Chris didn't know what to feel at that. He should've felt horrified, but after the recent losses, for some odd reason, it didn't feel so bad… He cursed himself for letting that happen.

"Then perhaps you'd like to come aboard the most advanced starship in the Federation," Chris stated. He sighed. "We have even more bad news for you…"

"Just what we need…" Charley stated. "If you would, we have only one operational shuttle. Other than that, shuttle bays one and two are clear. Bay three has been flooded with radiation."

"Very well, we'll send over our shuttles to ferry you aboard," Chris stated. He smiled. "Good to see you again, my friend."

Charley smiled. "Like wise. Frontier out."



The Ariantar shook violently again. Piarn swore the Vorkalai were concentrating on the Ariantar, for they were losing shields fast.

Luckily, the odds had been evened, and the battle was turning towards the Hintaru's side. It might not matter, though. If the Vorkalai still had plenty of ships, then the Hintaru would not survive.

"Firing pattern Duqua 7," Piarn ordered. "Redirect emergency power to the shields!"

"Aye sir, power being rerouted."

"Target that heavy cruiser," Piarn ordered, indicating a large invasion ship that no doubt housed invasion troops for starbases and orbital platforms, as well as other ships. "Ready a full spread of quantum torpedoes and target their bridge!"

"Aye sir, heading for the ship," the helmsman stated.

"Fire on my command!"

The Ariantar moved through space kind of slow. She had been severely damaged by a collision, but she was still very much battle capable. Though her engines were damaged, she still posed a threat to the Vorkalai…a major one.

Finally, a clear path to the ship presented itself. "FIRE!"

Suddenly, twenty quantum torpedoes, from the five launchers positioned on the Ariantar. All impacted on the bridge and, instead of just causing them to lose the command bridge, the entire ship was destroyed.

The Ariantar maneuvered through the debris as a few crew members cheered.



"Well, captain, I may have a way of getting us back to normal space," Charley stated as they watched the last Runabout land in the bay.

Chris looked at him, surprised. Charley smiled and said, "I wish we would've thought of it earlier. We could've used the warp core to create a subspace tear weak enough not to destroy us, but strong enough for us to pass through."

Chris smiled. "Coordinate with my engineer," Chris said, pointing to Kalia behind him.



The huge invasion ship suddenly blew up, taking out the small ship that had finished her off for the Ariantar. The shock wave hit the Ariantar, but was too weak to cause any damage by the time it reached it.

Piarn sighed as he sat back in his seat, for that was the last of the enormous invasion ships.

"Sir, the Vorkalai fleet is retreating!" Comaria yelled. "All of the ships are simply running, not even bothering to fire!"

Piarn smiled. "Send some torpedoes up their exhaust while they leave, but tell the fleet to not pursue."

Comaria smiled. "Yes sir!"

Twenty torpedoes once again fired at the retreating fleet, causing the destruction of eight ships, while several more were destroyed by other ships.


The camera now follows the ship leading the Vorkalai retreat. It turns to follow the ships as it suddenly jumps into warp, followed by the others, leaving the very few remaining Hintaru ships to lick what wounds they could…



"We are emerging on the other side," Tom stated.

Suddenly the Dragon shook. Chris smiled as the normal star field appeared.

But before he could say 'good job everyone,' a sensor alarm sounded.

"A small Vorkalai fleet is passing by us!" Perkins stated.

The Dragon suddenly began odd maneuvers as the passing fleet flew by the Dragon. The passing fleet did not fire, but it caused the Dragon to be thrown in odd directions.

Finally, the ships stopped its odd movements, allowing Chris to get back into his seat.

"Report!"

Perkins sighed. "It's the same fleet we fought before, but with a lot of casualties. It looks like they are retreating from the defense base."

Chris sighed as he slumped in his chair. "Signal the Hintaru Defense base. Tell them we could use a ride."

"Aye sir, sending message."



Captain's Log: Supplemental.

The fleet has suffered severe casualties. Only one hundred twenty eight ships survived. The Defense base had taken a severe beating, and now we prepare for what could be our imminent destruction.

Charley, R'Sharn and myself are having a reunion on holodeck one, along with Tom and Sarah. It'd been too long since I last saw those two on the Dragon bridge…

Also, the Romulan ambassador that the Frontier had been ferrying has agreed to become a crew member of the Dragon. He seems quite a peaceful person, and I actually look forward to seeing what he can do…though it'll probably happen only during the next and last battle…



The silence was deafening. No one would speak, and no one had, except for the initial hellos and 'shall we sit?' The result of the second battle of the war was enough to make a Klingon cower in fear. If the Borg had taken losses such as this, even they would have become fearful.