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<title source="title1"> <default>Undine War</default> </title> <image source="image1">
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Alarms blaring, sparks flying, personnel frantically running all over the ship.
Captain Talmid could barely keep himself from falling out of his plastic chair as explosions rocked the ship.
The stardate was 2484. The USS Talmidon has responded to a distress call from the New New York Colony on Legola IV, saying to be under attack from 'UFO's before the message was cut.
By the time the Talmidon had gotten there, Legola IV and its neighboring planets had been blown away. Luckily, at least two hundred transport freighters were leaving the system, the inhabitants of the colonies on them. But they weren't alone, 30 Undine ships were in pursuit.
That was when the battle started.
"Prepare to fire transphasic torpedoes!" Talmid ordered. He coughed as steam flew up to meet his plastic eyes. When the steam cleared, and Talmid could see the viewscreen again, he saw a stream of torpedoes streak from the forward launchers, unsuccessful in damaging the Undine ships.
"Uh oh." Talmid said.
Two Bioships swung around and strafed the Talmidon, stripping away its ablative armor and ripping holes in the wings.
A Lieutenant jumped to the science console.
"Captain, I think if we can get to the torpedo bays, we can modify a few torpedoes with Borg Nanoprobes to disable the Bioships."
"Great idea. Where do we get the nanoprobes?" Talmid answered.
"Um, nowhere." the Lieutenant replied.
"I know!" an Ensign jumped up. "I happened to be storing some in my quarters."
"That's illegal! It is against the safety protocols!" Talmid said. But now safety protocols didn't matter. "Lieutenant, Ensign, get those nanoprobes and modify some of those torpedoes!"
"Yessir!" They went into the turbolift.
The bridge rumbled again, and many consoles exploded. It felt like forever before the Ensign and Lieutenant said over the comm, "Torpedoes ready!"
"Battle pattern Delta, fire torpedoes!" Talmid said.
"Sir," the helm officer said. "Our engines are offline, we cannot move."
"Then fire already, fire fire fire!" Talmid screamed.
One Undine ship down. Two Undine ships down.
Three Undine ships down...
"Sir, the Undine have ceased firing and are reentering their fluidic space." an Ensign said.
"Good, we have enough damage already." Captain Talmid said.
"Another ship has just entered the system." The Ensign said. "Bearing 2 mark 1.5. It is the USS Generations. They are hailing us."
"On screen." Talmid said.
The face of Commander Gary Vermont, also the first officer of the Talmidon, appeared on the screen.
"I apologize we were late." he said. "We hit an ion storm and couldn't jump to warp."
"No problem, remember how a ship like yours was destroyed by the Undine some time ago?" Talmid said.
Gary shook his head. "I remember."
"Oh, and if you haven't noticed, we are in critical condition, and perhaps you wouldn't mind towing us to the nearest Star Base?" Talmid said.
"Yes Captain. Immediately." Commander Gary said. To an Ensign, he said, "Engage tractor beam."
A wave of blue beams leaped from the Generations and attached itself to the Talmidon. Then began the long process of towing the ship to the Star Base.
Chapter 1
Captain Talmid, his first officer Commander Gary Vermont and an Ensign with blue sleeves were discussing how to upgrade our current tech so that we could stand some chance against the Undine, if they attack again.
Talmid banged his fist on the table.
"Two months?!" he said angrily. "What if the Undine attack before that?"
"Then we die." said the Ensign.
"Grr." Talmid wasn't happy.
"At least we have effective torpedoes." Gary said.
"Yeah, but what if run out of torpedoes. Then we will be stuck with ineffective phasers." Talmid pointed out.
"Why don't we try with Disruptor type weapons?" the Ensign asked. "I made a holodeck program where you are on a Klingon ship."
"To the holodeck!" Talmid said.
Later, when they started the Klingon program...
"Full disruptors!" the Klingon captain said.
"Computer, delete Klingons, and switch the enemy starship to one of Undine origin!" Talmid said.
The computer beeped, and the Klingons disappeared. An Undine ship appeared on the viewscreen. It fired.
The bridge shook. Talmid took a seat at the helm.
"Firing disruptors."
Gary took a seat next to him and they looked at the viewscreen.
The Undine ship took a few scars, but appeared undamaged.
"All disruptor banks firing." Gary said.
Part of the Undine ship burst into flames, which burnt out quickily. A high pitched wail was heard.
"Is it the Undine?" Talmid asked.
"No, one of the disruptor banks burnt out." Gary said.
Then the Undine ship slowed to a stop, energy rippling across its derelict hull.
Talmid sighed a sigh of relief.
"Computer, end program."
Chapter 2
Captain Talmid looked out one of the many windows of the Talmidon. An astronaut with a repair-buggy floated by.
Just the day before, Talmid had made an agreement with the Klingon Empire to let him borrow a few Disruptor Emplacements in return for quantum torpedoes. It was risky, as relations with the empire weren't so nice.
Lieutenant Commander Dave Barker entered the room.
"Captain, I hate to disturb you." he said.
"At ease." Talmid said.
"5 Disruptors have been put in place sir, 3 more are currently being put on the saucer." Dave informed him.
