I think this is an interesting change of pace. We'll have to see who agrees.

"The Battle of Teska IV"

By Joseph Manno

Excerpted from Jane's Fighting Ships, Special Edition:

Naval Enagagements of the late 24th Century:

…and while, clearly, the actual numbers involved would normally preclude the Battle of Teska IV from being considered a pivotal one in deciding the outcome of the Dominion War, other considerations elevate the clash's importance significantly: The Federation Alliance, until that point in the conflict, had experienced weeks of near-continual defeat, and morale was already beginning to flag. The encrypted transmission of the battle received by the (at that point) still Starfleet-controlled Argus Array let a frustrated and frightened populace know that victories were possible against even such a formidable and relentless foe. Like the earlier raid on the Tauros II shipyards, Teska IV shored up Starfleet's determination—an important accomplishment considering the months of frustration and defeat that followed.

Despite the legend that has since sprung up around Luciano Mantovanni (and was already in strong evidence by the time the Dominion War had begun), he was not by any means a universally popular commander, and his attempts to hold together a hastily assembled ad hoc force such as the "13th Fleet" were both fraught with controversy and resented by many under his authority. Teska IV took place in the wake of his controversial duel with then even more famous Klingon Thought Admiral Kuras vestai K'Mok. In fact, Starfleet later attempted to repudiate his actions, and it was only the vehement insistence of the Klingon government [As if any kind of insistence from the Klingon government isn't vehement - Ed.] that Mantovanni had acquitted himself honorably which spared him disciplinary action—in this instance.

Not only were his subordinates uncertain, and in the case of one or two, resentfully rebellious, he was suffering from a pronounced disadvantage in ships and firepower: Against a mixed force that consisted of a Dominion battlewagon, four Cardassian cruisers (two each of the heavy Keldon- and medium Galor-classes), eight Hideki-class fighters and 24 Jem Hadar attack craft, the "13th Fleet" could counter with only three Klingon vessels (attack cruiser, frigate and destroyer escort), and six Federation starships, of which only two were constructed primarily for combat: Mantovanni's own Sovereign-class fast battleship USS Liberty and the Akira-class strike cruiser USS Athene. The remaining five were typical Starfleet design: Well-rounded; adaptable; neither conceived nor built to engage in extended fleet operations; and none with firepower surpassing that of a heavy frigate.

Mantovanni deployed his ships in a fairly conventional defensive structure relatively near to Teska IV—a wedge that, from all external appearances, looked to be an attempt at punching a hole in the deploying Dominion vessels and escaping into open space. The Jem'Hadar commander, the Vorta Sethon, allowed the Federation ships to maintain formation, believing that the second task force—equal in number and type of ships to his own, and only hours away—would be able to overtake and destroy any vessels that escaped, damaged as he assumed they would no doubt be.

The first sign that the battle might not go the Dominion's way occurred even as the van of their assault group dropped out of warp and proceeded at high impulse to engage the enemy at close quarters. In the seconds that the Federation Alliance ships had their opposition within reach of their torpedo launchers, but yet beyond effective directed energy weapon range, the entire fleet fired a massive spread of torpedoes. This would have been both expected and readily countered, if those fired hadn't all been directed exclusively at the incoming Jem'Hadar fighters—as well as consisting entirely of quantum torpedoes.

Mantovanni had clearly understood that the danger to his force in the opening moments of the engagement was the reprehensible but effective Jem'Hadar tactic of ramming larger and more powerful vessels with fighter craft, and allowing the capital ships to engage in what was often more a mop-up operation than an actual battle. To counter this, he had chosen the unconventional tactic of redistributing ordnance in numbers sufficient for a single spread of the deadly weapons—weapons Dominion Intelligence was certain only the most advanced Federation vessels possessed—from Liberty's magazine to the various ships in his force, including those of the Klingons. Thus, the veritable hail of photon torpedoes the fighters had expected and been prepared to weather were, instead, the shield-penetrating, devastatingly effective quantum torpedoes instead.

It had a shattering effect on the incoming Jem'Hadar attack ships. Instead of decimating their foes with a suicide run, many of their number were instead blasted from existence—without firing a single shot. 24 fighters instantly became seven, and as the slightly slower Hideki-class vessels came into range, they were ignored in favor of finishing the last of the Jem'Hadar craft with phaser fire.

