Wasting no time and giving the Fek'ihri Dreadnought no quarter, Captain Praxas shouted out orders, "Tactical, you know what to do with these guys! Fire all available weapons at the limbs and joints, separate the two ships!"
Veirik's hands flew across the Tactical Console.
—
As the Nexus flew towards the grappling ships, eight orange Anti-Proton beams fired out of the Nexus's Omni-Directional beam arrays. Each orange beam broke the molecular cohesion in the metal of the limbs, slicing through them like hot knives through butter.
Taking the Fek'ihri vessel by surprise, latched onto the Hemmer, its shields were down and offered no resistance as the Nexus blasted its limbs apart, loosening its grip on the USS Hemmer. One by one, the Dreadnought's limbs were severed from the body of the vessel. The Nexus' beams sliced directly into the massive unshielded vessel's key systems, disabling it almost immediately.
Then, in retaliation, like a swarm of bees covering the Hemmer, hundreds of small Fek'ihri fighters rose up from the surface of the Hemmer and began buzzing towards the Nexus.
—
Veirik smiled a wry grin as his hands danced at the console, "There's the swarm. Switching to Wide Beam arrays."
—
As the swarm spiraled and spun towards the Nexus like an angry swarm of bees, the eight orange Anti-Proton beams now fired off in waves of 45-degree beams. Weaker than a solid stream, but able to cover a much wider range, and with the hundreds of small fighters, the eight wide beams swept through and blasted, popping the fighters into small puffs of flames. In seconds, the entire swarm of fighters was decimated.
—
Anzyl smiled and shook his head, "You're getting too good at this, Veirik. Keep firing on the Dreadnought." He turned to Heluna and Nolan at their stations. "Heluna, hail the Hemmer, let them know backup has arrived. Nolan, scan the Hemmer for life signs."
They both nodded and got busy with their duties.
Nolan spoke up first at the Science station, "I am reading approximately 723 Starfleet and civilians aboard."
Anzyl shook his head in disbelief, "Hemmer's crew complement is 855…" He turned to Heluna, "Anything on hails?"
She rapidly nodded back, "Yes, sir, I have audio and visual!"
"Onscreen!" Anzyl almost shouted, standing in front of his chair. "This is Captain Anzyl Praxas of the USS Nexus, Hemmer please respond!"
The viewscreen sputtered and formed a heavily static and snowy image: an Aenar woman, an Andorian alien who was pale white, with snow-white hair, and two Andorian antennae, bent and broken. "Anzyl, I knew that was you! I sensed you when you entered the system!"
A sigh of relief for his former protégé being alive overcame Anzyl. "Alia! You're alive! How is the Hemmer and crew? Report."
Alia shook her head, "They came out of nowhere. No answer to hails, no warning. Whatever they are, they dropped out of warp and assaulted us. We didn't even have a chance to charge shields before those… things, latched onto our hull and began drilling into our decks." Alia, visibly distraught, shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know how many of the crew are alive. Warp engines are offline, and we're dead in the water. That thing's limbs stabbed our warp core like a knife to the Hemmer's heart."
Anzyl nodded. "We've disabled the Dreadnought for now. Let's get your people to safety on the Nexus."
Alia nodded, gulping hard, knowing the Hemmer was all but lost. "I can't even initiate a warp core breach self-destruct to take that abomination down with us. Let's get my people to safety first."
Anzyl pointed to Eroga at Operations, "Drop shields and start emergency transporting from the Hemmer. Use all transport pads and send them to the Emergency Hospital Holodecks."
She nodded and started scanning.
—
Aboard the Hemmer, the halls were dark and sparked with fires, as Starfleet personnel and their families hid or fought for their lives as Fek'ihri warriors crawled on all fours along the walls, roofs, and floors.
A Fek'ihri demon, fangs bared and claws extended, leapt towards a family huddling for safety against the wall. Suddenly, flashes of white light as the Starfleet crew and their families were transported away, as the Fek'ihri slammed into walls and debris, their fangs missing their targets.
—
In the sterile air of the medical Holodeck transport pad, the family screamed as they materialized, greeted by clean air and EMH nurses with open hands.
"You're safe now. Quickly, off the pads, you're safe now." The EMH nurses quickly assisted and escorted the wounded and terrified rescued from the teleport pads.
—
Eroga replied back to Captain, "We have 87% of the Hemmer crew aboard. And more every wave."
Anzyl nodded and turned to Alia, "I know it's a Human adage to go down with the ship, but…"
Alia interrupted him, "Let's get my crew to safety, and if there's anything to salvage afterward, we'll come back for it."
Anzyl nodded and smiled. "You heard the woman, Eroga. Transport the rest of the crew and civilians aboard."
Alia nodded on screen and then flashed white as she was transported off.
Eroga turned to the Captain in her chair, "That's everyone, Captain. The Hemmer only has Fek'ihri aboard it now."
Anzyl smiled wryly and turned back to her, "How about we use those transporters and vacate the Hemmer of all unwelcome guests?" He then turned to Veirik, "Keep firing, you're about to get a lot more targets for target practice."
Both of the warriors grinned, and fingers flew at their consoles.
—
Outside the sparking ruins of the Hemmer, in the vacuum of space, dozens of flashes of light began appearing as Fek'ihri warriors were transported and materialized in the dead of space. Writhing and wriggling as their monstrous bodies were greeted by the cold vacuum of space. Then the Nexus began picking them off, eight by eight, as the orange octo-beams disintegrated the monsters floating in space into nothing.
—
"And that's all of them, sir," Eroga declared, "The Hemmer is now completely vacant."
Veirik spoke up next, "Make that also on the outside. The only Fek'ihri are aboard the Dreadnought."
Anzyl smiled and sat back down in his chair, "Then how about we delete that as well. Fire all weapons and eliminate that eyesore, will you? Use a reverse tractor beam and push it away from the Hemmer first."
—
Outside, the Nexus pulsed a bright blue cone of energy as the tractor beam pushed the Dreadnought away from the Hemmer. Once it was a safe distance, the Nexus unleashed a barrage of photon torpedoes and beams. Impact after impact, explosion after explosion, the disabled Dreadnought erupted in fiery flames, then exploded in a grand eruption of metal and flames.
—
The crew aboard the Nexus erupted in cheers of victory.
Anzyl let out a sigh of relief, his hands on his hips, "One down, how many more to go?…"