Part 7: Episode 7: "R&R"
Episode 7: "R&R"Captain's Log posted:
We've been recalled to the nearest friendly starbase for a 'performance review'; which I expect is just Starfleet's way of saying: 'ok, a Cardassian captain was amusing for a while, but we'd appreciate it if you'd give the Benedict Arnold back and go sell interrogation lamps on Cardassia or something.' (To the Starfleet Intelligence officer reading this: I have never professionally sold lamps of any kind, although I did once sell four lights that were gifted to me by a friend who was joining the CDF).
We have no required ETA, so I've set a leisurely course at Warp 2 to give our engines and engineers some time to rest. The Benedict Arnold is a supply-hauler, and her old engines can't stand the strain of being run at maximum warp for so long. I keep worrying they'll fly apart on me if I keep pushing them like I've had to lately, but Tre'gata assures me they'll hold together; and as I believe he could make a replicator from a pile of rocks and a stick, I trust his judgement.
At least our visit to Starbase 24 will give my crew an opportunity for some rest and relaxation. We haven't had a moment's rest since we first discovered the Vulcan ambassador from P'Jem was an Undine.
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Captain's Log , supplemental posted:
A lack of response from Starbase 24 set me on edge, although Ensign Janzer looked as though she thought I was a madman when I called for Red Alert two light-minutes from the Starbase and planned an early reversion. I think perhaps she felt I was about to betray Starfleet, and launch an unprovoked attack on Starbase 24.
I'd claim it was my innate Cardassian paranoia that saved us if I thought that were the case, but I don't see myself as an especially paranoid individual. No, it was a combination of factors: the complete lack of civilian signal traffic, the static on the usual Starfleet frequencies, and a peculiar wave-form transmission that I've come to associate with Klingon battle-transmissions which alerted me, as it would have alerted any other perceptive individual, to the danger.
I had our helmsman drop us out of warp early-and it's a good thing I did. Another few light-seconds, and we'd have exited warp directly in front of a Klingon battle fleet and simply been pounded to dust. I counted well over fifty Klingon starships, including more Negh'vars than I believed the Klingons capable of maintaining. The remains of our back-line supply fleet, a motley collection of Miranda, Centaur, and ShiKahr-class vessels, as well as several civilian cargo-haulers was all that stood between the Klingons and victory; but with them providing the anvil, our surprise attack from the rear was able to throw the Klingon fleet in disarray.
A part of me finds myself hoping they mistook our little supply ship for the avenging ghost of Admiral Kirk, wreaking his vengeance for all the lives lost when the Klingons broke the treaty Spock spent so much effort to build; but, superstitious as they are, even I doubt the Klingons would be so easily frightened by the thought of doing battle with a ghost. Nonetheless, it was when they turned to deal with the Benedict Arnold that the Klingons paved the way to their own downfall-with their vulnerable engines exposed to Starbase 24's powerful torpedo batteries, as well as the combined fire of the other support ships, the Klingon fleet defeated itself trying to swat an impotent gnat taking potshots at their engines.
I would like to take this moment to give the crew my highest commendations. They performed far above and beyond what could have been expected of them. It is with great sorrow that I contemplate those who made the ultimate sacrifice defending the Starbase; but I believe that the cost was worth it. We've shown the Klingons that even a cornered Taspar can deliver a vicious bite.