak was running to get Price's orders filled.

"Tighten up the sails 'mates. Let's catch our share of the gusting winds to put some distance between us and those ships on the horizon." Captain Price ordered.

Both Ryak and Evin were quick to man the rigging and take advantage of the favorable winds. Glancing over the side of the Gothos, Mikala estimated that their speed had increased by several knots. Things were looking hopeful that they would soon escape over the horizon and that the twin warships in the distance wouldn't discover them in the early morning hours.

Ryak moved about working with Evin to get the sails filled with air. Price glanced across the deck at the crewmen and woman standing by there. They had all seen their comrades in the dingy by now, and looked to be waiting for the orders to be given.

"Cut sails, and bring us along side 'mates. I want the Galaxy crew members brought on board in record time before we attempt to recapture the wind."

With the orders given, the Starfleet officers turn 18th century sailors began carrying out the orders to bring Lieutenant Olson's away team on board the Gothos.

While Lieutenant Commander Ryak Sullax was helping the crewmembers out of their tiny lifeboat that was once the USS Buster Keaton, Captain Price turned on the upper deck and gazed back with the brass telescope Trelane had left him upon his promotion to "Captain".

The tiny galleon Gothos was heading straight for the HMS Victory and her sister ship a few leagues behind her. It was truly a hopeless battle for the pirate ship. Taking on Britains finest warships wasn't something Spanish Galleons were prepared to do.

Ryak was not liking the situation at all. There seemed to be a whole lot more at stake then meets the eye. Staring down at the beam of the giant British warship, it was nearly impossible to tell how fast she was moving. But if the favorable 'mystery' winds were still propelling her along as they were before, it was a good estimate that the warship was doing nearly fifteen knots if not more. Ryak manned his position as they approached the Victory. The ship made its way into battle.

To be continued.....

"The Term Is......Lets Rock"
By Lt.Jg Bruce MAxWell
onboard the Gothos

Sweat stung his eyes but it didnt slow him down. Blood from various cuts and splinters run down his body. A sort of anger and robot glaze over his eyes as he heaves cannonballs into the cannon and helps aim. The explosions of fire all around him. He continously gets ready to fire waiting for the Captain the one word that only releived the pressure of the fight from MaxWell....."Fire".

Bruce kept reloading checking on the rest of the crew when he could. That is when he saw the atrocity that lit him on fire. A cannonball roared at the gothos taking the secutiy pesonell assigned to the away team ripped apart by the cannonball. He stood there looking another blast went off by him. Splinters and metal added to the cuts and bllod to his body. He stood there as he watched Trelene toss the hand away and criticize the Captain. Bruce grabbed the archeac pistol and pointed it at Trelene.......

Bruce as he pointed the pistol at Trelene heard the others screaming and more blasts hitting the ships. Just then he heard Trelene play something on the Harpsicord and Looked over at Bruce.

"Go ahead there Highlander...if ya realy think it will hit me!" Trelene said with a smile and some satisfaction that someone finally took the initiative to try him.

"You have no right to do this to usTwo of us are dead and you feel no remorse this ends now............." Bruce Yelled as he pulled the trigger.................

The pistol fired and the bullet flew out towards Trelene the bullet flew and stopped right in front of Trelene. He smiled and the bullet flew back at Bruce and winged his face. Bruce flew back and landed on his arse.

"Good try cant blame yabut now you have another scar to remind you not to try again. Anyways I think they need you more now......." Trelene said laughing as he sat back at his harpsicorde.

At that moment Bruce felt powerless and didnt know what to do. Then his anger mode rushed andreline thru his body again. It caused him to stop feeling the pain that is courseing thru his body. He stood up and tasted the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. Bruce walked up to the Captain and said.

"Excuse me Captain.....We are taking heavy damage and our losses are rising, Sir I could could recomend something......" Bruce said doing his best too stand at attention and show th Captain respect under a shakey ship.

Price looked at the Helmsman covered in blood, wood and cuts and said "What is that Lieutenant?"

"Sir if there is someway to get over to one of the other ships and set of the powder supplies it would cripple the ship and help us........sir I could do it!" Bruce stood there with pride and Honor in his eyes.

"Chaos"
by, Lt. Cmdr. Raesene Hermedhie,
Chief Tactical Officer

The bridge was in a state of complete chaos. The battle with the Breen battlecruisers was causing signifigant damage to the Galaxy. Enough so that those on board might not live to see another day.

Raesene continued targeting the battlecruisers' weapons ports. The strange thing was that they were aligned like the fireball machines on a Brecht tower ship. Almost as if they had been magically conjured up.

But soon he had shot out all those ports, under the command of Cmdr. Albrecht. Then, a few seconds later, one of the battlecruisers exploded, like a bomb of hydrogen's flame.

All were shocked. No one could explain it, and no one wanted to. It was just more in the mysterious nature of occurences since the sighting of the galleon floating in deep space.

In fact, nothing would probably ever be the same with that ship hanging there. It seemed to be a nexus of magic and strange circumstances. ~By the gods, how I hate magic portals,~ Raesene thought. ~They always cause more trouble then they are worth in speed of transfer. Everyone wants them for their own uses, and they never consider others wishes in the matter!~

Raesene then sat back to await the next mysterious occurence in this unforseen mission. It was all he could do, as nothing was like it seemed here. Hopefully, they could now pick up the away team as well.

"Time To Think, Part One"

Lt. Commander Karyn Dallas RN
Chief Counselor/Nurse

with unauthorized appearances by:

Lt. Brook Ames-O'Connell MD
Medical Officer

Liam James O'Connell
Civillian Child

***Sickbay, USS Galaxy***

Things had started to slow down in sickbay, though it was true the battle raged on. Whether things had really slowed down or things were registering in slow motion within Karyn's mind, Karyn wasn't sure, but she suddenly found herself with time to think.

She had spent the last few hours going between both Deiran's and Michael's rooms checking on them between patients. With her batteries disconnected from her mobility chair, Karyn had chosen to use her manual, self-powered, backup. Admittedly, her upper arms were weakened from not having to propell her herself in the manual too often. Still, the effort it took to push her chair allowed her to blow off the steam that had slowly accumulated since the battle began.

While the medical staff enjoyed the Oinkus the off-duty nurses had managed to replicate before the power grid failures began, Karyn chose to spend the momentary breather alone with her own thoughts. The latest report on Michael confirmed that his brain activity had increased for a few moments just after the battle began, but there had been no such activity since then, leading Karyn to believe it was just a fluke of nature something had happened at all.

It was truly starting to weigh on her now, just how quickly life could be given and taken away. While no one was willing to say anything, Karyn knew sooner or later Endris would have to raise the possibility that Michael be taken off life support. He had been in a coma with little to no brain activity for at least two months now. If he didn't show improvement soon, some could argue the point keeping Michael alive was useless and took time and resources from the rest of the Galaxy family. As Chief Counselor, Endris would look to her to support the decision, just as she would if it were anyone else lying there. When the time came, Karyn would have to make the decision as neutrally as possible, weighing the good with the bad. It would pain her terribly to have to make that kind of decision, but she couldn't allow others to feel sorry for her or give her special treatment. If the time came, she would will herself to make the best decision for EVERYONE involved.

Suddenly her reverie was interrupted by the sounds of a wailing baby. Karyn, suddenly concerned that more children had been injured during the skirmish, went to investigate.

She found the source of the crying in the nearby pediatric room. Brooke was cradling her infant son, Liam, while trying to get him to take a bottle.

"So it's this little one that's making all that racket." whispered Karyn.

Brook turned, noticing Karyn for the first time. "Sorry, Liam's a little cranky. All the noise, you know. I think he just wanted his mom."

"I think you may be right, " Realizing it was unusual for him to be in Sickbay during a Red Alert and not in one of the emergency daycare facilities, Karyn asked, "Was he hurt?"

Karyn thought she saw Brook visibly shudder. "He sustained a small fracture when he was thrown to the deck, but Tim brought him quickly and they were able to make him good as new. I hope when this thing is over we can be one happy family again."

Karyn gave her best genuine, but forced smile. "I hope so too. I'm glad he's alright." Quick flashes of Michael and Deiran lying on their biobeds reminded her that some were not so lucky. "Well, guess I better get back to my patients. Call me if you need anything."

Brook nodded and watched Karyn leave the room.

***

As she leaned against the pediatric room doorframe, Karyn was careful to keep her sobs quiet. As tears silently rolled down her cheeks, Karyn wondered if she and Michael would ever get the opportunity to move forward in their relationship. While before the accident they had decided to take time getting to know each other slowly, both she and Michael were beginning to fall for each other and they both knew it.

This was the man Karyn could see herself marrying and having children with someday...how could she go on knowing that all her dreams could be taken away that quickly?

How was she to compete against a world that could give her such wonderful happiness and then crushing despair on a whim?

She was beginning to think life wasn't worth trying anymore...

"Blood, Sweat and Tears"
by Lt. Cmdr. George Kirk
ACSO & Salty Sea Dog

George stood on his side of the ship, a foot propped up against the railing. Ahead of him, he could see the royal navy ships get larger. George had loaded his cannon and was just waiting for the attack. He felt his stomach muscles tighten involuntarily. These weren't men with phasers they were dealing with. He couldn't just duck behind cover and return fire. Hell, he couldn't look at the computer readout to ascertain the enemies' strength or weaknesses. There was just the smell of sea air and terror. He felt out in the open. The weight of the sword on his belt hung like a boulder. Sitting next to him, an ancient musket lied, already loaded. George hoped he did it right. It wouldn't do to have it blow up in his hands.

George looked to Lt. Sanchez, standing next to him. She was double-checking her load to make sure it was right. George smiled when she glanced up. She simply nodded quickly and set back to work. She was all business, that one. A good officer, though. One of his. George took a deep breath and felt the mist on his face. As they approached the naval ships, Captain Price started giving orders. Now, the adrenaline started pumping. From far away, George could hear the captain's instructions he readied his cannon for fire even as the sweat broke out all over his body. George shivered. The Gothos lurched as they came alongside the enemy ship and the command came to fire. George fired the cannon, the sound of the ancient instrument of death boomed in his ears even as the other cannons fired, drowning out all other noise. George watched as his projectile slammed into the other ship, tearing through the railing, smashing the cannon across from him and digging a furrow along the deck. Sailors screamed as the cannonball ripped through them, taking off entire limbs, or merely bowling through them as if they were tissue paper. And then the Victory fired back. George felt his entire body shake at the sound of the massive guns all firing at once. He felt the deck shudder underneath him as the cannons hit. The initial salvo struck right next to him, where Heather Sanchez was standing. Where George was, he could see Heather fall apart, and then George was launched in the air from the concussion, even as shrapnel from the cannonball ripped into him. He was thrown back and to his right. He hit the deck hard, sliding along the rough wooden floor before finally coming to a stop. George sat up, stupidly. He looked around. He saw several fires break out and other crewmen stood up after being knocked off their feet from the initial blast.

