The Battle of Khourani (Part 1)
Posted on Wed Apr 15th, 2026 @ 12:12am by Captain Maho Takahashi & Lieutenant Dakota Meadows 'Sodak' & Commander Ichika Misono & Commander Jessica Johnson MD & Lieutenant Commander Kurumi Ebisuzawa & Lieutenant Commander Brennyn Scott M.D. & Lieutenant Ami Rori & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Lieutenant Alisha Reno "Jem" & Lieutenant Pippa Williams 'Chaser' & Lieutenant JG Mia ‘Banshee’ Amaro
1,691 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
The Breen
Location: Khourani System
Timeline: March 20, 2397
The (cloaked) Klingon and Starfleet strike force dropped out of warp near the edge of the Khourani system. Their first challenge lay before them; the repurposed Cardassian weapons platforms awarded to the Breen during their time in the Dominion alliance and since repurposed by the Iconians in control of the system.
"Have they spotted us yet?" Maho asked from her seat on the Myogi's bridge.
"Nothing indicates that they have." Kurumi replied.
“If they do, I’m going to need to see a Klingon about a refund on this cloaking device.” Ami said with a giggle, “Verified that our warp signature is dissipating as it should, we’re in between the main sensor net and it, so they should have nothing.”
"So we have to assume we've got the advantage," Ichika surmised, before turning around to face Kurumi. "Miss Ebisuzawa, see if you can ascertain the type and number of enemy vessels."
Kurumi nodded. "I'm reading at least sixty of the weapons platforms, all reading as active." Kurumi reported. "Three Breen Cruisers, and two destroyers are making regular patrols too."
"So the Breen are in cahoots with the Iconians," Chisato remarked. "Well, this is certainly a development..."
"Which means that we're deep in enemy territory," Ichika grimly surmised. "Even if we do pull this off, we're practically going to have to run and gun our way out of here... and even still, it won't change the fact that we'd be going to war with the Breen in addition to the Iconians..."
"This certainly complicates things. Even with a precision strike, we'll still be outmatched and outgunned on the way out." Maho agreed. "Then again, we've been outgunned since day one, and if we wish to prevent the devastation we saw in that alternate future, we must be prepared to lay down our lives if it comes to it."
"Lets try not to." Jessica replied
"Is there any chance the Breen cruisers might simply be 'captured hardware'?" Chrirhc asked.
"Unlikely," Chisato shook her head. "Given that the Iconians have already been giving us a serious run for our money with just their Baltims, I can't see what they'd stand to gain from using vastly inferior Breen Cruisers in lieux of their own..."
"Perhaps they wish to be more covert?" Jessica replied, "If the Iconians want an easier time than they have been having, a war on two fronts that the federation has to deal with, can make it so that they have an easier time."
"They don't need to give themselves an easier time, ma'am." Ami shook her head from her panel, "They don't seem to care how many of their own get destroyed, so long as they win and they've got plenty of their own ships. Like the Dominion back during that war, but better and more powerful and able to take a lot more damage. We already have the solution to their energy dampening weapon and I wouldn't think the Iconians would let the Breen live on after disposing of us."
"Something isn't right about those Breen ships." Kurumi said. "I've been subtly scanning them, but they don't seem... well... right. They look like Breen ships, show up as Breen ships but they seem..." she paused as she looked down at the readings. "They're too 'good' to be Breen ships. They show no conventional signs of space flight, or even traces of a warp drive. Its almost like they're real, but also not real."
"So... decoy ships, perhaps?" Chisato speculated. "A convincing fake designed to divert our attention and allow the Iconians to get the upper hand?"
"I'm cross referencing Commander Ebisuzawa's sensor readings;" Chrirhc noted. "They do appear as if to be elaborate projections..."
"I wouldn't even say they're projections. Its like they're fully fake vessels." Kurumi added. "Its a technology that I don't recognise."
"Regardless, I'd strongly suggest we stay clear of those things until we have a better idea of what exactly they're packing," Chisato recommended. "For all we know, they could be rigged with explosives and waiting for an unsuspecting vessel to stray within range."
"At minimum, if we're seen keeping our distance from them, it implies that their ruse is working," Jane observed. "If we avoid them, it's like we don't know they're decoys."
"Whatever they are, that brings into question where the actual Breen are?" Maho speculated.
"Whether the Breen are actually in cahoots with the Iconians, or if this is all some trick to get us to believe they are... We might just have to find out the old fashioned way." Chrirhc replied.
"What about those weapons platforms?" Ichika inquired. "Sixty is a lot more than the six we were originally anticipating."
"See, that's another cause for concern," Chisato lamented. "Once we've input the orbital defense codes, it'll only give us a twenty second window at most; even if our fighters are running at full bore, we'll be lucky to take out just six of them; sixty is going to be way out of the question, unless we devise some alternative strategy."