"Good." Talmid said. "It was a pretty good trade, 5000 Quantum Torpedoes for 400 Distuptor Emplacements."
"You're being sarcastic, right?" Dave said.
"Right." Talmid said. "Even 1 Quantum Torpedo is worth 10 Disruptors."
"At least we got what we need." Dave said. "We already shipped 175 of the Disruptors to the Alpha Centauri Fleet Yards, where they will be put on the USS Generations and the USS Awahnee. The USS Akira and USS Stormhawk are also on their way for refitting."
"And the USS Frodo, a Tokyo Class. The same one that engaged an Undine vessel and somehow survived." Talmid finished.
"The armada is forming." Dave said. "And soon the Undine will realize just how the Federation acts when we're in war."
Talmid smiled a sad smile. "I only hope it works. I don't plan on having disruptors forever. I'll meet you in Engineering with Commander Vermont. I plan on upgrading our shields and phasers also, maybe we could get some shmasers too."
Chapter 3
Captain Talmid was once again on the bridge. An Undine Vessel had been seen near a remote planetoid, and the Talmidon had been moved in to attempt to destroy it with its newly installed Disruptors.
"Captain, we have entered the system." a helm officer said.
"Take us out of warp. Arm disruptors, prepare torpedoes." Talmid said.
The Talmidon dropped out of warp, and right in front of it was a lone Undine ship.
"Now let us see if these weapons were worth the price." Talmid said.
"Fire Disruptors!"
Three green disruptor beams shot out of random places of the Talmidon. They struck the Undine ship, but left no scars.
Talmid blinked.
"Again, full disruptors!"
More disruptor beams shot out, but no damage was done.
"Sir, all the disruptor banks have burnt out." the tactical officer said. "Wait, we are getting an incoming message."
"Where is it from?" Talmid inquired.
"From..." the tactical officer started. "From one of the disruptor banks!"
"I should never have trusted the Klingons. play it through!" Talmid said.
"You didn't think we meant all that we said, did you?" the voice of the Klingon Chancellor said. "Well, we didn't! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! With your quantum torpedoes, we shall rule the galaxy, and none of your measly defen-!"
"End message." Talmid said. The Klingons had outsmarted him, and this would be the one and only time they did. "Fire as many torpedoes that you have to. Destroy the Undine vessel." Talmid said solemnly.
Six photon torpedoes refitted with Borg Nanoprobes shot out of the Talmidon's forward launchers. They smashed into the Undine ship, destroying it in a short but bright ball of fire.
Chapter 4
Captain Talmid sat in his chair on the bridge. The USS Talmidon and at least 15 other starships were waiting at the Yridian System for a detected Undine Attack.
Recently, the Klingon Empire sent their apologies and that their old chancellor had been removed from office. When they asked if they could be of assistance, Talmid graciously refused. But even now, Talmid felt that maybe the Klingons could have been of some help.
Along with Gary's and Dave's assistance, Captain Talmid had been able to modify and produce numerous modified phasers, shmasers, and torpedoes to be used against the Undine. They had been successfully placed on almost ever ship in the Star Fleet.
"Captain, we are picking up numerous warp signatures." an Ensign alerted Talmid.
"Signal all starships," Talmid ordered. "Red Alert! Prepare to fire! Fighter group, prepare for Strafing Runs! USS Awahnee, try diverting power from the warp core to the weapons." Talmid shouted out commands to the fleet.
Then the Undine came.
"OPEN FIRE!"
Immediately all ships opened fire, phasers, quantum torpedoes and photon torpedoes sizzled around the battlefield.
"Fighter groups report ready." the Ensign said.
"Fighter group, attack pattern Beta 7!"
The Delaware Class Fighters swung into the Undine formation and fired their phasers. One Undine Bioship was consumed by the destructive energy, but it and another succeeded in destroying two of the fighters.
Commander Gary Vermont had been placed in command of the USS Akira, and Lt. Cmdr. Dave Barker had been given command of the USS Okinawa.
"Fire phasers there, full power!" Gary ordered.
"Aye sir!" the tactical guy said.
Dave couldn't find a better way to destroy Undine without quantum torpedoes. "Fire those quantums, arm the phasers!" he ordered.
"All-due-respect Sir, don't you mean it the other way around?" the helmsman asked. "Fire phasers, arm quantums-?"
"Just fire the torpedoes!" Dave said.
The battle merely lasted half an hour. With 25 minutes of the time getting all the ships into position.
Then it was over.
The armada had returned to Star Base 16, where repairs would be done to the damaged ships. The damage was 2 ships with severe hull damage and 3 others with damaged bulkheads.
Talmid could only wait and see what the Undine would try next. But he and the others around him, they could only imagine what was really happening at the time....
Chapter 5
It has been at least 3 months since the first battle, which oddly enough was a victory.
Even many of the other battles were victorious.
Captain Talmid could sense that something wasn't how it should be. He still wasn't completely sure about the Klingons, and had some of his ships patrolling the border. Long range sensors had picked up nothing of interest in Klingon space.