Now the battle began in earnest. The capital ships closed and engaged each other; the Cardassian fighters proved to be a highly effective new class, heavily damaging the swiftest enemy vessel, USS Adventurous (probably to prevent her escape), dealing a series of serious blows to the game but largely un-maneuverable USS Hood, and holding their own against the others with the aid of their heavier brethren. The Federation Alliance ships, in the first few seconds of point blank combat, continued to direct their assaults exclusively at the Jem'Hadar attack craft, and were rewarded for their efforts with their complete elimination—having lost not a single vessel to their suicide runs.

Liberty was clearly the prize most coveted by the Cardassians and Dominion, and the pride of the "13^th Fleet" soon found herself bracketed by a pair of vessels: a Keldon-class cruiser and the massive Jem Hadar capital ship, whose polaron cannons had partly reduced her shields with a withering barrage of fire while Starfleet and the Klingons had been preventing the collision tactic they dreaded.

It was then that Mantovanni revealed his second prepared ploy… and the already damaged Oberth-class USS Lowell exploded into full impulse, turned… and rammed the Dominion battlewagon amidships. The impact was massive; it collapsed the great vessel's shields instantly, and left her essentially unprotected for a few seconds—seconds the Liberty used to unload her entire weapons array into the wounded monster.

The tactic would have been horrifying if it had not been planned—Lowell had been evacuated of personnel, and was being run by automation and a single officer who had volunteered to remain aboard her. Interestingly enough, it was not Lowell's captain, T'Neva, who did so, but that of the Coral Sea, Jason Winters.*

In seconds, the Dominion's most powerful vessel was reduced to a flaming wreck, and a battle that had looked like a complete mismatch had become a much more uncertain affair.

Left to her own devices after the death of the Dominion Vorta, Sethon, the highest ranking Cardassian officer on site, Gul Kirith Ocett, took the brief interlude resulting from the Dominion battlewagon's destruction and regrouped her forces with an admirable prepossession and calm, in effect deploying the seven remaining Hidekis in their more conventional role as capital ship screeners. Then, she came after the "13th Fleet" in earnest.

Mantovanni's battle group had performed excellently, but was running directly into the limits of its endurance: Adventurous and Hood were too damaged to be anything but liabilities until they'd received hours of repair work; Lowell had perished bravely; and Taj'chuch had met its demise, as well. The "13th" was forced to give way, defending as ably as it could, even as Ocett relentlessly, incisively pressed her still remaining advantage.

As the more conventional engagement continued, Coral Sea, too, was temporarily put out of action, and marines boarded her in an attempt to make that permanent. Even as the "13th" retreated towards Teska IV, the tide of battle had turned, seemingly for the last time.

It was as the day seemed utterly lost that Luciano Mantovanni sprang his final surprise… and the Cardassian weapons array on the planet's surface opened fire—on the Cardassian fleet itself.

Coupled as the installation's initial salvos were with a simultaneously coordinated discharge from the "13th," four more Hideki-class and one each of the Keldon- and Galor-class ships were either crippled or destroyed. A task force that had numbered 37 ships when the engagement had begun was now essentially outnumbered, and outgunned, for the first time.

Ocett, not to be completely outdone, turned the tables a final time, and used the distraction to withdraw. Utilizing her command codes, the brilliant gul ordered the ground installation into self-destruct mode, and in the wake of its resultant annihilation, ordered what was left of the now-devastated task force to flee—leaving the marines deployed on Coral Sea to their own devices.

The battle had been an unqualified victory for the "13th Fleet," but it was not without its cost in lives and vessels. Lowell, Taj'chuch, and Coral Sea were lost, the latter when the marines who had boarded took control of the bridge, and her commander destroyed her himself. K'Char was little more than a hulk, and despite the vehement protests of its commander, Krajak, had to be scuttled. Adventurous and Hood desperately needed repairs, and had little or no recourse to receive them. Even the four vessels that had essentially escaped major damage—Liberty, Athene, Ch'Moch, and Ptolemy—were limping and wounded.

But the Dominion and Cardassians had lost another task force, as well as a depot of suddenly strategic importance. Thirty-three of 37 vessels had been destroyed (a final Hideki had fallen in the last moments of the withdrawal), and the defeat garnered Luciano Mantovanni and his charges the furious attention of both the Central Command and the Founders.

It was to prove the type of attention that Liberty's commander had both wanted, and dreaded… and provoked a search operation the likes of which had rarely been conducted in the annals of naval history.

- James Herriford