<<Stardate: 47307.17- 07:02>><<USS Indiana- Bridge>> The first disruptor blast came without warning. In the space of a single second, the crew of the Indiana went from pensive calm, to hyperventilating panic. Captain Hillary Singh sat white-knuckled in her command chair and turned in he chair to stare wide-eyed at her First Officer, who was already standing at Tactical.

"Shields to full power!", Marouk hollered. "Shields currently at 31% and climbing!"

Another disruptor rocked the significantly smaller Oberth-Class vessel. "Shields down to 17%!", the Klingon howled. "Romulan cowards!"

"Send a distress call to the Grail!", Hillary did her best to quell her fear. She was a scientist, not a warrior. Marouk was the warrior. That was why he was here.

"Distress call sent.", Marouk responded. "They have responded." The Klingon fell silent for a second as he read some information.

Hillary watched the forward display, and although they were immune to inertia, the view gave her an illusion of movement. The Indiana dropped out of warp. At translight speeds, the small ship was a sitting duck. But, in normal space, she had maneuverability that a Warbird did not.

The Helm officer, Sarah McKinley, seemed to grin, her gritted teeth grinding as she maneuvered the small ship through a series of spins and rolls that miraculously kept the Indiana from being hit with the last two disruptor strikes. But the last one was close.

"The Grail has pressed to maximum warp in response!", Marouk shouted, his battle-blood boiling. "They will reach us in 4 minutes!"

<<USS Grail- Bridge>>

Commander Epic Terrakian came onto the Bridge and all but leaped into the Captains chair. "Report!", he called to Tactical as his eyes and fingers fell to the display panel on the right armrest . His left hand absently buttoned his uniform tunic while his right hand scrolled through information.

The Red Alert claxon was muted on the Bridge, but was still an omnipresent noise. The pulsing red lights gave the Bridge a sinister glow.

"Sir.", cried the Tactical Officer. "The Indiana has fallen under Romulan attack. Red Alert has been sounded and all command officers are reporting to Battle Stations!"

As the officer reported, Lt. Deric Stone and Lt. François DeMontigny came onto the Bridge, moving immediately to replace the Gamma Shift officers who were nearly exhausted from the double shift they had almost completed because of yesterdays Red Alert screwing up the rotation.

"Engineering!", Terrakian called as he slapped his commbadge. "Give me everything the warp engines have. I want 9.9 in ten seconds!"

=^=Sir! =^=, came Janice Hargen's incredulous reply. =^=Warp 8 was dangerous with no shakedown time. I advise against...=^=

"Advice noted, Commander.", Terrakian cut her off. "Ten seconds!"

=^=We will have an Automatic Shutdown of the warp engines in ten minutes if we go to 9.9.=^= She already knew there was no denying him, but she knew her engines.

"I only need three minutes, Commander.", Epic nodded as he spoke, looking to DeMontigny at the Conn. "Lieutenant. Execute."

Epic stood abruptly and moved toward the turbolift. It opened, disgorging Lt. Kait Brennan, Lt. John Parker, and the Lt. Major, Athalya Anne Brinn. Brinn didn't even look at him. She went right for the Captains chair and all but jumped into it.

"Tactical. Report!", she called to Deric Stone.

Epic entered the turbolift and spun to face the closing doors. The excitement of the Bridge crew was like adrenaline to him and he opened his empathic net to capture it all.

"Battle Bridge!", he practically shouted at the computer.<<Battle Bridge>>

The subdued lighting of the smaller Battle Bridge was a comfort to Epics eyes. He saw very well in the dark and preferred the lights dim. He was the last of the command officers to arrive.

"Rerouting engineering controls to the Battle Bridge.", Janice Hargen called out to the crew and to Engineering.

"Shields and Phasers at full power.", Cara Hatcher reported.

"Quantum torpedoes armed and ready!" Epic gave the diminutive Tactical Officer a satisfied leer. She went right for the big guns.

"We are at 9.8, sir.", Alison Donucci said as she looked over her shoulder at Epic. Epic looked to Janice who gave him a cold scowl, but fell to the task of coaxing the engines just a little bit more.

"We have the Indiana and the Warbird on sensors.", Lt. Eve Mallory called from Sciences. "The Indiana has lost shields."

"ETA!", Epic shouted to Hatcher.

"One minute!", Hatcher shouted in response.

"Terrakian to Lt. Arda. I want all Runabouts ready to launch. The second we drop out of warp, we will drop shields for 5 seconds. I want you all in space when that happens.", Epic closed the channel.

"Donucci. Bring us to one million kilometers, then drop us to full impulse. Hatcher, when we have dropped out, immediately lower shields for 5 seconds. No more, no less."

"Security reports all teams ready.", Hatcher called out.

"Terrakian to Brinn. Get all your babies on the starting line."

=^= Affirmative. =^=, was the Lt. Majors irritated reply. She had done that the second the alert claxon sounded.

"Initiate Saucer separation sequence NOW!", Terrakian called over an open channel.

Janice Hargen was about to argue that order, but immediately realized that they would have dropped into normal space before the sequence had completed itself. If she timed it right, they would separate the second they fell out of warp.

Epic inhaled the exhilaration growing around them. There was a little fear, but that was the natural result of adrenaline. He didn't dwell on it for more than a second. Instead, he simply felt it. Swallowed it. Took strength from it. He opened a shipwide channel.

"To all hands. The Romulans have committed an Act of War in direct violation of the Treaty of Algeron. We WILL conflict in ... 15 seconds.

"Let's leave the Alpha Quadrant with our first trophy."