At first it was a faint fluctuation, barely enough to be registered on the ships sensors; hidden as it was amongst all the other chaos, resent events had thrown up.  It grew in intensity; turning swiftly into a swirling maelstrom. It pulsed with energy, expanding from nothing to form a huge thunderstorm in space. Then from its heart, it opened out.  At its very centre, the newly formed entrance to the Underspace corridors.

From within they came; five deadly predators on the hunt.  They had been sent out as scouts by Captain Gokla, believing his own vessel to be far superior to any vessel in the sector, and therefore in no danger.  It was that assumption and his misplaced trust in the Orion, Navaar Orci; that had led to its destruction.  All that the five escort ships knew at this point was that communication with the Command ship had been lost.

Their movement was slow, deliberate; they wouldn’t be rushed into combat, not until they’d established what they would be facing.  Exiting from the aperture in a staggered formation, they spread out once the last vessel was clear; forming a rough ‘x’ pointing towards the two Federation vessels.

The opening to Underspace collapsed in on itself, disappearing as quickly as it had formed.  Only the echoes of residual energy and the five Vaadwaur Supremacy warships, giving any indication that it had ever existed.

**********

On the Bridge of the USS da Vinci, Commander Mary Anacostia-Bolling looked around her at those fellow officers currently manning the various stations; bathed in the steady rhythmic glow of the Red Alert.   She had no First Officer and no Tactical Officers; neither did the USS Grus, the second Saber assigned to this two ship division.

It had been her decision to send them all down to the planet’s surface and engage the Vaadwaur soldiers occupying Samson III and holding a number of it citizens and visitors, as prisoners.  Now her actions were coming back to bite her.  If they made any attempt to lower the shields and beam back the away teams, the enemy would strike.  They’d got lucky with the fighters, she knew that; those things would probably shred the da Vinci’s shields in short order; with the shields down, things would be over in moments.

This time there would be no help from the Orion’s, no faulty Romulan technology to create a temporal time dilation; bringing their enemy to a virtual standstill.  If they ran, then those they left behind would surely suffer.  This was a no win scenario in all its glory.

“We’re receiving an incoming transmission from the lead vessel.”  Ensign Phillanie announced.

The Command straightened out her uniform, tugging gently, then used the fingers of her left hand to brush a few stray hairs back into place.  Satisfied she looked reasonably presentable; Anacostia-Bolling had the Ensign put the image up on the main screen.

The Vaadwaur officer that appeared before her look remarkable young; that is if this race aged at a similar rate as humans did.  The flaps of skin running down the side of his head and neck, gave him the typical snake like look of his people were recognised by; and his demeanour was one of confidence and superiority.  Anacostia-Bolling took an instant dislike to him before he’d even opened his mouth.

“I am Captain Drenlo of the Vaaswaur Supremacy.  Lower your shields and surrender your vessels immediately.” The voice was both condescending and arrogant. It did nothing to improve the Commanders opinion of this individual.

“I’m Commander Anacostia-Bolling, Captain of the Federation starship USS da Vinci and I was about to say the same thing to you.” She replied with her best commanding voice; the one her XO, jokingly referred to as the ‘Headmistress’ voice.

The officer was clearly caught off guard by her statement; she could see it in the eyes and the way the corners of his mouth twitched.  Clearly this was a young upstart who was unused to being talked back to. “And why would the Supremacy surrender to someone who is clearly inferior?”

“If we are inferior as you put it.” She stared back at him.  “Explain to me, where that big ship that was left to bombard the planet as gone?”

The Commander watched that twitch again and Drenlo leaned off screen to confer with another member of his crew.  When he came back into view there was an expression of puzzled doubt.  “Our sensors detect debris consistent with the destruction of an Astika-class Heavy Battlecruiser.”

“Can your sensor also detect how little damage has been inflicted on our two ships?”  She asked in reply.

Again Drenlo had to ask his fellow Vaadwaur sat off to his right.  When he sat back straight, Drenlo looked unsure of himself. “You must have had help.” He virtually blurted out. “There is no possible way your pathetic ships could have destroyed a Battlecruiser and her fighters, alone.”

“We’re trapped here with no means of escape.” The Commander said flatly. “Where did we get this mysterious help from?”  She hoped the sensors on the enemy vessel couldn’t detect the warp signature from the Orion Raider, her own scientific team hadn’t been able to pick up the trail, and they knew which way to look.

Drenlo leaned forward.  “This is preposterous.” The voice was loud, but lacked any real power behind it. “You expect me to believe, your two ships defeated an Astika?”

“I only expect you to look at the evidence put before you.” Anacostia-Bolling, answered. “You may draw your own conclusions.”

The arrival of the shuttle craft carrying the Vaadwaur soldiers escaping from the Spaceport at Samson III; acted as another distraction from the conversation.  Ensign Phillanie was able to eavesdrop on the message being relayed by someone aboard the small craft to Captain Drenlo’s ship.  It was filled with errors and inconsistences, as those on the shuttle tried to explain away their apparent defeat.

It mentioned how they’d witnessed the destruction of their command ship, something that would have been impossible from the planet’s surface. They also claimed to have been attacked by overwhelming Federation forces and had lost over 30 men in the fighting which had taken place earlier that day.  The Communications Officer relayed all this to the Commander via a text feed, so she could read the details without making it obvious she knew what was being said.

It was a full five minutes before Anacostia-Bolling had the dubious pleasure of looking at the face of the young Vaadwaur officer once more.  “It would appear your account of what happened here, has been independently verified.” The voice was more an apologetic mumble; nowhere near the authoritative tone it had been at the start.  Here was a man that was rattled by the implications of what he was being told.  “Though I’m still at a loss as to how you achieved it.”

The Commander decided it was time to go all out, before this officer managed to regain any of his confidence.  “The Question is Captain Drenlo.” She gave him an icy smile.  “Are you willing to sacrifice yourself and your ships to find out?”

She watched him gulp, and knew she had him.  Knew this was a man more used to following orders than giving them.  His ship was now the one in command of this fleet by default after the destruction of the Battlecruiser; he was not however a leader of men.

“Enjoy your hollow victory whilst you can Commander.” Drenlo tried to sound defiant.  “The Vaadwaur Supremacy will reign supreme, of that you can be certain.”

His image disappeared, to be replaced by the fire warships; which were all now turning about.  No one on the Bridge of the da Vinci dared uttered a single word, until they’d watched the Underspace aperture open up, the five vessels along with the shuttle enter it and the whole thing collapse into nothingness.

“Captain, that was simply remarkable.” Lieutenant Beriev announced with a hint of pride in his voice.  “The way you handled that situation was amazing!”

Anacostia-Bolling turned and looked back at the Saurian Assistant Science Officer.  “Thank you for that.  However I’d rather not have to gamble the lives of the crew on a bluff like that in the future.”

She felt emotional drained and every one of her 44 years, plus probably another dozen on top.  She wasn’t a diplomate and certainly didn’t feel she was good at lying either; yet somehow she’d just bluffed her way out of a major battle.  Would the Vaadwaur Supremacy return in greater numbers, or Drenlo figure out he’d been tricked.  Regardless of that though, there were people trapped in collapsed building down on the planet’s surface, for now, rescuing them was the priority.