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This particular battle occured many moons ago. I was using a different call sign at the time and I doubt Magnum even remembers it. It was a 2 v 2 fun battle that unfortunately my wingman dropped. We decided to finish anyway. It was so long ago, I can't even remember if Mag's wingman was even an iCoP. So I took a few licenses.
“This is highly unusual.” Commodore Sanchez couldn’t quite believe the orders he was reading.
“Never the less, Commodore,” replied the Federation covert operative, “the orders stand. Now can I count on your cooperation or do I have to compromise the security of this mission by contacting your superiors?”
Sanchez scowled. I hate these cloak and dagger agents. They always act like the entire Federation is at their beck and call. Which, technically it was. But that didn’t mean he had to like it.
“Captain Tana is going to be more then a little mad when I tell her you are commandeering her ship for a covert op.”
The agent looked at his fingernails as if he didn’t care what Tana thought. “I can understand that,” he replied, “But this mission is top priority and only personnel I trust, meaning my crew, is allowed on board. You can tell the captain I will try my best to return her ship intact.”
Sanchez looked at the comm panel as if it was going to bite him before activating it. “Captain Tana, report to my office immediately…”
The black-clad security officer had left the office as soon as Tana came in. Even several offices down the hall he could hear the captain’s reaction to Sanchez’s announcement. Such language from a Federation officer! As he continued toward the ship’s docking port he found it impossible to totally stifle the grin that was threatening to crack across his face.
The iCoP KCR Big-bad Ugly hung silent in space in the neutral zone between the Romulans and the Federation. Captain Magato was becoming nervous. Their operative had been gone for far too long.
“Maybe they got wise to us,” he mused aloud.
Almost an hour passed before the tension was broken.
“Sir, sensors show a Federation NCD approaching. Minimum crew,” the science officer reported.
“Hail them, yellow alert, just in case that isn’t who it’s supposed to be.” Magato felt this wasn’t needed, but in an operation this risky, caution was warranted.
“They’re hailing us, on screen.”
The Federation covert operative’s face filled the screen. It looked a little odd though, since he was in the processes of removing the skin from it.
“I take it you made a big impression on the Feddies?” Magato’s relief at seeing his boss again was evident to everyone on the bridge.
“You could say that.” MagnumMan grinned as he removed the rest of the temporary facial graft.
Magato chuckled, “So, what are we going to call our new cruiser?”
“I haven’t decided yet, maybe ‘Blunderbuss’. I think the Federation is going to be more than a little mad at having one of their NCD’s snatched out from under their noses. “
Magnum was more than a little pleased with himself. This operation had been weeks in the making. It had all gone off without a hitch. The phony orders, the bribes, all the hard work to obtain a forged security document that could withstand the close scrutiny of the base station’s computer. The risk had been huge, but it had paid off. The Interstellar Consortium of Pirates could now count another cruiser in its fleet.
Why build a ship when the Feds had so many? Surely they wouldn’t miss one. Magnum didn’t think he was ever going to be able to wipe the grin from his face.
Magato grimaced, “I would hate to be Sanchez when he finally wakes up enough to try to verify those orders. Starfleet is going to court-martial him and kick him out of the service.”
“I don’t think they will have the chance, this ship’s former captain will probably tear the skin from his bones before Starfleet gets to him.” Magnum laughed.
Romulan necks make the most satisfying noise when they break, Krenn thought. Dropping the now dead base commander to the ground, Krenn grabbed the fallen weapon from the floor and began spraying the prison cell controls with short plasma bursts. All most at once the cell doors opened and the Klingons in them fell on their guards with a vengeance.
Within minutes, they had taken the prison deck.
“Get to the bridge now! I want this station secured. And any ship that maybe docked with it or we may never get home!”
As the soldiers stormed out of the room, Krenn paused long enough to give the base commander’s body a last contemptuous look.
“Interrogation, eh Romulan?” Krenn spat on the corpse before he charged out the door to join his troops.
“Romulan border coming up.”
Magnum looked up from his drinking glass; it was good to be back on the bridge of his flagship. Magato had groused about having to captain the Blunderbuss, but the Big-bad Ugly was Magnum’s ship.
