“Sir, the Amonak is dead in the water, floating towards the system. Their shields just couldn’t withstand the barrage of that many hits,” Commander Feld turned to Viran with a look of worry on his face. “Still reading life support, though, and they’re drifting in the direction away from the enemy fleet.”

“They’re probably safer than we are, for now,” Viran quipped.

Ramar, for his part, was still allowing Viran to call the shots. He didn’t see a reason to step in until it was needed. For now, he was the casual observer. One of his more present observations was that the ambassadorial delegation had found its way into Operations; it was hard to miss S’Rath. The atmosphere in Ops had been tense since the enemy fleet arrived, and seeing the ambassadors only heightened the tension in the air with their presence.

Ramar watched as Viran pulled all of the remaining ships back. The Dreadnought and her escorts, the Ares and Avenger, were the point ships. The James Hutton had also fallen back to the station along with the Arimathea and Freedom. Admiral Tolak’s Romulan vessel, the Devoras, had been ordered to join the defenses, and Ambassador S’Rath had equally ordered his ship’s captain to join in the defense of the station. However, the enemy fleet had been pegged at over 50 vessels of unknown power, strength, and capabilities.

Viran turned to Lieutenant Dalla Ren, the station’s Communications Officer, “Still no response to our hails?”

Lieutenant Ren skimmed over his panel and brushed his hand across it before confirming, “No sir. Nothing. Total radio silence.”

Viran turned to Lieutenant Idrin Oma, his trusted Chief of Security, “Oma, any identifications on the ships?”

“Nothing immediately, Admiral. I’m having the station’s computer analyze the ships against the Starfleet database.”

Ren interrupted as his console lit up with notifications, “Sir, we are finally getting a hail in.”

“On screen,” Viran ordered as seemingly the entirety of Ops turned toward the view screen.

“Federation station, I am Admiral Vorr of the Vaadwaur Supremacy. You are hopelessly outmatched and outgunned. Surrender now, or we will obliterate you and take what we want by force.”

The screen dimmed back to the sight of the Dreadnought staring down the Vaadwaur armada, a chilling reality they now faced. Ramar sighed as he turned to Viran, aware that the ambassadors had joined the command staff around the central Situation Table in Ops. Even with them standing there, he couldn’t keep anyone in the dark any longer. They were all looking to him for answers.

“Intelligence operatives in the Fourth Fleet working out of Starbase 38 had heard rumors of the Vaadwaur for years. More recently, they had heard some pointed rumors that they may have been behind the Underspace crisis of last year. This all but confirms it.”

“Any other rumors that may help us in the here and now?” Tolak interjected before Viran could get the same question out.

“Nothing definitive. At first, we weren’t even sure the reports about the Vaadwaur’s survival were credible. But as the evidence mounted, it became clear that they’re not only alive, they’re organized. Some intelligence suggests they’re being aided by an unknown benefactor. There’s even speculation that they foresaw their downfall a thousand years ago and established a hidden colony, biding their time, preparing for a resurgence. We don’t know the full truth, but one thing’s certain: they’ve had time to upgrade their technology, and they’ve built entire fleets.”

“So what do we do now?” Commander Feld asked, looking for guidance from the two Starfleet Admirals.

Ambassador S’Rath plainly and calmly said, “We need to respond to this incursion with military strength.”

“How many civilians are on the station currently?” Admiral Tolak was quick to cut in.

“Currently, there are almost 4,000 civilians on the station,” Lieutenant Idrin responded.

“We should consider evacuating them onto the ships we have. At least the ships would have a chance to flee,” Tolak added.

Before that could even be considered, Ambassador T’Kethis also added, “Have we considered a diplomatic approach with the Vaadwaur? They clearly want something. Is surrendering and giving it to them not an option?”

Ramar finally spoke up through the crowd, “From what we know of the Vaadwaur, they are imperialistic and extremely militaristic. It’s likely that once they have what they want, they’ll destroy the station and kill everyone. I don’t know if it’s an option.”

The crowd began to erupt into voices, escalating, crossing over one another. Ramar, again, found the shouting to be background noise. He was more concerned with analyzing the situation, and the delegation was more concerned with which of them was right. But they all knew there was only one option. They couldn’t escape. They couldn’t negotiate. They couldn’t even safely evacuate the civilians. They would have to stay and fight.

As the shouting continued, Ramar turned to Lieutenant Idrin and ordered, “Deploy all rotary defense turrets and order all fighters launched. We fight.”

Without any further objection, everyone grew silent and returned to where they were, ready for the fight. The Ops staff worked diligently at their stations awaiting their next order. S’Rath paced the outside ring of the command center as if surveying it for potential infiltrators, Tolak joined Lieutenant Idrin in monitoring the tactical situation, and T’Kethis joined Lieutenant Ren at the communications station. Each to their own strengths.

Ramar turned to Viran now that the ambassadors had dispersed their separate ways through Ops and smiled, “You know, I miss this.”

“And they said once you had bars on your collar, you’d never see action again.”

No sooner than Viran finished that sentence, the station began to rock slightly.

“Sir, the Vaadwaur fleet has opened fire. Shields are holding.”