THIS IS A FANFIC BY HAPPYTARGET THAT IS BEING POSTED IN ITS OWN CLEANED UP THREAD
Table of Contents
Timeline for Terran Empire Fan-Fic
2053 - Earth is devastated by World War III
2063 - Warp drive is invented by Zefram Cochrane. First contact with the Vulcans. Contact goes badly and the Vulcan's decide to ignore the primitive savage peoples of Earth.
2064 - Earth begins a crash starship building program using any weapons and shield tech it can beg, borrow, steal, or design. Many early First Contact missions are met with aggression. Earth's governing body, the Terran Council, decides that in order to protect Earth, Earth must become more aggressive.
2126 - Mirak/Lyran blood feud begins.
2156 - Disastrous first contact mission with the xenophobic Romulans. The Romulan/Terran war begins.
2160 - Romulan Wars ended at the battle of Romulus. Terran forces are victorious. Terran Council declares the formation of the Terran Empire. Starfleet is established with a charter "to defend the Empire until death."
2161 - Originally ignoring the vessels of Earth, with the destruction of the Romulan Star Empire at Terran hands, the Vulcans see the writing on the wall and start a crash building program of their own. The Imperials bring the Daedalus class starship into production
2165 - Imperial/Vulcan wars begin
2167 - After massive casualties on both sides and the war sitting at a grinding stalemate, an envoy from the Empire approaches the Vulcan leaders with a proposal. After much deliberation, the Vulcans are admitted in as co leaders in the Terran Empire. Terran Emperor is assassinated in a coup by the Terran Council.
2201 - After many misfires due to bad blood between the two peoples, the Terrans and Vulcans finally put aside their differences and become true partners in the Empire.
2205 - Imperial fleet continues to expand, annexing star systems into the Terran Empire. A Romulan scientist working for the Empire develops the first working cloaking device.
2209 - First contact is made with the Klingon empire by a cloaked Imperial survey craft. This kicks off an extensive covert intelligence-gathering mission, as the Klingon Empire is vast and warlike. The Imperials bring the Constitution class starship into production
2215 - Imperial/Klingon war begins. The Imperial 1st Battle Fleet enters Klingon space. It pushes deep into enemy held territory because of surprise and sheer number of ships used.
2217 - 1st Battle Fleet is stopped short of Qo'noS. War is forced into one of attrition with little change in the lines.
2220 - The newly built 2nd Battle Fleet joins the 1st in Klingon space and begins to roll back the Klingons.
2221 - All of the Klingon Empire is now conquered and under Terran Empire rule. Many vessels and military personnel escape into hiding and engage in a guerrilla campaign that continues to present day.
2230 - Spock is born on Vulcan, son of Sarek and Amanda.
2233 - James T. Kirk is born in Iowa on Earth.
2249 - Spock enters Starfleet Academy.
2250 - Kirk enrolls in Starfleet Academy.
2261 - David Kirk, son of James Kirk and Carol Marcus, is born. Gorn are encountered and intelligence gathering commences.
2265 - Spock becomes the science officer of the Enterprise under the command of Christopher Pike.
2266 - Kirk achieves the rank of Captain by killing his CO, Christopher Pike. He goes on to become one of the most decorated Imperial Captains in history, and his ship, the Constitution class ISS Enterprise NCC 1701 becomes the pride of the Imperial Navy. Imperial/Gorn war begins.
2267 - Imperial navy encounters the Hydran Kingdoms. The methane breathers put up a furious fight, stopping the initial advance into their space cold. This so impresses the Terran Council that they offer the Hydrans full political autonymity within the Empire in exchange for the use of the Hydran military whenever the Empire needed. With the massed ships from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Fleets in orbit over their homeworld, the Hydran Monarchy could scarce disagree. Besides, it was a far better deal than many other, greater powers had been granted. The Gorn are subjugated by the combined ships of the 1st and 2nd fleets after heavy fighting and losses.
2269 - The Enterprise's latest 5 year mission of long range reconnaissance and conquest ends. The ship puts back to Earth spacedock for a major refit. It is at this time that Spock begins his quest to limit the excesses of the Empire. He is to much in the public eye from being James Kirk's first officer and is placed in prison for his newfound beliefs in order to keep them quiet. The Imperials bring the Marinda class starship into production. Yamato class Battleship is brought into production
2270 - Spock escapes and spreads his teachings across the Empire, gaining many converts. In order to suppress dissent, the Terran Council rules Spock a traitor to the Empire and sentences him to death for sedition. Spock disappears. It is not known weather he was killed or merely went into hiding, but the Terran Council declares that he was killed. Spock's writing is declared seditious and is banned from Terran Empire space. Possession is punishable by death. The Council gives Section 31 special prerogative in its search for all those tainted by Spock's influence. They begin a crackdown that continues to present day.
2271 - Refit Enterprise leaves on a new 5 year mission under now Rear Admiral Kirk.
2276 - Imperial scouts encounter the Lyran and Mirak. Invasion plans begin to form from covert intelligence. Anti missile defense system is designed. All frontline ships receive it in upgrade.
2280 - Imperial/Lyran war begins, Imperial/Mirak war begins. Both species are conquered and brought under Terran Empire domination.
2282 - P'tel is born on Vulcan.
2285 - Imperial researchers David and Carroll Kirk on the Regula 1 weapons design center create the first Genesis device. It is quickly modified to fit into a standard torpedo casing and is fired into the nearby Mutara Nebula, turning it into a colonizable planet. Section 31 is placed in control of this devastating new weapon. It is from then on mounted exclusively on Section vessels. The Imperials bring the Excelsior class starship into production. Lack of missile armed enemies causes the removal of the Anti Missile System. Space saved is used by another phaser mount.
2288 - Thomas Chriton is born in Utopia Planetia, Mars.
2290 - Imperial scouts encounter powerful warships along the outer border of Imperial space. The ships are destroyed at long range by a powerful weapon. Then the ships disappear. A larger force is dispatched to investigate the patrol ships disappearance. Out of three Excelsior class vessels dispatched, only one made it back to report. It was heavily damaged but its sensors records were intact. The mysterious massive silver ships were shrouded in yellow, blue and red lights and they looked vaguely like a Klingon bat'leth. They also disappeared into a subspace tear instead of going to the usual warp drive. No further contact with these ships was recorded for a year. (Subspace tear was eventually found to lead to the subspace tunnel network, which explained how the ISC could attack so far from their home systems)
2291 - Imperial/Interstellar Concordium war begins. The ISC have faster FTL drive and superior ship and weapon designs. The Terran Empire has cloaking and numbers on their side. It is also the first time that the Terran Empire was invaded by an outside force. The ISC ran ragged over nearly 1/2 of Imperial space. As they went, they spoke of peace and all beings living in harmony under the ISC. Quite a few planets that they conquered thought that peace and harmony was far preferable to living under TE rule. These were either cleansed or the population left when the ISC pulled out of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
2293 - El-Aurians are forced from their home by Borg invasion. Some make it to Imperial space.
2294 - El-Aurians are declared a class A threat to the Terran Empire. They are ordered killed on sight.
2298 - The ISC are eventually driven off by the use of Genesis torpedoes on their systems and fleets. The remaining ISC ships disappear into their subspace tears and are not heard from again. The Empire begins reconstruction efforts. The process is speeded by the extensive use of Romulan and Klingon slave labor. The Imperials bring the Constellation class starship into production.
2305 - Thomas Chriton takes command of the ISS Reaper by assassinating his CO.
2320 - Terran engineers and head Starfleet personnel's attitudes change. As a result, all work on new fighters and carriers is halted.
2327 - The Cardassian Union is encountered. Invasion plans begin. The Imperials bring the Ambassador and New Orleans class starships into production. P'tel goes to Starfleet Academy.
2333 - Imperial/Cardassian war begins. 2nd Conquest Fleet invades Cardassian space under the command of Admiral Thomas Chriton. The ships arrayed against the Imperials are of low quality and are crushed fairly easily. Cardassian home world and core worlds are cleansed
2334 - Cardassian union is conquered, bringing its territories under Imperial control. P'tel leaves Starfleet.
2340 - Worf is born into slavery on the Klingon homeworld.
2346 - Akira class is put into production.
2351 - Galaxy and Nebula classes are put into production. Heavy Photon launcher is developed. With the massive Galaxy and bigger plans on the drawing board, Starfleet petitions the Council for deploying a new class of Station, one big enough to accommodate the monster ships.
2352 - Peter "Humpty" O'tole is born on Orion.
2358 - First Bengal class Starbases are deployed at Terra, Vulcan, Alpha Centauri and Hydra Prime. Follow on bases at strategic locations throughout the empire begin construction
2360 - Ulysses Vanguard is born on the cargo vessel Oberon. Worf is recruited by the Klingon Resistance.
2365 - Selon Vanguard is executed by a Section 31 purity squad.
2366 - Quantum Torpedo is developed. Retrofit on all capital ships and starbases begins
2368 - Ambassador class ISS Voyager discovers the subspace tunnel network. Shortly there after, the Dominion is encountered by long range Imperial scouts. Invasion plans begin to take shape. Defiant class is put into production. Pulse Phaser Cannons are developed. Ablative armor is developed.
2369 - P'tel rejoins Starfleet
2370 - Imperial/Dominion war begins. Founder's planet and many other key planets in the Dominion are cleansed in a surprise attack. With the loss of their Founder "Gods", the Jem'Hadar become an erratic opponent. Some sink into a deep depression and many kill themselves for allowing it to happen. But over 2/3rds of the Dominion's forces attack in a rage of retribution. Phaser Lance is developed. Retrofit on all Galaxy classes begins
2372 - With little or no military coordination and many of the Vorta coming over to the Terran Empire, the remaining Dominion forces still loyal to the surviving Founders flee into the subspace tunnels and disappear. First contact is made with the Borg. Discreet surveillance of Borg activities commences. Production of the Intrepid and Sovereign class ships begins
2373 - Extensive upgrades in Imperial vessel designs are put in place. Designs of the Wraith, Steamrunner, Norway and Saber class ships are finalized and rushed into production. Peter O'tole gains leadership of the Orion Cartel. Cartels approach the subject non-humans of the Terran Empire with a proposition.
2375 - Imperial/Borg war begins. 100,000 starships are lost, but the attack is a success. Surprise attack on the Borg Unimatrix using Genesis torpedoes causes the Borg to become erratic. What follows is informally known as the Great Turkey Shoot of '75. 24th Fleet, under Fleet Admiral Chriton, was the spearhead of the Imperial assault. The Phalanx Photon is developed. Cartels begin to produce ships and munitions for what is commonly known among its members as the Grand Alliance.
2376 - Ulysses Vanguard goes to Starfleet Academy.
2377 - The sheer scale of Borg space made rapid victory over the confused drones impossible. Then, without warning, the Borg began to reactivate. Their tactics changed. Instead of charging in among a superior enemy, the Borg began to lay traps. Instead of fighting to the last cube, they fought holding actions while inflicting casualties on Imperial ships. They also began to be able to use their holding beams through the upgraded Imperial shields. As a result, the Borg begin to push Imperial fleets out of their space. Imperial scientists built the first regenerative shield. Pulse Phaser Ball Turrets are developed. Ensign Ulysses Vanguard is assimilated by the Borg.
2379 - Attack on second Borg Unimatrix succeeds. Borg numbers dwindled to low to allow them to recover against the weight of Imperial ships closing in on them from all sides. Prometheus, Aegean and Nova class' are authorized for production. Ablative armor generators are developed (Essentially regenerating armor. While not as effective as either plain ablative armor (Because it is thicker and denser) or shields (because they regenerate faster), it is an invaluable second line of defense after shields have been breached. Only used on capital vessels at this time.) To help increase the amount of firepower brought against Borg targets, the fighter/carrier combo again makes an appearance in the Imperial order of battle after a long hiatus. Ulysses Vanguard is released from the collective.
2381 - Final Borg vessel in the Delta Quadrant is destroyed. Borg are declared wiped out by the Terran Council. Terran Empire begins to rebuild after the devastation wrought by the Imperial/Borg war. A flood of Borg tech fills Section 31 and other military research stations. Much of it is used to jump start the Empire's rebuilding plans. Bastion class monitors designed and put into production.
2382 - Quantum Slipstream Drive is acquired from a conquered Delta Quad species. Refit begins on all surviving front line vessels. First workable phase cloaking device is developed. It is added to the refit of Bastion class ships of the Terra Defense Fleet and those in the Vulcan Defense Fleet. It is also installed in all Section 31 Black Fleet vessels, including the Black Fleet's uprated flagship, the Bastion class BFV Damocles. Grand Alliance ship construction continues unabated and undetected.
2387 - A ill thought out attack against what the Borg called Species 8472 results in the destruction of 24th Fleet including Admiral Chriton and many vessels and personnel in 2nd Fleet before the sole portal to Species 8472’s domain was sealed and their attack fleet destroyed. Captain Ulysses Vanguard was largely responsible for saving 2nd Fleet during 8472’s attack, and was field promoted to Flag Captain of 2nd Fleet’s Flagship, the Bastion Class ISS Athena.
Thanks to secret assistance provided by the Orion Pirate Cartel, the subject races of the Alpha and Beta quadrants are able to break out of their bondage and reestablish their independence. They began by launching a sneak attack against Terra herself, aided by corrupted members of the Terran Council. The attack resulted in the complete destruction of San Francisco and a good portion of the surrounding territory and the deaths of over 2 billion and most of the Terran Council. High-ranking officers in Starfleet were implicated in the attacks and executed for treason. In the ensuing chaos and political upheaval, Councilman Jack Chambers worked the civilian’s terror to his advantage, having them name him Emperor of the Terran Empire.
The Imperial/Grand Alliance war has stalled to a stalemate on all fronts. Neither side currently has enough of an edge to ensure victory, and a fragile cease-fire reigns along the rapidly fortified borders between the Empires of the Grand Alliance and the Terran Empire. While the Terran Empire remains considerably larger than any one of the Grand Alliance’s members, together the possess near parity, and as long as they stay united, nothing can be done to change the current status quo.
It is in these troubled times that the Terran Empire now finds itself, but dark forces are unifying in the outer reaches of the Gamma Quadrant…
United, they posses the power to consume everything in their path, Terran Empire and Grand Alliance alike!
Terran Empire: Unity
Moderator: LadyTevar
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HappyTarget
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Revised and Expanded Terran Empire Technology
PPC vs. Phaser Array – In the Terran Empire universe, the Phaser Array causes more continuous damage to shields and regenerating armor than a PPC volley of similar time span would (PPC bolts allow shields and armor a chance to regenerate slightly between bolts). This is oftentimes offset because current Mk.’s of PPC recharge their capacitors fully in between every bolt, allowing them to fire continuously as long as they are powered. The reason they are not standard weapons on all ships is due to the fact that Phaser Arrays have 2x the range of current PPC’s and are more easily varied for a multitude of tasks (wide beam planetary bombardment, boring (melting shafts into planetary bodies) capabilities, greater NDF effect on targets, etc.) than a PPC is capable of.
Guided Weapons vs. Energy Weapons – Terran Empire universe guided weapons generally only have a fraction of the destructive potential of standard energy weapons. Their main advantages are seeking ability and engagement range. They can home in on evading enemy targets, scoring significantly greater hits than PPC’s and Phaser Arrays on small, fleet targets. Their max range is most often at least 5x the range of a Phaser Array. Unless they are used in numbers against an enemy, they are primarily used for generating weak points, or small kinks, in enemy shields for follow up phaser strikes to target.
Shipboard Weapons
Phaser Lance – Essentially just a massively oversized phaser. Similar to the one under the future Enterprise-D’s saucer section in TNG “All Good Things”. Capable of punching through to the core of a planet in a single sustained shot, causing massive damage. Requires half a minute recharge time after full power continuous firing. Due to the large size of this weapon, only larger capital ships can mount it (Galaxy Class and upwards). Anything smaller than an Akira is completely destroyed by one shot, and most things the size of an Akira up to a Sovereign being hit by this weapon will suffer moderate to heavy damage and total loss of facing shields. Normal yield per beam is ~1000 GT.
Type XV Phaser Array – Designed by Terran Empire engineers to combat the Borg. Autoremodulates beam frequency twice as fast as the highest known rate of Borg adaptation. Does about the same level of damage to Borg ships as a standard Trek Sovereign phaser array does to regular (non Borg) opponents. Does about 50% greater damage than Sovereign phaser array to non Borg targets. Same capacitor recharge time as seen in TNG “BOBW” under normal power generation conditions. The longer the generating Phaser strip, the longer the sustained fire before allowing capacitor recharge. GCS main phaser arrays can fire continuously for 10 seconds before capacitor is drained. Normal yield per five second, single beam burst is ~22 GT.
Pulse Phaser Cannon (Ball Turret Mount) – Basically a standard Pulse Phaser Cannon mounted in a turret to give it greater useable arcs of fire. Terran Empire PPCs are all 35% greater in damage caused to targets. Arc of BT mount varies depending on where it is placed, but is generally at least 90 degrees and usually less than 120 degrees. Fire rate in TE vessels is the same as seen in DS9s Defiant, but sustainable continuously under normal power generation conditions. Range is only ½ that of Type XV Phaser Array. Normal yield per bolt is ~3 GT.
Heavy Photon Torpedo – Picture a torpedo casing the size of a shuttle filled with antimatter. Can be used as a standard Matter/Antimatter explosive, but is generally preferred to be used as an Antimatter delivery device, (warhead filled with AM only used against unshielded targets, using the targets own matter to combine with the AM in the warhead to create the explosion.) due to its low speed, low maneuverability and resulting high vulnerability to anti missile fire. Usually used as a coup de grace shot against starships, as a heavy weapon against starbases after their facing shield is dropped, or as a planetary attack weapon after planetary shields are down. Slow refire rate of once a minute and bulky launcher generally limit this weapon for use solely on Starbases and the biggest capital ships. Generally one hit by this torp on anything smaller than a Nebula class will result in instant catastrophic damage (M/AM usage). Nebula sized and above will generally loose facing shields and sustain moderate damage, but most vessels that are operational can usually either destroy this torp or avoid it, hence its use generally on immobilized, shieldless targets. AM usage yield is ~600 GT. M/AM usage yield is ~300 GT
Quantum Torpedo – Developed as a weapon to fight the Borg the Quantum Torpedo is about the same size as the venerable photon it replaced in the TE fleet. Its destructive potential is 3x greater than the standard photon, and since it uses a zero point energy explosion as its warhead, there is no chance for the Borg to adapt to it ahead of time as its explosive frequency is unknown till the explosion occurs. Mounted on all new TE ships as standard. Older vessels can be modified to carry this munition during minor refits and overhauls. Torpedo can be set for proximity detonation at expense of warhead damage to target. Standard yield is ~950 MT. Proximity yield varies due to distance of explosion from target, but generally ~400 MT to 800 MT.
Phalanx Quantum Torpedo – A 1/20 sized version of the standard Quantum torpedo. Torp size is 1/20 scale and so is warhead yield. Use primarily as an anti fighter weapon, but used in large numbers it can still hurt capital ships. Torp tube load time is less than one second. Usually mounted in tandem with a dual PPC-BT mount in a PD cluster. Usually mounted in a turret to give maximum coverage. Standard yield is ~47.5 MT.
Mauler Device – Developed originally in secret by the Romulans and shared with the rest of the Grand Alliance powers who wanted it, this weapon has slightly shorter range and 3x the recharge time but 1.5x the firepower as a Phaser Lance. It is also a lot bulkier than the Phaser Lance, citing that smaller ships mount it almost exclusively, at the expense of other weapons systems and crew compartments(in essence the smaller vessels that mount it are basically designed around the Mauler Device), and larger vessels mount it in more limited numbers than a similarly sized TE vessel would have Phaser Lances. Standard yield per beam is ~1500 GT.
Drone Missile – Developed by the Mirak Star League and refined in secret during the years of TE occupation, this weapon now is considerably faster than a starship at full impulse and each individual missile mounts armor and rudimentary shields to increase survivability against phaser arrays. Usually launched in swarms to swamp current generation PD. Usually have ECM drones seeded in with warhead salvos to further confuse targeted vessels sensors. Normal yield is ~500 MT.
Expanding Sphere Generator – Developed by the Lyran Star Empire and refined in secret during the years of TE occupation, this weapon creates an highly energized spherical field around the generating vessel. This field stops all known missile and torpedo weaponry, and can be used to destroy shuttles and fighters if they collide with it. Can also be used to allow ramming tactics, as contact with the field will cause severe damage even to starships. Can be set for varying radiuses from the generating vessel, but the farther out it is generated, the less powerful it is. Damage with small (1) radius is ~750 GT. Damage with a medium (2) radius is ~500 GT. Damage with a large (3) radius is ~250 GT. Recharge time one minute per ESG apparatus.
ESG Lance – Expansion of ESG tech. It allows a micro ESG bubble to be sent long distances to a far away target. Micro ESG bubble has the same damage potential as a standard ESG set for the closest, most powerful setting. Range is about the same as a Mauler Device.
Plasma Torpedo – Sends a ball of energized plasma towards the enemy. Speed is similar to a Quantum Torpedo but the damage potential is slightly higher against non Borg targets. Against Borg targets, the torp gains no advantages against adaptation as the Borg can usually detect the frequency of the torp and adapt to it. Reload time is slightly longer than a standard Quantum tube. Can be set for shotgun mode, splitting the single large energy torp into ten smaller energy torps for use against fighters and shuttles. Old versions lost energy throughout their flight till the totally dissipated, and were only slightly faster than enemy ships. Latest versions have a special energy field encasing the plasma allowing full power shot to be maintained throughout engagement range. Once at the end of engagement range, the encasing field fails catastrophically, collapsing the torp. Range is about 3/4 that of a Phaser array. Reload time per torp is about 40 seconds but up to 10 torps can be held in most launchers to be fired as needed. Energy intensive weapon, requiring a hefty power core to operate effectively. On smaller ships, this usually means that things like shield reinforcement and ECM must be either limited or totally abstained from during reloading. Can be overloaded at the expense reducing of max range to ~1/2 that of a Phaser array. Normal yield is ~1 GT. Overloaded yield is ~2 GT.
Disruptors – Developed originally by the Romulans and Klingons. Bolts of energy that usually have close to a 1 second burst from a PPC in firepower. Heavy versions can be overloaded to carry near double Quantum torp levels in damage, but they sacrifice refire rate to do so. Normal Disruptors refire at 4-second intervals, with the Heavy version refireing at 7 seconds normally and 10 seconds overloaded. There is also a rapid-fire version that has about the same ROF as a PPC, but each individual bolt does ~10% more damage than a PPC bolt. Normal yield per bolt is ~20 GT. Heavy yield per bolt is ~30 GT. Rapid-fire yield per bolt is ~10 GT.
Plasmatic Pulsar Device – Developed by the Interstellar Concordium. Weapon range and damage are virtually the same as a Phaser Lance. Weapon sends a carrier beam to target first, doing no damage. Then waves of plasma follow the carrier beam down to the target. Newer versions feature more waves per use than older ones, and they now have the ability to envelope enemy vessels, enabling the PPD to not only do full damage to facing shields, but also do 1/3 damage to adjacent shields (ex. Facing shield is fore, PPD does full damage to fore, but also does 1/3 damage to port, starboard, ventral and dorsal shields). Normal yield is ~250 GT per plasma wave, with most current PPD’s throwing out 5 waves per activation for a total yield of ~1000 GT per attack on facing shield and ~250 GT “splash” damage on surrounding shields.
Breen Energy Dampening Weapon – Only Recently Developed, the weapon leaches all energy generated by an enemy starship, causing all systems to become inoperative for close to an hour. This is usually plenty of time to deal with the enemy vessel once its weapons, engines and shields have failed. Recharge time is 5 minutes per weapon mount. Other than the leach effect, this weapon does no only minimal damage to the target. Aside from power drain effect, normal yield is ~0.5 KT.
Fusion Beams – Developed by the TE’s client state, the Hydran Kingdoms. A stream of excited tritium and deuterium nuclei are projected to the target. The nuclei fuse and become helium nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of energy at the moment of contact. Almost suicidaly short ranged, the Fusion Beam requires close to a minute cooling time between shots. Damage is ~750 GT at normal, ~1000 GT at overloaded and ~1500 GT when suicide overloaded (weapon mount melts down after firing as cooling system cannot handle the massive temperatures that much firepower causes). Cannot be used as a planetary assault weapon due to short range unless ship drops down into the planet’s atmosphere first.
Hellbore Cannons – Developed by the TE’s client state, the Hydran Kingdoms. High velocity fusion bomb that utilizes a special containment field. This field causes the fusion explosion to wrap around a target, thus enabling the weapon to target the most damaged shields on an enemy even if they are not the arc facing the initial point of impact. Due to its speed, the Hellbore is considered a direct fire weapon similar to a phaser. Damage is ~712 MT with reload times of 10 seconds per cannon.
Psychonic Attack – Using extreme mind conditioning and both bio and cyber augmentation, Section 31 is capable of creating a powerful telepathic being that can be used to generate a Psychonic attack. This attack, when directed at a enemy vessel within visual range, causes ship wide temporary insanity and paranoia, resulting in the enemy crew attacking each other and damaging ships systems. As a result of Section 31’s conditioning and implanted mental imperatives, the beings that are made into telepathic weapons generally are lacking in personal hygiene, mental capacity and social abilities.
Genesis Torpedo – Perfected by Dr. David Kirk, son of Dr. Carroll Marcus and Fleet Admiral James Kirk, on the Regula One weapons development facility, the Genesis Torpedo reformats the surface of a world to whatever its matrix was programmed with. Everything from single celled organisms to plants to animals of all kinds can be created out of the reconstituted matter of the target. Prime means of eliminating Borg infested worlds and, in conjunction with planet placement (towing a planet or planetoid to a desired spot using Battlecruiser sized vessels), generating new M-class planets for colonization. Due to depletion of stockpile against Borg and destruction of Regula One by Grand Alliance forces, there are currently only a handful of Genesis Torpedoes available and it will be years (as of 2387) before any new ones are produced.
Self Replicating Mine – Can be outfitted with a gravitonic warhead, slowing targeted ships STL speed. TE version is usually outfitted with a shuttle sized ZPE warhead of 500 GT yield. Can be sent to subspace to remain hidden till needed/activated by a nearby enemy vessel. Mine can make a duplicate of itself up to 100 times before loss of replication reagents causes replication system to go offline. (eg. Mine self-replicates just before destruction, then the next mine does the same, then the next mine does the same, etc. x 100)
Shipboard Defenses
In the Terran Empire universe (in general terms), the larger a vessel is, the more power it can generate. This in turn affects things like power available to shield emitters and weapons systems. Thus, the larger a vessel is, the stronger its shields are and the more spare power it will have for other uses after powering its shields.
Cloaking Device – Standard cloaking device used to hide ships from normal sensor systems and the naked eye. Reduces sensor range while in use. Vulnerable to Tachyon Detection systems, either fixed beam networks or tactical ranged sensors on starships. Active shields and weapons capacitors leak energy through the cloak, negating its effectiveness nearly completely. Guided weapons can be fired while cloaked, but modern starship sensors can easily trace the weapons impulse trail back to the defenseless but cloaked vessel, usually resulting in easy kills of the cloaked attacker.
Multiphaseic (Phase) Cloaking Device – Advanced cloaking device seeing limited use in TE’s Starfleet and Section 31 vessels. Allows phase cloaked vessel to pass through most normal materials without incident, makes the vessel totally invulnerable to both conventional weaponry and all known sensor systems. Severely limits sensor range while in use. Takes a long time (in a tactical sense, and the larger the phased ship, the longer the process of phasing and unphasing takes) to unphase a vessel, meaning it is vulnerable to fire for a long period of time in a normal engagement before it can bring up defenses and power weapons. Phased objects need to be unphased to interact with normal matter again (eg. phased shuttles docked in a phased ships shuttle bay cannot simply fly out the shuttle bay doors and reappear in normal space unphased, the Multiphaseic Cloaking Device must be activated at reverse polarity to unphase cloak an object that has been phase cloaked.)
Tachyon Anti Cloak Sensor Arrays – Sensors, largely developed by reverse engineering Dominion and Borg anti cloak sensor arrays, that can detect cloaked vessels. Useable range is limited to the tactical envelope and only gives a general direction and distance to contact, allowing a fleet or defensive emplacements to saturate an area with fire to kill cloaked enemy vessels (due to the fact that active shields and armor generators would give away the ships position even in spite of the cloaks effects). Systems are generally bulky and are usually only mounted on Akira sized hulls and above. Power intensive even on most TE vessels, meaning that shields are usually unable to recharge while the sensor array is in use.
Spaceborn Warning And Control (SWAC) Pod – Most often employed on Nebula Class Battlecruisers (due to their mission changeable pod) but can be mounted on other starships during a shipyard layover or refit. Long range anti cloak and normal sensors. Expanded communications and datalink capabilities, allowing for target information to be transmitted to the rest of the Fleet faster and more reliably than would otherwise be the case.
Ablative Armor – Mounted standard on all TE starships. This is a layer added to the exterior hull of a vessel that sacrifices itself to protect what is underneath. After battle, this is usually in need of at least minor repairs. Able to stop ~50 GT per cm.
Regenerative Shields – Standard shields of nearly all TE starships. These shields regenerate themselves considerably faster than a normal shield would, allowing damaged shield arcs to be boosted back up to full power rapidly without having to divert extra power to reinforce them. Able to stop ~100 GT per full charge (Akira class energy generation)
Ablative Armor Generators – Mounted on most new TE starships and added via starbase and repair yards to older vessels during refits. These generators combine transporter, replicator and nanite technology to create regenerating ablative armor. While the regeneration ability is not very fast, the armor itself is the next generation, providing slightly better protection once deployed than standard ablative armor. Able to stop ~55 GT per cm.
Reinforced Structural Integrity Field – Mounted on some TE capital ships, this modification allows equipped ships to survive and continue to fight after suffering damage that would have destroyed other starships of the same class not equipped with the RSIF
Internal Armored Bulkheads – added armor used around nerve centers on a starship, like Slipstream Drive Cores, Flag and Main Bridge and Heavy Weapons Emplacements.
ECM Drones – Computer controlled drones that can nearly perfectly mimic the sensor profile and visual look of any known starship, station or similarly sized spatial body using top of the line Electronic Countermeasures and holo technology. Can generate single contact for larger vessels per drone, and multiple contacts for smaller vessels. Used in conjunction with shipboard ECM/ECCM suites to provide using fleet/starship with greater protection. Can even simulate weapons fire, though weapons do no damage when they hit.
Emergency Tactical Hologram – Computer controlled security holograms. Invulnerable to normal weapons. Used almost solely in boarding actions against superior number and/or capability opponents.
Remote Shield Reinforcement Generators – Recent TE development. Uses special generators mounted on one starship to provide at least double shield strength to other nearby allied ships in the fleet. Generating vessel itself doesn’t receive benefit from this, even if used in tandem with another generating vessel. This is a side effect due to the Generators operation. With the Generators offline, the vessel will become eligible for reinforcement just like any other vessel, but it will not provide reinforcement to other vessels itself. If two or more generating ships are used in close proximity, the shield boost itself isn’t increased, just its area of effect. Adds an extra ~300 GT per shield arc of protection (Akira class target energy generation).
General Shipboard Tech
Ship classes in the Terran Empire universe are as follows from smallest to largest.
Shuttle (eg. Type 9) < Fighter/Runabout/Scout (Cobra Fighter) < Frigate (Saber) < Destroyer (Defiant) < Cruiser (Soulwolf) < Battlecruiser (Akira) < Battleship (Galaxy) < Super Dreadnought (Wraith) < Monitor (Bastion)
On general terms, any single vessel from a smaller class would have great difficulty in taking out any single vessel from the next larger class. Their hulls are usually to small to mount enough weapons and powerful enough shields to allow it to deal out sufficient damage to the larger enemy before the larger, more powerful vessel destroys the smaller one.
This means that most smaller vessels are used in swarm tactics, putting out enough firepower on multiple platforms that the larger enemy will be destroyed before it picks off no more than a handful of the lighter units. The wider the gap between classes, the greater the numbers required for successful completion of a swarm attack. Smaller classes are, on the whole, more maneuverable than vessels in the bigger size classes, often times enabling them to oftentimes dodge fire when done in conjunction with active ECM to further throw off enemy aim. The smaller the class, the better able they are to dodge enemy fire.
Starbases are most often require equivalent to 3x their class size warship analogue in firepower to be taken out due to free space acquired by removal of most if not all STL and FTL drive ability from their size class norm.
Most vessels of Akira sized and above carry multiple power cores (Warp or Slipstream) for added power and redundancy.
Full Impulse is 75 PSL. Smaller vessels take less time to get there and are usually able to go slightly above 75 PSL. As a general rule, the smaller a vessel is, the faster STL speed it is capable of in emergency situations. Max STL speed attainable by any known starship is 80 PSL due to internal compensator limits. Any higher speed and the slightest bump could cause compensator failure with messy results for the ships crew. Compensator reliability is a shallow curve towards failure till you get near 80 PSL. Then reliability drops off sharply. Compensator failure is exceedingly rare under 80 PSL. It is exceedingly common above 80 PSL.
Flag Bridge Holo Display System – Combination of astrometrics and holodeck technology. Essentially turns the Flag Bridge of a starship into a scaled down holodeck. Used to provide fleet commanders with the best, most detailed information on enemy and allied fleet dispositions. Used in conjunction with a set of sensor imbedded gloves, the CO can call up info and give orders rapidly and easily. Recently developed and is being incorporated into the refit schedule of all command vessels from Squadron level clear up to Fleet level.
Hyper Com – Once the TE began to get really big, R&D began to work on a longer ranged version of the standard subspace com. The end result is the Hyper Com, allowing near instantaneous communication across up to ¾ of the Galaxy.
Quantum Slipstream Drive – New high speed FTL drive given as a gift to the TE by a species in the Delta Quadrant in gratitude for eliminating the Borg threat. Equipped vessels are capable of crossing the known Galaxy in a matter of weeks instead of many years at warp speeds and many months using Subspace Corridors. All major fleets in Starfleet currently have this drive or are in the process of getting one during their next refit. Sector patrol units have been deemed unnecessary to receive this warp drive replacement.