George began to get up and winced. He felt something in his side. He touched the still-smoking piece of shrapnel imbedded in the left side of his stomach. George winced at the pain as his blood sizzled. George blinked and he saw Heather Sanchez again, dead before he could stop it. One of *his* officers. Now she was dead. George felt the rage grow in him. He could barely hear anything and the smell of gunpowder stung his nostrils as the smoke made his eyes tear up. He felt deaf, dumb and blind. George straightened up, yelling angrily at the pain the shrapnel caused him. He gripped the piece of shrapnel in both hands and pulled it out of his body. He glanced at his hands. His left one was cut from the shrapnel, both were burned. For once, George was thankful all the nerve endings were dead.

George blinked away his tears and checked the rest of his body. He was bloody, that much he knew. But he also knew it wasn't all his. Splinters of wood poked out of his body, but he kept seeing Heather die. In his head, he heard Trelane's voice. *Oh, come, now,* he said. *Certainly the inheritor of the Kirk name can do better than that. Captain Kirk must be rolling in his grave.*

George scowled at the sound of the voice and he wondered whether Trelane was actually talking or if George had created the voice himself. He didn't care. By now, the Gothos had worked its' way past the initial salvo and was turning to face the next British ship. George felt his ears pop and he slowly regained his hearing. George walked back to his cannon and began reloading. He glanced at where Heather Sanchez had been and he closed his eyes. He'd been in his share of firefights before, but he'd never seen somebody blown apart like that. He could see Trelane with Captain Price and George felt the anger rising in him again, hot and seeking to destroy everything that contributed to Sanchez's death.

He shouted out his anger, seeking to bring down the skies upon Trelane and his damnable creations. He slowly felt the rage fade, but not vanish. He took several deep breaths, keeping his eyes off Trelane unless his passions rise back to the surface. He knotted his fists into balls and went forward to try and help the crew who were still hurt or at least *try* to stay productive, to keep his mind off of Sanchez and her blood spattering his clothes.

Temporary Repairs
By Lt(jg) Eric Odin and
LtCmdr. Michala Lynn Casey

Eric opens a panel that's fluctuating to try and bring it back down to normal limits. He begins to use he tool for the repairs needed when it blows in spite of his attempt. He is knocked back as cries out in pain as plasma hits his face, coats his left arm, and hitting his right knee alittle too. He is seen by a crewman who helps him to sickbay. He walks in looking like he was in a fight with a blender and the blender only did half the job. The crewman leaves and Eric drops to a knee and says with obvios pain to Michala who is right ifnrotn of him,"Can I have some help please."

Michala had just finished with surgery and was moving to assist the next person on the triage list when the crewman was brought in. He looked to be in a great deal of pain and by the look of those plasma burns, he was lucky to be conscious. She helped him to an available and recently vacated treatment bay. A quick scan showed that much of the damage was superficial but the large amount of it was causing shock symptoms as well as microvessel withdrawal. Michala reached for the dermal regenerator when suddenly total chaos broke out.

At that moment the ship was hit hard by Breen weapon's fire! The artificial gravity went out. Her patient was not strapped to the frame, so Michala had to move quickly to keep both of them at the bedside. She moved as best she could to strap him down, being careful of his injuries. But everything else started to float. Doctors, nurses, supplies, knives used for surgery, you name it. She heard Endris give a verbal command for backup power to be generated, but that system was incapacitated.

Michala looked quickly to her patient. "Are you okay?" She was hard pressed to stay beside him and finally anchored her feet to a bar at the base of the table.

Eric could feel the ship being hit and then heard the question and he answered with some struggling,"I'll be better once we blow the breens out of sight, but for now if you could just try and heal me enough to where I can try and help the others who are more seriosly injured. Any thing I can do for you doc?"

"You can hold still." Michala smiled at him. She managed to catch the floating dermal regenerator. "Nurse, gather up those instruments before we get gravity and a subsequent headache." The nurse smiled and moved to collect the floating items. Meanwhile, Michala worked quickly to give the young man the minimums necessary to function. She was just finishing when the Breen's cruel weapons struck again, hard and vicious. This time a new source of chaos interupted her efforts. The power went out! The backup generator was no help, the power couplings themselves had fused. It took a few moments before her eyes could adjust to the emergency lighting to finish the job.

Finally satisfied that she had done enough. She smiled up at the young man. "I think that will do. However, as soon as this is over you must come back to sickbay. Ask for me, I am Dr. Casey. That is an order, is that clear?" Michala waited for his acknowledgement before she would release her patient to return to emergency duty.

Eric smirked and said,"Yes ma'm. I'll be back as soon as this situation is over. Thanks for fixing me up enough to go back to duty. Pleasure meeting you Dr. Casey." He then walks out of sickbay heading for engineering to help out.

Michala smiled, she doubted that it had been a pleasure. It definitely wouldn't be when he returned. The delayed treatment would be more tedious and painful then if she had completed it now.

"Skirmish part II"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

The air was thick with smoke and the scent of burning wood and seared flesh. Over head, even the clouds above seemed to be forming with angry intent. Things were not going well for the mighty Gothos or the crew and Captain that commanded her.

After the opening confrontation with the formidable HMS Victory and HMS Royal Sovereign, the Gothos had taken the brunt of the attacks to both her port and starboard sides. While the damage was obviously serious, the Spanish Galleon was fortunate in that her rigging was still in tact and her rudder was free to allow her maneuverability in spite of the damage to her wooden hull. The Royal Sovereign wasn't as lucky. By shattering one of her masts and collapsing it onto the other, she was left with minimal sails and practically no manuverability. Captain Price was trying to utilize that to his advantage and circling the handicapped British warship. All while playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the still very dangerous HMS Victory.

"Excuse me Captain.....We are taking heavy damage and our losses are rising, Sir I could recommend something......" Lt.' Bruce MaxWell said doing his best to stand at attention and show the Captain respect under a shaky ship.

Captain Price turned and Looked at MaxWell. Like himself, Bruce had sustained wounds from the flying debris caused by the crushing blows of the cannon balls pummeling the ship's hull. Jagged cuts, dark powder burns and blood covered the face, arms and hands of the helmsman. "What is that Lieutenant?"

Bruce could see that the Captain had taken a serious wound to his left arm. He'd wrapped it tightly in a linen cloth, but it had already saturated and was dripping blood onto the deck of the Gothos through his fisted fingers.

"Sir if there is some way to get over to one of the other ships and set off the powder supplies it would cripple the ship and help us. . . sir I could do it!" Bruce stood there with pride and Honor in his eyes.

Lee knew MaxWell was serious. It was a dire situation which required dire decisions.

"Isn't he the brave one? I applaud your guile monsieur." Trelane stated with a noble bow. "It is refreshing to know there is a gentleman's gentleman on board this ship of savages."

The Captain gave Trelane less than a passing glance with his eyes before responding to MaxWell's proposition. "It would be suicide 'mate. Even if you were successful, they'd cut you down before you could ever get back on board the Gothos."

"I know that Captain. But I'm willing to try anyway sir." Bruce stated soberly.

"My my, if you had an entire crew of soldiers like this one, I'm sure this battle would have gone much better for you Price." Trelane taunted again.

Lee looked away out at the sea. Through the smoke he could see what was left of his 'mates from the Galaxy, struggling to reload the few cannon that hadn't been destroyed by enemy fire. Across the blue Caribbean, he could see the Royal Sovereign doing her best to tact around and keep her cannon pointed at the Gothos, should she reenter her weapon's range once again. Then there was the ever stalking HMS Victory, which patrolled the waters knowing that it was only a matter of time before she played her check-mate move against the over matched pirate ship, the Gothos. It was hopeless. Captain Price knew that. It would take a miracle to defeat these vessels given the circumstances.

"No 'mate. I can't allow you to do that." Lee stated.

Trelane reacted with obvious disappointment. But before the generally gabby Pirate Captain could comment, Captain Price pressed on.

"In fact, I can not allow any of you to continue on with this crazy charade." Lee stated loudly so the entire crew of the Gothos could hear. When he saw that the Galaxy crew members had stopped what they were doing and turned their attentions to their Captain, Lee continued. "It's over 'mates. Play time is up. We've had our fun, but it's time to stop playing this silly game."

Turning, Captain Price looked directly at Trelane. He then carefully sat down on the deck and folded his arms quietly.

Taking the cue, Bruce did the same. As did Gailyn and Ryak, and each of the surviving Galaxy crew members. One by one they each simply stopped what they were doing and sat down quietly on the deck.

"What is the meaning of this?" Trelane asked in a confused tone. "You can't be serious? You aren't just giving up? There is a battle to be fought! You. . . you will be killed if you do not fight to save your very lives."

Lee shook his head quietly. "We are not going to play your game any more Trelane. You haven't played fairly and enough is enough. You'll gain no more entertainment at our expense 'mate."

Trelane was flabbergasted. "This goes against everything I have studied about your kind. You are a violent people. Savage and barbaric. It's what I like about you. You are not acting as you are supposed to. Have I made it too hard? I can fix that! Really I can. I can give you a glimmer of hope perhaps?"

"You heard the Captain Trelane. We aren't playing your games any more." Kirk called out defiantly. He was glad the Captain had finally stood up to the toting fool.

"You are impossible. But you can not fool me. This is a ploy isn't it? A ruse? A bluff? A clever deception? Ah, you are a clever one Price!" Trelane stated shaking his finger back and forth like he'd discovered some sort of hidden agenda that didn't really exist.

"It's no ploy 'mate. We simply are refusing to play with you any longer."

Trelane pointed out over the port side. "But look Price, the HMS Victory is closing in. Soon she will be in range. If you don't do anything, your ship will surely be destroyed and all hands will be lost. Doesn't that matter to you?"

Lee shook his head. "I'd rather die that play with you Trelane."

"We all would." The crew from the two USS Galaxy away teams piped in, nearly in unison.

"Really?. . ." Trelane responded in an almost devilish tone. "Well, very well then. I was saving this as a surprise, but now that you've all but spoiled it, I may as well let you know."

With a wave of his hand, Captain Price's gold communicator badge reappeared on his Starfleet Uniform.

"Go ahead, speak to your people. I will allow it." Trelane stated while turning his back and placing his hands on the port side railings. Out in the distance, the HMS Victory was catching a favorable tail wind and heading for the Gothos with good speed. "But you better hurry Captain. . ." Trelane warned looking at the approaching enemy vessel.

Lee immediately tapped the badge. "Price to Galaxy. Come in Galaxy."

After a short moment, the hail was answered. ["Galaxy here. Good to hear you Captain."]

Lee was expecting to hear Deiran's voice, but instead was speaking to Lieutenant Commander Matthew Albrecht. "What's going on 'mate? Where is Commander Casey?"

Over the channel an explosion was heard along with the moan from some officer that sounded like their control panel had just over loaded. ["We are under attack sir. Commander Casey was injured and brought to sickbay. It doesn't look good."]

