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May 6, 1998
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45 minutes
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149
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2024-09-13 19:26:17
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SUMMARY
Stardate: 51825.4. Jake and Nog's runabout comes under attack from the Jem'Hadar. They are rescued by the Valiant, a ship manned by Red Squad, a elite group of young Starfleet cadets.
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TRANSCRIPT
[Quark's]
(It's a very busy day, and Quark can't keep up.)
WOMAN: Can I have some service please? How long does it take? I've been waiting forever.
MAN: Quark, this isn't what I wanted. (storms out.)
ODO: Having a bad day?
QUARK: Like you care. (reads order) Fizz, froth, flip, finial, foam and flare. What's going on at that table, anyway?
ODO: I take it there's a problem with your drink replicator?
(Dax enters)
QUARK: A problem? No. Can't be. If there were a problem, I would have submitted an emergency maintenance request this morning. And if I had done that, Chief O'Brien would have assured me that Rom would fix it right away. Then, of course, Rom would have then promised me that Nog would fix it before the end of the day. And since this is the end of the day and there is no Nog in sight, we can only draw one conclusion. That I don't have a problem.
DAX: Is your drink replicator broken?
QUARK: You're quick today.
DAX: Do you want me to fix it or not?
QUARK: You?
DAX: That's right. Nog had a chance to take a trip to Ferenginar and I told him that I would cover for him while he was away.
QUARK: Why?
DAX: Because he did a favour for me last week, so I owe him.
QUARK: But that's work for a mechanic, a repairman, a lowly engineer.
DAX: I'll tell Chief O'Brien you said that.
QUARK: A Supernova and a silven surprise. She can't do this.
ODO: Why not?
QUARK: It's not right. She's above this sort of thing. Those hands weren't meant to be poking around inside a filthy drink replicator.
(Dax pulls some green gunk out of the innards.)
QUARK: They were meant for higher pursuits.
ODO: You're in love.
QUARK: That is the most ridiculous thing you've said this last year.
ODO: Really?
QUARK: Really.
ODO: It must kill you that she's married to Worf.
QUARK: I don't know what you're talking about. And since you're not going to order something, would you please step aside so that I can do my job.
ODO: Of course. By the way, that's not a Silven surprise, it's a Silken sunrise.
[Runabout Shenandoah]
(Nog enters with a box.)
JAKE: Is that it?
NOG: That's right.
JAKE: Can I see it?
NOG: No.
JAKE: Nog.
NOG: No. It's an official diplomatic message from the Federation Council to the Grand Nagus. It's for his eyes only.
JAKE: Yeah, but you know what's in it.
NOG: Maybe.
JAKE: It's a proposal for an alliance, isn't it? I mean, the Federation sends the only Ferengi in Starfleet to personally deliver a diplomatic message to the Grand Nagus? Something big is up.
NOG: You told me you weren't coming on this trip as a reporter.
JAKE: I'm not. I came to see Ferenginar. I've heard a lot about it. I can't wait to see all the rain and the muck
NOG: Good. Because while I'm delivering the message to the Grand Nagus, you'll have plenty of time to play tourist.
STARBASE [OC]: Shenandoah, this is Starbase two five seven. You've been cleared to leave our defence perimeter. Remain at one half impulse until you've passed the outer marker.
NOG: Acknowledged.
JAKE: I don't get to see the Nagus?
NOG: Now why would you want to see the Nagus?
JAKE: My father told me to say hello and to give the Nagus his best wishes.
NOG: You're going to have to do better than that.
JAKE: And because I told the editor of the Federation News Service that I could get an exclusive interview with Zek.
NOG: Jake, you promised me you weren't coming along as a reporter!
JAKE: I didn't promise, okay? I just sort of, you know. Okay, I promised, but this could be a really big story, Nog. The people have a right to know!
NOG: Forget it. You're not getting anywhere near the Grand Nagus. I have no further comments.
(Beeping.)
JAKE: What's it?
NOG: I'm not sure. I'm having trouble with our long range scanners. Looks like our sensors are being jammed.
(Alarm, Red alert)
NOG: Uh oh.
(A squadron of Jem'Hadar fighters fly over them.)
NOG: Hang on!
(Evasive manoeuvres.)
JAKE: Where did they come from?
NOG: I don't know, but it looks like they're heading for the starbase.
JAKE: We're not sticking around are we?
NOG: Not in a runabout we're not. We're no match for a wing of Jem'Hadar fighters.
(So they go to warp.)
NOG: See if you can open a channel to Deep Space Nine.
JAKE: Something's wrong. I think they're jamming our comm. system. Now why would they do that?
NOG: Because one of them's turned around and now he's coming after us.
(After the opening titles.)
JAKE: You do realise you're taking us deeper and deeper into Dominion held space.
NOG: We don't have much choice. Every time I try to change course, they gain on us.
JAKE: They're gaining on us anyway. We might as well try and head for the Federation. If we keep going in this direction, we'll run into Cardassia Prime, and that won't be much fun at all.
COMPUTER: Warning. We are within range of enemy weapons.
(Boom)
JAKE: Thanks for the warning.
NOG: All right. When I go to impulse, raise the forward shields and transfer auxiliary power to the phasers.
JAKE: We're dropping out of warp?
NOG: If we have to fight, I'd rather do it at impulse. At least we'd have an edge in manoeuvrability.
JAKE: You're a Ferengi, why don't you try making a deal or something?
(Boom.)
NOG: It doesn't seem they're very interested in talking. Stand by. Here they come.
(Boom, bang! The tiny runabout tries to strafe the big fighter.)
JAKE: Shields down thirty percent!
NOG: I see it.
(Boom.)
JAKE: We're losing main power!
NOG: Keep the weapons online. Everything else is expendable, including life support.
JAKE: There's another ship coming in, bearing one seven zero mark two one five.
(Boom.)
NOG: Jem'Hadar or Cardassian?
JAKE: It's er, it's the Defiant!
NOG: What?
(It certainly looks like it.)
NOG: It's not the Defiant. This ship's registry number is NCC seven four two one zero. USS Valiant.
(Boom.)
JAKE: Valiant? Great name. I hope they tear that Jem'Hadar ship apart piece by
(Boom! Jake is thrown to the floor.)
NOG: Jake! Jake!
(They are beamed out.)
[Valiant Transporter room]
COLLINS: Are you all right, sir?
(A teenaged girl.)
JAKE: Yes. It's nothing serious, Cadet er, Chief?
COLLINS: Acting Chief Petty Officer Dorian Collins. The Captain's asked me to escort you both to the bridge. If you'll follow me?
(I'll let you play spot the NASA astronaut names on your own.)
[Valiant Bridge]
(The place has seen plenty of action.)
FARRIS: (Another girl cadet.) Main power holding. Auxiliary power on standby. Shields holding at eighty four percent.
WATTERS: (The boy in the Captain's chair.) Helm, bring us about to course two one five mark three one zero.
SHEPARD: (boy) Two one five mark three one zero, aye sir.
WATTERS: Set quantum torpedo warheads to maximum yield, full spread.
(Collins enters with Nog and Jake.)
FARRIS: Maximum yield, full spread, aye sir.
WATTERS: Helm, initiate attack pattern sierra four.
SHEPARD: Sierra four, aye, sir.
FARRIS: Shields now at seventy eight percent.
WATTERS: Transfer auxiliary power to shields.
NOG: This is Red Squad.
JAKE: Red Squad?
NOG: It was a group of elite cadets at the Academy. They were the best of the best. Red Squad received special training, special quarters, special everything.
JAKE: They have their own ship?
NOG: I've heard of Cadets getting command of a runabout or a shuttle, but not a starship.
WATTERS: Fire!
(Ka-BOOM! and cheers as they fly through the wreckage.)
WATTERS: As you were. This is the Captain. Stand down from Red Alert. All stations submit damage and casualty reports to the first officer. Glad to see you made it in one piece. I'm Tim Watters, Commanding Officer. Welcome aboard.
NOG: Thank you. Sir?
WATTERS: Sir, is correct, ensign. I was given a battlefield commission and command of this vessel by the late Captain Ramirez. Using that authority, I have commissioned and promoted other members of Red Squad as needed.
NOG: I see. Well. I'm Ensign Nog and this is Jake Sisko. We're from Deep Space Nine.
WATTERS: Sisko? You're Benjamin Sisko's son.
JAKE: That's right.
WATTERS: I've heard a lot about your father. I see you're not following in his footsteps.
JAKE: No. I'm a reporter.
WATTERS: You should really get that looked at. Chief?
COLLINS: Sir.
WATTERS: Escort Mister Sisko to Sickbay.
COLLINS: Aye, Captain. This way, sir.
(Collins and Jake leave)
FARRIS: Preliminary damage report, sir.
WATTERS: Oh, thank you. Ensign Nog, Commander Karen Farris, our first officer.
NOG: Commander.
FARRIS: Ensign. Sir, the Engine Room also reports that we still have power spikes cropping up all through the deuterium injector startup routine.
WATTERS: I thought we had that under control.
FARRIS: I did too, sir.
NOG: Have you recalibrated the lateral impulse control system?
FARRIS: No. What does that have to do with the injectors?
NOG: Well, the impulse system shares some of the same power relays used in the injector startup routine.
WATTERS: We'll try it. Mister Nog, why don't you wait in my ready room.
NOG: Yes, sir.
[Valiant sickbay]
(Collins is tending a would on Jake's right wrist.)
COLLINS: The training cruise was supposed to last three months. We had seven regular officers and a crew of thirty five cadets. The plan was for the cadets to run the ship while the officers observed and critiqued our performance.
JAKE: So this was a training ship. Like the other one, the, er, the Republic.
COLLINS: Not quite. The Republic's an old ship. I don't think she's left the Terran system in fifty years. The Valiant's a state of the art warship. Our mission was to circumnavigate the entire Federation before returning home.
JAKE: The entire Federation? With a ship of cadets?
COLLINS: Not just cadets, Mister Sisko. Red Squad cadets.
[Valiant Ready room]
WATTERS: We were transiting the Kepla Sector when the war broke out. As you probably know, a Dominion invasion force swept through that sector on the first day.
NOG: So you were caught behind enemy lines.
WATTERS: Correct. We were trying to make our way back to Federation held space when we encountered a Cardassian battle cruiser near El Gatark. That was our first taste of combat. In the first fifteen minutes, four regular officers were killed. Three others were critically wounded including Captain Ramirez.
NOG: Is that when you took command?
WATTERS: No. When I got to the bridge, the Captain was in pretty bad shape, but he was lucid and he refused to go to Sickbay. We had lost main power and we were adrift, but the Cardassian cruiser was no better off. So it was a race against the clock. The ship that got main power back online first would have a decisive advantage. The Captain, he was amazing. He directed the entire damage control effort with a punctured lung and massive internal injuries. He was a great man.
NOG: And he won the race.
WATTERS: We got weapons and impulse engines back online in three hours. And then we destroyed that Cardie ship. The next day, just before he died, the Captain ordered me to take command of the Valiant.
NOG: It's unbelievable. You've spent eight months behind enemy lines.
WATTERS: I didn't do it alone. The crew deserves the real credit. We have cadets here as young as seventeen who are doing the jobs of officers twice their age. But we're also seriously undermanned. I could use another officer.
NOG: I'd be happy to do whatever I can, sir.
WATTERS: I see you're familiar with the operations of a class seven warp drive.
NOG: Very familiar, sir. The Defiant has an identical engine.
WATTERS: Excellent. As of this moment, you are Chief Engineer. Congratulations.
NOG: Chief Engineer?
WATTERS: With rank of Lieutenant Commander. Your first assignment is to figure out why we can't go above warp three point two. Mister Parton believes it's
NOG: Excuse me, sir. I, I don't think I'm ready for this.
WATTERS: None of us were ready for the responsibility thrust upon us, Commander. But each of us found a way to rise to the occasion, do the job that had to be done. Ready or not, you are Chief Engineer. You can do this, Mister Nog. Just have faith in yourself, faith in your shipmates, and everything will be fine.
(Nog takes the Red Squad insignia.)
NOG: Yes, sir. I will, sir.
WATTERS: Good man. That's what I want to hear. Now if you can just fix our warp drive problems, we can get on with our mission.
NOG: Our mission? I don't understand.
WATTERS: My orders are to collect technical data on a new Dominion battleship operating in this sector. We keep picking up their comm. traffic, so we know they're in the area, but because we can't go faster than warp three point two, we're unable to get within sensor range.
NOG: And Starfleet knows you're in command of the Valiant.
WATTERS: No. We've had to maintain strict radio silence ever since the war began. The orders were addressed to Captain Ramirez, but since he's dead, the mission's now mine. Make no mistake, I will carry out that mission. Or die trying. Dismissed.
