<Lt. Cmdr. Max Mortimer, Bridge>

The Romulan ship fires it's plasma cannon again, and the Lafayette is rocked by another explosion.

Mortimer hits the intercom again. "Repeat. Emergency bridge crew to the bridge."

"Computer, set heading 332 mark 49. Ahead half impulse."
"Target phasers on Warbird's bridge. Adjust phaser frequency from minimum to maximum until you find maximum penetration levels. Fire continously on my command..... FIRE!"

The phasers fire at the Romulan ship, glowing at various colours through the spectrum until they penetrate the shields. An explosion blows the Romulan bridge apart, and the Warbird swerves erratically.

"Phasers have overloaded"

The second battle group approaches. Five green warbirds led by one painted blood red.

Where's the bridge crew. I'll have to patch command functions through to engineering.

Mortimer hits the intercom again. "Bridge to engineering."

"Bridge to engineering."

"Bridge to security. I need somebody up here on Tactical"

"Computer. Divert power from warp engines to shields. Target photon torpedoes at lead ship and fire continuously."

A photon torpedo barely makes a dent in the Warbird's shields. Ten seconds later, another repeats the futile manuver.

The Romulan ships start firing on the Lafayette, a frigate usually outmatched by a single warbird, which now faces six.
Damage reports flood the communication channels.

"Port warp nacelle has been destroyed"
"Engineering has depressurised"
"Impulse engines are damaged"
"Shields have collapsed"

"Computer. Casualty report"

"Casualty count is 0%"

"How can that be?"

"Command not recognised. Please re-specify"

"Computer. How can there not be any casualties"

"You have not been injured"

"I know that. What about the rest of the crew"

"There are no other crew members on the Lafayette."

"Computer: Thrusters at maximum. Head for lead Romulan vessel. "

The Lafayette heads for the Romulan Warbird.

"One minute to collision with enemy vessel"

The Romulan Warbirds surround the Lafayette, and hold it in place with tractor beams. 

"Computer. Where are the rest of the Lafayette's crew"   

"There are no other crew members on the Lafayette."

"Yes, you've said that. What happened to the crew members who were assigned to this ship"

"There are no other crew members assigned to the Lafayette."

"Since when?"

"There is no record of other crew members assigned to the Lafayette at any time"

Great - that's all I need - a computer malfunction.

"RED ALERT. Intruders detected on decks six and nine"

"Computer. Seal off decks six and nine, and evacuate the atmosphere"

Mortimer can see the Romulans dying painfully in his mind, and he smiles.

They're not taking this ship.

"Computer. Initiate self-destruct sequence. Authorisation Mortimer Delta-Alpha-Nine."

"Self destruct sequence initiated. Self destruct in one minute"

"Computer. Do we have transporters?"

"Affirmative"

"Scan the torpedo bay and get the co-ordinates for a photon torpedo. Lock transporters on and beam it directly to the engine room of the Romulan ship that drops it's shields for transport."

"Intruders detected on deck seven. Transporting torpedo"

Mortimer watches as the lights on one of the Warbirds go dim.

"Romulan vessels are pooling their shield generators to create a forcefield around the Lafayette"

That must be to stop further transports - they don't know about the self-destruct, and even if they do shields won't stop the antimatter explosion when the Lafayette goes up.

"Lead Romulan Warbird is hailing us"

"On Screen"

The viewscreen switches to the bridge of a Romulan Warbird. The captain looks at Mortimer. Even with the angled facial features of a Romulan, Mortimer recognises Vice Admiral Lori McCarthy.

"Did you really think that your futile attempt to stop the invasion would work? You seriously underestimated us, Mr. Mortimer." she turns to the tactical station "Tactical Officer. Target that ship and blow it to atoms" 

The tactical officer turns to McCarthy, and Mortimer is shocked to see that it is Captain Storm.

"With pleasure, sir." He replies, just as a red light flashes on his control board.

"Sir. He has initiated self-destruct. The warp engine will go critical in ten seconds."

"Order the other vessels to withdraw. Get us out of here - NOW!"
 
The Romulans turn to run, just as the Lafayette disappears in an enormous antimatter implosion.

Everything goes black.

Mortimer sits up bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping from his brow.