Lee slowly rose to his feet and gave Trelane an evil glance. The Pirate Captain had taken to quietly pacing nervously about the deck while swinging his sword around and slashing every so often through the air. It was obvious he was eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Let me guess, two very powerful vessels? The Galaxy is outmatched."

["Sorry to say sir. Breen battle cruisers. They shouldn't even be in this sector of space."] Matthew stated before breaking away, ["Evasive maneuvers! We need more shields!"]

"I think that is quite enough." Trelane stated in his condescending tone. With a flick of his wrist, Captain Price' communicator badge disappeared.

"You bloody devil! What 'ave you done?" Lee demanded to know.

"I believe the proper term is, 'Goose for the gander' Captain. " Trelane smiled whimsically. "You and your compatriots here may choose not to play along, but know that if you do, it is not only the Gothos and your lives that will be forfeit, but also the life of everyone on that Starship you do so cherish. Is that sufficient motivation to continue our game?. . ."

Trelane had laid his cards on the table all right. In no uncertain terms he had equated the USS Galaxy with the Gothos. No doubt every cannon ball strike the wooden 18th century ship took was reflected by equal damage on the USS Galaxy at the hands of the massive Breen battle cruisers. It seemed that Trelane was intent on seeing his bizarre little role play through to the bitter end.

"Very well 'mate. You win." Lee relented. "Since we have no other choice but to fight for the lives of everyone on board the USS Galaxy, we will do our best to defend the Gothos from these British ships. We may not succeed, but we will not quit without a fight."

"Bully Captain! Have at thee then!" Trelane stated gleefully while walking over to his harpsichord and sitting down to play.

"All hands, this is your Captain. Man your battle stations and prepare for what will probably be the last battle of our lives." Lee glanced and saw that everyone was manning their stations. When Bruce was about to leave, the Captain reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"About that plan of yours 'mate. . ."

"Aye sir." Bruce stated proudly.

"I think you should give it a go. We will pass by the Victory on this next run. If you climb up the rigging you should be able to free enough rope to swing across and onto her decks. Once there if you can light her afire and get to her powder kegs, we may stand a chance."

Bruce looked into the Captain's eyes with that thousand yard stare. He was ready to do his duty and die for his ship, his Captain and his crew mates. "I will succeed Captain. I swear it."

"Fair dinkum. Good luck Lieutenant." Lee agreed.

MaxWell immediately began gathering the supplies he'd need for the dangerous, one way mission. A black powder pistol, some rope, a flint stone and striker. When he had the things he grabbed a dagger and placed it between his teeth before beginning his climb up the central mast of the ship.

Captain Price ordered the Gothos turned to head for the HMS Victory which was bearing down on her that very minute. In the near distance, the Royal Sovereign was struggling to get within weapons range with her make shift sails that had been rigged up between the one standing mast and the two damaged ones.

The final battle was just moments ways. All the while Trelane played a dramatic melody on his harpsichord suitable for such a momentous occasion.

"Tactical Decision"
by, Lt. Cmdr. Raesene Hermedhie,
Chief Tactical Officer,
and, Lt. Winston Groom,
Tactical Officer (NPC)

Coughing in the smoke-filled air of the bridge, Raesene glanced at his screen and looked around the room. Not much was working correctly. These Breen ships seemed overly well built. They had survived blasts that would have normally reduced one of them to atoms.

Whatever had caused the one ship to explode, had also caused some peripheral damage to the Galaxy. So Raesene resolved to try to contact Tactical Operations. Someone might still have some ideas for the next move. Raesene tapped his badge, "Hermedhie to Tactical Ops. You still there?"

Lieutenant Winston Groom answered, =^=Groom here. We're still intact, Chief. What is your request, sir?=^=

"Well, Mr. Groom, we are in quite a spot here. Any ideas as to how to get out of it?"

=^=Well, sir. Might I suggest Ilien-1?=^=

Raesene's eyes twinkled, "Of coruse, Winston. I forgot about that one for a moment."

=^=Just being helpful, Chief. Groom out.=^=

Raesene turned to Cmdr. Albrecht, "Sir, permission to use Ilien-1 Tactical plan?"

"What the heck is going on here?"
Ensign John Xavier

John watched Mhari fall to the ground, the Gothos was still headed strait for the British warships. John threw the bottle Mhari handed him earlier over the side of the ship and ran over to her holding her up, he pulled her out of the way and set her down gently in a pile of netting that would keep her comfortable until she came to.

John missed the first order to fire and didn't clue in until he heard the first blast from the cannons, he qiuckly ran from where he moved Mhari to the closest undermanned cannon and began to work.

Cannon balls were splashing in the water and hitting things all around making more noise than anyone would care to hear.

Then the Royal Sovereign started to slow from the damage to it's masts and sails. The cannon John was at fired another round at the British ship.

The last shot from the cannon John was manning backfired slightly and burnt his left arm and part of his face, his sailor suit was burnt slightly and was still smoking but John kept working, but from then on he was holding back the pain of the burns and working slower than before.

Captain Price spoke up so everyone could hear while trying to take to the idiotic Trelane.

"...I can not allow any of you to continue on with this crazy charade." As Price said this John accidentally dropped a cannon ball into the water as he was attempting to load the cannon.

"It's over 'mates. Play time is up. We've had our fun, but it's time to stop playing this silly game." Then Price sat down, followed by several others of the Galaxy's crew, John soon followed sitting on top of his cannon.

John listened to Trelane's plee's to keep fighting, Kirk spoke up against it in support of Captain Price.

But then Trelane let Price talk to the Galaxy and everyone on the ship clued in to what was going on, and Price ordered everyone to battle stations.

John quikly picked up a new cannon ball and started to load his cannon working with the others there.

=/\= "You Picked a Fine Time..." =/\=
by Lt Cmdr Matthew Albrecht

The Breen battleship was nearly disabled by the Federation starship Galaxy that flew agilely around it. A few more strikes at nearly point-blank range would surely finish the job. The scene looked like a blackbird harassing a hawk. But the Galaxy was in rough shape as well. Dozens of officers and crew were dead in her passageways and in their quarters. Many primary systems were disabled or nearly so. And another enemy battleship lurked unseen... One Breen B'Rile class battleship was more than a match for a Galaxy class cruiser.

"Ensign MacAllen, where is the other battleship!?" called 'commander Albrecht. The bridge was smoky, so that each pulse of the red alert lights illuminated the open spaces between the officers who struggled to maintain order.

Rose was out of her element on the bridge of a Starship. But she knew her sensors as well as any science ensign could. "Sir. They can't see us and we can't see them. If helm would be so kind as to give us a look over the top of our punching bag," she suggested without much hope of satisfaction. The Galaxy was playing hide and seek with the enemy, but it was working both ways.

"I don't like it, 'commander," stated Chris Thomas, seated in the XO's chair. He was right. The second enemy ship should have tried a flyby or some other trick by that point.

Over the comm., a familiar voice broke through the sizzling sound of damaged control systems. ["Price to Galaxy. Come in Galaxy."]

Matthew couldn't believe his ears, it was the captain's voice! The security chief answered, "Galaxy here. Good to hear you Captain."

Lee sounded surprised and a bit harried. ["What's going on 'mate? Where is Commander Casey?"]

Engineering station one chose that moment to explode, spreading shrapnel across the rear of the bridge. 'Commander Hermedhie's panel blanked out as well, temporarily. "We are under attack sir. Commander Casey was injured and brought to sickbay. It doesn't look good." Matthew knew that it was a breach of command etiquette to voice such a negative prediction aloud on the bridge. But he felt the captain would want to know honestly the state of affairs.

After a very short pause, the captain spoke for the last time. ["Let me guess, two very powerful vessels? The Galaxy is outmatched."]

Matthew confirmed Lee's guess, "Sorry to say sir. Breen battle cruisers. They shouldn't even be in this sector of space."

Ensign MacAllen called out from the Science station, "Bogie One approaching vector 30 two-eight-nine!"

Matthew grabbed the rail behind him and shouted "Evasive maneuvers! We need more shields!" He mentally calculated the direction Rose indicated in her report. "Double the power to Starboard shields! Raesene, ready a spread of torps and fire when ready!"

The viewscreen altered to show the direction from which Bogie One would appear. Like a comet, it sped past to starboard and let loose a volley of torpedoes. The overly-powered starboard shields intercepted the warheads of two of the Breen torpedoes. But lieutenant' Gustavson's expert piloting enabled them to dodge the other pair of the deadly projectiles which sped past toward the more heavily wounded Breen ship. Nearly simultaneously, 'commander Hermedhie loosed four starfleet torpedoes at the fleeing Breen aggressor.

The Galaxy shook and shuddered from the heavy impacts, but the shields held. Systems on the bridge winked off and back on for a moment. Raesene checked his instruments as they came back online to see the status of the fight.

The crippled battleship to their port side suddenly exploded. A shockwave of starship parts and exploding antimatter impacted the Galaxy along the entire length of her Port side, virtually unprotected as all available power had been shunted to the shields on the other side of the ship. Only residual shield energy and navigational shielding had protected the Galaxy from total decimation. The shield generators on that half of the ship burned out instantly. It would be a while before 'commander Suder would have the ship in fighting shape.

The Galaxy lurched to starboard, riding the wave of energy. Artificial gravity cut out entirely, followed on many decks by blackouts and power failures. On the bridge, the main viewscreen blanked out as well as several stations.

*How many crew had died in that instant?* Matthew painfully wondered, *and had the Breen destroyed their own vessel?*

The StarFleet torpedoes found their mark on the remaining Bogie. The Breen's aft shields collapsed entirely according to the Galaxy's sensors. It was a good start.

As his feet left the deck in the zero gravity, Matthew called out "Jonathan! Status report!" Briefly he wondered what had happened to captain Price with whom he had just been speaking.

"Terminal Velocity"
Introducing Ensign Logan Reed
Shuttle Operations/Helm Officer
USS Galaxy
***************************

Gravity. It was such an overlooked little thing in the 24th century. Serving on Starship after Starship, officers would take for granted the fact that they were actually able to tell up from down. The advent of artificial gravity plating and graviton control revolutionized space travel hundreds of years ago, to the point that most Starfleet officers didn't even think twice about it. Reality was that gravity systems were a minor miracle. To be able to walk along a corridor in standard 1G without having to spin portions of the ship to generate that gravity was a marvel of modern science.

When modern science failed, it really had a way of ruining your day.

The USS Galaxy rocked from the impacts of the battle outside. Ensign Logan Reed held on tightly to the closest console he could find, the cargo transporter panel in the Main Shuttlebay. He held on for dear life, not really knowing what else to do. He had only been on the ship a little while, and so far it hadn't been an enjoyable experience. Not with the Breen knocking on the door with several Terrawatts of ionized plasma.

