Task Force Away
Posted on Wed Jul 29th, 2026 @ 10:17pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Jacob Rosen & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Remal Kajun
3,019 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Pirates!
Location: DS9 / Badlands
The Sunfire's viewscreen showed DS9 from their close perspective, the hulls of the other 4 ships only just visible around the docking ring. They were to ship out shortly, but Rhenora wanted to be sure they were ready.
"Sound off, status, everyone?" She asked her bridge crew first.
From his XO position, Savar spoke as he glanced around the bridge, "All systems show green and ready. The ship is ready to depart at your command Captain."
"Security stands ready, Captain," replied Michael as he stood at his station, and he began to check that everyone was at their posts. He had spent the last few weeks getting those tested on their weapons tests before they left the station.
She turned and looked up toward the center chair. "Helm standing by, Captain. Moorings secured, departure course is laid in and ready on your command. Flight Control confirms all task force vessels report ready for deployment." Jenna confirmed the departure corridor was clear, the flight path was locked into the navigational computer, and the tactical datalink tying the task force together showed four green indicators awaiting only the command to move.
"Gravimetric sensor profile acknowledged by all ships Captain." Jacob said, confirming the data from his console and turning to face the skipper. "We'll get exact coordinates as soon as she's spotted, even if Mirror Sunfire is cloaked."
"All tactical systems are set and ready. My particular idea(s) for being able to detect them from much farther away as well as deal with their Remal, all in due time." Dean looked to Rhenora, "Which I apologize for not filling everyone in ahead of time, that's for a reason.
"I'm sure the time will come soon enough Dean" Rhenora smiled at the tactical officer and took the centre chair. The rest of the task force were beginning to form up in the space nearby, including the nuggety little Defiant with Captain Kira in the chair.
"Alright Team, Let's go do this. Helm, set a course for the location of the portal, Ops, convey to the fleet - standard beta formation." Kaylen ordered, settling back with a determined expression on her features - this one was personal.
Jacob's hands flew across the console, passing the Captain's orders along. Within seconds green indicators of acknowledgement returned from all ships. "All ships assuming beta formation Captain." He said, updating the Bridge. Once again they were heading to a fight, one that he felt had a very low chance of peaceful resolution. Jacob felt that restless energy in his fingertips that was present at ahead of every confrontation. Breathing in slowly, he remained present and ready.
The task force formed up, the Sunfire at the apex, ready and willing to take on the gargantuan task in front of them.
"Comms, establish a real-time link to the fleet, set the overlay to the left-hand side of the main viewscreen," Rhenora instructed. A few minutes later, the bridges of the other 4 ships appeared along the side of the viewscreen.
"Alright everyone, let's move out, maximum impulse"
Beta formation unfolded with the practiced precision of crews who had flown together before. "Aye, Captain. Underway." Jenna's eyes watched the navigational display, following the plotted course toward the Badlands. She mused that, if they stayed at max impulse, they would spend far longer staring at stars than any pilot ever.
A few more commands danced across the console before she looked back toward the center chair. "Two minutes to warp lane entry, Captain. All traffic lanes are clear, and the task force is maintaining formation."
"As soon as it's safe, signal the fleet, warp 6." Rhenora ordered, knowing it wouldn't take them long to arrive at the tumultuous region of space. It would take careful course plotting and skillful flying to get through the ion storms just to reach their target.
Beta formation held steady as the five starships glided away from Deep Space Nine. The Sunfire carved the departure lane first, her impulse engines glowing with quiet confidence while the remaining vessels maintained perfect spacing astern.
The warp lane beacon acknowledged their approach. Navigation buoys exchanged telemetry in fractions of a second, clearing the corridor ahead. Jenna rested her hands lightly against the helm controls, waited for the final confirmation, then nodded almost imperceptibly to herself. "Departure corridor confirmed," she reported. "Executing warp jump."
