Surefoot 73: The Longest Day

Sakai smiled. "And the Secret Word for today is: 'Distraction'."

Then he aimed it towards the Jem'Hadar and let it fly.

Groucho took flight, the wings flapping comically but really lifted by antigrav units within its pudgy body, quacking away to itself, even as Sakai grabbed his phaser and rose, Tori and the others following suit.

The three Jem'Hadar stared up in total bewilderment at the object overhead, before rising and firing up as one, turning it to a cloud of fake feathers and mechanical parts.

As Sakai, Tori and the rest rose and fired as one, disintegrating the invaders.

Sakai offered a grim smile. You will be remembered, Groucho...

*

Vanun'vek had beamed into the corridor in the rear of Deck 2 of the Surefoot, standing before his two compatriots, Oganad'togag and Yadag'riget, the three Jem'Hadar clutching their disruptor guns, ready as always to serve their gods in Holy War.

They looked to each other, knowing what to do, and started towards the Bridge, to kill everyone they found for the glory of the Founders-

They struck a force field blocking their way.

They looked to each other, knowing what to do, and made a phase adjustment to their skinfields, to let them step through-

It didn't work; the Enemy had obviously made adjustments since the last encounter.

They looked to each other, knowing what to do, and fired at the forcefield. The bolts deflected back towards them, one striking and killing Oganad'togag.

They looked to each other, knowing what to do, and reversed direction to find another way around. They met another forcefield, and no way out.

They looked to each other, knowing what to do, and without hesitation triggered their explosive harnesses, declaring, "Victory is Life!"

The combined explosion ripped into the Recycling systems, only slightly damaging Main Life Support adjacent to them, the blast carrying upwards through the dorsal hull of the ship.

*

On the Triton's Bridge, one of Tattok's senior officers looked up in astonishment. "Admiral!"

The Roylan braced himself. More bad news, no doubt. This was the day for it. "What is it?"

The human's face was pale with shock. "It's the Cardassians! They've turned! They've turned on the Dominion and the Breen! They're firing on them!"

Tattok rose to his feet. "On screen!"

The viewscreen changed, and he saw Cardassian Galors and Keldars attacking their former allies, from the heart of their side of the battle. Sweet Bloody Hemra... he had heard that there was a growing rebellion among the Cardassians, that not all had agreed with their people joining the Dominion...

For the first time on this terrible day, hope blossomed.

But there was still plenty of fight here.

*

Shall Clanlands, Planet Cait:

Kami leaned forward in her chair. "Are you certain you can't attend, Valtiri? If there is any problem with you leaving the Settlement, I do have some contacts high in the government."

On her desktop screen, the blonde-furred, sabre-toothed Ferasan male made an amused sound. "I have not forgotten, Counselor. I thank you for the invitation, but we have had a small outbreak of Caitian Kasaba Fever -- a minor cubhood ailment for your people, but one we were never inoculated against."

Kami frowned. "Do you have enough medical resources?"

"Yes, thank you. And, let's be honest, I believe my presence among Caitians, even ones as objective and understanding as you, will be too provocative to allow you to enjoy your festivities. Perhaps next year?"

She smiled in conciliation now. "I'll hold you to that, Valtiri; none of the Ferasans at Hope are prisoners there, and reconciliation needs courage on both sides."

"I must agree. Is there any word on Captain and Lieutenant Hrelle?"

"No, the battle is continuing. There's a lot being said, but none of it is helpful."

He regarded her, as if his telepathy could reach across the communications channel. "Your husband and kin-daughter have the bravest, most indomitable minds I have ever encountered. Have faith in their safe return."

"Thank you. Take care, stay safe, we'll talk again soon." As the channel closed, she rose, changed into her evening dress and shoes, took a moment to let a calming mantra centre her, and then stepped out of her bedroom and down to the main room, where the rest of her guests, family and friends, had arrived: among the cousins, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews, there was her firstborn son Mirow, his wife Ptera and their newborn infant Baby Jnill; her former nanny Jhess Furore, and his wife Mreia and their teenage son Shau; members of Papa Mi'Tree's Taleteller crew; and others she had met and worked with during the Occupation. She had so many people to catch up with-

But a squeal of delight drew her attention, as she made her way to the adjacent playroom, where she found Misha, Sreen and a new, sepia-furred infant male about Sreen's age were together on the padded mat, while Mi'Tree and Misha's teacher Ms Praow conversed together. Kami drew up to the other female and hugged her. "I'm so glad you could make it, Eshlinn! And that you brought your son!"

