Had to go back and make a few changes to the last chapter. I made a goof on the phaser classifications. Other than that it's all systems go for the next part of our adventure. Birthright is starting now.

Birthright

Chapter 1 - Dark Frontier

Captain's Log, September 24th, 2022

Starfleet Command has dispatched the Caroline and the 2nd Fleet to Allileiya, the capital of the Elven Federation. The Elves have requested aid to defend their homeworld against what they call an 'unknown intruder.' They have already assembled a strike fleet around Allileiya and have asked for assistance from the Raptor and Dwarves as well. Sadly, America is the only one who has been able to dispatch a force quickly.

Starfleet Command expects the threat to be negligible. The intruder has only destroyed a few border patrol cruisers so far. The end result of this mission, should it be successful, will be a very marked warming in relations between the elves and America.

A Defiant class ship drops out of warp after a brief flash in the distance and comes in at full impulse speed, whipping past a small moon that orbits around the 8th planet in a system known as Codus. The system is about 15 light years away from the Elven Border, well inside the Neutral Zone set up between the US border and the Elven Federation border. After a few seconds the ship comes into view of the fleet it is joining, and what a sight it is. 17 ships hang over the gas giant that was determined to be the fleet gathering point.

The fleet was a full battle group, arranged in formation around the one ship in the middle which was the single largest ship in the fleet: the USS George Washington, first ship of her class. The George Washington class is basically a Sovereign class that has been stretched out with most of its weapons downsized in favor of a huge amount of fighters, with her nacelles sitting horizontally, Intrepid style, instead of coming up. Normally, she carries 114 fighters of varying types. According to the GU, the George Washington was an Attack Carrier, Type B. To the United States Starfleet, it's simply a supercarrier, in honor of its naval-based counterparts.

In close to the carrier are a trio of one battleship and two heavy cruisers. The battleship now is the Caroline herself. She has 16 Type 12 phasers, the most powerful phasers to be put on a starship. All 16 firing off together had the ability to dull the lights even with the power put out by the Phoenix' high end warp core designs. Then there were the 9 rapid-fire torpedo tubes. These tubes fired the same amount of torpedoes as two normal launchers on other ships. Small wonder the Caroline was put in close to the carrier, and put in direct charge of the starships of the fleet in the event that an enemy fleet closes to engagement range.

At the back ends of the formation's inner triangle are the large and easily recognizable Galaxy class ships: the USS Patton and USS Robert E Lee. These ships were usually troop carriers or long range explorers, but they were still heavy hitters in a fight, which is why they were classed as heavy cruisers. These ships were almost as monstrous as the Sovereign class, featuring 14 Type 10 phaser arrays and 2 burst fire torpedo launchers. Their large saucer surface area also allows for an above average amount of point defense pulse phasers. This made them ideal anti-fighter ships when in formation.

Forming a square around that triangle were four Akira class destroyers. These ships were smaller than the Galaxies but almost as formidable. With three type ten phaser arrays and an impressive 15 torpedo tubes, these were a force to be reckoned with.

Finally, taking up a circle around the larger ships were the smaller Saber and Defiant class ships. The Sabers were a pure escort ship, classed as a light cruiser, with one Type 8 phaser bank, four Type 6's, and two torpedo tubes. The Defiants were light destroyers, sporting 4 heavy pulse phasers, a rear facing Type 10 phaser array, and three torpedo tubes, two forward, one aft.

Aboard the USS Caroline, Captain Davis is standing back at tactical with his first officer, Wedge, and Saphyra, looking over the fleet and its details. "The Reliant just arrived." Davis says, pointing to the display. "That brings our grand total up to eighteen ships." He says, smiling. "Whoever this is that's going after the Elves is in for a rude awakening, having both us and the Elves to deal with."

Wedge smiles. "Yes sir." He says. "This is the first time I've ever seen our new fleet assembled into battle formation. It should be pretty damned interesting." He looks up at the main screen where Davis has had a view of the George Washington stay up. The large ship was a beauty.

"Right then." Davis says, heading around to his command chair. "Communications, inform the flagship that we are ready for warp." He orders, getting a prompt 'aye, sir' from the woman manning the station. Davis is remarkably calm, given the chill he got when the orders were received. He has a bad feeling about this mission, but he chalks that up to the fact that the elves held him prisoner for a good length of time on Schanxi.

"Flagship orders all ships to link navigational computers." Communications responds. Davis nods and looks to his helm officer. "Make it so." He says.