[Valiant Mess hall]
COLLINS: Coffee?
JAKE: Raktajino, please.
(Everyone stares at him, even the Vulcan.)
COLLINS: Here you go.
JAKE: Thanks. So, where are you from?
COLLINS: Me? Tycho City.
JAKE: Oh, a Lunar Schooner.
COLLINS: I haven't heard that in a long time.
JAKE: I picked it up from my granddad. Of course, he still calls Luna the moon like it's the only one or something.
COLLINS: Well, nobody who's ever lived on the moon calls it Luna, either. That's just something they say on Earth.
JAKE: So what's it like?
COLLINS: You're from Earth aren't you? You've never been to the moon?
JAKE: Just never got around to it. Tell me about it.
COLLINS: Well, people say it's so barren and harsh, but it's not. it's beautiful. I mean Tycho City's just a city, but outside where the gravity is still low and there's no air. You know, the sun only comes up once a month on the moon. Every lunar morning, my father and I would put on suits, hike out across the Sea of Clouds. We'd stop at this collection of boulders on the western rim and just wait for the sun to come up. Dawn is so shocking on the moon. One minute you're in the darkest night you can imagine, and the next instant, the sun lifts up and this glorious, pure light just explodes across the surface. I felt like I met God every morning. (she's about to cry) I'm on duty. Excuse me.
[Valiant Engine room]
WATTERS: What's your solution, Commander?
NOG: I've taken the safeties off the plasma intercooler, the flux moderator and the pressure control system. That should solve the problem.
FARRIS: You do realise you're violating about fifty safety regulations?
NOG: Yes, sir, I do. But I also know that Chief O'Brien made the same changes to the Defiant. She never had a problem.
FARRIS: I don't know, Captain. This seems kind of risky to me.
WATTERS: Mister Parton?
PARTON: After spending seven months plodding along at warp three point two, I'm willing to try anything, sir.
WATTERS: Watters to Bridge. Prepare for warp speed.
SHEPARD [OC]: Aye, sir.
WATTERS: All right, Mister Nog. Take us to warp four.
[Valiant sickbay]
(Collins is tapping at a PADD and sniffling a little when Watters enters. He goes straight to a cupboard.)
COLLINS: Can I help you, sir?
WATTERS: No. No, I've got it. Any problems with Sisko's arm?
COLLINS: No, sir.
(Watters gets a box of tablets and takes one.)
WATTERS: You got a problem, Chief?
COLLINS: No, sir.
WATTERS: Have you been crying?
COLLINS: A little.
WATTERS: About what?
COLLINS: I was just thinking about home.
[Valiant Ready room]
(The door opens on Collins standing in front of Watters and Farris. Jake has a security escort.)
WATTERS: Come in. Chief, I think you can go now.
COLLINS: Thank you, sir.
(Collins leaves as Jake enters.)
FARRIS: Well, Mister Sisko. It sounds like you and the Chief had quite a conversation this afternoon. Home and family and the glories of dawn on the moon. Does that just about cover it?
JAKE: That's about it. What's going on?
FARRIS: What's going on, Mister Sisko, in case you haven't noticed, is that we are in the middle of a war. We can't afford to have young cadets thinking about mommy and daddy when they need to be concentrating on their duties.
JAKE: All I did was ask about her home.
FARRIS: All you did was plunge a member of this crew into emotional turmoil.
WATTERS: Jake. May I call you Jake? You're a reporter. Your job is to watch the way events unfold, not participate in them. Right now, you need to stand back. Take a look at where you are and what's going on around you. You're right in the middle of a great story. Maybe one of the greatest stories in the entire Dominion War. This ship is special, Jake. This crew is special. And whatever fates guide this universe, they've have chosen us to achieve some purpose in this conflict. I know that. Just as surely as I know your presence on this ship is no coincidence. You're here to write the story, to tell people of the Valiant and her crew. Don't interfere with the story, Jake. Don't become a part of it. Just let it unfold around you. Observe, listen, and then write it down. May I have your word you'll stay away from Chief Collins?
JAKE: Okay.
WATTERS: Thank you, Jake. You're dismissed.
(Jake leaves.)
FARRIS: I'm not sure we can trust him.
WATTERS: We'll keep an eye on him.
FARRIS: What about Mister Nog?
