Razors Edge

[Barrett]

<<RMS Everheart>>
<Bridge, 1145>

Jason looked up from the secondary operations station and then back out the viewport. At the moment, the Everheart was holding position just outside the Izodi Expanse, a rather turbulent region of space that was plagued by freak ion and plasma storms and near the edge of the known galactical boundary. There was nothing showing on the sensors but that had never stopped the storms from popping up before.

The Everheart was a Maran Republic Class heavy crusier. She was 425 meters long, the forward section was shaped like an arrowhead that flowed back to a tapered engineering hull. The warp engines, which had conical buzzard collectors, were attached via a ring that ran around the hull. Two were attached on the port and starboard side and one the top side. The botton part of the ring held the ships main deflector array.

The bridge was a close resemblence to the bridges of the Starfleet vessels, except it had two levels. The lower level held the helm and operations station as well as secondary operations and science stations. Up a small ramp was the upper level where the captain's chair sat, with the tactical stations to the left and the engineering and science stations to the right. The turbolift opened up into the upper level.

"Anything yet Mr. Var'karl?"

Captain Blaze Dark was an imposing looking Maran. He was 6'1, and 200lbs of solid muscle. His hair was buzzed short and blonde. At the moment he was talking to the science officer.

The Maran Republic was made up of several dozen races, although the most prominent ones were the Marans, the Tosh, and the Redini. The Marans were nearly identical to humans. The Tosh were short, the tallest only being around 4 feet with sleek blue, black, and silver fur that covered their bodies. They had large triangular shaped heads and almond eyes. The Rendini were an Oceanic species, they had the same basic shape of humans but with a wide variety of shaped crests that protuded from thier heads. They were special suits that allowed them to function outside the water environment that they were so used too.

Var'karl was a Rendini, a rather old one at that. Like the Tosh, the Rendini had extraordinary long life spans. Var'karl looked up from his dispaly and too Dark.

"Nothing as of yet sir."

"They have been known just to spring up," Jason stated, looking over at Dark. "I'm not entirely sure we want to go in there."

"We may need to, after all this is where the trader stated that they saw those ships."

"This one does not think that he was in his right mind, and this one believes that we should stay back where it is proven safe and not give engineer Thrall something to do."

That was their cheif flight control officer, Zorrick. He was a Tosh and Jason had taken an instant liking to him.

"So noted Mr. Zorrick. Take us in, one quarter impulse power. Weps, full power to shields and energize the organic armor," Dark ordered.

"Aye sir, sheilds up and armor deployed."

Security/Tactical was headed by a young Maran by the name of Ardon. He had raven black shaggy hair and deep blue eyes, he was well built filling out his uniform well.

"Relax Mr. Barrett, you act like you've never flown into an ion storm before."

"This one believes thats because he is smarter then he lets on," Zorrick stated, hissing with laughter.

Dark ignored the comment. "Steady as she goes Zorrick."

OFF:

[Barrett]

<<RMS Everheart>>
<Bridge, 1145>

The ship shuddered every so slightly as they entered the swirling mass of yellow and red plasma. Jason took a deep breath, the Everheart was a good ship, a strong ship but even with the organic armor flying through a plasma storm might not have been the best idea. He looked over at Var'karl; who was intently watching his sensor arrays.

"No new contacts yet," he reported. "Although interference from the storm is limiting our sensor capabilities."

Zorrick turned around. "Navigational sensors have a ship bearing 012 mark 456."

"Adjust our course to match," Jason ordered.

They Everheart banked around a massive burst of plasma, narrowly missing hitting the port nacelle. Jason shoot Zorrick an evil look, that prompted him to hiss with laughter.

"There!" Blaze pointed. "Magnify."

The screen zoomed in on what appeared to be a Cardassin cruiser.

"Var'karl?" Jason asked.

"It appears to be a Cardassin Galor class vessel," Var'karl reported. "It has sustained heavy damage, the phaser signature appears to be Cardassin as well."