Prow smiled back. "It was the least I could do, Kami, after getting so much help from Misha as a Class Assistant since he started back. You haven't met Hansl yet, have you?"

"No!" She dropped and knelt before the male cub, smiling and purring against him... and aware of her own cubs watching the attention she lavished on the tiny guest. "What a lovely cub you are!"

Misha frowned. "I'm lovely too!"

Kami looked to him, winking, even as she continued to fuss over Hansl.

At least until Sreen made noises of protest at her mother's attention on her new boyfriend, leaning in to pull Hansl closer to herself.

*

USS Ajax:

Considering they were dancing at the edge of the Abyss, with Death all around them, Sasha was feeling pretty good.

Except for the stomach turned inside out, and the blood of a dead Zakdorn on her hands and uniform, and her spine feeling like an overwound mechanical toy, and constantly aware that she was serving with a past as well as a present lover...

Though to their credit, Lieutenants Mori Mru and Jim Madison had behaved professionally since she had returned to the Ajax, letting her focus on recovering from her experiences during the Occupation on Cait.

And Weynik had been a wonderful mentor, as well as Kohanim, both of them noting to her that she appeared more tempered now, more capable and cool under fire than before. She wasn't entirely sure if she agreed with them, but she was prepared to go with it.

And now they were all ass deep in the Apocalypse, and Kohanim was dead, and there were others injured onboard, and they were taking more damage- "Captain! The Surefoot's being boarded! Jem'Hadar suicide bombers! I'm reading explosions, hull breaches!"

"Bloody Hemra... are they calling for help?"

"No, Sir."

"Then we keep fighting, and be ready for boarders of our own. Mr Linik, take us around! Ms Hrelle! I want that Battleship taken down, whatever the cost!"

Sasha forced down her concern for her Dad and everyone else on the Surefoot, and plotted an attack pattern with their weapons, conserving their remaining torpedoes as much as possible- "Scarabs on our tail! Mr Linik, that Romulan wreckage on our port, take us through it! NOW!"

"You heard the lady," Weynik confirmed.

The Ajax dove and banked sharply, passing towards the corpse of a massive D'deridex-class Romulan warbird, the forward section ripped open but much of the rest of the vessel still intact.

Sasha scanned it: no survivors onboard, but the artificial quantum singularity that powered it in place of a warp core was still intact. The Scarabs were closing on them again, as she programmed the aft torpedo tubes. "On my mark, bank hard to starboard... NOW!"

The Defiant-class ship dipped sharply to the right of the wreckage, as Sasha fired on the Romulan wreckage, releasing the energy from the singularity and catching the pursuing Scarabs.

Then they were back on course for the Battleship... in time to see a concentrated assault on the Redemption, which held her ground valiantly and fought back...

Until she couldn't. She was blown to pieces.

*

On the Crooked Tail, Captain Nol Nrari leaned closer to the display, watching the explosions from the Surefoot. Yes, he knew that he wasn't out there just to watch over the relations of the First Minister. He also didn't give two balls of roasted snow if anyone complained that he did it anyway. "Mother's Cubs..."

First Mate R'Mona looked to him, the young female checking her readings. "They've received damage, but are still fighting... but the other one, the Ajax! The one with Lt Hrelle on it! The Jem'Hadar are hitting it hard!"

"I know." And he knew why she stated the obvious to him, and closed his real eye, letting his cybernetic one focus, offering a colder assessment of the situation. It didn't help. "Our orders are to observe. Nothing more."

"Captain," R'Mona said more softly, almost pleadingly. "Nol... they saved the Motherworld."

"I know."

"Lt Hrelle saved my sister when they liberated the Ferasan camp at Navron."

"I know!" He straightened up and turned away. Regardless of his reputation as a shameless scapegrace, he remained a professional. He never broke the rules.

Bending them, however... He faced his second in command again. "We could observe much better closer up, couldn't we?"

*

"We're dead in the water!" Mori reported. "Engines offline!"

"All Hands, Abandon Ship!" Weynik declared over the intercom, turning to the others. "All of you, get to the escape pods! I'm getting to the Warhead!"

Sasha looked to him, eyes wide, knowing exactly what that meant. "No, Sir! We can launch it remotely!"