WATTERS: Mister Nog wears the uniform. He'll do his duty. All right, that'll be all, Commander. I'll see you at eighteen hundred hours.
FARRIS: Yes, sir. Captain, are you all right?
WATTERS: Yes. Why?
FARRIS: I heard you were on the bridge during the midwatch again last night. You haven't been getting much sleep lately, sir.
WATTERS: None of us have, Commander.
FARRIS: No, sir. I suppose not.
WATTERS: Thank you for your concern, Karen, but I'm fine. Really.
FARRIS: Yes, sir. I'm sorry I even brought it up.
WATTERS: That's all right.
(Farris leaves and he takes another tablet.)
[Valiant Corridor]
JAKE: Where've you been?
NOG: Engine Room. I solved their warp problem.
JAKE: What's that?
NOG: My Red Squad insignia. Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, this would be my new rank. Lieutenant Commander Nog, Chief Engineer. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
JAKE: You joined the crew?
NOG: Something wrong with that?
JAKE: It's a little fast. We just got here and Watters puts you in charge of the Engine Room?
NOG: Captain Watters is used to making quick decisions. He felt I was the right man for the job, so he promoted me.
FARRIS [OC]: Red Alert. All hands to battle stations. I repeat, all hands to battle stations.
[Valiant Bridge]
SHEPARD: Range, one point three two light years. Speed, warp four point seven.
NOG: What's going on?
FARRIS: We've found our battleship.
SHEPARD: Their course is one seven zero mark one three five. Speed warp three point nine seven.
CREWWOMAN: Bridge to phaser control, you've got a spike in your 3L subsystem. Take care of it.
CREWWOMAN 2: Sensors show a drop in gamma radiation.
FARRIS: Phaser reserve is losing power.
NOG: I'll reroute it through the auxiliary power interface.
SHEPARD: They've changed course.
WATTERS: Any sign they've detected us?
FARRIS: Negative. I think we're still outside their sensor range.
WATTERS: Maintain your distance, helm. Match their course and speed.
SHEPARD: Aye, sir.
WATTERS: Prepare a class three probe for launch.
FARRIS: Aye, sir.
JAKE: What happens now?
NOG: We're going to launch a sensor probe to scan the battleship. That way, the Valiant won't be picked up on their scanners.
JAKE: Won't they detect the probe?
NOG: Class three probes are designed to be virtually undetectable. There's almost no chance of it being spotted.
JAKE: Almost?
FARRIS: I don't remember anyone inviting you to the bridge.
Captain's log, stardate 51825.4. We've been shadowing the Dominion battleship for three hours. The data our probe has gathered so far has not only been interesting but it may have given us a golden opportunity to strike a blow for the Federation.
[Valiant Mess hall]
SHEPARD: Attention on deck!
WATTERS: Stand at ease. It's been a long eight months. A lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice. Now we've accomplished our mission. We found the battleship and obtained a complete scan without being detected, and we're free to go home. But that ship out there is a direct threat to every Federation outpost and colony within fifty light years. That ship must be destroyed. It can be destroyed. Commander?
FARRIS: We've found a flaw in the design of their antimatter storage system. The primary support braces are made of viterium.
WATTERS: It's a very strong, very resilient metal alloy which just happens to become extremely unstable when exposed to delta radiation.
FARRIS: A single torpedo rigged with a radiogenic warhead could reduce those braces to the consistency of wet pasta.
WATTERS: And as a result, the entire antimatter storage system would tear itself apart. Commander Nog, you don't seem convinced.
NOG: Well, sir, in order to rig a torpedo to yield a delta radiation burst I'll have to remove most of the guidance systems. We'll have to target it manually.
FARRIS: We've trained for that possibility. It shouldn't be a problem.
NOG: We'll also have to get very close to the target.
WATTERS: How close?
NOG: Within three hundred metres.
WATTERS: It's dangerous, there's no disputing that. And no one would think any less of us if we just turn around and go home. But that means that some other ship with some other crew would be asked to finish the job that we started. I think we can do it. I think we should do it.
JAKE: Can I say something?
FARRIS: You are not a member of this crew.
WATTERS: Let him speak.
JAKE: You all probably know who my father is. Benjamin Sisko. So you know I'm not exaggerating when I say that he's considered to be one of the best combat officers in the fleet. And I'm telling you right now that even with the entire crew of the Defiant with him, my father would never try to pull off something like this. And if he can't do it, it can't be done.