The Sunfire reached the entry point first. Space ahead rippled into familiar bands of cobalt and silver as the warp field blossomed around the ship. For the briefest instant the stars stretched into impossibly fine threads of light, then folded inward as the cruiser surged forward into subspace. Less than a heartbeat later, the remaining four vessels followed in sequence, each leaving a brief flash of blue-white distortion before vanishing into the same corridor. Deep Space Nine diminished behind them with startling speed, its broad Cardassian arms shrinking against the curve of Bajor until both station and planet dissolved into the brilliance of elongated starlight.
Jenna watched the formation settle into perfect alignment within the warp lane, every contact exactly where the computer predicted they should be. Satisfied, she glanced toward the center chair. "Task force established at warp six, Captain. Estimated time to the Badlands boundary is forty-two minutes at current speed, give or take."
Aurora nodded and smiled as she arrived on the bridge and took her seat.
Savar turned in seat at the sound of the lift doors hissing open and saw Aurora come onto the bridge and take her seat. To anyone watching he gave her a crisp nod, but his eyes held the love he had for her.
Rhenora spent the time sharing the Intel she had received with the other Captains. It much, but it was all they had to work with. From what the Bozeman had encountered, there was the Mirror Sunfire, another warship, and a few rouge Naussicans. What else lay beyond the ion storms guarding the portal? She ran through the tactical capabilities of their rag tag task force. The Defiant packed a punch, the Bristol was walking wounded. The other two were mid range mid class escort vessels with fresh young Captains - so an unknown - they would have the basics, anything would would be a blessing.
After Rhenora had shared the limited Intel they had on the situation, Savar leaned over from where he was seated in his XO's chair and asked, " Excuse me Captain, have you given thought to how you wish to deploy the task force going into this situation?"
"The only strategy I have at the moment is 'strength in numbers'. The 'W' was destroyed despite the Bristol being nearby. The Terran's are strong, but I'm hoping 5 ships should turn the tide in our favour. " Rhenora admitted as the ship cruised along.
"Except there is my plan, Captain. I still can't divulge what it is just yet because anyone we don't know whom is an agent will then know what it is. We don't want that Commander. We only need the other four ships as a distraction." Dean smiled.
" I trust you Dean, but I need you to communicate what needs to happen and when. "Rhenora said simply, placing faith in one of her senior officers. "Did you get much from the mirror Baldric before handing her to Federation Security?"
Dean nodded, "I'd rather discuss that later. Helm, 059 mark 167, short half a second thruster burst and then hit full impulse. Keep up with my targeting; we're going to plow the road."
Dean kept an eye out as he signaled the other ships to simply cover them. The Sunfire shot off and stopped, which confused the enemy. With the sudden boost, the Sunfire pushed straight through the blockade that had been set up. Dean was working with Helm and Ops, and firing weapons at every chance he got. Also throwing out the Chain Reaction Pulsar Weapon. No one needed to watch the torpedo bounce between and through the targets. Bonnie had programmed it perfectly. That disabled or destroyed all of the ships or probes in the Badlands, except for the I.S.S. Sunfire. Which now was heavily damaged.
Jenna continued scanning the debris field through the navigational sensors, her expression tightening almost imperceptibly. "Captain..." she said quietly. "Something's off." Her eyes tracked across the tactical display. "I'm not seeing enough debris."
Bonnie confirmed the kill, her voice quieter than before. "The Bouncing Betty disabled everything emitting a harmonic signature." She swallowed once, her eyes fixed on the sensor display. "Everything out there is... just... gone."
"Ops - open a channel to the ISS Sunfire, let's see if she wants to talk now." Rhenora felt a little smug - although in the back of her mind she was thinking this was too easy.....
It was too easy; in all of the fuss, MU Dean had hijacked the USS Sunfire's shield frequency, transporting on board between one of the frequency rotations. Giving a glance around the Torpedo room. "Hmm..."
Jacob thumbed the console, accessing the hailing frequency in seconds, focused on the task. Looking back to the command chair, he nodded curtly. "Channel open, Captain."
