Part 2
Stardate 56383.8, the Klingon Council Chambers.
Chancellor Karath sat upon his throne in the Klingon council chambers. He was pondering the years success in the war with the Federation. The borders between the Klingon Empire and the Federation had been pushed back by 7 light years. But there was a problem, Captain Nicholas Mason, former friend and prisoner of the Dominion was leading successful defensive missions, stopping the Klingon Fleet. The USS Legacy was personally responsible for the death of his brother and so began his quest for revenge. The large doors slammed open and 5 guards carrying spears, bat’leths and sharpened ceremonial swords escorted the most recent prisoners in. There was a brief commotion as the prisoners struggled against their guards, but they were easily subdued and forced to their knees. Karath stood up, towering above the kneeling prisoners. “Where is Captain Mason” he demanded. The Commodore who had been commanding the attack fleet that these prisoners came from looked at Karath and spat, “Go to hell”. The Klingon laughed, “NuS vA qu DoQ” he said to a warrior. “Channel Open, My Lord”. The Chancellor had opened a wide-band channel to the Federation. “Greetings to the worthless Federation, before you are a group of 5 men taken from our latest glorious victory. They will not give me what I want, so I must make an example of them and demand what I want. I want Captain Mason. And now to show you what an example is” said the Chancellor. He walked to a warrior who was carrying the dual-wield ceremonial swords and he grabbed 1. He then walked over to the kneeling line of officers and grabbed the first he came across. Lifting him to his feet, he took the ceremonial sword and slashed his throat from ear to ear. He methodically went across all of the officers, slashing their throats identically to the first. “The same fate will meet all who try to conceal Captain Mason’s location from me”
At that moment, Captain Nicholas ‘Nick’ Mason was back where he had started the war, in a briefing with Admiral Alynna Nechayev and Admiral Kathryn Janeway. He wasn’t an active part of the briefing but given his importance to Starfleet, Kathryn Janeway felt that there was no way to keep him out of the loop. His ship was holding position about 5 hours away at warp 5 under the command of his beautiful wife, Commander Aleya Mason. He knew that he was about to be given another dangerous assignment and that his ship and crew were going to be plunged into heavy fighting so it was no surprise when Admiral Janeway announced that his ship was headed to a Klingon shipyard over the New Frontier colony. It was supposedly unguarded with maybe a few birds of prey lurking around. They were interrupted by a frantic Commander. “Admiral, you should see this, transmission from the Klingon High Council” he fretted. They turned and watched Chancellor Karath slitting the throats of the 5 captives and demanding Captain Mason. The transmission ended and Admiral Janeway turned back to the table, furious, “Captain Mason, the Ajax will rendezvous with your ship, they are leaving orbit in 1 hour, they will accompany on your mission to destroy everything you possibly can that is Klingon in origin in the Beta Ceti system” she said. The Captain nodded, “Admiral, there is something else. Recently the Klingons have changed their close quarters combat tactics, the last time they boarded the Legacy we took a lot of casualties from the Bat’leths and other bladed weapons. I was thinking that we should add swords of our own to the weapons cache, and then our officers will have a better chance of being able to fight a Klingon boarding party” said the Captain. Janeway looked at him, “Nearly all Starfleet personnel own a folding blade, now would be a useful time to bring them into play, Captain, pass on an order to the Captain of the Ajax that anyone who owns a folding sword should use it as an active weapon” she said. This suited the Captain as he had been a champion fencer in his academy days.
2 hours later…
Captain Mason stood with his sword at the ready. Surrounding him were Klingons with a range of weapons. He raised his sword in a defensive stance and the Klingons attacked. In a swift and violent combat situation, the Captain dispatched his holographic foes with only a few instances where he would have been injured. He was about to reset the program when a shot slammed the ship. There was a burst of sparks from the holo-emitters which signalled an imminent overload. He ran to the doors which crunched open as the whining of the overload reached a crescendo. officers were running in the darkened corridors the darkened corridors as the Captain ran around the corner. The explosion from the holo-grid was enormous. The corridor rocked and the Captain fell to the floor, losing his sword. Staggering back to his feet he picked up the sword and walked back around the corner. The deck was a raging inferno.