WATTERS: We're Red Squad and we can do anything.
(And the room cheers.)
ALL: Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad! Red Squad!
[Valiant Engine room]
(Nog is working on the torpedo.)
JAKE: This is suicide.
NOG: No, it's not.
JAKE: Nog, listen to me. We're in way over our heads here. Now someone told me that ship out there is twice the size of a Galaxy class starship and three times as strong.
NOG: That's accurate.
JAKE: And you really think we can go up against a ship like that?
NOG: I think that Captain Watters
[Valiant Ready room]
NOG [on monitor] Knows what he's doing.
JAKE [on monitor]: Oh, really? Well, did you know that Watters has been taking cordafin stimulants for the past two months?
NOG [on monitor]: Where did you hear that?
JAKE [on monitor]: Dorian told me.
NOG [on monitor]: You were ordered to stay away from her!
JAKE [on monitor]: Will you forget about obeying orders for just a minute!
WATTERS: Watters to Shepard. Please report to my Ready room, Lieutenant.
NOG [on monitor]: That's not the way we do things in Starfleet.
(Watters turns off the monitor.)
[Valiant Engine room]
JAKE: I can't believe you're buying everything that Watters is selling.
NOG: He's not selling anything. He's reminding us of our duty.
JAKE: I feel like I'm having a conversation with one of the bulkheads.
NOG: You don't understand because you've never put on one of these uniforms. You don't know anything about sacrifice or honour or duty or any of the things that make up a soldier's life. I'm part of something larger than myself. All you care about is you.
JAKE: That's right. All I care about is Jake Sisko and whether or not he's going to be killed by a bunch of delusional fanatics looking for martyrdom.
NOG: Get out.
JAKE: I don't even know who you are anymore.
NOG: I'm the Chief Engineer of the starship Valiant.
JAKE: I'll have them put that on your tombstone.
[Valiant Corridor]
(Phasers are pointed at Jake's head.)
SHEPARD: Mister Sisko. I'm afraid you'll have to miss all the fun. You're going to spend the rest of this mission in the brig.
(A series of vignettes, Collins handing out phaser rifles, people coming and going, including a Trill. Stuff being packed away, security running down corridors.)
[Valiant Bridge]
(Nog goes to his bridge station.)
FARRIS: All decks report ready, sir.
WATTERS: This is the Captain. We are about to engage the enemy. For eight months, I've told you to stay focused on one thing. Your duty. But now I want you to step back from your duty.
[Valiant sickbay]
WATTERS [OC]: Take a look around. And I don't mean look at the walls. I want you to look at this moment
[Valiant Brig]
WATTERS [OC]: In your life. Take it in. Appreciate the fact that you are on this ship, with this group of people, at this point in history.
[Valiant Bridge]
WATTERS: But understand one thing above all else.
[Valiant Transporter room]
WATTERS [OC]: This moment will never come again. Hold on to it. Savour it far as long as you can. You're Starfleet, you're Red Squad.
[Valiant Bridge]
WATTERS: And you're the best. Now, let's get that battleship and we can all go home. Captain out. Take us to warp six, Mister Nog.
NOG: Warp six, aye.
(After the break.)
FARRIS: They've spotted us. They're dropping out of warp.
WATTERS: Helm, go to impulse.
SHEPARD: Aye, sir.
FARRIS: We are in visual range.
WATTERS: On screen.
(Thar she blows, and boy is she ugly.)
WATTERS: Lay in a strafing course along their superstructure and make it close. That way they won't get a weapons lock on us. I want to scrape some of the paint off their hull, Lieutenant.
SHEPARD: Aye, sir.
WATTERS: Raise shields, charge phasers. Fire at any targets of opportunity as we pass.
FARRIS: Aye, sir.
WATTERS: Torpedo status?
NOG: Torpedoes ready, sir.
FARRIS: Defence system, ready.
SHEPARD: Helm ready.
WATTERS: All right, Mister Shepard. Take us in.
(They fly in directly along it's course. The big ship fires first and gets hits.)
FARRIS: Shields holding.
SHEPARD: Course stable.
WATTERS: Fire at will!
(Bangs and deaths.)
WATTERS: Helm, hard about! Tactical, get a target lock on those braces!
NOG: Impulse engines at full thrust.
FARRIS: They're trying to jam our sensors.
