The Conflict at Newden 3

[Galaktia]

Lieutenant Junior Grade Korvi’at Meerik had come aboard the USS Nallia three months prior to the events that lead to his decoration with a medal of gallantry. Since his arrival he had regularly requested permission to carry his Shi’imara while on duty due to the risks of Cardassian attacks and boarding’s while on the war front.
Korvi’at had recently convinced the security chief, Andrew Midden to allow him to wear his Shi’imara on his hip while on duty, and he stood proud in front of weapons locker 14A, near the main shuttle bay, where he stood his duty as weapons guard while on the war front. As this was a Sec/Tac Weapons locker it fell under Lieutenant Commander Middens command and as such he made sure that each locker was guarded by one of his men rather than one of the very limited Marines detachment the USS Nallia carried.
Korvi’at was quite a bit young back then and his face was smoother, his left cheekbone held no dent and although his experience after the Khitomer had left him somewhat disgruntled he was still a determined Starfleet officer and did his duties with unwavering strength. Even then he felt a strange need to look after those of lower rank, perhaps it came from serving on the front line, and seeing quite a few fall to injuries, or perhaps he was just that sort of person.
It was late in the evening and Korvi’at Meerik was just beginning his shift on guard duty outside weapons locker 14A when he felt the tell-tale jerk as the USS Nallia jumped to full warp and the dampeners took a millisecond to compensate for the sharp rise of speed. He let out a slow breath as the anticipation already began to build inside, he knew that such a quick jump to high warp would mean a fight on the horizon, it was an odd feeling to know such a thing, but it had become a common feeling among those who served on Federation vessels on the Cardassian boarder during the conflicts.
Having served on the Cardassian war front for several months now Meerik was not shocked or stunned by the order for all officers to take duty positions, he heard the name of the planet they were approaching barked through the com on the tail of the order for officers to be at posts. The planet they were approaching was ‘Newden 3” a small M class planet on the Cardassian federation border, bearing a small human colony.
As a Junior Grade officer Meerik was not privy to the flows of command or the orders that moved the Nallia, he merely stood guard on the locker and waited the yells and sudden jerks of combat. Had he been aware he would have known that the Cardassians had attacked Newden 3, and four Cardassian war vessels were in the system around Newden 3, he would also have known that the USS Nallia and two other federation Vessels were making haste to the colony.

[Galaktia]

The Uss Nallia streaked across the empty space between the patrol route and the rendezvous a short distance outside the Newden system. The small but heavily armed patrol vessel or the Miranda Class was partially famous among other frontline vessels for fighting twice its size and three times its weight, Captain Nicolas Corlin was well respected for his ability to pull his ship out of the fire after riding it there in the first place.

The Nallia was a little old but she had been retro and refitted enough times that she held her own on the front line, and although some systems were worn and the hull was scarred with the marks of battles long since past, the crew, Meerik included loved the small saucer shaped old vessel with its roll bar and mounted weapons pods, as well as the converted third deck marines quarters.

The ship rolled to a stop at the rendezvous, the two other ships, which had been nearer the action sat waiting in space, all three didn’t bother to wait a quick message arched across the emptiness of space and all three kicked themselves back to warm with that familiar tug on the crew members of each. The stars hissed by as the Uss Nallia issued orders for security to arm.

Meerik stood his ground as a group of Sec/Tac officers arrived, from the quick witted Bolian that often jokingly followed Meerik around and mimicked his walk, to the tall strong human that muttered insults behind Meeriks back, however not one was willing to face Meerik in training so each one lined up quietly and waited as Meerik called up the security release, waiting for second confirmation from the bridge.

The lights on the release panel went green and with a quick movement of his had Meerik unlocked the weapons locker, pulling out phase pistol and phase rifles, straps and belts on each to hold them in place he began to hand them out. By instinct he passed preferred weapons to certain individuals, the Bolian preferring a Phaser, the large Human preferring a rifle. Meerik himself kept back a rifle which he hung from his shoulder, the Weapons Locker 14A stood empty so he followed the security chiefs standing order and joined the Bolian called Allimiar on the standard Security holding pattern round the shuttle bays.

 In the black tableau of space the planet Newden 3, green and blue much like earth turned from a streak of color into a planet as the Uss Nallia suddenly feel from warp, it took the right flank as the red lights flashed through the decks and people swallowed nervously. The hum of shields raising could be heard in the engineering section.

Captain Corlin had open communication between the three ships of the Federation fleet and all three bridge crews heard him swear as he saw the lead ship on the Cardassian battle group was a Galor class, heavily armed and heavily shielded. He barked out orders and the Federation group broke rapidly and the emptiness of space gave off none of the expected hum or hiss as the three federation vessels opened fire. The two pulse phasers and four of the seven standard phasers of the Nallia ripped out, bright flashes of energy across the emptiness of space.

It was lucky… perhaps…

[Galaktia]

Indeed that was the thought that passed through many minds as the impacts of the federation weaponry crashed through the hull of the Galor. Lucky perhaps that the Galor had not had time to raise its shields from the time the federation ships dropped from warp to the moment they opened fire. The Galor class Cardassian vessel began to list as the fires flashed across the surface, fueled by escaping air and disappearing a second later as fields cut off their supply of life sustaining oxygen.