Subspace Corridors – Similar to Borg transwarp corridors but appear to be a natural occurrence throughout the explored Galaxy. Set up as a chaotic web like network whose pathways must be plotted in order for orderly traffic to use them. Slightly lower in speed than Borg Transwarp, but naturally occurring so there is no need for massive transwarp gates to be built and maintained. Usual means of most Starfleet (until QSS drives become the norm) and Civilian long distance travel.
Warp Field Inhibitors – All vessels Cruiser sized and above have these devices. When active, they prevent Warp Field Bubble formation over a fairly large area (close to solar system in size). While Subspace Corridors can still be used for FTL travel while this device is active, one could only enter and exit corridors along their path, and all known paths terminate outside of the final planet in a system.
Borg STL Drive – Currently fresh out of R&D and only in use on the TE Bastion Class Monitor ISS Athena. Basically the same drive used on a Borg Cube, giving the Spacedock sized Athena considerably more maneuverability and STL drive redundancy thanks to its dispersed, part of the hull matrix, design than the other, Impulse drive powered Monitors. Currently in refit plans for all TE Monitors and some Wraith class Battleships
Ground Weaponry
Ground troops are not used as extensively in the Terran Empire as they are in the 21st century. This is mainly due to the fact that one usually has to drop at least part of a planetary shield to land ground troops. Only starships possess enough firepower to bring them down (eventually). But if a starship controls the high orbitals unopposed enough to bring down a planetary shield, it can rain down much greater firepower than any ground-based force can on another. A singe Terran Empire Cruiser can melt the entire upper crust of a planet in less than half an hour of bombardment. But seeing as how most parties want to keep planetary bodies as intact as possible, especially M-class worlds (before Genesis torpedoes became prevalent as both a means to eliminate hostile natives and set up idyllic settings for Terran colonization), this is usually an option of last resort.
Fortunately for ground units, modern cammo skins and ECM allow them to operate with relative freedom on a planetary body that an enemy whom controls the high orbitals wants taken intact. There is still a place for ground warfare in the Terran Empire universe, it just usually takes a back seat to planetary fleet engagements (whichever fleet wins in orbit usually decides who gets the planet. If no nearby fleets are available, and the enemy will eventually break through the shield before help arrives, locals are to destroy shield stations and surrender to the enemy rather than have the planet turned into a lifeless husk. Boarding actions are another matter. They require the best protection and weaponry an individual can have. As a result, the Terran Empire developed an array of weapons and the Power Armor Suit (basically a strap on tank) to aid in the successful boarding of enemy vessels.
It is often hard to accomplish unwelcome planet fall as even remote colonies have at the minimum 100,000 GT capacity theater shields, more often full light planetary shield networks in place.
Grav Gun – Standard weapon of Terran Empire Marine and Army Armored Infantry. Designed incorporating gravity generation tech and rail gun tech, it fires smart projectiles at Mach 15 thanks to its gravity puller rings. Ammo available is Armor Piercing, High Explosive and Flechette. AP is basically a pinky sized solid duranium penetrator with micro impulse engine boosters (terminal attack manuvers and acceleration to 99 PSL just before hit) to punch through most known armors and shields. Mostly used against tanks and APCs and against assault shuttles. HE version contains a few grains of suspended antimatter and matter. When it either contacts or is in close proximity to the target, the magnetic fields holding the two apart collapse and release the violent energies of a micro M/AM explosion. Mostly used against power armor and unpowered heavy combat armor. Flechette rounds send out a cloud of razor sharp metal slivers at Mach 15, creating the modern equivalent of a pre WW3 shotgun. Varying choke setting can be chosen, from close to 3 meters spread at 20 feet to 3 cm spread at 20 feet. Mostly used against unarmored or lightly armored targets and for crowd control.
Power Combat Armor – Standard armor in use by all major TE infantry units. Consists of Duranium main structure with Ablative Armor plate overlays. Its synthetic musculature allows the suit to give the infantry close to four times the strength of a normal human. This allows for nasty things like punching straight through light bulkheads and sealed doors. In addition to the armor of the suit, it also comes equipped with an low grade forcefield, allowing it to stop a few rounds from a grav gun or a sustained 5 second shot from a maxed out phaser. The suit is completely self contained and with a full charge can run at combat levels for 24 hours without need of recharge. Inside, it provides all the amenities one would find in a long shift work space suit (waste removal, nutrient laced water, puréed meals, etc.) Sensors are modifiable, but generally include 360 degree low light, infrared, X-ray and zoom optical modes. Also included are all the functions of a standard tricorder but with enhanced range and short range anti cloak sensors. All sensor data is projected onto a HUD in the suits helmet, along with damage, ammo and power levels. The AG boots of the armor are capable of giving limited flight to a user (a la Spock’s boots in ST:V) All suits come equipped with both personal cloaking devices and chameleon holo cammo skin whose camouflage pattern or stealth effect the user can alter at will. They also contain an extensive (for a personal unit) ECM/ECCM suite to defeat sensors both from ground and space based sites. Powered by micro fusion reactor.
Pulse Phaser Heavy Carbine – Heavy weapon of choice in the modern TE Marines and Army Infantry. Capable of extreme destruction of both ground and air targets, this 1/38th scale and power version of the starship weapon is extremely deadly in the hands of someone who knows how to operate it effectively. While current models are susceptible to overheating under continuous use, they are powerful enough to take out most Main Battle Tanks and Assault Shuttles and even pose a risk to light starships flying in atmosphere if used against them in numbers. What they do to Infantry, even ones in power armor, is truly gruesome.
Bladed Weaponry – During the TE’s war against the Borg, fighting against hordes of Drones soon devolved into melee ranged phaser rifle but and dagger vs. Drone exoskeleton. As a result, many security personnel and infantry units soon adopted a rather archaic weapon set as secondary weapons, namely blades. The bladed and club like weaponry were highly successful against Borg adaptation as a Drone’s personal shielding was only effective at stopping energy weaponry. Soon a virtual cornucopia of custom made great swords and battleaxes found their way into shipboard and planetary armories. Although they now pose little use in the current battlefield, those who used them refused to give them up, and in a pitched close quarters battle, they have saved many a trooper’s life. The weapons are made of an intensely strong and resilient alloy and sharpened to single molecule sharpness, allowing them to hack through most objects like a hot knife through butter. Some are even more advanced, having billions of tiny serrated edges on the blade edge and motors in their handles that cause the blade to vibrate at hypersonic velocities, creating a chainsaw like effect that actually helps pull the blade through a target. An unenhanced human can fell a large tree in a single stroke with one of these blades.
T-69S Sniper Rifle – Standard long rifle currently in frontline TE service. Capable of firing a Grav Gun bullet as far as the scope’s line of sight at Mach 25, or if situation allows transport the bullet to targets up to the same distance. The gun is fully silenced and bullet is coated in special layer to prevent visible trail from being left in its wake due to the extreme atmospheric speed it travels at. Usually able to take out a power armored infantry soldier in one shot.
Fury Power Armor – Exact capabilities are classified ( ), but it is assured that both humanoid and canine versions are more capable than standard power armor in strength, armor and shield stopping power, armament and sensors.
Hyper Velocity Missile – Infantry weapon designed for destruction of armor units while causing minimal damage to the surrounding countryside. Basically an impulse engine mated with an armor piercing nose cone. The missile is launched from an apparatus similar to ancient Bazookas. Once it clears 15 m from the launcher, the missile brings its internal impulse drive online and accelerates to 90 PSL within an sixteenth of a second. The kinetic impact delivered to armor units is usually sufficient to pierce shields and often armor, but multiple strikes may be required to take out current MBT’s.
Assault Shuttle – Varying designs of large, armed and armored shuttles used to ferry troops and vehicles to the front lines of battle and provide close air support when needed.
Drop Ship – Varying designs of Frigate sized, heavily shielded and armored cargo ships used to bring large amounts of troops and vehicles down to a hostile planet.
Conquistador Armored Personnel Carrier - Standard frontline Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. It can carry up to 20 fully equipped Powered Combat Armored Infantry into battle. The Conquistador is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields, SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate’s weapons. It has a single rapid-fire PPC turret and four Heavy Grav Guns in 180-degree turrets mounted front, back, left and right, for self defense. Powered by fusion reactor. Both Anti-Gravity and backup track propulsion.
Conquistador Mobile Command Post – Standard frontline Mobile Command Post (MCP) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. High-speed data nets and communication systems are standard, giving ground commanders a detailed holographic map of the evolving battlefield, including both allied and detected enemy units. The Conquistador is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields, SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. It has a rapid-fire PPC and quad Grav Guns mounted in main turret for self-defense. Powered by fusion reactor. Both AG and backup track propulsion.
Viking Mobile AAA Battery – Standard frontline AAA Battery in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. The Viking is a modified Conquistador chassis with all space usually given up to internal troop transport filled with Phalanx Micro-Quantum torpedoes. 12 are launched in a volley, then the Viking usually relocates to prevent destruction due to the enemy following the initial track of its weaponry back to itself. The Phalanx launcher is mounted in a turret and while primary used against air targets, the Phalanx torpedoes can and often do attack nearby ground targets of opportunity. . The Viking is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. Powered by fusion reactor. Both AG and backup track propulsion.
Harbinger Main Battle Tank – Standard frontline Main Battle Tank (MBT) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. The Harbinger is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields and armor can protect it from close to half a dozen rounds from a Main Battle Tank or about a dozen seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. Powered by twin fusion reactors. Both AG and track propulsion. Dual Heavy Grav Guns and PPCs in single main turret. One Grav Gun and phaser strip mounted in PD/anti-infantry weapon clusters in 180-degree turret mounted on front, left, right, and aft.
PPC vs. Phaser Array – In the Terran Empire universe, the Phaser Array causes more continuous damage to shields and regenerating armor than a PPC volley of similar time span would (PPC bolts allow shields and armor a chance to regenerate slightly between bolts). This is oftentimes offset because current Mk.’s of PPC recharge their capacitors fully in between every bolt, allowing them to fire continuously as long as they are powered. The reason they are not standard weapons on all ships is due to the fact that Phaser Arrays have 2x the range of current PPC’s and are more easily varied for a multitude of tasks (wide beam planetary bombardment, boring (melting shafts into planetary bodies) capabilities, greater NDF effect on targets, etc.) than a PPC is capable of.
Guided Weapons vs. Energy Weapons – Terran Empire universe guided weapons generally only have a fraction of the destructive potential of standard energy weapons. Their main advantages are seeking ability and engagement range. They can home in on evading enemy targets, scoring significantly greater hits than PPC’s and Phaser Arrays on small, fleet targets. Their max range is most often at least 5x the range of a Phaser Array. Unless they are used in numbers against an enemy, they are primarily used for generating weak points, or small kinks, in enemy shields for follow up phaser strikes to target.
Shipboard Weapons
Phaser Lance – Essentially just a massively oversized phaser. Similar to the one under the future Enterprise-D’s saucer section in TNG “All Good Things”. Capable of punching through to the core of a planet in a single sustained shot, causing massive damage. Requires half a minute recharge time after full power continuous firing. Due to the large size of this weapon, only larger capital ships can mount it (Galaxy Class and upwards). Anything smaller than an Akira is completely destroyed by one shot, and most things the size of an Akira up to a Sovereign being hit by this weapon will suffer moderate to heavy damage and total loss of facing shields. Normal yield per beam is ~1000 GT.
Type XV Phaser Array – Designed by Terran Empire engineers to combat the Borg. Autoremodulates beam frequency twice as fast as the highest known rate of Borg adaptation. Does about the same level of damage to Borg ships as a standard Trek Sovereign phaser array does to regular (non Borg) opponents. Does about 50% greater damage than Sovereign phaser array to non Borg targets. Same capacitor recharge time as seen in TNG “BOBW” under normal power generation conditions. The longer the generating Phaser strip, the longer the sustained fire before allowing capacitor recharge. GCS main phaser arrays can fire continuously for 10 seconds before capacitor is drained. Normal yield per five second, single beam burst is ~22 GT.
Pulse Phaser Cannon (Ball Turret Mount) – Basically a standard Pulse Phaser Cannon mounted in a turret to give it greater useable arcs of fire. Terran Empire PPCs are all 35% greater in damage caused to targets. Arc of BT mount varies depending on where it is placed, but is generally at least 90 degrees and usually less than 120 degrees. Fire rate in TE vessels is the same as seen in DS9s Defiant, but sustainable continuously under normal power generation conditions. Range is only ½ that of Type XV Phaser Array. Normal yield per bolt is ~3 GT.
Heavy Photon Torpedo – Picture a torpedo casing the size of a shuttle filled with antimatter. Can be used as a standard Matter/Antimatter explosive, but is generally preferred to be used as an Antimatter delivery device, (warhead filled with AM only used against unshielded targets, using the targets own matter to combine with the AM in the warhead to create the explosion.) due to its low speed, low maneuverability and resulting high vulnerability to anti missile fire. Usually used as a coup de grace shot against starships, as a heavy weapon against starbases after their facing shield is dropped, or as a planetary attack weapon after planetary shields are down. Slow refire rate of once a minute and bulky launcher generally limit this weapon for use solely on Starbases and the biggest capital ships. Generally one hit by this torp on anything smaller than a Nebula class will result in instant catastrophic damage (M/AM usage). Nebula sized and above will generally loose facing shields and sustain moderate damage, but most vessels that are operational can usually either destroy this torp or avoid it, hence its use generally on immobilized, shieldless targets. AM usage yield is ~600 GT. M/AM usage yield is ~300 GT
Quantum Torpedo – Developed as a weapon to fight the Borg the Quantum Torpedo is about the same size as the venerable photon it replaced in the TE fleet. Its destructive potential is 3x greater than the standard photon, and since it uses a zero point energy explosion as its warhead, there is no chance for the Borg to adapt to it ahead of time as its explosive frequency is unknown till the explosion occurs. Mounted on all new TE ships as standard. Older vessels can be modified to carry this munition during minor refits and overhauls. Torpedo can be set for proximity detonation at expense of warhead damage to target. Standard yield is ~950 MT. Proximity yield varies due to distance of explosion from target, but generally ~400 MT to 800 MT.
Phalanx Quantum Torpedo – A 1/20 sized version of the standard Quantum torpedo. Torp size is 1/20 scale and so is warhead yield. Use primarily as an anti fighter weapon, but used in large numbers it can still hurt capital ships. Torp tube load time is less than one second. Usually mounted in tandem with a dual PPC-BT mount in a PD cluster. Usually mounted in a turret to give maximum coverage. Standard yield is ~47.5 MT.
Mauler Device – Developed originally in secret by the Romulans and shared with the rest of the Grand Alliance powers who wanted it, this weapon has slightly shorter range and 3x the recharge time but 1.5x the firepower as a Phaser Lance. It is also a lot bulkier than the Phaser Lance, citing that smaller ships mount it almost exclusively, at the expense of other weapons systems and crew compartments(in essence the smaller vessels that mount it are basically designed around the Mauler Device), and larger vessels mount it in more limited numbers than a similarly sized TE vessel would have Phaser Lances. Standard yield per beam is ~1500 GT.
Drone Missile – Developed by the Mirak Star League and refined in secret during the years of TE occupation, this weapon now is considerably faster than a starship at full impulse and each individual missile mounts armor and rudimentary shields to increase survivability against phaser arrays. Usually launched in swarms to swamp current generation PD. Usually have ECM drones seeded in with warhead salvos to further confuse targeted vessels sensors. Normal yield is ~500 MT.
Expanding Sphere Generator – Developed by the Lyran Star Empire and refined in secret during the years of TE occupation, this weapon creates an highly energized spherical field around the generating vessel. This field stops all known missile and torpedo weaponry, and can be used to destroy shuttles and fighters if they collide with it. Can also be used to allow ramming tactics, as contact with the field will cause severe damage even to starships. Can be set for varying radiuses from the generating vessel, but the farther out it is generated, the less powerful it is. Damage with small (1) radius is ~750 GT. Damage with a medium (2) radius is ~500 GT. Damage with a large (3) radius is ~250 GT. Recharge time one minute per ESG apparatus.
ESG Lance – Expansion of ESG tech. It allows a micro ESG bubble to be sent long distances to a far away target. Micro ESG bubble has the same damage potential as a standard ESG set for the closest, most powerful setting. Range is about the same as a Mauler Device.
Plasma Torpedo – Sends a ball of energized plasma towards the enemy. Speed is similar to a Quantum Torpedo but the damage potential is slightly higher against non Borg targets. Against Borg targets, the torp gains no advantages against adaptation as the Borg can usually detect the frequency of the torp and adapt to it. Reload time is slightly longer than a standard Quantum tube. Can be set for shotgun mode, splitting the single large energy torp into ten smaller energy torps for use against fighters and shuttles. Old versions lost energy throughout their flight till the totally dissipated, and were only slightly faster than enemy ships. Latest versions have a special energy field encasing the plasma allowing full power shot to be maintained throughout engagement range. Once at the end of engagement range, the encasing field fails catastrophically, collapsing the torp. Range is about 3/4 that of a Phaser array. Reload time per torp is about 40 seconds but up to 10 torps can be held in most launchers to be fired as needed. Energy intensive weapon, requiring a hefty power core to operate effectively. On smaller ships, this usually means that things like shield reinforcement and ECM must be either limited or totally abstained from during reloading. Can be overloaded at the expense reducing of max range to ~1/2 that of a Phaser array. Normal yield is ~1 GT. Overloaded yield is ~2 GT.
Disruptors – Developed originally by the Romulans and Klingons. Bolts of energy that usually have close to a 1 second burst from a PPC in firepower. Heavy versions can be overloaded to carry near double Quantum torp levels in damage, but they sacrifice refire rate to do so. Normal Disruptors refire at 4-second intervals, with the Heavy version refireing at 7 seconds normally and 10 seconds overloaded. There is also a rapid-fire version that has about the same ROF as a PPC, but each individual bolt does ~10% more damage than a PPC bolt. Normal yield per bolt is ~20 GT. Heavy yield per bolt is ~30 GT. Rapid-fire yield per bolt is ~10 GT.
Plasmatic Pulsar Device – Developed by the Interstellar Concordium. Weapon range and damage are virtually the same as a Phaser Lance. Weapon sends a carrier beam to target first, doing no damage. Then waves of plasma follow the carrier beam down to the target. Newer versions feature more waves per use than older ones, and they now have the ability to envelope enemy vessels, enabling the PPD to not only do full damage to facing shields, but also do 1/3 damage to adjacent shields (ex. Facing shield is fore, PPD does full damage to fore, but also does 1/3 damage to port, starboard, ventral and dorsal shields). Normal yield is ~250 GT per plasma wave, with most current PPD’s throwing out 5 waves per activation for a total yield of ~1000 GT per attack on facing shield and ~250 GT “splash” damage on surrounding shields.
Breen Energy Dampening Weapon – Only Recently Developed, the weapon leaches all energy generated by an enemy starship, causing all systems to become inoperative for close to an hour. This is usually plenty of time to deal with the enemy vessel once its weapons, engines and shields have failed. Recharge time is 5 minutes per weapon mount. Other than the leach effect, this weapon does no only minimal damage to the target. Aside from power drain effect, normal yield is ~0.5 KT.
Fusion Beams – Developed by the TE’s client state, the Hydran Kingdoms. A stream of excited tritium and deuterium nuclei are projected to the target. The nuclei fuse and become helium nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of energy at the moment of contact. Almost suicidaly short ranged, the Fusion Beam requires close to a minute cooling time between shots. Damage is ~750 GT at normal, ~1000 GT at overloaded and ~1500 GT when suicide overloaded (weapon mount melts down after firing as cooling system cannot handle the massive temperatures that much firepower causes). Cannot be used as a planetary assault weapon due to short range unless ship drops down into the planet’s atmosphere first.
Hellbore Cannons – Developed by the TE’s client state, the Hydran Kingdoms. High velocity fusion bomb that utilizes a special containment field. This field causes the fusion explosion to wrap around a target, thus enabling the weapon to target the most damaged shields on an enemy even if they are not the arc facing the initial point of impact. Due to its speed, the Hellbore is considered a direct fire weapon similar to a phaser. Damage is ~712 MT with reload times of 10 seconds per cannon.
Psychonic Attack – Using extreme mind conditioning and both bio and cyber augmentation, Section 31 is capable of creating a powerful telepathic being that can be used to generate a Psychonic attack. This attack, when directed at a enemy vessel within visual range, causes ship wide temporary insanity and paranoia, resulting in the enemy crew attacking each other and damaging ships systems. As a result of Section 31’s conditioning and implanted mental imperatives, the beings that are made into telepathic weapons generally are lacking in personal hygiene, mental capacity and social abilities.
Genesis Torpedo – Perfected by Dr. David Kirk, son of Dr. Carroll Marcus and Fleet Admiral James Kirk, on the Regula One weapons development facility, the Genesis Torpedo reformats the surface of a world to whatever its matrix was programmed with. Everything from single celled organisms to plants to animals of all kinds can be created out of the reconstituted matter of the target. Prime means of eliminating Borg infested worlds and, in conjunction with planet placement (towing a planet or planetoid to a desired spot using Battlecruiser sized vessels), generating new M-class planets for colonization. Due to depletion of stockpile against Borg and destruction of Regula One by Grand Alliance forces, there are currently only a handful of Genesis Torpedoes available and it will be years (as of 2387) before any new ones are produced.
Self Replicating Mine – Can be outfitted with a gravitonic warhead, slowing targeted ships STL speed. TE version is usually outfitted with a shuttle sized ZPE warhead of 500 GT yield. Can be sent to subspace to remain hidden till needed/activated by a nearby enemy vessel. Mine can make a duplicate of itself up to 100 times before loss of replication reagents causes replication system to go offline. (eg. Mine self-replicates just before destruction, then the next mine does the same, then the next mine does the same, etc. x 100)
Shipboard Defenses
In the Terran Empire universe (in general terms), the larger a vessel is, the more power it can generate. This in turn affects things like power available to shield emitters and weapons systems. Thus, the larger a vessel is, the stronger its shields are and the more spare power it will have for other uses after powering its shields.
Cloaking Device – Standard cloaking device used to hide ships from normal sensor systems and the naked eye. Reduces sensor range while in use. Vulnerable to Tachyon Detection systems, either fixed beam networks or tactical ranged sensors on starships. Active shields and weapons capacitors leak energy through the cloak, negating its effectiveness nearly completely. Guided weapons can be fired while cloaked, but modern starship sensors can easily trace the weapons impulse trail back to the defenseless but cloaked vessel, usually resulting in easy kills of the cloaked attacker.
Multiphaseic (Phase) Cloaking Device – Advanced cloaking device seeing limited use in TE’s Starfleet and Section 31 vessels. Allows phase cloaked vessel to pass through most normal materials without incident, makes the vessel totally invulnerable to both conventional weaponry and all known sensor systems. Severely limits sensor range while in use. Takes a long time (in a tactical sense, and the larger the phased ship, the longer the process of phasing and unphasing takes) to unphase a vessel, meaning it is vulnerable to fire for a long period of time in a normal engagement before it can bring up defenses and power weapons. Phased objects need to be unphased to interact with normal matter again (eg. phased shuttles docked in a phased ships shuttle bay cannot simply fly out the shuttle bay doors and reappear in normal space unphased, the Multiphaseic Cloaking Device must be activated at reverse polarity to unphase cloak an object that has been phase cloaked.)
Tachyon Anti Cloak Sensor Arrays – Sensors, largely developed by reverse engineering Dominion and Borg anti cloak sensor arrays, that can detect cloaked vessels. Useable range is limited to the tactical envelope and only gives a general direction and distance to contact, allowing a fleet or defensive emplacements to saturate an area with fire to kill cloaked enemy vessels (due to the fact that active shields and armor generators would give away the ships position even in spite of the cloaks effects). Systems are generally bulky and are usually only mounted on Akira sized hulls and above. Power intensive even on most TE vessels, meaning that shields are usually unable to recharge while the sensor array is in use.
Spaceborn Warning And Control (SWAC) Pod – Most often employed on Nebula Class Battlecruisers (due to their mission changeable pod) but can be mounted on other starships during a shipyard layover or refit. Long range anti cloak and normal sensors. Expanded communications and datalink capabilities, allowing for target information to be transmitted to the rest of the Fleet faster and more reliably than would otherwise be the case.
Ablative Armor – Mounted standard on all TE starships. This is a layer added to the exterior hull of a vessel that sacrifices itself to protect what is underneath. After battle, this is usually in need of at least minor repairs. Able to stop ~50 GT per cm.
Regenerative Shields – Standard shields of nearly all TE starships. These shields regenerate themselves considerably faster than a normal shield would, allowing damaged shield arcs to be boosted back up to full power rapidly without having to divert extra power to reinforce them. Able to stop ~100 GT per full charge (Akira class energy generation)
Ablative Armor Generators – Mounted on most new TE starships and added via starbase and repair yards to older vessels during refits. These generators combine transporter, replicator and nanite technology to create regenerating ablative armor. While the regeneration ability is not very fast, the armor itself is the next generation, providing slightly better protection once deployed than standard ablative armor. Able to stop ~55 GT per cm.
Reinforced Structural Integrity Field – Mounted on some TE capital ships, this modification allows equipped ships to survive and continue to fight after suffering damage that would have destroyed other starships of the same class not equipped with the RSIF
Internal Armored Bulkheads – added armor used around nerve centers on a starship, like Slipstream Drive Cores, Flag and Main Bridge and Heavy Weapons Emplacements.
ECM Drones – Computer controlled drones that can nearly perfectly mimic the sensor profile and visual look of any known starship, station or similarly sized spatial body using top of the line Electronic Countermeasures and holo technology. Can generate single contact for larger vessels per drone, and multiple contacts for smaller vessels. Used in conjunction with shipboard ECM/ECCM suites to provide using fleet/starship with greater protection. Can even simulate weapons fire, though weapons do no damage when they hit.
Emergency Tactical Hologram – Computer controlled security holograms. Invulnerable to normal weapons. Used almost solely in boarding actions against superior number and/or capability opponents.
Remote Shield Reinforcement Generators – Recent TE development. Uses special generators mounted on one starship to provide at least double shield strength to other nearby allied ships in the fleet. Generating vessel itself doesn’t receive benefit from this, even if used in tandem with another generating vessel. This is a side effect due to the Generators operation. With the Generators offline, the vessel will become eligible for reinforcement just like any other vessel, but it will not provide reinforcement to other vessels itself. If two or more generating ships are used in close proximity, the shield boost itself isn’t increased, just its area of effect. Adds an extra ~300 GT per shield arc of protection (Akira class target energy generation).
General Shipboard Tech
Ship classes in the Terran Empire universe are as follows from smallest to largest.
Shuttle (eg. Type 9) < Fighter/Runabout/Scout (Cobra Fighter) < Frigate (Saber) < Destroyer (Defiant) < Cruiser (Soulwolf) < Battlecruiser (Akira) < Battleship (Galaxy) < Super Dreadnought (Wraith) < Monitor (Bastion)
On general terms, any single vessel from a smaller class would have great difficulty in taking out any single vessel from the next larger class. Their hulls are usually to small to mount enough weapons and powerful enough shields to allow it to deal out sufficient damage to the larger enemy before the larger, more powerful vessel destroys the smaller one.
This means that most smaller vessels are used in swarm tactics, putting out enough firepower on multiple platforms that the larger enemy will be destroyed before it picks off no more than a handful of the lighter units. The wider the gap between classes, the greater the numbers required for successful completion of a swarm attack. Smaller classes are, on the whole, more maneuverable than vessels in the bigger size classes, often times enabling them to oftentimes dodge fire when done in conjunction with active ECM to further throw off enemy aim. The smaller the class, the better able they are to dodge enemy fire.
Starbases are most often require equivalent to 3x their class size warship analogue in firepower to be taken out due to free space acquired by removal of most if not all STL and FTL drive ability from their size class norm.
Most vessels of Akira sized and above carry multiple power cores (Warp or Slipstream) for added power and redundancy.
Full Impulse is 75 PSL. Smaller vessels take less time to get there and are usually able to go slightly above 75 PSL. As a general rule, the smaller a vessel is, the faster STL speed it is capable of in emergency situations. Max STL speed attainable by any known starship is 80 PSL due to internal compensator limits. Any higher speed and the slightest bump could cause compensator failure with messy results for the ships crew. Compensator reliability is a shallow curve towards failure till you get near 80 PSL. Then reliability drops off sharply. Compensator failure is exceedingly rare under 80 PSL. It is exceedingly common above 80 PSL.
Flag Bridge Holo Display System – Combination of astrometrics and holodeck technology. Essentially turns the Flag Bridge of a starship into a scaled down holodeck. Used to provide fleet commanders with the best, most detailed information on enemy and allied fleet dispositions. Used in conjunction with a set of sensor imbedded gloves, the CO can call up info and give orders rapidly and easily. Recently developed and is being incorporated into the refit schedule of all command vessels from Squadron level clear up to Fleet level.
Hyper Com – Once the TE began to get really big, R&D began to work on a longer ranged version of the standard subspace com. The end result is the Hyper Com, allowing near instantaneous communication across up to ¾ of the Galaxy.
Quantum Slipstream Drive – New high speed FTL drive given as a gift to the TE by a species in the Delta Quadrant in gratitude for eliminating the Borg threat. Equipped vessels are capable of crossing the known Galaxy in a matter of weeks instead of many years at warp speeds and many months using Subspace Corridors. All major fleets in Starfleet currently have this drive or are in the process of getting one during their next refit. Sector patrol units have been deemed unnecessary to receive this warp drive replacement.
Subspace Corridors – Similar to Borg transwarp corridors but appear to be a natural occurrence throughout the explored Galaxy. Set up as a chaotic web like network whose pathways must be plotted in order for orderly traffic to use them. Slightly lower in speed than Borg Transwarp, but naturally occurring so there is no need for massive transwarp gates to be built and maintained. Usual means of most Starfleet (until QSS drives become the norm) and Civilian long distance travel.
Warp Field Inhibitors – All vessels Cruiser sized and above have these devices. When active, they prevent Warp Field Bubble formation over a fairly large area (close to solar system in size). While Subspace Corridors can still be used for FTL travel while this device is active, one could only enter and exit corridors along their path, and all known paths terminate outside of the final planet in a system.
Borg STL Drive – Currently fresh out of R&D and only in use on the TE Bastion Class Monitor ISS Athena. Basically the same drive used on a Borg Cube, giving the Spacedock sized Athena considerably more maneuverability and STL drive redundancy thanks to its dispersed, part of the hull matrix, design than the other, Impulse drive powered Monitors. Currently in refit plans for all TE Monitors and some Wraith class Battleships
Ground Weaponry
Ground troops are not used as extensively in the Terran Empire as they are in the 21st century. This is mainly due to the fact that one usually has to drop at least part of a planetary shield to land ground troops. Only starships possess enough firepower to bring them down (eventually). But if a starship controls the high orbitals unopposed enough to bring down a planetary shield, it can rain down much greater firepower than any ground-based force can on another. A singe Terran Empire Cruiser can melt the entire upper crust of a planet in less than half an hour of bombardment. But seeing as how most parties want to keep planetary bodies as intact as possible, especially M-class worlds (before Genesis torpedoes became prevalent as both a means to eliminate hostile natives and set up idyllic settings for Terran colonization), this is usually an option of last resort.
Fortunately for ground units, modern cammo skins and ECM allow them to operate with relative freedom on a planetary body that an enemy whom controls the high orbitals wants taken intact. There is still a place for ground warfare in the Terran Empire universe, it just usually takes a back seat to planetary fleet engagements (whichever fleet wins in orbit usually decides who gets the planet. If no nearby fleets are available, and the enemy will eventually break through the shield before help arrives, locals are to destroy shield stations and surrender to the enemy rather than have the planet turned into a lifeless husk. Boarding actions are another matter. They require the best protection and weaponry an individual can have. As a result, the Terran Empire developed an array of weapons and the Power Armor Suit (basically a strap on tank) to aid in the successful boarding of enemy vessels.
It is often hard to accomplish unwelcome planet fall as even remote colonies have at the minimum 100,000 GT capacity theater shields, more often full light planetary shield networks in place.
Grav Gun – Standard weapon of Terran Empire Marine and Army Armored Infantry. Designed incorporating gravity generation tech and rail gun tech, it fires smart projectiles at Mach 15 thanks to its gravity puller rings. Ammo available is Armor Piercing, High Explosive and Flechette. AP is basically a pinky sized solid duranium penetrator with micro impulse engine boosters (terminal attack manuvers and acceleration to 99 PSL just before hit) to punch through most known armors and shields. Mostly used against tanks and APCs and against assault shuttles. HE version contains a few grains of suspended antimatter and matter. When it either contacts or is in close proximity to the target, the magnetic fields holding the two apart collapse and release the violent energies of a micro M/AM explosion. Mostly used against power armor and unpowered heavy combat armor. Flechette rounds send out a cloud of razor sharp metal slivers at Mach 15, creating the modern equivalent of a pre WW3 shotgun. Varying choke setting can be chosen, from close to 3 meters spread at 20 feet to 3 cm spread at 20 feet. Mostly used against unarmored or lightly armored targets and for crowd control.
Power Combat Armor – Standard armor in use by all major TE infantry units. Consists of Duranium main structure with Ablative Armor plate overlays. Its synthetic musculature allows the suit to give the infantry close to four times the strength of a normal human. This allows for nasty things like punching straight through light bulkheads and sealed doors. In addition to the armor of the suit, it also comes equipped with an low grade forcefield, allowing it to stop a few rounds from a grav gun or a sustained 5 second shot from a maxed out phaser. The suit is completely self contained and with a full charge can run at combat levels for 24 hours without need of recharge. Inside, it provides all the amenities one would find in a long shift work space suit (waste removal, nutrient laced water, puréed meals, etc.) Sensors are modifiable, but generally include 360 degree low light, infrared, X-ray and zoom optical modes. Also included are all the functions of a standard tricorder but with enhanced range and short range anti cloak sensors. All sensor data is projected onto a HUD in the suits helmet, along with damage, ammo and power levels. The AG boots of the armor are capable of giving limited flight to a user (a la Spock’s boots in ST:V) All suits come equipped with both personal cloaking devices and chameleon holo cammo skin whose camouflage pattern or stealth effect the user can alter at will. They also contain an extensive (for a personal unit) ECM/ECCM suite to defeat sensors both from ground and space based sites. Powered by micro fusion reactor.
