“Benson. Triangulate fire with the Britannia’s tactical officer. We can at least give them some dorsal end coverage.” Mayvilis held on as the ship rocked some from the turbulence of the Britannia as it absorbed some enemy fire. They were headed straight on for the large enemy carrier vessel. It was their biggest threat, which meant that it had some of the largest teeth to take on. 

“Aye, Captain. I’ll give them as much coverage as I can, but they’re taking a beating.” Benson replied and began to compensate their own weapons for the shield frequencies of Britannia, so their weapons could bleed through without incident. The tactical officer on Britannia had linked up on request, and attack patterns were synchronized. 

Britannia was taking the brunt end of the enemy assault. Mayvilis could only watch and feel bad that they could not do more. The Soverign-class vessel could afford to take more of an assault from the enemy than they could, but even the limits of the larger and more powerful vessel seemed tested in their journey to the carrier enemy vessel. 

Moments later, the tension on the bridge of the Aldrin had intensified as they closed the distance to the enemy carrier vessel. Britannia was in much worse shape than it had been a few minutes earlier. 

“Captain. Should we combine shield strength with them?” Benson asked.

“No. We will need every spare bit of power to see us through our own role in this. Captain Harrison set us up like this for that very reason.” Mayvilis answered. She wanted to help. Wanted to order that their own resources be added to Britannia’s, but she understood the method of the older and more experienced Captain. It was to ensure their own chances of survival. 

“We’re approaching the carrier, Captain. Britannia’s shields are collapsing. They’ve taken direct damage to their hull.” The operations ensign reported, her voice shook from the intensity of the situation.

“We’re close.. Just a few more moments. Ready to engage our attack pattern. Benson. Everything you can unleash – do not hold back – push the systems as hard as you can.” Mayvilis reinforced the plan, and her own hands began to weave across the helm control console. 

“Prepare to transfer power to the forward section of dorsal and ventral shielding. Ten seconds…”

The Aldrin began to rock more violently as some of the enemy fire bled through the Britannia’s shields, what was left of them. Several consoles on the bridge erupted in a shower of sparks. 

“Captain.. Britannia is in bad shape. They can’t take much more!” The operations ensign reported once more.

“Hold steady…. Five… Four… Three… Two… One…. Let’s roll!” Mayvilis slid her fingers across the top of the console, which activated the flight pattern she had meticulously programmed. 

The Aldrin leaped forward and broke away from Britannia, like a game of leapfrog. The ship immediately tipped forward slightly at a forty-five-degree angle as it met the carrier head-on before Britannia did. This allowed both ventral and dorsal phaser arrays to unleash fury upon the enemy carrier. In tandem, all forward torpedo launchers fired at will. The Aldrin flew across the dorsal end of the carrier and unleashed hell. 

The carrier ship did not go down without a fight, though. They unleashed hell back on the Aldrin. It countered the assault with its own volley of fire on the forward ventral section of the Saber-class ship. 

“Shields at twenty-two percent…. Ten percent… Oh my god! Britannia has crashed into the forward section of the carrier. Ahhrghgh!” The ensign at operations was unable to continue their report as the entire station behind them blew up. The blast immediately killed the young officer and sent their corpse flying. Several other small explosions from other areas on the bridge sent the rest of the officers flying to the floor. 

Externally, the Aldrin had several small explosions from their hull as areas immediately buckled from the enemy counterattack. Their weapons fire stopped, and the momentum from their flight path carried them forward. Several similar but larger explosions occurred on the dorsal end where they attacked the carrier. 

Their enemy had bitten the Aldrin back, but between their assault and the fact that Britannia had rammed directly into it, it had clearly been disabled and critically wounded. 

“Captain… Captain…” Mayvilis came around from a brief moment of unconsciousness. Benson was at her side and had gently rustled her. 

“Status re–port.” Her body hurt, but after she moved her limbs around some cautiously, Mayvilis was confident nothing was broken. 

“You’ve only been out about a minute or so, Captain. I got the shields back online to twenty percent. The carrier has been disabled. We have several hull breaches on our ventral end. Weapons are operating at forty percent efficiency. Warp drive is offline. We are running on auxiliary power and batteries.” Benson helped Mayvilis up as he gave his report, and he assisted her back to the helm station, which was now half burnt out from having sparked. 

“So we’re in rough shape… Ensign Clarks–” Mayvilis looked back to see that the operations station had been destroyed. She took note of the ensign’s corpse some distance from operations on the floor, charred and very dead.

“How many?” There was a sadness in her voice as she asked her executive officer the question.

“Reports still coming in. Last I looked… four confirmed dead. Ensign Clarkson included among those…” Benson sorely walked back over to tactical and resumed the battered station. 

Mayvilis levelled out the Aldrin and slowly circled it back around, so its forward end faced the disabled carrier vessel. It was a sight to behold, seeing the Sovereign-class Britannia wedged into the disabled carrier. 

“Helm controls are much more sluggish, but at least we’re moving. What’s our tactical situation, Benson? I’m assuming we don’t have much time before more enemy ships converge on us.” This worried Mayvilis, as the Aldrin was in much less combat-ready shape than it had been only moments prior. 

“I’m alive down here in case you were wondering. Thankfully, everyone on my team down here is, too. We’ve had to temporarily shut down the core to avoid breach territory. You’ll have it back within the next twenty minutes – contingent on us not being battered anymore.” The voice of Lieutenant Commander Stramm came through the comms. 

“I can’t promise that. Do your best, Commander.” Mayvilis replied and tried to adjust some of the thrust control ranges, so that things felt a bit more responsive in their current state. The need to maneuver was not going away. 

Before Benson could report in, after Stramm’s interruption, the proximity alert alarm sounded from the tactical station. “Captain… We’ve got another ship headed for us. They appear to be regrouping.” Benson reported what the alarm already told her. 

“All hands… Prepare for another assault….” 

The Aldrin had to defend itself and Britania now.