The battle was joined and the flash of weapons crashed back and forth across the empty void of space that surrounded the planet Newden 3. The federation vessel were rocked violently and Meerik stumbled, forced to brace himself on the wall as the Uss Nallia rocked and the dampeners shut down for a moment.

Meerik was ready for what happened next the ship com opened and the captains voice roared out, “Battle order 3”, you see the truth was the Uss Nallia was not as powerful a ship, or perhaps not as strong a ship as the reputation suggested, the truth was the captain of the Nallia had a few methods of getting a few extra megawatts, which often meant the difference between victory and defeat.

As the crew braced themselves for Battle Order Three, throughout the vessel the security crew turned on the wrist mounted torches they carried in excess of their standard on ship equipment, a few moments after the order was given the corridors only currently being patrolled were plunged into darkness, the power of the lights channeled to combat systems, the same occurred everywhere on the ship as doors lost power, lights were shut down, people became sealed in their own sections, and security patrols continued in darkness.

Many when they first arrived on the Nallia found this frightening, or disconcerting, to be locked in engineering, or science, or the weapon bays during a fight, but in truth they never would leave those sections, and any explosions or fire that hit that sector would strike too fast for them to flee, the few extra megawatts freed by turning off everything on the ship that could be turned off was often what kept the shields active for that one extra enemy shot, what allowed the phasers to charge that microsecond faster, the true benefit was likely not even noticeable on the charts and graphs on the weapons display, but it was enough to give the Nallia a reputation in the sector she patrolled.

Meeriks wrist torch flicked across the corridor and he pulled the Bolian up onto his feet with a quick tug, “Lt, are you alright sir?” he barked in his crisp voice.
The Bolian groaned and nodded, “Fine, just lost my footing Lt.” both continued their patrol in silence as the battle raged outside the ship, after all, who knew when the shields would go down and the Cardassians would gain entry to the Nallia.

Outside the ship the Federation vessels broke in random directions and the flash of Cardassian weapons, white and deadly flashed across federation shields. The three federation vessels gave back much of what they took as their own shields flashed white and flared with Cardassian weapons, the four Cardassian vessels shields flared with yellow and oranges as phasers and torpedos rocked the vessels.

The largest threat the Galor began to list, and for a split second everything, from life support to lights even on the bridge, everything was channeled into the weapons of the Uss Nallia, those working in engineering and other vital sections used the lights of their touch panel consoles to see what they were commanding, or if they were too far from any console they stopped still, this was to be expected at times as Captain Corlin pushed the ship to be better and more powerful on the fore-line of the war.

The Uss Nallia rolled in space as all seven phasers, both pulse phasers and both forward facing torpedo tubes opened fire at once, focusing on one section of the badly listing Galor class vessel, the shields of the already damaged vessel buckled and an explosion ripped along its length, turning the elegantly crafted warship into space debri and dust in the blink of an eye.

[Galaktia]

The fight between the ships danced across the space above Newden 3, as each group opened fire and took fire in the ever flow of battle.

The Federation lost 267 valued starfleeters and 350 valued marines in the space above newden 3, no detailed description of their death would value this account, and each man and woman of the two ships the federation lost deserves a story of their own, to tell of their own actions.

The Cardassians lost all four vessels.

The battle left a sour taste in the mouth of Captain Corlin, his breath was ragged and his eyes glared out at the newest field of debri and bodies scattered across space above Newden 3. And moment of reflection or thought however was cut short as the comm sparked with a rough static cracked message. Too rough to understand…

The captain order that message be cleaned up and the comm officer fought with the dirty message to clean it up, till it burst through the comms broken and full of static. “Th--- this …. Newden 3 colony… any ship…. Dassian…. der Attack…”

“CLEANER!” roared the captain and a few moments later the message repeated much cleaner.

“The open channels! This is Newden 3 colony to any friendly ship in range. The Cardassians have landed on Newden 3, our colony is under Attack!! We need support! We aren’t warriors down here!!”

The captain was hard pressed with his choices, his compliment of marines, just under fifty was very light for a Cardassian warfront vessel, he had no way of knowing how many Cardassians had been beamed down before he arrived, though it did explain the Cardassians shields from the beginning of the battle.

The highest ranking officer of the Marine core nodded to the captain then, his men were ready to go down.


What followed was a mad scramble, not only by the Marines, but on the captains orders by every member of Sec/Tac that could be spared from guarding vital areas on the ship armed themselves for ground combat and moved to the transporter bays, the Marines went down first…

At least at first they did, but it was within the first few groups that the teleportation scatter field sprung up on the planet, blocking any attempt to teleport in, around or within a hundred miles of the colony.

The remaining Marines and Sec/Tac including officer Korvi’at Meerik, holding his phase rifle with his Shi’imara on his hip made their way to the shuttlebays, the Uss Nallia was equipt with two vessels, a cut down Runabout that was so crushed into the shuttlebay that it was a squeeze to slide past it, and in the other shuttle bay a small quick personal carrier capable of taking just over 12 people.

Divided up between the two vehicles Meerik was pressed in with a majority of the Sec/Tac in the smaller vessel. As they began a bumpy and … as it would prove… nerve wracking flight down onto the planet of Newden 3.