"I'm detecting more signals ahead," Ardon said. "Three more Cardassin warships closing on our position, their weapons are charged. They're locking weapons on us."

"Zorrick, full reverse get us out of here," Jason ordered.

"Ardon hail the Cardassins, remind that they are in Maran space."

"Aye sir," Ardon nodded.

"If they start firing in here things are going to get messy, real quick," Jason reminded Blaze.

A several phaser beams lanced through space, slamming into the port shields of the Everheart as she turned away.

"Shields are holding," Ardon responded.

"Return fire," Jason ordered.

The Marans used disruptors, both beam and cannon on nearly all of their ships. The Everheart was equipped with 8 disruptor arrays, and two sets of rotating disruptor cannons that were located on the dorsal side of the hull. Jason watched as several blasts of golden colored energy lanced through space, slamming into the lead Cardassin ships shields. Seconds later the heavy cannons opened fire, sending a storm of disruptor bolts at the Cardassin ship.

"Lead ships shields are down to 60%," Ardon reported.

"We'll be out of the plasma field in 30 seconds," Zorrick reported.

The Everheart shuddered again as several more shots rippled off their aft shields. They returned fire, launching several torpedoes in their wake. The shots ripped apart the forward shields of the lead Cardassin ship.

"Target weapons only," Jason ordered.

The disruptor arrays on the Everheart came to life again, hammering at several points on the ships hull, small explosions worked their way across the metallic surface. The ship turned away, fire leaking from several weapons ports.

"Lead ship is dropping back," Ardon reported. "The other ships are still closing."

The Everheart shook again as several more hits hit their aft shields.

OFF:

[Barrett]

<<RMS Everheart>>
<Bridge, 1150>

All things considered, Jason really wished he would have stayed in bed this morning. The ship rocked with several more phaser hits, sending sparks exploding from several stations. They had managed to disable another of the Cardassin ships but two more had appeared from behind a small moon and were now unloading on them with everything that they had.

"Ventral nacelle is leaking drive plasma," Zorrick reported.

Disruptor fire tore through space, the golden blasts of energy slamming into one of the Cardassin ships sheilds. The vessel tried to veer away but Zorrick swung the nose of the Everheart around, unloading a barrage of plasma torpedoes that all struck home. The back end of the fish shaped vessel exploded in a dazzling display of lights and fragmenting metal.

The Everheart was slammed hard to one side as the remaining Cardassin ship loosened several torpedoes at near point blank range. The secondary tactical station exploded and overloads arced through several more stations, adding to the already smoky bridge. Jason gripped the arms of his chair as the ship was hit with multiple phasers blasts again.

"Hull breach on deck 4 section 13!" Var'karl reported. "Emergency bulkheads are holding!"

"We need to end this now," Blaze snapped. "Zorrick, full access rotation to port, unload everything that we have."

The Cardassin ship began to pull away but the Everheart was faster, unleashing a fully volley of disruptor fire at point blank range. The shields on the ship held during the initial assault but the second one tore through them and ripped deep wounds in the hull. Ardon targeted the shields and weapons again before firing a third time, ripping apart the shield generator and phaser generator. The ship moved off or tried too before a plasma torpedo took out the impluse engines.

"About time," Blaze snapped, standing. "Damage report?"

"Ventral nacelle is still leaking drive plasma, hull breach on deck 4, primary power couplings for our ventral disruptor array is heavily damaged and we have multiple breaks in our EPS network. Engineer Thrall reports that we have warp power but only up to warp 3," Jason reported, looking up from his display. "Oh and we scratched our paint job."

"Ardon, hail the Cardassins."

"Already been trying, no response."

"Damn," Blaze muttered. "Alright, Mr. Barrett take a boarding part over. I want to know what they were doing here and why they opened fire on us."

"Aye sir, Ardon you're with me."

OFF: