U.S.S. BONCHUNE

Across the bridge Captain Hannity stands with his arms crossed, the Dominion War has every crew on edge. Even those of the Bonchune who believe they’re far from the action.

The quiet is interrupted by a sharp alert from the operations console. Lieutenant Jenyo, a Bajoran man in a grey shouldered uniform with a gold collar who moments ago seemed lightyears away snaps to attention.

“Captain, I’m detecting another Starfleet ship heading this way. It looks like they’ll pass us but…”

He trails off, Captain Hannity fills the silence with his thoughts, sharing them with his bridge officers. “There aren’t meant to be any other ships in this sector.”.

His musing provides enough time for Jenyo to finish his train of thought, and perform an analysis based on his first hunch.

“There’s something odd about this one sir. The warp signature doesn’t match anything that we have in our database and... The warp trail. It keeps dropping in and out. Like it’s trying to be masked by a first year cadet who just finished their first warp field theory lecture”

His console issues a second shrill alert.

“Incoming transmission sir. It’s from Utopia Planetia? They say they’ve lost contact with a prototype called Prometheus that was running field tests in the area and have ordered that we intercept”

The Lieutenant barely manages to finish his sentence before Hannity strides into action, his arms no longer crossed, but notably tense. “Red alert, helm. Plot a course to intercept before they get somebody more competent trying to disguise that warp trail”.

He crosses the bridge to his command chair and sits, tapping a comm panel installed within the arm rest. “Engineering, bridge. We’ve got orders to intercept a Starfleet prototype. We don’t know the maximum speed of this thing, so we’re more than likely going to need to push the engines into the red” A voice responds over the comm “I’ll give you everything I can”. “Bridge out”. Hannity pushes a button and stands, walking forward to stand over the helm.

“Alright” he looks directly at his helm officer, “Thira. How long until we intercept?”. An Andorian Ensign meets his question, and his gaze. “5 minutes sir, we altered course at the perfect time”.

“Captain!” A call crosses the bridge from the tactical station. “They’ve raised shields and are powering weapons”.

“The hell are they doing! Red alert”. The response from the Captains chair triggers a series of reactions amongst the crew and within the ship’s systems. The ship’s bridge lighting dims. The bulkheads and officers are bathed in a pulsing crimson light.

Jenyo, having completed a scan of the vessel, seems unable to understand what his console is telling him. He runs another scan to be sure, wasting precious seconds. “Sir, I’m detecting Romulan life signs onboard”.

“Romulans?!” replies Hannity in astonishment. “This had better not be some of practical joke. Lets not give them a chance to get the upper hand, Tactical. As soon as we enter weapons range target their engines and fire phasers”

“Three direct hits, they’ve taken some damage… Wait. Sir, the ship seems to be splitting at the seams!”

The bridge looks on at the viewscreen in astonishment as Starfleets latest prototype seems to be falling apart in front of their eyes.

Hannity almost seems bemused by the spectacle, and remarks “I guess they don’t make them like they used to”. The comment is met with some muffled chuckles from other officers on the bridge.

“Wait” a panicked interruption comes from tactical. “Their warp fields aren’t collapsing. I’m not detecting any system overloads. In fact, more systems seem to be coming online… All three sections are dropping back and surrounding us”.

“Thira, evasive maneuvers!” The Captain barks as Prometheus opens fire. The bridge is engulfed in explosions as the ships systems try in vain to route the power being fed into the shield grid by the phaser blasts away from critical systems.