“Bridge to Astrometrics,” K’Taul said.  “I need that frequency, and I mean now!”

“Got it!  Sending to Tactical now!”

He spun around from his position behind the helm and looked at Perry.  He stared intently at his console for a moment, then nodded his head approvingly.  “Programming the torpedoes now.”

K’Taul turned around again to look at James, who was hard at work avoiding weapons fire.  “Lieutenant Trikal, as soon as he’s ready, bring the ship around so that we’re pointing at the Vrol ships.”  He glanced back as he continued, “then I want you to fire,” looked back to James, “then follow them up.”

“Understood, sir,” James replied, already keying in a pre-laid course.

K’Taul turned around again, moved back to the command chair, and nodded to Perry.  “Once our torpedoes impact, and we’re through the clouds, target their weapons systems and fire at will.”

He nodded slightly, not taking his attention off of his work.  A moment later, he looked up.  “All right, James…let’s do it!”

K’Taul then turned around, for the last time, and sat down in his chair.  He watched the view screen as the Dragon came about only a few degrees.

“Firing!”

Four Quantum torpedoes appeared, two on either side, and immediately banked upwards into the clouds.  The Dragon soon followed.  The ship hit a pocket of severe turbulence, causing it to buck and heave a little, but nothing compared to what they went through earlier.

Not long after, they were through, the pale orange hue of the atmosphere quickly falling away to darkness and pinpricks of light, mired only by the light of those Quantum torpedoes.

Two gold beams from two distinct points lanced out from space, impacting hard on the Dragon’s shields.  More followed, but had a much more difficult time hitting as James began a new set of maneuvers.

Suddenly, a bright flash, brighter than any normal weapon’s impact could have created, engulfed the view screen, followed by another, then another, and finally a fourth.  When they subsided, K’Taul brought his arm down, which he hadn’t even realized he’d brought up.  Ahead were the two ships…

“It worked!” Perry reported.  “The torpedoes collected the gasses just as we’d hoped, their shields are down!”

K’Taul grinned a toothy grin.  “Then fire!”

Two gold beams hit the Dragon again, but this time did not go unanswered.  Crimson beams lanced out from the Dragon, followed by four more torpedoes, all impacting at very specific points on the Vrol ships.

However, K’Taul did not expect them to keep firing as the Dragon passed between the two, phaser fire of its own hitting the Vrol.

“Captain, they seem to have separate shield systems for their weapons arrays!” Ada stated.  He guessed she replaced Perry not long after the first torpedo hit.  “I don’t think we’ll be able to penetrate them in time…we’re down to twenty three percent on shields.”

K’Taul sighed in defeat, hoping they could have gotten some answers from the Vrol.  It looked like that was impossible.  There was only one solution now.

“Very well.  Target their propulsion systems and fire, phasers only.”  He shook his head, realizing that if he were on a Klingon ship, he wouldn’t have added that last part.

“Aye, sir.”

The planet came into view again, as did the ships.  More phaser fire lanced out from the Dragon, impacting hard against the Vrol ships.  They fired back, as expected, causing a bulkhead panel to overload on the bridge.  Sparks flew, but it was something K’Taul was becoming accustomed to seeing.

“They’ve been disabled!” Ada stated.  “They aren’t going any where.”

He nodded his head at James, even though he couldn’t see K’Taul.  “Helm, get us out of here, any heading.”

“Aye, sir.”

First Officer’s Log, Stardate 55242.9

            The cure has been successfully distributed to the entire crew, and even Kara appears to be recovering.  It’s obvious that the Vrol pose a very serious threat in this area, a threat that the Dragon alone cannot withstand.  As such, Starfleet has dispatched a Sovereign and an Akira class starship to aid with our patrol.  Rumor has it that the Sovereign class is the Enterprise.  Seems like I can’t get away from them…which isn’t a bad thing, I guess.

It’s come to my attention that one person was responsible for getting the Dragon away from that planet in one piece…so therefore I would like to officially commend Ensign Tal Celes for her assistance in coming up with the solution.  Perhaps she’s not ready for a promotion yet…but with this triumph on her part, she’s not far off…

Tal slowly let the bed absorb her body, not even bothering to cover up.  Her eyelids drifted closed as she felt the dream world approaching.  Her roommate next to her had already fallen asleep long ago, before she’d arrived.  If she wasn’t there sleeping, Tal would have let loose a very high-pitched sigh.

She’d actually done something useful today!  Not only useful, but she’d actually helped save the ship itself!  There most definitely was a first time for everything, and she was extremely proud of herself.  Things aren’t turning out nearly as bad as I thought they would…

Suddenly, her door chime sounded, causing her roommate to stir and emit a low, quick snore.  Tal sighed her own complaint and shook her head.  She slowly sat up, then lifted herself onto her aching feet, realizing just then that she’d forgotten to take off her boots, let alone her uniform jacket and communicator.

She made her way, in the dark, to the door to her quarters and pressed the Starfleet delta symbol on the door panel.  They parted to reveal a surprise.

“Commander!” she said as quietly as she could in her surprise.  She immediately straightened up to attention.

Chris grinned and shook his head.  “At ease, Tal.”  Did he just call me by my first name?  I’d heard he did that often with everyone…but I never expected it…

“Aye…sir.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head once more.  “Look, I wanted to congratulate you on what you did today.  That was quite amazing.”

She smiled and tilted her head to the side.  “Thanks…”

“For someone who thinks of data as a monster,” he said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, “you sure understood the properties of those clouds well.”

She shrugged innocently.  “Once I realized that their ionization was close to the inverse of Quantum torpedoes, it was just…obvious that we could configure the torpedoes to collect the particles and…”  He seemed uninterested in the details, which made her realize that he’d probably already read them.  She felt her face take on an apologetic look, something she was very accustomed to doing…  “Sorry.”

He smiled again and, once again, shook his head.  “Don’t worry about it.  You did good today, and that’s all I wanted to tell you.  From what I can tell, you may not be good at the specific details of science and data…but you know the basics, and that more than anything is useful.  Some people dwell on details, which can sometimes make them lose sight of the basics…and that can be disastrous.”

He backed away from the door and further into the brightly lit hallway.  “Any way, it’s been a long day for all of us.  Get some sleep.”

Smiling herself, she replied, “Aye, sir.”

With that, the door slid shut, trapping her in darkness again.  For a moment, she stood staring at the door, amazed that she had actually impressed him.  He had brought her on board to help her…and she had already shown that she wasn’t going to disappoint him.

Tal moved back to her bed and slid her uniform boots off.  She didn’t bother with her jacket, she simply pulled her badge off and set it on the small nightstand next to her bed.  When she was finally settled into bed, she realized for the first time that things might actually work out here.  She realized that life might actually be worth it…