"Remote systems are offline, Sasha, don't you think I'd have checked that first? You're in command now, Lieutenant, get the crew to safe-"

Something struck the Ajax hard, sent it spinning and debris and bodies flying.

Mori slammed into Sasha, the pair of them gripping each other and her station as they avoided pieces of the bulkhead, and almost all of the lights went out. She coughed as she ate smoke, before righting herself and calling out, "Madison! Mori! Rixx! Get to the escape pods! Captain! Where are you? Captain!"

"Sasha!" It was Madison, kneeling beside Weynik, who was unconscious, and pinned under a massive slab of the overhead bulkhead. Madison was trying to shift it, quickly joined by Mori, but even as Sasha followed, she knew that it was futile, and focused on examining their Captain.

The Roylan's right leg was trapped, blood gushing from multiple wounds. The smoke was clearing quickly -- but Sasha knew it wasn't the fire control systems, but hull breaches overhead. Suffocation, stray enemy fire, collision with debris... something will finish them all off, very, very soon.

"We can't free him!" Mori snarled. "The transporters are off-line! We need phasers to cut through the bulkhead!"

"No time," Sasha responded, "And the bulkhead's too precarious..." She reached up for the grip of her sword, drawing it out, and then holding her breath as she lowered the black blade down to a exposed spot on Weynik's trapped right thigh.

She couldn't believe she was doing this... Forgive me, Sir-

The nanosharp blade could cut through duranium like water; uniform, muscle and bone proved no challenge.

The Captain thankfully remained unconscious as she finished the amputation and pulled him free, spurts of blood from the stump spitting at the detached limb as if feeling betrayed by the separation, before she drew her phaser now and quickly cauterised the open wound. "Jim! Pick him up and get him into the escape pod! Mru, get the medikit when you're in there, stabilise him until he gets to a Sickbay on the Surefoot!"

The two males obeyed, Sasha following from behind until they stepped out into the corridor and a remaining escape pod, Mori and Madison entering with their fallen Captain.

Sasha suddenly stepped back, closing the escape pod door and launching the pod manually, before anyone within could stop her. She spared a final heartbeat to watch it depart into space through the tiny porthole, before returning for her sword, sheathing it and entering the vertical hatchway, descending to the next deck, ready to complete what Weynik started.

Memories of her initial briefings on the Ajax and its capabilities came back to her: "With the addition of the Warhead component aboard the Defiant-class, yet another radical departure has been made from Starfleet's standard policy concerning tactical operations. Designed as a single-use last-ditch explosive component, usage of the Warhead weighs as heavily upon a ship's commanding officer as the possible order to initiate self-destruct."

Yeah, no shit, Bubulah...

She slipped through the tiny airlock on Deck 2 Walkway, to a dedicated control room. Housed at the forward-most portion of the ship, the Warhead contained the ship's main navigational deflector, forward torpedo launcher and magazine, forward airlocks, and dedicated impulse engines for independent powered flight. She took a seat, strapped herself in and keyed in the command to detach from the parent spaceframe, feeling the four explosive bolts that served to provide the initial forward momentum for the pod to leave the ship before engaging its own engines.

Sasha brought the impulse engines online, hoping the Enemy will see the detached nose of the Ajax and disregard it as debris. "Once free from its parent, the Warhead is capable of achieving.8 c and automatically arms all remaining torpedoes present in the launcher storage area. Computer projections indicate that the entire Warhead vehicle will be destroyed in the resulting collision between it and its target. Due to space restrictions, no escape pods are present in the warhead section, meaning any crewmembers aboard piloting the vehicle will perish in the resulting explosion."

She checked the remaining torpedoes: twenty photon, eight quantum. And the fusion packs from the impulse engines will add to it.

It'll be a sweet explosion. And you get to see it from the inside, you lucky bitch.

*

"Captain!" Bellator shouted hoarsely. "We're getting a distress signal from one of the Ajax's escape pods! They have Captain Weynik, critically injured- and they report Lt Hrelle has detached the Warhead and is taking it to attack the Battleship!"

Hrelle's heart stopped, knowing what that meant for his daughter. "Giles-"

Lt Arrington's hands moved over his panel at warp speed. "Already on our way, Sir!"

But even as the young officer replied, Hrelle knew that with the distance and the damage they had suffered, they wouldn't get there in time. My cub... My beautiful, brave cub...