Pulse Phaser Heavy Carbine – Heavy weapon of choice in the modern TE Marines and Army Infantry. Capable of extreme destruction of both ground and air targets, this 1/38th scale and power version of the starship weapon is extremely deadly in the hands of someone who knows how to operate it effectively. While current models are susceptible to overheating under continuous use, they are powerful enough to take out most Main Battle Tanks and Assault Shuttles and even pose a risk to light starships flying in atmosphere if used against them in numbers. What they do to Infantry, even ones in power armor, is truly gruesome.
Bladed Weaponry – During the TE’s war against the Borg, fighting against hordes of Drones soon devolved into melee ranged phaser rifle but and dagger vs. Drone exoskeleton. As a result, many security personnel and infantry units soon adopted a rather archaic weapon set as secondary weapons, namely blades. The bladed and club like weaponry were highly successful against Borg adaptation as a Drone’s personal shielding was only effective at stopping energy weaponry. Soon a virtual cornucopia of custom made great swords and battleaxes found their way into shipboard and planetary armories. Although they now pose little use in the current battlefield, those who used them refused to give them up, and in a pitched close quarters battle, they have saved many a trooper’s life. The weapons are made of an intensely strong and resilient alloy and sharpened to single molecule sharpness, allowing them to hack through most objects like a hot knife through butter. Some are even more advanced, having billions of tiny serrated edges on the blade edge and motors in their handles that cause the blade to vibrate at hypersonic velocities, creating a chainsaw like effect that actually helps pull the blade through a target. An unenhanced human can fell a large tree in a single stroke with one of these blades.
T-69S Sniper Rifle – Standard long rifle currently in frontline TE service. Capable of firing a Grav Gun bullet as far as the scope’s line of sight at Mach 25, or if situation allows transport the bullet to targets up to the same distance. The gun is fully silenced and bullet is coated in special layer to prevent visible trail from being left in its wake due to the extreme atmospheric speed it travels at. Usually able to take out a power armored infantry soldier in one shot.
Fury Power Armor – Exact capabilities are classified ( ), but it is assured that both humanoid and canine versions are more capable than standard power armor in strength, armor and shield stopping power, armament and sensors.
Hyper Velocity Missile – Infantry weapon designed for destruction of armor units while causing minimal damage to the surrounding countryside. Basically an impulse engine mated with an armor piercing nose cone. The missile is launched from an apparatus similar to ancient Bazookas. Once it clears 15 m from the launcher, the missile brings its internal impulse drive online and accelerates to 90 PSL within an sixteenth of a second. The kinetic impact delivered to armor units is usually sufficient to pierce shields and often armor, but multiple strikes may be required to take out current MBT’s.
Assault Shuttle – Varying designs of large, armed and armored shuttles used to ferry troops and vehicles to the front lines of battle and provide close air support when needed.
Drop Ship – Varying designs of Frigate sized, heavily shielded and armored cargo ships used to bring large amounts of troops and vehicles down to a hostile planet.
Conquistador Armored Personnel Carrier - Standard frontline Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. It can carry up to 20 fully equipped Powered Combat Armored Infantry into battle. The Conquistador is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields, SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate’s weapons. It has a single rapid-fire PPC turret and four Heavy Grav Guns in 180-degree turrets mounted front, back, left and right, for self defense. Powered by fusion reactor. Both Anti-Gravity and backup track propulsion.
Conquistador Mobile Command Post – Standard frontline Mobile Command Post (MCP) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. High-speed data nets and communication systems are standard, giving ground commanders a detailed holographic map of the evolving battlefield, including both allied and detected enemy units. The Conquistador is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields, SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. It has a rapid-fire PPC and quad Grav Guns mounted in main turret for self-defense. Powered by fusion reactor. Both AG and backup track propulsion.
Viking Mobile AAA Battery – Standard frontline AAA Battery in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. The Viking is a modified Conquistador chassis with all space usually given up to internal troop transport filled with Phalanx Micro-Quantum torpedoes. 12 are launched in a volley, then the Viking usually relocates to prevent destruction due to the enemy following the initial track of its weaponry back to itself. The Phalanx launcher is mounted in a turret and while primary used against air targets, the Phalanx torpedoes can and often do attack nearby ground targets of opportunity. . The Viking is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields SIF and armor can protect it from at least a few rounds from a Main Battle Tank or a few seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. Powered by fusion reactor. Both AG and backup track propulsion.
Harbinger Main Battle Tank – Standard frontline Main Battle Tank (MBT) in Terran Empire Army and Marine arms. The Harbinger is protected by both cloak and cammo skin as well as high powered ECM/ECCM units. Its shields and armor can protect it from close to half a dozen rounds from a Main Battle Tank or about a dozen seconds of fire from a Frigate operating in atmosphere. Powered by twin fusion reactors. Both AG and track propulsion. Dual Heavy Grav Guns and PPCs in single main turret. One Grav Gun and phaser strip mounted in PD/anti-infantry weapon clusters in 180-degree turret mounted on front, left, right, and aft.
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HappyTarget
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Terran Empire - Unity
A work of Star Trek Alternate Universe Fan Fiction by Jeremy “HappyTarget” S.
Prologue – And Then There Was One…
Sol System, Sector One, Terran Empire
The newly crowned Emperor of the Terran Empire paced in his new throne room, his booted feet echoing off of the emerald and white real stone marble. He wore a black cowled robe, similar to the old Council robes, but of thatch patterned silk edged in gold. On his head, he wore a simple crown, a red fire agate gem burning in its center like a third eye. It was a plain crown, for Jack Chambers wasn’t one for gaudy shows of power or position. Yet just the same, the crown was one of a kind and a strong symbol of the new Terran Empire.
Now what should I do with Second Fleet Jack thought? The people need something to believe in after the terrifying setbacks handed to us by the Grand Alliance. Perhaps I should make them into heroes? I would rather the were out of the way for good, but having them executed as part of the plot to bring down the Empire wouldn’t go over well. The people might be naive, but they aren’t stupid. That would be to bold, to obvious for them not to miss. Something subtler then… I have it. I’ll move them out to the edge of explored space, out of sight and out of mind. The people will have their heroes, but they won’t remain around long enough to get uppity. And with the new officers I will be adding to Starfleet’s chain of command, they won’t be able to cause mischief. Jack’s internal thoughts shifted as he came to his decision.
It’s a lucky thing that that snake O’tole has some sense of honor, otherwise I really would have lost my daughter. It was a miracle that she survived the attack at all, yet now she was back on Terra by his side as crown princess. The prophecy that he had heard all those years ago, and all the actions he initiated to prevent it, would have been nothing. He wasn’t self diluted enough to think his true motives were as pure as the driven snow. He had always craved power, but that was only part of the reason why he had ascended to the helm of the Terran Empire. His thoughts shifted back to the prophecy he had heard so long ago.
‘…A time of tribulation shall fall upon the Galaxy. Great powers shall teeter on the brink of destruction and alternately arise out of the ashes of history. The Terran Empire of old shall fall away amidst much pain and suffering and loss of life, with a new union rising in its place. Then a great leader shall come, binding the peoples of the Galaxy together as never before to face the enemy that comes for them all. If the great leader does not come to the forefront during this time of upheaval, then everything shall be lost and all shall be consumed…’
Despite what the few others that had heard it might say, he himself did believe in it. A stronger hand than the divisive Terran Council would be needed if what the prophecy predicted actually came to pass. If that hand just happened to be his, Emperor Chambers the First thought, what was wrong with that?
Gamma/Delta Quadrant Borders, Near the Fringe of the Galaxy
It was amazing how such diverse entities as the Dominion and the Interstellar Concordium could work together so well so soon. That was what a common goal could do for two peoples, bridging the gap between them and binding their diverse traits into a united entity. It was what the ISC had sought to do for centuries, and what the Dominion had done for close to one and a half of one.
The Dominion had united its peoples under the Founders for 165 years, slowly but steadily expanding their influence, building up their fleets and armies of genetically engineered soldiers to police its boundaries and bring other worlds into the Dominion. The Dominion had even eventually butted up against what had once been ISC space shortly before encountering the Terran Empire.
Like the Dominion, the ISC had incorporated alien species into itself, bringing peace and harmony to the warring factions of the Galaxy. When they first encountered the Terran Empire, they had known that it would be their greatest challenge yet, for none of the other species had been as populous or as aggressive as the Terran Empire. So the Pacification Fleet had been dispatched to bring the Terran Empire’s anger and expansionistic tendencies to heel. Only it didn’t turn out that way. The ISC didn’t take the time to accurately access the true strength of the TE before they began their Pacification campaign. Because of that small error, the ISC Fleet wasn’t large enough to take out the TE and was crushed in detail before it could be adequately reinforced. If a proper strength had been sent initially, the TE would have been pacified and safely under ISC protection. Now, the remaining fleet units were not of sufficient numbers to guaranty a victory. Faced with the probable counterattack by the Terran Empire, the ISC decided to move far away from Terran Empire space and rebuild their fleets, till one day in the future they would be powerful enough the succeed where they had initially failed.
The Terran Empire had beaten the ISC and the Dominion, and the two powers were eager to make up that loss. With access to the materials in ISC space and Dominion technology, the Fleet growth rate began to expand geometrically. Working towards their common goals, the two empires planned a merging, becoming a single entity harnessing their resources towards one goal alone, galactic domination. The ISC already had agents and assets in TE space, preparing the way for the ISC advance. Now they would be preparing the way for the coming of the Galactic Unity.
Chapter One – Old Wounds
Sol System, Sector One, Terran Empire
2nd Fleet dropped out of slipstream at the desired coordinates. Sol system was locked down tighter than Starfleet Academy’s Headmaster’s daughter in light of the recent terrorist attacks against Terra and the attack by the Grand Alliance. Nothing civilian went in or out that wasn’t searched and thoroughly scanned. Just the same, most of First Fleet had been assembled to provide Second Fleet with an honor guard as they began their daylong impulse cruse to Terra orbit.
Nearly every com channel was filled with raucous celebration. The new leader of the Terran Empire, now styling himself Emperor Jack Chambers thanks to popular support throughout the Empire, had thought that it would be a good idea. Morale was at lows only experienced during the darkest days of the Imperial/Borg war. The people needed a hero, something good to look up to in this time of uncertainty. Upon learning of the exploits of 2nd Fleet in general and Captain Ulysses Vanguard in particular, the Emperor had found his heroes. He had originally planned on having 2nd Fleet out of the way permanently, but given how the rest of his plan had ended up unfolding, he was glad 2nd Fleet had escaped its fate. It gave the civilians something to tack their attention to while he went about further solidifying his grip on power. For they truly needed something to focus their attention on. The last month had been nearly nothing but defeat and terror for the Terran Empire. The civilians had no idea just how close it had come to becoming a conquered empire. What they did know was bad enough. Honoring the Empire’s heroes would be one of the best things they could do while they awaited their revenge upon their enemies.
Imperial Star Ship Athena, Bastion class Monitor, Terra Orbit
The massive Imperial Terra class shipyard, San Francisco Memorial Shipyard (Formerly San Francisco Shipyard), settled its octopus like metal struts around the Athena with a gentleness one wouldn’t expect from a multi billion ton construct. The engineering crews of the Athena were to be commended for their excellent repairs to their ship, but some of her damaged systems and frame segments could only be repaired at a major shipyard. Even as the long metallic supports were curling around the Athena in a loving embrace, thousands of work bees and construction hard suits sprang from the shipyard’s hangars, setting about peeling away the emergency hull patches Athena’s engineers had worked so hard to emplace.
They looked like a swarm of ants boiling out of their disturbed nest. The Athena herself was for the most part powered down, her pitted and scorched charcoal black hull lit only by the fiery furnace of Sol and the shipyard’s spotlights. The yard dogs said that it would be nearly two months before all of her battle damage was fully repaired and the massive warship was again 100% combat capable.
That suited her crew just fine. After coming within a hairs breadth of being killed first by the errant Psychonic attack, then by the powerful Species 8472’s counterattack, they felt that they deserved some R&R. While their flagship was stood down, most of the other vessels that made up 2nd Fleet were reassigned to reinforce the Neutral Zone between the Terran Empire and the members of the Grand Alliance. But before that happened, they were treated to a heroes welcome on Terra.
Progress Road, Moscow, Terra, 10:15 AM local time
Fleet Admiral T’var sat in the ancient convertible in front of Ulysses, the bright sunlight gleaming off of her polished armor. The automobile T’var sat in was known as a Dodge Viper from the late 20th century. Ulysses sat on the back seat of a Chevrolet Corvette, also from the late 20th century. Both cars had been borrowed from the Historical Automotive Museum of Washington for use in the parade. It was an actual ticker tape parade, with reams of the small paper ribbons falling from the sky. The crowds that lined every available space along the route were cheering wildly, waving Imperial flags madly, held back by local law enforcement officials. After hearing what had happened to San Francisco and seeing the actual devastation from orbit, Ulysses didn’t begrudge them a reason to celebrate something. He waved back to the cheering throngs as his car followed T’var’s down the parade route. Behind Ulysses, all of his senior officers were similarly being honored. Overhead, flights of seed like fighters and graceful, deadly looking assault shuttles swept by, adding to the spectacle of the parade.
Ulysses might have actually been able to enjoy the hoopla if he hadn’t felt that 2nd Fleet’s survival had upset some plan initiated by the upper echelons of the Terran Empire. Putting a fake smile on his face and periodically waving to the citizens, he began to think. Someone had sent out that Section 31 Constitution with orders to ensure 2nd Fleet died. It MIGHT have been a rogue operation, but Section didn’t recruit those who would do such a thing, making the possibility that it was a rogue very remote. The common joke that Section operatives needed forms signed in triplicate wasn’t that far from the mark.
So, if it wasn’t a rogue op, who could have started it? To be sure the list wasn’t that long. Finding out the source was important, because they may try again having failed the first time. Any one who would sacrifice 2nd Fleet, for any reason, is someone who didn’t feel anything about the possible repercussions of their actions. Even in its current strength, 2nd Fleet was the single most powerful offensive fleet in the Empire. So who would have reason to remove such a powerful asset? And why would they want to? The back of his mind nibbled at him that he was missing something glaringly obvious, but for the life of him, he pin down what.
The parade ended at the gates of what had once been the Kremlin in old Moscow. The original had been wiped out with most of old Moscow during WW III. On the same strip of ground now stood an imposing building. It was originally a high priced residential tower, but now it was being renovated to house the Emperor and his staff and entourage. Ulysses had watched his broadcasts with the rest of the Empire, and could have sworn that he knew his voice from somewhere. The face wasn’t familiar, for Ulysses had never followed Imperial politics. The new Emperor did take decisive action. Once he learned of High Command and ranking officer involvement in the attack against San Francisco, he had those responsible executed. Like the rest of the fleet, he was shocked that fellow officers could do such an act, but the evidence provided of their guilt was overwhelming.
T’var, Ulysses and the rest of the senior officers from the Athena got out of their cars inside the walled compound and approached the imposing tower. Already, it mounted ablative armor generators and shield emitters for protection. Work parties were slaving away to make them less conspicuous. They were doing the same with the defensive emplacements that had sprung up around the tower. Security was tight, with the entire party having to submit to retinal and DNA tests to authenticate their identities before they were admitted into the tower. Inside, there were guards everywhere, most in full combat armor and carrying military issue grav guns. Entering a turbolift, the heroes were whisked to the upper levels of the tower.
“His Imperial Highness, Emperor Chambers will see you directly!” the young secretary said, a huge smile on her face as she shook their hands in turn. When she shook Ulysses’, there was a definite invitation in eyes. He had remembered seeing it in more than a few young ladies in the crowd. A guy could get used to this hero business, Ulysses thought. The two guards in formal dress armor braced to attention as the heroes passed through the open massive double doors to enter what had become the throne room of the Terran Empire. Double sets of marble columns marched down either side of the massive room beyond. Their mostly white with black striations marble contrasted with the mostly emerald with white marble of the floor. A gold, ruby and emerald mosaic of the emblem of the Terran Empire was inlaid in the spotlighted white marble roof. Sunlight streamed in from the floor to ceiling many paned windows that lined three sides of the room. A gaggle of reporters was on hand for the momentous event, standing off to one side, shouting for the Heroes to look their way for a picture. They stopped when a chime sounded.
From the far side of the room, a section of the mosaic roof irised open to allow a small turbolift to settle on the floor of the throne room. From it came the Emperor followed by a young woman, an imposing man and a rather large dog. The Emperor wore a cowled robe of black silk that went nearly to the ground. He drew back the hood as he approached the Athena’s officers. The young woman wore a similar robe but in white. She also wore a small tiara studded with diamonds, indicating that she was Crown Princess Dorothy Chambers. The large, muscle bound man wore simple loose clothing, yet his eyes seemed to faintly glow blue and he looked the part of a body guard. The dog that never strayed far from his side also seemed to have glowing blue eyes. The pair was very creepy, making the hairs on Ulysses neck stand up. But then the Emperor was addressing the 2nd Fleet officers and Ulysses dragged his attention back on him.
“Welcome home my friends. It is good to finally meet you all in person.”
“You are welcome your Majesty.” T’var said, bowing formally with the rest to the newly crowned Emperor of the Terran Empire.
“Here,” The Emperor said, snapping his fingers, “I have some small tokens of appreciation for your success against Species 8472.” Princess Chambers approached with a small ebony case. She opened it, revealing the gleaming series of medal boxes within. Each department head of the Athena was given a medal in turn. Clay Heidberg, Percy Davenport and P’tel all received the blue, purple and gold ribboned bronze Christopher Pike Medal of Valor. Then, instead of going to Ulysses, as he was next in the line, Jack went to T’var. That was damn peculiar?! Why was he doing that?
“Fleet Admiral T’var, it is my pleasure to bestow upon you the Order of Terra.” T’var bowed, helmet under her arm, to have the black and gold ribboned crossed swords on starburst medal placed around her neck. The medal was the second highest medal for valor in the Imperial Starfleet. But why was she given her medal before me Ulysses thought? She’s of higher rank, and thus should be given her medal last, unless… Oh hell, they can’t possibly be thinking of doing THAT to me!!… can they?
“Captain Ulysses Vanguard,” Chambers said as he pulled out the final medal box from the case his daughter was holding, “It is my proud duty to bestow upon you the Lion of Terra for valor above and beyond the call of duty.” Ulysses dipped his head to receive the medal only after a few moments of stunned immobility. His eyes went wide as saucers as the rampant lion’s head in gold and silver on a midnight blue ribbon settled around his neck. The newsies were busy snapping holo pictures and video of the event. In the history of the Terran Empire, no one below the rank of Rear Admiral had ever received the Lion of Terra. In fact, only 26 officers had ever received one, and 12 of those were posthumous. The medal allowed him to take a salute from any officer regardless of rank, and with the recent passing of Fleet Admiral Chriton, made him the only serving officer to possess one. No wonder he had been left till last to receive his medal. If T’var had been left till the end, it would have been anticlimactic in the extreme.
“Thank you your Majesty.” Ulysses managed to get out. He was surprised his voice didn’t squeak.
“Unfortunately, due to your junior rank, you cannot remain in the Captain’s chair of the Athena. However, I have pulled some strings and you have been given Captaincy of a new Wraith class nearing completion. Once it has finished outfitting and trials, you are to take it to Starbase 2000 where it will become the flagship of the Delta Quadrant Expeditionary Fleet. Congratulations Captain Vanguard!”
“Thank you your Highness.” Ulysses hadn’t really expected to stay in command of the Athena. She was to powerful a vessel to leave in command of someone who had been captain only just under a month. What he had gotten in recompense was almost as good though. A Wraith was a very powerful ship to hand a junior Captain, and it spoke of both Starfleet’s’ and the Emperors faith in him almost more so than the Lion of Terra hanging from his neck. It was only Captain’s nearing promotion to Flag Rank that were given command of the heavy capital ships of the Imperial Starfleet.
“Now I’m sure you all want to get changed for the formal ball this evening, so I won’t keep you any longer. I just want to thank you all again for your service to the Empire. I’ll let you go, because I’m sure that there are a million little things to do before the ball.” Then the head of the Terran Empire reentered the turbolift with his daughter and his bodyguard.
It was only after the doors closed and the lift left the throne room that Ulysses finally placed where he had heard the Emperor’s voice before. Its last phrase had finally jogged the connections in his brain. White-hot rage boiled out of its prison deep inside of him. He couldn’t hold it back, and didn’t even want to even if he could have. All of his training for keeping it in check was for nothing, all he knew was the red tide of old hate fueled by old anguish that engulfed his consciousness. Then he felt a sure hand gripping his neck near its base and the world went dark, his hate raging against the galaxy that its revenge was denied when it was so close to fruition.
A work of Star Trek Alternate Universe Fan Fiction by Jeremy “HappyTarget” S.
Prologue – And Then There Was One…
Sol System, Sector One, Terran Empire
The newly crowned Emperor of the Terran Empire paced in his new throne room, his booted feet echoing off of the emerald and white real stone marble. He wore a black cowled robe, similar to the old Council robes, but of thatch patterned silk edged in gold. On his head, he wore a simple crown, a red fire agate gem burning in its center like a third eye. It was a plain crown, for Jack Chambers wasn’t one for gaudy shows of power or position. Yet just the same, the crown was one of a kind and a strong symbol of the new Terran Empire.
Now what should I do with Second Fleet Jack thought? The people need something to believe in after the terrifying setbacks handed to us by the Grand Alliance. Perhaps I should make them into heroes? I would rather the were out of the way for good, but having them executed as part of the plot to bring down the Empire wouldn’t go over well. The people might be naive, but they aren’t stupid. That would be to bold, to obvious for them not to miss. Something subtler then… I have it. I’ll move them out to the edge of explored space, out of sight and out of mind. The people will have their heroes, but they won’t remain around long enough to get uppity. And with the new officers I will be adding to Starfleet’s chain of command, they won’t be able to cause mischief. Jack’s internal thoughts shifted as he came to his decision.
It’s a lucky thing that that snake O’tole has some sense of honor, otherwise I really would have lost my daughter. It was a miracle that she survived the attack at all, yet now she was back on Terra by his side as crown princess. The prophecy that he had heard all those years ago, and all the actions he initiated to prevent it, would have been nothing. He wasn’t self diluted enough to think his true motives were as pure as the driven snow. He had always craved power, but that was only part of the reason why he had ascended to the helm of the Terran Empire. His thoughts shifted back to the prophecy he had heard so long ago.
‘…A time of tribulation shall fall upon the Galaxy. Great powers shall teeter on the brink of destruction and alternately arise out of the ashes of history. The Terran Empire of old shall fall away amidst much pain and suffering and loss of life, with a new union rising in its place. Then a great leader shall come, binding the peoples of the Galaxy together as never before to face the enemy that comes for them all. If the great leader does not come to the forefront during this time of upheaval, then everything shall be lost and all shall be consumed…’
Despite what the few others that had heard it might say, he himself did believe in it. A stronger hand than the divisive Terran Council would be needed if what the prophecy predicted actually came to pass. If that hand just happened to be his, Emperor Chambers the First thought, what was wrong with that?
Gamma/Delta Quadrant Borders, Near the Fringe of the Galaxy
It was amazing how such diverse entities as the Dominion and the Interstellar Concordium could work together so well so soon. That was what a common goal could do for two peoples, bridging the gap between them and binding their diverse traits into a united entity. It was what the ISC had sought to do for centuries, and what the Dominion had done for close to one and a half of one.
The Dominion had united its peoples under the Founders for 165 years, slowly but steadily expanding their influence, building up their fleets and armies of genetically engineered soldiers to police its boundaries and bring other worlds into the Dominion. The Dominion had even eventually butted up against what had once been ISC space shortly before encountering the Terran Empire.
Like the Dominion, the ISC had incorporated alien species into itself, bringing peace and harmony to the warring factions of the Galaxy. When they first encountered the Terran Empire, they had known that it would be their greatest challenge yet, for none of the other species had been as populous or as aggressive as the Terran Empire. So the Pacification Fleet had been dispatched to bring the Terran Empire’s anger and expansionistic tendencies to heel. Only it didn’t turn out that way. The ISC didn’t take the time to accurately access the true strength of the TE before they began their Pacification campaign. Because of that small error, the ISC Fleet wasn’t large enough to take out the TE and was crushed in detail before it could be adequately reinforced. If a proper strength had been sent initially, the TE would have been pacified and safely under ISC protection. Now, the remaining fleet units were not of sufficient numbers to guaranty a victory. Faced with the probable counterattack by the Terran Empire, the ISC decided to move far away from Terran Empire space and rebuild their fleets, till one day in the future they would be powerful enough the succeed where they had initially failed.
The Terran Empire had beaten the ISC and the Dominion, and the two powers were eager to make up that loss. With access to the materials in ISC space and Dominion technology, the Fleet growth rate began to expand geometrically. Working towards their common goals, the two empires planned a merging, becoming a single entity harnessing their resources towards one goal alone, galactic domination. The ISC already had agents and assets in TE space, preparing the way for the ISC advance. Now they would be preparing the way for the coming of the Galactic Unity.
Chapter One – Old Wounds
Sol System, Sector One, Terran Empire
2nd Fleet dropped out of slipstream at the desired coordinates. Sol system was locked down tighter than Starfleet Academy’s Headmaster’s daughter in light of the recent terrorist attacks against Terra and the attack by the Grand Alliance. Nothing civilian went in or out that wasn’t searched and thoroughly scanned. Just the same, most of First Fleet had been assembled to provide Second Fleet with an honor guard as they began their daylong impulse cruse to Terra orbit.
Nearly every com channel was filled with raucous celebration. The new leader of the Terran Empire, now styling himself Emperor Jack Chambers thanks to popular support throughout the Empire, had thought that it would be a good idea. Morale was at lows only experienced during the darkest days of the Imperial/Borg war. The people needed a hero, something good to look up to in this time of uncertainty. Upon learning of the exploits of 2nd Fleet in general and Captain Ulysses Vanguard in particular, the Emperor had found his heroes. He had originally planned on having 2nd Fleet out of the way permanently, but given how the rest of his plan had ended up unfolding, he was glad 2nd Fleet had escaped its fate. It gave the civilians something to tack their attention to while he went about further solidifying his grip on power. For they truly needed something to focus their attention on. The last month had been nearly nothing but defeat and terror for the Terran Empire. The civilians had no idea just how close it had come to becoming a conquered empire. What they did know was bad enough. Honoring the Empire’s heroes would be one of the best things they could do while they awaited their revenge upon their enemies.
Imperial Star Ship Athena, Bastion class Monitor, Terra Orbit
The massive Imperial Terra class shipyard, San Francisco Memorial Shipyard (Formerly San Francisco Shipyard), settled its octopus like metal struts around the Athena with a gentleness one wouldn’t expect from a multi billion ton construct. The engineering crews of the Athena were to be commended for their excellent repairs to their ship, but some of her damaged systems and frame segments could only be repaired at a major shipyard. Even as the long metallic supports were curling around the Athena in a loving embrace, thousands of work bees and construction hard suits sprang from the shipyard’s hangars, setting about peeling away the emergency hull patches Athena’s engineers had worked so hard to emplace.
They looked like a swarm of ants boiling out of their disturbed nest. The Athena herself was for the most part powered down, her pitted and scorched charcoal black hull lit only by the fiery furnace of Sol and the shipyard’s spotlights. The yard dogs said that it would be nearly two months before all of her battle damage was fully repaired and the massive warship was again 100% combat capable.
That suited her crew just fine. After coming within a hairs breadth of being killed first by the errant Psychonic attack, then by the powerful Species 8472’s counterattack, they felt that they deserved some R&R. While their flagship was stood down, most of the other vessels that made up 2nd Fleet were reassigned to reinforce the Neutral Zone between the Terran Empire and the members of the Grand Alliance. But before that happened, they were treated to a heroes welcome on Terra.
Progress Road, Moscow, Terra, 10:15 AM local time
Fleet Admiral T’var sat in the ancient convertible in front of Ulysses, the bright sunlight gleaming off of her polished armor. The automobile T’var sat in was known as a Dodge Viper from the late 20th century. Ulysses sat on the back seat of a Chevrolet Corvette, also from the late 20th century. Both cars had been borrowed from the Historical Automotive Museum of Washington for use in the parade. It was an actual ticker tape parade, with reams of the small paper ribbons falling from the sky. The crowds that lined every available space along the route were cheering wildly, waving Imperial flags madly, held back by local law enforcement officials. After hearing what had happened to San Francisco and seeing the actual devastation from orbit, Ulysses didn’t begrudge them a reason to celebrate something. He waved back to the cheering throngs as his car followed T’var’s down the parade route. Behind Ulysses, all of his senior officers were similarly being honored. Overhead, flights of seed like fighters and graceful, deadly looking assault shuttles swept by, adding to the spectacle of the parade.
Ulysses might have actually been able to enjoy the hoopla if he hadn’t felt that 2nd Fleet’s survival had upset some plan initiated by the upper echelons of the Terran Empire. Putting a fake smile on his face and periodically waving to the citizens, he began to think. Someone had sent out that Section 31 Constitution with orders to ensure 2nd Fleet died. It MIGHT have been a rogue operation, but Section didn’t recruit those who would do such a thing, making the possibility that it was a rogue very remote. The common joke that Section operatives needed forms signed in triplicate wasn’t that far from the mark.
So, if it wasn’t a rogue op, who could have started it? To be sure the list wasn’t that long. Finding out the source was important, because they may try again having failed the first time. Any one who would sacrifice 2nd Fleet, for any reason, is someone who didn’t feel anything about the possible repercussions of their actions. Even in its current strength, 2nd Fleet was the single most powerful offensive fleet in the Empire. So who would have reason to remove such a powerful asset? And why would they want to? The back of his mind nibbled at him that he was missing something glaringly obvious, but for the life of him, he pin down what.
The parade ended at the gates of what had once been the Kremlin in old Moscow. The original had been wiped out with most of old Moscow during WW III. On the same strip of ground now stood an imposing building. It was originally a high priced residential tower, but now it was being renovated to house the Emperor and his staff and entourage. Ulysses had watched his broadcasts with the rest of the Empire, and could have sworn that he knew his voice from somewhere. The face wasn’t familiar, for Ulysses had never followed Imperial politics. The new Emperor did take decisive action. Once he learned of High Command and ranking officer involvement in the attack against San Francisco, he had those responsible executed. Like the rest of the fleet, he was shocked that fellow officers could do such an act, but the evidence provided of their guilt was overwhelming.
T’var, Ulysses and the rest of the senior officers from the Athena got out of their cars inside the walled compound and approached the imposing tower. Already, it mounted ablative armor generators and shield emitters for protection. Work parties were slaving away to make them less conspicuous. They were doing the same with the defensive emplacements that had sprung up around the tower. Security was tight, with the entire party having to submit to retinal and DNA tests to authenticate their identities before they were admitted into the tower. Inside, there were guards everywhere, most in full combat armor and carrying military issue grav guns. Entering a turbolift, the heroes were whisked to the upper levels of the tower.
“His Imperial Highness, Emperor Chambers will see you directly!” the young secretary said, a huge smile on her face as she shook their hands in turn. When she shook Ulysses’, there was a definite invitation in eyes. He had remembered seeing it in more than a few young ladies in the crowd. A guy could get used to this hero business, Ulysses thought. The two guards in formal dress armor braced to attention as the heroes passed through the open massive double doors to enter what had become the throne room of the Terran Empire. Double sets of marble columns marched down either side of the massive room beyond. Their mostly white with black striations marble contrasted with the mostly emerald with white marble of the floor. A gold, ruby and emerald mosaic of the emblem of the Terran Empire was inlaid in the spotlighted white marble roof. Sunlight streamed in from the floor to ceiling many paned windows that lined three sides of the room. A gaggle of reporters was on hand for the momentous event, standing off to one side, shouting for the Heroes to look their way for a picture. They stopped when a chime sounded.
From the far side of the room, a section of the mosaic roof irised open to allow a small turbolift to settle on the floor of the throne room. From it came the Emperor followed by a young woman, an imposing man and a rather large dog. The Emperor wore a cowled robe of black silk that went nearly to the ground. He drew back the hood as he approached the Athena’s officers. The young woman wore a similar robe but in white. She also wore a small tiara studded with diamonds, indicating that she was Crown Princess Dorothy Chambers. The large, muscle bound man wore simple loose clothing, yet his eyes seemed to faintly glow blue and he looked the part of a body guard. The dog that never strayed far from his side also seemed to have glowing blue eyes. The pair was very creepy, making the hairs on Ulysses neck stand up. But then the Emperor was addressing the 2nd Fleet officers and Ulysses dragged his attention back on him.
“Welcome home my friends. It is good to finally meet you all in person.”
“You are welcome your Majesty.” T’var said, bowing formally with the rest to the newly crowned Emperor of the Terran Empire.
“Here,” The Emperor said, snapping his fingers, “I have some small tokens of appreciation for your success against Species 8472.” Princess Chambers approached with a small ebony case. She opened it, revealing the gleaming series of medal boxes within. Each department head of the Athena was given a medal in turn. Clay Heidberg, Percy Davenport and P’tel all received the blue, purple and gold ribboned bronze Christopher Pike Medal of Valor. Then, instead of going to Ulysses, as he was next in the line, Jack went to T’var. That was damn peculiar?! Why was he doing that?
