The bridge was dark, illuminated by the flashing red light every two seconds. Ford didn’t know what to expect, but he had always believed in the two tactical system. What it meant was, there were two tactical stations manned by skilled officers, one would be in charge of all dorsal weapons while the other be in charge of ventral weapons. Or if the situation required it, one be responsible for point defense and the other for the assault. It is not something he got to test very often, especially since his former commanding officer disagreed with the concept.

Right now, they were in place in the standard responsibility, since sensors could not penetrate the phenomenon, they have absolutely no idea what is going on inside and thus, Ford can’t tell them what set up they should go for. It would have to be a quick change. Good thing they had been practicing, Ford thought as he looked at them, the one on the left station was Lieutenant Andre and on the right station was Lieutenant Clayton. They were both Trill and brothers. His former commanding officer was against family serving together on the same ship, Ford was not. He thinks their relationship and knowledge of each other built a strong bond and Ford needed that.

“You boys ready to give it a shot?” Ford asked them.

“Yes, sir!” They both answered, in unison. They weren’t twins, one was a year older than the other, but they sure acted like it.

“Sir, we’re initiating the last warp jump now,” reported Lieutenant Remi, who turned her head to look over her shoulder at Ford. “We’re synchronized with the Decker, sir.”

Ford took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “Echelon to Decker. Your girls ready, Reade?” He was not at all teasing or joking with Commander Reade. For whatever the reason, Commander Reade had a entire senior staff of women. To put it bluntly, roughly eighty percent of the crew were women, rest were men. He didn’t understand it, nor did he question it, but from what Reade has told him, it was just a crazy coincidence.

“We’re ready.” Said Reade.

“Get us in there, Lieutenant,” said Ford as he stood there, slightly sideways, so part of his right side faced the view screen, where his left side was facing the second tactical station. He wanted to be prepared to chance the setup, and he wanted to do it quickly.

In a matter of seconds, both ships initiated a warp jump at maximum speed through the phenomenon. Ford’s eyes were glued onto the view screen, his hands balled up into fists, clenching tightly as he was growing anxious and excited. He could feel his adrenaline rising. This was it, where they were going to find out what these phenomenons were all about. They were about to see what exactly could be threatening a Nor-class station, among several dozens of orbital weapons platforms. Who would be so crazy to commit to such an attack?

The second they dropped out of warp, was the second the view screen was filled with the fourth planet and the fireworks of beam weapons dancing all over the place, torpedoes flying everywhere and explosions every so often.

It was time to get to work.

“Sensors are picking up well over sixty ships!” Said Andre, the tone of shock in his voice was undeniable.

“There are twenty five medium sized vessels, forty-three fighter crafts and one single large vessel and it’s massive,” reported Clayton.

“Decker! Focus on taking out the fighters! We’re going to go in and punch some noses on some of those medium sized vessels.” Ford ordered as he moved to take his seat. Looks like he won’t need to change their setup at all. “Remi, bring us in low orbit of the station. Boys, you see anything in your line of fire, open them up!”

“Yes, sir!” All three responded in unison.

“Decker reads loud and clear, Commander.“

“Happy hunting. But keep this channel open and secure, in case we need to alter our tactics.” Said Ford.

“Roger that!”

“Commander! Rentak Nor is hailing us!”

The klaxon was constantly blaring in the background, the lights had dimmed due to power requirements. They have had to divert majority of power from non-essential systems into defense systems, which included the complete shut down of their mining facilities. Granted, those would be shut down during any combat situation but the entire section was drained. No lights. No power to the doors. Nothing. They had to evacuate sections just to keep personnel from being trapped. All of this was done to try and maintain their shields, as they were bombarded heavily on the first assault.

“We lost over thirty percent of our orbital weapons platforms!” Reported one of his staff.

“What about the enemy?!” Kamek yelled as his fingers punched commands on the center station, where he changed the display to show a holograhic view of the station, dots of their squadrons and the dots of their enemy.