“Good, maintain course. If the Roms get too curious, you know the plan.” Magnum was not about to have his prize snatched from him by some stupid patrol now. They would try to fake out any ships that got to close by claiming that they were a Rom patrol themselves that had captured a Federation ship. If they weren’t fooled, a KCR and NCD were more than a match for anything that was likely to be in the area.
“Status!” Krenn barked.
“A few more minutes, Captain.” Akhil was hurriedly pulling wires from the base computer and punching in codes at the same time.
“Don’t take too long, The Roms are going to wonder why their base and ship aren’t reporting in.”
Krenn sat back in the base’s command chair. Captain? He was just a lieutenant commander. Then again with the command crew killed when their D6 was captured, Krenn was the ranking officer and therefore now in command. This training mission had been more than what they had bargained for. The Rom ships that ambushed them were easily able to overpower and capture the old Klingon ship crewed by a bunch of trainees. But they had been overconfident. That was why there were over seven hundred comatose Roms on the station. The crew of the base and the ship docked had been celebrating when the environmental systems began pouring a hurriedly synthesized sleeping gas from the vents. Most of them had passed out before they ever knew what had hit them. The medical cadet was sure they wouldn’t regain consciousness for hours. Krenn looked out the base window at the ship docked along side them. Many times he had questioned the wisdom of selling the Romulans the C7 hulls. But if Akhil was able to retrieve the override codes from the base, he didn’t think he would ever complain again. The KCR wasn’t all that different from the D6 they had been using to train. If Akhil was able to get the codes, they would be able to fly it with minimal difficulty.
Krenn frowned. There was no sign of the D6 cruiser or the ships that had originally captured them. It had been towed off for Qo’nos knows what reason. He couldn’t figure out why they had wanted the old D6. But that wasn’t his concern right now. Besides, Krenn thought, soon the price of the captured Klingon ship would be astronomical.
“Got it!” Akhil yelled pulling a disk from the computer.
“Your timing couldn’t be better,” Krenn smiled. He then stabbed the comm button. “Warriors! We have success! Everyone get to the ship, we are leaving in fifteen minutes! Move it!” Krenn snapped off the comm panel.
“What’s the hurry?” Akhil said.
“Stop wasting time and get that ship ready to go!” Krenn snarled. “It gives us ten minutes to warm up the ships reactor’s and five minutes to get clear of the station.”
“Get clear before what?” Akhil’s face betrayed a worried expression. As if he already knew the answer, but was hoping he was wrong.
Krenn turned and punched in several codes to the compromised computer. An alarm began to howl, followed by a computerized Romulan voice, “Fifteen minutes to self-destruct and counting. All personal abandon station, repeat…”
Krenn turned and walked out the door and casually remarked over his shoulder, “You now have less than fifteen minutes.”
Akhil used every Klingon curse he could think of as he bolted down the corridor after the retreating Krenn.
The sensor panel on the Big-bad Ugly began beeping insistently. Science Officer Marat began analyzing the readings at once. Laziness was not tolerated in iCoP. Well, unless you were one of the higher ups, he mused bitterly.
“Sir?” Marat finally queried.
Magnum turned from the grapes his slave girl had been feeding him to look at the science officer. This had better be good.
As Magnum continued to glare at him, Marat decided to volunteer the information before things got out of hand.
“I’m reading a large explosion approximately two light-years from our present position. The coordinates match with the location of a Romulan outpost.”
Magnum glanced longingly back at the grapes, or rather what had been holding them. “And I care because…?”
“Well, I am also reading a ship leaving the area at high speed. It is heading in our general direction. I think it is a Klingon/Romulan hull, but I can’t tell what type yet.”
“Interesting, alert the Blunderbuss. It looks like we are going to be having guests for dinner. I just hope we can bluff them into leaving us alone."
Krenn sat back in the captain’s chair of his new ship. It had been easier than expected to get underway. As soon as the crew grew confident enough, he would order high warp speed. The Klingon border was a long way off, but with careful course plotting and a stop or two for foraging, they should make it back. The scientists were going to practically drool over the plasma launchers. The cloaking device was an added plus, but personally Krenn thought the thing was a piece of junk.