“Fleet Admiral T’var, it is my pleasure to bestow upon you the Order of Terra.” T’var bowed, helmet under her arm, to have the black and gold ribboned crossed swords on starburst medal placed around her neck. The medal was the second highest medal for valor in the Imperial Starfleet. But why was she given her medal before me Ulysses thought? She’s of higher rank, and thus should be given her medal last, unless… Oh hell, they can’t possibly be thinking of doing THAT to me!!… can they?
“Captain Ulysses Vanguard,” Chambers said as he pulled out the final medal box from the case his daughter was holding, “It is my proud duty to bestow upon you the Lion of Terra for valor above and beyond the call of duty.” Ulysses dipped his head to receive the medal only after a few moments of stunned immobility. His eyes went wide as saucers as the rampant lion’s head in gold and silver on a midnight blue ribbon settled around his neck. The newsies were busy snapping holo pictures and video of the event. In the history of the Terran Empire, no one below the rank of Rear Admiral had ever received the Lion of Terra. In fact, only 26 officers had ever received one, and 12 of those were posthumous. The medal allowed him to take a salute from any officer regardless of rank, and with the recent passing of Fleet Admiral Chriton, made him the only serving officer to possess one. No wonder he had been left till last to receive his medal. If T’var had been left till the end, it would have been anticlimactic in the extreme.
“Thank you your Majesty.” Ulysses managed to get out. He was surprised his voice didn’t squeak.
“Unfortunately, due to your junior rank, you cannot remain in the Captain’s chair of the Athena. However, I have pulled some strings and you have been given Captaincy of a new Wraith class nearing completion. Once it has finished outfitting and trials, you are to take it to Starbase 2000 where it will become the flagship of the Delta Quadrant Expeditionary Fleet. Congratulations Captain Vanguard!”
“Thank you your Highness.” Ulysses hadn’t really expected to stay in command of the Athena. She was to powerful a vessel to leave in command of someone who had been captain only just under a month. What he had gotten in recompense was almost as good though. A Wraith was a very powerful ship to hand a junior Captain, and it spoke of both Starfleet’s’ and the Emperors faith in him almost more so than the Lion of Terra hanging from his neck. It was only Captain’s nearing promotion to Flag Rank that were given command of the heavy capital ships of the Imperial Starfleet.
“Now I’m sure you all want to get changed for the formal ball this evening, so I won’t keep you any longer. I just want to thank you all again for your service to the Empire. I’ll let you go, because I’m sure that there are a million little things to do before the ball.” Then the head of the Terran Empire reentered the turbolift with his daughter and his bodyguard.
It was only after the doors closed and the lift left the throne room that Ulysses finally placed where he had heard the Emperor’s voice before. Its last phrase had finally jogged the connections in his brain. White-hot rage boiled out of its prison deep inside of him. He couldn’t hold it back, and didn’t even want to even if he could have. All of his training for keeping it in check was for nothing, all he knew was the red tide of old hate fueled by old anguish that engulfed his consciousness. Then he felt a sure hand gripping his neck near its base and the world went dark, his hate raging against the galaxy that its revenge was denied when it was so close to fruition.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter Two – Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold
The nightmare that often plagued his dreams was back in full force, dredging the pain and loss and hate back to the surface as if they had just happened.
ICS Oberon, enroute to Sigma Draconis, 2365 AD
The massive cargo ship Oberon was dragged out of warp by the effects of a Warpfield Inhibitor. Young Ulysses couldn’t tell that that was the reason, merely that the ship had left FTL speeds. The quiet, deep, pulse like throbbing of the merchant ships warp core had all but stopped. But that wasn’t right. Dad had said that they were going direct to Sigma Draconis. It should have taken considerably longer at the Oberon’s plodding Warp 6 to get there from Capella, but for some reason they had dropped out of warp early.
Then the alarms began to wail, followed by previously unlighted bands along the wall flashing the crimson of Red Alert. The small crew of the Oberon began to frantically run towards their duty stations. The Oberon was as large as some starbases, but her crew numbered only 88. Ulysses scurried towards the place his parents had drilled into him to go during just such an emergency.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7
“Perhaps it’s only a routine inspection.” Captain Grant Vanguard told his wife hesitantly, worry etching his face. His cool gray eyes were twin pits of desperation as he grasped at anything that could stave off the inevitable. He ran a hand absently through his blond hair.
“You know as well as I do why they are here, and it is for no routine inspection.” Selon Vanguard replied with a shake of her head. It caused her cascade of brown curls to toss slightly, and her soft brown eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“But we could hide both of you…” Grant began to plead.
“They will not stop until they have me. That is why I must stay. Uly must survive. It is me they want, and if they don’t find me, they will be extra thorough in searching the ship. That can’t happen, for then they will find both of us. If I stay, they will be satisfied and may well leave the rest of the ship alone. At least this way he has a chance!” Her voice cracked, but she brought her torrent of emotions back under control. “If you tried to save both of us, we would all die. It has to be this way love.”
His little legs pumping furiously, 5 year old Ulysses Vanguard rounded the bend to see his mother and father standing right where they had been when they had practiced together.
“You see Papa and Mamma, I came just like we practiced!” Ulysses said, tugging at the hem of his mother’s shirt. Both parents fell to their knees and embraced their son.
“Yes you did. You are a very good boy Uly.” His father said, eyes brimming with tears as he fiercely gripped his wife and son in a tight embrace.
Selon’s tears finally began to fall as she quietly spoke to her son. “Always remember that your Mother and Father love you more than anything. We shall be with you always.”
Not completely understanding the true gravity of the situation, Ulysses merely nodded into his mother’s shoulder as his small arms wrapped around his parent’s necks. He picked up on the tension and sadness of the moment as only a child can. He didn’t have to know the specifics, the how’s, the why’s. All he knew was that his parents were crying and that made him want to cry to.
“You have a powerful destiny awaiting you Uly. I will help and guide you as best I can, but the choices are yours to make. When the time comes, you shall decide which path you take.” With a final squeeze Selon released her son and shooed him into the hidden, sensor proofed compartment. It was just big enough for two adults to fit into. “Now remember how we practiced? You have to keep very still and very quiet. Can you do that for Momma?”
“Yes. But aren’t you coming in here with me like you did the other times?” Ulysses said, his own eyes glistening with moisture. Selon’s face pinched, and fresh tears followed the glistening tracts of the ones that came before.
“Not today Uly. Today you must hide here just like we practiced together.” She paused a second as if steeling herself for what she must do. “I love you Uly. Never forget that.” She leaned into the compartment and kissed him on the forehead. Then she swung the concealed door shut and locked it. Time seemed to pass slowly, minutes turning to hours, hours turning into days. It hadn’t been like that when his mother had been here with him. Then the time had seemed to fly by. Now, with only the cold comfort of the small rooms four walls instead of his mother’s tender embrace, it slowed to a terrifying crawl.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7, outside the hidden compartment
Selon and Grant Vanguard clung to each other, sobbing into one another’s shoulders.
“But if you used your powers, you could stop all this from happening!” Grant said between sobs, trying desperately to find another way for the coming events to play out.
“That is not the path to be taken. If I do that, we all will die. It must be this way. As painful as it will be for Uly, it is better than the death or worse that would await him if I chose the other path.”
“I never claimed to understand this ability of yours to peer into the possible futures, all I have done is come to believe in it.” With a shuddering sigh, he continued. “If you say that the other choices are worse for Uly, then we must do what we must.” He leaned foreword and they kissed passionately. They wanted to make the moment last forever, but knew that it could not. After a precious few seconds, he broke off the embrace and walked over to the wall mounted com.
“Grant to William.” he said, his voice raw with emotion and his eyes bloodshot. The raspy voice of the Oberon’s first officer came over the com.
“William here. What are your orders Captain?”
“You will heave to and drop shields.”
“But sir, your wife is still…”
“I KNOW damn you! Follow your orders!” Grant snapped as his eyes drifted back to his doomed wife. All the emotion’s he was feeling boiled over and filled his voice, but he forced it to soften, not wanting to hurt his friend as the last thing he did. “Sorry, wasn’t angry at you, just at the entire damn universe.” He gave another shuddering sigh. “No matter what, look after Uly for us.”
“I… I swear to you Skipper, on my soul, I’ll look after him.” William Petersmith replied, his own voice growing heavy with emotion as his CO and best friend told him, however obliquely, that he was going to die. The entire crew of the Oberon was more like a family than anything else. They all knew just what Selon Vanguard was, and they didn’t care. They all had no love for the Terran Empire. The crew were all fiercely devoted to their captain and each other, and if Grant wanted to thumb his nose at Imperial edicts, that was just fine by them.
“Good man. It’s…” Grant’s voice cracked, which he covered up with a cough. “It’s been a pleasure serving with all of you. May fate be kind to you. Vanguard out.”
Hand in hand, their expressions schooled into neutrality despite their inner hurricane of emotions, Grant and Selon turned and walked towards the turbolift. They made it half way down the hall when the whine of a transporter came from behind them. Turning, they saw a complete squad of power armored Section 31 operatives. They all carried the shoulder flashes of Bureau of Purity. Bu Purity had been established by Section 31 to keep Vulcan and Human genetic stock as pure as possible, eliminating all half-breed children they came across. When the edict went out to hunt down and kill all El Aurian’s in the Empire, they were only too happy to oblige.
“Well well, the El Aurian and the ships Captain together. Why am I not surprised.” The evident leader of the squad said.
“What do you want!” Grant said, his fear giving way to rage.
“My dear Captain, you know exactly what I want. The Council has ordered that all El Aurians be killed, so it shall be done. It’s as simple as that. And the punishment for harboring them is also death. But since I’m in a generous mood, I’ll only execute you along with her. The rest of your crew shall be spared to tell others of your fate. It will prevent further such actions on the part of others.”
“Why are you doing this!” Grant pleaded. “She has done nothing wrong!” His face was defiant, but Selon’s was almost serene. She could see the path now very clearly. Ulysses would live. That was enough.
“I have my orders.” It was said as if that made what he was about to do all right. His mechanical sounding voice emanating from his suits external speakers didn’t betray any emotion at all. That was the worst part. This man seemed to feel nothing as he raised his phaser rifle and fired two quick shots. Both Grant and Selon Vanguard disappeared as their bodies disintegrated. After a short inspection of the rest of the ship and her remaining crew, the team left satisfied that there were no other enemies of the state hiding on the ship. They had gotten the only one they knew about, and uncovering no others, they had completed their mission. Before he left, the squad commander addressed seething yet impotent bridge crew.
“I’ll let you go now, because I’m sure that there are a million little things to do before you get back on your way, but ensure that I never have to visit this vessel again. If I do, I will kill every last one of you.” Then the leader keyed his comm. “Squad leader to 332, one to beam out. The transporter wined, causing the squad leader to fade out of existence. A glob of spit sent his way by William Petersmith merely passed through his dissolving body to land on the deck behind it.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7, 30 minutes later
It was a softly crying William who opened the hidden door to the small room.
“Uncle Willie, where’s Momma, where’s Poppa?” Ulysses demanded as he scrambled out of the small room.
“They’re gone Uly.” William forced himself to get out. The kid needed to know the truth.
It was a simple sentence, but its meaning was hidden. Not even William could bring himself to say that they were actually dead, not now when their memory was still so fresh. But Ulysses was somehow able to piece together what it really meant. In one brief instant, sheltered young Ulysses learned just how horrible the universe could be. He burst into tears, clinging tightly to the man that he knew as Uncle Willie even as Uncle Willie cried and clung to him. His entire universe was shattered, never to be the same again.
Penthouse, Ritz Hotel, Moscow, 2387
Ulysses awoke from the nightmare with hot tears trailing down his cheeks. He snarled half in fury, half in pain, the sound a wounded animal makes. Yet he was that helpless boy no longer. He had finally uncovered the man responsible for his parent’s murder, only to have his chance to avenge their deaths slip away like a handful of sand through open fingers.
“Why did you stop me!?!” He growled at T’var who sat with typical Vulcan serenity in a chair at the foot of his bed. He was both angry with her and himself. With her because she had stopped him from achieving his near life long dream, one he had sworn to accomplish. With himself because he hadn’t figured out just who the culprit was sooner. To think I actually thought that the new Emperor might be different than the rest of the scum. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t had a part in trying to take out 2nd Fleet. Knowing what I know now, it’s a distinct possibility.
“Because if I didn’t you would have tried to kill the new Emperor of the Terran Empire. Your attempt would not have succeeded, and even if it had, another would merely take his place, changing nothing.”
“You don’t understand! That bastard MURDERED my parents! How can you sit there and tell me killing him is not justified?!”
“I never said that it wasn’t. But now that you know he was the one who did, we must plan accordingly. As much as I deplore killing, just as Spock did, there are certain instances when it is unavoidable. The time is not yet right for doing what you seek, for there is much yet to prepare. In time you shall have your revenge, just as in time we shall set the Empire free from all people like Jack Chambers. But today is not that day.”
As she spoke, a calming wind seemed to blow through his soul. ‘Trust T’var Uly. Now is not the time.’ He heard his mother’s voice say in his head.
The anger inside of him fought against the calming breeze, but in the end it was once again in its cage. Peace flooded through him, then the warm presence was gone again. Ulysses sighed.
“You’re right of course. But one day, I WILL kill that son of a bitch!” Ulysses swore, his fists balling the covers on the bed, his knuckles turning white.
“I expected nothing less. Even I might be driven to such an end if he had killed my parents. What we must do in the mean time is expand the resistance. We are greater than even Section suspects, but we must become more powerful still before we strike.” T’var said. “Now too more current matters, I was forced to nerve pinch you in order to keep you from attacking the Emperor. I said that getting your medal and meeting the emperor proved too much for you and you fainted. You might even be able to be excused from the ball unless you feel that you can keep your thirst for retribution in check.”
“I can keep in on a short leash. Now that I’m thinking again, I can see what my rage obscured. Now is indeed not the time, for not only do I want to get rid of that…man,” Ulysses spat the title like a foul piece of food, “from the face of the universe, I want to do the same with all those like him. I don’t want anyone in the universe to go through what I was forced to. No body should have to experience that, yet far to many in this sorry excuse for a galaxy have to. If the only way I can do that is to bide my time until the time is right, that’s what I’ll do. Revenge is a dish best served cold. And when I finally am able to serve it, it will be very cold indeed!”
The nightmare that often plagued his dreams was back in full force, dredging the pain and loss and hate back to the surface as if they had just happened.
ICS Oberon, enroute to Sigma Draconis, 2365 AD
The massive cargo ship Oberon was dragged out of warp by the effects of a Warpfield Inhibitor. Young Ulysses couldn’t tell that that was the reason, merely that the ship had left FTL speeds. The quiet, deep, pulse like throbbing of the merchant ships warp core had all but stopped. But that wasn’t right. Dad had said that they were going direct to Sigma Draconis. It should have taken considerably longer at the Oberon’s plodding Warp 6 to get there from Capella, but for some reason they had dropped out of warp early.
Then the alarms began to wail, followed by previously unlighted bands along the wall flashing the crimson of Red Alert. The small crew of the Oberon began to frantically run towards their duty stations. The Oberon was as large as some starbases, but her crew numbered only 88. Ulysses scurried towards the place his parents had drilled into him to go during just such an emergency.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7
“Perhaps it’s only a routine inspection.” Captain Grant Vanguard told his wife hesitantly, worry etching his face. His cool gray eyes were twin pits of desperation as he grasped at anything that could stave off the inevitable. He ran a hand absently through his blond hair.
“You know as well as I do why they are here, and it is for no routine inspection.” Selon Vanguard replied with a shake of her head. It caused her cascade of brown curls to toss slightly, and her soft brown eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“But we could hide both of you…” Grant began to plead.
“They will not stop until they have me. That is why I must stay. Uly must survive. It is me they want, and if they don’t find me, they will be extra thorough in searching the ship. That can’t happen, for then they will find both of us. If I stay, they will be satisfied and may well leave the rest of the ship alone. At least this way he has a chance!” Her voice cracked, but she brought her torrent of emotions back under control. “If you tried to save both of us, we would all die. It has to be this way love.”
His little legs pumping furiously, 5 year old Ulysses Vanguard rounded the bend to see his mother and father standing right where they had been when they had practiced together.
“You see Papa and Mamma, I came just like we practiced!” Ulysses said, tugging at the hem of his mother’s shirt. Both parents fell to their knees and embraced their son.
“Yes you did. You are a very good boy Uly.” His father said, eyes brimming with tears as he fiercely gripped his wife and son in a tight embrace.
Selon’s tears finally began to fall as she quietly spoke to her son. “Always remember that your Mother and Father love you more than anything. We shall be with you always.”
Not completely understanding the true gravity of the situation, Ulysses merely nodded into his mother’s shoulder as his small arms wrapped around his parent’s necks. He picked up on the tension and sadness of the moment as only a child can. He didn’t have to know the specifics, the how’s, the why’s. All he knew was that his parents were crying and that made him want to cry to.
“You have a powerful destiny awaiting you Uly. I will help and guide you as best I can, but the choices are yours to make. When the time comes, you shall decide which path you take.” With a final squeeze Selon released her son and shooed him into the hidden, sensor proofed compartment. It was just big enough for two adults to fit into. “Now remember how we practiced? You have to keep very still and very quiet. Can you do that for Momma?”
“Yes. But aren’t you coming in here with me like you did the other times?” Ulysses said, his own eyes glistening with moisture. Selon’s face pinched, and fresh tears followed the glistening tracts of the ones that came before.
“Not today Uly. Today you must hide here just like we practiced together.” She paused a second as if steeling herself for what she must do. “I love you Uly. Never forget that.” She leaned into the compartment and kissed him on the forehead. Then she swung the concealed door shut and locked it. Time seemed to pass slowly, minutes turning to hours, hours turning into days. It hadn’t been like that when his mother had been here with him. Then the time had seemed to fly by. Now, with only the cold comfort of the small rooms four walls instead of his mother’s tender embrace, it slowed to a terrifying crawl.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7, outside the hidden compartment
Selon and Grant Vanguard clung to each other, sobbing into one another’s shoulders.
“But if you used your powers, you could stop all this from happening!” Grant said between sobs, trying desperately to find another way for the coming events to play out.
“That is not the path to be taken. If I do that, we all will die. It must be this way. As painful as it will be for Uly, it is better than the death or worse that would await him if I chose the other path.”
“I never claimed to understand this ability of yours to peer into the possible futures, all I have done is come to believe in it.” With a shuddering sigh, he continued. “If you say that the other choices are worse for Uly, then we must do what we must.” He leaned foreword and they kissed passionately. They wanted to make the moment last forever, but knew that it could not. After a precious few seconds, he broke off the embrace and walked over to the wall mounted com.
“Grant to William.” he said, his voice raw with emotion and his eyes bloodshot. The raspy voice of the Oberon’s first officer came over the com.
“William here. What are your orders Captain?”
“You will heave to and drop shields.”
“But sir, your wife is still…”
“I KNOW damn you! Follow your orders!” Grant snapped as his eyes drifted back to his doomed wife. All the emotion’s he was feeling boiled over and filled his voice, but he forced it to soften, not wanting to hurt his friend as the last thing he did. “Sorry, wasn’t angry at you, just at the entire damn universe.” He gave another shuddering sigh. “No matter what, look after Uly for us.”
“I… I swear to you Skipper, on my soul, I’ll look after him.” William Petersmith replied, his own voice growing heavy with emotion as his CO and best friend told him, however obliquely, that he was going to die. The entire crew of the Oberon was more like a family than anything else. They all knew just what Selon Vanguard was, and they didn’t care. They all had no love for the Terran Empire. The crew were all fiercely devoted to their captain and each other, and if Grant wanted to thumb his nose at Imperial edicts, that was just fine by them.
“Good man. It’s…” Grant’s voice cracked, which he covered up with a cough. “It’s been a pleasure serving with all of you. May fate be kind to you. Vanguard out.”
Hand in hand, their expressions schooled into neutrality despite their inner hurricane of emotions, Grant and Selon turned and walked towards the turbolift. They made it half way down the hall when the whine of a transporter came from behind them. Turning, they saw a complete squad of power armored Section 31 operatives. They all carried the shoulder flashes of Bureau of Purity. Bu Purity had been established by Section 31 to keep Vulcan and Human genetic stock as pure as possible, eliminating all half-breed children they came across. When the edict went out to hunt down and kill all El Aurian’s in the Empire, they were only too happy to oblige.
“Well well, the El Aurian and the ships Captain together. Why am I not surprised.” The evident leader of the squad said.
“What do you want!” Grant said, his fear giving way to rage.
“My dear Captain, you know exactly what I want. The Council has ordered that all El Aurians be killed, so it shall be done. It’s as simple as that. And the punishment for harboring them is also death. But since I’m in a generous mood, I’ll only execute you along with her. The rest of your crew shall be spared to tell others of your fate. It will prevent further such actions on the part of others.”
“Why are you doing this!” Grant pleaded. “She has done nothing wrong!” His face was defiant, but Selon’s was almost serene. She could see the path now very clearly. Ulysses would live. That was enough.
“I have my orders.” It was said as if that made what he was about to do all right. His mechanical sounding voice emanating from his suits external speakers didn’t betray any emotion at all. That was the worst part. This man seemed to feel nothing as he raised his phaser rifle and fired two quick shots. Both Grant and Selon Vanguard disappeared as their bodies disintegrated. After a short inspection of the rest of the ship and her remaining crew, the team left satisfied that there were no other enemies of the state hiding on the ship. They had gotten the only one they knew about, and uncovering no others, they had completed their mission. Before he left, the squad commander addressed seething yet impotent bridge crew.
“I’ll let you go now, because I’m sure that there are a million little things to do before you get back on your way, but ensure that I never have to visit this vessel again. If I do, I will kill every last one of you.” Then the leader keyed his comm. “Squad leader to 332, one to beam out. The transporter wined, causing the squad leader to fade out of existence. A glob of spit sent his way by William Petersmith merely passed through his dissolving body to land on the deck behind it.
ICS Oberon, Deck 3 Section 7, 30 minutes later
It was a softly crying William who opened the hidden door to the small room.
“Uncle Willie, where’s Momma, where’s Poppa?” Ulysses demanded as he scrambled out of the small room.
“They’re gone Uly.” William forced himself to get out. The kid needed to know the truth.
It was a simple sentence, but its meaning was hidden. Not even William could bring himself to say that they were actually dead, not now when their memory was still so fresh. But Ulysses was somehow able to piece together what it really meant. In one brief instant, sheltered young Ulysses learned just how horrible the universe could be. He burst into tears, clinging tightly to the man that he knew as Uncle Willie even as Uncle Willie cried and clung to him. His entire universe was shattered, never to be the same again.
Penthouse, Ritz Hotel, Moscow, 2387
Ulysses awoke from the nightmare with hot tears trailing down his cheeks. He snarled half in fury, half in pain, the sound a wounded animal makes. Yet he was that helpless boy no longer. He had finally uncovered the man responsible for his parent’s murder, only to have his chance to avenge their deaths slip away like a handful of sand through open fingers.
“Why did you stop me!?!” He growled at T’var who sat with typical Vulcan serenity in a chair at the foot of his bed. He was both angry with her and himself. With her because she had stopped him from achieving his near life long dream, one he had sworn to accomplish. With himself because he hadn’t figured out just who the culprit was sooner. To think I actually thought that the new Emperor might be different than the rest of the scum. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t had a part in trying to take out 2nd Fleet. Knowing what I know now, it’s a distinct possibility.
“Because if I didn’t you would have tried to kill the new Emperor of the Terran Empire. Your attempt would not have succeeded, and even if it had, another would merely take his place, changing nothing.”
“You don’t understand! That bastard MURDERED my parents! How can you sit there and tell me killing him is not justified?!”
“I never said that it wasn’t. But now that you know he was the one who did, we must plan accordingly. As much as I deplore killing, just as Spock did, there are certain instances when it is unavoidable. The time is not yet right for doing what you seek, for there is much yet to prepare. In time you shall have your revenge, just as in time we shall set the Empire free from all people like Jack Chambers. But today is not that day.”
As she spoke, a calming wind seemed to blow through his soul. ‘Trust T’var Uly. Now is not the time.’ He heard his mother’s voice say in his head.
The anger inside of him fought against the calming breeze, but in the end it was once again in its cage. Peace flooded through him, then the warm presence was gone again. Ulysses sighed.
“You’re right of course. But one day, I WILL kill that son of a bitch!” Ulysses swore, his fists balling the covers on the bed, his knuckles turning white.
“I expected nothing less. Even I might be driven to such an end if he had killed my parents. What we must do in the mean time is expand the resistance. We are greater than even Section suspects, but we must become more powerful still before we strike.” T’var said. “Now too more current matters, I was forced to nerve pinch you in order to keep you from attacking the Emperor. I said that getting your medal and meeting the emperor proved too much for you and you fainted. You might even be able to be excused from the ball unless you feel that you can keep your thirst for retribution in check.”
“I can keep in on a short leash. Now that I’m thinking again, I can see what my rage obscured. Now is indeed not the time, for not only do I want to get rid of that…man,” Ulysses spat the title like a foul piece of food, “from the face of the universe, I want to do the same with all those like him. I don’t want anyone in the universe to go through what I was forced to. No body should have to experience that, yet far to many in this sorry excuse for a galaxy have to. If the only way I can do that is to bide my time until the time is right, that’s what I’ll do. Revenge is a dish best served cold. And when I finally am able to serve it, it will be very cold indeed!”
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter Three – The Valley Forge
Terra Orbit, Sol System, Sector One, Two days later
The Orbital Shuttle glided up through Terra’s atmosphere, the sky darkening from light blue to navy blue to black in the shuttles massive foreword and aft panoramic windows as the swift shuttle left the last vestiges of oxygen and nitrogen behind. As it cruised towards its destination, it passed by the recovery efforts still ongoing in Terra orbit. The massive spacedock and battle stations were still shrouded in the shattered remains of their wounded hulls. Work bees were swarming around them, patching hulls and gathering the broken, twisted wreckage for recycling. Behind the shuttle, just popping over the horizon near the dawning sun, a dark pall appeared. It was the site of the first successful attack on Terra in over 200 years. Over two billion dead, with the exact numbers still not known. Numbers that big were hard to grasp in there true scope. They tended to become a sad statistic, people not directly affected by the attack forgetting the true cost, the pain, the all to human side of the attacks. The fact that the Terran Empire hadn’t hesitated to execute similar attacks in the past on ENTIRE planets was conveniently left out of the news reports on the disaster. It didn’t excuse what the Grand Alliance had done to Terra, for they had merely sunk to its despicable level as far as Ulysses was concerned. Yet the GA did have a certain perverse justification for what it had done. The attack had caused chaos in the core worlds, keeping the final maneuvers of the GA fleets hidden from the forefront of both civilian and military minds. I had enabled them to retake their homeland, to throw off the yoke of their Terran taskmasters.
The sheer enormity of the cleanup and forced terraforming of most of California to repair the damage the Mauler beam had caused was mind boggling. A few thousand survivors had been found in the rubble, but it was now feared that all that was left would be body retrieval. Even with modern sensors, weak biosigns buried beneath billions of tons of rubble and shorting out electronics were hard to find. Some rubble was to deep to beam out survivors, which meant that old-fashioned moving of the pile by hand was required. Modern cutting implements and tractor beam emitters made the job far easier than it would have normally been, but it was still horrible, tedious work. Transporters were mostly unable to help out, because the sudden loss of as much mass as they could transport out might cause a deadly shift in the surrounding rubble.
Of ground zero, the site in what had been downtown San Francisco where the Council tower had stood tall, there was only a volcano like pit filled with bubbling, churning lava that was slowly scabbing over as it cooled. California had grown by a surprising amount as well, the massive slabs of still cooling lava flows trailing from where San Francisco had been downhill to the sea. A massive cloud of smoke and ash still hung over much of western North America, reaching high up into the stratosphere. The Weather Control satellites were trying their best to remove it, and were slowly making headway against it. Despite this, most of the state’s neighboring California were now in perpetual twilight as the heavy cloud blocked out the sun. Without the Weather Control network, all of Terra might have fallen into what was once known as a Nuclear Winter. Ulysses tore his eyes away from the funeral pyre that still burned on Terra. It reminded him too much of his own personal loss so recently brought back to the forefront of his mind. It also reminded him of what he hoped to eventually accomplish. The goal of all followers of Spock was to create a world where attacks like the one on San Francisco don’t happen.
The rest of his officers joining him on his new ship also took long hard stares at the continued devastation Terra had had set loose upon her. But they were a levelheaded bunch. Most of them had seen first hand what a total orbital bombardment did to a planet and none of them liked it. They too seemed to want to eliminate the need for such attacks on BOTH sides of the conflict. Some of them might even prove good candidates for becoming followers of Spock. But now, more than ever, the followers of Spock had to tread lightly. Section 31 commissars had been added to all starships. They were there to keep an eye on Starfleet personnel in light of the traitorous actions some had engaged in of late. Yet Ulysses now thought that the quick arrests, trials and executions of so many high-ranking officers, despite the “evidence” that had appeared, was just a little to neat and tidy. Some of the accusations were undoubtedly true, for if one dug deep enough, one was bound to find something incriminating. But knowing now just what Emperor Jack Chambers was personally capable of, getting rid of his most obvious contenders for power was a painfully obvious tactic. And now with Section spies on every vessel in the fleet, there was bound to be more arrests and executions for many years to come.
The shuttle whizzed by the multitudinous battle stations, orbital weapons platforms and starships that hovered near by Terra, following its assigned route perfectly. With so many objects, many of them capable of high PSL maneuvers, staying where orbital control told you was an absolute must. The small shuttle approached the massive conglomeration of shipyards known simply as The Yard. Every time one came to Sol system, The Yard was subtly different. It was constantly expanding, ships entering and leaving its births, more shipyard modules being added. The Yard in its current form resembled a series of wheels on a long central axis. The wheels were made up of many spokes that terminated in an shipyard. There were currently over 100 of the massive Imperial Terra class shipyards operational on The Yard, with over 4000 slips total including the lesser shipyards. The entire construct was close to 150 km long, and a very imposing sight in Terra’s night sky. Still more battle stations, OWPs and starships stood guard around her. The Yard was operational 24/7, with work bees and hardsuited engineers and yard dogs diligently working on new starships for the Empire. Hulls in various states of completion sat in the arms of their slips. All kinds of vessels were being built in her many slips. Small Saber class frigates, tough Defiant class destroyers, the new, deadly sleekness of Soulwolfs, Prometheus and Akira class battlecruisers, Sovereign and Galaxy class battleships and the massive, brute force power of Wraith super dreadnoughts could all be seen in varying states of completion. In the six years since the termination of the Imperial/Borg war, most sector defense fleets had been built back up to near prewar strengths. It was mainly in the offensive fleets that hull numbers were still dangerously under strength.
With the new threat of the Grand Alliance, the yard crews were working even harder to make up the losses in capital ships. Stations similar to, but not as massive as, The Yard were in operation at Alpha Centauri and Vulcan, to say nothing of the smaller shipyards scattered throughout the Empire. An Imperial Terra class yard could turn out, if constantly supplied with enough raw materials, three Wraith class starships in about 240 days. Smaller ships took logically shorter time spans.
Cmdr. Clay Heidberg let out a low whistle as he took in some of the new ships being built. “They finally started building the Excalibur class Fleet Carriers!” He said in quiet awe. The Excalibur class was slightly bigger than a Wraith class at 1500 m in length. They could house close to 200 Cobra Fighters each, and were respectable offensive platforms themselves. They resembled a cross between the Sovereign and Ark Royal classes.
“Yup. About time to, the design is nearly obsolete. What they should do is take the Wraith class hull as a base and convert it to a carrier. It’s a faster platform with almost the same internal volume.” Ulysses replied. Heidberg could only grunt in reply, for what his Captain had said was the honest truth. Bu Ships wasn’t known for high speed introduction of new designs, especially new designs that contradict their pet theories of warship design. Far to many of the brass at Bu Ships was from the time when Carriers weren’t required. Now, with the need for as much firepower to be put into space as possible, they had no choice in the matter. It was both cheaper and faster to put a Fleet Carrier and its brood into space than it was to put a similarly sized SD. But while the fighter/carrier combo had better raw firepower, a SD had CONSIDERABLY more staying power against a heavy opponent. Hence both designs had their place in the grand scheme of things. And while carriers might not be the best for attacking an enemy battle wall, they were excellent for anti piracy missions and raids on lightly defended targets.
Rank hath its privileges, and Ulysses now had access to considerably more information than he had while he was a Lt. Cmdr. Through that, he had learned just how valuable those ships and the fighters they carried would be. Between raids by the GA members and a sudden rise in pirate activity Empire wide, every new hull put into space ASAP would better protect the shipping lanes that were the life blood of the Imperial economy.
While standard replicators on sight could handle most of the basic needs of a planets population, a lot of rare or hard to replicate items needed to be manufactured off of colony worlds and shipped there. This included things like aircars and other mechanical devices to large for a standard replicator to handle. Industrial replicators were extremely expensive and maintenance prone, so they were usually only found in core systems.
“There she is! …I think.” Heidberg exclaimed, slightly unsure. And who could blame him, with the sheer amount of construction going on it was hard to pick out a specific ship unless you knew exactly where to look.
“Where!?” The other officers said at the same time.
“Even with us and a little to the left, behind the half finished Soulwolfs there.” Heidberg said, pointing towards a spoke that ended in an Armstrong class shipyard. It housed four unfinished Soulwolfs, but the next spoke from the central hub held a Wraith class. Ulysses looked and could just make out the upper dorsal surfaces of his new command, but even if the entire ship were visible it would only be about the size of a pinky fingernail at the current range. That meant that she was far too distant for her construction number and name to be seen as anything other than a silver smear on her prow.
“Ensign, request approach and docking clearance with Yard traffic control.” Ulysses said.
“Aye, aye sir!” the extremely young looking pilot of the Orbital Shuttle said in almost a squeak. He had never in his short career been in such close proximity to real live heroes and was more than a little nervous. Was I ever that young Ulysses thought? “Shuttle Sierra Lima Two Zero Three Seven to Yard Traffic Control, requesting approach corridor and docking clearance.”