As if a string was pulled, the entire fleet aligns on a single exit vector and move as one unit, at the pace dictated by the carrier. After a few minutes, the ships are clear of the heavy gravitational field the blue gas giant puts out and, with bright flashes erupting from the warp nacelles on all the ships, the 18 vessels jump into warp, embarking on the trip across the border and into Elven space, heading directly for the Elven capital world of Allileiya.

Davis sits in his chair, looking at the view screen, the specks streaking by in warp speed the only thing to be seen, like some screen saver on a computer back home. He sighs and looks over at Saphyra. She gives him a smile and squeezes his hand gently. She could feel his nervousness about going into Elven space. "We were invited this time." She says, smiling to him. She hopes it works and it does, the logical part of his brain kicking in and convincing him even further that the Elves are not a threat this time. Davis nods to her and she gets up, heading to the turbolift. As she goes, she taps her communicator. "Draconic attack wing, report to main hangar bay." She says.

Davis watches her go and then blinks as Saphyra does something she has not done in a very long while. ~Don't you go stressing yourself out while I'm gone, beloved.~ She says into his head over their mental link. Davis actually has to laugh a bit about this, and Wedge, seeing him do it, just shakes his head. He can't imagine being linked to a woman in such a way. Course, he can't keep a girlfriend for more than a few weeks, a month at most.

Five hours later, the battle group drops out of warp inside the Elven capital system, met by an equally large Elven fleet. Aboard the USS George Washington, greetings are given to the Elves and the fleet drops into position abreast of the Elven fleet. Their ships were pretty, in their own way just as pretty as the American ships. They were shaped in a toned, sword-like fashion. Their battleship, standing next to their carrier, was shaped like a large, highly decorated lance, with several points to grab should it be wielded by a giant. The heavy cruisers resembled swords, long, pointed, and bristling with pulse cannons. The Destroyers and smaller ships resembled daggers with wings, something an angel would use when going into combat.

"Sir, control of our navigation has been released by the Washington." Helm reports to Davis, who nods. "Very good." He says. "Keep us in formation with the carrier." He says as the combined fleets receive orders to move out towards the large outer planets, the most likely spot that the intruder would be pulled out of warp. About a half hour later, the two fleets arrive around a large, yellow gas giant. "Welcome to Oscifily." An elven voice says over fleet wide comms. "This planet was our first look into the mysteries of the universe." The voice says in a smooth, fluid tone. "It is fitting that here we will do the first acts of cooperation between humans and elves."

With that, the message ends, and for good reason. "Sir, I have a large sensor contact. Unknown vessel, bearing 356.2. Vessel is 28 cubic kilometers in size. Speed is warp 9.954." Davis starts getting that bad feeling. "Entering visual range now, sir." Wedge says, having routed the sensor readings to his arm rest console. He has a pale face, and Davis starts to get a very big sinking feeling in his gut.

"On screen." He says, and looks to the screen as it clicks over, just as the massive ship drops out of warp. The ship is his worst nightmare come true, and goosebumps start forming along his skin as a chill shoots down his spine. "RED ALERT!" He calls out sharply, the ship's lights dimming and the sirens starting to blare. "Launch all fighters immediately." He orders, sitting in his command chair as the flagship opens comms. "Caroline, take comman--WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND MAGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

There's a slight pause as all of that sinks in. "Launch fighters." Davis orders again, rooting himself in reality. "All units, take evasive action and open fire."

The Caroline immediately springs into action, accompanied by the Patton and the Lee, flying in front of the Washington and firing their phasers into the massive cube in front of them. The escorts break off into pairs and fire on the cube as well, torpedoes springing out from their launches and slamming into the shields on the Borg ship. The elves are taking similar action, blue pulses launching from the cannons on their ships, impacting against the Borg shields. The two carriers are immediately bee-lining for a higher orbit around the gas giant, hoping to be able to warp out quickly should the battle start going badly.

The Cube, being fired upon, immediately starts to return fire, beams of pure, green energy pouring out of the ship. The series does nothing to provide justice to the sheer firepower coming off the cube. Waves of anti-fighter fire come out, slamming into the shields of fighters, filling the void between it and those small craft with lethal balls of energy. Three Elven fighters and an American F-18 explode under the fire. The Borg also take four ships under fire at once, beams slamming into shields as those ships take evasive action to avoid them. One beam strikes out at the Caroline, lighting up the entire ventral shield array for a second as the shields stop the blast. The Caroline returns fire with all her military might, ten phaser banks firing at one time, impacting a point in the Cube's shields no more than ten meters wide. The Caroline turns her back to the Cube, allowing those shields that were hit to be recharged, and unleashes a salvo of twelve torpedoes at the cube. The torpedoes impact the shields but do little else to damage the massive ship.