“Akhil, how are we doing?” Krenn asked. Some of the systems had been more stubborn about coming on online than others. He needed to know what this ship could and couldn’t do if they got in a fight.
“All weapons are online and functioning. However, the shuttle launch systems seem to be stuck. I also can’t get the transporters on line. Communications is still down, but by the time we get to the border I should have all the systems working.” Akhil was dead tired. There was so much to accomplish, and he’d had very little time to get it going before the station had blown. He grimaced at that thought. All the Romulans had died in the explosion. Apparently, Krenn was not the forgiving type.
“Sir! Unidentified ships are approaching! Warp signatures identify them as Romulan and… Federation!” acting science officer Kromon reported.
“No response to our hails, Mag. What should we do?” Magato was getting a little nervous.
Magnum considered it. The sensors had identified it as a KCR very similar to his own cruiser. True, he had a light drone cruiser on his side, but the damage that could be done to his prize wasn’t worth the risk. But if the Rom wasn’t answering his hails, that meant somehow the captain of the approaching ship was probably already on to the pirates. At the very least, they were going to want the Federation ship. And would most likely want to know where Magnum had “acquired” a KCR. The Klingons had been very reluctant to deliver the C7 hulls to the Romulans. They might want it back as well.
“I don’t think so…” Magnum muttered, “Alright, if they want to try and take these ships, then they are gonna have to earn it! Magato! Red alert!”
The screen showed a Federation drone cruiser and a KCR closing on Krenn’s ship. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what a Fed ship was doing so deep in Romulan territory. Things became even more confusing when the shields went up on both ships.
“G’dayt!” Akhil yelled when the drone cruiser launched a full spread of drones at them. ”What…?”
“Don’t know.” Krenn was even more puzzled than before. “Any luck with communications, Akhil?”
“No, sir. It seems the Roms totally rewired the comm systems. It will be some time before I can make sense of it. I may have short range for you in a little while.”
If we can’t talk to them, there is no way we can bluff past this, Krenn thought. Just the fact that we don’t answer will set them off. He would prefer to think his way out of this, his crew needed more time to adjust to the changes the Roms had made. But time had run out, and Krenn decided to refer to the unwritten rules of engagement of every Klingon commander.
When in doubt, attack.
“Red alert.” the unfamiliar wail of Romulan battle klaxons began ringing through the renamed Romulan ship. Krenn had decided to call it ‘Redeemer’. It seemed appropriate at the time.
The KCR that was closing on them was a question mark. Why didn’t it turn to engage the Federation ship? As of yet it had not fired on them, but considering the situation, Krenn was not about to take any chances.
“Turn toward the Fed ship, arm all plasma launchers. Phaser crews, stand by.”
“What do you want to do about those drones?” Akhil was worried, the drones were closing at warp 3.1 and would be on them in seconds.
“What do you think all the phasers on this ship are for?” Krenn smiled.
“And the Rom?”
“I don’t know about him, stay away as far as possible while we attack the drone cruiser.”
Magnum watched the Redeemer close with the Blunderbuss. Magato had charged way ahead and launched drones, thus tipping their hand. The Redeemer closed on the NCD at full speed, the drones apparently not causing it much concern. As well they shouldn’t, he thought. KCRs had ten heavy phasers and four defensive ones to boot. Magnum had hoped to close with the Redeemer and grab it with a tractor before opening up on it. But now the other KCR was cautious, running at full speed away from Magnum’s ship while bearing down on the NCD. As the KCR and the NCD closed range, the phasers from the Redeemer swept the drones clear from space. Magnum grimaced as the two vessels exchanged phaser fire. Even with the phasers the Redeemer had used, it still had the Blunderbuss heavily out-gunned. The smaller ship shook badly as its left front deflector shield collapsed under the pounding. The Redeemer lost part of its right front screen, but it held where the smaller ship’s hadn’t.
“Magato! Get away from that ship you moron!” Magnum didn’t want to lose his prize because of an idiot. “Helm! Get us as close to that KCR as you can! “
After all, Big-bad Ugly had just as many phasers as the Redeemer. It was just a matter of ganging up on it before Krenn tore the NCD to pieces.