[Galaktia]

The two shuttles crashed through the atmosphere of Newden 3, thick and bubbling around them, the two pilots moved in unison as the ships flew in rapidly on a combat decent. The air dragged at the ships as they kept on course for the one starting colony.

As the two vessels broke through the cloud cover, the pilots got a good look at the planet, a heavy jungle like forest covered the land to the right, straight ahead sitting in a less densely packed area, where the trees created an almost natural wall where they went back to dense jungle. Created from a broken up colony ship, the main building was a huge double hull building, obviously the first “instant building” created from the colony ships double hull.

The other buildings were smaller most created from colony ship materials, a few were prefab from the colony ships structure, others were made from local materials, stone, clay, wood, the colony was not walled in or surrounded, but for now, and from the height the shuttles were at the colony seemed peaceful and quiet.

Peace and quiet would have been a pleasant trip for both shuttle, unfortunately fate had other things in store and suddenly the comm of both shuttles erupted as the bark of the Runabout pilot came through. “Shields up!!” both shuttles activated their weak shielding which was further weakened by the planet’s atmosphere, only JUST in time as two photonic missiles hissed from the forest canopy and crashed into the underside of the two vessels.

What followed for the pilots and the passengers was a nerve wracking decent as heavy placement disrupter fire and photonic atmospheric torpedoes hissed up from the cover of the forest and slammed into the two ships, Meeriks arm was grabbed by a young Sec/Tac Ensign who gave a yelp, this was his first time flying into combat in a shuttle.

Meerik pulled a ration pack from under the shuttles seat and tore out the tough jerky-like protein, shoving it into the scared ensigns hands. “Eat something.” He grunted as he touched his Shi’imara and the phaser rifle across his shoulder. Meerik knew there was no point being afraid, either the pilot was good enough or they all died, there was nothing any of them could do about it.

The weapons fire crashed through both shields before they reached low enough to the ground and the weapons ripped and bit into the hulls of the vessels, the runabout faired best, putting down beside the colony with a slight bump, the attacks blocked by the dense jungle trunks, the marines broke from the hold like a wave, taking up defensive positions round the hull of the runabout, the waited, a couple of glints in the forest exciting a burst of fire from nearly every rifle present.

The other shuttle containing the Sec/Tac officers faired less luckily, with damaged thrusters the landing was less a landing than a crash, and as it slammed into the ground it rolled and skidded, crushing one of the small wooden storage buildings near the edge of the colony. It came to rest the right way up and as the doors opened the Sec/Tac group more fell out than climbed out.

Lt Cmdr. Middens was on his feet in a second, ordering his men up and calling for injury reports, as he organized those who were up and ready into a perimeter on his own shuttle. The moment he had organized his men he tapped his com badge, there came a thick crackle.

The marines commanding officer appeared at Middens shoulder, “Sorry Sir, the comms being blocked, looks like they set up an inhibitor field, same with the transporters,”

Midden grunted unhappily, “Well shuttle ferry the people back up to the Nallia then, as soon as we pepper that forest with shuttle phaser fire.”

The Marine grunted, “Not from the Runabout sir, the crash took out our take off thrusters, our grav plate, shield generator, and structural fields.”

Midden cursed in a way that made most of the Sec/Tac officers squirm with discomfort, having never heard him utter a bad word even in combat.

[Galaktia]

As Midden raised his hand and motioned firmly the Sec/Tac formed up into a movement column, something learnt during their combined training with the Marines, who were doing the same a short distance away, keeping low the two groups moved alternately, one dropping down to a hold pattern as the other moved, slowly they worked their way across the open space between the shuttles crash zone and the first of the structures that made up the colony.

Narrow alleyways and broad streets mixed between the instance colony, partly made of phaser cut stone, partly made of tramped earth.

Ahead of the group from one of the main pre-fab colony ship buildings appeared a small group, they wore simple clothing in browns and greens, not Starfleet uniforms, and each one held a different weapon, one a Starfleet issue phaser, another a Klingon disrupter, the third an unidentifiable phased pistol of some sort, obviously old issue acquired from scavengers or surplus colony supplying groups.

“You from the Fleet?” Hailed a strong shouldered young man holding the Starfleet phaser, “I’m Accriad,” He ran his hand through his short hair, “Half Betazed, ex fleeter myself, thanks for coming”

Suddenly there was a shout from within the building and a short distance away the massive building that was the major part of a colony ship which housed the warp-core that now powered the colony as a matter anti-matter reactor hummed for a moment and a lance of phaser fire, only just shy of an old issue ship-ship phaser hissed from the top of the building burning into the forest.

“Holy ****” yelled one of the Marines, “That’s how you’ve kepted them back!”

The man holding the Klingon disrupter chuckled, “Yea we never de-activated the only colony ships defensive armaments, for some reason we thought we might need them one day… that and they made cutting out the clearing for the colony a lot easier.” He gave another deep base chuckle and smiled warmly, obviously not hugely off put by the Cardassian invasion.

The man holding the unidentified weapon was obviously less confident and he gave a yell and dove back into the structure he had emerged from when an answering barrage of bright white flashes hissed from the forest and smashed into the buildings around the outer edge of the compound.

“We’re ready to e-vac, we have the children in the main building and everyone with a weapon is willing to help provide cover while they get to the shuttles.” Growled the man with the Phaser.