“Roger that SL-2037, transmitting corridor and docking clearance now.”
“Thank you, Yard Control, Shuttle SL-2037 out.” On the shuttle’s panel, a highlighted path appeared. The young ensign at the shuttles controls moved seemingly effortlessly to follow it. The bulk of The Yard grew in the shuttles bubble window, eventually blocking out the stars. Unfortunately, the docking bay they were assigned to was on the opposite side of the starbase as the slip of his new command was. After a quick trip across the station to the appropriate spoke, Ulysses presented his documentation. The lightly armored marine sentry gave the presented PADD a thorough examination, calling up records on his own terminal to ensure they matched. He did the same for the rest of the officers with Ulysses, clearing Cmdr. P’tel, Cmdr. Heidberg, Cmdr. Davenport, Lt. Cmdr. Eaton and his new helm officer, Lt. Demora Sulu (named after her grandmother) in turn. Once he was satisfied, he nodded to his fellow to stand aside from the corridor.
“You and your party are cleared for entry sir!” He said bracing to attention and snapping off a salute. Ulysses returned it smartly, then proceeded down the hall. Each spoke of the station was five decks high, but the top deck was special. It was arched down its length, but the roof was made up of transparent aluminum, giving a breathtaking view of the station as it stretched away above the spoke. What was better was that it gave an almost totally unobstructed view of the ship hanging in the arms of the yard slip at the end of it. Her knife edge lines were clearly visible from Ulysses side profile view of her. Spotlights gleamed on her charcoal hull as hardsuited yard dogs worked with chem catalyst gear to lay down the final few patches of ablative armor while others worked on attaching the odd ablative armor generator or small patch of hull plateing. She was basically complete, the spotlights shining down on her silver hull pennant. The ISS Valley Forge, New Construction Contract 4045 – B.
She wasn’t the usual Wraith class, that much was obvious from a cursory examination. Where a normal Wraith was angular with more rounded edges, this one was dagger like. All edges came to sharp points. Where a usual Wraith looked like a warship just because of sheer size and brute power, the Valley Forge looked like a warship because it was like a carefully honed blade. The brute power was still there, but it was merely an addition to the impact of the new hull form. It was like comparing a war hammer to a great sword. Both can kill, but the great sword looks deadly just sitting there. From her needle like prow to her expanded shuttle bay, Ulysses fell in love with her from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Even unpowered and sitting in her construction slip, she possessed a naked lethality. And she was his in a way none of his other commands could have been. He was her first master, meaning that he would mold her crew into his vision of what a crew should be.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Ulysses said to his officers who had stopped dead in their tracks upon getting their first clean look at their new ship, “I give you your new home, the ISS Valley Forge, NCC 4045-B. She’s a Wraith class upgrade, which means she’s faster and meaner than any other Super Dreadnought in space. For STL engines, she has Borg drives instead of impulse. This makes her both slightly faster and considerably more maneuverable in normal space. Max rated STL speed of 77 PSL with a maneuver class of 3 (putting it on par with a Sovereign). And with no massive impulse engine housings to target, she’ll be able to hang in a fight a lot longer without taking drive damage. Standard layout of quad slipstream cores mated with four more powerful nacelles, enabling us to keep pace with a Soulwolf in slipstream. New, more knife like hull form also contributes to the higher speed.
Triple foreword and single aft Phaser Lance Mk 2’s, One front and back down the centerline, one on either side of the foreword primary hull 30 degrees off centerline. Standard fore and aft Heavy Photon Torpedo tube but with extended magazine space thanks to the widened secondary hull. Four foreword burst fire Quantum Torpedo turrets, two on the dorsal primary hull, two on the ventral primary hull. Two aft burst fire Quantum Torpedo turrets nestled aft of the nacelle hull joints. 25 Phalanx Torpedo/dual Pulse Phaser Cannon turrets scattered strategically across her hull. And last but not least, 22 Type XV Phaser arrays for primary armament.
Phase cloaking ability, along with standard cloak and holographic chameleon skin. Mk 5 ECM Drones, Holographic Main and Flag bridge command displays. She’s got extra Ablative Armor and Mk 2Ablative Armor Generators. Newest Shield generators with nearly double the output of the old ones. You all have a week to come fully up to speed on all her systems, because in just over a week, well be taking her out for her space worthiness trials. Now that you have seen the outside of her, let’s see the inside shall we?” Ulysses said, then started walking down the spoke again. After half a pause, the rest of his senior officers followed him. All of their eyes greedily took in their new ship as they walked towards her.
Terra Orbit, Sol System, Sector One, Two days later
The Orbital Shuttle glided up through Terra’s atmosphere, the sky darkening from light blue to navy blue to black in the shuttles massive foreword and aft panoramic windows as the swift shuttle left the last vestiges of oxygen and nitrogen behind. As it cruised towards its destination, it passed by the recovery efforts still ongoing in Terra orbit. The massive spacedock and battle stations were still shrouded in the shattered remains of their wounded hulls. Work bees were swarming around them, patching hulls and gathering the broken, twisted wreckage for recycling. Behind the shuttle, just popping over the horizon near the dawning sun, a dark pall appeared. It was the site of the first successful attack on Terra in over 200 years. Over two billion dead, with the exact numbers still not known. Numbers that big were hard to grasp in there true scope. They tended to become a sad statistic, people not directly affected by the attack forgetting the true cost, the pain, the all to human side of the attacks. The fact that the Terran Empire hadn’t hesitated to execute similar attacks in the past on ENTIRE planets was conveniently left out of the news reports on the disaster. It didn’t excuse what the Grand Alliance had done to Terra, for they had merely sunk to its despicable level as far as Ulysses was concerned. Yet the GA did have a certain perverse justification for what it had done. The attack had caused chaos in the core worlds, keeping the final maneuvers of the GA fleets hidden from the forefront of both civilian and military minds. I had enabled them to retake their homeland, to throw off the yoke of their Terran taskmasters.
The sheer enormity of the cleanup and forced terraforming of most of California to repair the damage the Mauler beam had caused was mind boggling. A few thousand survivors had been found in the rubble, but it was now feared that all that was left would be body retrieval. Even with modern sensors, weak biosigns buried beneath billions of tons of rubble and shorting out electronics were hard to find. Some rubble was to deep to beam out survivors, which meant that old-fashioned moving of the pile by hand was required. Modern cutting implements and tractor beam emitters made the job far easier than it would have normally been, but it was still horrible, tedious work. Transporters were mostly unable to help out, because the sudden loss of as much mass as they could transport out might cause a deadly shift in the surrounding rubble.
Of ground zero, the site in what had been downtown San Francisco where the Council tower had stood tall, there was only a volcano like pit filled with bubbling, churning lava that was slowly scabbing over as it cooled. California had grown by a surprising amount as well, the massive slabs of still cooling lava flows trailing from where San Francisco had been downhill to the sea. A massive cloud of smoke and ash still hung over much of western North America, reaching high up into the stratosphere. The Weather Control satellites were trying their best to remove it, and were slowly making headway against it. Despite this, most of the state’s neighboring California were now in perpetual twilight as the heavy cloud blocked out the sun. Without the Weather Control network, all of Terra might have fallen into what was once known as a Nuclear Winter. Ulysses tore his eyes away from the funeral pyre that still burned on Terra. It reminded him too much of his own personal loss so recently brought back to the forefront of his mind. It also reminded him of what he hoped to eventually accomplish. The goal of all followers of Spock was to create a world where attacks like the one on San Francisco don’t happen.
The rest of his officers joining him on his new ship also took long hard stares at the continued devastation Terra had had set loose upon her. But they were a levelheaded bunch. Most of them had seen first hand what a total orbital bombardment did to a planet and none of them liked it. They too seemed to want to eliminate the need for such attacks on BOTH sides of the conflict. Some of them might even prove good candidates for becoming followers of Spock. But now, more than ever, the followers of Spock had to tread lightly. Section 31 commissars had been added to all starships. They were there to keep an eye on Starfleet personnel in light of the traitorous actions some had engaged in of late. Yet Ulysses now thought that the quick arrests, trials and executions of so many high-ranking officers, despite the “evidence” that had appeared, was just a little to neat and tidy. Some of the accusations were undoubtedly true, for if one dug deep enough, one was bound to find something incriminating. But knowing now just what Emperor Jack Chambers was personally capable of, getting rid of his most obvious contenders for power was a painfully obvious tactic. And now with Section spies on every vessel in the fleet, there was bound to be more arrests and executions for many years to come.
The shuttle whizzed by the multitudinous battle stations, orbital weapons platforms and starships that hovered near by Terra, following its assigned route perfectly. With so many objects, many of them capable of high PSL maneuvers, staying where orbital control told you was an absolute must. The small shuttle approached the massive conglomeration of shipyards known simply as The Yard. Every time one came to Sol system, The Yard was subtly different. It was constantly expanding, ships entering and leaving its births, more shipyard modules being added. The Yard in its current form resembled a series of wheels on a long central axis. The wheels were made up of many spokes that terminated in an shipyard. There were currently over 100 of the massive Imperial Terra class shipyards operational on The Yard, with over 4000 slips total including the lesser shipyards. The entire construct was close to 150 km long, and a very imposing sight in Terra’s night sky. Still more battle stations, OWPs and starships stood guard around her. The Yard was operational 24/7, with work bees and hardsuited engineers and yard dogs diligently working on new starships for the Empire. Hulls in various states of completion sat in the arms of their slips. All kinds of vessels were being built in her many slips. Small Saber class frigates, tough Defiant class destroyers, the new, deadly sleekness of Soulwolfs, Prometheus and Akira class battlecruisers, Sovereign and Galaxy class battleships and the massive, brute force power of Wraith super dreadnoughts could all be seen in varying states of completion. In the six years since the termination of the Imperial/Borg war, most sector defense fleets had been built back up to near prewar strengths. It was mainly in the offensive fleets that hull numbers were still dangerously under strength.
With the new threat of the Grand Alliance, the yard crews were working even harder to make up the losses in capital ships. Stations similar to, but not as massive as, The Yard were in operation at Alpha Centauri and Vulcan, to say nothing of the smaller shipyards scattered throughout the Empire. An Imperial Terra class yard could turn out, if constantly supplied with enough raw materials, three Wraith class starships in about 240 days. Smaller ships took logically shorter time spans.
Cmdr. Clay Heidberg let out a low whistle as he took in some of the new ships being built. “They finally started building the Excalibur class Fleet Carriers!” He said in quiet awe. The Excalibur class was slightly bigger than a Wraith class at 1500 m in length. They could house close to 200 Cobra Fighters each, and were respectable offensive platforms themselves. They resembled a cross between the Sovereign and Ark Royal classes.
“Yup. About time to, the design is nearly obsolete. What they should do is take the Wraith class hull as a base and convert it to a carrier. It’s a faster platform with almost the same internal volume.” Ulysses replied. Heidberg could only grunt in reply, for what his Captain had said was the honest truth. Bu Ships wasn’t known for high speed introduction of new designs, especially new designs that contradict their pet theories of warship design. Far to many of the brass at Bu Ships was from the time when Carriers weren’t required. Now, with the need for as much firepower to be put into space as possible, they had no choice in the matter. It was both cheaper and faster to put a Fleet Carrier and its brood into space than it was to put a similarly sized SD. But while the fighter/carrier combo had better raw firepower, a SD had CONSIDERABLY more staying power against a heavy opponent. Hence both designs had their place in the grand scheme of things. And while carriers might not be the best for attacking an enemy battle wall, they were excellent for anti piracy missions and raids on lightly defended targets.
Rank hath its privileges, and Ulysses now had access to considerably more information than he had while he was a Lt. Cmdr. Through that, he had learned just how valuable those ships and the fighters they carried would be. Between raids by the GA members and a sudden rise in pirate activity Empire wide, every new hull put into space ASAP would better protect the shipping lanes that were the life blood of the Imperial economy.
While standard replicators on sight could handle most of the basic needs of a planets population, a lot of rare or hard to replicate items needed to be manufactured off of colony worlds and shipped there. This included things like aircars and other mechanical devices to large for a standard replicator to handle. Industrial replicators were extremely expensive and maintenance prone, so they were usually only found in core systems.
“There she is! …I think.” Heidberg exclaimed, slightly unsure. And who could blame him, with the sheer amount of construction going on it was hard to pick out a specific ship unless you knew exactly where to look.
“Where!?” The other officers said at the same time.
“Even with us and a little to the left, behind the half finished Soulwolfs there.” Heidberg said, pointing towards a spoke that ended in an Armstrong class shipyard. It housed four unfinished Soulwolfs, but the next spoke from the central hub held a Wraith class. Ulysses looked and could just make out the upper dorsal surfaces of his new command, but even if the entire ship were visible it would only be about the size of a pinky fingernail at the current range. That meant that she was far too distant for her construction number and name to be seen as anything other than a silver smear on her prow.
“Ensign, request approach and docking clearance with Yard traffic control.” Ulysses said.
“Aye, aye sir!” the extremely young looking pilot of the Orbital Shuttle said in almost a squeak. He had never in his short career been in such close proximity to real live heroes and was more than a little nervous. Was I ever that young Ulysses thought? “Shuttle Sierra Lima Two Zero Three Seven to Yard Traffic Control, requesting approach corridor and docking clearance.”
“Roger that SL-2037, transmitting corridor and docking clearance now.”
“Thank you, Yard Control, Shuttle SL-2037 out.” On the shuttle’s panel, a highlighted path appeared. The young ensign at the shuttles controls moved seemingly effortlessly to follow it. The bulk of The Yard grew in the shuttles bubble window, eventually blocking out the stars. Unfortunately, the docking bay they were assigned to was on the opposite side of the starbase as the slip of his new command was. After a quick trip across the station to the appropriate spoke, Ulysses presented his documentation. The lightly armored marine sentry gave the presented PADD a thorough examination, calling up records on his own terminal to ensure they matched. He did the same for the rest of the officers with Ulysses, clearing Cmdr. P’tel, Cmdr. Heidberg, Cmdr. Davenport, Lt. Cmdr. Eaton and his new helm officer, Lt. Demora Sulu (named after her grandmother) in turn. Once he was satisfied, he nodded to his fellow to stand aside from the corridor.
“You and your party are cleared for entry sir!” He said bracing to attention and snapping off a salute. Ulysses returned it smartly, then proceeded down the hall. Each spoke of the station was five decks high, but the top deck was special. It was arched down its length, but the roof was made up of transparent aluminum, giving a breathtaking view of the station as it stretched away above the spoke. What was better was that it gave an almost totally unobstructed view of the ship hanging in the arms of the yard slip at the end of it. Her knife edge lines were clearly visible from Ulysses side profile view of her. Spotlights gleamed on her charcoal hull as hardsuited yard dogs worked with chem catalyst gear to lay down the final few patches of ablative armor while others worked on attaching the odd ablative armor generator or small patch of hull plateing. She was basically complete, the spotlights shining down on her silver hull pennant. The ISS Valley Forge, New Construction Contract 4045 – B.
She wasn’t the usual Wraith class, that much was obvious from a cursory examination. Where a normal Wraith was angular with more rounded edges, this one was dagger like. All edges came to sharp points. Where a usual Wraith looked like a warship just because of sheer size and brute power, the Valley Forge looked like a warship because it was like a carefully honed blade. The brute power was still there, but it was merely an addition to the impact of the new hull form. It was like comparing a war hammer to a great sword. Both can kill, but the great sword looks deadly just sitting there. From her needle like prow to her expanded shuttle bay, Ulysses fell in love with her from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Even unpowered and sitting in her construction slip, she possessed a naked lethality. And she was his in a way none of his other commands could have been. He was her first master, meaning that he would mold her crew into his vision of what a crew should be.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Ulysses said to his officers who had stopped dead in their tracks upon getting their first clean look at their new ship, “I give you your new home, the ISS Valley Forge, NCC 4045-B. She’s a Wraith class upgrade, which means she’s faster and meaner than any other Super Dreadnought in space. For STL engines, she has Borg drives instead of impulse. This makes her both slightly faster and considerably more maneuverable in normal space. Max rated STL speed of 77 PSL with a maneuver class of 3 (putting it on par with a Sovereign). And with no massive impulse engine housings to target, she’ll be able to hang in a fight a lot longer without taking drive damage. Standard layout of quad slipstream cores mated with four more powerful nacelles, enabling us to keep pace with a Soulwolf in slipstream. New, more knife like hull form also contributes to the higher speed.
Triple foreword and single aft Phaser Lance Mk 2’s, One front and back down the centerline, one on either side of the foreword primary hull 30 degrees off centerline. Standard fore and aft Heavy Photon Torpedo tube but with extended magazine space thanks to the widened secondary hull. Four foreword burst fire Quantum Torpedo turrets, two on the dorsal primary hull, two on the ventral primary hull. Two aft burst fire Quantum Torpedo turrets nestled aft of the nacelle hull joints. 25 Phalanx Torpedo/dual Pulse Phaser Cannon turrets scattered strategically across her hull. And last but not least, 22 Type XV Phaser arrays for primary armament.
Phase cloaking ability, along with standard cloak and holographic chameleon skin. Mk 5 ECM Drones, Holographic Main and Flag bridge command displays. She’s got extra Ablative Armor and Mk 2Ablative Armor Generators. Newest Shield generators with nearly double the output of the old ones. You all have a week to come fully up to speed on all her systems, because in just over a week, well be taking her out for her space worthiness trials. Now that you have seen the outside of her, let’s see the inside shall we?” Ulysses said, then started walking down the spoke again. After half a pause, the rest of his senior officers followed him. All of their eyes greedily took in their new ship as they walked towards her.
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HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter Four – By the Prickling of my Thumbs…
Imperial Palace Tower, Moscow
Frank and Victoria were just exiting the turbolift on the floor above the throne room when the both felt a massive telepathic surge. A sudden torrent of rage and pain flooded into them, totally unexpected, catching them unawares. The sheer force of the emotions was almost stronger than even the Fury pair combined could generate. They slammed into the Furies unprepared minds like a sledgehammer, causing them temporary paralysis as they fought to drive the thoughts from their minds and slam their telepathic shields fully into place. Yet they never got the chance, for almost as quickly as the surge came, it faded away to nothingness. Noting that his highly efficient body guards had stopped suddenly, Jack turned around to find out the problem.
“What’s the matter?”
<We aren’t sure your Majesty. For a moment it was as if a very powerful mind was set loose, then vanished as quickly as it arose. It is most peculiar.> Frank said in Jack’s mind.
“Do you have any idea whose mind it was?”
<No, nor do we know how close the mind was. It was there and gone so quickly that we couldn’t localize it before it disappeared.>
“Does it pose a threat?”
<We do not believe so, but we shall be extra acute in our guard duties.> The Furies opinion was good enough for Jack. He nearly immediately shifted from personal concern to matters of business.
“I have been meaning to talk to you about them. I feel that another Fury pair can keep watch over me for a little while. I need someone I can trust to be my eyes, and I trust no one more than the two of you.”
<We live to serve the Empire, your Majesty.> Victoria’s voice sounded inside Jack’s head.
“I know you do. Lately, there have been rumblings that the minor powers in the Delta Quadrant have been moving in to former Borg Space, taking over planets that are rightly ours. I believe that my plan for solidifying power might have worked to well, for my underlings are scared to bring me unhappy news. The data analysts might be skewing their results to provide a seemingly more pleasant answer than is the truth. I want the two of you to go the Delta Quadrant and find out if there is any facts to these rumblings or if I am merely jumping at shadows. If they are invading our space, a battle fleet or two will teach them the error of their ways. While they may not be able to do much in the current situation against the Grand Alliance, they will prove more than a handful for any enemy the Delta Quadrant can send against us.”
<We understand. When do you want us to go?>
“As soon as is convenient for you.”
<It shall be done your Majesty.>
Section 31 Starbase 001, Terra Orbit, Sol System
Inside the hollowed out inside of Section 31’s primary starbase, a frigate-sized vessel began to power up for operation. She was no ordinary frigate though, for she only had a small, single deck command section deep in her heart. The rest of her was a near solid wall of weapons, armor and subsystems. Small, computer controlled drones scurried about her miniscule passageways, performing the tasks that a starship’s crew would normally have done. Inside the ship, blue light strips activated along with the lone manual control station. The whine of a transporter was heard, and two figures materialized on the Spartan bridge. One was a tall man dressed all in black. His trench coat fell almost to the ground, and his glowing eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. The other was a large dog, her gray coat tinged with brown. Her eyes glowed faintly blue as well. As Frank and Victoria settled in to their seats, physical restraints and tractor beams activated, holding them securely against any unexpected movement.
The Furies reached out with their computer augments, binding themselves to the ship, making it an extension of themselves. The computer recognized them and granted full system access. Within seconds, all ships systems were powered up and cross-checked for irregularities. With a speed only computers can achieve, Frank sent a series of commands to the ships computer. Borg STL drives activated as all moorings were cleared. Once the ship was underway, it activated phase cloak and slipped through the armored hull of the starbase. The ships computer meshed with its Fury commanders, its sensors becoming extensions of their own. By mere thought, orders were sent to the ship’s computer, molding the ships systems into extensions of the two Furies’ bodies. A course was plotted and the ships QSS drive came online. The totally invisible starship disappeared into the many-layered realm of subspace.
Section 31 Starbase 001 Ops Deck
The duty command officer looked at the holo of the base’s interior as sensors alerted him to the Stalker class Frigate’s powering up. One second the powerful vessel was in standby, the next it was fully online, disconnecting from its umbilicals and bringing its phase cloak online. The sleek, sharp edged, stiletto shaped, matte pitch-black hull with dual gleaming red eye like main deflectors near its prow flipped end for end in the blink of an eye. She bore no markings, no windows, no identifying marks of any kind, merely her eye like crimson main deflectors set in her black hull. She merely radiated a sense of doom and foreboding. The deadly vessel was moving rapidly towards the nearest internal wall of the station as it rippled and faded from normal space.
The command officer suppressed a shudder of relief as the evil looking craft disappeared. At least it wouldn’t be his responsibility for a while. There were still nineteen other Stalkers sitting in their docking slips on the station, but even a reduction in their number by one was a vast relief. The frigate-sized craft packed enough armor, shields and weaponry to give a Wraith class Super Dreadnought a run for its money. If Section needed something done that couldn’t use normal channels, it called upon the Furies and their Stalkers. No one out side of a select few high-ranking officials in Section knew exactly what they were capable of, and that mystery merely added to their already impressive reputation. All people in the empire feared the Furies, even those who didn’t quite believe that they existed. Those that did know they existed were terrified of them. Section might watch the Empire and Starfleet, but the Furies watched over all three and answered only to the Council. With it now gone, they answered to only one man, Emperor Jack Chambers.
Sovereign Class ISS Enterprise NCC-1701-E, Terra Orbit, Sol System
Admiral Thomas Riker sat in his command chair on the Enterprise’s Flag Bridge with his customary grin perking the corners of his mouth. His new brilliant white and gold uniform was immaculate. Just like his rise to the seat he now occupied. He hadn’t had to stoop to assassination or a personal challenge to get rid of Picard. The new Emperor had done that dirty piece of business for him, clearing the way for his ascension to Flag rank. After so many years of playing second fiddle to Picard, Thomas was finally in total control of one of the most decorated and best known warships in Starfleet. There had always been an Enterprise. Even before Starfleet was formed, the name Enterprise had a long and honored history in Terran’s navies. Every Enterprise since the original Constitution class NCC-1701 and even Captain Archer’s NX-01 had possessed a stellar battle record. The Enterprise-E was no different. With the loss of the Enterprise-D during the Imperial/Dominion war, the one of the earliest production Sovereigns was given the Enterprise name and cereal number. The battle records from each Enterprise that had served in Starfleet had been added to the Enterprise-E’s own battle record, but she had soon added to that record all on her own. The latest Enterprise, while not as new and powerful as some of the larger current capital ship designs, was still a deadly vessel with over 9000 confirmed kills.
Thomas glanced over to the seven dedication plaques mounted near the primary Flag Bridge turboshaft. So great had each Enterprise proven in battle, that each one had had its battle records passed on to subsequent vessels. It was usually only one or two ships that distinguished themselves so fully, such as the original Constitution and the latest one, the Constitution-D. Yet the name Enterprise had become congruent with success. She was as close as the Terran Empire came to an actual Starfleet wide Flagship. Every citizen knew of the exploits of the starships Enterprise. The Enterprise was the ship every cadet dreamed about serving on. She was the ship every officer dreamed of commanding. And now, finally, she was Thomas Riker’s.
When Picard had finally been promoted to flag rank, Thomas had though he had died and gone to heaven the first time he had sat in the main bridge’s command chair and known it was totally his. Yet that memory was but a pale comparison to finally sinking into the command chair on the Enterprise’s flag bridge. Being Captain of the Enterprise was good. Being Admiral of the Enterprise Battle Group was better. And the last vestiges of that traitor Picard would be erased from her soon, for the Enterprise’s BG was to be rotated out to the new boarder to be used in strike missions against the self styled Grand Alliance. There was currently no better place to add to the Enterprise’s battle record than there, and Thomas couldn’t wait for the opportunity that the upcoming missions presented.
Thomas looked over a status report handed to him by a crewman, nodding absently as the report told him that everything was running smoothly. The turbolift doors opened quietly behind him, almost lost in the background noise of the active Flag Bridge. Thomas felt a presence enfold his mind. It was both pleasant and mildly painful at the same time. What’ the hell… Thomas thought. He began to turn around to try and identify the source of the intrusion into his thoughts when a voice stopped him cold.
“Hello Tom, its good to finally catch up with you again.”
Orion Cartel Starbase ‘Flying Dutchman’, Near the new Cardassian Union/Terran Empire Border, That same time
Peter O’tole entered his lavish quarters thoroughly satisfied with the current state of affairs in the Galaxy. Phase one of the original plan had called for bleeding the TE white in a long campaign on all fronts. With the introduction of the Breen Energy Dampening Weapon, phase one had been modified for the utter destruction of the TE. With the new weapon, that goal had seemed attainable. Yet the Terrans had managed to find a counter to it with startling rapidity. The end result was a stalemate with both sides concentrating their forces in core systems and along their new mutual boarder. While not as good of a result as the revised plan had called for, it was almost as good as the original one. Regardless of the first phase’s outcome, the second phase was about to commence. It had been slightly modified to take advantage of the new dispositions of the fleets involved. Phase two had been designed to spread chaos and destruction across whomever survived phase one. Since both sides had survived, both sides would be engaged.
No plan ever survived contact with the enemy, but the plan devised by Peter’s masters was adaptive enough to make use of the current military and political situation in the Alpha, Beta and Delta Quadrants. The chaos and destruction he would meat out would warm any pirate’s soul, and despite its now massive power base, the Orion Cartel was little removed from its pirate ancestry. Peter smiled a predatory as he settled into a comfortable chair.
And soon thereafter phase three would commence, proving the first two phases mere sideshows in comparison…
Imperial Exploratory Fleet 8, Delta Quadrant, Near Galactic Fringe
Battle Group Log, Stardate 14052387: Another day and another “miraculous” spacial anomaly to stop and chart. Sometimes I think that Admiral October and his Scifleet Captains do it on purpose because he knows just how much it aggravates us gunslingers to have to stop almost every light-year. We haven’t encountered a combative species in weeks, and I am gravely concerned that even in spite of my regimen of combat drills, the ships of my Battle Group are loosing their edge. Part of me is beginning to question the intelligence level of Starfleet Command, for I can find no intelligent reason to keep my ships out here in the armpit of the galaxy while the real action is happening right in the Empire’s back yard. I will try my best to keep my ships in peak combat form incase my requests for transfer are finally answered, but till then all I can do is continue to nursemaid my charges as they slowly plod across the Quadrant.
How she managed to get stuck shepherding a pack of Scifleet rabble as they went from star to star searching through space for valuable resources and useful technology was beyond Admiral Kathryn Janeway. After all she and the Intrepid class Voyager-A did during the Imperial/Borg War, Starfleet Command had seen fit to reward them by attaching her battle squadron to the latest round of exploratory missions into the newly opened up Delta Quadrant. The five Intrepids and ten Sabers of the Voyager Battle Group were now providing escort for three of Scifleet’s Nebulas and a lone Atlas class cargo ship. While the Scifleet battle cruisers retained much of their Starfleet standard weaponry, they lacked the massive weapons pods that most of their cousins sported. In their place, one carried a SWAC array, the next a massive cargo storage pod, and the last a hangar to house the plethora of specialized survey vehicles all survey missions required. While the Terran Empire had only recently taken out the Borg, opening their former space for colonization, they always were looking ahead to the future. As such, there were always at least a few minor battle groups scouting out beyond the borders of explored space in search of new opportunities that the Terran Empire could exploit. Just the same, with the recent resurgence of the conquered Empires in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, Kathryn thought that a battle group with such a strong battle record would have been recalled to help bolster the defense of the remaining core worlds. Instead they were being left out here in the middle of nowhere, babysitting a bunch of nerdy pansies that seemed bound and determined to stop and thoroughly investigate every insignificant spatial anomaly and new culture that they came upon.
Some of those new cultures had proven hostile to even the mostly peaceful Exploratory Fleet. Some of those same hostile cultures had even given the Exploratory Fleet some trouble. True most of them didn’t stand much of a chance if Starfleet decided to drop a battle fleet on their doorstep, but the Voyager Battle Group and the Scifleet ships it was escorting were far from a full on Terran Empire battle fleet. The fact that word had gotten around that Exploratory Fleet 8 represented the same species that had brought the Borg down had helped save them from most of the intelligent species in their survey path. It hadn’t stopped species like the Kazon, the Vidiians, the Hirogen and the Krenim from sniping at them when they thought they could get away with it. They had proven interesting, sometimes dangerous opponents, but they in most cases lacked sufficient size or firepower to pose a risk to the Terran Empire. Over the past two years Kathryn had experienced enough scientific exploration to last two life times. She longed to be back in the thick of things instead of off on some mostly useless survey and scouting mission.
Imperial Palace Tower, Moscow
Frank and Victoria were just exiting the turbolift on the floor above the throne room when the both felt a massive telepathic surge. A sudden torrent of rage and pain flooded into them, totally unexpected, catching them unawares. The sheer force of the emotions was almost stronger than even the Fury pair combined could generate. They slammed into the Furies unprepared minds like a sledgehammer, causing them temporary paralysis as they fought to drive the thoughts from their minds and slam their telepathic shields fully into place. Yet they never got the chance, for almost as quickly as the surge came, it faded away to nothingness. Noting that his highly efficient body guards had stopped suddenly, Jack turned around to find out the problem.
“What’s the matter?”
<We aren’t sure your Majesty. For a moment it was as if a very powerful mind was set loose, then vanished as quickly as it arose. It is most peculiar.> Frank said in Jack’s mind.
“Do you have any idea whose mind it was?”
<No, nor do we know how close the mind was. It was there and gone so quickly that we couldn’t localize it before it disappeared.>
“Does it pose a threat?”
<We do not believe so, but we shall be extra acute in our guard duties.> The Furies opinion was good enough for Jack. He nearly immediately shifted from personal concern to matters of business.
“I have been meaning to talk to you about them. I feel that another Fury pair can keep watch over me for a little while. I need someone I can trust to be my eyes, and I trust no one more than the two of you.”
<We live to serve the Empire, your Majesty.> Victoria’s voice sounded inside Jack’s head.
“I know you do. Lately, there have been rumblings that the minor powers in the Delta Quadrant have been moving in to former Borg Space, taking over planets that are rightly ours. I believe that my plan for solidifying power might have worked to well, for my underlings are scared to bring me unhappy news. The data analysts might be skewing their results to provide a seemingly more pleasant answer than is the truth. I want the two of you to go the Delta Quadrant and find out if there is any facts to these rumblings or if I am merely jumping at shadows. If they are invading our space, a battle fleet or two will teach them the error of their ways. While they may not be able to do much in the current situation against the Grand Alliance, they will prove more than a handful for any enemy the Delta Quadrant can send against us.”
<We understand. When do you want us to go?>
“As soon as is convenient for you.”
<It shall be done your Majesty.>
Section 31 Starbase 001, Terra Orbit, Sol System
Inside the hollowed out inside of Section 31’s primary starbase, a frigate-sized vessel began to power up for operation. She was no ordinary frigate though, for she only had a small, single deck command section deep in her heart. The rest of her was a near solid wall of weapons, armor and subsystems. Small, computer controlled drones scurried about her miniscule passageways, performing the tasks that a starship’s crew would normally have done. Inside the ship, blue light strips activated along with the lone manual control station. The whine of a transporter was heard, and two figures materialized on the Spartan bridge. One was a tall man dressed all in black. His trench coat fell almost to the ground, and his glowing eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. The other was a large dog, her gray coat tinged with brown. Her eyes glowed faintly blue as well. As Frank and Victoria settled in to their seats, physical restraints and tractor beams activated, holding them securely against any unexpected movement.
The Furies reached out with their computer augments, binding themselves to the ship, making it an extension of themselves. The computer recognized them and granted full system access. Within seconds, all ships systems were powered up and cross-checked for irregularities. With a speed only computers can achieve, Frank sent a series of commands to the ships computer. Borg STL drives activated as all moorings were cleared. Once the ship was underway, it activated phase cloak and slipped through the armored hull of the starbase. The ships computer meshed with its Fury commanders, its sensors becoming extensions of their own. By mere thought, orders were sent to the ship’s computer, molding the ships systems into extensions of the two Furies’ bodies. A course was plotted and the ships QSS drive came online. The totally invisible starship disappeared into the many-layered realm of subspace.
Section 31 Starbase 001 Ops Deck
The duty command officer looked at the holo of the base’s interior as sensors alerted him to the Stalker class Frigate’s powering up. One second the powerful vessel was in standby, the next it was fully online, disconnecting from its umbilicals and bringing its phase cloak online. The sleek, sharp edged, stiletto shaped, matte pitch-black hull with dual gleaming red eye like main deflectors near its prow flipped end for end in the blink of an eye. She bore no markings, no windows, no identifying marks of any kind, merely her eye like crimson main deflectors set in her black hull. She merely radiated a sense of doom and foreboding. The deadly vessel was moving rapidly towards the nearest internal wall of the station as it rippled and faded from normal space.