Magato was running for his life. The drones he fired were being batted down by the Redeemer as fast as he could fire them. Sensors showed the KCR chasing him almost had its plasma torpedoes ready to fire. If he slowed down now, he was dead meat. Unless I can slip past it and join up with Magnum, he thought.
“All crews prepare for HET, helm execute!”
The NCD has made a snap turn and was heading off to the left and back toward the other KCR. Krenn decided to take a risk.
“All phasers fire!”
Almost all of the KCR’s heavy phasers slammed at the NCD’s rear screen, collapsing it.
“Helm, turn us away from that ship!”
Redeemer swung to the right just as the Blunderbuss fired another volley of drones. One of them hit the left rear screen, but three of the other five remaining were destroyed by the defensive phasers, the remaining two were caught by tractors, and killed when the heavy phasers recycled.
“Minor shield damage only. We were lucky.” Akhil was wondering if a job in the diplomatic corps wouldn’t have been a better career choice.
“We aren’t clear yet.” Krenn watched as the NCD began to form up with the Big-bad Ugly.
At least we gave better than we got. The Blunderbuss was trailing plasma. Several of its phasers were off line and it was moving slower than before. But how long could they dance with the drone cruiser before the other KCR decided to cut in? His unspoken question was answered when Big-bad Ugly and Blunderbuss fired all bearing phasers at Redeemer’s weakened left rear screen.
“Got him!” Big-bad Ugly’s gunner was ecstatic.
“Shut up.” growled Magnum. “So what? Minor hull hits and a defensive phaser bank. He can fix that easily. Helm keep the pressure on, don’t let him get too far ahead of us. Magato, get my prize out of here before you wreck it!”
“But Magnum, we can still help!” Magato was indignant.
“You haven’t done a bloody thing to help so far! If you don’t leave the area now I will personally gut you as an example. Now move it!”
“Yes, sir.” Blunderbuss began moving away.
“Captain, the drone cruiser is breaking off. The KCR is still pursuing us range 100,000 kilometers.”
Krenn’s brow furrowed. The Federation ship must have been captured. That was the only thing that made sense. It was moving off now, meaning the Rom captain didn’t want to lose it. Krenn could understand that. He could imagine the hero’s welcome he would receive if he brought home a captured Federation ship. Much like the welcome he and his crew would receive if they managed to get this KCR home.
I can use that, he thought.
“Helm, gradual turn to port. I want to get around that KCR and hit the drone cruiser again. I think it is a prize ship, if we can damage it badly enough the Romulan should stop chasing us and protect it. If he does, we can leave once he is off our tail.”
Redeemer began a slow turn, with Big-bad Ugly following. Both ships exchanged phaser fire, neither one getting a clear advantage. Ever so slowly, the drone cruiser appeared in front of Krenn’s ship again.
Krenn watched the range counter count down. At 80,000 km he ordered the Redeemer to begin firing at Blunderbuss’s rear screen. Already damaged it went off line again and the phaser fire from the Redeemer began to cut into the warp engines. Blunderbuss lost more speed as the range closed. More phaser fire from the Big-bad Ugly was steadily weakening Redeemer’s rear screens.
This is going to be close, Krenn thought. Real close.
Magnum was pounding his chair in frustration. “What, does this Rommie have a thing for drone cruisers?! Fire again!” The Big-bad Ugly’s phasers ripped at the rear screen of Redeemer, finally knocking them down. “Maybe that will get you off my prize!” Magnum snarled.
No amount of phaser fire so far had distracted the KCR in front of him. It had seemed doggedly determined to take out the drone cruiser at all costs. The Blunderbuss was being slowly carved up, each phaser shot reducing its speed. Magato was at least trying to get the Redeemer off his tail, but the heavy battlecruiser chasing him had more than enough phasers to swat the drones down.
“Sir, Magato has reported his drone supply is exhausted.” More good news, Magnum thought.
“Captain, I am reading an energy build up in the KCR’s engines.”
Magnum rolled his eyes. He knew this was coming, but that idiot Magato had left him no choice. If he lives through this, we are going to have a long talk about tactics, Magnum thought grimly.
Suddenly, the ship fleeing in front of them pivoted one hundred eight degrees and began to fill the viewscreen.
