"Captain Leenyo was my friend for almost twenty years…" Rhaan said in disbelief. "We fought in the Resistance together."
"His sacrifice was not in vain," Kira said putting a hand on the general's shoulder.
"It will be if we don't stop those other two ships!" Rhaan said turning back towards the tactical display.
Tigranian stared at the computer icons growing ever closer to their position. If one of the Cardassian ships could reinitialize their core, the other two were not far behind.
The turbolift rose into OPS and Alex and Bashir charged down the steps to join them.
"We saw the Bajoran ship explode!" Bashir yelled.
"Are there any survivors?" Alex said desperately wanting to help. She looked at Kira who simply shook her head no.
"They're now less than a thousand kilometers from the station," The Bajoran technician announced from the sensor station. "Both Cardassian ships have begun the tri-cobalt initiation sequence. I estimate they will be able to jump to warp in less than thirty seconds!"
"By the Prophets…" Kira said covering her mouth. In her almost twenty five years of fighting for Bajor, she had never felt so helpless.
"GOT IT!" Laria screamed from the subspace panel.
"Sir! Our shields are dropping!" The Starfleet crewman said from Tactical.
"What the hell did you do!?" Rhaan shouted losing patience with Laria.
"I needed the energy…" Laria said making a few final connections in the panel. "The Cardassian dynamic power relays in the subspace array can create severe subspace shockwaves if exposed to raw antimatter plasma…" She slammed her comm badge on her chest.
"This is Lieutenant Amira Laria on Deep Space Nine to all coalition ships! Turn to heading 421 Mark 615! Do it! Do it now!"
Laria suddenly turned around to face Tigranian on the far side of OPS. Tears were streaming down her face as she held a live reactor lead in her right hand.
"Till Sto'Vo'Kor, my love…" she whispered at him.
"NOOOO!" Tigranian shouted as he realized her intent. He charged across OPS to stop her, but it was too late. Laria slammed the reactor lead into the subspace power junction. The entire space station lurched and the conduit exploded in front of her. Her body flew five meters through the air. Alarms echoed through the smoky room as emergency power took control.
Outside in space, the subspace array produced a massive blue and purple shockwave that flew out towards the battlefield.
Phil and Dee barely managed to turn their vessels out of the way as the energy wave flew past them directly into the side of the Cardassian ships. Both cruisers were carried along like leaves on a raging river, eventually careening into each other and exploding into a massive cloud of debris. The fierce subspace energy carried their remains back towards Cardassian space.
As the others in OPS attempted to regain their bearings, Tigranian charged through the acrid plasma smoke towards Laria's body. He picked her up and his heart dropped as he felt her limbs go limp. Her uniform was still smoking from the intense burst of plasma energy and blood dripped from her nose and mouth.
"Laria! Laria!" he repeated as he hopelessly tried to bring her back to consciousness. He felt a pair of hands pull him away from his fiancée as Annabeth used all her strength to subdue him. "No! Get off me!"
Alex knelt down next to the brave Bajoran as Bashir grabbed a medical kit and joined her.
"She's not breathing," Alex said trying to find a pulse. Bashir pulled out a medical tri-corder and scanned along Laria's body. "Third degree internal plasma burns from head to toe. She's going into shock and her neural synapses are depolarizing."
"Thirty CCs anaprofaline!" Alex said as Bashir prepped a hypospray. Alex started pounding on Laria's chest trying to get her heart beating again.
"Do not let her die, Alex! DO NOT LET HER DIE!" Tigranian shouted finally breaking free from Annabeth's grip. Before he could get back to Laria, Rhaan tried to help Annabeth regain control of him, but he was fighting like a wild animal.
"Bashir to Infirmary, medical emergency in OPS. Three to beam directly to you."
Just as Tigranian was about to reach them, they disappeared in a swirl of golden light.
****
Bashir lifted Laria onto the operating table. Alex ran up with a pair of neural stabilizers and attached them to her pale temples.
"Still have no pulse," Bashir said preparing another injection.
"Neural activity is down to twelve percent, if it's drops below ten, she'll be permanently brain dead!" Alex said.
"That' won't matter if her organs shut down first," Bashir countered administering the hypospray to Laria's neck.
An alarm echoed from the panel above Laria's head.
"The anaprofaline is having no effect," Alex said furiously making adjustments to the medical computer. "C'mon, L! Stay with me!" She grabbed a tricorder. "We've got to try direct neural stimulation." Bashir nodded his agreement. "Charging to twenty microjules. Standby: clear!" Bashir lifted his hands away from Laria as Alex jolted her nervous system. The tiny Bajoran's body jumped off the table, but fell back limp. The alarm continued "No effect!" Alex said repriming the machine. "Charging to thirty! Standby: clear!" Another jolt passed through Laria's body, but she was still not responding…