*

Despite the circumstances, Sasha found herself in an eye of calm amidst the hurricane of emotion. As she drove the Warhead down into the exposed wound on the port side of the Battleship, ignoring the sporadic fire around her, her only regret was the pain her loss would inflict on her family and friends. Please understand, and forgive me. But we all knew that something like this was a possibility. As much as I had wanted a long, happy life, Sometimes the Universe Has Other Plans...

Warm red light filled her vision as she felt herself torn apart-

-And reconstituted on an unfamiliar Transporter pad, where an unfamiliar Caitian female in the uniform of the Planetary Navy and the rank insignia of First Mate stood, activating her communicator to report, "Bridge! I've got her!"

"Good work, R'Mona! Bring her up!"

"Aye, Sir." Then the female looked to the stunned Sasha, declaring with a smile, "Welcome onboard the Crooked Tail, Lieutenant. Please follow me."

*

Hrelle's claws dug into the arms of his chair as he saw the Warhead slam deep into the damaged portion of the Dominion Battleship, detonating... and triggering more detonations from within, a rippling of energies that consumed the gargantuan vessel from within, eating away all but the most durable portions of the spaceframe, leaving a burning skeleton.

The Surefoot veered away to avoid being caught in the conflagration... but Hrelle barely noticed, his world, his Universe dilating into nothing, sounds and images and scents swept away as he stopped living. Sasha... there should have been more time... you had so much more life ahead of you...

"Captain," C'Rash reported now, sounding astonished. "We're getting a signal from a Caitian vessel, the Crooked Tail! It was near the flight path of the Warhead! if they were close enough-"

Hrelle began living again. "Onscreen!"

He rose to his feet, as the viewscreen switched to the image of the Bridge of a Caitian vessel, a white-furred, one-eyed male in the centre seat... and Sasha standing beside him! The male grinned. "Captain Nrari reporting, Surefoot! We found this tailless cub out here on her own causing all sorts of mischief! Do you know her?"

A thousand years of grief dropped from him like a heavy cloak shrugged off his shoulders. He nodded wearily. "Yes, Captain, I do indeed. Thank you. Thank you." Then he focused on Sasha, pointing a finger at her, the tears of relief flowing from his eyes. "And you: when you get here, Missy, I'm... I'm hugging the stuffing out of you. They'll be clearing bits of Sasha from the decks for weeks, you hear me?"

His daughter -- looking bruised, bloodied, but very much alive, just nodded back, her eyes welling up as well. "Fair enough, Dad."

*

In her office on Cait, Ma'Sala had been about to call home and inform them she would not be home for the party, when Anjeles caught her attention. "Madame First Minister! The Cardassians have joined the Alpha Quadrant Armada! The tide of battle has turned! And we're getting a message from the Crooked Tail you'll definitely want to see!"

She drew up to the screens, starting as she saw Nrari... and Sasha standing beside him on the Bridge of his ship. "What's going on? What are you doing there, Granddaughter?"

Sasha leaned in, looking like she had been rolled down a hill in a barrel of rocks, but at least was alive. "I got into a little scrap, Grandma, and the Crooked Tail helped me out."

Nrari snorted, indicating the human with a furred thumb. "'A little scrap'? She blew up a fucking Dominion Battleship, all on her own! And her Papa and the rest of your family have been kicking tail and are still alive to talk about it-"

Then Minister K'Trierr stepped forward, nearly pushing Ma'Sala aside to gain attention. "Captain! You received explicit orders to not get involved in the fighting! This is insubordination!"

Nrari frowned at the interruption. "Who the fuck are you? Ma'Sala's tailor? Because I have to tell you, you're not doing her any favours."

K'Trierr bristled with tight fury. "You're speaking to a respected Minister on the Matriarchy Council! I'll have your job for this!"

But the Captain just shrugged. "You wouldn't like my job, Kitten, you have to deal with all sorts of officious kussiks." He turned back to the First Minister. "If you'll excuse me, Ma'Sala Darling, it's a little busy around here... not that soft-assed civilians like you would know about such things. Crooked Tail out."

The screen went blank, as K'Trierr turned to Mrorr. "Fleet Captain, I demand that you instigate a court martial against that arrogant, disrespectful male!"

Mrorr drew up, raising her snout. "Madame Minister, civilian government officials, even the highest ones, have no authority over internal military matters. But I'll give your suggestion all the consideration it deserves."