"Lieutenant Roberts to Captain Oren-De, we are coming into range of Kinet IV."
Oren-De looked up from the datapad he had been reviewing in his ready room. "Acknowledged."
The man placed the pad down on his desk and walked out of his ready room. He quickly surveyed the bridge and noted that the bridge crew was still stealing glances at him when they thought he wasn't looking. They were uneasy with him, and it was something that he hoped would lessen with time. From the way many of the officers seemed to react when they spoke to him, Oren-De had come to the conclusion that their previous captain had had a much different style.
"We will be dropping out of warp in ten seconds," the helmsman announced.
"Good. Please continue at full impulse toward the planet and bring the ship into a standard orbit."
"Yes, sir."
The Pandora dropped out of warp and began its approach toward the planet. The large blue and brown planet filled the viewscreen as the Pandora flew closer.
"Hail the outpost, Lieutenant Roberts, and put it on the viewscreen."
"Yes, sir." Talona entered the command and then frowned. "Captain... I'm not getting a response."
Tension began to fill the bridge. Oren-De leaned forward in his chair and seemed to be studying the planet. "Try again."
"... Sorry, no response, sir. I'm scanning the facility." Talona's eyes suddenly widened. "Sir, the number of life signs is only half that of the outpost's crew compliment! I'm also picking up a number of Klingon lifesigns!"
Oren-De wasted no time. "Yellow Alert. Lieutenant Roberts, is there any sign of Klingon ships in the vicinity?"
"No sir, but it's possible they're cloaked. I can try boosti-- Captain! Two Klingon Birds of Prey are decloaking ahead!"
"On-screen!"
The viewscreen blinked to a view of space just as two Birds of Prey decloaked in front of the Pandora. Talona looked back at Oren-De just in time to see the normally stoic Enhasan's face give a telling, frustrated twitch. Talona pretended not to notice and simply awaited orders, though the tell made her even more uneasy about the rapidly changing situation.
"Open hailing frequences."
Talona nodded and turned back to her console, trying to calm her breath. "Hailing frequencies open, Captain."
"Klingon ships, this is Captain Oren-De of the Federation starship Pandora. Explain what business you have at this Starfleet outpost."
"No answer. Sir, they're charging disruptors!"
"Red Alert! Power to the forward shields and open fire on shield systems! Initiate evasive maneuvers, keeping them to one side and divert shield power accordingly!"
"Yes, sir!" Talona and Shrel responded as they went to work at their consoles. Shrel, from his position behind Oren-De's command chair, immediately opened fire on the right-most ship. The two ships responded in kind, blasting the Pandora's fore shields with brilliant green disruptor fire.
"Shields holding! Coming about and locking all weapons onto shield generators!"
The Pandora banked around the Birds of Prey and, thanks to a boost in weapons power courtesy of War'en down in Engineering, unleashed an intense barrage of tetryon fire on one of the ships.
"Enemy shields down to 20% sir on starboard section!"
"Initiate Attack Pattern Alpha-2! Complement with a tachyon beam and use a high-yield torpedo volley!"
The Pandora flew away from the enemy ships, continuing to fire with its aft beam array. It came about hard, pounding both ships with its tetryon cannons while the Birds of Prey attempted to flank both sides of the ship. The Pandora focused fire on the weakened ship, whose shields were now down thanks to a well-fired tachyon beam as it came about. Shrel's torpedoes hit, causing massive visual damage to the Bird of Prey. A satisfied smirk crossed the Bajoran's face.
"Sir, direct hit! I am reading damage to their warp core. Breech is imminent!" reported Talona.
"Continue past the ship at full combat impulse. All power to rear shields!"
"Sir!?" exclaimed the helmsman in some confusion.
"Do it!"
"Yes... sir!"
The Pandora flew under the damaged Bird of Prey, which was already starting to suffer massive explosions. As soon as the Pandora was on the other side, Talona increased power to the rear shields. The second Bird of Prey gave chase and fired on the Pandora.
"Shields at 70%!"
"Return fire! Oren-De to Engineering, I need more power to the engines."
Down in Engineering, War'en's hands were flying over a console as his staff rushed around. He frowned at the request, wondering what the hell Oren-De was doing. "I'll give you all I can, but there's not much left!"
The Pandora gained a bit more speed, putting some distance between the two Birds of Prey.
"Reading warp core breech in the first ship!"
"Brace for impact!"
Just as the second Bird of Prey swooped under it, the first Bird of Prey blew apart in a bright blast. The Pandora was rocked forward somewhat by the explosion, shaking up the crew. The helmsman almost fell out of his chair, prompting a concerned shout from Talona. When he recovered, Talona looked at him sheepishly before returning to her console.
"I'm reading minimal damage to the Pandora. Sir, the other Bird of Prey has suffered massive damage to its hull and shield systems are damaged as well!"
"Bring us about and fire all weapons!"
The Pandora turned once more and brought all of its phase fire to bear on the Bird of Prey's weakened shields, which finally succumbed. Another torpedo volley courtesy of Shrel ended the conflict, breaching the hull and immediately destroying the ship.
A relieved quiet seemed to penetrate the ship as the crew took stock of the situation.
"No other ships detected, captain."
"Remain at Yellow Alert. Helmsman, bring us into orbit around Kinet IV. Ops, please continue scanning the facility and pinpoint an optimal away team insertion location."