Midden grunted and looked over at the shuttles, “Bit of a problem with that, the shuttles aren’t flight worthy, we’d beam you out but the Spoon heads have dispersal fields up over the place. Any chance you have a clue.”

Accriad nodded and grinned, “Benzidra one of the young ladies in the colony saw where they landed a shuttle, that’s probably where they set up the dispersal generator. It’s about 30 minute hike through Cardy infested forests, that way” he pointed towards and a little to the right of the shuttles.

Accriad flinched as another barrage of white flashes struck the outer buildings of the colony, he stepped back and into the doorway. “Get inside you lot, we’ll talk about what we are going to do.”

Midden nodded and pointed to Korvi’at Meerik, and Andy Call the commander of the marines, “You know in here, everyone else, defensive positions, counter fire only, conserve your equipment for now.” With that everyone divided up into different directions and Meerik, Midden and Call stepped into the smaller pre-fab colony building to talk with the three men that seemed to be in charge of the colony.

[Galaktia]

Midden stepped into the small building, a simple house like affair the room they entered had a long table able to seat something along the line of twenty with two benches, one on either side.

Midden nodded to Meerik, “The Door Lt Meerik,”

Meerik nodded and took up a position to the left of the door, bringing his phase rifle up infront of his chest he held the position still as Accriad the ex-fleeter gesture to the benches, and the group sat down to discuss the situation.

Accriad gave a warm smile and gestured to the man holding the klingon weapon, “This is Bull, least that’s what we call him, he’s an rough sod but he can handle himself, he’s the one that arranged the Mallitia and provided most of the weapons.” He pointed to the third much smaller man holding the unknown weapon, “That’s Mike, he’s got a bit of trouble in his past but he is a good lad.”

Both Bull and Mike nodded and Midden inclined his head in return, “I’m Lt Cmdr Midden, this is 1st Lt Call of the Marines.” He gave a passing wave to Meerik “Our guard for the evening is Lt Meerik.” He gave a confident smile and nodded to Accriad. “Alright then, give me the quick version.” Midden barely even twitched his eyes when the building gave a slight shudder.

Accriad nodded “Gallows humour. Let’s see we have just under two hundred in the main building, thirty are armed and reach to fight, fifty are just children and another fifty are probably too old to run like the clappers, though some of our fighting staff are in the older years.”

Accriad tapped his chin with one finger slowly, “The main building has one operational phaser, but we are running low on power as it is, and each time we use it we are risking a black out, but for now at least one have enough feather light shielding around the main building to protect it from the rifles the Spoon heads are using.” He gave a discouraged shrug. “We are looking at a hundred and eighty who will simply go to peices in a fight, and we can’t hold this position for ever, it is too open and we are like fish in a barrel.”

Midden nodded, “Now my side, we have twelve Security officers, fifty Marines total, we might not be many but we are well equipped and most of us have seen front line operations before, all of us are trained for it. We have teleport enhancers and a ship in orbit ready to E-vac, but with a dispersal field active we have no chance. The best bet I can see it is to take out the Dispersal field, and be ready with the teleport enhancers, start sending up the colonists in groups while we maintain defence on the main building.” Midden looked over at Call a questioning look on his face.

Call nodded “I think the same Sir, and my Marines are ready to head out. We have a decent guess of where the shuttle went down, we can move quickly and destroy the dispersal generator, although I’d prefer to have the whole team I can leave a small detachment for defence.”

Midden shook his head, “No you need your men, we have enough to defend here, especially with the main building armed and the obvious reluctance of the Spoon heads to be the first to commit suicide on that big phasers wave front. Call head out, we’ll set things up here.”

Accriad, Bull and Mike sat staring at Midden and Call. Accriad gave a chuckle, “I forgot how fast Fleeters can talk in an emergency.”

Midden smiled a slightly gruff smile, “You should see how fast we can shoot.” He pushed himself to his feet, “We’ll move the Security officers up to the main building after we collect the teleport enhancers.”

Midden and Call left the building along with Meerik, Accirad, Bull and Mike. A quick sharp order from Call and the Marines formed up into a column ready to move out, Call jogged over to them dropping down to issue orders.

Midden called the Security in and issued his own orders, and a quick flurry of white energy splashing along the nearby buildings and hissing through the air close to the groups heads was enough to turn the short orders into rapid action.

The Marines moved out with practised ease, lacing the forest ahead and to the side with small bursts of phaser fire, while the Security offered covering fire to the wider forest area. At the same time the Security moved down to the shuttle and runabout and collected the packs containing the tripod teleport enhancers.

The trading of phaser and disrupter fire from both sides made for a baptism of fire for the Ensign who had grabbed onto Meerik in the shuttle ride down, but the young man had attached himself to the young and imposing form of Meerik and found, as a lot of the young Security officers on the Nallia did, that the cold, almost unfriendly exterior of Meerik was quick comforting when people were shooting at you.

Meerik moved with the Security group down to the shuttle, grabbing up three of the packs himself and slinging them over one shoulder, his Romulan physic allowing him to cope with the weight as he held his phaser rifle in one hand, braced against his shoulder.

The group moved back towards where the others were waiting for them, when a spray of white ripped through the forest to their left and blistered the ground around them, the Ensign glued to Meeriks side grunted as he took a grazing blow to his foot and stumbled. Meerik raised the arm weighed down by the teleport enhancers and returned fire with his other hand, he made a quick hand gesture with his raised arm and a pair from the Security team waiting by the buildings moved out.

