... Of Forty Starships ...

by

Robert Roy

The Academy grounds were perfect, as usual. Boothby had outdone himself in preparation for the annual commencement ceremony. Seated on the stage amongst the various dignitaries, watching with only the slighest interest in the proceedings, I made my final decision.

After sitting through the valedictory speech, I saw Admiral Brandt approaching centre stage. "On this day of celebration of this year's Academy graduates, I would like to take a final moment to honour one of our past graduates whose quick thinking and command presence made him the only officer to bring home a starship after the battle of Wolf 359. In the process, this young man gave the Enterprise valuable needed time to eventually stop the Borg menace. Everyone, please welcome Lieutenant Ryan Khaegan."

I stood from my position and joined Admiral Brandt. My stoic expression, which early in my Academy career had earned my the nickname "Ice", remained intact through the entire ceremony. It betrayed neither my appreciation of the honour they intended to bestow upon me, nor my own intentions.

"Lieutenant," Brandt continued, "For distinguished service, honour and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, I am honoured to present you with the following awards. These awards are but tokens, and cannot possibly repay the debt that we, the citizens of Earth and the Federation, owe you."

Another officer, whom I did not recognize, walked up beside Brandt carrying a half dozen small boxes, each one bearing medals which were to be pinned on my uniform. I couldn't help but think of Captain Yossarian. I finally understood, completely, why that fictional character chose to accept his medal the way he did. I even considered following suit but, of course, it had already been done.

As Brandt pinned each one on me, she announced their names. I only half heard what she was saying, my mind on thoughts of what I would say after the presentation was complete. "... Medal of Honour ..." Brandt annouced, "... Star Cross ... Legion of Honour ..."

Once she had finish covering my chest with metal and ribbon, she reached up and pressed something into my collar. Slightly curious, I strained my neck just enough to glimpse that it was a gold rank pip. They were promoting me two full rank steps.

Pity.

"Congratulations, Commander Khaegan. Would you care to say a few words?"

Knowing I was expected to make some form of speech, I didn't want to disappoint them. However, you don't always get what you want. I began, "Thank you, Admiral Brandt. It is important to me that I convey to you, and everyone here, just how much I appreciate the honours you have paid to me. Nothing about my Starfleet career has been easy. The Academy was a constant struggle, as has been my service aboard the USS Myrmidon. But nothing in my life compared to having to leave behind as many good people as I was forced to do at the battle of Wolf 359."

"However," I continued, "I know that it was part of my duty as the surviving senior officer to make the hard choice and save what I could of my ship and its crew. I also know that I may be called upon to do the same thing again."

"That is why I have decided that I, as of this moment, will never be in that position again. I formally resign my commision." I concluded to a hushed silence from the audience and graduates. Even Admiral Brandt stood there gap-mouthed for a moment before regaining her composure.

Still maintaining my stoic mask, I walked off the stage with the firm intention of never having any association with Starfleet ever, for the rest of my life.

Walking away I overheard someone saying, "So, there's something running through his veins besides 'Ice' afterall." I recognized the voice as belonging to Commander Benjamin Sisko.

* * *

A metre or so away from me, a console blew up. It was about the tenth console to do so in the past few minutes since we'd engaged the Borg vessel, and was otherwise an unexceptional occurrence, but for the fact that Chief Engineer Cerise Barrant had been standing in front of it moments before.

Just then the call came in from the bridge. It was first officer Commander Gage Michaels, yelling, "Engine room, we need more power to the weapon systems! Commander Barrant respond."

"This is her assistant, Lieutenant Khaegan, Commander. The Chief's dead, sir."

"Understood, Khaegan, but we still need that power."

"I'll do what I can, Commander, but don't expect miracles. Khaegan out."

I began re-routing power from anywhere it could be spared. The Borg had already cut off a huge section of our saucer section with its cutting beam. The Captain had ordered a quick change to our attack vector, and the inhabitants of that section were unfortunate to have gotten in between the Borg and our engines. If there was an upside to that circumstance, it obviated the need for shielding, life support, and the structural integrity field in that area.

The ship rocked again and I was knocked from my feet. To me it didn't seem that we were hurt that badly but the attack. It wasn't until I regained my footing and looked at the main engineering display that I realized the full extent of our damage. Most of the life support systems for the saucer section were offline or destroyed. The shields were on the verge of buckling and the warp drive was useless. It was still producing power, but were incapable of maintaining a subspace field for more than a second at a time. We didn't even have tranporter power, and sensors were barely operational.

The sensors were, however, operational enough to tell us that there were only sporadic life readings in the saucer section, and none of them were coming from the bridge.

The viewscreen on the console next to me flickered to life. The transmission appeared to be coming from a turbolift. I could see the bodies of the tactical officer and the helm officer lifeless on the floor. The Captain's blood-caked face appeared in the forefront. Without being a medical officer, I could tell that she didn't have too much longer to live. Behind me, I heard Lieutenant Cornell's sharp intake of breath.

"Captain, what happened?" I asked impassively. I could not afford an emotional reaction like Cornell's.