Once Reed had heard of the attack, and of the enemy they were facing, his heart sank and his stomach knotted up. He wasn't afraid of battles, on the contrary, but he had seen the face of this particular enemy before...he knew their chances were slim to none of surviving. During the Dominion War, Logan had been one of the few combat pilots to face off against Breen ships and survive. He and his Peregrine Squadron could boast having taken out one of the "big black bastards" as the Breen battle cruisers were called. It had taken the sacrifice of two thirds of the squad, but hey...

That was then, during a carefully orchestrated attack pattern where he had been the flight second, sitting in a ship with his destiny in his hands. Here, in the shuttlebay with no orders and no control, the young Ensign felt helpless. He through about heading to the bridge, but knew there were several helm officers above him that could be called upon to man the controls. His posting was here in the main shuttlebay, prepping the various auxiliary craft in case of evacuation.

It was easier said than done. Moments ago, the artificial gravity systems in the bay kicked off, shutting down after a particularly nasty hit from one of the Breed ships. Pilots and deck crews ducked and took cover as one of the EPS recharge units used for powering the shuttle batteries exploded at the same time. The concussive blast jarred several of the smaller shuttlepods loose from their magnetic clamps, setting them free to float about the huge bay. Reed watched as unsecured cargo containers and a few bodies bobbed around the gravityless room. The rest of the shuttles remained secured to the deck, ready for launch should the need arise.

But those two pods concerned Reed. He knew that the gravity systems had almost as many redundant back-ups as the environmental systems. It was only a matter of time before they switched back on again, sending everything crashing into the deck. If either of those pods struck one of the evac shuttles, the resulting damage or even explosions could take out the entire bay.

Yet another explosion rocked the ship, and a portion of the bulkhead near Reed blew open. Logan covered his eyes, trying to avoid any flying shrapnel. The blast sent him tumbling through the hangerbay end over end, and even his experience in weightlessness couldn't help him from loosing his bearings in the chaos. Eventually he struck something hard and scrambled to grip onto the smooth surface, but with no luck. He opened his eyes and saw the interior of a shuttlepod. He was clinging to the outside of the small vessel, his face pressed up against the transparent aluminum of the viewport.

The lights in the main shuttlebay flickered for an instant, then steadied themselves. Gravity came back on at full force. Logan's sense of vertigo vanished as his senses righted themselves and he realized he was falling. He also realized the pod was falling with him...and he was trapped underneath it. In a few seconds, the small pod would crush him onto the deck plating as it ground the young Ensign between itself and the floor.

In the back of Logan's mind, he had a new appreciation for the term "terminal velocity."

***To be continued***

Ensign Adrian An'quinsos
Counselor
USS Galaxy

Gamma shift had just ended, and the El-Aurian returned to his quarters, carefully walking down the ‘vibratory’ corridor, as the Galaxy was engaged in a fight with the Breen. Walking into his quarters, it seemed as if the fighting had momentarily stopped, leaving a relieved smile on the El-Aurian’s face.

"Finally," He declared. "A little peace amidst all the chaos!" He looked out the window for a moment.

In his quarters, the El-Aurian sat on the floor in a full lotus position and clasped hands in silent mediation over the past few days. Out of his starfleet uniform, Adrian wore a pair of loose-fitting trousers, without a shirt, exposing most of his upper body.

'Slow... slower... time, space, and thought are one...'

The words echoed throughout the El- Aurian’s mind, as the El-Aurian mediation technique began to sink in. Going deeper into his mind, Adrian felt his physiological processes, and metabolic functions slow to a mere crawl, as images of the past and present began to percolate within his cerebrum...

*** 30 minutes later ***

To: Zerhi No'hisyndiosn, Risa
From: Adrian An’quinsos, USS Courage

Dear Zerhi,
It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, and without you, that while feels like an eternity. Everything has been going great here, just the usual starfleet panorama you’d expect to find aboard a starship. I hope you got that Holodeck program I sent you of Aqi Juen’sala Mishznari. It even has the moons of El-Auria in brilliant detail, I hope you love it!
When will I see you again, already I can’t wait, time just doesn’t past fast enough, even for an El-Aurian, heh! Heh! Heh! Take care my beautiful and precious El-Aurian flower.

Love,
Adrian An’quinsos

"Just doesn’t feels right..." He began, but cut himself off in a deafening silence, that was suddenly wiped again by another blast from the enemy ship.

"No rest for the sane I suppose."

The El-Aurian quickly changed into his starfleet uniform, headed out the door, into the turbolift, and towards sickbay.

"One for Alland Thru Death comes the hope for Life"
By
Lt.Jg. Bruce MaxWell
Gothos

"Fair dinkum. Good luck Lieutenant." Lee agreed.

MaxWell immediately began gathering the supplies he'd need for the dangerous, one way mission. A black powder pistol, some rope, a flint stone and striker. When he had the things he grabbed a dagger and placed it between his teeth before beginning his climb up the central mast of the ship.

Captain Price ordered the Gothos turned to head for the HMS Victory which was bearing down on her that very minute. In the near distance, the Royal Sovereign was struggling to get within weapons range with her make shift sails that had been rigged up between the one standing mast and the two damaged ones.

The final battle was just moments ways. All the while Trelane played a dramatic melody on his harpsichord suitable for such a momentous occasion.

At the top he began to rig the rope to swing across to the Victory. The entire time he kept going over the oath he took in The special Ops. He finally tied down the rope to the mast and waited. The ships came close together almost scraping again and Bruce launched himself. As He swung across he saw most of the Victories crew was distracted and a few saw him.

Bruce let go of the rope and grabbed the knife. He landed against the sail and stuck the knife in. He slid down cutting the sail in half. As soon as he reached the bottom he was met by two sailors nearcy who saw him. They each thrusted a sword at him. Bruce was able to dodge and threw one of the attacking sailors off the ship. The other whipped around and tried again. Bruce quickly dodged and stuck the sailor in the chest with the knife. Bruce picked up the sword and headed for the powder storage.

Bruce had two fight thru two more people. He took them quickly. He had to hurry before the rest of the crew stopped paying attention to the gothos and everyone found him. Bruce quickly rolled into the storage room. Bruce saw a tiny keg and began to poor a powder line to the door. He quickly ran back and set the small keg on its side by the rest. He went to the door quickly looked around and began to strike the flint with the striker trying to set the powder. Bruce glanced up and noticed tha the Gothos was pulling away. Bruce quickly began to strike and finnaly a spark caught it. Bruce stood up and turned around and dove out of the room.

Bruce hit the deck and rolled up. He saw another pistol lying on the ground he picked it up and had he other one ready to fire. The room went up in a blaze. Half the ship taken with it. Splinters flew everywhere. Men near the room went flying off the ship. Bruce saw the men recovering and begun to look around. Bruce saw the Gothos leave to a safe trejectery. Bruce fired off both pistols and watched two men drop to the deck. Bruce Lifted up his sword and stood up. He saw men drawing there swords and knives looking to rush the Helmsman.

Bruce stood there and Looked at him with fire in his eyes. "FOR THE CREW.......FOR THE GALAXY!!!!!" He shouted as he charged into the fray.

Bruce was able to take out a couple of the men before they overpowered him. Bruce looked down and saw at least three swords stuck thru his chest. His thoughts went to the galaxy and went to Shinta. Just then as he fell to his knees, the Captain came walking up . His face red with anger that his ship was crippled beyond belief. Bruce kneeled there dying and looked up at the captain and smiled he picked a dagger up off the deck and threw it hitting the Captain in the head dropping him to his death. With that a barrage of gun fire went off.

MaxWells body was shredded as it hit the deck limply. He laid there in his blood dead with a smile on his face. He died knowing he did what he had to he saved the Crew and His captain.......then darkness!

The crew of the Victory hurried around trying to stop the fire from the storage room. Some of the crew couldnt figure out what to do as they picked up there dead captain. There sails were shredded from the splinters and they had no powder left. They didnt know what to do .

So one man who beleived that one stands for all gave hope hope of life thru his death

Based on STAR TREK create by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Commander Ethan Suder - Chief Engineer

"Who Invited The Party"

***Main Eningeering***

More smoke had clouded Engineering. Visibility had been cut down to a few meters. The environmental controls had been knocked off line. Several conduit lines had been broken, thus exposing live wires and circuits all over Engineering. Sparks continued to fly out of the exposed circuits. Suder stumbled over to a console that had a view of the USS Galaxy. Flashing lights indicated where the hull had taken damage.

The doors slid open causing Ethan to turn his attention to the entrance of the heart of the ship. "That better be the med-team." he mumbled under his breath. A shadow appeared on the floor, then a laugh followed. It was easy to figure out who it was. A Feringy came stumbling in, a bottle in hand. Obviously, he had been drinking to calm down. Laughing away like nothing was happening, the Feringy stumbled over to Suder.

"You should be in your quarters. This is not a safe area to be in a crisis!" Suder snapped.

"Look Starfleet, I'm an Engineer. I can help!" the Feringy insisted.

"A drunken Engineer is no Engineer at all. Get out of here!" Suder snapped, raising his voice.

"Look, you might just need my help. Who knows what could happen if I go?!" the Feringy barked back. He then continued to drink out of the bottle.

"Giles!" Suder yelled.

Through the smoke, an Engineer came walking towards the Chief and the Feringy. "Yes, Sir!" he replied.

"Get him out of here!" Ethan ordered pointing at the Feringy.

Giles, a rather large Bolian grabbed the Feringy and started pushing him towards the exit.

"I'll be back Starfleet!" the Feringy barked.

Suder shook his head and turned towards the warp core. He was about to call out for another Engineer when the ship rocked again.

***Space***

The Breen ships had circled back towards the Galaxy. Using typical tactics, knowing that their weapons would finally disable the ship. The shields of the mighty Federation ship were already breaking, now it was only a matter of time. The aft shields of the Galaxy were down. The standard Starfleet tactic would have been to keep the ship facing the Warships so that it had some shielding. Only with there being two Breen ships, it was harder. One of the Breen ships made a direct run at the Galaxy, firing it's weapons into the shields, weakening them even more. The second ship, flew round the right side of the Galaxy. It then circled around and fired from behind. Two phaser blasts, sliced into the hull causing minor explosion to rip the hull plating apart. Then followed by a torpedo, the warhead punch through the hull and detonated.

***Main Engineer***

More sirens rang through Engineering. Suder and every other Engineer had been thrown to the floor. No one was at their stations. Several of the consoles had overloaded or just shut down.

Suder sat up on his elbows and looked around. His dazed vision told him that three of the Engineers were trying to catch their breath. They had been knocked against the bulkhead quiet hard. He grabbed hold of a console and pulled himself up. Tapping in a code he looked at the information displayed. The Galaxy just took a direct hit. The main power grid had just been hit. Just beyond the console, Suder saw the familiar face of Ensign Keela. She had just been working on the power relays on the secondary levels. Yet here she was, led on a two steps, looking up at the ceiling. Suder ran over to her and checked her pulse. But there was nothing. He looked around. Lieutenant Giles and Gillings were now back at their stations. Cadet Jason was examining the damage that had just been sustained to the hull of the Galaxy.

