Star Trek: Task Force Alpha

Chapter Five

USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A

Delta Quadrant

Year: 2410

"Incoming Vaadwaur warships Admiral," reported Tala for a second time from her First Officer's chair utilizing her armrest's tactical display console for the noise and commotion on the bridge was louder than usual so she wasn't sure if her husband and her commanding officer had heard her over all of it. "There's at least two Assault Vessels and Heavy Artillery vessels joining the remaining two Hirogen Apex Class Battlecruisers."

"Helm bring us about to take a defensive posture against Voyager," ordered James. "She doesn't have her armor technology installed anymore since Starfleet Command's Engineering Department is studying it to see if it can be adapted to other starship classes other than the Intrepid-class."

"I'll do what I can," replied Commander Ezeeta, "ever since that last phaser blast to the nacelles, the helm has been acting a little sluggish."

Slowly the Jasmine II maneuvered into position flanking Voyager managing to take a direct hit of Vaadwaur Cluster Torpedoes meant to impact against the Intrepid-class starship's slowly weakening shields. Having the same effect on the Jasmine II's shields as they would have had on Voyager they brought the Odyssey-class Tactical Cruiser's shields down to seventy-five percent.

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Elsewhere in the Delta Quadrant but close by operating together was the Romulan Falchion Class Dreadnought Warbird IRS Leahval II and the Klingon Bortasqu' Class Dreadnought Tactical Cruiser IKS Bortasqu. From their current location the Leahval and the Bortasqu's Long Range Sensor Arrays could detect weapons fire. Determining that the weapons had a Starfleet signature as well as Hirogen and Vaadwaur the two Alliance ships decided to investigate. Jumping to warp they headed for the Markonia Sector and the Orendal System where the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A and the USS Voyager NCC 74656 were located but of course the commanding officers of the IRS Leahval II and the IKS Bortasqu didn't yet know that those were the two Federation starships involved in the battle they were detecting, and soon the two Starfleet vessels were going to suffer a drastic turn of events.

Launching Seeker Drone Ships one of the Hirogen Heavy Artillery ships targeted the Jasmine II to siphon all of her power away to make her vulnerable to their attacks so they could penetrate her hull. The Seeker Drones managed to penetrate the hull of the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A in her Secondary Hull causing a massive hull breach and venting of atmosphere before the Emergency Force Fields could engage. As the hull was ruptured, fifteen crew members were sucked into the cold vacuum of space where their bodies quickly froze and they died from oxygen deprivation.

With the Jasmine II damaged the battle was quickly becoming one sided for the Federation starships with Voyager still in the fight. Of course it wouldn't be long before Voyager would also succumb to the effects of the Hirogen Seeker Drones. On the Bridge of Voyager Admiral Tuvok surmised that his command would succumb to the Seeker Drones in about five to ten minutes. That all depended on what Admiral Terranova decided to do with the disabled USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A.

As the Hirogen concentrated their renewed fire on the Voyager the Vaadwaur made their move against the Jasmine II. The Vaadwaurs' moment had finally come; for months with the Federation Alliance in the Delta Quadrant the Jasmine II had been one of the main starships to deal serious damage to all of their almost two-thousand year old starships that had been in storage underneath the surface of Vaadwaur Prime even though their Iconian benefactors had helped them increase the power output and shields for their vessels to put them on par with the far more modern starships currently being used by all the races of the Delta Quadrant and the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy. Swarming together the Vaadwaur made their move against the Jasmine II.

Dropping out of warp the IRS Leahval II and the IKS Bortasqu's commanding officers quickly assessed the situation unfolding before them. To the commanders of both ships, the figured that Voyager was able to just find to keep herself in the fight at least for now. It was another story though for the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A. They could tell she was seriously bad shape, she had sustained multiple hull breaches and it was clear she was venting atmosphere from all of them for the effects of the Hirogen Seeker Drones had made it impossible for her Emergency Force Fields to be activated to prevent the loss of atmosphere and any unlucky crew members that were being sucked out into space. Corresponding together Captain Tiaru Jarok and Captain Koren decided who should go and rescue the Jasmine II. Due to the fact that the IRS Leahval II had Theleron Cannons that could encompass all of the Hirogen and Vaadwaur ships meant that the logical course of action was for Captain Koren and the IKS Bortasqu' would go and assist the crippled Federation starship and possibly tow her to safety with her Tractor Beams.

As the IKS Bortasqu' headed towards the Jasmine II the IRS Leahval II came to a full stop with all of her forward weapon ports aimed directly at the Vaadwaur ships currently attacking the Jasmine II. With the Bortasqu' stopping just in front of the Jasmine II before deploying her aft Tractor Beam she targeted her port and starboard disruptor cannons at the closest Vaadwaur Heavy Artillery vessel and fire in five consecutive hurts at it to get its attention and to lure it into attacking them instead of the Jasmine II. The ploy worked and the Vaadwaur ship broke off from the Starfleet vessel and came to bare right directly in front of the Bortasqu'. With the Vaadwaur right were they wanted them the Bortasqu' fired her forward disruptor cannons at full strength. Being at such close of a range that was almost point blank the disruptor cannon blast of directed energy never had a chance to be stopped by the Vaadwaur ship's shields. It passed right through them and impacted the ship's hull with highly explosive effectiveness rupturing their hull in multiple places before the vessel exploded into a massive fireball. With one less Vaadwaur vessel in the fight the Bortasqu' went to impulse towing the Jasmine II away.

"Fire at will," ordered Admiral Terranova as the crippled Jasmine II started to move under power from the Bortasqu'. His ship may have been critical crippled but she wasn't out of the fight as all her phaser arrays fired in multiple succession and volleys of transphasic torpedoes were launched from her aft launchers. Hitting their marks on the Hirogen and remaining Vaadwaur vessel the torpedoes pasted directly through their shields followed by quick succession of her phaser fire through the openings the torpedoes had created in their shields before they had the opportunity to close up. Every blast of the torpedoes and the phasers hit the outer hulls of their targets and dealt critical damage to them. It was in fact more than enough critical damage for the Hirogen ships to exploded on their next weapons fire impact from Voyager. As for the remaining Vaadwaur ship the Theleron Radiation fired from the Leahval II's Theleron Cannons penetrated their hull killing off the Vaadwaur inside it and leaving a semi-perfectly intact Vaadwaur starship for the capture; a capture the Leahval II's initiated with her Tractor Beams.

The Battle of the Orendal System had been a decisive Federation Alliance victory. It may have almost caused Admiral Terranova his ship, his wife and daughter as well as his entire crew but in the end it turned out well. Out of two thousand five hundred crew members aboard the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A, only one hundred fifty were either dead, injured or missing and presumed sucked out into space through the multiple hull breaches. The Jasmine II's next port of call was to be taken to the Jenolan Dyson Sphere for minor repairs so she could return to Earth Spacedock under her own power for a more extensive repair job before returning to the Delta Quadrant with her own new Task Force ready for the final assault on Vaadwaur Prime.