"I'm not sure, Lieutenant." Captain Iliana Browst informed me. Every breath and every word was a labour for her. She continued, "We were on our way to the battle bridge when we were hit. I've been unable to get in touch with Commander Michaels on the bridge."

"He's dead, Captain." I informed her without preamble, "Orders, Captain?" I could feel Cornell's shocked gaze upon my back.

Browst paused a moment to take in the hard news and silently mourn her lost friends before responding, "We're totally cut off down here and losing atmospheric control rapidly. I won't last much longer. That will leave you in command, Ryan. You have to initiate an emergency saucer separation. With any luck you can save at least the lives of the people in the stardrive section. Do not re-engage the Borg. Understood?"

"Understood, Captain." I acknowledged, adding, "It has been an honour serving with you."

The Captain may have been preparing to respond to my last statement, but the communication system shorted out. The Captain's image disappeared from the viewscreen. I stood there for few moments longer, my head not filled with regret, but with possibilities.

"Ryan?" Cornell asked, looking desperately for leadership from the last available source. "Are we going to do as the Captain asks?"

"Sort of."

* * *

Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko sat sulking in one of the escape pods of the USS Saratoga. The Saratoga had been utterly destroyed by the Borg early in the battle. Just before its destruction, a few of the surviving crew, including first officer Sisko and his son Jake, were lucky enough to have escaped with their lives. Not so lucky was Sisko's wife Jennifer.

Sisko was buried within his grief the way Jennifer had been buried beneath debris. She had died under that debris and, were it possible, Sisko wished he could died under the weight of his grief.

Sisko heard something completely discordant with the general feeling of fear, disappointment and sorrow that had filled the escape pod since it had abandonned the Saratoga to its destruction. Several of the officers had sent up an enthusiastic cheer.

"Did you see that?" Asked an enthusiastic Jake. He was standing up next to one of the windows.

"See what, Jake?"

"Come look."

Sisko forced himself briefly out of his mood to see what everyone was so happy about. The sight that greeted him did gladen his heart, at least for a little. A quarter of the Borg cube had been blown away completely. Its wreckage was mingling with assorted pieces of destroyed starships. Much of the Borg ship was open to space. It was not moving.

Then Sisko saw the stardrive section of an Ambassador class starship flying triumphantly away from the battle under impulse power. "What happened, Jake?" Sisko asked, disbelieving the scene before him.

"It looked like they were going on a collision course at warp speed, but at the last second they separated the saucer and pulled up."

Hranok, the Saratoga's Bolian tactical officer, continued the description, "From what I can tell, the Myrmidon's saucer impulse drive was set on overload. It imploded mere metres away from the Borg ship. They also ejected their warp core at the Borg vessel and detonated it."

"Everything, and the kitchen sink." Sisko commented.

The occupants of the escape pod watched as the Myrmidon went from escape pod to escape pod, and shuttle to shuttle, picking up survivors. When the ship finally approached the Saratoga's pod, the Myrmidon hailed them.

"This is Lieutenant Ryan Khaegan aboard the USS Myrmidon." Khaegan announced from the centre seat of the battle bridge. "Are your escape transporters working?"

"I believe so." Sisko replied.

"Good. Our transporters are still out, so you'll have to beam aboard yourselves. If you have any surviving medical personnel, please direct them to our sickbay. Myrmidon out."

"Just a moment." Sisko replied quickly, just before Khaegan could close the channel.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Good job, Lieutenant." Sisko responded enthusiastically.

"Thank you, sir. Myrmidon out."

Khaegan's image disappeared from the viewscreen. Sisko looked at his friend Hranok in puzzlement.

Ensign Templeton from engineering spoke up, "They call him 'Ice', sir."

"Not without reason." Sisko observed.

* * *

Sisko was already yelling as he stepped onto the battle bridge, "What do you mean we're not going back?"

Calmly, I replied, "It's just like it sounds, Commander ..."

"Sisko." He supplied.

"Sisko." I repeated. "Under no circumstances is this ship going to battle the Borg again. I made a promise to my Captain, and I intend to keep it."

"Is that so, Lieutenant?" Responded Sisko with a clearly implied threat.

"Quite so, Lieutenant Commander. And if you're thinking of pulling rank on me, forget it. This is my ship now, and my crew."

"Khaegan, the Borg ship has been damaged."

"I know. I damaged it."

"So you should also know that this is the only chance we'll get to destroy it."

"That chance, if it ever existed, is gone. I spent it when I decided to rescue the survivors. Even now the Borg ship is regenerating. From what I know of them, it is already too late to attack them, even if I had something to attack them with. Right now, the Myrmidon has the offensive capabilities of a big shuttlecraft with no warp drive."

"So what are we supposed to do, now?"

"You, Commander, are supposed to do nothing. I am taking this ship to Alpha Centauri. Now that we've given the Enterprise some time, I'm hoping they'll have better luck than the fleet did. Either way, we are out of it. We are the last of forty starships, but we are alive."

* * *

THE END