The group with the enhancers stayed low and kept cover fire up into the forest until the ensign was up on his feet between the two extra Security officers and the group moved out, Meerik stayed where he was firing into the forest till only himself and the Bolian, Allimiar. “You first Lt,” Grunted Allimiar “You have the enhancers.”

Meerik grunted “The others are giving us cover fire, together” and the two moved back across the short distance of exposed ground to the buildings that were denser and more clustered where the security team were waiting.

Without waiting for any reports Midden who had seen the whole event gestured towards the large main building. “Move out we still have things to do!”

The whole group moved out with a slightly jerky motion as the training with the Marines kicked in to a small degree, and despite a few fire and counter fire moments the whole group arrived at the main building unscathed.

[Galaktia]

Upon arriving at the Main building and entering inside the true cost of a surprise attack could be seen, groups of colonists huddled in fear, and small children clung to women and me who looked little better than frightened children themselves.

Meerik however was glad to note the makeup of the main building, especially its entrance, for there was only one. A massive door opened into a chamber between the two sections of the double hull, a second equally large door opening into the huge central chamber of the main colony building. The single entrance and double door was likely an airlock or shuttlebay door system from the original colony ship and would make for a good secondary defensive line.

For a moment Meerik touched his Shi’imara and the phase rifle slung on his shoulder before an order from Midden sent him and others scurrying about setting up the teleport enhancers, all twelve of them in a circle in the centre of the main building.

Midden looked round at everyone in the cramped building, “For now we can’t evacuate you, but we are working hard to make it possible, myself and these officers will defend you while we try to get teleporters working again. I ask that children and the elderly are moved close to the tripods we have set up, when teleporters are working we’ll place you in the centre of the ring in small groups.

The Security officers moved out of the main building taking with them tables and crates, they set up a small barricade outside the main door and began to dig themselves in for the long wait, for now the cardassians were waiting in the forest.

Meanwhile up in space Captain Corlin was demanding everything from every member of his crew, he needed to get in contact with Midden, normally he would trust Midden and Call to do what was needed, but he had just been informed by subspace communication that another two Galor class ships have broken from normal patrol and were headed in his general direction, he could only assume they were coming for him, his ship, and revenge... Midden needed to hurry.

[Galaktia]

Meerik leant against the metal table, his Phaser rifle resting across his chest as he breathed in the soft cool air amid the other Sec/Tac officers. To Meerik's left was the Bolian, the phaser pistol in his hand was held loosely and relaxed. To Meerik's right crouched down behind a storage barrel was the young ensign in his first real ground mission since being assigned to the front, he was pasty white and clutched at his rifle desperately, Meerik thought he'd be quick to die.

The main colony building periodically buzzed like an angry hornet nest only to lance a brilliant beam of yellow off into the forest, every now and then a desultory counter fire of white light would singe at the semi circle barricade set up in front of the main building. The colony knew all they had to do was hold of the Cardassians until the Marines destroyed the transport inhibitor... no one contemplated what would happen if the Marines failed.

Meerik thumbed across the power setting on his rifle flicking it up to a heavy kill setting, knowing that he would want to make each shot count when it came to it, and it would.

Slowly the minutes ticked by, Middens calm determination was palpable to many as he sat, eyes scanning the edge of the forest, every now and then smiling as the yellow of the colony phaser lanced out. But everyone in the Sec/Tac group knew that it wouldn't hold forever, in fact it would not hold for more than a couple more shots, the last two had come less powerfully, with less of a hum, everyone knew the colony generator was giving up.

There was a hint of movement at the edge of the forest, a small burst of white disruptor energy slammed into the table Meerik sat behind, making the top smoke, but doing little damage. Almost instantly in reply the colony phaser lashed out, but the yellow beam spittered and stuttered like an out of order holodeck, till with only a small crunch of energy it cut off and the edge of the forests was left with only enough singing to know those who had been firing at the Sec/Tac last were likely dead.

Midden called out firmly, "Weapons up, eyes open, keep your shots focused and controlled, we are to keep them back from the doors, no one needs to be a hero..." as he spoke Midden pulled his rifle to his shoulder and sited through the sensor pod on top, he pulled the trigger and the yellow arched off after some target the sensors had picked up in the forest.

Then the Cardassians began to advance, a surprising number burst from forest cover, opening fire and forcing the Sec/Tac to duck down and fire back without any real aim. The Cardassians seemed well led, they were spread out across a wide front and though plenty were picked off by the Sec/Tac group, too many made the cover of the surrounding buildings.

Meerik has stayed in his half crouch the whole time, feeling the burning head as disrupter shots had hissed close passed his head.  His own phased energy shots returned time and again to miss, skim, or sometimes burrow deep into the chest of one of the spoon heads, bringing its charge to a premature end.

Meerik flinched as a white energy flash half blinded him, he heard a yell and the ensign beside him fell to the floor behind his barrel cover, clutching at the burn mark on his chest, blood already trickling from his lips.

Midden barked, "Get him inside, come on don't let them get away with that, Damn Spooners!" Middens rifle lashing out in several short controlled bursts. The Bolian to Meerik's side dropped back and took the ensigns arms, keeping low as he pulled the ensign backwards into the colony building.

