Ultimatum

Chapter 22

    Now that the Vigilant was heading back to DS7 safe and sound it was time to get down to business. Standing Commodore Chi gave an order “Comms hail the Herodian ship.” 

    Moments later a rather tall, slender grayish skin male appeared on the Screen “I am Dizzol of the Herodian people; you have interfered with our  mission…..that is not acceptable” he stated empathically.

    Rebecca looked at this man with great disdain and was not about to give an inch “ This is Commodore Rebecca Chi of the USS Divergent. Too long have your people destroyed our ships and taken our Crews hostage turning them into your sex slaves but no more. This ends right here, right now” she stated matter of factly and with great resolve.

    “Again you are interfering with our glorious mission of giving your people all they could ever want in their miserable lives in exchange for procreation with other’s of your kind” he stated.

    Now the Commodore was starting to get a little irritated as she stepped closer to the Screen “Do you have any idea how many homes have been broken…..how many lives have been shattered due to your arrogance or the ongoing pain of not knowing if their loved ones are even alive or not; not to mention the conditions they may be living in.”

    Suddenly there was a few minutes of silence then the Herodian spoke “That is not any of our concern. To show you I’m not unreasonable, and since you opted to save the other ship, I will take eight of your Crew instead to complete our glorious mission” Dizzol stated as a way of compromise.

    “That is certainly not going to happen Dizzol” Chi replied emphatically “But to show you I am not unreasonable, you have a choice……either return to the Gamma Quadrant and never return to the Alpha or Beta Quadrants ever again or be utterly and totally destroyed…..your choice and this IS NOT negotiable.”

    Dizzol gave what could pass for a laugh “My dear Commodore, we are an advanced race….do you think for one moment you can defeat us in battle?”

    Chi grinned “I’ve heard that claim many times over the years but yet we’re still here. This ship is a technology research vessel so I am very confident we have something in our arsenal to defeat you if it should come to that” she stated with resolve.

Without a reply Dizzol cut the transmission; the Screen returned to a view of space as she heard Tactical “Ma’am they’re powering up their Ship…..weapons are online” the Lieutenant called out.

    Looking to the Captain and giving a nod, D’Nor assumed control of the situation “Shields up…Red Alert…Tactical bring weapons online….Helm move us into a defensive position” came the orders as everyone responded.

    Tactical called out “Captain we have some sort of energy beam heading right towards us” but before D’Nor could react the Divergent shook with force. “Tactical full phaser spread.” “Phasers fired…full spread….little effect Sir.

    Another energy beam shook the Ship again but a little harder “Tactical two quantum torpedos….target their weapons array….Helm be ready to move the Ship to counter” D’Nor ordered. Operations called out “Sir shields down to seventy five percent….transferring more power to forward shields….shields at ninety five percent.” “Locked on target Sir…..torpedos away…..direct hit” but Tactical couldn’t believe the readings “Captain their shields are at ninety five percent.”

    The two ships exchanged fire back and forth for about an hour with neither one being very effective when Operations called out “Captain we can’t take much more of this and maintain shield integrity….our power reserves are getting dangerously low.”

    Captain D’nor looked over to the Commodore; Rebecca gave a nod knowing what D’nor was about to do. “Computer this is Captain D’Nor…..security code….Alpha, Tango, Beta seven nine eight….. bring the doomsday torpedos online at Tactical.”

 “Captain D’Nor…..security code….Alpha, Tango, Beta, seven nine eight…..doomsday  torpedoes are now online at Tactical” the Computer responded.

    D’Nor had never imagined using such a destructive device and Star Fleet had very definite criteria in order for the weapon to be deployed. One of the major criteria having been met in this situation was the weapon was only to be used if up against a much superior force; this certainly qualified. Also he would be required to write numerous reports detailing everything later on. The one saving grace was he knew Commodore Chi would back him one hundred percent; she would never hang him out to dry.

    “Helm put another five hundred kilometers between that ship and us” D’Nor ordered as Helm responded as ordered. “Tactical load in one doomsday torpedo….target their weapons array….fire when ready.”

    “As you wish Captain” Tactical replied “Torpedo loaded and ready…..firing now.” Moments later a flash of blinding light was the Herodian ship being blown into a massive dust bowl.

    Every Officer on the Bridge let out a sigh of relief seeing the confrontation resolved. Commodore Chi walked over to the Captain placing her hand on his shoulder and in a low voice “D’Nor well done; I know that wasn’t easy for you extinguishing an entire ship and their crew.”

    “Logically that was the only choice left to me given the situation of a superior force” D’Nor replied then continued “The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.”

    Rebecca nodded in agreement as she turned “Helm set a course for DS7, warp eight…..let’s make sure the Vigilant is no worse for wear.”