I.S.S. Sunfire - Bridge
Mirror Remal never looked away from the tactical display. One by one, the reconnaissance probes vanished from the sensors, each exactly where he had expected. Seconds later the perimeter ships followed, their signatures extinguished with almost mechanical precision.
Bonnie watched the display with quiet satisfaction. "They're efficient."
"They're impatient," Remal corrected. There was no pride in his voice, only certainty. His hands folded neatly behind his back as fresh telemetry continued to arrive. "They believe they've breached our defenses." He allowed the silence to linger. "They are mistaken."
Bonnie's fingers danced across her console. A predatory smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "The package made it through. We have their frequencies."
Remal gave the slightest nod. The trap had closed exactly as intended. They had invited the enemy to see a weakness that had never existed. "Good."
His eyes never left the tactical display. "Show them," he said softly, "how a true predator hunts." He paused for a single heartbeat. "Unleash hell."
U.S.S. Sunfire - Bridge
The Mirror Sunfire was wounded, yes, but had deliberately appeared more than they actually were, a rouse to lure their opponent into a false sense of security. Torpedoes lanced as the Prime Sunfire paused to check in on their prey, the quantum warheads obliterating their shields and causing heavy damage.
"Never trust your eyes," Rhenora murmured as she winced and picked herself up off the deck plates. "Damage reports!"
Aurora had held onto her seat, trying not to get tossed; this wasn’t good not good at all.
They'd been played, but thankfully had been the only one targeted so far.
"Captain - your ship shows heavy damage, are you alright?" Kira's concerned voice echoed from the viewscreen that still flickered with the unstable power. A few minutes later the flickering stopped - a testament to the Engineering crews who were undoubtedly scrambling to assess and repair.
Rhenora waited for the damage reports to come in. They were wounded yes - but not out for the count yet.
"We're ok to continue, though they know just where and how to hit us. I'm sure they'll exploit that little tactic again" Rhenora replied. "We'll remodulate our shields and adjust the frequency randomly as a precaution." She nodded towards the tactical officer to make it happen.
From his position Savar spoke to Rhenora. "Weapons are still online but shield strength has dropped considerably. Engines are also online. Significant damage to decks 11 and 12.Damage control teams are affecting repairs." He announced as his eyes looked down on the information scrolling across his display.
Bonnie's console erupted with cascading alerts and sparks. She silenced them one after another as quickly as they appeared. "Primary computer core remains intact, Captain, but we've lost two distributed processing nodes and half our redundant sensor buffers. Nothing critical yet, though we're running on reduced redundancy. Another hit in that same area could be bad."
Jenna was already moving before Commander Savar finished his report, flight vectors shifting across the helm as the formation updated around them. She steadied the Sunfire with small, deliberate corrections that concealed the violence of the impact, then keyed the fleet channel.
"Navigation remains responsive. Executing Gamma One." Her voice stayed level, carrying the quiet confidence pilots learned after too many emergencies. "Sunfire is falling back to the rear of the formation. Transmitting revised flight solution to the task force now."
Four acknowledgements flashed across her display as the other ships accelerated to cover the wounded flagship. Jenna eased the Sunfire out of the lead with practiced precision, allowing the remaining vessels to slide ahead while she tucked the battered Akira-class into the shelter of their formation. Her eyes continued dancing across velocity, separation, and collision margins, searching for the next surprise before it arrived.
Jacob's face scrunched in focus, no longer paying much attention to the viewscreen and solely on the various streams of ship data his Operations Console provided him. Multi-tasking the rerouting of sensor load, an implicit order from Commander Durnell as well as giving Commander Ramthorne as much spare power as he could muster for fine adjustments at flight control. He found himself strangely calmed by the determined work of the rest of the crew around him.
The Defiant took the lead, the small and rugged escort vessel overpowered and over weaponized and perfect for the job at hand. Kira's face showed absolute determination, her crew steady behind her.