The command officer suppressed a shudder of relief as the evil looking craft disappeared. At least it wouldn’t be his responsibility for a while. There were still nineteen other Stalkers sitting in their docking slips on the station, but even a reduction in their number by one was a vast relief. The frigate-sized craft packed enough armor, shields and weaponry to give a Wraith class Super Dreadnought a run for its money. If Section needed something done that couldn’t use normal channels, it called upon the Furies and their Stalkers. No one out side of a select few high-ranking officials in Section knew exactly what they were capable of, and that mystery merely added to their already impressive reputation. All people in the empire feared the Furies, even those who didn’t quite believe that they existed. Those that did know they existed were terrified of them. Section might watch the Empire and Starfleet, but the Furies watched over all three and answered only to the Council. With it now gone, they answered to only one man, Emperor Jack Chambers.
Sovereign Class ISS Enterprise NCC-1701-E, Terra Orbit, Sol System
Admiral Thomas Riker sat in his command chair on the Enterprise’s Flag Bridge with his customary grin perking the corners of his mouth. His new brilliant white and gold uniform was immaculate. Just like his rise to the seat he now occupied. He hadn’t had to stoop to assassination or a personal challenge to get rid of Picard. The new Emperor had done that dirty piece of business for him, clearing the way for his ascension to Flag rank. After so many years of playing second fiddle to Picard, Thomas was finally in total control of one of the most decorated and best known warships in Starfleet. There had always been an Enterprise. Even before Starfleet was formed, the name Enterprise had a long and honored history in Terran’s navies. Every Enterprise since the original Constitution class NCC-1701 and even Captain Archer’s NX-01 had possessed a stellar battle record. The Enterprise-E was no different. With the loss of the Enterprise-D during the Imperial/Dominion war, the one of the earliest production Sovereigns was given the Enterprise name and cereal number. The battle records from each Enterprise that had served in Starfleet had been added to the Enterprise-E’s own battle record, but she had soon added to that record all on her own. The latest Enterprise, while not as new and powerful as some of the larger current capital ship designs, was still a deadly vessel with over 9000 confirmed kills.
Thomas glanced over to the seven dedication plaques mounted near the primary Flag Bridge turboshaft. So great had each Enterprise proven in battle, that each one had had its battle records passed on to subsequent vessels. It was usually only one or two ships that distinguished themselves so fully, such as the original Constitution and the latest one, the Constitution-D. Yet the name Enterprise had become congruent with success. She was as close as the Terran Empire came to an actual Starfleet wide Flagship. Every citizen knew of the exploits of the starships Enterprise. The Enterprise was the ship every cadet dreamed about serving on. She was the ship every officer dreamed of commanding. And now, finally, she was Thomas Riker’s.
When Picard had finally been promoted to flag rank, Thomas had though he had died and gone to heaven the first time he had sat in the main bridge’s command chair and known it was totally his. Yet that memory was but a pale comparison to finally sinking into the command chair on the Enterprise’s flag bridge. Being Captain of the Enterprise was good. Being Admiral of the Enterprise Battle Group was better. And the last vestiges of that traitor Picard would be erased from her soon, for the Enterprise’s BG was to be rotated out to the new boarder to be used in strike missions against the self styled Grand Alliance. There was currently no better place to add to the Enterprise’s battle record than there, and Thomas couldn’t wait for the opportunity that the upcoming missions presented.
Thomas looked over a status report handed to him by a crewman, nodding absently as the report told him that everything was running smoothly. The turbolift doors opened quietly behind him, almost lost in the background noise of the active Flag Bridge. Thomas felt a presence enfold his mind. It was both pleasant and mildly painful at the same time. What’ the hell… Thomas thought. He began to turn around to try and identify the source of the intrusion into his thoughts when a voice stopped him cold.
“Hello Tom, its good to finally catch up with you again.”
Orion Cartel Starbase ‘Flying Dutchman’, Near the new Cardassian Union/Terran Empire Border, That same time
Peter O’tole entered his lavish quarters thoroughly satisfied with the current state of affairs in the Galaxy. Phase one of the original plan had called for bleeding the TE white in a long campaign on all fronts. With the introduction of the Breen Energy Dampening Weapon, phase one had been modified for the utter destruction of the TE. With the new weapon, that goal had seemed attainable. Yet the Terrans had managed to find a counter to it with startling rapidity. The end result was a stalemate with both sides concentrating their forces in core systems and along their new mutual boarder. While not as good of a result as the revised plan had called for, it was almost as good as the original one. Regardless of the first phase’s outcome, the second phase was about to commence. It had been slightly modified to take advantage of the new dispositions of the fleets involved. Phase two had been designed to spread chaos and destruction across whomever survived phase one. Since both sides had survived, both sides would be engaged.
No plan ever survived contact with the enemy, but the plan devised by Peter’s masters was adaptive enough to make use of the current military and political situation in the Alpha, Beta and Delta Quadrants. The chaos and destruction he would meat out would warm any pirate’s soul, and despite its now massive power base, the Orion Cartel was little removed from its pirate ancestry. Peter smiled a predatory as he settled into a comfortable chair.
And soon thereafter phase three would commence, proving the first two phases mere sideshows in comparison…
Imperial Exploratory Fleet 8, Delta Quadrant, Near Galactic Fringe
Battle Group Log, Stardate 14052387: Another day and another “miraculous” spacial anomaly to stop and chart. Sometimes I think that Admiral October and his Scifleet Captains do it on purpose because he knows just how much it aggravates us gunslingers to have to stop almost every light-year. We haven’t encountered a combative species in weeks, and I am gravely concerned that even in spite of my regimen of combat drills, the ships of my Battle Group are loosing their edge. Part of me is beginning to question the intelligence level of Starfleet Command, for I can find no intelligent reason to keep my ships out here in the armpit of the galaxy while the real action is happening right in the Empire’s back yard. I will try my best to keep my ships in peak combat form incase my requests for transfer are finally answered, but till then all I can do is continue to nursemaid my charges as they slowly plod across the Quadrant.
How she managed to get stuck shepherding a pack of Scifleet rabble as they went from star to star searching through space for valuable resources and useful technology was beyond Admiral Kathryn Janeway. After all she and the Intrepid class Voyager-A did during the Imperial/Borg War, Starfleet Command had seen fit to reward them by attaching her battle squadron to the latest round of exploratory missions into the newly opened up Delta Quadrant. The five Intrepids and ten Sabers of the Voyager Battle Group were now providing escort for three of Scifleet’s Nebulas and a lone Atlas class cargo ship. While the Scifleet battle cruisers retained much of their Starfleet standard weaponry, they lacked the massive weapons pods that most of their cousins sported. In their place, one carried a SWAC array, the next a massive cargo storage pod, and the last a hangar to house the plethora of specialized survey vehicles all survey missions required. While the Terran Empire had only recently taken out the Borg, opening their former space for colonization, they always were looking ahead to the future. As such, there were always at least a few minor battle groups scouting out beyond the borders of explored space in search of new opportunities that the Terran Empire could exploit. Just the same, with the recent resurgence of the conquered Empires in the Alpha and Beta quadrants, Kathryn thought that a battle group with such a strong battle record would have been recalled to help bolster the defense of the remaining core worlds. Instead they were being left out here in the middle of nowhere, babysitting a bunch of nerdy pansies that seemed bound and determined to stop and thoroughly investigate every insignificant spatial anomaly and new culture that they came upon.
Some of those new cultures had proven hostile to even the mostly peaceful Exploratory Fleet. Some of those same hostile cultures had even given the Exploratory Fleet some trouble. True most of them didn’t stand much of a chance if Starfleet decided to drop a battle fleet on their doorstep, but the Voyager Battle Group and the Scifleet ships it was escorting were far from a full on Terran Empire battle fleet. The fact that word had gotten around that Exploratory Fleet 8 represented the same species that had brought the Borg down had helped save them from most of the intelligent species in their survey path. It hadn’t stopped species like the Kazon, the Vidiians, the Hirogen and the Krenim from sniping at them when they thought they could get away with it. They had proven interesting, sometimes dangerous opponents, but they in most cases lacked sufficient size or firepower to pose a risk to the Terran Empire. Over the past two years Kathryn had experienced enough scientific exploration to last two life times. She longed to be back in the thick of things instead of off on some mostly useless survey and scouting mission.
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HappyTarget
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Chapter Five – Phase Two
ISS Valley Forge, Docked at Slip 3652, The Yard, Sol System
Captain’s Log, Stardate 17052387: After a week of getting to know my new command and her crew, I am deeply impressed. Perhaps it is the new threat to the Terran Empire, or perhaps it is mere luck of the draw. Regardless of the cause, there are very few bad apples among my people. I have supreme confidence in my department heads to do their duties and ensure that those under them do so as well. We have yet to be assigned a Section Commissar, which I find slightly troubling. I had hoped for one to be assigned nearly as soon as I assumed command, but none have been forth coming. One has been assured to me to be present when the Valley Forge completes her space trials and returns to The Yard for final commissioning.
The Valley Forge is ready to begin her space trials. With all four QSS Cores online for the first time, the ship seems alive, almost straining against her moorings for the boundlessness of open space. Today, we shall see just what this ship can do.
“Mr. Heidberg,” Ulysses said as he sat comfortably in his command chair, “is everything set on your end?”
“Aye sir. All Slipstream Cores are at optimal power and all other systems are in normal ranges. We are ready to begin whenever you are.” The chief engineer sounded proud of himself, and he had every right to be. It was he and his engineers that had picked up on a possibly dangerous fluctuation in QSS Core Three, not The Yard’s engineers and shipwrights. The Yard’s work crews had jumped to swap it out of course, for it wouldn’t do to anger one of the youngest and most decorated Captains in Starfleet. It was only after the replacement met with Clay Heidberg’s approval that Ulysses had signed off on the job as completed. And now, the Valley Forge was about to slip from her construction berth for the first time.
“Very good Mr. Heidberg, we will be departing momentarily.” With a small motion of his gauntleted hand, the holo com channel to main engineering terminated. All around him, Ulysses could see the vast, awe inspiring panorama of The Yard. Peering at the indistinct shape directly to the front of his chair, he gave his orders. “Helm, take us out.”
“Aye sir. Brining running lights up. All airlocks closed, casting off all moorings and umbilicals.” As Lt. Demora Sulu spoke, her hands flew across her panel entering the necessary commands. Outside the Valley Forge, her own spotlights cast pools of sharp edged light on her pennants and registry for the first time as The Yard’s spotlights went out. Running lights snapped on, only to blink off again seconds later as they began to slowly strobe. The great arms like appendages of The Yard let loose and spread apart almost like a flower opening up to the first light of dawn.
“Foreword thrusters at ¼.” P’tel ordered from across the bridge.
“Foreword thrusters at ¼ aye sir.” Demora replied. With a few more key presses, the great ship began to inch its way clear from its slip as strategically placed micro fusion engines lit off. Nearly all of the yard dogs responsible for her construction were present either in hardsuits anchored to the slip arms or inside the arms looking out the transparent aluminum arch roof. The quad angular spindles that made up the Valley Forge’s slipstream nacelles emerged into space and the light of Sol as they went past the sheltering bulk of The Yard. Soon the rest of the ship joined them, the yellow/white light gleaming warmly off of her hull.
“We are clear of The Yard Captain.” P’tel said as the great ship stopped her dead slow reverse and hung motionless in space beside The Yard.
“Good job Helm.” Demora smiled at her holo-enshrouded captain. “Ok, contact Sol Traffic Control and request a flight path out of the system. Bring the Slipstream and STL drives fully online.” The holo image of The Yard was even more imposing. Even though the Valley Forge was even further away from it, it merely gave the sensors a chance to see even more of it, and the support structures and attached shipyards building other starships stretched away into the distance.
“Sol STC has given us our flight plan, bearing 210 mark 053.” The duty com officer said.
“Helm, engage full impulse on designated course and bearing.” Ulysses commanded. Even though the Borg STL drive that the Valley Forge sports bears only a faint resemblance to impulse drive, for convenience sake, Starfleet officers still use the impulse scale for speed commands. Nearly instantly, the sleek form of the Wraith class upgrade slid into motion. One of the advantages of the Borg STL drive was that it allowed nearly full impulse speeds in any direction. Demora put the Valley Forge into full impulse flight with the ship flying nearly backwards. It was only after the ship had wound herself up to near 75 PSL that she gracefully swung the ship around and slightly down to orient her front to the axis of flight. That little trick was bound to come in handy when the Valley Forge finally engaged the enemy. It took a special Helm officer to handle maneuvering like that, but then the Sulu’s had always been amongst the best Helm officers in Starfleet so it came as no surprise that the latest one lived up to the tradition.
“Captain, Sol STC has given us clearance to go to Slipstream.” P’tel said.
“Cmdr. Davenport, engage the phase cloak. Lt. Sulu, lay in a course for Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range and engage slipstream once the ship is fully phase cloaked.”
The massive vessel began to slowly phase out of normal space. A soft tone sounded throughout the ship and status lights shifted to the pale purple of phase cloak. Seconds after that the starfield around the Valley Forge disappeared as she dove into the swirling blue maelstrom of slipstream. That was one of the advantages of phase cloak and QSS drive, one could go FTL inside Sol System’s defensive perimeter instead of waiting for close to a whole day as you left the warp inhibitor field and battle stations behind.
“Cmdr. P’tel, you have the bridge. I shall be in main engineering in case you need me.”
“Aye sir.” P’tel replied as she strode through the holodisplay to sit down in the command chair. Ulysses entered the port side turbolift. With a barely detectable sensation of acceleration, the turboshaft began to rapidly cross the close to 800-m distance between the bridge and the ships primary engineering compartment. The lift slowed to a stop and its doors opened, allowing Ulysses to exit into the brightly lit engineering space.
“Attention on deck!” a guard standing watch over the turboshaft said as the Valley Forge’s master entered. Every crewman and officer who could faced Ulysses and braced to attention. A transparent dome set in a pit in the middle of the open floor dominated the room. That dome encased the Quantum Slipstream Core that amply powered the normal operations of the ship. Streamers of blue plasma came off of the external cylindrical wall of the QSS Core to meet at the collector down the middle. While Ulysses wasn’t exactly sure of the engineering behind the QSS Core, he did know that it pulled power directly from a level of subspace. In essence, the active QSS Core acted as a tap on that infinite reserve of energy. Seeing the ribbons of yellow edged blue plasma arch from the outside shell to the inner core was eerily beautiful in spite of having the potential of blowing the entire vessel from existence if something went wrong. If the subspace tap ever got loose, nothing, not even sub atomic particles, would be found of the Valley Forge. During combat, the surplus Cores could be brought online to better power the warships massive weapons and defensive systems, but they were largely there for redundancy.
“As you were.” Ulysses said, jaunting off a salute. Most of his crew had become accustomed to his somewhat informal command style. While most officers loved all the pomp and circumstance that went with their ranks, Ulysses preferred a more low key approach most of the time. “Well Cmdr. Heidberg, how’s she look?”
“Everything’s in the green sir. After ramping all four cores to maximum rated power with no problems, we have dropped them back to normal levels. Alpha Core is handling the current load exactly to specs. Beta Core is at full powered standby. Cappa and Delta Cores are at low powered standby. Power distribution relays are within operational tolerances. Slipstream nacelles and the phase cloak are operating normally. There is a minor fluctuation with the artificial gravity on deck 10 section 7, and I have a crew working on it as we speak.” Clay grinned. “All in all, an excellent beginning to our space trials!”
“Well done!” Ulysses grinned back, then pitched his voice for it to carry across the open engineering space. “We have an excellent ship here and it is largely thanks to your efforts. Well done all of you.” Smiles erupted across the faces of the Valley Forge’s engineering crew. They were mostly young, fresh faced ensigns and crewmen with a smattering of older Imp Drones who were well on their way to becoming wholly human. The oldest ones were only six years chronologically, but given their implanted knowledge, it was enough to make them nearly indistinguishable from their fellow crewmates. Unlike the handful of relatively new Imp Drones who were still emotional infants. Those didn’t smile, or if they did, they did so merely because the rest of those around them were smiling, not because they knew enough to be proud of their work. With a final nod to the engineering crew, Ulysses turned and strode back into the turbo lift.
“Bridge.” He told the lift. It eased quickly into motion. The car had been underway only a short while before his communicator chirped.
“Vanguard here.”
“Captain, we have picked up a distress call. I recommend that you return to the bridge.” The lift slowed as she was speaking.
“Already done Exec.” Ulysses said as he strode through the opening doors. “Play back the distress call.” With a few commands, the bridge speakers opened an ear to hell.
“…ayday……is the Merchant………der attack … pirates. Request imm……tance! Rep…” The voice said through harsh interference amidst alarms and explosions. It cut out amidst a squeal of static.
“Do we have a fix on their position?” Ulysses demanded as he walked through the holo display to settle into the seat P’tel had just vacated.
“Yes sir. We were just close enough to catch it despite evident jamming. It was so weak and garbled, I doubt any of the local patrols or stations hear it.” P’tel said.
“Lay in an intercept course, Red Alert!” Ulysses ordered as he settled into his command chair. Shortly there after, klaxons and crimson light panels snapped on throughout the ship. The Valley Forge swung into a tight loop ending up on an almost reciprocal heading from the one it had been on. “Well Guns, it looks like you are going to get a true live fire exercise. Bring up the chameleon skin. Make us a Patrol Frigate. I want these bastards to get a big surprise!”
“Aye sir!” Percy growled his eager agreement. Unlike some officers, Percy had come from Merchant Ship parents, so he had a very strong dislike for pirates in all their guises, be they in gaudy primary colors of true outlaws or the black and silver of Imperial Starfleet.
The external hull of the Valley Forge shimmered, then appeared to morph into that of a Norway class Patrol Frigate. The Norway was a very light Frigate, mounting only minimal ablative armor, standard shields, three Mk IX Phaser arrays and a single quantum tube. For her usual task, anti piracy patrols, she was usually sufficient, but she wasn’t a true warship and would be chopped to pieces in a normal fleet engagement.
“Coming up on the distress signal’s coordinates, slowing to impulse.” Demora said. The ships computer, detecting that the chameleon skin was operating in deception mode, masked the ships sensor signature and engaged an appropriate one. It also did its best to mask the slipstream drive, using ECM to generate a false warp engine power down signature. The holo display around Ulysses shifted back to the ebony, star flecked darkness of deep space.
“Targets bearing 501 mark 003. CIC makes them four Atlas class cargo ships vs. three Battle Cruisers and five Destroyers of probable pirate design.” Percy said. Pirates used such varying load outs and ships that it was hard to nail down exactly what they were. Although they were indistinguishable from other stars at the present range, the holo display automatically bracketed the area of space and zoomed in so that the nearby vessels became distinguishable as individual ships. Hard as it might be to tell pirates from the rest of the civilian craft on most occasions, these were quite evidently pirate vessels. Their ships were space black with flames along their nacelles and rampant, red eyed skull and crossbones on their prows. They were all painted very similarly, with the individual ship classes also identical to their brothers. That would seem to indicate at least a Squadron level organization rather than a group of singletons.
Pirates usually didn’t organize in such large groups, for there was truly no honor among thieves. Most would sell out a fellow pirate at the drop of a hat, for unescorted merchant traffic was hard to find and competition for what little remained of it was fierce. Shipping companies weren’t stupid, once they began to lose more and more cargo to piracy, they had resorted to the tried and true method of escorted convoys. It had taken the pirates a while, but now it seemed that they had finally responded to the changes with the equally effective but opposite in goal Wolf Pack tactic. This did not bode well for the already strained Starfleet. With so many ships tied down guarding the border and core worlds against the Grand Alliance, there was less and less warships patrolling the trade routes. And with Pirate Wolf Packs raiding commerce in ever-increasing numbers, things were going to get worse before they got better. Starfleet would have to guard convoys with heavier units to ensure their survival, and it had very few heavy units to spare.
“We have a debris field bearing 114 mark 105. They appear to be the remains of two Defiant and three Nova class Destroyers.” Percy said grimly. The pirates must have waited in ambush, letting the convoy get to far away from the subspace corridor terminus to retreat, then bringing their warp field inhibitors online to prevent escape at warp. Against three Battle Cruisers, even pirate ones, the Imperial escorts hadn’t stood a chance. They had gotten some licks in though. “Sensors also detect unknown debris cloud along the same bearing. The remains are congruent with three Destroyer class vessels.”
“Open a hailing frequency.” Ulysses ordered.
“Channel open sir.” The com officer said from beyond the holographic veil.
“Pirate vessels, this is the Imperial Warship Valley Forge. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
“Sir, all pirate vessels are vectoring in on us. They have extended the effect of their warp field inhibitors to prevent our retreat. There is no response to our hails.”
“Good. The dirty bastards are closing in on what they think is helpless Norway Patrol Frigate. Helm, let’s start acting like one. I want these animals in close before we let our mask drop. Have the fighter wings ready to launch at a moments notice.” Ulysses smiled wolfishly, and his hazel eyes were merciless. “We gave them the option to surrender and they chose not to take it. They won’t get a second chance.” A growl of agreement went around the bridge as his ship began to go evasive, running away from the onrushing pirates. But they would soon learn that the sheep they were chasing was a big bad wolf wearing a wool coat.
ISS Valley Forge, Docked at Slip 3652, The Yard, Sol System
Captain’s Log, Stardate 17052387: After a week of getting to know my new command and her crew, I am deeply impressed. Perhaps it is the new threat to the Terran Empire, or perhaps it is mere luck of the draw. Regardless of the cause, there are very few bad apples among my people. I have supreme confidence in my department heads to do their duties and ensure that those under them do so as well. We have yet to be assigned a Section Commissar, which I find slightly troubling. I had hoped for one to be assigned nearly as soon as I assumed command, but none have been forth coming. One has been assured to me to be present when the Valley Forge completes her space trials and returns to The Yard for final commissioning.
The Valley Forge is ready to begin her space trials. With all four QSS Cores online for the first time, the ship seems alive, almost straining against her moorings for the boundlessness of open space. Today, we shall see just what this ship can do.
“Mr. Heidberg,” Ulysses said as he sat comfortably in his command chair, “is everything set on your end?”
“Aye sir. All Slipstream Cores are at optimal power and all other systems are in normal ranges. We are ready to begin whenever you are.” The chief engineer sounded proud of himself, and he had every right to be. It was he and his engineers that had picked up on a possibly dangerous fluctuation in QSS Core Three, not The Yard’s engineers and shipwrights. The Yard’s work crews had jumped to swap it out of course, for it wouldn’t do to anger one of the youngest and most decorated Captains in Starfleet. It was only after the replacement met with Clay Heidberg’s approval that Ulysses had signed off on the job as completed. And now, the Valley Forge was about to slip from her construction berth for the first time.
“Very good Mr. Heidberg, we will be departing momentarily.” With a small motion of his gauntleted hand, the holo com channel to main engineering terminated. All around him, Ulysses could see the vast, awe inspiring panorama of The Yard. Peering at the indistinct shape directly to the front of his chair, he gave his orders. “Helm, take us out.”
“Aye sir. Brining running lights up. All airlocks closed, casting off all moorings and umbilicals.” As Lt. Demora Sulu spoke, her hands flew across her panel entering the necessary commands. Outside the Valley Forge, her own spotlights cast pools of sharp edged light on her pennants and registry for the first time as The Yard’s spotlights went out. Running lights snapped on, only to blink off again seconds later as they began to slowly strobe. The great arms like appendages of The Yard let loose and spread apart almost like a flower opening up to the first light of dawn.
“Foreword thrusters at ¼.” P’tel ordered from across the bridge.
“Foreword thrusters at ¼ aye sir.” Demora replied. With a few more key presses, the great ship began to inch its way clear from its slip as strategically placed micro fusion engines lit off. Nearly all of the yard dogs responsible for her construction were present either in hardsuits anchored to the slip arms or inside the arms looking out the transparent aluminum arch roof. The quad angular spindles that made up the Valley Forge’s slipstream nacelles emerged into space and the light of Sol as they went past the sheltering bulk of The Yard. Soon the rest of the ship joined them, the yellow/white light gleaming warmly off of her hull.
“We are clear of The Yard Captain.” P’tel said as the great ship stopped her dead slow reverse and hung motionless in space beside The Yard.
“Good job Helm.” Demora smiled at her holo-enshrouded captain. “Ok, contact Sol Traffic Control and request a flight path out of the system. Bring the Slipstream and STL drives fully online.” The holo image of The Yard was even more imposing. Even though the Valley Forge was even further away from it, it merely gave the sensors a chance to see even more of it, and the support structures and attached shipyards building other starships stretched away into the distance.
“Sol STC has given us our flight plan, bearing 210 mark 053.” The duty com officer said.
“Helm, engage full impulse on designated course and bearing.” Ulysses commanded. Even though the Borg STL drive that the Valley Forge sports bears only a faint resemblance to impulse drive, for convenience sake, Starfleet officers still use the impulse scale for speed commands. Nearly instantly, the sleek form of the Wraith class upgrade slid into motion. One of the advantages of the Borg STL drive was that it allowed nearly full impulse speeds in any direction. Demora put the Valley Forge into full impulse flight with the ship flying nearly backwards. It was only after the ship had wound herself up to near 75 PSL that she gracefully swung the ship around and slightly down to orient her front to the axis of flight. That little trick was bound to come in handy when the Valley Forge finally engaged the enemy. It took a special Helm officer to handle maneuvering like that, but then the Sulu’s had always been amongst the best Helm officers in Starfleet so it came as no surprise that the latest one lived up to the tradition.
“Captain, Sol STC has given us clearance to go to Slipstream.” P’tel said.
“Cmdr. Davenport, engage the phase cloak. Lt. Sulu, lay in a course for Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range and engage slipstream once the ship is fully phase cloaked.”
The massive vessel began to slowly phase out of normal space. A soft tone sounded throughout the ship and status lights shifted to the pale purple of phase cloak. Seconds after that the starfield around the Valley Forge disappeared as she dove into the swirling blue maelstrom of slipstream. That was one of the advantages of phase cloak and QSS drive, one could go FTL inside Sol System’s defensive perimeter instead of waiting for close to a whole day as you left the warp inhibitor field and battle stations behind.
“Cmdr. P’tel, you have the bridge. I shall be in main engineering in case you need me.”
“Aye sir.” P’tel replied as she strode through the holodisplay to sit down in the command chair. Ulysses entered the port side turbolift. With a barely detectable sensation of acceleration, the turboshaft began to rapidly cross the close to 800-m distance between the bridge and the ships primary engineering compartment. The lift slowed to a stop and its doors opened, allowing Ulysses to exit into the brightly lit engineering space.
“Attention on deck!” a guard standing watch over the turboshaft said as the Valley Forge’s master entered. Every crewman and officer who could faced Ulysses and braced to attention. A transparent dome set in a pit in the middle of the open floor dominated the room. That dome encased the Quantum Slipstream Core that amply powered the normal operations of the ship. Streamers of blue plasma came off of the external cylindrical wall of the QSS Core to meet at the collector down the middle. While Ulysses wasn’t exactly sure of the engineering behind the QSS Core, he did know that it pulled power directly from a level of subspace. In essence, the active QSS Core acted as a tap on that infinite reserve of energy. Seeing the ribbons of yellow edged blue plasma arch from the outside shell to the inner core was eerily beautiful in spite of having the potential of blowing the entire vessel from existence if something went wrong. If the subspace tap ever got loose, nothing, not even sub atomic particles, would be found of the Valley Forge. During combat, the surplus Cores could be brought online to better power the warships massive weapons and defensive systems, but they were largely there for redundancy.
“As you were.” Ulysses said, jaunting off a salute. Most of his crew had become accustomed to his somewhat informal command style. While most officers loved all the pomp and circumstance that went with their ranks, Ulysses preferred a more low key approach most of the time. “Well Cmdr. Heidberg, how’s she look?”
“Everything’s in the green sir. After ramping all four cores to maximum rated power with no problems, we have dropped them back to normal levels. Alpha Core is handling the current load exactly to specs. Beta Core is at full powered standby. Cappa and Delta Cores are at low powered standby. Power distribution relays are within operational tolerances. Slipstream nacelles and the phase cloak are operating normally. There is a minor fluctuation with the artificial gravity on deck 10 section 7, and I have a crew working on it as we speak.” Clay grinned. “All in all, an excellent beginning to our space trials!”
“Well done!” Ulysses grinned back, then pitched his voice for it to carry across the open engineering space. “We have an excellent ship here and it is largely thanks to your efforts. Well done all of you.” Smiles erupted across the faces of the Valley Forge’s engineering crew. They were mostly young, fresh faced ensigns and crewmen with a smattering of older Imp Drones who were well on their way to becoming wholly human. The oldest ones were only six years chronologically, but given their implanted knowledge, it was enough to make them nearly indistinguishable from their fellow crewmates. Unlike the handful of relatively new Imp Drones who were still emotional infants. Those didn’t smile, or if they did, they did so merely because the rest of those around them were smiling, not because they knew enough to be proud of their work. With a final nod to the engineering crew, Ulysses turned and strode back into the turbo lift.
“Bridge.” He told the lift. It eased quickly into motion. The car had been underway only a short while before his communicator chirped.
“Vanguard here.”
“Captain, we have picked up a distress call. I recommend that you return to the bridge.” The lift slowed as she was speaking.
“Already done Exec.” Ulysses said as he strode through the opening doors. “Play back the distress call.” With a few commands, the bridge speakers opened an ear to hell.
“…ayday……is the Merchant………der attack … pirates. Request imm……tance! Rep…” The voice said through harsh interference amidst alarms and explosions. It cut out amidst a squeal of static.
“Do we have a fix on their position?” Ulysses demanded as he walked through the holo display to settle into the seat P’tel had just vacated.
“Yes sir. We were just close enough to catch it despite evident jamming. It was so weak and garbled, I doubt any of the local patrols or stations hear it.” P’tel said.
“Lay in an intercept course, Red Alert!” Ulysses ordered as he settled into his command chair. Shortly there after, klaxons and crimson light panels snapped on throughout the ship. The Valley Forge swung into a tight loop ending up on an almost reciprocal heading from the one it had been on. “Well Guns, it looks like you are going to get a true live fire exercise. Bring up the chameleon skin. Make us a Patrol Frigate. I want these bastards to get a big surprise!”
“Aye sir!” Percy growled his eager agreement. Unlike some officers, Percy had come from Merchant Ship parents, so he had a very strong dislike for pirates in all their guises, be they in gaudy primary colors of true outlaws or the black and silver of Imperial Starfleet.
The external hull of the Valley Forge shimmered, then appeared to morph into that of a Norway class Patrol Frigate. The Norway was a very light Frigate, mounting only minimal ablative armor, standard shields, three Mk IX Phaser arrays and a single quantum tube. For her usual task, anti piracy patrols, she was usually sufficient, but she wasn’t a true warship and would be chopped to pieces in a normal fleet engagement.
“Coming up on the distress signal’s coordinates, slowing to impulse.” Demora said. The ships computer, detecting that the chameleon skin was operating in deception mode, masked the ships sensor signature and engaged an appropriate one. It also did its best to mask the slipstream drive, using ECM to generate a false warp engine power down signature. The holo display around Ulysses shifted back to the ebony, star flecked darkness of deep space.
“Targets bearing 501 mark 003. CIC makes them four Atlas class cargo ships vs. three Battle Cruisers and five Destroyers of probable pirate design.” Percy said. Pirates used such varying load outs and ships that it was hard to nail down exactly what they were. Although they were indistinguishable from other stars at the present range, the holo display automatically bracketed the area of space and zoomed in so that the nearby vessels became distinguishable as individual ships. Hard as it might be to tell pirates from the rest of the civilian craft on most occasions, these were quite evidently pirate vessels. Their ships were space black with flames along their nacelles and rampant, red eyed skull and crossbones on their prows. They were all painted very similarly, with the individual ship classes also identical to their brothers. That would seem to indicate at least a Squadron level organization rather than a group of singletons.
Pirates usually didn’t organize in such large groups, for there was truly no honor among thieves. Most would sell out a fellow pirate at the drop of a hat, for unescorted merchant traffic was hard to find and competition for what little remained of it was fierce. Shipping companies weren’t stupid, once they began to lose more and more cargo to piracy, they had resorted to the tried and true method of escorted convoys. It had taken the pirates a while, but now it seemed that they had finally responded to the changes with the equally effective but opposite in goal Wolf Pack tactic. This did not bode well for the already strained Starfleet. With so many ships tied down guarding the border and core worlds against the Grand Alliance, there was less and less warships patrolling the trade routes. And with Pirate Wolf Packs raiding commerce in ever-increasing numbers, things were going to get worse before they got better. Starfleet would have to guard convoys with heavier units to ensure their survival, and it had very few heavy units to spare.
“We have a debris field bearing 114 mark 105. They appear to be the remains of two Defiant and three Nova class Destroyers.” Percy said grimly. The pirates must have waited in ambush, letting the convoy get to far away from the subspace corridor terminus to retreat, then bringing their warp field inhibitors online to prevent escape at warp. Against three Battle Cruisers, even pirate ones, the Imperial escorts hadn’t stood a chance. They had gotten some licks in though. “Sensors also detect unknown debris cloud along the same bearing. The remains are congruent with three Destroyer class vessels.”
“Open a hailing frequency.” Ulysses ordered.
“Channel open sir.” The com officer said from beyond the holographic veil.
“Pirate vessels, this is the Imperial Warship Valley Forge. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”
“Sir, all pirate vessels are vectoring in on us. They have extended the effect of their warp field inhibitors to prevent our retreat. There is no response to our hails.”
