Editing Battle of Beta Seranis III (section)

==(USS Hades - Phlegathon Bridge - ASEC Ensign Baylon Trinin  - 1805)==
 
"Forward shields restored!" Ensign Gold announced. "Currently at 50% and recovering!"
 
The Phlegathon shuddered again as another series of enemy phaser blasts slammed into her aft quadrant.
 
"Aft shields holding at 60%, starboard and port side shields are now at 70% and 55% respectively..." Baylon reported as another volley of enemy fire grazed the aft shields and sent a shimmer along the Phlegathon's decks.
 
"You've got you're port phasers back Mister Trinin", Gold declared triumphantly.
 
That was just the advantage that he needed to turn this situation around.
 
"Helm turn us into the enemy ship, port side turn, let them gain on us to a distance of twenty thousand kilometers, then take us right past them at half impulse, port side abroad. And try to keep that other ship on our starboard side."
 
"Aye sir." she replied.
 
Baylon watched, comparing the relative positions and speed of the two enemy vessels as they tried to flank the Phlegathon. Both ships were cooperating.
 
The enemy vessels began to pour withering fire into the Phlegathon's lateral shields.
 
He prepared a spread of forward and aft photon torpedoes. The ship to his port side was in for a big surprise.
 
He lanced out with his starboard phasers, slamming the bolts of light into the more distant of the two ships. It's shields shimmered briefly before collapsing. The phasers kept doing the butcher's work, carving their way through the armored exterior of the ship, reaching for her vital spots. The enemy vessel tried to roll away to escape damage, but Trinin started a new barrage.
 
The second barrage of phaser fire, tore through the remains of the ventral shields and split open the belly of the enemy ship.  She continued to twist in a slow lazy circle, more from momentum than by design, perhaps a result of the atmosphere rushing through the gaps in the hull's exterior.
 
He continued to trace the horrible gash as she spun until he'd decided that she was no longer a threat. There were gaps in the vessel through which he could see the remains of the asteroid field beyond. 
 
She continued to corkscrew, a slow lazy death throw, as her massive engines continued to push her towards her final oblivion. She was headed for a large asteroid, which would certainly destroy her when they collided.
 
And while Baylon had probably murdered hundreds of her crew, he felt a tinge of remorse.  He activated the repulsor and gave the ship a hard push. It corrected her course just enough to clear the asteroid field and head into the system. At their current speed, it would take a long time to reach anything dangerous.
 
His act of generosity was not returned by the Captain of the other ship, who was still pounding the Phlegathon from her position to port.
 
Baylon turned and released the entire fury that he had at his fingertips into the enemy vessel. The first volley of quantum torpedoes came from the forward launchers. They slammed into the starboard side of the enemy ship, collapsing her shields on the third impact. The other two torpedoes ripped into her superstructure, tearing away huge chunks of duranium and tritanium alloys.
 
Then Baylon unleashed the newly restored port phasers. He traced the beams with both hands in an interlocking double helix pattern, spreading the damage he was causing over the broadest portions of the enemy ship.
 
Suddenly the enemy command ship loomed above the Phlegathon as Trinin poured the quantum torpedo spread from the aft launchers into the wounded side of the enemy ship. The structure twisted under the impacts and began to break up.
 
Suddenly the Phlegathon's shields dropped to zero, only a moment later to be completely restored. He didn't have time to ask any questions as the Command ship fired a short volley of weapon's fire into her dorsal shields.
 
Baylon returned fire as the enemy command ship accelerated away from them. Helm turned the Phlegathon away from the debris that was being launched from the dying enemy ship to their port side. Already Baylon could see the smaller explosions rupturing her insides. In a moment the big one would happen.
 
He closed his eyes just a moment before the ship disintegrated in a cloud  of fire and twisted metals. When he opened them, the system was beginning to return to normal., the enemy command ship was racing away from them at high speed. they had recovered their boarding party.
 
He quickly scanned the status boards. 
 
They were leaking plasma from their port side nacelle, they had lost all life support on deck four, there was damage in main engineering from the enemy assault teams. There were fluctuations in their power grid and overall the Phlegathon was a mess.
 
The Phlegathon was missing 28 of her crew. ~..most likely dead. Killed when deck four lost atmosphere, or when the damage reached deck six... or, or...~  the list went on and on.
 
"The enemy Command Ship is retreating, she is seriously damaged and seems to be heading out of the system." Ensign Josdin reported.
 
They were seriously damaged but so was the Phlegathon. Neither ship could continue the battle without serious risk of their destruction. The odds had been against them, but the Phlegathon had won the fight.
 
Baylon looked around the bridge.
 
Josdin was beaming back at Travis, pleased, he was certain, that the battle might well finally be finished for the Phlegathon.  Gold was frantically trying to coordinate repairs from the bridge. As acting chief engineer for the Phlegathon, he and the others had performed admirably. The Operations officer, Shilar, busily worked on restoring and stabilizing power to the critical systems that kept them all alive.
 
The bridge itself was a shambles. No less than three auxiliary stations had exploded, and the smoke hung thick in the air.  Sparks shot out of a wall mounted display terminal with disturbing regularity and there was debris from the panels covering nearly every conceivable surface.
 
Trinin was tired. The tension was still there, however, as the crew waited for the orders from their captain. he had a sharp pain in his back. He could feel the congealed blood holding the tunic against his body.
 
Travis was deep in thought, and Baylon knew he was considering the options remaining to him.  He was, despite his Human Heritage a Klingon, raised in the Klingon manner, and Trinin wondered if he was trying to reconcile his duty to the ship with his desire for glory and battle.
 
The Captain had kept the ship together during the battle. Monitoring the situation and directing the critical details of the conflict, Travis Keswick had done extraordinarily well as CO and Baylon was not surprised at the great amount of respect that he had for the man.
 
And Maraht had been exceptionally focused. Using his exceptional skills at analysis and sensors to constantly feed Baylon a stream of useful information.  His modulation changes to the ship's phasers had helped them cut through the enemy shields easier. Baylon had never really considered the mild-mannered Horta, working so diligently to cause the destruction of another sentient species. But in the end, he supposed, it was a function of survival.
 
As for him, Baylon was numb. He was just beginning to come to the realization of the scope of the destruction that he had caused.  Five enemy ships were little more than drifting tombs for the enemy dead. How many hundreds or thousands of the enemy had he just killed?
 
It was nothing like his activities on Andoria. There he knew who the enemy was. He knew why he was killing them. Here, now, he had hoped that this wasn't some colossal interstellar misunderstanding, a dangerous clash of ideologies that neither side recognized.
 
He fingered the small gold book that he had around his neck, the one that he had found on the alien wreckage. He'd worn it as a reminder, tucked under his tunic.