To: 
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com

This is  a section of a story that didn't work. (Not even close)  But it
shows roughly where I see Hailey and the USS Harrier in the Cannon

-*-

I found myself walking the Corridor of an older Starship. The angles of the
bulkheads were telling. I was getting the hang of this now. I checked
myself. I was wearing Captain's Pips. I was wearing a Phaser. The Ship,
which ever one it turned out to be was on yellow alert.

I had a feeling so I kept walking and turned at the end of the Corridor.
There was a turbo-lift. I walked into it.

It opened and there was the name plate. USS Harrier. I was back on my first
starship command.

"Bridge." I said. The turbo lift whisked me away with the same old noise.

I walked out onto the Bridge.

Stephanie Anderson was there in a maroon tunic and Lt Commander's Pips. She
stood up. "Long Range Sensors detect Dominion ships heading this way,
Three fighters." She looked grim. I noticed she was also wearing a
phaser. So was everyone else on the bridge. That's a war time precaution.

"Take the appropriate defensive measures." I said as confidently
as I could. "How long until they're in weapons range?"

"Forty five minutes." She replied. I looked at my officers. They
were all kids. Except my tactical officer. George Zuma, wearing full
Lieutenants pips.

"When they're ten minutes from maximum weapons range, sound red
alert." I said.

I had just that long to read up on the Dominion, and their fighters.

I read of the enemy from the Gamma quadrant and their fierce hatred of all
"solids" and their awful police state enforced by clones. I read
of the Bajoran Wormhole. I didn't have time to be surprised. In my time
line the Bajoran Wormhole lasted maybe three months. Some said it was still
there but access was restricted. I didn't recall much about it.

Apparently this Dominion existed on the other side of the worm hole, came
through and made an alliance with the Cardassians.

Their weapons, early on, shot though Federation shields like they weren't
even there. That bugged me. Even so, now with adjustments to allow shields
to work against their phased polaron beams, The powerful Dominion ships
were still kicking our asses.

That explained what the Harrier was still doing on line. The Harrier, A
Miranda class ship named the Palomino, and an old Constitution class boat
named the USS Ezekiel were pulling rear echelon escort duty. Fine by me.
The death toll among Starfleet in the opening stages of this war staggered
me.

Now, The rear was about to become the front. I wiped my palms on my pants.
I didn't like this. I have never done well in the combat simulations.
Adequately but never what I'd call stellar, or even especially good.

As the Harrier went to Red Alert, I noticed something. The Dominion ships
were coming in hot. They were moving very fast.

Something about the way they flew nagged me. Suddenly I got it. I was about
to fight the wrong fight.

"Message to the Palomino and the Ezekiel," I yelled "Don't
fight like a ship. Fight like a fighter plane."

Zuma nodded. "Aye, Sir"

"Engineering! Bring the Impulse reactors to 105%! Reinforce structural
integrity, Helm! Fly like you've got a pair! Evasive action!" I
yelled, praying that I wasn't committing testosterone laden suicide.

The screen spun sickeningly.

"Form up with me on a split high-cover." I heard Zuma Say. I
turned to give him a thumbs up.

Polaron beams started flying. The Harrier was rocked. "Phasers! Fire
as you bear! Torpedoes at tactical's discretion." I yelled.

"We need mutual coverage." Stephanie was saying to her
communications. "Come along side and interlock firing arcs."

The Dominion clone warriors, the Jem'hadar stuck to their strafing run
style of attack.

The Harrier and the Palomino, moving far too fast became the attackers,
while the Ezekiel, also flying far too fast cut across our rear and over
head areas, being a floating guard.

We joined the Jem'hadar strafing run on our freighters, but we shot at the
Dominion ships, They broke off their attack and spun away, evading us. I
was a touch ill looking at it. The Jem'Hadar fighters were more
maneuverable than our old ships.

"Break left and come back around." I called "Keep that speed up!"

We were able to catch them in a scissors attack. By evading Harrier, the
first Jem'Hadar fighter dodged into the Palomino's fire. Her torpedoes
shredded the Jem'Hadar ship. His shields seemed twice as thick, and his
beams twice as powerful as ours.

The Jem'Hadar understood wing-man tactics. While we killed one of theirs,
The Ezekiel was dodging for her life, trying to keep the other two busy and
calling for us.

We swept around and attacked our next target, They made us pay, Splitting
up into a scissors of their own.

My Helmsman, a kid who looked barely old enough to shave, kicked the
Harrier from side to side, really working our Inertial dampeners hard.
However, that was one area of technology where we equaled or excelled over
the Dominion, so we used it.

Dominion beams plowed into the Harrier, demolishing our shields.
"Divert power from weapons to shields! Let the Palomino shoot
'im!" I think I sounded a bit shrill. Even so, the Harrier was badly
wounded along her starboard side.

The attacking Jem'hadar paid for this success himself. The Palomino riddled
him with photon torpedoes and phaser beams, too. He was crippled.

That left one Dominion Fighter against the crippled Ezekiel, the damaged
Harrier and the fresh Palomino. I was starting to feel like this wasn't
working out too badly.

The last Jem'Hadar fighter whirled around and came straight at the USS
Palomino. "All weapons, maximum fire!" I yelled. The Ezekiel put
out a few beams of her own. I couldn't believe my eyes. When their polaron
beam cut into the Palomino, I thought it was just chicken, a way to jam the
beams up close for maximum damage.

But the Jem'Hadar Fighter rammed the USS Palomino. Both ships disappeared
in a blinding flash of light.

I sat stunned. Stephanie said, "Finish that last one off."

Our Phasers fired until he, too disappeared.

We'd just lost somewhere around 250 people.

I hoped that the other Hailey, the one who's place I was taking could find
it in his heart to forgive me some day.

As we settled down from battle mode, I heard a noise. Over the comm
channel, some sort of unusual noise.

"What is that?" I asked Stephanie.

She looked grim. "The freighter crews. They're cheering."

I boggled at her.

She shrugged. "They're the first convoy to get through with no
civilian losses."

I stared at the screen in horror.

"Probably get a medal." She said. "'Fly like you've got a
pair.'" She chuckled. "I like it."

"I'll be in my ready room." I stood and reeled for a minute. The
Harrier didn't have a ready room off the bridge.

"Ready room?" Stephanie asked.

"My office." I said. I stepped into the turbo lift and leaned
heavily against the wall.

It took a bit to recall where my office was on the Harrier.

I sat back. Did I even want to know what happened?

I called up the logs. Lots of logs of the Harrier being a minor patrol
cruiser. There were lots of adventures, but no being thrown into unknown
space. No mention of the Kliges'chee or the Zantree or much of anything
beyond the Klingon frontier.

I leaned back into my chair and tried to force myself to relax.




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