“Good. The dirty bastards are closing in on what they think is helpless Norway Patrol Frigate. Helm, let’s start acting like one. I want these animals in close before we let our mask drop. Have the fighter wings ready to launch at a moments notice.” Ulysses smiled wolfishly, and his hazel eyes were merciless. “We gave them the option to surrender and they chose not to take it. They won’t get a second chance.” A growl of agreement went around the bridge as his ship began to go evasive, running away from the onrushing pirates. But they would soon learn that the sheep they were chasing was a big bad wolf wearing a wool coat.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter Six – Ambush
Orion Pirate Vessel Night Demon, Twenty minutes earlier
“Here they come, just like clockwork!” The Night Demon’s Captain said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He was a bear of a man, with a massive black beard stretching well down the front of his 17th century replica court clothing. The tactical plot showed a series of vessels popping back into normal space as they completed transit through the local subspace corridor terminus. The range was still quite long, the sensor data being fed to the Pirate Wolf Pack was courtesy of a stealthed surveillance probe. The probe’s sensors showed the convoy reform, then engage warp drive to cross the virtually useless system. Its star was a tiny red dwarf that held no planets worth mentioning. Its sole use was as a bridge connecting two secondary trunks of the subspace corridor network. Ships exited the network on one side, crossed the intervening space at warp, then reentered the network on the other side. It was this fact that made it a prime ambush spot for Pirates. The probe showed the pirates that Imperial warships escorted their quarry. This was only to be expected, for it was either independents or the extremely stupid that sent out cargo ships unescorted in the fringe of core Imperial space.
Patrols were less frequent out here and only rarely used ships larger than a light cruiser. This had been even more pronounced since the losses incurred first in the Imperial/Borg war and to a lesser extent in the very recent Imperial/Grand Alliance conflict. Patrol units had been siphoned off to thicken sector defense fleets, which explained why piracy had risen in frequency, but only partly. Another part was that the Orion Cartel was reembracing its pirate heritage with a vengeance. That was all well and good for Night Demon’s captain, for he found the normal operations of the modern Orion Cartel dull. Protection rackets, drugs, weapons, all manner of organized crime was quite frankly boring when compared to the thrill of out and out piracy. Of course, past Orion Dons hadn’t felt that way, instead going towards more ‘respectable’ criminal pursuits. That had begun to change once Don O’tole got into power, and now that the Terran Empire was caught without enough ships to adequately patrol its space, Pirate activity was at an all time high.
Which was why the Night Demon was out here with two of her sister ships and eight Destroyers. They should prove more than adequate to take out both the cargo ships and their escort. And while most pirates were after cargo, the Night Demon and her pack mates weren’t. A little fun with the cargo ships crews might be a given, but orders were to leave no witnesses and only debris in their wake, and the Night Demon captain’s eyes glowed at the destruction and mayhem he was about to unleash. He hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.
“The convoy is coming up on the intercept coordinates.” The tactical officer said.
“Engage the warp field inhibitor when they do. Order the Pack to drop cloak and open fire on their escorts as soon as they drop to impulse.”
“As you command.”
ISS Repulse, Nova class Destroyer, On convoy escort duty
One minute the convoy was executing a standard transit across the system, the next all hell broke loose.
“Sir, we are dropping out of warp! The whole convoy is dropping out of warp!!”
“Pirates!” The Repulse’s Captain cursed under his breath. He had been escorting convoys for a few years now and he knew just how deadly the pirates were becoming. “Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!” He shouted.
“Weapons and shields coming online sir.” Klaxons began to wail throughout the ships in the convoy as they hurried to prepare for what was to come.
The rainbow smears of stars shrank and coalesced into fiery pinpoints as the convoy was dragged back to Impulse by the effects of a warp field inhibitor. A split second after they dropped out of warp, the escort destroyers were rocked by fire. Slipping out of cloak simultaneously with exacting, practiced precision, the Pirate vessels opened fire even before they were completely decloaked. Shields slammed up, putting their protective conformal envelope around the Pirate raiders. ECM began to thrash tactical sensor systems, but at the knife fighting ranges of the ambush it wasn’t of much use. At such close range, no military sensor suite would be degraded enough to make much of a difference.
Lightspeed death spat from the Pirates phaser and disruptor emitters, and unlike their enemy, their tactical departments had been plotting their attack vectors since the convoy had entered the system. The Imperial CIC, despite being alert for just such an occurrence, didn’t have that luxury. They had mere seconds to plot and target the ambushes before it was to late. For two of them, it was.
The Nova class warships Indomitable and Hermes were blotted out of existence in seconds as the combined firepower of three Battlecruisers and eight destroyers burnt away their shields and armor before finding their internal AM storage tanks.
“Engage evasive maneuvers, plan Delta Three! Target their lead Destroyer and return fire!” The Captain knew his command and those of his fellows was going to die, it was merely a matter of time with the current odds. But if he could delay the pirates long enough, some of the currently scattering merchant ships might escape. Not that the Pirates didn’t have more than enough ships to run down all four of his charges. But if there were a chance that even one of them could break away and get the word of what happened here out, perhaps Starfleet would begin to take the Pirate threat more seriously.
The lone remaining Nova and its two Defiant class escorts spun through their wild evasion patterns, dodging most of the fire against them. The two Defiants stayed glued to the Repulse’s flanks as they went through the evasion pattern, in the end lining up on one of the pirate Destroyers. PPC bolts spat out like the wrath of God as all three Imperial Destroyers opened fire as one. 13 streams met on the foreword section of Pirate, quickly burning through its front shields. They flared out of existence and the amber/yellow bolts began to chew through the ships outer hull. Within a second, the ship died in a boil of light. But the Imperials weren’t content with its death, and had already shifted their fire to its nearest squadron mate. A stream of Phaser Beams and Quantum Torpedoes, steady as a metronome, leapt from the three Imperials. It targeted a third pirate Destroyer as the trio lined up their PPC’s on their second target. The two pirates went within seconds of each other in flares of AM death. But they weren’t alone, for the three Battlecruisers finally achieved the inevitable.
Their emerald green disruptor bolts and crimson/orange phaser beams found first one and then the other Defiant, cutting the vessels into white hot pieces of debris. Of all the escorts, the Repulse seemed to lead a charmed existence, escaping the destruction of her consorts.
A mighty cheer went up from the Repulse’s crew at the destruction of two more pirate Destroyers only to be cut savagely off when the Defiants flared white on either side. Damn all Pirates to Hell, the Repulse’s Captain thought. I had just gotten those crews up to a standard I could live with. Now they are all gone, and us soon to follow.
“Target Tango Five, prepare max impulse ram! All weapons fire as you bear!” the Captain snarled, knowing it would not be enough. Yet he would be damned if he went out without a fight, his charges and the crews of his squadron mates deserved that much at least. The Repulse twitched onto her new course in response to the command, jinking and twisting around her base trajectory to avoid as much enemy fire as possible. Her opponent, however speedy, was no where near as maneuverable as a new Imperial Destroyer. The Repulse’s maneuvers allowed nearly all of her weapons to bear on her target. Strike after strike slammed into the Pirate Destroyer’s shields, causing them to sparkle with dissipated and absorbed energy, paring them away till they were nearly gone.
Then the Repulse’s charmed existence ended as nearly a full barrage from two of the Pirate Battlecruisers slammed into her ventral shields, punching through them like they weren’t even there. Armor and hull plateing ruptured and both her starboard nacelle and close to a third of her secondary hull were torn away. They spiraled away aft from their mother ship, bleeding debris and plasma. Her main AM tank ruptured, creating a violent explosion along the Nova’s spine. But her reinforced armor between the rest of the ship and the tank functioned as designed, shunting nearly the entire explosion into space instead of letting it into the ship. Main power failed and backup generators came online, giving as much power as they could to the dying Repulse’s weapons. Her running lights died with her warp core and her remaining nacelle dimmed. But her Quantums, PPC’s and phaser arrays volleyed defiance back at her enemies, continuing to hurt her enemies till the bitter end.
But it was too little too late for the stricken Imperial, and the Pirates swooped in for the kill. An avalanche of crisscrossing phasers and disruptors poured into her, splintering what was left of her hull into white-hot molten fragments. Most were no bigger than a human hand and a good portion of the ship was vaporized. Destroyers had no business going up against Battlecruisers, even pirate ones. And in the end, the Repulse and her squadron mates sacrifices were in vain, for the scattering merchant vessels had not escaped the warp inhibitor’s field. The Pirates split up, going after all four merchants at once. Their weapons cut through their shields with ease, hitting their engines to prevent the ships escape. Then they were tractored back together so that the pirate crews could have a little fun before they got rid of all the loose ends.
The Night Demon, Main Bridge
“This is Captain Gomorra to boarding party, have you secured the crews yet?” the Night Demon’s master said over the com channel.
“Yes Captain, all is ready for your boarding.” The young human in charge of the boarding parties replied.
“Excellent, I shall be over directly!” He flipped one toggle on his command chair off, then activated another. “Gomorra to transporter room, beam me over to the lead merchie. I have some… inspecting to do!” The old Pirate said with a bawdy laugh. An answering one came over the com speaker, for the transporter chief knew full well what was going to be inspected. He just hoped that his crewmates would bring over a few decent ones for those who had to remain onboard. The last few raids hadn’t netted very many of those, at least none that were quite up to the standards the transporter chief liked.
Gomorra felt the familiar yet still terrifying tingle of the transporter beam. The Night Demon’s bridge faded to white, then was replaced with the main bridge of an Atlas class cargo ship. While still larger than the Imperials Sovereign class, it was like most merchantmen in that it carried only minimal crew accommodations. The bridge crew were lined up to one side, their legs and ankles bound with good old fashioned metal hand cuffs. Gomorra picked out a particularly striking red head.
“Bring her.” He commanded as he pointed to the young lady. A fresh cry went up from the rest of the bridge crew. Most merchant ships were either run by mostly family members or else were close enough to be family. They knew full well what was about to happen. One of the prisoners bellowed incoherently as he got clumsily up and charged Gomorra. He had recently acquired a nasty purple shiner that was swelling his left eye closed and recently lost most of his front teeth to a disruptor rifle butt. Just the same, he was moving with startling speed for someone in his condition. A green disruptor bolt spat from one of the Pirates guarding the prisoners. It caught him in the back, and he flopped down wordlessly to the deck with a rather large, smoking hole in his chest. The young redhead sobbed anew, writhing in her captors grasp as she was continued to be led after Gomorra to the crews quarters aft on the same deck as the bridge. Once he was inside the Captain’s Quarters, the rest of the pirates began to do similar things with whomever took their fancy. For those merchantmen left behind, the cries and screams of their crewmates and family members echoing up the hall to the bridge was to much to bear. Some wept, some cursed the Pirates still guarding them. The ones that cursed were merely butt stroked by the Pirates. While the guards might not get to go first, they would get to go second, which was almost as good. All in all, it was a great day as far as the Pirates were concerned. They got some loot, spilt some blood, score some tail… it was a good time to be a Pirate. Suddenly, a voice came over the com interrupting their depravity.
“This is Executive Officer Van Leeks to all boarding parties, we have another Imperial ship entering the system. They appear to be a Norway class Heavy Patrol Frigate. Captain, what are your orders.”
Gomorra looked up at the roof towards where his command hung in space, silently cursing the Imperial Frigate for its timing. Getting off of the now silently weeping naked young woman, he looked at the guards holding her as he pulled his pants back up and buckled his oversized, gaudy belt.
“If anyone of you even thinks of touching her till I have returned and finished, you will be shot." He then activated his communicator. “Gomorra to Night Demon, beam me back and take back any necessary personnel to execute the intercept. We will deal with this interruption quickly, then resume our looting and plundering.”
The necessary Pirates were returned to their vessels, leaving more than enough behind to keep order. Then the entire Pack swarmed out from around the helpless mercies and swung towards the Norway. With their boosted acceleration and top speeds, they rapidly gained on the still closing Norway. Once the Imperial Patrol craft finally realized just what it was up against, it turned about and began to retreat from the Pirates charging towards it. But it was only a Patrol vessel, not mounting military impulse drives that might have allowed it to outrun the Pirates. It mounted standard civilian impulse engines to save credits, and as such couldn’t keep out of weapons range for much longer. The Norway seemed to know this, for it began jinking in complex evasion patterns in a vain attempt to escape.
“Is her coms jammed?!” Gomorra demanded to his tactical officer.
“Yes Captain. There is no way she can get a message out.”
“She had better be, or it will be your head that rolls first if Imperial reinforcements enter the system.” The officer’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped, but he made no move to enter more commands into his panel. Must be telling the truth then Gomorra thought.
“Sir, something is not quite right with this Norway…” The ships sensor operator said.
“Well spit it out, what isn’t quite right.” Gomorra said irritably. He was still mad about having his fun so rudely interrupted, and it was evident in his every word.
“Its only every once and a while, and if it wasn’t for our recently upgraded sensors, I doubt I would even detect it, but sometimes glimpse a power spike that shouldn’t be there. Almost as if the ship was generating a hell of a lot more power than she should be and was trying to mask the fact with her ECM.” Gomorra tilted his head slightly to the side and got a thoughtful expression on his face. Then his eyes narrowed and a scowl creased his face.
“Execute a deep scan of the Norway! NOW! And if you are causing me to jump at shadows, I shall have you killed. Very slowly.” Gomorra looked back towards the fleeing Norway with an appraising, slightly wary eye as he sipped a crystal goblet of red wine.
Orion Pirate Vessel Night Demon, Twenty minutes earlier
“Here they come, just like clockwork!” The Night Demon’s Captain said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He was a bear of a man, with a massive black beard stretching well down the front of his 17th century replica court clothing. The tactical plot showed a series of vessels popping back into normal space as they completed transit through the local subspace corridor terminus. The range was still quite long, the sensor data being fed to the Pirate Wolf Pack was courtesy of a stealthed surveillance probe. The probe’s sensors showed the convoy reform, then engage warp drive to cross the virtually useless system. Its star was a tiny red dwarf that held no planets worth mentioning. Its sole use was as a bridge connecting two secondary trunks of the subspace corridor network. Ships exited the network on one side, crossed the intervening space at warp, then reentered the network on the other side. It was this fact that made it a prime ambush spot for Pirates. The probe showed the pirates that Imperial warships escorted their quarry. This was only to be expected, for it was either independents or the extremely stupid that sent out cargo ships unescorted in the fringe of core Imperial space.
Patrols were less frequent out here and only rarely used ships larger than a light cruiser. This had been even more pronounced since the losses incurred first in the Imperial/Borg war and to a lesser extent in the very recent Imperial/Grand Alliance conflict. Patrol units had been siphoned off to thicken sector defense fleets, which explained why piracy had risen in frequency, but only partly. Another part was that the Orion Cartel was reembracing its pirate heritage with a vengeance. That was all well and good for Night Demon’s captain, for he found the normal operations of the modern Orion Cartel dull. Protection rackets, drugs, weapons, all manner of organized crime was quite frankly boring when compared to the thrill of out and out piracy. Of course, past Orion Dons hadn’t felt that way, instead going towards more ‘respectable’ criminal pursuits. That had begun to change once Don O’tole got into power, and now that the Terran Empire was caught without enough ships to adequately patrol its space, Pirate activity was at an all time high.
Which was why the Night Demon was out here with two of her sister ships and eight Destroyers. They should prove more than adequate to take out both the cargo ships and their escort. And while most pirates were after cargo, the Night Demon and her pack mates weren’t. A little fun with the cargo ships crews might be a given, but orders were to leave no witnesses and only debris in their wake, and the Night Demon captain’s eyes glowed at the destruction and mayhem he was about to unleash. He hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.
“The convoy is coming up on the intercept coordinates.” The tactical officer said.
“Engage the warp field inhibitor when they do. Order the Pack to drop cloak and open fire on their escorts as soon as they drop to impulse.”
“As you command.”
ISS Repulse, Nova class Destroyer, On convoy escort duty
One minute the convoy was executing a standard transit across the system, the next all hell broke loose.
“Sir, we are dropping out of warp! The whole convoy is dropping out of warp!!”
“Pirates!” The Repulse’s Captain cursed under his breath. He had been escorting convoys for a few years now and he knew just how deadly the pirates were becoming. “Red Alert! All hands to battle stations!” He shouted.
“Weapons and shields coming online sir.” Klaxons began to wail throughout the ships in the convoy as they hurried to prepare for what was to come.
The rainbow smears of stars shrank and coalesced into fiery pinpoints as the convoy was dragged back to Impulse by the effects of a warp field inhibitor. A split second after they dropped out of warp, the escort destroyers were rocked by fire. Slipping out of cloak simultaneously with exacting, practiced precision, the Pirate vessels opened fire even before they were completely decloaked. Shields slammed up, putting their protective conformal envelope around the Pirate raiders. ECM began to thrash tactical sensor systems, but at the knife fighting ranges of the ambush it wasn’t of much use. At such close range, no military sensor suite would be degraded enough to make much of a difference.
Lightspeed death spat from the Pirates phaser and disruptor emitters, and unlike their enemy, their tactical departments had been plotting their attack vectors since the convoy had entered the system. The Imperial CIC, despite being alert for just such an occurrence, didn’t have that luxury. They had mere seconds to plot and target the ambushes before it was to late. For two of them, it was.
The Nova class warships Indomitable and Hermes were blotted out of existence in seconds as the combined firepower of three Battlecruisers and eight destroyers burnt away their shields and armor before finding their internal AM storage tanks.
“Engage evasive maneuvers, plan Delta Three! Target their lead Destroyer and return fire!” The Captain knew his command and those of his fellows was going to die, it was merely a matter of time with the current odds. But if he could delay the pirates long enough, some of the currently scattering merchant ships might escape. Not that the Pirates didn’t have more than enough ships to run down all four of his charges. But if there were a chance that even one of them could break away and get the word of what happened here out, perhaps Starfleet would begin to take the Pirate threat more seriously.
The lone remaining Nova and its two Defiant class escorts spun through their wild evasion patterns, dodging most of the fire against them. The two Defiants stayed glued to the Repulse’s flanks as they went through the evasion pattern, in the end lining up on one of the pirate Destroyers. PPC bolts spat out like the wrath of God as all three Imperial Destroyers opened fire as one. 13 streams met on the foreword section of Pirate, quickly burning through its front shields. They flared out of existence and the amber/yellow bolts began to chew through the ships outer hull. Within a second, the ship died in a boil of light. But the Imperials weren’t content with its death, and had already shifted their fire to its nearest squadron mate. A stream of Phaser Beams and Quantum Torpedoes, steady as a metronome, leapt from the three Imperials. It targeted a third pirate Destroyer as the trio lined up their PPC’s on their second target. The two pirates went within seconds of each other in flares of AM death. But they weren’t alone, for the three Battlecruisers finally achieved the inevitable.
Their emerald green disruptor bolts and crimson/orange phaser beams found first one and then the other Defiant, cutting the vessels into white hot pieces of debris. Of all the escorts, the Repulse seemed to lead a charmed existence, escaping the destruction of her consorts.
A mighty cheer went up from the Repulse’s crew at the destruction of two more pirate Destroyers only to be cut savagely off when the Defiants flared white on either side. Damn all Pirates to Hell, the Repulse’s Captain thought. I had just gotten those crews up to a standard I could live with. Now they are all gone, and us soon to follow.
“Target Tango Five, prepare max impulse ram! All weapons fire as you bear!” the Captain snarled, knowing it would not be enough. Yet he would be damned if he went out without a fight, his charges and the crews of his squadron mates deserved that much at least. The Repulse twitched onto her new course in response to the command, jinking and twisting around her base trajectory to avoid as much enemy fire as possible. Her opponent, however speedy, was no where near as maneuverable as a new Imperial Destroyer. The Repulse’s maneuvers allowed nearly all of her weapons to bear on her target. Strike after strike slammed into the Pirate Destroyer’s shields, causing them to sparkle with dissipated and absorbed energy, paring them away till they were nearly gone.
Then the Repulse’s charmed existence ended as nearly a full barrage from two of the Pirate Battlecruisers slammed into her ventral shields, punching through them like they weren’t even there. Armor and hull plateing ruptured and both her starboard nacelle and close to a third of her secondary hull were torn away. They spiraled away aft from their mother ship, bleeding debris and plasma. Her main AM tank ruptured, creating a violent explosion along the Nova’s spine. But her reinforced armor between the rest of the ship and the tank functioned as designed, shunting nearly the entire explosion into space instead of letting it into the ship. Main power failed and backup generators came online, giving as much power as they could to the dying Repulse’s weapons. Her running lights died with her warp core and her remaining nacelle dimmed. But her Quantums, PPC’s and phaser arrays volleyed defiance back at her enemies, continuing to hurt her enemies till the bitter end.
But it was too little too late for the stricken Imperial, and the Pirates swooped in for the kill. An avalanche of crisscrossing phasers and disruptors poured into her, splintering what was left of her hull into white-hot molten fragments. Most were no bigger than a human hand and a good portion of the ship was vaporized. Destroyers had no business going up against Battlecruisers, even pirate ones. And in the end, the Repulse and her squadron mates sacrifices were in vain, for the scattering merchant vessels had not escaped the warp inhibitor’s field. The Pirates split up, going after all four merchants at once. Their weapons cut through their shields with ease, hitting their engines to prevent the ships escape. Then they were tractored back together so that the pirate crews could have a little fun before they got rid of all the loose ends.
The Night Demon, Main Bridge
“This is Captain Gomorra to boarding party, have you secured the crews yet?” the Night Demon’s master said over the com channel.
“Yes Captain, all is ready for your boarding.” The young human in charge of the boarding parties replied.
“Excellent, I shall be over directly!” He flipped one toggle on his command chair off, then activated another. “Gomorra to transporter room, beam me over to the lead merchie. I have some… inspecting to do!” The old Pirate said with a bawdy laugh. An answering one came over the com speaker, for the transporter chief knew full well what was going to be inspected. He just hoped that his crewmates would bring over a few decent ones for those who had to remain onboard. The last few raids hadn’t netted very many of those, at least none that were quite up to the standards the transporter chief liked.
Gomorra felt the familiar yet still terrifying tingle of the transporter beam. The Night Demon’s bridge faded to white, then was replaced with the main bridge of an Atlas class cargo ship. While still larger than the Imperials Sovereign class, it was like most merchantmen in that it carried only minimal crew accommodations. The bridge crew were lined up to one side, their legs and ankles bound with good old fashioned metal hand cuffs. Gomorra picked out a particularly striking red head.
“Bring her.” He commanded as he pointed to the young lady. A fresh cry went up from the rest of the bridge crew. Most merchant ships were either run by mostly family members or else were close enough to be family. They knew full well what was about to happen. One of the prisoners bellowed incoherently as he got clumsily up and charged Gomorra. He had recently acquired a nasty purple shiner that was swelling his left eye closed and recently lost most of his front teeth to a disruptor rifle butt. Just the same, he was moving with startling speed for someone in his condition. A green disruptor bolt spat from one of the Pirates guarding the prisoners. It caught him in the back, and he flopped down wordlessly to the deck with a rather large, smoking hole in his chest. The young redhead sobbed anew, writhing in her captors grasp as she was continued to be led after Gomorra to the crews quarters aft on the same deck as the bridge. Once he was inside the Captain’s Quarters, the rest of the pirates began to do similar things with whomever took their fancy. For those merchantmen left behind, the cries and screams of their crewmates and family members echoing up the hall to the bridge was to much to bear. Some wept, some cursed the Pirates still guarding them. The ones that cursed were merely butt stroked by the Pirates. While the guards might not get to go first, they would get to go second, which was almost as good. All in all, it was a great day as far as the Pirates were concerned. They got some loot, spilt some blood, score some tail… it was a good time to be a Pirate. Suddenly, a voice came over the com interrupting their depravity.
“This is Executive Officer Van Leeks to all boarding parties, we have another Imperial ship entering the system. They appear to be a Norway class Heavy Patrol Frigate. Captain, what are your orders.”
Gomorra looked up at the roof towards where his command hung in space, silently cursing the Imperial Frigate for its timing. Getting off of the now silently weeping naked young woman, he looked at the guards holding her as he pulled his pants back up and buckled his oversized, gaudy belt.
“If anyone of you even thinks of touching her till I have returned and finished, you will be shot." He then activated his communicator. “Gomorra to Night Demon, beam me back and take back any necessary personnel to execute the intercept. We will deal with this interruption quickly, then resume our looting and plundering.”
The necessary Pirates were returned to their vessels, leaving more than enough behind to keep order. Then the entire Pack swarmed out from around the helpless mercies and swung towards the Norway. With their boosted acceleration and top speeds, they rapidly gained on the still closing Norway. Once the Imperial Patrol craft finally realized just what it was up against, it turned about and began to retreat from the Pirates charging towards it. But it was only a Patrol vessel, not mounting military impulse drives that might have allowed it to outrun the Pirates. It mounted standard civilian impulse engines to save credits, and as such couldn’t keep out of weapons range for much longer. The Norway seemed to know this, for it began jinking in complex evasion patterns in a vain attempt to escape.
“Is her coms jammed?!” Gomorra demanded to his tactical officer.
“Yes Captain. There is no way she can get a message out.”
“She had better be, or it will be your head that rolls first if Imperial reinforcements enter the system.” The officer’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped, but he made no move to enter more commands into his panel. Must be telling the truth then Gomorra thought.
“Sir, something is not quite right with this Norway…” The ships sensor operator said.
“Well spit it out, what isn’t quite right.” Gomorra said irritably. He was still mad about having his fun so rudely interrupted, and it was evident in his every word.
“Its only every once and a while, and if it wasn’t for our recently upgraded sensors, I doubt I would even detect it, but sometimes glimpse a power spike that shouldn’t be there. Almost as if the ship was generating a hell of a lot more power than she should be and was trying to mask the fact with her ECM.” Gomorra tilted his head slightly to the side and got a thoughtful expression on his face. Then his eyes narrowed and a scowl creased his face.
“Execute a deep scan of the Norway! NOW! And if you are causing me to jump at shadows, I shall have you killed. Very slowly.” Gomorra looked back towards the fleeing Norway with an appraising, slightly wary eye as he sipped a crystal goblet of red wine.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter Seven – A Righteous Fire
ISS Valley Forge, Main Bridge, That same time
Even though a Norway was as long as most Cruisers, she was classed as a Frigate because of a combination of factors. First, most of her length was taken up in her sail like nacelle pylons. Second, most of her remaining hull was filled with the plethora of small craft that patrol vessels needed to ferry boarding teams to uncooperative vessels with active transport inhibitors. Third, she had an outsized marine compliment to utilize in these boarding actions, further putting a crimp on internal space. Finally, she only utilized light armament, engines and defenses. Norways were all but exclusively utilized in patrol situations, this was considered acceptable. It was also why despite her fairly impressive size, she was truly a Frigate in both form and function. A normal Norway would have been hard pressed to deal with even one of the Pirate Destroyers, let alone the five closing on her plus the three Battlecruisers following them. If the Pirates had been closing on a normal Norway, it would have been no contest. As the reality now stood, it was still no contest. It merely had the two parties reversed as to which role they were to play.
“Sir, CIC confirms that the Pirates are outfitted with military grade sensors and high mark phaser arrays.” P’tel said. “While their ships are heavily armed for their size, their defenses are rather weak as a result. Since they are still using standard warp cores, they lack the surplus power to power both powerful weapons systems and strong shields. But the most intriguing part. Their ships are also faster than is the norm. Sensors say that they are hitting 85 PSL.”
Ulysses scowled over steepled fingers as he stared at the pirates wrapping around his command so that they could attack it from all sides. They were using competent tactics, something normal Pirates rarely exhibited. And they were either putting excessive strain and risk of failure on their internal compensator or something else. And it was the something else that worried him. He found it hard to believe that mere pirates could succeed in enhancing the upper limit of internal compensators when the rest of the known galaxy including the Terran Empire hadn’t been able to. Yet the seeming leisure that they exhibited when flying at unsafe speeds after a target that couldn’t outrun them to begin with caused Ulysses brain to itch. There was just no reason to justify the risk unless it wasn’t a risk at all.
“Guns, I want to take their Battlecruisers as much intact as possible. I think that they have a better internal compensator than any known model and I want a look at it. You may dispose of their destroyers as planned. And just so that they can’t self destruct, beam over some KO gas once their shields and transporter inhibitors drop.”
“Aye sir.” Cmdr Davenport said. “They are entering extreme weapons range sir.”
“Hold your course. I want them closer.”
The ships began to grow large on the holo display. Finally they opened fire with their first volley.
“Torpedo separation! Incoming Quantum Torpedoes from all enemy vessels.”
“That volume of fire should be enough to slow the Norway we are pretending to be, so make sure the computer remembers to fake that part.” The substantial torpedo volley roared in on the poor little Norway, flaying its shields and scorching its lightly armored hull. The ship slowed as the computer decided that her impulse engines had been hit.
“Fore shields down 2%. Regenerating back to full strength now. Enemy is now entering energy range.”
“Launch the fighters. Have them pretend to be debris jettisoned by the attack.”
Valley Forge, Flight Deck
The 50 fighters spat from their catapults at small fractions of their normal speed to fall away from their mother ship in carefully planned, seemingly random vectors. With their ECM suites masking their powered down systems and their holo chameleon skins actually making them look like large chunks of debris, they were indistinguishable as threats to the Pirate’s sensors.
The Cobras had been outfitted for close assault, swapping their usual standoff load out of quantums for external PPC gun packs. Now armed with 6 PPCs instead of their usual two, they could deal a massive amount of damage before they had to break off and let their capacitors recharge. The drawback was that they usually had to close suicidaly close to their targets in order to fire. But since they were hiding in preparation for an ambush, the enemy was obliging them and closing on their position totally unawares of the deadly piranha seeded into their path.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
“Sensors nearing full charge for a deep scan of the Norway sir.” The sensor tech said.
“Energy weapons range sir. Capacitors are nearly fully charged.” The tactical officer added.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
“Energy spike, looks like they are preparing to fire energy weapons.” Percy said.
“That’s close enough Guns. Open fire.” The stars around Ulysses command disappeared momentarily from view as nearly every weapons system on the ship vomited death.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
The glass of red wine that Gomorra had been nursing slipped from his hand, dropping soundlessly to the deck where it shattered into a million pieces of knife edged crystal. The quiet tinkling sound was the only thing heard on the bridge as everyone froze in mind numbing disbelief. No one seemed to even breathe as the meek, dying vessel in front of them sprouted needle sharp teeth none of them had even suspected it possessed. For a brief instant, the yellow/orange columns of its phaser beams and blue white orbs of its quantum torpedoes silhouetted the unmistakable outline of a modern Imperial Super Dreadnought of the Line. Every Pirate on the Night Demon’s bridge, in the scant second it took for the hidden Wraith to unleash its deadly weaponry, knew that they were living on borrowed time. They would be dead before they could do anything to extricate themselves from the situation, for even with their current numerical advantage over the lone Imperial SD, they couldn’t hope to do more than scratch her shields before each and every one of them was burned from space.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
The Valley Forge had been flying backwards through space at 75 PSL, keeping her heavier foreword weapons arc towards the bulk of the enemy. But she looked like a fleeing Norway to the pursuing pirates thanks to her chameleon holo stealth system. The first clue they had that she was something more than that was when her weapons fire temporarily highlighted her true hull form. Her powerful phaser arrays and quantum launchers stabbed out at her targeted destroyers, rapidly burning them from space even as her fighter wings came alive and did the same. The massed beams of Type XV phasers didn’t take long to punch through the light shields Pirate Destroyers mounted. Given that the pirates didn’t have the energy to spare to shunt it into powerful shields, going instead for powerful weapons, they never stood a chance. Each exploded violently as gigatons of firepower washed over them like a cleansing tide.
The Valley Forge’s ten wings of fighters shifted their ECM from deception mode to track breaking and brought their shields and weapons fully online. In the blink of an eye they shed their masks and snapped to full impulse speed. Racing back towards their two Destroyer class targets at 81 PSL the length of separation dropped with insane rapidity for the range was already short and their targets were on near reciprocal vectors pulling 85 PSL. Targeting systems locked on to the still pinprick sized balls of light that were two Pirate Destroyers. 300 individual streams of Pulse Phaser fire erupted from the fighter wings to rain lightspeed death down on the helpless Pirates. The small starships were shaken violently as the PPC bolts rapidly ate away their shields then chewed through their naked hulls. That much fire power would have overwhelmed a cruisers defenses, so the end result was never in doubt. The pirates managed to lock up and fire on seven of the fighters, turning them to energetic plasma and scattering their component atoms across space, yet every Pirate Destroyer joined them shortly thereafter. The surviving fighters broke off, racing away from the dumbstruck Battlecruisers to both allow their PPC capacitors to recharge and to gain maneuver room in case they had to attack the surviving pirates. Not that they would be required to do so, for a refit Wraith class Super Dreadnought could have squashed the entire enemy formation in its first volley had it so desired.
“Execute the next phase as planned.” Ulysses said over his steepled hands in a conversational voice, yet his eyes were ice cold pits betraying his near instinctual hatred for all things Pirate. One didn’t grow up on a Merchant ship without developing that, both for the criminal and the institutional versions of Pirates.
The Valley Forge micro jumped nearly straight up to get the appropriate angle of attack to take out the Battlecruisers warp cores before the Pirates could react. It was a particularly excellent piece of maneuvering considering both parties were moving at a significant portion of lightspeed and that a rather small error in calculations and timing would throw off the Valley Forge’s vector and emergence locus by a fair (in a tactical engagement operation) margin. Snapping back into normal space high above the arrowhead formation of still dumbstruck Pirate Battlecruisers, the Valley Forge opened up with her triple foreword Phaser Lances, sending three columns of naked energy into the distant Pirates with pinpoint precision. They unleashed their fury upon first shields and then hulls, wreathing the Pirates in energy and vaporized alloy. The Lances were set for narrow focus, punching straight through their target’s hulls yet doing little damage to the rest of the ship. Despite the fact that every possible precaution was taken, targeting a ships warp core is often a messy business. It was all to easy for a complete failure of the ships AM storage tanks to occur once the its warp core was violently turned into plasma. That is what happened to one of the Pirates. The Battlecruiser exploded into a violent starburst of multi ton molten fragments and an eye tearingly bright boil of light. The remaining two Battlecruisers computers managed to kill the AM flow to the now absent warp core before they joined their companion in oblivion. Most of their engineering crews were dead or dying in the hard vacuum of space because the thermal bloom, kinetic shock and massive power disruption caused by the Phaser Lance attack on their warp cores had prevented the emergency forcefields from coming on like they should.