Several minutes of trading shots passed then something happened that forced the Sec/Tac into retreat, with a hiss and a vicious buzz an atmospheric photonic torpedo hissed from the cover of a building down the street from the barricade.

Middens scream was head above the sound of the torpedo "Deck It!" in response to the threat or the yell everyone dove for the ground and away from the barricade the torpedo struck the barricade hard, one of the eleven remaining officers was Vaporised instantly, another six suffered debilitating injuries, including Midden.

Midden groaned loadly, a large part of his face burned and blood seeping from wounds, Meerik looked round. The Bolian beside him, though fit and well, looked shocked and unable to act and he was one of the higher ranks. Meerik peeked over the remains of the Barricade and grunted, then barked out, "Everyone inside, now, help the wounded, we need to close the main colony doors!"

After several seconds that felt like hours the Sec/Tac team were within the colonies entrance hall like affair the outer door closed and locked for now. Meerik looked round at the six incapacitated and five still standing though slightly injured Sec/Tac officers, including himself. He nodded round, "Come on let's get this lot inside the building proper then we'll set up another defensive line in here  for when the doors give, and pray the Marines are nearly done."

Having moved the incapacitated people into the main building and left them in the care of the colonists Meerik had brought the five remaining officers including the Bolian out into the shuttle bay like space between the inner and outer door.  He could hear the rattle, crunch and periodic boom as the Cardassians set about destroying the outer door, though from inside no damage could be seen... yet.

[Galaktia]

Meerik and the other officer set about creating a second Barricade, close but not too close to the outer door, moving crates, tables and barrels, the small group crouched down, Meerik with a phaser rifle in either hand, having pilfered a second off one of the injured marines.

Another few minutes passed and Meerik was sure the Marines must be close to finishing their task, he had to hold out. Or the marines were dead and he was going to take as many Spoon Heads as he could with him, either way he braced a rifle against either shoulder, and then realised as his thoughts became less of a clamour that the noise from outside had stopped.

"Everyone down they are coming through!" barked the Bolian beside Meerik, who instinctively flattened himself behind the Barricade... nothing happened...  "Stay down!" ordered the Bolian and Meerik felt the seconds tick by, his face pressed close to the metal plating of the floor.

Then the outer door echoed with a massive crunch and a section little bigger than a normal doorway was blown out of it. Meerik was on his haunches in a second his two rifles lashing out into the smoke and confusion at the newly formed door. And although white flashed back the Sec/Tac officers were reasonably safe behind their barricade and for now cut down any and call who tried to entire the small entry room through the much, much smaller doorway.

But that wasn't to last, soon Cardassians made the small metal floored room, and began to spread out, taking cover and advancing on the barricade. Meerik new that they would run the barricade soon and they would be so close phasers and disrupters would be nearly useless. No if he was to survive movement and something else was needed.

Meerik dropped both his rifles as the Bolian beside him was knocked off his feet by a disruptor blast to the chest. Meerik dragged the Shi'imara from his hip, the hook blades sharpened to a mono-edge by the best laser sharpener he could get his hands on. Light and fast they were designed for speed, and with the muscle of Meerik behind them could do serious damage.

Cardassians were crowding into the small-ish room and this played into Meeriks hands, the more of them there were the less effective rifles would be. Another Sec/Tac officer was punched off his feet, they were about to storm the barricade Meerik could feel it.

When they came, running and screaming the last two Sec/Tac officers aside from Meerik were incapacitated, but Meerik knew what they were going to do, and as they charged around the barricade and opened fire at those hidden behind it Meerik has shot to his feet and vaulted the Barricade, landing the other side amid a crush of Cardassian bodies.

Meerik landed facing one and behind he had realised what was happening Meerik has stepped left and past him, trailing a Shi'imara behind to slash across the throat of the Cardassian killing him on the spot. Meerik lashed out forwards with his other blade, sliding the hand clean off a Cardassian raising a rifle. But rifles were useless against the blur of movement amid the Cardassian bodies, an army trying to fell a single man and lost in its own confusion.

Meerik slammed the semi circular guarding blade into the face of one slicing his flesh, felt a fist brush against his back and spun, dropping low he felt white hot energy burn his cheek as it passed hitting the chest of another Cardassian. Meerik lashed out with leg and blades, tripping two and slicing into the calf of another.

A foot connected with his head and he rolled with it dissipating the force as best he could, coming up and lashing out with both blades, he felt both strike home, but that was little surprise amid the crush of bodies around him. He felt someone sharp across his leg and felt warmth flow down his thigh, he'd been cut. He lashed out instinctively in the direction he had felt the cut from and was rewarded with the feel of his Shi'imara cutting across a throat on the back-curve blade.

Meerik stepped forwards and round, dodging another Cardassian only to slice left and right into the neck of the next, he kicked out behind himself feeling his foot connect with a knee-cap. Then the butt of a phaser rifle hit him on the side of the face, he felt in a moment of true clarity his cheek bone shatter under the impact, then that eye went blind as all the muscles lost purchase without the supporting bone and the eyelid drooped over the eye.