___________________
Captain Talmid sat in his ready room. This battle had been a failure, with the loss of numerous ships and lives.
Commander Gary stepped in with a datapad.
"Here are the casualty reports Captain." he said.
"Thanks Gary." Talmid took them.
"Lets see, we lost 16 ships, 24 more badly damaged."
"The USS Awahnee took a terrible beating." Commander Gary said. "I am still not sure why we haven't scrapped her yet."
"I know she is an old ship, but we need everything we can use." Talmid replied.
"It's a good ship, those dual torpedo launchers pack a punch."
"The nacelles make good targets, and Cheyenne Class warp nacelles just aren't always there." the commander said.
Talmid put the datapad down, and turned to look at his First Officer.
"We can give her Centaur class nacelles, or if we have to, even Excelsior nacelles. But that doesn't matter know." Talmid looked determined. "And I am determined to win this war."
The ship suddenly shook.
"Captain to the bridge." someone said over the comm. Weirdly, it didn't sound like the comm guy who usually was there.
"What happened to Bob?" Talmid asked.
"He got hit by a falling piece of metal, he is being transported to sick bay. And can you get here already?" the comm guy said.
"On my way. Com'on Gary." Talmid jumped up from his chair, pausing to straighten the waist band on his uniform, and then went with the commander into a turbolift.
More rumblings, and then the ship shook. Phaser fire flew by the window, and the wall that the officers were so close to a minute ago, exploded...
Chapter 6
Captain Talmid and Commander Gary entered the bridge. Sparks flew everywhere and conduits exploded.
"Damage report!" Gary ordered.
"We've lost part of the starboard wing. The port wing is sustaining heavy damage. We've lost shields!" an Ensign said. The console in front of that Ensign exploded, and was sent flying across the room and landed in a pile of pillows at the back of the bridge.
"Life support is failing." another Ensign said.
"Transfer axillary power to the shields, long enough for us to get to the escape pods and shuttles." Talmid said.
"Sir-?" Gary said.
"We've lost the ship. We cant get to warp and our weapons are offline." Talmid said sadly.
No! This just couldn't be happening! But it was. Talmid told himself. If the lives of him and his crew were to survive, they would have to move quickly.
"Is the comm system still online?" Talmid asked.
"Yes sir." the comm guy said.
"I have a hunch. Hail the lead Undine vessel." Talmid said. The comm beeped.
"I know it is you." In truth, Talmid didn't know who it was, but it was definitely not the Undine. "Whoever you are, and what you think you are doing, we know your plan: Destroy the United Federation of Planets."
Creepy laughter was heard on the comm. It didn't sound Klingon...
"We've known each other before..." the voice said.
"I do not understand." Talmid said.
"So you have uncovered our master plan." the creepy voice said.
Then it all came to him. From ages ago, then Lt. Talmid had taken command of the USS Independence, whose Captain was badly injured, when a Dreadoth Roul* battleship had engaged them. Talmid had destroyed the vessel, or so it seemed. Shortly before destruction, a weird message had played, and was since then stored in Star Fleet database. It had said, 'We will meet again'.
"Pirates!" Talmid said in astonishment. "Pirates have been behind this entire plot!"
Creepy laughter played again, and the channel ended.
Another beam of explosive energy slammed the Talmidon...
"Everyone get to the emergency escape pods. Prepare to evacuate the ship." Talmid said. He watched as everyone got safely into the turbolift. Then he climbed into a jefferies tube.
Slowly he climbed to engineering, careful not to go through any dangerous areas. At last he got there. The room was barren, and all lights had been turned off.
Talmid switched on his flashlight and probed around until he got to the massive warp core.
Carefully he set it to a warp core breach, and then set it to maximum power. All would blow when he pressed a remote button.
Talmid also couldn't think of a faster way to escape a wrecked ship. He grabbed a spacesuit and strapped it on. "Space-diving" he thought. But he didn't realize he was still holding on to the warp core. And then it blew out of the ship!
"AAAAAH!!" Talmid screemed, half in delight, half out of fright.
He caught his composure. And took a second to realize what was going on.
He was on a warp core, just ejected from a ship, about to explode.
Just his glove froze in the cold of space, so he could barely move it.
Talmid looked ahead and saw numerous Undine ships looming ahead. They looked to be jeering at him.
Talmid moved his hand with more force, trying harder and harder to let go of the warp core. Then it moved. Talmid grinned and pulled harder. His glove let go of the warp core, which soared ahead, right into the Undine fleet, where it exploded in a brilliant ball of fire. The Undine ships in turn exploded, sort of like popcorn popping in a microwave.
Epilogue
All the escape pods were eventually picked up. Including Captain Talmid.
___________________
Captain Talmid and his first officer strolled through one of the corridors of Star Base E-01.
"There it is." Commander Gary pointed out a window at a starship being built in a shipyard.
Talmid nodded. "The USS Talmidon II." he said proudly. But the idea of space pirates using Undine ships in revenge for destroying an older pirate ship, that was just unbelievable.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find a happy ending to all this." Gary said.
"Right as always." Talmid said. Right as always...
And that brings this story to a conclusion.
Or, is it?