"If they're the same design as the ones we encountered at Chin'toka, they'll have a central power source and control center." Kurumi stated. "Captain Sisko and the crew of the Defiant used their deflector dish to imprint a Federation warp signature onto their central power source. The platforms then fired upon their own central control center." Kurumi explained. "I should point out however, that this may not work again. And if we want to try it, we will need to decloak and pretty much be directly ontop of the central power source, if we can find it."
“We knew going into this we were going to have to take some risks,“ Bree acknowledged aloud. “At the risk of asking a dumb question, are we sure there are 60 weapons platforms, as in real ones? Why would they go to the trouble of creating decoy ships if they had enough actual weapons to dispatch quickly anyone who comes looking? Could this entire set up be smoke and mirrors somehow?“
“It could be,” Ami remarked, trying to refine the sensors to identify any telltales that may prove that aspect, “But it’s safer to assume they’re real until proven otherwise.” Her fingers stopped tapping for a few seconds, “What about a time-on target barrage of torpedoes?” She asked suddenly, “Those platforms are arrayed for their coverage, so they might not be reactively mobile, especially with their shielding. In Earth’s world wars, especially number two, they refined artillery fire to all arrive at one time on all targeted locations. If we can set up a firing pattern so that our torpedoes all arrive at the various platforms within a five or so second period, then trigger the codes to take away their shielding, we could almost guarantee a crippling first strike, or at least severely damaging.”
"Hate to rain on the hopefuls here, but according to these readings, at least half of them are genuine articles ready to destroy us the moment we get close." Chrirhc confirmed. "Oh, and it seems something has detected our presence. We've got returns incoming!"
"Red alert!" Maho declared. The red alert lights began flashing and the red alert klaxons began going off upon her command. "All ships: Prepare for battle!"
"Captain. We can't fire or raise shields when we're cloaked like this." Kurumi reminded her. "We'll have to uncloak in order to defend ourselves."
"Well, it seems we've lost the element of surprise!" Maho rebuked. "You gonna let us get carved up like a First Contact Day salmon or what?"
Kurumi narrowed her eyes at that comment. "Uncloaking, raising shields." Her hands danced across the console as she brought the Myogi out of cloak.
"Incoming targets have been identifed as two Quases:" Chrirhc spoke. "Alita is moving to intercept!"
"Those are their version of a heavy cruiser. If we were to classify them in our terms." Kurumi reported simply. "And yes Captain. Before you ask, they vastly outgun us, by a considerably vast margin."
"Options, Miss Ebisuzawa?" Maho asked as at least two Vor'Cha cruisers moved past the viewscreen to intercept.
Before Kurumi could respond, the Myogi shook as the Quases entered weapons range.
"Whatever they are, the Heralds aren't waiting for you to read them off." Chrirhc quipped.
"Helm, evasive maneuvers!" Maho ordered.
"Evasive maneuvers, aye!" Jane answered. The inertial dampers took a moment to catch up, causing the bridge crew to briefly feel a sharp pull back, left, and up as the helmswoman took them into a full speed corkscrew dive to evade incoming enemy fire.
"Returning fire." Kurumi replied as her fingers danced across the tactical console. "Phasers firing..." she added. Bright orange beams of phaser fire erupted from the Myogi's phaser arrays, striking the Herald ships shields. "Direct hit. Their shields are still intact..."
"Status of the Alita?" Maho asked.
"Alita is deploying fighters:" Chrirhc reported.
[USS Alita]
"All Herald protocols are in place, Captain." Tsuneo reported. "Fighters are launching as we speak."
"Excellent." Misaki cracked her knuckles. "Let's give these Heralds something meaningful to contemplate!"
[Space]
Amidst the rain of Phaser, Disruptor, and Herald weapons fire, the Alita's fighters launched into the burning stars. The smaller Valkyrie fighters sprayed the Quas' shields with their phaser cannons, and some dropping their torpedo payloads onto the enemy shields.
[USS Alita]
"Enemy shields are holding!" The tactical officer on the Alita reported the results of the onslaught.
"Keep up the barrage." Misaki ordered.
[USS Myogi]
"The Alita and her fighters are going for a target saturation approach!" Chrirhc reported. "They may be trying to test the limits of the enemy's shields."
"Follow their lead," Ichika ordered. "Ops, instruct the Nightkids to assume a flanking formation."
"Tell them to concentrate fire on these co-ordinates." Kurumi said from tactical. "If we can punch through their shields, we can do some damage. Maybe even disable or destroy them." She tapped at the tactical console, sending them all her targeting solution.
"Relaying instructions to the NightKids." Ops replied.
To be continued...
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