October 8th 2413
"Rear Admiral's Log: Star Date 390230.648. We have discovered the weakness to the C.I.S.S Supernova. It turns out that the star that powers it has a strong gravitational field and shield generating pylons are built around it to prevent that gravitational field from having the whole ship consumed by the star. Our plan is to deactivate the field by getting the command codes from the ship's Captain and inputting them from the Bridge. However we have to weaken the shields first and the only way to do that is to launch a frontal assault on the Supernova. No doubt some will be lost to this battle. But hopefully their deaths will not be in vain and the Cardassian Empire can be defeated. Here's hoping that the Acadian Resistance does indeed exist and that Ensign Adora, daughter of Amarla, will be able to get the rebels to help us."
The atmosphere on the Bridge of the U.S.S Apollo was one of fear and hope. The entire Gamma Quadrant Fleet had spent the previous two days preparing for the battle of their lives. Knowing that it may very well be their last battle. The Fleet consisted of only three ships that were designed for battle, them being the U.S.S Pathfinder. An Intrepid-Class vessel like the U.S.S Voyager and the R.R.W Ravon and R.R.W Gasko, two Mogai-class Warbirds from the Romulan Republic. As for the remaining five ships, the U.S.S Apollo, U.S.S Diamond, U.S.S Georgiou, U.S.S Rhode Island and the U.S.S Homecoming, they were all Nova-Class ships. Small ships with crews that could amount to one hundred and twenty and were designed for planetary survey missions. Equipped with only eleven phaser banks, two torpedo launchers at the front and one torpedo launcher at the back, the Nova-Class was better suited for small scale combat operations. Alone a Nova-Class ship was not suited for a full scale combat operation. But together, a group of about three of four could "put up a decent fight" as Captain Harry Kim put it. The two civilian Acadian ships were of course not included in the battle ahead. Mainly because they carried a combined civilian population of over one thousand Acadians. So they were kept out of the fight, hidden in a large asteroid field. They were given orders to retreat to the Bajoran Wormhole at top speeds should the battle be lost and among the people on board was the son of Rear Admiral Ethan Rivers and Lieutenant T'Vrell, Lucas. Both of his parents found it logical for him to be kept out of the ensuing battle, as a one year old child would be unlikely to survive. It had been an emotional moment for Ethan when he had to watch the U.S.S Exodus leave for the asteroid field with his son onboard and in the temporary care of the ship's Captain. Ethan felt like a part of him was leaving him and dearly missed that greater part of him. But he knew exactly what would allow him to fight on in the battle ahead and it was Lucas Rivers, his son.
On the Bridge were all of the senior officers of the U.S.S Apollo. There was Ensign Jodem Tal, the Ops Officer. Ensign William Jackson, the pilot. Lieutenant Toral Laren, head of engineering. Lieutenant T'Vrell, head of science. Lieutenant Commander Voq, head of Tactical. Commander Alisha Flores, first officer and finally Rear Admiral Ethan Rivers, the commanding officer. All of them were a long way from the Alpha Quadrant, almost seventy thousand lightyears in fact and they had all lost three years of their lives to the True Way. The Cardassian terrorist group that was obsessed with restoring the old ways of the Cardassian Union and now their descendants had done so in the form of the Cardassian Empire. A fascistic imperialist absolute monarchy that was obsessed with it's dreams of Galaxy wide domination. Now they had developed a new weapon called the C.I.S.S Supernova. A doomsday device capable of rendering planets uninhabitable with it's sun gun. Now it was high in orbit above Acadia, a planet conquered by the Cardassian Empire twenty one years prior and was now home to a slave population of five billion Acadians. Overseen by soldiers of the Cardassian Imperial Guard, they spent every day working fields to produce food that they would never eat and working in factories, making weapons that would be used against people that would be enslaved just like them. It was monotonous existence. One that they had been doomed to die for. That was until the Cardassian occupation forces left unexpectedly and without explanation. For a reason that the Acadians were not told, the Cardassians had decided to leave the planet and set the slaves free. The Acadians still on the planet were not sure why this had happened, but all they knew was that it had something to do with the bright light in the sky that was almost as bright as their star. That light was the Supernova.
As Ethan gazed at the Supernova from the Bridge of the U.S.S Apollo, he felt great concern as it hovered over the planet Acadia. A once beautiful planet that was covered in green forests and jungles and bright blue oceans and rivers, it now had many craters from the orbital bombardments from the invasion many years ago and several seas had dried up from the heavy amounts of industrial pollution that the Cardassians had done to the planet. Ethan felt great concern for the innocent people of Acadia, a people who had done absolutely nothing wrong to the Cardassians to deserve subjagation and slavery. But the Cardassian Empire had decided to invade and devestate Acadia just because they thought they could. Ethan knew that this battle would determine not only the future of the Cardassian people, but the future of the Acadian people. For two long decades they had been mere property to the Cardassians. Treated no better than objects. But that was about to change.