On the bridge Captain Jeremy Palmer was regaining his feet, he looked around the shattered bridge, a Lieutenant also stood up, “Damage report” coughed the Captain. The Lieutenant checked the screen, “Long range sensors are offline, warp engines have taken damage there is a hull breach on deck 4 and the holo-grid overloaded and exploded, there is an inferno on deck 8, fire suppression system is offline” said the Lieutenant. The Captain climbed back into the chair, “Raise shields, charge phasers and load photon torpedoes” said the Captain. “Klingon attack cruiser off the port bow” shouted the Lieutenant. The Captain looked at helm, the station was covered with panels, they scattered as a battered and bruised Ensign cleared her way. Her hair was a mess and her face had become a half mask of blood. Despite her generally dishevelled appearance, 18-year-old Ensign Holly Sparks had quickly risen to become recognised among the best of the helm officers. She quickly moved the ship, expertly working her fingers across the helm controls moving the ship into a position to attack the cruiser. The screen fizzled as the crew watched torpedoes launched. Seconds later the ship pitched heavily under the force of the blow. The Klingon ship continued to advance, weapons lighting up the USS Ajax. “Captain, shields are buckling, intruder alert on deck 8”
Down on deck 8, Captain Mason was still shocked at the damage, the bulkhead had ruptured and the deck was littered with the rubble that had been the wall between the holodeck and the corridor. The fires were raging, a figure appeared on the other side of the flames. The Captain took an uncertain step back looking down the other way he noticed more figures. Klingons had boarded the ship using a shield failure in that section. The numbers were far too many for the Captain who instantly hit his communicator and was beamed to the bridge. When he rematerialized on the bridge, he instantly secured the room, “Captain Palmer, where is the Legacy” he demanded as another shot slammed the ship, “Captain, shields have failed, weapons are offline, main power down to 23%” shouted Lieutenant Mick Carter. Palmer turned to Captain Mason, “The Legacy will be here in 3 minutes. I’m going to destroy my ship” said Captain Palmer. The doors hissed open and a Klingon officer the Captain had met 3 months ago stood there wielding a single Yan. “Captain Mason, this time I will have my victory” he snarled. The Captain raised his sword defensively, “Prepare your ship, Captain, this is my fight” he muttered to Captain Palmer. The Klingon stepped forward, “I will gain much honour for my father” said the warrior. The Captain chuckled, “Karath will never have honour for dragging the Empire into a war with allies” he said. This had the desired effect, the warrior swung his sword in a frenzied, but controlled way. Captain Mason backstepped, having the element of agility on his side and easily blocked the Klingon, but was finding it hard to get a strike of his own in. Eventually the Klingon began to get the upper hand, finishing the fight quickly by stabbing Mason in the side.
Captain Palmer heard the noise from the fight stop and looked to the back of the bridge. He saw the Klingon had stabbed the Captain in the side and pushed the blade right to the hilt. He pulled out the sword and Captain Mason collapsed to the floor. He looked around for the Lieutenant, but remembered that he had ordered Sparks and him to the observation lounge to draw power from their and put it to the warp engines to increase the effect of the explosion. The Klingon advanced, slowly on him. Palmer was unarmed so he backed up slowly, assessing the situation. The Klingon lowered his sword and punched the Captain, knocking him to the floor. He grinned his grin.
Pain revived Captain Mason. He heard the Klingon speaking to Captain Palmer and picked up his sword before staggering quietly to his feet. As he stumbled over to the Klingon all he heard was the warrior ranting on about the glory of the empire. Using his last reserves of strength he grabbed the blade with both hands and thrust it into the warriors back.
Captain Palmer saw the blade poking through the warriors chest and then retract. The warrior fell to the side and Mason stood there grimacing in pain. “Get to the point” he spat at the warrior. He grinned weakly at his own joke, then felt the sensation of spinning through a void as his world went black.
The Legacy bridge crew were frantic as the ship dropped out of warp, “Commander, the Ajax is dead in the water, there is no communications from her, there is a Klingon ship holding an attack position on the Ajax, their weapons are primed and their shields are at full strength” reported Lieutenant Commander Solkar. The ops officer, Lieutenant William Simmons spoke up, “Commander, I think we got a link on 4 Starfleet officers on the bridge, doing a communicator frequency scan. Got it, Ma’am, Captain Mason, Captain Jeremy Palmer, Lieutenant Mike Carter and Ensign Holly Sparks” said the Lieutenant. Commander Aleya Mason looked at the situation, “Open a channel to Captain Mason” she said. The Lieutenant tapped the console, “Channel open, Commander” reported the officer, “Legacy to Captain Mason, come in” said Commander Mason, hiding her excitement under a blanket of professionalism. There was no response for a minute. “Palmer to Legacy, Medical emergency” came the voice of Captain Palmer. “Lock onto that signal and beam any Starfleet personnel directly to sickbay” ordered the Commander, a knot of fear forming in her stomach. She quickly ran off the bridge into the turbo lift.
In sickbay, the dishevelled survivors of the USS Ajax were being fussed over by the medical staff. The Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Adam Lockwood was tending to Captain Mason, who was bleeding from his stab wound. Commander Mason ran in. She looked at her husband and sank to her knees, “Oh my God, how did this happen” she moaned. “He fought to save us” said Captain Palmer, motioning Sparks and the surviving Lieutenant. “Captain Mason locked swords with Karath’s son and beat him, in doing so he saved me, Ensign Holly Sparks and Lieutenant Adam Monroe” said Palmer motioning his surviving crew. They were interrupted by Lieutenant Commander Solkar’s voice. “Bridge to Commander Mason, 2 Klingon ships de-cloaking in an attack formation” he said, a hint of logical deliberation in his voice, “Red Alert, I’m on my way” she said making for the door. Movement behind her caused her to pause, “With your permission, we would like to come to the bridge, as… advisors” said Palmer. She nodded her ascent, “Doctor, let me know the minute anything happens to him” she said, motioning the still unconscious Captain.
