Subject: FRONTIER: Final Assault

SD 70920

Keanu awoke from his slumber feeling fresh. His ribs still hurt like 
hell when he moved too much. He activated his padd next to his bed 
and read the duty log. Most of the crew had beamed down to the planet
to take over the base, and there was only a skeleton crew manning the 
bridge and engineering. Keanu got up and put a clean uniform on.

He walked towards the turbolift and headed to the bridge. Houston sat 
in the command chair, Leana DeLias at tactical and Ishara at the nav 
console. "Commander Houston, I'm reporting for duty."

She eyed him with as much suspicion as could be expected from an 
emotionless being, and answered, "I am surprised by your rapid 
recovery Lieutenant." After a moment's pause, "Take Ops, Mr. Maren."

Keanu walked over and slipped into the seat next to Ishara. Doing a 
quick check over all the systems under his control, he noticed that 
the engineering crew had managed to repair the warp drive. 

There was an uneasy silence on the bridge, this was interrupted by 
Leana. "Sir, long range sensors have picked up some ships heading this 
way at warp speed." 

"Confirmed, three Kzinti scout class vessels on an intercept course,"
Keanu said looking over the sensor readouts. "Their E.T.A is 16 
minutes."


On the planet

Ramsay was tense as he prepared to enter the complex. He'd studied the
map Houston had drawn up, and it was a thoroughly complicated mass of 
corridors and rooms. They had a limited amount of time to storm the 
base, in which they would have to secure the dampening field 
generator so nobody could call for help.

He breathed slowly, relaxing as much as he could in the last few 
seconds available to him.

The team led by Angus was first to attack. The guards at the door were
cut down in a barrage of phaser fire, and after a moments pause the 
team moved inside, rapidly securing the immediate corridor.

The other groups moved in through the remaining three doors after 
disposing of the outer perimeter of guards. There were two sections - 
one spearheading the movement forward in the base, the other checking 
all the side corridors and rooms for unsuspecting Kzinti.

After a while Will grew used to the sounds of sizzling phaser beams, 
the smells of burnt flesh. After a few shots, he found it became 
easier to pick off the surprised Kzinti.

Things were becoming increasingly difficult though. With the element 
of surprise wearing off, it was harder to gain new ground. Eventually 
Ramsay found his group catching up with their frontmen.

"What's the situation?" he asked, glancing up ahead.

"Corridor deadlock," replied McVyker. "They're just round the corner, 
waiting for us to come down the passage and get shot to pieces."

"Show me which side of the corridor they're on," he answered, 
simultaneously adjusting the settings on his phaser.

She spotted the heat signatures of the hidden Kzinti, pointed toward 
the right half of the corridor's end.

Ramsay made one final adjustment and lobbed his phaser down the 
corridor. It skidded to a halt just at the end, emitting a bleeping 
noise.

"Phaser on overload!" he shouted. "Get down!" Everyone cleared the 
corridor and waited for the explosion.

It was loud and hot and bright, and when the smoke cleared there 
wasn't much sign of the problematic soldiers that had been holding up 
their advance.


On the ship

"They haven't spotted us yet, Commander. I would guess it'll take them
a few minutes to figure out where we are," reported Keanu from his Ops
console.

"What is their current position?" asked Houston, striding forward from
the command chair to look at the readouts.

"They're flying in standard formation, bearing three-four-seven mark 
five. They'll be passing our position in fifty seconds."

Houston thought for a few moments, then walked back to her command 
chair and said, "Lt. Ishara, when they pass I want a full impulse 
turn, bring us directly behind them. At the same time, Lt. DeLias, 
power up weapons and fire at your discretion."

"Forty seconds," added Maren. "Sir, if I may ask, how do you know they
won't be able to detect us before we make our move?"

"If we are successful, Lieutenant, I will be more than willing to 
share my analysis with you. Currently, we do not have time for such a 
discussion," replied Houston.

The atmosphere on the bridge was tense, hushed, the only sounds being 
those generated by the ship. The scouts loomed closer on the screen, 
closer, closer...

"Ten seconds," said Keanu. Then after a few moments, "Five... four...
three... two... one... sir, they haven't spotted us!" He was amazed 
and astonished.

"Proceed as planned," said Houston, but Ishara and Leana were already 
preparing the ship for what was to come next. The viewscreen was a 
blur of rapidly-moving starfield as the ship turned about sharply 
towards the Kzinti vessels. Then it was lit up with the deadly 
arsenal available to the Frontier. Phasers pummelled one ship into 
dust, photons reduced the next to twisted wreckage, and the last was 
expertly crushed in the grip of the twin tractor beams.

"Good work," commented Houston as the glare faded. "Take us back to 
our original position, Lieutenant."

"So," said Keanu, "how did you know it would work?"


On the planet

Teri's team entered the base through the entrance to the east. The 
Kzinti had their defences well worked out, it was a major job just 
taking the door. Seven Kzinti lay dead, opposed to their one. They 
continued down the subterranean corridors towards the centre of the 
complex. Three more Kzinti appeared from a side room. "Look out!" 
Teri said as she shot her phaser toward her foe, two of the others 
also fired. The Kzinti fell in unison to the floor, their bodies
lifeless.

They were rocked by an explosion from down the corridor. When they got
there they found the corridor was blocked with rubble. "Blake to
Ramsay, our route is blocked we're going to find another way round."


                       Respectfully submitted:

                             Dale Forster
                  [Lt.] Keanu Maren, CEO FRONTIER

                            Sam M. Edwards
                  [Captain] Will Ramsay, CO FRONTIER              
               [LtCmdr] Joanna Houston, 2O/tCMO FRONTIER


                 "Time is the fire in which we burn"
                          Dr. Tolian Soren                            
  
      "Rom's an idiot, he couldn't fix a straw if it was bent."
                                 Odo