"They may have our codes, and our usual strategies, we have no idea what other information they 'stole' from Commander Baldric" Rhenora cautioned.
"So we go old school then, Ops, transmit a set of base Bajoran formations and tactics to all in the task force. " Kira smiled, "Let's see what you remember Rhen"
"It's been a while" Kaylen risked a laugh as the task force orgsnised themselves and prepared for battle.
"Shall we play a game of hit and run?" She set the target on the hull of the ISS Sunfire, each ship would straffe and then peel off in a random direction before striking again, making it difficult to attack just one of them.
"Awaiting your orders captain." Savar told her. "Phasers and torpedoes be prepared to fire." He instructed the weapon crews.
Kira's eyes narrowed as her focus sharpened. "50 slips that the Defiant takes them down" the gauntlet had been thrown down.
"I'll let you go first, but I'll honour your wager" Rhenora retorted, slapping thr armrest of her command chair.
"Helm, plot an attack vector and peel us off at 50 degrees after unloading all aft weapons."
"Aye Captain, course plotted, 50 degree angle ready on weapons deployment, mark." Jenna announced. "Lieutenant Rosen, I'll need energy allocated for a 75% engine burn to port."
Savar settled into his seat to prepare for what was surely going to be a rough ride ahead as the Sunfire prepared to meet the enemy in this care it's mirror image.
Aurora nodded bracing herself in her chair for a second time, the ship was already damaged they didn’t need any more damage to add to it.
I.S.S. Sunfire - Bridge
Remal watched the Federation formation assemble across the tactical display. Five contacts spread into a single attack line, each separated just enough to prevent a single volley from catching more than one vessel. Textbook, deliberate, familiar. "They're lining up."
Bonnie studied the geometry for only a moment before recognizing it. "Sequential attack runs. They're treating us like a stationary target."
Remal's eyes never left the display. "They're treating us like prey." He stepped toward the center of the bridge. "Navigation."
"Captain?"
"Full impulse. Straight at them."
The helmsman hesitated. "Sir...?"
"If they intend to make attack runs, then we deny them the distance." His voice remained calm despite his intolerance for the hesitation. "Close the range before they can synchronize."
"Aye sir." The great carrier surged forward.
"Tactical."
"Captain."
"Target phasers on incoming torpedoes. Point defense only. Save the heavy batteries for ships foolish enough to remain in front of us."
"Understood."
"Standby countermeasures. Release them the moment they commit." He continued to order.
Bonnie was already moving. "I'll see if their stolen frequencies still let me in."
Remal gave the slightest nod. "Good." His gaze shifted toward Operations. "Inform the Marshal we've made contact."
The officer looked over his shoulder. "Request reinforcements, sir?"
Remal considered the question for exactly one heartbeat. "No." Silence settled across the bridge. "Inform her..." His eyes remained fixed upon the approaching formation. "...that we may soon require the privilege of her presence and the fleet backup she has promised." Only then did he grip the back of the command chair. "Brace for impact."
U.S.S. Sunfire - Bridge
Their enemy shifted, accelerating towards them in a galactic game of chicken instead of retreating. The first two ships peeled off without getting a shot off, leaving the remaining three with a rapidly diminishing window.
"Fire all port weapons, peel off and form up at their aft. Target - engines at this point" Rhenora snapped, redirecting the task force into a new orientation. "They're not afraid to ram us if they have to"
"Diverting power to ready Ablative Armor, setting to auto deploy in event of a collision" Jacob called from the Ops console. "That should protect us from the worst of it Captain."
"You took the words out of my mouth, good work Jacob" Rhenora replied, proud that her crew worked so well together. The viewscreen wheeled as the ship banked hard, port weapons firing in perfect synchronicity before they continued to peel off on a new vector.
"Direct hit on the mirror Sunfire, their shields are holding but weakening. Another barrage should cause them to collapse." Savar noted.
Out of the murky depths of the Badlands, the massive hull of the Marshall's warship emerged, her shields brilliant and her weapons armed.
TBC
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