When the Fleet finally arrived in range of the Supernova, Ethan looked over at Voq and said "Lieutenant Commander Voq. Arm the communication disrupter torpedo and fire!" Voq obliged and said "Yes Rear Admiral." Voq then pressed the firing button on his console and a single torpedo fired from the Apollo. It sped towards the Supernova. Within the Command Centre inside the palace that was under the Supernova's dome, the officer at the sensors console detected the torpedo incoming and looked up towards the man who he believed he had the 'honour' of serving under and said "Emperor! I have detected a torpedo incoming!" Where the captain's chair would have been, there was the Emperor of the Cardassian Empire. The Emperor was however rarely seen and those within the command centre found it a great honour to see him. He had sat in the throne for many years and had not once come off it. Coming out of the throne were many tubes that connected deep into his body and pumped in blood that had been syphoned from Cardassian imperial citizens following their deaths. They pumped in oxygen that kept him alive and various chemicals and proteins that gave him what he needed to be alive. He was comparable to a skeleton however. His muscles having decayed severely over his long life and his lifespan having been unnaturally extended far beyond it's natural limit. Very far. With his computerised voice box that was imbedded deep into his throat, the Emperor said "That torpedo cannot even reach us. Let the insignificant pest burn out and fire on the puny Federation and Romulan ships when they come in range." The loyal officer raised his hand flat towards the Emperor whose age was well past five thousand and said "As you command Emperor."
The torpedo sped through space at full impulse, but the Supernova did not fire upon it. They just waited until it burned out. That proved to be a mistake, because when the torpedo crossed into the orbit between Acadia and it's moon Acona, it exploded and a blue wave of energy spread out across the system! As the energy wave hit the lone Cardassian flag ship, it disabled their sub-space communications, leaving only ship-to-ship communications. Pleased that the communications on the Supernova had been disabled, Ethan pressed on his com badge and said "Rear Admiral Rivers to all hands. Attack!" The Fleet then started firing phasers and torpedoes at the Supernova, hoping to weaken the ship's shields and beam a team aboard to destroy it. As torpedo after torpedo and phaser after phaser hit the ship, the Supernova retaliated by firing phasers at the Fleet. The Pathfinder was the first ship to be hit, losing eight percent of their shields in an instant. As sparks flew from the ceiling above him and his senior officers, Vice Admiral Chakotay said "Draw reserve power to the shields and maintain continuous fire!" Two torpedoes then ejected from the Pathfinder, hitting the dome on top of the Supernova and damaging it's shield. But all the while, more and more torpedoes and phasers were being blasted at the Fleet and the Georgiou had already lost twenty percent of their shields! After being rocked around her chair and seeing sparks falling from the ceiling, Captain Anaya pressed on her com badge and said "This is Captain Anaya on all channels. We're taking serious hits over here! We need to take out the damn weapons as well!" Realising that Anaya was right, Ethan looked over at Voq and said "Lieutenant Commander! Aim the torpedoes and phasers at the Supernova's phaser arrays and fire!" Voq obliged and fired two frontal torpedoes at the Supernova's weapons. The torpedoes then hit two of the thirty phaser arrays and destroyed them! Giving the Fleet some breathing room and a chance to continue fighting.
