Instantly the ship turned around and went to full thrust. After a few moments helm snapped "First line, our instructions are to stay just within sensor range and wait for further instructions." "Understood!" Sulu answered, sitting down as the other officer rose and headed for the turbo lift. Chekov replaced his counterpart.
"Oooh!" Checkov cried. "Captain! There are tremendous energy discharges occurring behind us! They seem to be slowly coming towards us. Shall I maintain distance?"
"Do so!" Kirk ordered.
Kirk watched Captain Jehovah. She seemed to be watching what was going on behind them. She suddenly spun around. "There's six objects ahead of us!" she screamed. "Destroy them!"
"Got them, captain!" Chekov barked. "Phasers locked, firing!"
The Enterprise was rocked. "Old type fusion bombs!" Spock called. "We would not have detected them ourselves in time, captain! Any closer and they would have disrupted our warp nacelles. It would've taken us some time to recalibrate them, if they had not done worse damage."
"Shut them down!" Kirk screamed, "Now!"
Sulu quickly complied. "Warp field's gone, captain."
"No sensor beams!" Kirk ordered. "But look for incoming energy."
"Got them, captain!" Chekov chuckled, "Eight impulse engines. Shuttles! They're coming for our landing bay. They must be heavily shielded or I would be picking up their engine emissions much more easily."
"Spock," Kirk cried, "would those radiation bursts have knocked out our shields?"
"I do not believe so, captain," Spock answered, "our main defense shields would've been unaffected. Captain! The shuttle bay shields! They're not designed to take such a load. They would've shut down to keep from being burned out. For a few minutes they will be vulnerable until they can recharge."
"Shut them down!" Kirk ordered, "Exactly as they would've been. Begin the recharge. Security to the shuttle bay! But do not enter the bay itself. Guard all entrances. I'll be there shortly. Mr. Spock, with me! Gentlemen, obey the captain's orders as if they were mine."
Kirk hurried to the turbo lift. Spock joined him. In a few minutes they entered the control room and the security men handed them heavy phasers. "All positions covered, captain!"
Moments later the shuttle bay doors lit in a bright flash, and a great portion of them disappeared. Four shuttles swooped in, discharged dozens of men, and pulled out. Four more came in. "NOW!" Kirk screamed.
Everyone opened fire. The Romulans were taken off guard. They were in the open. Though the four shuttles that had landed last had disrupter turrets they were taken out by The Enterprise's crew in the first volley! After only a few minutes the men that were still standing hurried back into the shuttles, they lifted, and departed. But many of them lay on the shuttlebay floor.
"I don't think they'll try anything like that again!" Kirk sighed. "How did they get the bay shields operating so fast?"
"They didn't, captain!" Spock answered. "The first shuttles to come in dropped temporary generators that also carried air canisters that pressurized the shuttle bay. The first men to get off were probably a little short of breath but it wouldn't have lasted very long. Pretty ingenious tactics, captain! Just to be on the safe side as soon as our own shields are operable I would use tractor beams to dump those things in space."
"Make it so!" Kirk snapped to the security men. "Secure those bodies. If anybody should be alive treat them. They won't want to be returned. They'll consider themselves dead. But they won't mind living out their days on some Federation outpost."
"Understood, captain!" the security chief snapped.
Kirk hurried back to the bridge. "You may go in now, captain!" Captain Jehovah instructed. "They're fleeing back to their own ship. Apparently when their little attack failed they decided to give it up. They were taking a pounding anyway."
"Sir!" Chekov put in, "The energy sources, they've dropped down to a rather reasonable level. I'm picking up transport signals. Sir! One of the energy fields seems very odd. Well, it seems to be blinking on and off."
Captain Jehovah looked outside. "Beam that one directly to your sick bay!" she ordered. "Have them stand by. Damn! They managed to hurt North? Must've taken several of them!"
"Transporting!" Spock put in.
A few moments later Dr. McCoy's voice came over the intercom. "I need help down here!" he screamed. "This man is seriously hurt."
"Help's coming, doctor!" Capt. Jehovah answered. "Close as many of the wounds as you can. She'll do the rest."
"Hurry!" McCoy answered.
"Good man!" Captain Jehovah sighed. "He really shouldn't let the thing about his father bother him so much. He did the right thing at the time."
"What's that?" Kirk asked.
"Oh!" I'm sorry!" Captain Jehovah answered. "Something I shouldn't have said. Don't mention it, except when it's necessary."
Commodore Jehovah entered the bridge. "Get to sickbay!" he ordered. "Help Durga and Gretle."

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