"Report!" Davis says as he feels the ship rock from another hit. "Ventral shields down to 85%, aft shields down to 90." Wedge says from his place in tactical. Davis nods and gets up, rushing to the turbolift and barking an order for CIC. A few seconds later he is there. "Bring the Patton and the Lee up on our flanks and put auxiliary power to our shields." He orders, going to the main station. "Prepare to make another pass." He pushes a button on his console. "Helm, bring us about." He orders.

The Patton and the Lee form up quickly on the Caroline, and together, the three ships come around and fire upon the Cube, their phasers and torpedoes slamming into the cube's shields, finally collapsing them. A second salvo from the three ships slams into the cube, causing large explosions and rocketing parts from the cube out into space. A pair of Elven destroyers form up just underneath the two Galaxy class ships and unload full salvos of their own missiles into the cube, the blue of their magic-based weapons joining the orange and red of the phasers and torpedoes slamming into the ship. The Cube, spinning around in space, targets one of those destroyers, two beams from the Cube slamming into the starboard Elven destroyer, cutting through its right wing. The ship starts to drift some, and three green torpedoes slam into the destroyer and rip it apart.

"Captain! The USS Rhode Island has been destroyed, along with an Elven destroyer that in our formation. USS Patton is coming under fire." Comes a report from a sensor tech. Davis issues an order for a fighter squadron to come in. Outside, a squadron of F22s and Saphyra's squadron of dragons bank into action. The Cube starts firing its anti-fighter defenses off at them, and immediately an F22 explodes. The dragons are faring a bit better, having more powerful shield generators on, and as one, they fire off their beam attacks, phasers firing from their shoulders and the pure blue energy attack of a celestial erupting from their mouths. The beams target the area the Cube is firing a beam from at the Patton. The area takes the impacts for a few moments and then explodes brightly, the beam not firing again. A second beam returns the fire, impacting one of the more heavily shielded dragons, incinerating the dragon's head, neck, and torso. The armor chain reacts and explodes, taking the rest of the dragon's corpse with it. The dragons then break and evade subsequent beams. A squadron of A10s come in after this, their high powered nose phasers pouring energy into the cube, and the quad micro-torpedo launchers on each wing fire a full spread of torpedoes into the cube before the A10s bank away.

Davis looks at his display. Their fighters were benefiting from the shields. They were able to bank and get out of lines of fire after a few hits pepper their shields, and as long as the dragons don't keep following a straight line, the anti-fighter defenses don't focus on them, and the beams don't rip them apart. Still, casualties were mounting. "Akira wing, form up around the Elven battleship." He orders. "She's taking a lot of fire." As if to punish him for his order, the ship lurches sideways as she is hit by two blasts from the Cube.

On the bridge, Wedge is all over it. "Bring our dorsal shields in line with the cube." He orders. "Reroute ventral shields to the port emitters and balance those shields..." He keeps issuing orders on how to align the ship as he watches the shield readout. Davis issues another order to the helm to bring them in and keeps issuing combat orders.

The elves weren't faring so well. The Borg had already engaged the Elves' border patrol and was using the knowledge of those ships to rip through the Elven defenses. The four Akira class ships dive from the top of the cube just as the cube starts to open up on the Elven battleship in earnest. Three beams impact its shields, a fourth cutting into the hull, before the Akiras cut into the line of fire. The next shot hits an Akira squarely on the middle of the saucer section's shields, flaring them. The Akira banks away, returning fire and unleashing a withering salvo from its rear launchers in conjunction with the other Akiras doing what they can. The Elven ship banks slowly away, not having the same maneuverability as the American battleship anymore, but still, it took that hit well, and its cannons were still firing into the cube.

"Sir, the Cube is changing course, bearing straight towards Allileiya." Davis' plotting officer yells out. Davis nods. "We need to convince them that the main fight is here." He says, mainly to himself. "How many escorts do we have left?" He asks. A second later the response comes. "We have four left sir." Davis nods. "Have them form up in a pincer formation with us, have the Patton and the Lee form the tips." He winces as the readout shows one of the Akiras fading away. It had been hit and either disabled or destroyed, most likely the latter.