Meerik didn't have time to think about the compacted and dented, and smeared appearance of his face as he felt an energy beam lance across his shoulder, burning his skin and bringing the smell of cooked flesh to his nose. He moved towards the shot sharply, lashing out, his one good eye seeing the Cardassian with the rifle fall, he span on the spot, lashing out at any in range, but buying himself room was foolish, it gave the Cardassians room to use their rifle, so instead as he stopped his spin he dove at another knot of the Cardassians, diving in amongst them he felt something cut a slash across his back, but retaliated with a vicious back swing on his left arm, his right arm lashing stomach height to his right.

Meerik felt a rifle hit the back of his neck, the world began to go dark, but he surged forwards, lashing out, left , right, left, forward, back, swing, slash, kick... his body working off a need to survive. At the edge of his consciousness he felt more impacts hit his body, he heard a shout of consternation, barked orders... and then the warmth, and soft tingle and gentle light of a transporter beam.

[Galaktia]

"Capt. The Galor class vessels will be here in 2 minutes..." Yelled a young man from one of the desks.

Corlin let out an enraged snarl as he slammed his hands onto the desk. "90 seconds Midden you slow..." the stream of curses that left Corlins mouth continued for several seconds until the science officer called out.

"Capt. The transporter inhibitors down... the sensors can pick up life signs... sir they've set up transport enhancers!"

"Corlin to all transporter rooms, get those people up here now, focus on the area between the enhancers... Sensors -- start looking for our people outside the enhancers, pick them up from anywhere you can,"

Corlins hands tapped out an angry rhythm as he waited. "Capt we have the colonists, and Midden, Midden, we've picked up the Marines sir and we are bringing them up now!"

Over the next 20 seconds Marines were brought aboard slowly, then suddenly the door to the bridge hissed open and Midden pushed his way in. "Captain there are still six of my people in the colony, they'll be in amongst the second room of the main colony building..."

Midden looked round at the science station, the officer sitting there went through the motions of a scan, not even midden held much hope... "Sir I have two no Cardy life signs... sending sensor data... transporter room 2s got them sir... " came the stream of words from the shocked face of the science officer.

"Thats everyone!" Barked Corlin, knowing that anyone they had missed had little chance left, and with only thirty seconds till the two Galor entered into weapons range, it was time to leave. "Ops set course for the nearest base, maximum warp... engage!"

The ship jolted as it jumped to warp, and Newden Three was left behind.





The warmth was gone and so was most everything else, the world for Meerik was something taken up entirely by his hearing. He knew it was a side effect of not having been given a Romulan anaesthetic and his mind was still active as he heard the screams and the howls of the world around him. But as the screams and yells surrounded him something else intruded on his blissfully pain free world... A pair of voices.

"Been a bit through the tumble hasn't he. Face split open like he took a photo grenade up the snoot." It was a crude comment but the deep gravelly voice was strangely reassuring to the barely existent thoughts of Meerik, the voice was a young human man who was a senior medical officer directly under the chief medical officer, and was an expert in trauma cases, as were most who served in medical bays on the front line.

A howl of agony suddenly filled Meerik's mind and he heard another voice, weak and tired sounding, Meerik's fuzzy mind just identifying the Marine officer Call. "Where's the hypo!", there was an odd slap sound like metal on flesh and the howl tapered off.

The medical officers voice washed over Meerik again, "Well that's the blood loss stopped, at least for now, looks like he'll be stable, we have other things to deal with, we don't have time to reconstruct his face or deal with the superficial burns for now. Put a pre-set Cortical stimulator on him in case he starts to go, and let's get moving we have other people to treat."

Then Meerik was alone again, the sounds of screams dieing from his ears as he lay motionless in what he could only assume was the Nallia's medical bay.

[Galaktia]

Meerik's world returned slowly,
Sound, the steady hum of the engines through the bulkheads and floor plates, the soft near none exsistant buzz of the lights and machines,
Then came smell, a smell of crisp burnt flesh, the smell of copper, the smell of mud, the smell of sterilised air mixing over everything else,
Then came touch, a sharp pressure on his back, the feeling of laying face up, slight pain in the face, neck, back, thigh,
Then came sight... white light flooding freshly open eyes leaving him blind and vulnerable.

"Ah bloody hell!!" barked Meerik using the swear word so commonly heard in the human vessel on the front line, the light vanished as Meerik snapped his eyes shut and tried to push himself up onto his elbows.

He felt a thick heavy hand on his chest and a deep gravelly voice from before said in a soft calm voice, "Now now, lay back there Lt. you're on your way to mending but you still have a little way to go there lad. Come on lay back."

Meerik's eyes slipped open slowly, and his pupils adjusted to the light one bit at a time, till the young face of a thick set man came into view, a blue medical shouldered uniform tight round his body, stained in places with blood. The mans face was heavy set and held a deep comferting smile that never vanished even when he was angry, although the thick set body was enough to make the mans anger worrying. He was pegged as a marine when he first came on bored and shocked everyone by stepping into the medical bay the next day. But he was skilled, fast and friendly.

"What happened?" grunted Meerik, allowing the medical officer to lay him back on the bed, his chest burning slightly, sharp pains stabbing through the left hand side of his stomach.

"You turned yourself into a god damn hero from what I here Lt." said the young man with a broad grin, walking over to a medical dispenser and pulling out a hypo canister containing a deep blue chemical, the man slipped it into a hypo spray and smiled, "Now you woke up at an inconvinient time my friend, I was just about to start doing some reconstruction on that train wreck you call a body, so night time for you my friend."

