The ESS Sherlock Holmes dropped out of Omijump near the Directive border.
"Scrambler code epsilon to Spacenaut Headquarters," Captain Henry Towns ordered. "ESS Sherlock Holmes successfully reached Directive Space. Must maintain radio silence from here on. Captain Henry Towns, February 6th, 2509. End transmission."
"Engaging cloaking device," the pilot, Lt. Zedrich said from his console."Full impulse speed on your command."
"Take her in, lieutenant," Towns said. The Sherlock Holmes glided forward, totally invisible, into enemy space. "Let me know when the sensors see something," Capt. Towns said, and left the bridge. He scratched his short, brown beard as he took the elevator to the lowest level, Deck 4. His executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Leveret Muench was eating chicken soup in the deserted Mess Hall. Towns reached for the lighting control.
"Leave it dark, Henry," Muench muttered. Towns walked over to his friend and sat down across from him. Muench slurpped a noodle.
"You okay, Lev?" Towns asked. "Head cold?"
Muench shook his head. "Cratalman flu. Probably caught it on Starbase 752 last week."
"How do you feel?" Towns asked.
Muench pushed a chunk of frizzy, blond hair out of his eyes and said, "I feel like crap."
"Get some sleep, Lev," Towns told him. "That's an order," he added jokingly.
"Flu's given me insomnia."
"Then eat some chicken soup."
Muench forced a smile. Towns's comunicator beeped.
"Captain," a female voice said. "We're experiencing a power drain. Can you meet me in engineering in two minutes?"
"I'll be right there," Towns replied.
"Understood. Fulton out."
Towns stood, patted Muench on the back, and then jogged down the long, dim hallway to main engineering. An Asian woman was waiting for him.
"What's the problem, commander?" Towns asked.
"We're losing power to all vital systems, captain," she told him. "The strange part is, the drain appears to be occuring within the reactor. I don't understand it."
"From inside?" Towns asked. "Sabotage?"
"That's my theory, sir," she replied gravely.
"Switch to auxiliary power, commander."
"Aye, sir."
The Sherlock Holmes shook violently and the lights flickered.
"Bridge to Captain Towns," Lt. Zedrich's voice said over the communicator. "We are under attack."
"Red alert!" Towns bellowed. He ran to the elevator and hit the "Bridge" button.
He emerged on Deck One to find the Bridge in chaos.
"Report!" Towns ordered as he sat in his chair.
"One heavily armed Xayotite destroyer bearing down to starboard!" Zedrich replied.
The Sherlock Holmes shook again. The science console exploded and the lights went out.
"How the hell are they detecting us?!" Towns yelled.
"The cloaking device was destroyed after the first shot, captain," the tactical officer said.
"Tactical on thr Xayotite ship?"
"Type seven ion cannons, fourty rounds of antimatter torpedos, and electromagnetic sheild."
"Damage report," Towns ordered.
"Cloaking device destroyed, omijump drive leaking, sheilds down to 11%, main power disabled, reactor core fractured." Zedrich said.
"What is our current weapons status?"
"We have five zerropoint rockets, sir," the tactical officer said.
"We're dead," Towns whispered to himself. "Unless..."
Muench came onto the bridge and knealt next to Towns. "You'd better have a plan," he said to him.
"Or I'm gonna puke."
"I think I might have a wild little idea."
The Sherlock Holmes shook again.
"Your orders, captain?" Lt. Zedrich asked.......
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