“Vaadwaur ships have lost about thirty percent of their fleet, most of them were fighters,” reported another.

Terek gripped the sides of the center station as the deck below him shook. The battleship must be firing their large polaron weapon again. Terek has seen the spinal mounts that some Starfleet vessels have, in fact he had the chance to see one of those Dreadnought-class ships and here he thought Starfleet would never build such a warship. But then, he had to remind himself about the Defiant. That little ship itself was a warship. This Vaadwaur battleship had something similar it seemed, but it didn’t fire a beam, it was more of a charge or a bolt. Either way, there were minutes in between charges but it was powerful.

“Shields?” Terek requested.

“Shields are down to seventy-five percent. That battleship keeps draining over five percent of our shields with that weapon. I’ve reinforced our shields the best that I can, there is nothing else to get power from,” reported his engineer.

Terek did not want to resort to drastic measures but he may not have a choice. “Prepare to transport all non-essentials to the surface. And then start shutting down life support throughout the station, except for critical areas.”

“Gul Terek,” Kamek spoke in shock. “We cannot be that desperate already!”

Terek looked at his friend. “I am not sure how much longer this station is going to hold. They are desperately trying to knock out our shields, while also taking out our weapons platforms. We can’t even get them to target the battleship, it’s sitting right outside their range.” Terek sighed heavily. “If they want this station, then we will just have to do what we do best. Leave it in pieces.”

“Terek, I cannot let you give up so easily. The Obsidian Ord-” Kamek was interrupted by one of Terek’s staff.

“Sir!” Shouted the officer. “Two new ships just appeared on sensors. They’re Starfleet!” It was strange to hear excitement coming from one of his officers, especially over ‘Starfleet’ ships. But only two?

“Hail them,” Terek ordered as he straightened himself and looked up at the screen above. Soon, the screen changed to show a split down the middle of two Starfleet officers. A human male and a human female. The bridge layouts behind them were obviously different from each other.

“This Commander Ford of the USS Echelon.”

“I am Commander Reade of the USS Decker.“

“I am Gul Terek, Commanding Officer of the Rentak Nor. We are surprised that Starfleet has answered our call for help, considering what is going on in this lower half of the galaxy,” said Terek.

“Only two ships?” Kamek asked, who then got a glare from Terek.

“Yeah, about that. If you being under an attack by these unknown forces-” Ford was then interrupted.

“Vaadwaur,” said Kamek.

They both saw the looks on Ford and Reade’s face when they heard the name ‘Vaadwaur’. “If the Vaadwaur are attacking anything that are surrounded by this phenomenon, then you’re lucky to have two ships at all coming to your aide, Gul.”

Terek took a deep breath and then exhaled heavily with a slow nod of his head. “You are certainly correct, Commander. I can only pray that, if this is happening all over the lower half of the galaxy, that we prevail.”

“We will certainly do what we can, Gul. I asked Commander Reade to weed out the fighters. I will join your squadrons to hit the main force.”

“The battleship,” Kamek spoke up. “We need it taken out right away. It has this weapon, it can fire at long range, outside the range of our weapons platforms and it is trying to take our shields down.”

“Yeah. My former commanding officer was all about reading on the Voyager’s adventures in the Delta Quadrant. I never knew why but I think I know now. The Vaadwaur are likely trying to expand their operations. Essentially, from what I can think of, is that every region that is surrounded by this phenomenon, is their beachhead. If they can establish a foothold into the Alpha or Beta Quadrants, then they have a secured point to continue their assault. Chin’toka must be one of their primary footholds that they wish to secure. Your station, the scrap yard, it’s the perfect place. They’ll have a key supply hub and an orbital station to protect it all.” Ford hypothesized.

Terek took another deep breath and clenched his fists tightly. “I would rather destroy my station than let it be used to fuel an enemy’s war efforts against our people.”

“Well I hope it does not come to that. Mind if I ask, what was the size of their force when they began their assault?”