The US ships move in quickly, and the Elven cruisers nearby pick up on it and form their own arches below and above the group that move in conjunction, phasers and cannons firing at the cube, stopping it. The cube spins around and fires more, the Caroline taking three direct hits, the third cutting through her shields and tearing into the port side of the saucer. The ship rolls a bit but keeps firing, unloading torpedo after torpedo. The fire starts pushing through the hull of the cube, but whenever they make any progress, the cube rotates, bringing a fresh face to bear. This time, however, luck is on their side. The Elven battleship moves quickly now that it isn't turning and brings its weapons, and those of the Akiras guarding it, to bear on the hole. Torpedoes and energy pour into the hole, which seems to have an effect. The cube rolls downwards and then fires three shots into the battleship. The first two beams are stopped by the shields, but the last punches straight into the ship. Torpedoes hit the ship soon after right in the unshielded area and cause the reactor to explode. The front half of the ship starts drifting after the explosion, tumbling end over end slowly, and secondary explosions tearing fresh holes into the hull, even as escape pods start jettisoning.

The three remaining Akiras start ducking and dodging, one taking a direct shot from the cube. This time, the shields do not hold, and as the beam cuts through the ship, it explodes brilliantly. The other two ships are trying to make their way back to the fleet's main body, but the cube is already rotating to deal with them. Only one makes it and it serves to bring fire back on the fleet. Two more shots and a full torpedo spread, twenty torpedoes rocketing towards the fleet.

"Emergency power to forward shields!" Davis yells out, seeing this, and grabs on to his console.

The torpedoes explode brightly around the ships, and two Elven ships fireball, along with a Defiant and two Sabers. Growling, Davis glares at the screen. "We're going to need reinforcements." He says. "Comms. Contact the Elven carrier. Tell them to send for reinforcements!" Upon acknowledgement, Davis tells the ships to spread out and do what they can to stay alive, but above all else to keep firing.

When the ships separate, the Elves stay in formation with the larger US ships. By now, the Akiras and remaining Defiant have expended all their torpedoes, and the Caroline, Patton, and Lee have expended half their stores. The elves were in worse shape with most of their fleet gone. The only ships left were light ships. Still, they were doing their best, pumping out magical energy as they move. The Caroline fires off a full broadside of ten phasers into the cube, hitting in a precise area. This draws the cube's fire, which is what Davis wanted. As the shots impact, the Patton swings in from an angle with the remaining Akira, unloading a spread of ten photons along with firing four phasers in addition to the full phaser spread from the Akira. The phaser shots impact the area the shots are coming from, and the torpedoes turn the area into a crater. The cube rotates again, and this time, the Lee is the one with the opening.

Before it can take advantage, however, the Borg unload torpedo after torpedo, seeing the danger. The torpedoes rip into the shields protecting the Lee, pounding them down, until finally the shields collapse. Wedge, from his position on the bridge, is able to watch on the main viewer as the torpedoes pick apart the once proud Galaxy class ship, the first two torpedoes ripping into the saucer section, blowing a good quarter of it free. The second and third hit the back of the neck of the ship, a fourth impacts one of the nacelles, exploding it and sending the ship into a wild spin. A fifth and sixth torpedo strike the ship's main deflector as it spins and the ship explodes.

The Caroline comes about, still under fire from the cube, and unloads five torpedoes into the facing portion. These torpedoes explode brightly on the surface, set to high yield, maximum effect. They don't do much damage since the explosion is large, but it does confuse the targeting sensors for an instant. This allows the Caroline to bank up and over, firing shots down into one of the large holes made from an earlier pass. The Cube responds by firing blind, ten torpedoes arching out. Three slam into the Caroline's dorsal shields, and two more pound an Elven destroyer, the ship getting cut in half by the torpedoes and tumbling off.

"How many fighters are left?" Davis asks. "Only fifteen, sir. Our dragons are down by half strength." Comes the response.

Davis nods. That was bad. "Have them return and bring us partially away from the Cube." He orders. He watches as the fighters quickly bank and make combat landings, hoping the Patton and the few remaining ships could handle the fire coming at them. "Sir, Elven reinforcements are arriving!"

The fresh Elven battle fleet comes out of warp right on top of the cube and starts to unload down into the ship. The Cube rotates; bringing its one undamaged face to bear on those ships, and opens up with everything it has. The elves break and dive, going straight into the battle. This gives the US ships the break they need. They leave the close in fighting to the elves and fall back a little. They were still in weapons range, but the cube was more focused on the elves now, allowing their shields to regenerate some. Davis takes this turn with relief. They might have a chance now. He taps his console button. "Bridge, damage report." He asks.