“Torpedoes fire!” was all Magnum had time to get out before things got ugly.
“FIRE!” Krenn wasn’t sure but he thought he might have just strained his vocal cords. It had worked, sort of. When his rear screen went down, he had no choice but to turn and fight the KCR. He only hoped that Redeemer’s phasers would make the difference. They had to do enough damage so the Romulan couldn’t follow them. All the bearing phasers, two Type-S and two Type-F torpedoes streaked from the Redeemer and crashed into the Big-bad Ugly’s front screen at almost point-blank range. Big-bad Ugly fired its own torpedoes, but without the phasers it had just fired bringing down Redeemer’s rear screen. Both ships rocked heavily, throwing their crews to the deck. The two KCRs passed with in meters of each other.
Now if I can just get out of here, Krenn thought. We may have to make several more stops than planned, but at least we should be able to get clear of this fight. The sensors showed the other battlecruiser in somewhat worse shape, do to the fact it hadn’t had its phasers ready when Redeemer had turned to fight.
Then the Blunderbuss appeared just behind the Big-bad Ugly, bearing down on his badly damaged ship. Krenn grimaced. This was going to be even closer than he had originally thought.
Magato smiled to himself. This would make up for his past mistakes. True his drones were gone, but he had almost half of his phasers back on line. The tractor beam was being charged and all he had to do was pin the KCR in place until Big-bad Ugly could reach them. Redeemer was moving away at about warp 2.1 trailing plasma and bits of hull.
“Lets see how you like being chased,” he grinned.
No time for sitting like a crippled whale, Krenn thought. The rear screens were coming back up, but they would be really weak. The other KCR was moving at warp 1.5, indicating it was badly damaged, but far from out of the fight. His sensors showed the NCD was at a fraction of its former fighting power, but if it could keep them tied up long enough…
Looking at the structural integrity field strength, he decided it was time for another risk.
Blunderbuss closed to 10,000 kilometers and being more maneuverable than the command cruiser there was no way Redeemer could shake it. Strained for power the tractor beam was taking a long time to charge, but Magato was sure there was nothing the bigger ship could do to stop it. In the blink of an eye, the Redeemer was pointed at them as it executed another HET. The hull of the ship strained, and several supports collapsed, but Redeemer held together. Blunderbuss managed a few surprised shots, but did no real damage. Redeemer held its fire until the backs of the two ships were pointed at each other. Then Krenn fired his remaining rear phasers into the NCD’s crippled rear screen, causing the ship to slow even more. The second the Blunderbuss’s screen dropped, the Redeemer made several fast hit and run raids on the NCD’s tractor beams, extinguishing any hope of stopping the Redeemer from escaping.
Krenn turned to look at Akhil, who had a sheepish grin on his face.
”Oh, we got the transporters working and short range communications too.” He seemed incredibly pleased with himself.
“Good, I will promote you or shoot you later,” Krenn grinned. “Helm, get us out of here.”
As the Redeemer’s engines prepared to shift to high warp, Krenn grimaced. His arm hung numb at his side. He had landed badly during that last pass with the KCR and he thought it was broken.
“Better that than my neck,” he muttered. The image of the dead Romulan base commander briefly flashed through his thoughts.
“Sir, the KCR is retreating!”
“Say that again?” Magnum was busy wiping blood from a gash above his eyes. Maybe I hit my head too hard. “Did you say he’s leaving?”
“Yes sir. Sensors show he is preparing to move to high warp speed and leave the area.”
Well, that makes sense. As badly beat up as we both are all he has to do is get some help. With my ships in this state, we will be hard pressed to avoid them. Magnum was pretty sure he could do it though. A few favors and bribes with a certain Romulan commodore would have to be called in. His face briefly became a mask of pure rage. I bet I have time to beat Magato to a bloody pulp before then. Stinking moron!
“Akhil, signal the Rom ship, I wish to know who it was we fought.”
“On screen sir.”
The main viewscreen showed an Orion pirate that looked almost as badly beat up as Krenn was. The Orion was staring in shock at the screen. Krenn imagined his face was mirroring that of the pirate.
“You’re not Romulan…!” Magnum and Krenn said in almost in unison before Redeemer went to warp 6.
