By Nathan Warner
After the Dominion War, Starfleet and KDF forces regularly engaged in combat exercises to hone their defense skills
“Don’t fire!” Captain Archie Collard called out across the viewscreen to his wingman, “We want to demoralize them into surrendering, not blast them into obsidian—although that would be easier.” Captain Avis Amery smiled back.
“I like a challenge!” she said, “We’ll following your lead.” The two refitted Defiant Class starships, the U.S.S. Revise and U.S.S. Restitution, swooped down through the morning atmosphere of the New Europe Colony on Delta 4, closing to point-blank range on their Klingon counterparts during an in-atmosphere war-game exercise.
It had been a few years since the close of the Dominion War and Starfleet had begun holding regular war-game exercises with their Klingon allies to test their vulnerabilities in mock combat. It might not have involved live ammunition, but everything else was as real as it got. Captain Archie Collard had a reputation for his devious, tactical cunning. He played every engagement with the same ruthless realism that had gotten him through the Dominion War. Still, he despised killing, and reconciled the very real need for tactical superiority with his peaceful aspirations by dedicating himself to developing non-lethal tactics.
Earlier that morning, he had discussed a new maneuver with Captain Amery, which he had dubbed the “Shockful Awe”—a 25 second loop from take-off on the ground to the edge of space (using the ionosphere to mask the ship's position) and back down to the surface—made possible by the vastly improved atmospheric handling of the new Defiant class refit, which rivaled even the famed Bird of Prey. It went like clockwork.
Captain Korband of the Butak didn't see the Revise or Restitution until just before the two Defiants buzzed him and his wingman. They were so close, that the wake of the ships passing disrupted their attitude control and they went into tailspins. Korband conceded victory to Collard for his warrior cunning. Afterwards when they all met for drinks at Starbase 42, the Klingon commander was heard to mutter, “It was like the war-hammer of Kahless bearing down on me! What a roar!”
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