[snip]

”..Aye yawns sir!..” NE Sleepy said as the Merrimack dropped from warp outside the system. Ahead of them was the USS Avenger, a Chandley class medium cruiser.

“NE Sleepy, go immediately to the galley and drink two shots of espresso,” said Glen. “NE WideAwakeClub take over at Helm.”

”..Aye sir!” NE WideAwakeClub said taking them helm

”..Right sir…yawns..” he said sleepily heading into the turbolift

The ship was leaking drive plasma from the port nacelle and there shields were raised. Not far behind the ship dropping from cloaks were two Orion blockade runners who immediately opened fire on again on the Avenger. The Merrimack, not far from a comet cloud, likely was for the moment not being picked up yet by the two Orion ships on scans.

“Go to Red Alert!” announced Captain Glen. “That’s the shore leave party officially over now!”

“Nkosenye, I see you stand like a greyhound in the slips, straining upon the start. The game’s afoot! I suggest a full spread of photon torpedoes in salvos of six, do you concur?” Glen asked.

“Aye, Captain. Recommend we close to medium engagement range, minimize the effect of their multiple vessels and keep them from concentrating fire on any one section, Captain.” Nkosenye replied, his fingers flying over the console and the tubes loading.

“NE WideAwakeClub, it doesn’t look like they’ve detected us yet behind this comet cloud. Please keep it that way until we fire on them. They won’t know where it came from,” Glen said.

”..Right sir..” WideAwakeClub replied maneuvering the Merrimack carefully

William made sure that their passive scans would not reveal their location as he continually went over his sensor screen.

Cross entered silently and quietly absorbing the surrounding of the bridge, particular the Captain’s commands while her eyes firmly fixed on the view screen.

“These Orion pirates are getting bolder by the day,” mused Glen. “Orion vessels firing on Starfleet starships is an audacious move by them. I thought that our previous encounters had helped to put them back in their box, and to shut down their shady operations, but here they are, just as brazen as ever. Starfleet Intelligence reports have previously suggested that their official position of neutrality was valued by them above that of ship and crew, underlined by all unsuccessful Orion missions ending in a self destruct or suicide. I would expect that Orions would keep that rationale in good conscience, because they would otherwise fall subject to Federation retaliation, if they were to lose their neutrality. Nevertheless, I don’t want to be stuck out here, patrolling these forsaken borders for the remainder of my career, so we need to nip this insurgence in the bud, as quickly as possible. Mr. Nkosenye, fire at will!”

A nod was all the acknowledgement that came from the big Zulu and his finger pressed the fire control. Immediately, a six-torpedo spread was shot forth, each programmed to detonate with overlapping fields of efficacy.

Tinga looked down at her console and then up at the screen. She knew Orions had an audacious nature and it would probably take quite a bit to quell this situation.

Glen had not failed to notice Miriam join the Bridge, though she was trying hard not to be noticed. “Dr. Cross,” Glen turned and spoke, “the Orions will most certainly return fire, and there are two of them. For them this will be life or death - if they don’t destroy the Avenger and the Merrimack they will not be able to return home as they would be responsible for having starting a war. So, we can expect heavy causalities. Is Sickbay ready and prepared?”

‘’Aye Captain it is and now that I have seen firsthand what is going on I shall return to sickbay ‘’.

” Keep the shields raised and divert more power to the shields,” Glen instructed.

On her way Cross started to wonder why the Orions were attacking a Federation ship,considering that they would rather kill themselves then return back home defeated. It was definitely an Orion ship but were there Orions onboard?

Below the Bridge on Deck-8, the entire space of the deck inside the dorsal neck mount, is taken up with the Merrimack’s triple photon torpedo launcher system. The two launchers that faced directly forward, began launching their torpedoes independently, as a six-torpedo spread, each programmed to detonate with overlapping fields of efficacy as the COS had requested.

The torpedoes thumped out of the launching tubes and exploded in record concert to much surprise the explosions pierced through non-existent shields of the two Orion ships blasting into their armored only hulls with great success, in twin concrete they exploded in a flash of destruction.

A moment later a hail came in from the Avenger again as it came to a stop 400 meters off the port bow of the Merrimack

Kord always liked a good light show.

“Hmm!” said Glen, “Maybe that was a slightly excessive reply!”

“Tinga,” said Glen. “Acknowledge the hail and open a channel with the Avenger, please.”

-Glen, CO