"Report!" Suder called out walking over to the main computer.

"We just took a direct hit. There are two minor and one slightly serious hull breach. Emergency force fields in place." Gillings reported. "Aft shields are still down. After that last hit, I don't think the shields will be back up any time soon!"

"Everyone, arm yourselves!" Suder ordered as Cadet Jason handed him a phaser.

"Expecting uninvited guests?" Giles asked.

Suder nodded and tapped his communicator. "Security, this is Engineering, if you could spare the personnel we could use a team down here." He suggested.

There was another explosion in Engineering. More sparks flew at the Engineers. Suder wanted to know what kind of shape the Breen ships were in. Looking at the display that was partially intact, he could see that the Breen ships had taken quiet a beating. But this was going to be a battle to the end. No doubt about it...

"Tactical Nightmare"
By: Ensign JC Skinner
USS Galaxy

JC ran about the torpedo room getting as much together as he could. The battle had been going on for what seem like for ever. The ship shook hard heach time it was hit. JC kept at getting the torpedos ready as fast as he could. As he armed each torpedo he thought about what was going on up on the bridge.

JC was a tactical expert. In theory at least and he had a craving to know what was going on. During the beginning of the war JC was able to be an observer on the bridge during a few of the skirmishes. But never really understood how his tactics could be used at split second though. JC was the person who got to think theses up over time and on the bridge they had to think it up right then as well as having somebody else call out other orders as well. It only took a few more hits before JC could see that he was having difficulties keeping up.

JC moved as fast as he could. The ship shook harder than ever before as the torpedo launcher exploded into flames. JC motioned to the three technicians with him and said, "Move the torpedos!" JC ran over to the wall and tried to activate the fire suppression system of which was next to useless. The control flickered on and off. JC tapped his comm badge and said, "Fire control Teams to Aft torpedo bay!"

JC helped the others move the torpedos to the far end of the bay. The smoke was beginning to get very dense. As the four of them got as close to the ground as they could JC could see the fire team enter the bay and watched as they put out the fire. JC stood up as the smoke cleared. As he looked around the bay he could see that it was beyond use at this time. JC and the others began to move to help out in other areas.

Title:One Hell of a Day
By: Ensign Rose Isis MacAllen

::Galaxy's Bridge::

Rose was having one hell of a day, now she wish she stayed in bed this morning. Siting at the Science Station on the bridge with smoke around her and the attire bridge she saw that her arm was bleeding badly but she have her duties and the crew to take care of than herself right now. Rose can see that the bridge was a mess.

*I hope I'm doing ok with this crew.* Rose thought to herself. Rose saw Lt Commander Matthew Albrecht standing up as she try to hide her arm but blood was all over her blue uniform.

"Ensign MacAllen are you ok?" Matthew asked her with a shock look on his face. Rose looked at him and try to smile at him.

Matthew walks to her "You need to go to sickbay." Rose looked at him again with a look on her face. "I can't sir I have my duties to this ship and her crew my well being comes last." she said to Matthew. Her father taught her that.

"Conscious but not helping."
Ensign Mhari Stone, Security

Mhari felt someone with her and then they were gone. Choas...it was like a old pirate movie. Had she not left Earth? Was she still at home with her brother and sis watching old movies?

Mhari was suddenly on the water. Her surf board under her feet and her home within eye sight, she was ready to take on anything. Pirates floated away from her and everything was good again. She took on the wave but was knocked off quickly by an unknown force.

She woke as a wave hit her and found herself on the pirate ship again. She pinched her eyes shut from the pain she felt everywhere but pushed herself up. Cannon fire echoed everywhere and wood and smoke engulfed her.

She then heard the Captain's voice. She made out that they weren't going to play Trelane's games anymore and she stood up.

'If they weren't going to play his games anymore, what were they going to do? Die?' she asked herself but didn't say anything out loud. She had got herself in enough trouble and nothing she could say would help matters.

"Havoc"
By Lieutenant Commander Michael Jamson, Tactical Ops

The excitement of battle was on! the Galaxy took a serious beating and they've lost Commander Casey to the infirmary. Replacement officers appeared out of nowhere to replace to defeated officers, and the rest of crew members on the bridge were running in every possible direction while fighting the two foul Breen B'Rile class starships.

"'Commander-" Jamson was about to report another power failture when his console's upper area exploded, and sent him back to the floor. He rose up quickly and sat down at the Ops station once more, not noticing the blood dripping from his forehead. It's been awhile since he witnessed such a battle, looking at the enemy starships so close from the viewscreen. It was a glorious fight, but the cost was...the lives of his fellow officers.

Albrecht was doing a hell of a job, and so was Brandis, Jamson's Ops Commanding officer. Only at times like these you were able to see who was really doing job right, acting like a brave soul, and who was a coward dog, that usually ran away. Fortunately, Jamson didn't see any officer running away...it was the Galaxy after all.

Only god knew what was happening on that Ghost ship. Before the Breen ships appeared in space, there were no signals coming from the ship, it was like a ship in a bottle, floating through space, waiting for someone to board it. Could it have been a trap? if it was, who was responsible for it? Jamson would love to get to the bottom of this as soon as Galaxy would survive this brutal attack.

Suddenly, Jamson felt a liquid of sort on his face, it was his own blood coming from his forehead. He felt his forehead and knew he was injured, but not seriously. Then he started to lose the sight of his left eye...something was wrong, but he would never report it! not in the heat of the battle, he would disappoint himself and the rest of the crew, not to mention his fathers and all the other Klingon Warrior friends! he had to continue and so he did.

He begun to sing a Klingon War song, describing a fight between a Klingon ship and an enemy vessel, his voice became louder and louder, until he could feel his spirit fighting along his side, helping him to maintain control and not collapsing. He was true warrior, he knew it, and felt it in his blood....he tasted his blood and to his surprise, everything turned to be a dream - he watched the entire event in a slow motion style, not hearing anything, but his own heart, was this a vision or the real thing?

"Old Friends"

Ensign Enrique de Marquez
Counselor

Ensign Rose Isis McAllen
Science Officer

Ensign Vanda M'Giia
NPC Nurse

*** Stellar Cartography, Deck 15 ***

Enrique's head was spinning after the day's work. He had been reading up on the crew and their history, trying to get to know the people he'd be working with better. While he was working, Rose had sent him a communiqué, asking to him to meet her outside Stellar Cartography. Enrique was nervous, and also excited to see Rose again. Their friendship had taken quite a blow after the tragedy at the Academy, and Rose had distanced herself from men, even from Enrique whom she knew would never make a sexual move on her. But Enrique knew her too well, and he had just stepped back, not asking questions allowing her to heal. And now he would see her again - the girl who had a crush on him because he was a famous cellist; the girl who had taken him horseback riding in Scotland on Earth - naked in the cold winter morning; and the young woman who had proudly defended him against homophobic cadets on more than one occasion.

This time Enrique made sure he would not get lost, and he took a padd with a map of Deck 15 along with him. His eyes firmly glued to the padd, he followed the directions and made a sharp left towards the science labs. Suddenly the lights dimmed around him as they switched to an ominous red glow. Sirens sounded and display systems flashed the current ship status. Distracted by the flashing lights he didn't looked where he was going, and blundered into someone as he turned around the corner.

"Please excuse me," Enrique began, bending down to pick up the padd he had dropped without looking up. "I didn't -"

Enrique stopped in mid sentence when he looked up and saw Rose in front of him.

"Rose, my god," he said, pulling the young woman close. "I've missed you so much."

"Enrique," was all she managed before the emotions got too strong. Enrique pulled back and wiped away a tear.

"It's only been ten months since the last time I saw you and it feels like an eternity," he said, looking her up and down. He could see that time had healed a lot of her wounds. She looked fabulous and vibrant, eager to live life. But feeling that scars were still very much there, he didn't press the issue.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you!" Rose exclaimed, wiping some dust off of Enrique's uniform.

A comfortable moment of silence passed between them, and for a brief second the two telepaths glimpsed into each others minds. Running footsteps interrupted them, and they turned around to see Vanda M'Giia coming around the corner, and Rose hurried over to her.

"Oh Vanda!" Rose said, hugging her friend close. "I am so glad we're all together." For a moment Rose felt sad, remembering the friends they had lost during the war, but she didn't have time to talk about that now - there would be time to grieve later. They were interrupted by the sound of Commander Casey's voice sounding over the intercom system.

=/\= All personnel report to battle stations, report to battle stations, red alert! =/\=

"We have to get out of here and report to Sickbay," Vanda said, taking Enrique and Rose by the arm and leading them down to the turbolift. Before they could go anywhere, the ship shook violently and they fell to the floor. Vanda cried out as she hit her head against a bulkhead, but managed to get herself up. She touched the back of her head, and luckily she wasn't bleeding.

"What the hell is going on?" Enrique demanded, helping his two closest friends to their feet.

"Breen battle cruisers," Vanda replied, rubbing the back of her head. "They came out of nowhere while I was on my way here. They shouldn't even be in this part of space."

Rose screemed as a conduit burst open above her head. She jumped aside as steam and gas flooded the corridor. There was another direct hit to the ship. The ship shook violently and they were thrown against the floor. The lights in the corridor flickered and went out. Sparks flew from the wall and a wall panel exploded. There was an eerie silence and the creaking of metal in the dreadful, red pulsing glow. Suddenly a part of the ceiling came crashing down, obscuring the way to the turbolift.

"Oh shit," Vanda said.

Rose pulled herself up and looked back into the passageway.

=/\= Life-support off-line. Evacuate decks 15 through 17 =/\=

The message repeated as they helped each other and moved away from the fire that had started where the ceiling had fallen down.

"We have to get to the Jeffreys tubes," Rose said, her voice urgent.

Enrique and Vanda didn't stop to disagree, and they ran off towards the end of the passage where there was a Jeffreys tube access. Rose bent down and opened the panel in the wall. She crawled inside and motioned for the others to follow her.

"We'll go down to deck 14. It's the safest there," Rose said, and they crawled after her. Enrique had no idea where they were going, but he trusted Rose - he always had. "There should be a panel here somewhere with emergency equipment," she said, crawling onwards. Rose turned around a corner, and found the panel. Opening it, she took out a science tricorder, a medical tricorder, and a torch.

"Right, now where do we go," Vanda said, obviously uncomfortable in the cramped interior of the Jeffreys tubes.

"We go -" Rose scarcely had time to finish her sentence when the ship was hit by another violent weapons assault. The deck shuddered and vibrated for a few seconds, and then stopped. It was pitch black all around them. Rose fumbled for her torch and switched it on. The light was a stark contrast against the dark.

"Shit, I hate the dark!" Vanda stated prominently. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"I agree," Enrique said, sensing Vanda's claustrophobia.