The young officers deep warm smile washed over Meerik and the hypospray hissed sharply as it pressed to his neck. Meerik's world melted and he left the world entirely this time, the anesthetic designed for use on the tough romulan body.






Meerik awoke again but this time it wasn't the gentle warm waking he had before, he awoke with a sharp jerk, the ship rocked and the lights flickered, a voice in the room barked out loudly, "Secure that equipment, RIGHT NOW!" this was followed by dashing footsteps. Meerik pushed himself up the pain in his ribs was gone, sight in both eyes was working. The skin on his shoulder had the tight feeling of freshly regenerated flesh, and his thigh felt slightly numb and unsure.

Meerik pushed himself up entirely and looked around, a majority of the small combat medical bays beds were filled with Marines, some had Sec/Tac officers in them, and as the lights flickered again Meerik noticed four Sec/Tac officers running from bed to bed checking on people and grabbing up loose hyposprays and peices of equipment left within easy reach of beds, securing it in medical cases.

"What's going on?" Grunted Meerik as he hopped off the bed and onto the floor, feeling the ship rock sharply again, forcing his weight onto his slightly numb leg and feeling a stab of pain.

One of the other Security officers looked up, "We're doing a warp run against a  ... something, a cardassian ship that caught us on the way out of Newden, with the two Galor chasing us the Cpt announced a warp run, and he's had to steal power here and there to keep the shields and warp engines at full. Another three minutes or so according to my watch and we should be back behind our patrol routes."

Meerik walked over to one of the marines who had half rolled off his bed during the rocking of the ship, pushing the unconcious man back onto the bed and pulling the securing blanket back round him, tightening it onto it's fastenings beside the bed. The ship jerked suddenly and Meerik fell, he curled his body, landing on his shoulder and rolling the force our down his back and arms, slapping the deck he pushed hard and came back to his feet in a perfect breakfall.

"See you got repaired alright..." grunted one of the Sec/Tac officers, "Mostly superficial with you, broken bones, couple of cuts, bruises, ripped muscles." He gestured at the Marines still on the beds, "This lot got it worse, lots of organ damage and deep disruptor burning, take allot of time to get them back on their feet..." He paused and nodded at the other Sec/Tac officers, "That's why Midden put double detail in here, if we get boarded he wants the Marines given protection, they deserve it."

Meerik nodded, "I'll grab a phaser from the emergency weapons closet." Meerik made his way across the room into the Chief Medical Officers office, nodding to Alicia sitting behind he desk, "Permission to retrieve arms Lt Cmdr?!" Asked Meerik sharply.

Alicia smiled "You still look a bit of a mess there, but if you are up and walking I am sure Midden would want you back in action incase we get boarded, every weapon arm counts as he says." She turned to the small solid cabinet behind her, tapping in a code and watching the rolling panel his up, exposing a half dozen phasers and a pair of Phaser rifles. She pulled out a phaser rifle and held it out to Meerik.

"I'll see about your cheek bone in a couple of days ok..." She said as she handed over the rifle.

"My Cheek bone?" Meerik grunted.

"Yes I repaired it, but the bones missing a few bits, I'll need to replicate some replacement bone and meld it in." She said with a smile, "But it'll have to wait a few days till I am done with the Marines."

Meerik raised an eyebrow slowly, "Will it impeed my function, if untreated, Lt. Cmdr?"

"What?,,, oh will it effect you long term. No not really, not medically, it's a bit asthetically odd, gives you a dent on one side if you ask me." She said as the ship rocked and she lent into the backrest of the chair to keep herself stable, watching Meerik brace himself against the rocking by putting a hand on the wall.

"Then it can be left Ma'am, you have other duties!" Said Meerik firmly. "I'll return to the main medical bay, if you need me or another officer give a shout ma'am!"

"Of course Lt."





The bar on Starbase 433 "Boreder Boy" was a simple place, its chairs were simple and effective, its tables somewhat dirty but functional. The Sec/Tac section sat around a pair of tables, joined by many of the other officers and a smattering of people from other sections. Midden stood three places left of Meerik and had a glass in his hand, the whole bar had gone quiet... everyone knew the somber occasion and crews from half a dozen other federation ships had silenced their R&R noise for the moment.

Middens voice said in a deep and slow tone, "We have lost officers, we have lost friends, we have lost people who we trusted our lives to and lost lives trusted to us." Midden raised a glass of a thick brown liquid and said firmly, "To the lost and the living, Hero's all!"

"Hero's All!!" Echo'd the present, not just from the Nallia but also from half a dozen other ships.

Slowly the sounds in the bar came back up to normal level as everyone settled back down. Several members of the Nallia crew who had lost lovers and family sank into drinking more enthusiastically than others, the synthetic alcohol surrupticiously replaced with something a bit more lasting and powerful. Meerik sat to one side, not comfertable in the gathering, he had been at many and it was expected, but he sat off to one side. Part way into the night Midden and Call came and sat either side of Meerik, "We've read your report, and the report from Lt. Allimair. It makes for some intresting ready there. I'd like you to report to my officer tommorow morning to discuss certain points of your report Lt."

"Aye Sir." Muttered Meerik, nodding his head.