In the cold void of space, an intricate – almost hauntingly delicate dance played out in the space around Vulcan. The icy blue bursts of polaron weapons fire streaked across the stars, twinkling with eerie beauty as they careened toward the hulls of Federation vessels, the red-orange streaks of phaser fire lashing out in reciprocal retort. Small fighters, shuttlecraft and runabouts swarmed from every hangar they’d been stowed in, weaving through the throng of Vaadwaur vessels of equally diminutive size much like a swarm of insects might as they repel an invader of their hive.

Amid the angry swarm of small craft were the larger starships, pressed into hasty service to combat the armada that had poured into the system from tears in the very fabric of space. Unlike their Vaadwaur counterparts, several of the Federation vessels that had only just been liberated from the drydocks that had been their cradle still had whole sections of their hulls exposed to space, emergency force fields being the sole barrier between the interior of the ships and the harsh emptiness of open space. Even so, the ships took up the defense, launching what munitions they had while riddling the hulls of the larger Vaadwaur cruisers and battleships with concentrated barrages of phaser fire.

The opening engagement with Vaadwaur ships and automated sentry turrets had been a one-sided, methodical slaughter. Surprise had been the lynchpin that had allowed them to infiltrate so far into the system with so few casualties. And even then, the loss of one ship or a dozen mattered very little to the armada’s commander as the fleet of ships pushed further toward their objective.

Subsequent skirmishes within the broader scheme of the assault began to tip drastically toward the defenders’ favor, though only when viewed in isolation rather than in aggregate. The absence of Vaadwaur wreckage floating in the void ended once the small craft engagements began. The advances to their technology aside, the lack of combat experience among the pilots of the smaller craft started to show through in the tactical errors being made and by the death toll taking a noticeable upturn. The numbers still favored the Vaadwaur by an order of magnitude, but that was beginning to shrink as the surprise dissipated and the fog of war began to clear.

Around Vulcan itself, the defense forces fared much better in the opening hours of the battle. The Vaadwaur fleet spent a great deal more time and attention on the Starfleet shipyard in the system than it did on any of the planetary bodies. The slow and measured assault being levied against the Starfleet forces appeared to be the Vaadwaur’s primary objective, even if a few vessels had broken off from the main attack fleet to take what appeared to be pot shots at the Vulcan surface. And even then, only a third of those attacks actually managed to slip through the defenses in orbit to make landfall. Those that did breach the atmosphere found purchase in buildings amid densely populated city centers, causing a great deal of destruction in their wake.

“Admiral,” one of the officers in the command center called out, “We’re receiving reports from Vulcan outlining orbital bombardments being carried out by Vaadwaur vessels that have split off from the main force.”

Rear Admiral T’Reln turned to her Executive Officer, “Has there been a change in the Vaadwaur formations to suggest a shift in tactics?”

“Not as such, no,” Captain Ivar Dasrek scoured the tactical hologram floating before him, “Only a handful of ships have broken off, and the local defense forces are still capable of repelling them without issue. If it is a change in tactics, it is a poorly executed one. Given what we’ve seen so far, their commander does not seem so inept as to make such a rash tactical blunder.”

“A logical assessment,” the Vulcan agreed, “Though it is unfortunate that they have managed to strike Vulcan itself.”

The Zakdorn officer frowned, “If we aren’t able to push the Vaadwaur back, that will be only the beginning of the damage done to the planet.”

“What is our current status?” the Admiral shifted the conversation with her query.

“Nineteen percent of the small craft we have deployed have either been destroyed or disabled. Two of the vessels we dispatched from the shipyard have suffered extensive hull damage, though most of the affected areas were not occupied, which has so far minimized casualties. Unfortunately, six of our drydocks have suffered catastrophic damage, all of which had vessels berthed within them,” Dasrek relayed with a dry tone.

“And how has our station fared so far?”

“Several shield generators have been knocked offline, four of our phaser arrays have been destroyed, and there are several sections along the outer arms of the station that have been rendered uninhabitable… but we are still capable of fighting,” the man responded.

As T’Reln was about to speak, the alarm changed from the standard alert to a much more urgent tone as the computer announced, “Intruder alert… intruder alert… unauthorized transporter activity detected in multiple locations throughout the station… Intruder alert… intruder alert…”

The Vulcan turned to her Security Chief, “Send personnel to repel boarders immediately.”