Rose led the way again down the Jeffreys tubes. For a while they traveled in silence, when Enrique started to make casual conversation.

"So Rose," Enrique began, a slight grin on his face. "Any chance we'd get a reunion out of you and Kay Williamson and that all girl band you had at the Academy?"

Enrique felt sharp jab against his ribs as Vanda nudged him with her elbow. He knew all too well that Vanda wasn't a big fan of late 20th century Terran popular music. But Rose and her group were quite famous around the campus - they were often played on the campus' music channel. Well, Rose herself was very popular, so she hardly needed any help from her band members.

Rose laughed. "Maybe someday," she said, sighing contentedly. "Those were the days, you know. Having fun, enjoying life, hanging out with friends, making fun of the Ferengi and cheating on our science tests. You know, I swear Mr. Kelly found out we were passing around answers telepathically, especially when our engineering experiment just 'happened' to produce the same results."

"I don't think he was as completely Terran as he led us to believe," Vanda replied, giggling at the memories.

"I've been getting some communiqués from William lately," Rose said suddenly. The other two remained silent, wondering whether to press the subject. But if Rose was willing to speak about, it must mean she had made a considerable recovery. For a while she tried to erase that part of her life.

"What does he want?" Enrique said, a slightly angry tone in his voice.

"Well, he's out of rehabilitation now," Rose said, sensing his anger. "And he wants me back. Although the rehab doesn't seem to have helped. He still seems quite aggressive."

"But he isn't allowed to contact you," Enrique said, remembering that there was a court order instated against William that forbade him to make any contact with Rose. "You should tell the security people about this."

"I will," Rose replied, although Enrique wasn't very convinced. "But I need you to send a message to him. Will you do that?"

"Of course," Enrique answered. He didn't want to get in the middle of this, but one message couldn't hurt.

They passed through the Jeffreys tubes into a ladder well that led down to Deck 14. At least the lights were still operating in the ladder well. Climbing up the ladder, Rose opened a hatch that led out onto the floor of Deck14.

"We'll continue up here," Vanda said, despite the fact that she was visibly uncomfortable in the enclosed space. "Sickbay is just two decks up. You go ahead and take turbolift. It'll get you to the Bridge faster."

"All right," Rose said, climbing through the hatch. "I'll see you in Ten-Forward after this whole mess had been sorted out."

If we survive, Enrique thought, and looking up he saw that Rose had caught that thought. Rose closed the hatch behind her and Vanda and Enrique continued up towards Sickbay.

Time To Think, Part Two"

Lt. Commander Karyn Dallas RN
Chief Counselor/Nurse

Lt. (jg) Navarre Shinta
Counselor
USS Galaxy

***The Present, Sickbay, USS Galaxy***

Karyn found her thoughts drifting further away. Maybe it was the cries of the injured that made it hard to concentrate, or maybe it was the casualty list, growing by the minute. Whatever the reason, Karyn's thoughts drifted to Shinta and her son Gavin. Prior to all the Gothos mess, Shinta had confided in Karyn that she was falling for Bruce who she had been counselling on and off. Karyn had done the right thing professionally and advised her not to counsel him anymore, as her impartiality had been compromised. It had been hard for Karyn to say and even harder for Shinta to take.

Every adult had been hurt in a relationship before, it was part of life, something you had to go through before you were open enough to find your true soulmate, for some it took longer and multiple attempts. What really bothered Karyn more than anything was when there were children involved, as in Shinta's case. Most would say that children were resilient when it came to incidents of emotional pain, but through Gavin, Karyn had come to realize children were a lot smarter than most adults gave them credit for. They could be wounded more deeply because they didn't have the maturity to rationalize things the adults could. Perhaps the majority of a child's intelligence came from the fact they could pick up on the hopes of adults who prayed the children were too young to understand...

Karyn knew Gavin had feelings for Bruce too. Bruce Maxwell who was on the Gothos Away Team. What must Shinta and Gavin be feeling now, knowing that a man they cared about could be in harm's way. Would Gavin accept responsibility for Bruce's misfortunes as he had when his own father had humiliated and devastated his mother?

And Shinta...how was she handling her duty? Was she too preparing herself for the possibility that she would have to go through life alone? Would a successful career be enough to sustain Shinta the rest of her life? Would it sustain Karyn if the time came?

***

***Flashback: one day before promotion ceremony***

The time had come for the current promotion list to come out, and Karyn kept her fingers crossed that Shinta would be on it. The young Bajoran had been invaluable these last months and she hoped that her hard work would be rewarded. She smiled with relief and happiness as after scanning the list, Shinta was indeed included. She would now get the absolute pleasure of sharing her good news with Shinta.

Karyn pushed Shinta's door chime after making sure she wasn't with a client. She would surely be surprised by a visit from Karyn, though Karyn hoped this feeling would be replaced by pride as she realized her good work hadn't gone unnoticed.

Shinta came to the door and was surprised to see her boss. The last couple of days she had kept her distance from Karyn.

"Ma'am?" She said. "What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Shinta. I hope I wasn't disturbing you or Gavin. I have some news I thought you would be interested in. May I come in?" Karyn recognized the slight distance between them. It was hard for Karyn to tell Shinta to stop counseling Bruce, but she'd done what she needed to do.

"Of course, ma'am." Shinta said rather coldly.

Karyn rolled into Shinta's quarters and took a quick peek around, noticing she and Gavin had settled in rather nicely. "Seems like you're finding your niche rather well. I am glad, I know first weeks can be rough." Karyn recalled her own first weeks on the Galaxy. She had been fresh out of the Academy and was nervous about doing her job well as well as fitting in. Karyn smiled at Shinta, while Shinta looked at Karyn expectantly.

Karyn took a breath. "It seems Starfleet Command also feels you are fitting in beautifully. So beautifully in fact, they have decided to go with our recommendations and promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade." Karyn let this sink in for a moment and then pulled the box with the extra hollow pip in it and gave it to Shinta.

"It's not really official yet, there's a promotion ceremony tomorrow in the holodeck, but I couldn't wait that long. I'm very proud of you Shinta. Not only was this your first assignment as a counselor, but your first as an officer. You've done great work here and I am happy to have you on the team. I've depended on you a great deal and I know things will only get better. Congratulations, Lieutenant jay-gee."

To her own horror Shinta's reaction was to cry. So many people had told her that she would never succeed, that an NCO could never make a proper officer and that it would take her years to even get passed ensign. And here she was a Lieutenant Junior Grade within months. It was too much. "I am sorry, ma'am." She hicupped.

Karyn smiled, placing her hand on Shinta's shoulder. "It's ok, I know you're just happy and surprised. Guess you didn't figure it would happen so quickly, huh?"

"No ma'am." Shinta said. "I didn't expect it to happen at all."

"I understand. I felt the same way when I was promoted to Lieutenant jay-gee. Not only was I promoted two months after coming aboard, I was asked to assume the Chief Counselor's position. There were lots of crew transfers and suddenly I was being entrusted with all this responsibility and it was exciting and scary at the same time. But I learned my way and you will too. You have a bright future, Shinta. Now get some rest, you're going to need it for tomorrow." Normally she would hug the new promotee, but Shinta seemed more reserved, not really angry, just more withdrawn.

"Well, congrats, counselor. You've done all of us proud." With an awkward smile, Karyn departed, feeling a little more uneasy than she had before.

***The following day, after ceremony***

Karyn still felt the uneasiness she had felt before, as she was waiting for Gavin to come in for their talk. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, it wasn't open anger or hostility, just a coldness that hadn't been there before. Karyn was going to have to ask her about it.

Karyn sighed and wondered how Shinta was doing trying to convince her son to visit Karyn...

Karyn hoped Shinta was prepared to answer her son's questions about his Dad. He had overhead the last fight his parents had ever had. Jake Simpson had told Shinta he wished Gavin had never been born, and Gavin had heard him.

To Jake Simpson, Gavin was a public embarrassment he wished would just disappear. Lt. Commander Jake Simpson was a married man, and when he became romantically involved with the then enlisted Shinta, he promised to take care of her and help her become an officer. When Shinta became pregnant with Gavin, Jake had dumped without another thought and treated Shinta as though she didn't exist. Shinta was worried about Gavin now that she knew he had heard what his father said.

They both needed help to get over the past so that they could move on into the future.

"Parting Shots"
By Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka

"Trelane you bastard!" Mike cursed as he manned the wheel. "In this life or the next, you are going to pay for this!"

They were mere seconds away from what might be their final exchange with the HMS Victory. It was a battle they had tried to avoid. Price called Trelane's bluff and refused to play his deadly little game any more. But Trelane had a trump card, the USS Galaxy. The fate of over a thousand men, women and children rested on how well the crew of the Gothos showed their mettle against the greatest naval hero in British history.

Fifty yards and closing fast, the Victory was set to pass of the port side of the Gothos. The distance would be measured in inches. There would be no misses from the cannons, just destruction and bloodshed. Mike ordered the sails lowered, reducing the ship's speed and protecting her sails from enemy fire. With her faster loading cannons, the Gothos might now be able to get in two shots per weapon during the pass, helping to offset the numerical advantage of the Victory's guns.

There was a thunderous roar as the bow chasers on the Victory opened up on the closing Gothos. On instinct, Mike ducked, and not a moment too soon. There was a tremendous wrenching of wood and a flash of pain as Mike felt himself slide across the blood stained deck. He pushed himself unsteadily back to his feet, his ears ringing.

The wheelhouse had been shorn away by a cannonball. While the rudder was intact, he no longer had the means to control it, at least not from above decks. That meant the Gothos was on auto-pilot with only seconds to go before the two wooden titans clashed.

"Fire!" The calls rang out from both the Gothos and the Victory. The two ships spat fire and iron, rending holes in wooden decks and human flesh. Mike was thrown back to the deck and enveloped in the acrid clouds of powder smoke. Fighting his way to his feet, he dashed down to the main deck and began to reload one of the cannons. A shadow fell over him and he glanced up to see Lieutenant Maxwell swinging across into the rigging of the enemy ship. Mike felt a pang of emotion as Bruce began what would almost certainly be a one way mission. The man had more guts and courage then almost anyone he knew.

The cannons continued to fire along the lengths of both ships, which now passed each other slowly, each with their sails down. Mike heard shouting from the enemy's quarter deck. A contingent of British regulars in red coats were being lined up in formation, their commander pointing towards the sails. Bruce had been spotted!

"Awe!" Mike yelled. With all of the thundering cannons, there was no way to warn Bruce. Without even stopping to pick up a weapon, Mike climbed up onto the main rail and sprang across to the HMS Victory. He landed next to a pair of startled sailors and let out a war cry. The two sailors stood there, wide eyed and slack jawed at the savage tattooed wall of muscle standing before them.

