The battle continued where mere minutes had already seemed like hours. Operations was chaotic with the amount of coordination between the station, the ships, the fighters, and even the runabouts that had been launched. The coordination had been complex but vital. Slowly, the gathered fleet had successfully defended the station and dispatched the Vaadwaur aggressors.

“Commander, launch the remaining runabouts to provide cover for the Dreadnought. Order the Freedom to fall back within the station’s shields and begin repairs. They’ve done enough.” Viran then turned from his first officer to Lieutenant Idrin, “How many Vaadwaur ships remain?”

“It looks like we’ve successfully disabled or destroyed about fifty percent. Station shields are holding. The Arimathea is disabled, and the Vaadwaur appear to be ignoring it. The Amonak is still disabled and drifting into the system, but reports they are working on repairs and should be okay. The Freedom is falling back on your orders. The Gorn vessel has also redocked and is beginning repairs. That leaves the Devroas, Dreadnought, and Hutton as well as our collective runabouts and the fighters from the Dreadnought.”

“Excellent. Order the fighters to break off and begin mop-up duty with the Vaadwaur fighters. I don’t want any stragglers once their bigger ships go down. And focus our fire on their bigger vessels.”

“Aye, sir,” came the crisp reply. Viran, Ramar, and the rest of those gathered in Ops watched as the battle unfolded on the view screen. The Vaadwaur were certainly a formidable match, especially for a civilization believed to be steeped in millennia old technology. However, it appeared in their arrogance that they underestimated the tactical capabilities of a state of the art Starfleet station designed as a defensive outpost. Unlucky for them, this station had been stranded during the Blackout, with a relic of a bygone era, the deadly Dreadnought, docked at the station; a behemoth bred from a generation of war now brought roaring back to life.

As a few more minutes passed, the Vaadwaur fleet continued to dwindle until several alarms in Ops caught the attention of everyone in the room.

“Report?” Ramar asked

“Reading increasing activity at the location of the Underspace aperture on the other side of the Vaadwaur fleet. I think ships are coming through, sir,” Commander Feld reported with worry in his voice.

Within a moment, dozens more Vaadwaur ships poured from Underspace and fanned out in front of the station. Without hesitation, they began firing on the Starfleet forces, sending everyone back into a scramble.

“How many?” Viran asked, looking around. 

When the Vaadwaur ships finished emerging from Underspace, Lieutenant Idrin finally responded, “Another one hundred and thirty three ships. It looks like they brought more of the big ones this time, too.”

“We can’t hold off against a force that big,” Viran plainly said as he turned to Ramar.

Ramar lowered his lead for a second, contemplating what to say next, and then raised his head back up. “We don’t have a choice.” Ramar turned to Lieutenant Ren and asked, “Have you been able to get through to Starfleet yet? To anyone?”

“Negative, sir. Whatever is jamming up subspace has kept any signals from getting through,” Ren responded.

Before Ramar or Viran could even contemplate what to do next, Lieutenant Idrin interjected their thoughts, “Sirs… the Vaadwaur ships are doing something weird.”

“Weird?” Viran almost reflexively asked. 

“A few of their bigger ships appear to be… lining up? Almost broadside? I’m also reading massive power build ups in what appears to be weapon emitters along their hulls. I think they’re about to take a shot at us.”

“Reroute all available power to the shielding on that side of the station and brace for impact,” Viran shouted. No sooner did he finish that sentence did the station rocked from the direct blast from the Vaadwaur. Knocking nearly everyone to the ground, as Viran picked himself up, he shouted, “Report?”

In the now-dim lights of Ops, Lieutenant Idrin reached up to her console. Scanning it, she finally found her words, “Whatever they just hit us with overloaded the shield grid. Shields are down. The emitters are trying to reload and engage again, but it could be a few minutes. No structural damage to the station or the emitters themselves. It appears that whatever weapon that was, its purpose was to temporarily knock our shields down.”

“Let’s just hope they can’t do that again,” Tolak said what everyone else was thinking as the Romulan admiral picked himself up off the floor.

“Are weapons still online?” Viran asked.

“Yes, all weapons are still firing on targets,” Idrin responded, but no sooner did she finish did another alarm klaxon went off. One that they had hoped to avoid. “Sir, intruder alert. It looks like Vaadwaur are beaming in all over the station. Primarily, the habitat section. Several dozen just materialized all over the Promenade.” 

“Reroute security teams as needed,” Viran responded.

Ambassador S’Rath, who had remained largely quiet since the combat began, stepped forward to the situation table in the center of Ops. As he stepped forward, S’Rath was again towering over Ramar and Viran, reminding them of just how dangerous a Gorn can be.

“Admirals, perhaps this would be an opportunity for my people to help out?”

Viran was immediately uneasy with where this was heading, but Ramar, perhaps more aware of the situation they were in, asked simply, “How so?”

“The vessel that brought me here is redocked and disabled, but there are over one hundred Gorn on board. Even a Gorn untrained in combat is a formidable opponent for most humanoids. Allow us to assist in station security. Our lives are in just as much jeopardy as yours. Allow us to help.”

Giving it a moment, Viran turned to Ramar as the Fourth Fleet Commander was in thought over the situation. The shields were down, the Vaadwaur backup had arrived, the station was boarded, and they had no way to call for help. Ramar simply nodded in the affirmative to the Ambassador.

As S’Rath turned towards the turbolift and removed his communicator, Ramar heard the broken, echoing trail of the Gorn’s words as he entered the turbolift, “Ambassador S’Rath to the… come in… deploy all available… defend the station… kill any Vaadwaur… protect civilians…”

If the station were to fall on this day and they all died, it would be a small victory to earn the cooperation of the Gorn Hegemony.