GORN:. This fight is but beginning...

[ON]

[Battle Command Deck – Gorn Hegemony Combat Cruiser Rend with Teeth]

First Hatched and Talon Szt-Thalz paced up and down the center of the Command Deck, hissing and snarling to herself or any of her command crew unlucky enough to cross her path.

Her powerful new ship had been battered and badly damaged, she had lost numerous crew and two of her three Raider Phalanx. The ship had been boarded, weapons technology and prisoners stolen from her! Her long planned attack on the cursed Federation station had failed. What had been intended as a surprise and deadly assault, one that should have obliterated the Federation base completely, had ended in an ignominious rout.

The Federation ships had launched some version of their own Venom Torpedoes at her which had penetrated her shields and spread some kind of metal eating virus on to her hull, that had disrupted energy systems and nearly crippled the ship.

Even launching the ventral saucer to ram into the station had failed, scans had showed the saucer was destroyed just before impact by a flotilla of Federation ships that arrived late in the battle.

She had been boarded by three different Starfleet Raider groups. One had fallen to her crew and the bio-weapon gas. The other two when the saucer was destroyed by their own side. But even this gave her little pleasure.

The only success had been her own raid on the Starfleet Sovereign class vessel. Her First Phalanx had secured their objective and returned with the foolish Healer Sithig, a traitor to his own kind who had joined Starfleet!

Even now, as the fool sat shackled in the detention deck, he did not know he had been but a pawn in a greater game. A sacrifice for the Federation to blame, while the real spy still worked for the Hegemony, hidden in their ranks.

But even that small success had been costly, the First Phalanx has lost a third of their number, possibly one or two even taken prisoner. She did not like the thought of that, but knew that even if the captured Gorn revealed all they knew, it would mean little to Starfleet.

Then, as they had limped away, an Insignia Class vessel had chased and attempted to board them at warp. She had dispatched a few of the surviving Phalanx Raiders in a counter boarding action. They had known it was suicide but gone willingly, hopefully of killing a few more Federation beasts before they fell themselves.

She had ordered them to turn into the Federation ship as though to ram them. At the same time she had the Propulsion Master refocus their own warp field enough to collapse that of the Federation ship and had sent them spinning away to fall behind.

“First Talon?” A voice called

“What?!” She whirled on the speaker, talons drawn, it was her Steering Master. He held her gaze for a moment then looked down.

“I beg to report we have gone beyond sensor range of the Insignia class vessel First Talon” He said “I request permission to reduce speed to facilitate repairs. We cannot maintain this speed for much longer without doing permanent damage to our engines”

She was angry and about to lunge at him but realized her officer was correct. If the ship was damaged beyond repair then she would have no way to salvage her plans and ambitions.

“Very well, slow to warp two” She snapped “I want repair teams working constantly until further notice. Standby to come about. Lay in a course for Location Kar’Szthdz.

“I obey Talon” The Steering Master backed away and quietly gave the commands.

As the ship slowed and adjusted course Szt-Thalz turned and walked back to her chair, she sat down. Both hands gripped the armrests, the talons extended and scrapped into the metal as her knuckles turned pale. Her eyes turned to slits, she gritted her teeth and a low growl rumbled in her throat “Usszzz…. This fight is but beginning…”


[OFF]