"Shields at 40% across the board and climbing. Give us a few minutes and we'll be back to full." Wedge says. "We have hull breaches on decks six, seven, eight, twenty, and twenty-one. Force fields are in place. We have expended half our torpedo reserves." Davis nods at this report. "As soon as shields are back to full, bring us back in, and keep firing on that cube when you have an opening." He says, then goes back to watching the display. The smaller Elven ships were taking casualties. This was turning out to be a killjoy. As he watches, one of the Elven heavy cruisers winks out. Wedge, on the bridge, has a better view, seeing the heavy cruiser take hits along its engine section, finally losing shields, and having the reactor go critical and blow the ship apart.

A few minutes later, the Caroline dives back into the action, shields back to full, and starts drawing its own share of fire from the Cube, the Patton right there with her. The first pass goes off without a hitch, the cube focused on the last Elven cruiser. On the second pass the cube fires and scores a direct hit on the last of the escorts and the remaining Akira. The Akira cartwheels into the cube and explodes, leaving a deep hole. It was clear, however, that they weren't going to win this fight. "All ships, break clear." comes the same smooth and fluid voice. Davis is surprised by it but does as ordered and has the ship break clear. He watches on the viewer as the Elven carrier comes careening down at the cube, firing off all its weapons. The cube starts firing on the carrier, shots hitting the shields, and eventually breaking through.

"The ship isn't slowing down." Davis says, shocked, realizing what's about to happen. A second later, the carrier slams into the cube, ripping into the hull and penetrating deep, secondary explosions riddling both ships. "Helm, bring us back to a safe distance." Davis orders. A second later, the reactor on the Elven ship goes, exploding brilliantly and, a half second later, so does the reactor at the center of the cube, blowing the entire cube into pieces.

Davis sighs. The elves had paid a great price, but at last the cube was destroyed. "What is the status of the fleet?" Davis asks, but seeing that his plotting officer is dead and the console sparking, he reroutes the console to his auxiliary display. Out of the entire fleet, only the George Washington, Caroline, and Patton were still flying. The elven fleet had one battleship, one heavy cruiser, and two light destroyers remaining. "CIC to bridge, Wedge, coordinate with the Washington and get rescue ships out to find survivors." He says, then turns to his own damage control readout in CIC. "What's our casualties?" He asks. "We lost about a hundred people, sir. And we have about two times that wounded so far." Davis nods. "You caught some yourself, Ensign." He says as he points to the man's head. He was bleeding a bit. "I'll be fine sir." He says, typical of a dragon. Davis nods, pats him on the back, and heads for the bridge. "Stand down red alert." He says as he gets into the turbolift, his voice low and somber.

~I am alive.~ Comes the voice in his head, soft, a bit withdrawn. ~Diamond is dead. Cynder is pretty badly hurt, but she's supposed to recover. I'm coming to the bridge.~ Davis is so very relieved to hear Saphyra's voice in his head. It was the greatest act of kindness she had done to date, letting him know, now that everything is over, that she's alright. He taps his combadge as he comes onto the bridge. "Davis to McLintock, report to sick bay three." He says, giving his friend official permission to be by his wife's side, then looks to the view screen. The wrecks floating around were a testament to have hard fought the battle was. "The Elves fought well." Wedge says, also somber at this point. "We all did." He says, standing up from Davis' chair. "Yeah," He says, "we saved a couple billion lives today. Make sure the crew knows that."

Captain's Log

Supplemental

The battle with the Borg Cube has left nearly 40,000 people dead, most of those Elves. The Caroline is in orbit over Allileiya with the George Washington and the Patton, as well as the surviving Elven ships, and I have been invited to attend a ceremony on the surface to commemorate the battle.

Davis stands with Wedge, Saphyra, Lisa, and Draco on the surface in a large park with a large group of elves. There were no trumpets, no fanfares. Everyone knew the price paid. The Elven King was standing with his head of the Lords, delivering a speech about how the day was a great victory, and yet a tragic moment in the history of both the Elven race and the Human race. Davis mostly ignores him. He wasn't there, he wouldn't know or understand how it felt that one moment when he realized they could not win, that they would all die, or the relief and shock when he saw that carrier plunge into the cube. That captain, that Elf, and his crew, saved all those who were alive now on Allileiya, as well as all the survivors of the battle.

He does look up as the speech ends and watches as a group of elven spellcasters raise their hands, the cement flowing upwards and forming a great stone tree. Written upon it, by the King's own magic, appear the words: "In honor of those humans and elves who so valiantly drew the line. In memory of those who died to save Elvenkind." The ground around the tree shimmers, and upon the concrete appear the names of those who had died, including Saphyra's friend, Diamond.

As you all might have realized, the title of this chapter, the Borg speech, and the initial engagement were all direct shout outs to Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek: First Contact. The next chapter is currently underway.