The battle raged on for another five minutes, with phasers being blasted everywhere and torpedoes rocketing through space towards the Supernova and the ships of the Gamma Quadrant Fleet. From the surface of Acadia, where now former slaves were coming together to build communities in towns and cities that had been devastated during the invasion, it was little more than a huge light show in the sky and was being looked at in awe by the Acadians all over the planet. On the Bridge of the Apollo, Ethan looked hopeful as he said "Looks like the battle is going in our favour." But then he looked distraught as T'Vrell said "Not entirely Rear Admiral. I am detecting ten Cardassian warships exiting Warp near out position." and those exact ten Cardassian warships appeared out of a bright flash of light! The warships immediately opened fire on the Gamma Quadrant Fleet! Damaging their shields with phaser arrays and damaging the hulls of the ships with torpedoes! A high powered torpedo hit the hull of the Apollo, obliterating a third of the shield in an instant and causing serious damage to the hull. As the explosion was felt by the Bridge Crew and the rest of the crew and sparks flew down from the ceiling, Ethan said " How can this be!? We disable their communications!" Ensign Tal checked his scans and said "Rear Admiral! They have a backup communicator! They called an entire fleet here as reinforcements!" Ethan could not believe it. He knew that there was a chance that something like this might happen, but he wasn't prepared for it if it did happen. Which it had. More phasers and torpedoes hit the ships of the Gamma Quadrant Fleet, causing severe damage to the shields and hulls of them all! From the Bridge of the Pathfinder, realising that they were outmatched and outgunned, Vice Admiral Chakotay pressed his com badge and said "Chakotay to all ships in range! I never thought I'd have to give this order by the way, all ships-"
Before Chakotay could finish that sentence, his Caitan helmsman detected something on his scanners and said "Vice Admiral! I'm detecting twenty five unidentified ships incoming!" Twenty five star ships then appeared out of Warp and all of them were Acadian! They were very much like the Exodus and Sanctuary, only across the rings around the main part of the ships were phasers arrays and at the front, on either side of the bridge, was a torpedo launcher. Back on the Bridge of the Apollo, Ethan instantly knew who they were as Lieutenant Toral said "Rear Admiral! We're receiving a hail from Ensign Adora!" Ethan looked over at the viewscreen and said "Onscreen." The viewscreen then changed to show the Bridge of the lead ship in the fleet of Acadian ships and a man in full military uniform sitting in the captain's chair. Well, technically admiral's chair because of his rank. Next to him was Ensign Adora who happily said "Did somebody call for a heavily armed resistance?" William laughed a little bit and said "Not exactly, but thanks." Then suddenly another torpedo hit the Apollo, wiping out half of what remained of their shields! As Ethan and Alisha rocked around their chairs because of the explosion, Alisha said "Adora, would you and your new friends please be so kind for as to save our damn lives!?" Admiral Sonovich grinned and said in his accent that was similar to Ukrainian "Gladly comrades." Admiral Sonovich then pressed on his Acadian com badge and said "Admiral Sonovich to all ships, concentrate fire on the Cardassian imperialists and defend Acadia from destruction. For Acadia!" The Acadian rebels all across the resistance fleet then shouted at the top of their lungs in defiance towards the Cardassian Empire and patriotism towards their beloved home world "For Acadia!"
The Acadian rebel ships then started attacking the Cardassian Imperial ships, destroying their shields with phaser arrays and damaging their hulls with torpedoes. The battle quickly turned into a stalemate, with Gamma Quadrant Fleet and Acadian ships fighting against the Cardassian ships like there was no tomorrow. From the surface of the planet, the apparent 'lightshow' the people were seeing only got greater, with many religious people taking this as a sign from the god of each of their faiths that greatness was coming for them and that a new era of peace was upon them. Little did they know that they were extremely close to death as the sun gun started to power up. The huge hole in the asteroid that lead in towards the star that powered the Supernova started to glow a terrifying orange and aim towards Acadia. Realising what this meant, Ethan looked over at T'Vrell and said "How long until the sun gun fires?" T'Vrell checked her scans and said "Only a few minutes. It is already powerful enough to render the northern hemisphere uninhabitable." Knowing that he had to think fast, Ethan started thinking of every possible way to stop it in his head. Finally it hit him and he pressed on his com badge and said "Rear Admiral Ethan Rivers to the R.R.W Ravon. Come in R.R.W Ravon." Commander Hotana answered and said "R.R.W Ravon reporting Rear Admiral." Ethan then said sternly "Commander. I need you to cloak your ship and pilot it in front of the Supernova's sun gun. Then you need to fire your torpedoes into it to at least disable the sun gun until we can beam aboard." Knowing that she had to act fast, Commander Hotana said "Yes Rear Admiral."
As a Cardassian imperial ship was about to fire at the Ravon, it's cloak activated and it was suddenly out of site. The captain of the Cardassian ship looked furious as he angrily said "Where did that ship go!?" His helmsman looked very worried as he said "We can't find it sir! I've checked the scans and it's nowhere!" The Captain looked like he was about to kill the helmsman as he yelled "Well check them again you fool!" The helmsman hurriedly checked the scans again and said upon seeing the results "Captain. I've detected them..." Upon realising where they were, the helmsman said in shock and disbelief "In front of the sun gun!?" The Ravon then decloaked and the sun gun was ready to fire! But then a torpedo went flying from the Ravon as it went into the sun gun! As the torpedo exploded the sun gun itself started exploding from within. As the Ravon flew away at maximum impulse, the sun gun exploded in a bright orange blast! Disabling it for good.
Cheers erupted across the Gamma Quadrant Fleet and Acadian ships as Admiral Sonovich said on all channels "I take it that means that the threat is over?" From the Apollo, T'Vrell checked her scans and said "No. The Supernova has not been destroyed. We must destroy it immediately. Otherwise the Empire will repair it and continue to unleash it on other worlds. Fortunately we can do that because the shields have been reduced to forty three percent." Knowing that it was now or never, Ethan stood up and said "Commander Flores, you have the conn. Me, T'Vrell, and a boarding party are beaming over to the Supernova." Ethan and T'Vrell then ran to the turbolift and hit the button for transporter room one. The doors then closed and the turbolift went speeding down to deck five.