Mike rarely spoke to his fellow officers about his practice of Lua, the ancient Hawaiian combat form dating back centuries before the arrival of outsiders to the island. It was a brutal, often lethal form of fighting that had been banned after the reign of Kamehameha I and practiced in secret ever since. By the 24th century, Lua had become a cultural novelty, forgotten by most and practiced by few.

But now he unleashed his knowledge of the archaic art form on the hapless sailors, applying hakihaki bone breaking techniques to their limbs and ribs in a series of powerful strikes. Without pausing, he pulled the pistols from the writhing sailors belts and charged the line of soldiers, discharging both barrels at the commander as he was raising his sword to give the line the order to fire.

One ball missed, but the other caught the officer in the side of the head, dropping him like a rag doll. When the order to fire never came, the line of soldiers turned and looked over their shoulders in confusion, just as a screaming demon in a loincloth slammed into their line, caving in the skull of the first hapless soldier with the butt of a black powder pistol.

Mike was fighting on instinct, his feet lashing out at knee and ankle joints, his hands shattering ribs and crushing windpipes. He felt something cold and sharp enter into his side and spun, grabbing the head of the soldier with the bloody saber and thrusting his thumbs directly into the man's eye sockets, eliciting a horrible scream. Something hit him in the left arm, sending a searing pain throughout one side of his body. Undaunted, he reached down and scooped up a musket with his good hand and rearing back his arm, hurled it like a spear at one of his attackers, catching him in the stomach with the bayonet.

Mike was beginning to feel dizzy, the adrenaline surging through him fighting to stave off the loss of his blood. He spun in place, looking for an enemy to engage, and realized that the soldiers were all down. Then, from above, came the fateful words...

"Aim!"

Mike looked up into the face of Captain Hardy, who stood on the poop deck pointing his sword at Mike like a death sentence. To either side of the captain stood a trio of musketeers.

Mike, bleeding and exhausted, stared directly back into the eyes of the captain. As if in slow motion, Hardy's sword made a cutting motion in the air. Six hammers dropped, igniting six sparks and six clouds of smoke. Mike was thrown backwards by the impacts, spun in the air and landed on his stomach on the deck, his head to one side. As he watched, a warm pool of blood began to expand across the deck.

His eyes began to close, and his thoughts went to calmer seas, the sapphire blue waters of his native Pacifica. In his mind, he imagined that he was floating.

A tremendous explosion rocked the Victory from below decks. "Maxwell." Mike murmured. "Thank god..."

A soft rattle in Mike's chest signaled his final breath as flames began to lick up from below.

*** ***

Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
Chief Helmsman, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

"Albatross"

"Man the cannon's 'mate, we're goin' to need ev'ry bit of 'elp we can muster." Captain Price ordered as he turned to Gailyn with a grim expression on his face. The tall elaurien nodded, his eyes shifting from cobalt to stormy blue.

"We'll make it worth their while, sir." Gailyn replied as he turned to make his way to the fore. He clapped Mike Pailaka on the back as he passed, and the big helmsman offered him a grim smile.

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

"BASTARD!!!" Electra howled as she gazed out of the lounge windows. Behind her, the only sound was the quiet sniffles and whimpers of the staff who had been caught in 10-4 when Red Alert was sounded.

"I'm sure he's fine." Door whispered as he slid up beside her, and placed his arm around her shoulders. Shrugging him away at first, the fiesty Orion finally allowed herself to be comforted.

"Oh god, Door. I hope he is. I hope they all are." she whispered as a tear quietly trailed down her cheek.

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

"GAILYN..., you alright." Kirk yelled out as he sifted through the rubble where the tall elaurien had just been standing.

"Bloody but unbowed," came the ragged answer as Gailyn limped out of the clearing haze of gun powder "let's get those cannons loaded for another round Mr. Kirk."

"You sure you're alright?" Kirk asked as he indicated the large bloody stain beginning to spread from the elaurien's side.

Gailyn winced slightly "I'll be okay for now. I'm a tough old bird."

Kirk shook his head and turned back to reloading the cannon nearest him "Old enough to live through this?"

Gailyn laughed, pausing to cough up a gobbet of blood "In 4,000 years I've never bitten off more than I can chew."

"A Shot in the Dark."
by Lt. Commander Evin Genestra

The feeling of relief that Lieutenant Commander Genestra experienced after rematerialising on the transporter pad had been slowly slipping away as he made his way to the Bridge. The corridor from Transporter Room Three to the nearest turbolift revealed how intense the battle, for which he had been absent, had taken its toll on the Galaxy-class vessel.

Medical appeared to have been heavily taxed. It was evident to the scientist by the triage unit he passed in the corridor on deck six to accommodate the influx of dead and wounded. That could have only meant that the cargo bays and holodecks were filling fast or the patients could not be taken there. It was hard for the empath who, like the other full and half-Betazoids, had to try hard to filter out the intense emotions of their colleagues around them.

"Bridge." Genestra said as he walked in to the turbolift.

The ship was struck once again by one of the Breen warships, just as the aft shields were restored by the team of engineers who worked feverishly to keep the ship together. The turbolift shook as the vibration from the impact rattled through the entire main turbolift shaft which Genestra's carriage was travelling in. The lighting flickered and he feared for the worst until the shaking stopped.

The carriage stopped and the scientist walked out of the turbolift and looked around the battered Bridge. The primary aft science, mission operations, and environment control stations had all been blackened from what appeared to have been a fire. The scorched console appeared to be functioning properly but obscure parts where the outer layer had been damaged.

"One of the battleships is preparing for another attack." the chief tactical officer announced as he fired defensively to give the Federation ship some additional time. Considering their relative strengths of the warships he hoped to buy Engineering enough time to restore another system. "Incoming."

Matthew sat down in the duty commander's chair and clutched the two armrests. "Brace for impact," the security chief, now acting captain, yelled over the red alert klaxons.

Evin walked quickly from in front of the turbolift doors and held on to the auxiliary science console. Others on the Bridge did the same depending on their respective positions and duty stations, bracing for the impending impact from the Breen weapon. The Bridge was rocked once again by an impact and, like the turbolift carriage, the lighting flickered. Ensign MacAllen lost her grip and fell towards Evin who managed to catch her.

'Thank you.' the Betazoid scientist said as the senior scientist helped her to regain her balance. It had been the first time he had seen her in several weeks and Genestra did not sense the same uncomfortable feeling he had when they first met. Rose took back the primary science station Rose fed her sensor scan to the tactical station for Raesene Hermedhie.

Evin looked at the status of the sensor arrays, familiarising himself with what had happened during the absence of the away team. In response he reached across his chest and tapped his communicator badge. "Engineering, this is 'Commander Genestra. We've got a power failure in the lateral sensor array."

["Engineering here. We'll try and get to the problem, but the EPS systems on that deck aren't looking too good,"] Suder explained as a loud hissing sound could be heard in the background, "[ ... reroute power from the life support systems on decks thirty-nine and forty-one and shove them in to the replicator systems for Sickbay and life support on deck twelve. I'll see about rerouting them through the backup systems. Suder out."]

"Good luck, 'Commander." Evin said softly as he worked at the auxiliary science console.

As the half-Betazoid scientist worked he could hear Lieutenant Commander Jamson singing a Klingon song. It was eerie, as though he were chanting for the Black Fleet to prepare a welcome for the officers of the intrepid Federation starship in to the Gates of Sto'Vo'Kor. Generally unfamiliar with the Klingon language, except for a few phrases, he could not be sure what he was singing about, though it was somewhat surrealistic.

Reviewing the sensor data on the Breen vessels he found it odd that the Galaxy had not detected them when first entering the sector. 'Why didn't anyone detect the Breen vessels until it was too late?'

'It was as though they appeared out of no where.' Rose replied as he continued processing information through Science Station One. She pressed a few more buttons as she began another sensor sweep of the nearby space.

'If I recall, you were in Stellar Cartography scanning the region for and update to the Federation Astrophysics Survey. Did you detect any nebulae they could have been hiding in?'

MacAllen nodded. 'There was a highly unstable class-seven nebula two and a half light years away. Since we did not have a sensor lock on them, and the Breen aren't supposed to be in this sector of space, it is possible they could have been hiding in there.'

The senior scientist called up the information from Rose's sensor scan and looked at the nebula she described. It was highly unstable, as she described, corrosive compounds in minute traces and plasma discharges that would have enough energy to leave small structural flaws in the outer hull of any starship.

'Rose, prepare a scan of their outer hull for damage consistent with exposure to the nebula. If we can find a location which enough damage it might be enough to punch through with phaser or photon torpedoes.'

"Understood." MacAllen said, attracting the attention from the operations officer standing at mission ops. He had not heard the two scientists talking so her reply to Genestra seemed a little odd, as though she was talking to herself.

"And now we die?"
Ensign Mhari Stone

-=Gothos=-

Mhari jumped at the sound of the cannon balls hitting the ship. She jumped to the deck floor. Boards and smoke flew through the air. When she saw the English come aboard the ship, she grabbed for a weapon that was no longer there. She picked up a loose board instead and clubbed one of the enemy in the back of the head and kicked him over board.

From her side, someone slashed her arm with his sword. In pain, she backed away quickly, covering her arm. There was no Bat'Leth to use...no weapon at all...she had all but about lost her hearing and with the floor not so stable under her, things weren't looking too good.

The Englishman came after her again, swinging his sword and Mhari dodged every blow, then a blast throw her to the planks. She scrambled for the sword the Englishman had dropped and recovered it. She slight the man's throat without thinking twice.

With a sword now, she didn't feel as naked but a sword wouldn't help her from the fire brewing under her feet. She looked and saw a couple fallen crew members. She didn't want to die here...on a pirate ship and at the mer rank of Ensign.

Suddenly her life flashed before her eyes, as short as it had been. How she longed to be on the beach again with Jason, Shelby, Kayla and CJ. Fighting didn't seem as fun and the sword slipped from her fingers.

-----
Dr. Andree Dothan, (Lt. JG.)
Medical Dept USS Galaxy
-----

"The Battle rages on"

Andree knew that there was going to be a battle soon between the Gothos and the British warships soon, so he went below decks to see if he could find anything that could turn the tide to their advantage, as well as anything that could be used as medical supplies.

*Hmm, I wonder if I could make a Maltov cocktail out of a bottle of rum?*

While wandering below decks he found a large tin container of a water like liquid. giving it a sniff, it was obvious what it was. *Kerosene!* Andree thought. Now I just need some rags. Tearing apart some linen, andree now had everything.

*** several minutes later ***

Andree could hear the first volleys being exchanged, and could feel the deck pitch under the recoil of the cannons. picking up his three Moltov cocktails, and a box of "Strike anywhere" matches from the powder room. *That was a really dumb place to put those matches, considering they had a tendency to light themselves.*

Heading to the upper deck, Andree heard another round of cannon fire, and almost dropped his precious cargo, but he managed to grab it before it fell to the floor.

Arriving on deck Andree made his way over to the captain.

"Trelane never said we have to fight fair..."