Kamek pulled up the sensor data when it all began. “It was over a hundred ships. One battleship, thirty five medium vessels, and eighty fighters.”

“Well, I do have to hand it to you, Cardassians. You sure know how to build those orbital weapons platforms. I assume they did most of the work?”

“They did. But we lost thirty percent of our orbitals,” said Terek. “And from the looks of it, one of our Galor ships is crippled, and two of our Hideki’s have been abandoned due to the damage they’ve sustained.”

Ford sighed. “It’s not good odds, but we’re going to do our best.”

Terek was hesitant to say what he wanted to say. While his duty was to the Cardassian Union, and its assets, especially when the Obsidian Order has one of their operatives assigned here, on his station. Kamek. There was so much that belonged to the Cardassian people, so much that would help his people recover and strive. And yet, he was willing to sacrifice it all, to make sure that the enemy does not get what they want.

Terek fixed his posture, stood tall and proud of his own service to his people. “Commander. You should get your ships out of here.” Terek felt the eyes of his staff, including his best friend Kamek, all on him now. “I would be lying if I said we can win this. There is just no sense in you two sacrificing yourselves for us.”

They saw a smirk on Ford’s face and a grin on Reade’s. “And that is where we are different, Gul. We don’t give up easily and we are most definitely not going to let these bastards beat you down, not without a fight.” Said Ford.

“We are Starfleet! And we do not tolerate bullies!” Said Reade.

Terek smiled. He was there, a junior officer on board one of the Galors back then, in the Dominion War. He witnessed it all. How Starfleet just continued to fight, regardless of how much they had lost. And he can be certain that the other major powers are the same, especially the Klingons. “Then I guess we better start hitting them back even harder, Commander.”

“That’s the spirit! Have your squadrons form up on me, Gul. The Decker will assist your orbitals in laying waste to the fighters. I also recommend you set as many of your beam weapons to point defense. Perhaps you can stop that battleship from making anymore contact with your shields.”

Terek tilted his head. “Interesting theory, Commander. If we do that, they will certainly focus all their forces on this station and leave the orbitals alone.”

“Either way, Gul. We got to stop that battleship from knocking out your shields.”

Terek nodded his head. “Consider it done, Commander. Good hunting.” Both human faces disappeared from the screen and then Terek looked down to see Kamek’s eyes focused hard on him.

“Were you really going to sacrifice everything?” Kamek asked.

“This is not the place to discuss that, Kamek,” said Terek as he looked at his staff. “Proceed with Starfleet’s plan. We need to defend this station at all costs.” Then Terek felt a hand on his arm, so he looked to see Kamek much closer to him.

“Why?” Kamek asked.

Terek shook his head. “Even with two Starfleet ships, it is only two, Kamek. What chance do we have in winning this fight? You know it to be true, Kamek, I cannot be the only one piecing it together.”

Kamek sighed heavily. “The Obsidian Order will not be pleased if we lose this system.”

Terek smiled. “Neither will Central Command. But I was clear in what I said. I will destroy this station, before these Vaadwaur get their hands on it. If they want this system, they can have it, but they will not have my station.”

“Sir! The Starfleet ships have already eliminated fifteen enemy fighters!” Reported one of his staff. But then an alarm went off, one that did not bode well. “Our orbital weapons platforms are offline!”

“What?!” Kamek shouted.

“Report!” Terek demanded.

“Last transmission from the central power generator says…” There was a brief pause and then the officer looked at Terek. “It was boarded, sir.”

“Blast it! How could this happen?” Kamek asked.

Terek cursed under his breath. “We were so focused on maintaining our shields, we forgot to check in on the central power generator.” Terek punched a command on the central station and brought up the asteroid. “Their shields are down and sensors are reading twenty life signs, none of them are Cardassian.”

Kamek’s eyes widened in fear as he looked at Terek. “They can’t reprogram our platforms, can they?”

Terek yelled, “Get me that Starfleet ship, now!“