WATTERS: Mister Nog, initiate countermeasures.
NOG: I'm on it!
FARRIS: I've acquired the target. Torpedoes locked.
WATTERS: Full power to the forward shields. Helm, plot an escape course down the z axis.
SHEPARD: Ready.
WATTERS: Engage.
SHEPARD: They're turning to port.
WATTERS: Match them, helm. Keep us on track.
SHEPARD: Aye, sir.
COLLINS: Hull breach on deck two. Emergency forcefields are in place.
FARRIS: Steady our course, helm. I can't maintain targeting lock.
(Booms are ongoing. Another console explodes and the crewman next to Ferris hits the floor. She's distracted.)
WATTERS: Karen, it's all yours. Fire when ready.
FARRIS: Understood. Just a little closer.
SHEPARD: We're losing our port shields.
(Forward targeting scanner 4751 shows the lock. More booms.)
FARRIS: Steady as she goes. Torpedoes away!
(Multiple explosions.)
WATTERS: Aft view, on screen.
(The battleship is enveloped in a ball of flame. Cheers. Then it reappears, solid as ever.)
WATTERS: Did we miss the target?
FARRIS: No, sir. It was a direct hit. It just, it didn't work.
SHEPARD: Orders, Captain?
WATTERS: Lay in a new course one two seven mark three
(BOOM! BOOM! The Captain's chair explodes and Watters is killed.)
COLLINS: Hull breach on deck two. Deck three, deck four.
FARRIS: Evasive manoeuvres! Bring us about to course one two seven mark three two zero.
SHEPARD: I've lost helm control.
NOG: Main power's offline! I'm rerouting the
(The rest of the bridge consoles blow up. Farris and Shepard die. The little ship is still taking a pounding.)
COLLINS: Auxiliary power's offline. But I still have phaser control. Shall I return fire? Sir?
NOG: No, it's over.
COLLINS: The Captain wanted us to
NOG: The Captain is dead, Chief. They're all dead. The ship is lost. There's no need for us to die here too.
COMPUTER: Abandon ship. Abandon ship. This is not a drill. All hands proceed to emergency escape pods.
[Valiant Brig]
JAKE: Help! Somebody let me out of here! Help!
NOG: Jake! Jake!
(Nog releases the fritzing forcefield on the second go.)
JAKE: What happened?
NOG: We failed.
(The first two are shot down. Two more set off then Valiant goes KaBOOM destroying one of them. Number four heads off.)
[Bridge]
KIRA: Captain, I'm picking up a Starfleet distress signal, bearing three one eight mark zero zero five. Range, ten light years.
WORF: That location is inside Dominion held space.
SISKO: Can you identify the ship sending the distress call?
KIRA: Looks like it's from an escape pod. USS Valiant.
WORF: The Valiant was reported lost over eight months ago. It could be a Dominion ruse to lure us into their territory.
SISKO: Then again it may be genuine. We have to find out. Cloak the ship and lay in a course.
KIRA: Aye, sir.
[Defiant corridor]
SISKO: We scanned the area for any other escape pods, but it doesn't look like anyone else made it.
JAKE: It was a long shot. I just thought maybe
[Medical bay]
(Collins is hooked up to a drip. Nog is sitting on a bed.)
SISKO: How is she, Doctor?
BASHIR: I've managed to repair her fractured skull, and with a little rest she should be fine.
SISKO: And Nog?
BASHIR: Oh, a few bumps and bruises, but he's going to be fine as well.
JAKE: Can I talk to him?
BASHIR: I don't see why not.
(Sisko and Bashir leave. Nog has taken off the Red Squad insignia)
JAKE: Are you okay?
NOG: Yeah. You going to write a story about all this?
JAKE: Probably.
NOG: What are you going to say?
JAKE: What do you think I should say?
NOG: That it was a good ship with a good crew that made a mistake. We let ourselves blindly follow Captain Watters and he led us over a cliff.
COLLINS: That's not true. Captain Watters was a great man.
JAKE: Dorian, he got everyone killed.
COLLINS: If he failed it's because we failed him.
NOG: Put that in your story too. Let people read it and decide for themselves.
(Nog goes over to Collins and gives her his Red Squad pin.)
NOG: He may have been a hero. He may even have been a great man. But in the end he was a bad captain.
2024-09-13 19:26:17 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