"Very clever 'mate. That might come in handy." Price commented.

Andree smiled. "Just doing my part sir."

Leaving the secret weapon with the captain, Andree ran off to tend to the wounded before the next volley with the other ship

Out Cold

Lt. Jake T. Olson
USS Galaxy
Pirate Vessel Gothos

Jake Olson was doing his best. It wasn't good enough, but it was his best. The flimsy scientist did his best to support the others whom were selling their lives dear.

A blow to the head knocked Jake to the deck. As he landed, he saw of all things the normally peaceable Mike Pailaka pounce in the midst of the enemy dressed in a loin cloth performing some not so ridiculous moves.

Trelaine stopped motion around Jake, and picked him up again, dancing with the limp scientist. "Truly fascinating companions mate! How did you land with such?"

Olson didn't answer, he just lay limp in the man's arms, his sensory system damaged. He needed surgery. To try fighting the bastard would damage him further, so he withdrew emotionally from this omnipotent idiot in garish costume.

Tiring of the unresponsive mouse, the cat lay Olson down to torment some other poor slob fighting for life and liberty on a 'pirate vessel' that in fact wasn't in a battle that wasn't but a whim.

"Confessions"
USS GALAXY
Commander Deiran Casey, First Officer
Michala Lynn Casey, Doctor

Michala had finished with her last trauma patient. She sank wearily onto a chair. Gravity had been restored but it had made working in sickbay terrible. It was then that a nurse quietly informed her that Deiran had been Gakor's patient from the bridge. She was furious that no one had seen fit to tell her earlier. She flashed Gakor a dirty look from across the room but had the nurse take her to wear Deiran was still sleeping.

While he was still sleeping, she read the preliminary reports on his injuries and condition. She had nearly lost him and hadn't even known it. The report made it clear that he wasn't totally out of the woods yet either. Due to the problems with the systems, the surgery had not been completed as necessary.

She poured over the reports looking for possible missed ideas and complications. She was so preoccupied when she heard him finally groan.

Deiran groaned from the pain. He felt like his rib cage was churning in a fiery pit, but his muscles ached there as well. The medication wasn't doing a bit of good.

He opened his eyes to see his beautiful lady at his bedside.

"Hello angel, you are an angel right?" Deiran asked Michala, and showed a slight smile, as the pain was so intense.

"Only in your dreams, my dear. How are you feeling?" Michala hoped he hurt. It would teach him to listen to the doctor rather then argue with them while his life drained away.

"I feel like a Warbird just rammed into me without a EVA suit! Other then that I feel just great!" Deiran replied trying to smile but it looked more like a bitter bear face.

"It sure is great to see you here beside me though, how is the battle going?" Deiran asked, unable to keep the question unasked for very long.

"The battle is over but we sustained heavy damages. I am not sure of the details. I know we lost gravity and power during your operation so you stay right there because we aren't done with you yet." Michala shook a finger at him.

"Oh my god, we lost gravity did they get it restored quickly? Can you give me a damage report?" Deiran asked, like he was still on the Bridge. He didn't care he was in sickbay, or that he'd almost died his one concern was the battle.

"What happened during the operation? Do you know? Did you finally see my insides?" Deiran laughed and when he did it hurt like hell.

"Not quick enough and then we lost power. As you can see, all is normal at the moment. You Commander, do not have report access until a Doctor releases you for duty." Michala's tone brooked no argument, neither did the look on her face. She was not happy that she had been the last to know.

"Ah crap! They did it didn't they! They relieved me of duty for medical reasons!" Deiran was furious.

"Michala, remember I helped you when you were in sickbay, remember? Please at least let me know what's going on on my own ship?" Deiran replied.

He was still strapped to the bed and could not move so he added, "And you can start by letting me up!"

There was no denying that Deiran was not the best patient a doctor could wish for.

"If Gakor hadn't of, you would never of had to worry about it again, you stubborn Targ. You almost died. Do you get that? Your life was a mere thread. You care more for your stupid ship then you do your family," Michala was furious. "Doesn't it even cross your mind that you almost left your children with no mother or father?" Her voice was a low but deadly hiss. Deiran was getting the brunt of her anger and fear at almost losing him and no one even bothering to tell her.

Deiran grew quiet.

He loved this woman who happened to be hissing at him. She brightened his life. He really didn't think he was actually allowed to die. He was a Casey! Only four Casey's had ever lost their lives in the line of duty.

"I'm a Casey, we're bred to fight Kala. It's in our blood. We're not a family of Admirals for nothing you know!" He was a bit upset at Michala's tone. "Besides, my injuries weren't that bad. I could've stayed and commanded us to victory!"

Casey's illusions knew no end when it came to Command. He'd have gladly died commanding then dying in some god-forsaken biobed.

"Weren't that bad?" Michala picked up the Padd she had been studying. "Internal Bleeding, liver contusion, Patient required blood transplant, lung machine lost power. only battery pack from Lt. chair kept lung machine functioning. Temporary rib cage inserted until ship's system stable enough to finish reconstruction. Not that bad, commander? Remind me never to serve under you as ship's doctor when it does get bad." Her tone was steady and direct though she kept her voice down. He could tell that she was very upset. "You came within three minutes, five if you're lucky of never commanding again." Michala couldn't believe he could be so oblivious if his mother was a doctor.

"Was it really that bad? I just rammed into a wall. It's not like a Grandarian Bragfly clawed my guts out!"

"Might has well have! Your own ribs did the damage. And yes, it was really that bad," Her eyes watered as she thought again how close she had come to being truly alone.

"I'm sorry honey, sometimes my duty gets in the way of my feelings. I did not mean to hurt you. I am just a very determined and unyielding man, especially when I'm in command. That's just my personality," Deiran paused and realized he had heard nothing about his children. "What am I thinking? How are the children?" he asked, now the loving, concerned father.

"They are fine. During the battle, I had them moved to an inner safety zone. They played through the whole thing from what I hear. I haven't left sickbay since the first shudder of the ship." Michala looked down at the PADD. She was unsure of what to say.

"Yes, that sounds like my kids," he smiled with pride and great love.

He could just imagine Lara running around the safety zone telling everyone how her daddy was going to save them. He loved that girl. Deiran began smiling as he thought about his kids.

But, then he saw that Michala was not holding up well. "Michala what's wrong?" he asked. He wanted to touch her hand, or kiss her but he was restrained and could not move. All he could was speak.

Michala wondered if he even knew about her collapse. She knew that during the emergency, even Gakor had forgotten it and had let her continue to treat patients. Andree was still missing as was truly the doctor in charge of her case. She had gone from patient to doctor in less then an hour and it seemed like days. "It was just a little rough in here. I mean, operating without gravity and power can be a little stressful. Plus, to be honest, no one told me you had been brought in till it was all over." Her voice broke at that but she managed to contain her threatening tears.

"I am sorry honey, I wasn't aware of this. I'm sure there is an explanation. I'm still here, I'm okay and still in love with you and I'm a stubborn old bird, this universe isn't getting rid of me so quickly. I'm here for the long haul," Deiran replied. He actually managed a smile and a wink as he spoke.

Michala wanted to tell him about earlier, but decided now was not the time. She managed a smile instead. "You had better be. I am just getting to know you. I think I might even like you, god forbid," She managed a small laugh.

"Like me uh? Well that's a start I guess, Deiran feigned emotional hurt and could actually frown easier than he could smile.

"Do you know I am in love with you? Or does that matter right now?" Casey asked, turning the moment from lighthearted to serious.

Michala sobered instantly. "It matters, but to be honest, I still worry that you see me as a version of Miran. I know you said that you no longer think of me that way. I guess I will always wonder to some degree," She did not flinch away from the conversation as she usually did.

This shocked Casey. He had not thought of Michala as Miran in over two months. In fact, he had guarded against bringing up Miran at all with anyone but Karyn. "Michala, you are a separate person from Miran. I love you. Yes, I loved Miran as well. But, I can make the distinction between my love for you and the love I had for my wife," it was still difficult for him to acknowledge her passing.

But, when Casey made a decision whether it be one of command, what he was going to eat for dinner that night or the woman he loved, the decision was final. Casey loved Michala, and the love grew each day he was with her.

It was a different love then what he felt for Miran. But, a powerful, enchanting love nevertheless.

"To be honest, I think I am in love with you as well. I felt as if a piece of me had been ripped out when I heard that you were the one that Gakor had worked so desperately to save. I don't ever want to have that feeling again. It was not a lesson that pleased me." She spoke simplistically as was her manner.

"I understand, but hon, part of loving me is knowing that I put myself at risk each day I go on shift. We all do. We risk it everyday. As the First officer of this ship, I'm even more at risk. But, I wouldn't change it for anything." He paused, wanting desperately to take her into his arms and kiss her.

But, he couldn't. He had to tell her, as best he could, in his own words, how deeply he loved her. "Michala, I do truly love you. I know we've grown close over the last three months. We need each other, you have brightened my life at its most darkened time. You have made me a new man, just looking into your eyes and being blinded by that smile of yours drives me crazy with passion and ardor. I do love you darling, never ever doubt it," he told her, as best as his emotions would allow.

"I only ask for one small concession, Dee. When a doctor says you are dying. Listen to them? We don't make that up!" A small piece of the previous anger crept into her voice. "What good is a dead first officer or lover? How can we ever explore this if you needlessly throw your life away. You know the saying, live to fight another day?"

She paused, not wanting to ignore his declaration of love. "Besides, I need you too."

"Damnit I wish I could kiss you," he said, furious at being strapped in the bed. "One thing you need to learn about Casey's Kala, is that we fight with such ferocity and devastation that our opponents never live to fight another day, so we don't have to worry about it," he smiled, or tried to. The pain was getting worse.

Michala decided that was concession that she could allow. She smiled and leaned over him. "I kind of like you all tied up." Her face held a flirtatious grin. "I, Sir Knight, will grant you a boon. But only if you promise to sleep. Promise?" Her voice was light and breathless.

"Anything for your love," he replied. Hoping to get out of the promise with his charm.

Michala laughed and leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. She deepened it only lightly, not wanting to cause him pain or discomfort. He didn't see her hand move as she injected him with a mild sedative that Gakor had authorized. "Sweet Dreams, darling." She smiled as realization hit that she had sedated him.

"Whah..." Deiran tried to speak as her luscious lips were placed upon him. Such a light kiss and the kiss was so wonderful that he didn't realize that she had sedated him. Why did doctors keep doing that to him today? Whatever happened to patient's rights? The next thing he knew he was in a darkened, dream state which happened to have Michala in that world of his subconscious.

Michala smoothed his hair back as he drifted off. At least she could rest comfortable knowing that he was for now at least, out of danger. She also hoped he wouldn't remember her part in keeping him rendered immobile. She knew without a doubt that keeping him down for recovery was going to be a process of necessary sedation and distraction.

Now, she had a chief medical officer to go and see. It was time that she and Gakor spend some time, doctor to doctor.