((Bridge, USS April))

During the run in to their position covering one quadrant of the nebula, they had been able to test their weapons and get a semblance of a crew rotation going. Wong had specifically told all of his staff to cut their people some slack and get people some rest. The last few weeks in the Duwalla system had kept almost all of them busy and running on very little sleep. They had also received the mission plan from the IKS Slivin and the 2 other 4th Fleet vessels that had corralled the suspected Malem class recon vessel from the Free State.

The CO knew they were heading into a series of situations that would likely result in combat, and as a former pilot he knew that people were never at their best when they were sleep deprived. Some algorithmic level duty roster making by Mee IH had somehow enabled everyone on the crew at least an 8 hour rest period on their 18 hour trip to the nebula.

“Signal the Slivin, we’re in position.” Wong said.

“Signal sent sir.” Singh replied as the rest of the crew were preparing to set the trap.

“I still can’t believe we’re going to be doing a tachyon detection grid with only 6 ships.” Abernathy said from  Tactical.

“It’s not a huge nebula, we don’t need that big of a net. If that Rommie ship is in there, we’ll find them.” Ingram replied from his ops console to the left of Lasage at the joint Helm/Ops station at the front of the bridge.

“Indeed Commander. But lets try to refrain from using such epithets on the bridge.” Wong knew Ingram didn’t mean anything distinctly xenophobic or racist by the statement. They had both been fighter pilots through most of their careers, so Wong understood, but decorum alone dictated that the Captain shouldn’t condone that sort of talk.

“Sorry, sir.” Ingram turned back to his console. “We’re ready to initiate on your command sir.”

“We’re being hailed by the Slivin sir.”

“Onscreen” Wong replied.

“Greetings Captain, welcome to our hunting grounds. These filthy pa’taghs have hidden themselves in this nebula using the tetryon flux to mask their signature. Their cloaking device had taken some damage during the chase, so we presume we would have seen them emerge. If they decide to run, their guilt will be confirmed, and we may pursue and destroy them. If they surrender, my boarding party is prepared to board them and arrest the crew. Your Starfleet Intelligence has confirmed that this is a support vessel for a Free State Warbird that is responsible for downing one of your sister ships and attacking a few others, so we are authorized to engage.” Kerak said, as if offended by the restrictive ROEs.

“We’re ready when you are Captain. We have a dedicated team that can assist in boarding the vessel if needed too, let us know if you need them.” Wong said.

Kerak nodded. “Have them standby, we we should try to disable the vessel if possible. Let’s begin. Mareg, signal the other ship to initiate the grind. Bamet engage the aggravated streams.”

“Ingram, fire it up.” Wong said before opening a channel to Commander Fields in Cargo Bay 3 on his armrest console.

“Commander Fields, we might have a job for you, prepare your team for a possible boarding party action aboard the Romulan vessel.”

“Roger that Captain. Scramble! Battle rattle and rifle only folks…” Field replied as he was heard preparing his people to move to the transporter room before Wong had even closed the channel.

“Grid is up now sir.” As Ingram added as he engaged their tachyon stream along with the other 5 vessels surrounding the nebula each of the sensors of the 6 ships could clearly see the Malem hiding in the middle of the nebula.

“Bamet move us in on an intercept vector.” Kerak said.

“The Malem’s making a move sir. She’s running from the Slivin sir.” Abernathy called out.

“Vector?” Wong asked.

“Right in between us and the Carlagian Cruiser(a newly made Expanse ally who had had one of their ships attacked by Free State vessels) sir.”

“Lasage, intercept, red alert, charge weapons.” Wong said, the shields had already been raised.

“Hi eye ser, hwere hon dem.” The Quebecious helmsman replied.

“The Malems approaching the edge of the Nebula sir, at full impulse. The Carlagians are also moving to intercept. Slivin is pursuing them through the nebula.” Abernathy replied.

“Get a firing solution on ‘em as quick as you can Lt. Once they get to the edge of the nebula they’re jump to warp.” Wong commanded.

“9 seconds, Lasage veer left a bit so I can lead the target with our torpedoes, if you will.”

“Hroga(Roger)” Lasage replied as he complied.

“It’s gonna be close.” Ingram noted

“Locked.” Abernathy said as the solid tone informed him they had the target.

“Fire, torpedoes.” Wong waiting a few seconds, knowing the range of the phaser cannons were less than that of targeted torpedoes. A second after the fired their torpedos the Malem juked and launched its own salvo at the April.

“Fire cannons.” He added. The target was just about to go to warp as the first torpedoes struck, then the cannons, expertly targeting their engines, slammed home a few seconds later. The Malem lost attitude control and began spinning wildly.

“Grab them with a tractor beam Abernathy. Singh, tell them to stand down or be destroyed. We aren’t gonna play around with Tal Shiar Imperialists.” Wong ordered.