As the turbolift went speeding down to the transporter room, Ethan looked at T'Vrell with great concern in his eyes as he said "Are you sure your going to be alright? Ya know? Mind melding with whoever commands that ship?" T'Vrell looked at Ethan and said "I am sure that I will be fine. If anything happens then I am sure that Doctor Bernard can provide adequate care." Ethan looked hopeful as he said "I hope so. I would hate to lose you." T'Vrell looked into the eyes of her husband and said "I am sure that we will survive this ordeal. The fate of not just our son, but the entire galaxy rests in our hands." Ethan then smiled slightly and said "Well if we don't make it back from saving the galaxy, then let's at least have one last kiss." The two then passionately kissed, enjoying every moment of it because they knew that this could be their very last moment together and because they knew that no matter what happened, they had to ensure the defeat of the Cardassian Empire. Even if it cost them their lives. Lives that they were willing to give, not just in service to their crew and their son, but to the entire galaxy and whatever lied beyond it.
Finally the turbolift reached the transporter room and Ethan and T'Vrell walked out to find a seven member security team waiting for them. They consisted of two Humans, one Bajoran, one Vulcan and three Klingons. As Ethan and T'Vrell arrived in the transporter room, Alisha said over a channel to Ethan "Rear Admiral Rivers. Vice Admiral Chakotay is about to beam a fifteen man boarding party onto the Supernova's command centre. I suggest you beam over on my mark." Ethan then opened the weapons locker and grabbed two phasers from it. He handed one to T'Vrell and kept the other in his phaser in his right hand. Ethan, T'Vrell and the boarding team then got onto the transporter pad and Ethan then pressed on his com badge and said "Rear Admiral Rivers to Vice Admiral Chakotay. Have the boarding teams been sent?" From the Bridge on the Pathfinder, Chakotay answered "We just sent a twenty man boarding team to the command centre of the Supernova. I suggest you and your team head there as well." Ethan then looked over at transporter chief Masie Sturgeon and said "Beam us directly to the enemy command centre chief." Masie obliged and said "Good luck Sir. We're all counting on you." Masie then pressed the transportation button on her console and Ethan, T'Vrell and the boarding party were engulfed in blue sparks of energy as they were disassembled down to the smallest particle and reassembled on the command centre of the Cardassian Imperial Star Ship Supernova.
As the boarding team arrived on the Supernova's command centre, they looked around to see all fifteen senior officers being restrained over forty Starfleet and Romulan security officers. Several Acadian marines beamed aboard as well in red transportations and looked very pleased to see their oppressors being defeated. The command centre was quite impressive in design of course. From the five viewscreens around it the Bridge Crew could see every angle of the battle unfolding outside. The ships weapons were still running and were firing phaser after phaser and torpedo after torpedo at the Gamma Quadrant Fleet and Acadian rebel fleet outside. Ethan looked to his right to see a tactical console and walked over to the officer being restrained and said "Deactivate the weapons this instant!" The officer spat at Ethan's feet and said "I will never betray our glorious Emperor!" Ethan then asked "What Emperor?" He then heard T'Vrell say in a shocked voice "I believe it would be that Emperor Rear Admiral."
Ethan then looked over at the back of the command centre and saw him. He would've gasped, he wanted to both gasp and scream in horror, but he was too shocked to gasp. The same went for everyone else in the command centre, the officers however seemed honoured and joyous to see the Emperor. But the boarding parties were horrified to see an aging old skeleton of a man who had sat on the throne for many years. His muscles had severely decayed due to his age that had been extended by many, many, many years thanks to the technology. Stretching out of the throne that was the size of a hovercar were many tubes and wires that were connected to the Emperor's body, constantly feeding his body proteins, carbohydrates, oxygen and blood syphoned from Cardassian citizens following their deaths. All of which kept him alive, even after five thousand years. His skin was covered in wrinkles and hanged droopily over his skeleton. The oval shaped ridge on his forehead was now extremely visible due to the skin decaying and was more like a bone, sticking out of his forehead. But what was most horrifying were his eyes. They were the most notable and terrifying part of the Emperor. Bulging grey eyes that gazed upon all that they could gaze upon and they were currently gazing right at Rear Admiral Ethan Rivers. The last non-Cardassian the Emperor had seen before arriving in the Gamma Quadrant.
While the boarding party looked shocked and appalled at what they were seeing, the helmsman of the Supernova looked joyous and empowered as he said as loud as he could "All hail his Imperial Majesty, Father of the Fatherland, Conqueror of Acadia, Overlord of Micla, Dominator of Ratapnia, Man of Unbreakably Pure Steel, Terror of the Gamma Quadrant, Ruler of New Cardassia Prime and Emperor of the Cardassian People, Emperor Madred the First!"