As they reached the turbolift, the first shots hit the ship. “The Klingons are very angry” murmured Captain Palmer as shots repeatedly hit the ship. Sparks danced across a panel on the wall of the lift, “I don’t like the look of that” said Monroe as the turbolift stopped. They stepped out onto the bridge. Solkar rose from the chair, weathering the attack with graceful ease, “Commander, the Klingons are wearing the shields away” he said in the common stoic voice adopted by Vulcans. “All power to the shields, fire all weapons at the lead ship” shouted Mason as Solkar returned to tactical. An explosion of sparks threw a crewman to the floor, “Shields are buckling, Commander, 74% and dropping” reported the officer, “Fire torpedoes” she said. The Klingon ships angled around, they were targeting the main power regulators for the ship. They opened fire, pulses of green and red shooting forward as torpedoes and disrupters pummelled the target area.
The force of the attack instantly destroyed the main power regulators, shutting down everything. The power feedback damaged the emergency power regulators, meaning that when they kicked in, they only restored partial lighting and powered the life support system. The ship slowed to a halt, the engines, navigational thrusters were instantly cut off, with no power going to them. The crew were tossed around as the inertial dampeners failed and the shots slammed the ship that little bit harder.
In sickbay, the medics picked themselves up. The door hissed open and the Lockwood instantly snapped into fighting mode, grabbing a phaser from the emergency locker and firing on the Klingons as they entered. Despite the best efforts, the Klingons soon began to overwhelm the room. Swords were soon drawn as the Klingons spoiled for the glory of hand to hand combat. The Captain, who was still unconscious from his earlier fight and whose wound was still not fully healed lay there, still clutching his folding sword. The dwindling amount of Starfleet personnel picked up weapons from the fallen Klingons and did their best to fend off the attacks of the warriors. As a Klingon warrior swung a sword at the Captain, he snapped awake and flicked open the sword, rolling out of the way. He began duelling, with his side burning in agony. He didn’t think that he would be able to hold out long.
The bridge of the Legacy had taken a real beating. Commander Mason brushed away the debris that had buried her, looking around the bridge at the fires and the sparks, she noticed 2 crewmen dragging Lieutenant Commander Solkar out from under some heavy debris, she could see that he looked to be in a bad way, and the same image seemed to be repeated. Lieutenant Simmons coughed as he checked his damaged console, “Commander, I think the turbolifts are moving” he said, “Is it Starfleet in them” asked the Commander. The young Lieutenant looked at the scared, injured crew and looked at the Commander, shaking his head trying to spare them the fear. They both drew their phasers, a manoeuvre closely followed by those who saw it happen.
In main engineering, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Johnny ‘Beast’ Reed was trying to override his own security measures. With the loss of power, Main Engineering had been put on full security lockdown, trapping the engineering teams in the engine room. “Chief, the capacitors are burned out on the starboard side, no joy over there, it looks like a massive power feedback has dumped into here, I can’t find a capacitor that isn’t blown. The Commander looked around, he didn’t know what to do.
The Klingon ships slowly moved into a position 10o off the port and starboard bow, waiting while their warriors fought to take control of the USS Legacy. They were floating like powerful harbingers as the crippled Legacy drifted in space, outside awareness was forgotten, so neither the crew of the Legacy or the crews of the Klingon ships were aware of the massing of Starfleet as they made a last ditch attempt to force back the Klingon frontline. Unbeknownst to the Klingons and Starfleet, the war was about to take a new direction.
SNEAK PREVIEW- PART 2-3 INTERMISSION- ‘BATTLE OFLEGACY‘
The Starship Legacy, Only recently among the most impressive and formidable starships in Starfleet now was a floating hulk. Within the very heart of this mighty vessel her crew fought for their lives as growing numbers of Klingon aggressors ruthlessly lay siege to them. Ship’s Captain, Captain Nicholas Mason, desperately duelled multiple Klingon warriors in swordplay in sickbay, still recovering from his injuries onboard the recently destroyed USS Ajax. The Executive officer and Operations officer, Commander Aleya Mason and Lieutenant William Simmons desperately fought Klingons, fear and low morale while trying to get the ship operational and in Main Engineering, Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Commander Johnny ‘Beast’ Reed was fighting against his own programming and the severe damage to the ship to try and assist his fellow crewmen. None of the battles were going well, with entire groups of Legacy crewmen being separated and pinned down in various sections of the Sovereign-Class Refit .