With their warp cores destroyed leaving neat, molten edged cylindrical holes punched straight through their hulls the two Pirate’s shields flared out along with their transporter inhibitors. With both of those systems out of commission, the Valley Forge was able to beam over KO bombs. On the holo screen the dark, menacing looking shapes of the Pirate Battlecruisers spun slowly as all helm control failed. The only part of them that remained lighted was the molten edges of hull where Phaser Lance beams had struck them. The hidden half of Ulysses urged him to beam over a Neuro Toxin, but he surprised the dark impulse. Excessive force against a helpless opponent wasn’t something that was taught by the Followers of Spock. It was frowned upon because that was exactly what the Empire had done far to often.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
All was lost and Gomorra knew it. His hand was reaching for the self-destruct button on a sealed panel in the side of his command chair when he heard the whine of a transporter. A split second later there was a bright flash that was accompanied by a sudden loss in all voluntary muscle control. Every being on the bridge dropped to the deck like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Gomorra’s hand fell, unable to cross the last few mm to the self-destruct switch. With the entire bridge crew incapacitated by the initial attack, the small KO bomb began to emit a gaseous sleeping agent. Within seconds the entire bridge crew was unconscious. Similar bombs had been transported to every section on the Pirate ships, incapacitating every member of the crew. One would have had to be in power armor or at least light riot gear to remain active, but none of the pirates were, expecting an easy victory over an unlucky Imperial Norway.
Valley Forge
“Everyone on the Pirate ships are unconscious sir.” Percy reported to Ulysses with a smirk on his face.
“Well done. Commence strike team beam over.”
In the outsized transporter rooms scattered about the Valley Forge, fully armed, power armored marines dematerialized as the transporter beams grabbed them. They rematerialized at various key points throughout the pirate vessels. After a quick but thorough scan of their area, they moved out to scour the rest of the ship. At the same time, the Pirates were being beamed off the ship and into the Valley Forge’s brig. A plethora of small arms and bladed weapons were removed from the unconscious Pirates before they were rematerialized inside their holding cells. It was only after the ship was cleansed from all pirate presence that the engineering teams were allowed over to search for the mysterious internal compensator that allowed for unheard of starship velocities.
Near what was left of engineering, they found it.
“Lt., I think we have a winner here.” One of the engineering techs said.
“What is it?”
“This little beauty here sir.” The tech told his detail’s commanding officer as he pointed to a slightly out of place looking piece of equipment. “It doesn’t match the rest of the ship construction wise. Its base alloys are all wrong, to say nothing of the style. And it is mounted to a power converter, indicating that it is set up for a different power distribution system than standard Imperial EPS relays.”
“Good, detach it. We’ll take it back with us for further study.” The Lt. thought this is sure to get me in good with Cmdr Heidberg, maybe even the Captain himself.
“Sir, I would recommend that we wait till the security boys have a chance to scan it thoroughly…”
“I gave you an order crewman, and I expect it to be obeyed.”
“Sir, the thing might be boobyt…”
“That’s it. You are on report for insubordination.” And with that the Lt. reached down and pulled out the three glowing blue cables that attached the machine to the deck.
ISS Valley Forge, Main Bridge, That same time
Even though a Norway was as long as most Cruisers, she was classed as a Frigate because of a combination of factors. First, most of her length was taken up in her sail like nacelle pylons. Second, most of her remaining hull was filled with the plethora of small craft that patrol vessels needed to ferry boarding teams to uncooperative vessels with active transport inhibitors. Third, she had an outsized marine compliment to utilize in these boarding actions, further putting a crimp on internal space. Finally, she only utilized light armament, engines and defenses. Norways were all but exclusively utilized in patrol situations, this was considered acceptable. It was also why despite her fairly impressive size, she was truly a Frigate in both form and function. A normal Norway would have been hard pressed to deal with even one of the Pirate Destroyers, let alone the five closing on her plus the three Battlecruisers following them. If the Pirates had been closing on a normal Norway, it would have been no contest. As the reality now stood, it was still no contest. It merely had the two parties reversed as to which role they were to play.
“Sir, CIC confirms that the Pirates are outfitted with military grade sensors and high mark phaser arrays.” P’tel said. “While their ships are heavily armed for their size, their defenses are rather weak as a result. Since they are still using standard warp cores, they lack the surplus power to power both powerful weapons systems and strong shields. But the most intriguing part. Their ships are also faster than is the norm. Sensors say that they are hitting 85 PSL.”
Ulysses scowled over steepled fingers as he stared at the pirates wrapping around his command so that they could attack it from all sides. They were using competent tactics, something normal Pirates rarely exhibited. And they were either putting excessive strain and risk of failure on their internal compensator or something else. And it was the something else that worried him. He found it hard to believe that mere pirates could succeed in enhancing the upper limit of internal compensators when the rest of the known galaxy including the Terran Empire hadn’t been able to. Yet the seeming leisure that they exhibited when flying at unsafe speeds after a target that couldn’t outrun them to begin with caused Ulysses brain to itch. There was just no reason to justify the risk unless it wasn’t a risk at all.
“Guns, I want to take their Battlecruisers as much intact as possible. I think that they have a better internal compensator than any known model and I want a look at it. You may dispose of their destroyers as planned. And just so that they can’t self destruct, beam over some KO gas once their shields and transporter inhibitors drop.”
“Aye sir.” Cmdr Davenport said. “They are entering extreme weapons range sir.”
“Hold your course. I want them closer.”
The ships began to grow large on the holo display. Finally they opened fire with their first volley.
“Torpedo separation! Incoming Quantum Torpedoes from all enemy vessels.”
“That volume of fire should be enough to slow the Norway we are pretending to be, so make sure the computer remembers to fake that part.” The substantial torpedo volley roared in on the poor little Norway, flaying its shields and scorching its lightly armored hull. The ship slowed as the computer decided that her impulse engines had been hit.
“Fore shields down 2%. Regenerating back to full strength now. Enemy is now entering energy range.”
“Launch the fighters. Have them pretend to be debris jettisoned by the attack.”
Valley Forge, Flight Deck
The 50 fighters spat from their catapults at small fractions of their normal speed to fall away from their mother ship in carefully planned, seemingly random vectors. With their ECM suites masking their powered down systems and their holo chameleon skins actually making them look like large chunks of debris, they were indistinguishable as threats to the Pirate’s sensors.
The Cobras had been outfitted for close assault, swapping their usual standoff load out of quantums for external PPC gun packs. Now armed with 6 PPCs instead of their usual two, they could deal a massive amount of damage before they had to break off and let their capacitors recharge. The drawback was that they usually had to close suicidaly close to their targets in order to fire. But since they were hiding in preparation for an ambush, the enemy was obliging them and closing on their position totally unawares of the deadly piranha seeded into their path.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
“Sensors nearing full charge for a deep scan of the Norway sir.” The sensor tech said.
“Energy weapons range sir. Capacitors are nearly fully charged.” The tactical officer added.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
“Energy spike, looks like they are preparing to fire energy weapons.” Percy said.
“That’s close enough Guns. Open fire.” The stars around Ulysses command disappeared momentarily from view as nearly every weapons system on the ship vomited death.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
The glass of red wine that Gomorra had been nursing slipped from his hand, dropping soundlessly to the deck where it shattered into a million pieces of knife edged crystal. The quiet tinkling sound was the only thing heard on the bridge as everyone froze in mind numbing disbelief. No one seemed to even breathe as the meek, dying vessel in front of them sprouted needle sharp teeth none of them had even suspected it possessed. For a brief instant, the yellow/orange columns of its phaser beams and blue white orbs of its quantum torpedoes silhouetted the unmistakable outline of a modern Imperial Super Dreadnought of the Line. Every Pirate on the Night Demon’s bridge, in the scant second it took for the hidden Wraith to unleash its deadly weaponry, knew that they were living on borrowed time. They would be dead before they could do anything to extricate themselves from the situation, for even with their current numerical advantage over the lone Imperial SD, they couldn’t hope to do more than scratch her shields before each and every one of them was burned from space.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
The Valley Forge had been flying backwards through space at 75 PSL, keeping her heavier foreword weapons arc towards the bulk of the enemy. But she looked like a fleeing Norway to the pursuing pirates thanks to her chameleon holo stealth system. The first clue they had that she was something more than that was when her weapons fire temporarily highlighted her true hull form. Her powerful phaser arrays and quantum launchers stabbed out at her targeted destroyers, rapidly burning them from space even as her fighter wings came alive and did the same. The massed beams of Type XV phasers didn’t take long to punch through the light shields Pirate Destroyers mounted. Given that the pirates didn’t have the energy to spare to shunt it into powerful shields, going instead for powerful weapons, they never stood a chance. Each exploded violently as gigatons of firepower washed over them like a cleansing tide.
The Valley Forge’s ten wings of fighters shifted their ECM from deception mode to track breaking and brought their shields and weapons fully online. In the blink of an eye they shed their masks and snapped to full impulse speed. Racing back towards their two Destroyer class targets at 81 PSL the length of separation dropped with insane rapidity for the range was already short and their targets were on near reciprocal vectors pulling 85 PSL. Targeting systems locked on to the still pinprick sized balls of light that were two Pirate Destroyers. 300 individual streams of Pulse Phaser fire erupted from the fighter wings to rain lightspeed death down on the helpless Pirates. The small starships were shaken violently as the PPC bolts rapidly ate away their shields then chewed through their naked hulls. That much fire power would have overwhelmed a cruisers defenses, so the end result was never in doubt. The pirates managed to lock up and fire on seven of the fighters, turning them to energetic plasma and scattering their component atoms across space, yet every Pirate Destroyer joined them shortly thereafter. The surviving fighters broke off, racing away from the dumbstruck Battlecruisers to both allow their PPC capacitors to recharge and to gain maneuver room in case they had to attack the surviving pirates. Not that they would be required to do so, for a refit Wraith class Super Dreadnought could have squashed the entire enemy formation in its first volley had it so desired.
“Execute the next phase as planned.” Ulysses said over his steepled hands in a conversational voice, yet his eyes were ice cold pits betraying his near instinctual hatred for all things Pirate. One didn’t grow up on a Merchant ship without developing that, both for the criminal and the institutional versions of Pirates.
The Valley Forge micro jumped nearly straight up to get the appropriate angle of attack to take out the Battlecruisers warp cores before the Pirates could react. It was a particularly excellent piece of maneuvering considering both parties were moving at a significant portion of lightspeed and that a rather small error in calculations and timing would throw off the Valley Forge’s vector and emergence locus by a fair (in a tactical engagement operation) margin. Snapping back into normal space high above the arrowhead formation of still dumbstruck Pirate Battlecruisers, the Valley Forge opened up with her triple foreword Phaser Lances, sending three columns of naked energy into the distant Pirates with pinpoint precision. They unleashed their fury upon first shields and then hulls, wreathing the Pirates in energy and vaporized alloy. The Lances were set for narrow focus, punching straight through their target’s hulls yet doing little damage to the rest of the ship. Despite the fact that every possible precaution was taken, targeting a ships warp core is often a messy business. It was all to easy for a complete failure of the ships AM storage tanks to occur once the its warp core was violently turned into plasma. That is what happened to one of the Pirates. The Battlecruiser exploded into a violent starburst of multi ton molten fragments and an eye tearingly bright boil of light. The remaining two Battlecruisers computers managed to kill the AM flow to the now absent warp core before they joined their companion in oblivion. Most of their engineering crews were dead or dying in the hard vacuum of space because the thermal bloom, kinetic shock and massive power disruption caused by the Phaser Lance attack on their warp cores had prevented the emergency forcefields from coming on like they should.
With their warp cores destroyed leaving neat, molten edged cylindrical holes punched straight through their hulls the two Pirate’s shields flared out along with their transporter inhibitors. With both of those systems out of commission, the Valley Forge was able to beam over KO bombs. On the holo screen the dark, menacing looking shapes of the Pirate Battlecruisers spun slowly as all helm control failed. The only part of them that remained lighted was the molten edges of hull where Phaser Lance beams had struck them. The hidden half of Ulysses urged him to beam over a Neuro Toxin, but he surprised the dark impulse. Excessive force against a helpless opponent wasn’t something that was taught by the Followers of Spock. It was frowned upon because that was exactly what the Empire had done far to often.
Night Demon, Main Bridge
All was lost and Gomorra knew it. His hand was reaching for the self-destruct button on a sealed panel in the side of his command chair when he heard the whine of a transporter. A split second later there was a bright flash that was accompanied by a sudden loss in all voluntary muscle control. Every being on the bridge dropped to the deck like a marionette whose strings had been cut. Gomorra’s hand fell, unable to cross the last few mm to the self-destruct switch. With the entire bridge crew incapacitated by the initial attack, the small KO bomb began to emit a gaseous sleeping agent. Within seconds the entire bridge crew was unconscious. Similar bombs had been transported to every section on the Pirate ships, incapacitating every member of the crew. One would have had to be in power armor or at least light riot gear to remain active, but none of the pirates were, expecting an easy victory over an unlucky Imperial Norway.
Valley Forge
“Everyone on the Pirate ships are unconscious sir.” Percy reported to Ulysses with a smirk on his face.
“Well done. Commence strike team beam over.”
In the outsized transporter rooms scattered about the Valley Forge, fully armed, power armored marines dematerialized as the transporter beams grabbed them. They rematerialized at various key points throughout the pirate vessels. After a quick but thorough scan of their area, they moved out to scour the rest of the ship. At the same time, the Pirates were being beamed off the ship and into the Valley Forge’s brig. A plethora of small arms and bladed weapons were removed from the unconscious Pirates before they were rematerialized inside their holding cells. It was only after the ship was cleansed from all pirate presence that the engineering teams were allowed over to search for the mysterious internal compensator that allowed for unheard of starship velocities.
Near what was left of engineering, they found it.
“Lt., I think we have a winner here.” One of the engineering techs said.
“What is it?”
“This little beauty here sir.” The tech told his detail’s commanding officer as he pointed to a slightly out of place looking piece of equipment. “It doesn’t match the rest of the ship construction wise. Its base alloys are all wrong, to say nothing of the style. And it is mounted to a power converter, indicating that it is set up for a different power distribution system than standard Imperial EPS relays.”
“Good, detach it. We’ll take it back with us for further study.” The Lt. thought this is sure to get me in good with Cmdr Heidberg, maybe even the Captain himself.
“Sir, I would recommend that we wait till the security boys have a chance to scan it thoroughly…”
“I gave you an order crewman, and I expect it to be obeyed.”
“Sir, the thing might be boobyt…”
“That’s it. You are on report for insubordination.” And with that the Lt. reached down and pulled out the three glowing blue cables that attached the machine to the deck.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter Eight – Justice
Night Demon
“There, you see?!” The Lt. said irritatedly to the still unconvinced crewman. Detaching the clasps that held the internal dampener to the deck, the Lt. continued to speak. “Grab the other end and lets get this device to the middle of the room for transport. There is too much interference here from all these power leads and plasma conduits to ensure precise transporter locks. If this is what I think it is, the Captain wants it in mint condition. A miniscule error in the transport might render this so much useless junk.” The crewman approached the alien internal damper with a wary dread, yet nothing had happened when it was detached from its place on the deck so he seemed to have no choice.
They were about half way across the room to their destination, carrying the bulky yet not terribly heavy for its size internal dampener before it began to whine softly. The crewman cast an scared ‘I told you so’ glare at the Lt. The Lt. frowned as he whipped out his tricorder and began to scan the internal damper. After a few seconds of scanning in which the whine rose in pitch and volume the Lieutenant’s face went white.
“Aww hell.” He cursed under his breath, then slapped his communicator. “Lt. Ypres to the Valley Forge. I have an internal dampener that is set to overload. I request that it be immediately beamed out to deep space.”
“Affirmative Lt. Beaming the internal dampener to space now.” The com officer said. Seconds later, just as the machine was reaching its highest pitch and volume yet the transporter beam caught it. It rematerialized outside the pirate ship only to explode within moments. It was a mere fire cracker when compared to even a hand phaser blast, but it was more than sufficient to vaporize the internal components of the damper, leaving only the scorched external shell relatively intact. With it’s self immolation went any chance of discovering the secrets the new compensators held. The one in the other surviving Pirate ship had been thoroughly melted by a power surge caused when the warp core was ‘removed’, while the rest were reduced to their component atoms and energy when their ships were cut down by the Forge’s weapons fire.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
Ulysses winced as the internal dampener flared on the holo display, its secondary energy plant overloading and ruining its internal components. That would have been a useful bit of tech to recover, no doubt about it. But the main thing was that a pack of highly organized pirates had been wiped out. Now it was just time to remove the rest of them.
“Helm, plot an intercept course to the merchies. Guns, Have assault teams standing by in case the remaining pirates prove uncooperative. And you might as well drop the deception while you are at it.”
“Aye Sir.” Sulu and Davenport chorused from their stations beyond the holographic veil of space that surrounded Ulysses command station. The 360 degree, three dimensional representation of the surrounding space swung wildly as the Valley Forge swept gracefully up and around to line up on a course back to the merchant ships.
“Open a channel to the cargo ships.”
“Channel open Captain.”
“This is Captain Ulysses Vanguard of the Imperial Star Ship Valley Forge. As you have already no doubt seen we have eliminated your fellows. Surrender now ad we shall be as lenient as possible with you. Resist and you shall be dispatched like your fellows. The choice is yours but I suggest that you don’t delay long. You have 30 seconds to comply or I shall burn you from space.”
“Incoming signal from the merchies Sir.”
“Put it up.” A small window blossomed on the holo display next to the surviving merchant ships. Ulysses rotated his chair to view the incoming com head on. A heavily tattooed and scarred face appeared in the window.
“I have a counter proposal. Let us go or we will kill every man woman and child on these vessels.” The middle aged pirate said with a sneer, but Ulysses could see the fear in his eyes. The civilians operating the cargo ships were Imperial citizens. All Starfleet officers swore to defend both the Terran Empire and its citizens from every enemy. Time to put on your poker face Ulysses old boy he thought to himself.
“You misunderstand. You either surrender now, or I vaporize the cargo ships in which you now sit. The civilians on those ships matter nothing to me. You have five seconds.” Most Starfleet officers didn’t give two hoots about alien species, but citizens of the Empire were a different matter entirely. Nearly every officer in service would move heaven and earth to keep them safe. It had been their charge since Starfleet’s inception, and it was something most officers took very seriously. Ulysses himself felt that it was his duty to protect those unable to protect themselves, but he needed to convince the Pirate otherwise. On the com screen, the framed 3-D bust of the pirate shifted expression. His eyes bulged a little and his tattoos stood out as his skin took on a grayish hue. He had counted on Ulysses being willing to bargain for the merchant crew’s lives.
“Wait, we surrender! WE SURRENDER!” the Pirate wailed. Like most of his kind, he was a bully at heart. When faced with continuing being a bully and death or giving up and living, they usually chose life.
“Very good.” Ulysses said as he closed the channel. “Guns, beam over the assault teams and secure the pirates. I’m paying a visit to the brig. Com me once the cargo ships are under our control. Cmdr P’tel, you have the con.”
“Aye Sir.”
Valley Forge, Brig
The triple, individually locked blast doors that barred the lone passage way into the brig slid apart as Ulysses entered his access code three times. The burly security officer in charge of the brig greeted him once he passed the final door.
“Lt. Cmdr., where is the leader of this rabble?”
“Cell 32 Sir.”
“Bring him here.”
“Aye Sir.” The Lt. Cmdr. Pointed to two guards in power armor. They saluted sharply then trotted to the appropriate cell. After punching in the appropriate code, the force field dropped and the transparent, nearly indestructible door rolled into its recess in the floor and ceiling. The guards entered the cell and dragged out an imposing man dressed in ancient Earth medieval court style clothing. He sported an impressive beard that nearly hid a cocky smile behind its solid mass of hair. Like all of the prisoners, he was shackled wrist and ankle with braided monofilament cables. They were near impossible to cut unless one had a very high powered phaser or a military grade molecular edged blade and time. As the guards dragged him towards the Captain, Ulysses com badge chirped.
“Ulysses here.” He said after he activated it.
“The Pirates on the Cargo Ships have been subdued Captain. All weapons have been confiscated and the remaining pirates are awaiting transport back to the brig.”
“Very good. Keep them there for now, I shall transport over shortly.”
“Understood Sir.”
“Bring him.” Ulysses said, then turned around and walked through the triple doors.
Imperial Cargo Ship Manifest Destiny, Main Bridge
Ulysses, Gomorra and the two power armored security guards materialized on the bridge of the lead cargo ship. The Valley Forge’s medical personnel were going over the lightly wounded of merchant crew. Those more seriously injured had already been transported to sickbay onboard the ship. Nearly all of the young and middle aged men had been shot dead, their bodies now arrayed in a neat row along one bulkhead. Ulysses surveyed the survivors. Nearly all were in shock, that much was evident from their faces. Others were silently weeping, either from the joy of being rescued or from the horrors they had been forced to endure. Ulysses looked over the rooms, noting that teams were recording in one of them. A young girl, now dead, had been cut with a revolting morbid artistry. The bloody knife lay at her side, along with a shackled and manacled pirate who’s arms were drenched in blood up to the wrists.. Ulysses stomach did a flip-flop, yet his steel like expression never wavered.
In the next room was a young woman clothed in a Starfleet utility jumpsuit. Her original clothing lay in cut tatters on the floor. Upon seeing Gomorra behind Ulysses, the young woman fairly leapt towards him with a feral snarl. The marine and medic tending to her managed to grab her as she tried to run past them. They held her back as gently as they could till the medic could administer a sedative. The girl crumpled to the floor, still staring a glare that could have melted the bulkheads at Gomorra.
“That is the beast that raped me! I demand that you give me…” The girl’s eyes blinked shut, then snapped open again. “…give me justice…” Then the sedative took hold and the girl went under.
“I feel a very strong urge to kill you where you stand.” Ulysses said, swinging around to pin his venom filled glare on Gomorra. How any species could spawn such creatures as these pirates was beyond Ulysses. They killed, raped and pillaged the spacelanes without regard for anything.
The Pirate commander didn’t flinch under Ulysses withering stare, in fact his smirk became a tooth filled grin. “But you can’t do that now can you. Under Imperial Law my crews and I must be returned to the nearest starbase so that we can stand trial. Most unfortunate that you can’t act on your desires isn’t it Captain?” Gomorra said with a snicker, then he spit into Ulysses face and laughed out loud. Many of his captive pirate underlings laughed along with him. “You can’t touch me, and trust me on this, we can drag out the proceedings for a long, long time.”
Ulysses reached up and slowly wiped the spittle from his cheek with his exoskeleton-encased hand. Then he grinned back at the smug pirate faintly. The dark part of him snarled gleefully as its cage door opened. It was still chained, but it was being given freedom it seldom enjoyed. “You are right. I can’t do a blasted thing to you…” Ulysses paused and the Pirate’s grin got even bigger. Then Ulysses continued. “Or rather I should say I COULDN’T do a blasted thing to you under the OLD laws.” Gomorra’s happy, satisfied grin disappeared with stunning rapidity.
“Old laws?!” Gomorra said through narrowed eyes
“Yes. Quite recently changed by the Emperor himself. You have apparently not yet heard of them so I shall enlighten you. As per His Imperial Majesties General Edict 12, Section A, all individuals found supporting the actions of, benefiting from or engaging in organized criminal activity are to be executed at the earliest possible opportunity.” Ulysses mild grin erupted into a predatory smile. “To bad we caught you both benefiting and engaging in organized criminal activity. Either one is a death sentence. So you see, I can indeed kill you where you stand, and I can do so quite legally. But even if it was still illegal for execution without trial, I am not certain I would not have done so. Removing an animal like you from the galaxy would be well worth the ensuing court-martial.” And with that Ulysses pulled his phaser from its holster. A look of stark fear mingled with shock crossed Gomorra’s face. The demon in Ulysses soul reveled in the fear and terror, urging Ulysses farther. Ulysses pressed the activation button and an orange beam spat out from the emitter housing. Gomorra dissolved into nothingness with a hideous scream as the beam’s effect consumed him. An Imperial Type 2 Hand Phaser could be set to administer a slow, painful disintegration, and that was exactly what Ulysses had set his to accomplish before he had even left the Forge. Ulysses cold, wolfish eyes flared brightly as his dark half reveled in the killing, and for once Ulysses didn’t care. Gomorra and his ilk were worse than animals, and they deserved the fate they brought upon themselves.
The Pirates clumped along one wall, bound and under guard, stared in disbelief. “Bu…But you said that you would spare us!” the one who had conversed on the com screen with Ulysses stammered.
“No I didn’t.” Ulysses snarled at him. “I said I would be as lenient as possible, which fortunately for the galaxy means that I can kill you after I have gathered evidence that you are actually pirates.” Ulysses smacked his com badge. “Ulysses to transporter room. You may execute General Edict 12 at your leisure.”
“Aye Sir!” came the eager response from the other end of the com. The Pirate’s screams of fear and protest died away as the transporter grabbed them. Both they and their brethren being held in the Valley Forge’s brig rematerialized in space to die slowly and painfully in frozen vacuum of deep space.
The fierce growl of approval that emanated from the surviving merchie crewmembers. ‘Thank you sir!’ and ‘Thank you!’ sprang from the crowd as they lurched foreword to embrace their savior and the one who had dispensed justice on their behalf. Ulysses gaze fell upon them, causing many to come up short. Many shrank back in newfound fear from what they saw in Ulysses eyes. Far to many of them had seen similar looks in the Pirates. They could see that part of him relished the killing, much like some of the pirates had. It frightened them almost more than seeing it in the Pirates, for this was a Starfleet officer, sworn to defend them.
Like a dog shaking water off of its fur, Ulysses brought his dark side back under firm control, reeling it back into its cage and locking it there.
“Any further assistance you require shall be given, merely ask the medics and marines. We are going to proceed back to Sector One and will bring you and your disabled ships along with us. You can find replacement crew and repair your ships there. On behalf of Starfleet and the Empire, I apologize for allowing what you have endured to happen.” Ulysses tapped his com badge. “Vanguard to Valley Forge, one to beam up.”
Night Demon
“There, you see?!” The Lt. said irritatedly to the still unconvinced crewman. Detaching the clasps that held the internal dampener to the deck, the Lt. continued to speak. “Grab the other end and lets get this device to the middle of the room for transport. There is too much interference here from all these power leads and plasma conduits to ensure precise transporter locks. If this is what I think it is, the Captain wants it in mint condition. A miniscule error in the transport might render this so much useless junk.” The crewman approached the alien internal damper with a wary dread, yet nothing had happened when it was detached from its place on the deck so he seemed to have no choice.
They were about half way across the room to their destination, carrying the bulky yet not terribly heavy for its size internal dampener before it began to whine softly. The crewman cast an scared ‘I told you so’ glare at the Lt. The Lt. frowned as he whipped out his tricorder and began to scan the internal damper. After a few seconds of scanning in which the whine rose in pitch and volume the Lieutenant’s face went white.
“Aww hell.” He cursed under his breath, then slapped his communicator. “Lt. Ypres to the Valley Forge. I have an internal dampener that is set to overload. I request that it be immediately beamed out to deep space.”
“Affirmative Lt. Beaming the internal dampener to space now.” The com officer said. Seconds later, just as the machine was reaching its highest pitch and volume yet the transporter beam caught it. It rematerialized outside the pirate ship only to explode within moments. It was a mere fire cracker when compared to even a hand phaser blast, but it was more than sufficient to vaporize the internal components of the damper, leaving only the scorched external shell relatively intact. With it’s self immolation went any chance of discovering the secrets the new compensators held. The one in the other surviving Pirate ship had been thoroughly melted by a power surge caused when the warp core was ‘removed’, while the rest were reduced to their component atoms and energy when their ships were cut down by the Forge’s weapons fire.
Valley Forge, Main Bridge
Ulysses winced as the internal dampener flared on the holo display, its secondary energy plant overloading and ruining its internal components. That would have been a useful bit of tech to recover, no doubt about it. But the main thing was that a pack of highly organized pirates had been wiped out. Now it was just time to remove the rest of them.
“Helm, plot an intercept course to the merchies. Guns, Have assault teams standing by in case the remaining pirates prove uncooperative. And you might as well drop the deception while you are at it.”
“Aye Sir.” Sulu and Davenport chorused from their stations beyond the holographic veil of space that surrounded Ulysses command station. The 360 degree, three dimensional representation of the surrounding space swung wildly as the Valley Forge swept gracefully up and around to line up on a course back to the merchant ships.
“Open a channel to the cargo ships.”
“Channel open Captain.”
“This is Captain Ulysses Vanguard of the Imperial Star Ship Valley Forge. As you have already no doubt seen we have eliminated your fellows. Surrender now ad we shall be as lenient as possible with you. Resist and you shall be dispatched like your fellows. The choice is yours but I suggest that you don’t delay long. You have 30 seconds to comply or I shall burn you from space.”
“Incoming signal from the merchies Sir.”
“Put it up.” A small window blossomed on the holo display next to the surviving merchant ships. Ulysses rotated his chair to view the incoming com head on. A heavily tattooed and scarred face appeared in the window.
“I have a counter proposal. Let us go or we will kill every man woman and child on these vessels.” The middle aged pirate said with a sneer, but Ulysses could see the fear in his eyes. The civilians operating the cargo ships were Imperial citizens. All Starfleet officers swore to defend both the Terran Empire and its citizens from every enemy. Time to put on your poker face Ulysses old boy he thought to himself.
“You misunderstand. You either surrender now, or I vaporize the cargo ships in which you now sit. The civilians on those ships matter nothing to me. You have five seconds.” Most Starfleet officers didn’t give two hoots about alien species, but citizens of the Empire were a different matter entirely. Nearly every officer in service would move heaven and earth to keep them safe. It had been their charge since Starfleet’s inception, and it was something most officers took very seriously. Ulysses himself felt that it was his duty to protect those unable to protect themselves, but he needed to convince the Pirate otherwise. On the com screen, the framed 3-D bust of the pirate shifted expression. His eyes bulged a little and his tattoos stood out as his skin took on a grayish hue. He had counted on Ulysses being willing to bargain for the merchant crew’s lives.
“Wait, we surrender! WE SURRENDER!” the Pirate wailed. Like most of his kind, he was a bully at heart. When faced with continuing being a bully and death or giving up and living, they usually chose life.
“Very good.” Ulysses said as he closed the channel. “Guns, beam over the assault teams and secure the pirates. I’m paying a visit to the brig. Com me once the cargo ships are under our control. Cmdr P’tel, you have the con.”
“Aye Sir.”
Valley Forge, Brig
The triple, individually locked blast doors that barred the lone passage way into the brig slid apart as Ulysses entered his access code three times. The burly security officer in charge of the brig greeted him once he passed the final door.
“Lt. Cmdr., where is the leader of this rabble?”
“Cell 32 Sir.”
“Bring him here.”
“Aye Sir.” The Lt. Cmdr. Pointed to two guards in power armor. They saluted sharply then trotted to the appropriate cell. After punching in the appropriate code, the force field dropped and the transparent, nearly indestructible door rolled into its recess in the floor and ceiling. The guards entered the cell and dragged out an imposing man dressed in ancient Earth medieval court style clothing. He sported an impressive beard that nearly hid a cocky smile behind its solid mass of hair. Like all of the prisoners, he was shackled wrist and ankle with braided monofilament cables. They were near impossible to cut unless one had a very high powered phaser or a military grade molecular edged blade and time. As the guards dragged him towards the Captain, Ulysses com badge chirped.
“Ulysses here.” He said after he activated it.
“The Pirates on the Cargo Ships have been subdued Captain. All weapons have been confiscated and the remaining pirates are awaiting transport back to the brig.”
“Very good. Keep them there for now, I shall transport over shortly.”
“Understood Sir.”
“Bring him.” Ulysses said, then turned around and walked through the triple doors.
Imperial Cargo Ship Manifest Destiny, Main Bridge
Ulysses, Gomorra and the two power armored security guards materialized on the bridge of the lead cargo ship. The Valley Forge’s medical personnel were going over the lightly wounded of merchant crew. Those more seriously injured had already been transported to sickbay onboard the ship. Nearly all of the young and middle aged men had been shot dead, their bodies now arrayed in a neat row along one bulkhead. Ulysses surveyed the survivors. Nearly all were in shock, that much was evident from their faces. Others were silently weeping, either from the joy of being rescued or from the horrors they had been forced to endure. Ulysses looked over the rooms, noting that teams were recording in one of them. A young girl, now dead, had been cut with a revolting morbid artistry. The bloody knife lay at her side, along with a shackled and manacled pirate who’s arms were drenched in blood up to the wrists.. Ulysses stomach did a flip-flop, yet his steel like expression never wavered.
In the next room was a young woman clothed in a Starfleet utility jumpsuit. Her original clothing lay in cut tatters on the floor. Upon seeing Gomorra behind Ulysses, the young woman fairly leapt towards him with a feral snarl. The marine and medic tending to her managed to grab her as she tried to run past them. They held her back as gently as they could till the medic could administer a sedative. The girl crumpled to the floor, still staring a glare that could have melted the bulkheads at Gomorra.
“That is the beast that raped me! I demand that you give me…” The girl’s eyes blinked shut, then snapped open again. “…give me justice…” Then the sedative took hold and the girl went under.
“I feel a very strong urge to kill you where you stand.” Ulysses said, swinging around to pin his venom filled glare on Gomorra. How any species could spawn such creatures as these pirates was beyond Ulysses. They killed, raped and pillaged the spacelanes without regard for anything.
The Pirate commander didn’t flinch under Ulysses withering stare, in fact his smirk became a tooth filled grin. “But you can’t do that now can you. Under Imperial Law my crews and I must be returned to the nearest starbase so that we can stand trial. Most unfortunate that you can’t act on your desires isn’t it Captain?” Gomorra said with a snicker, then he spit into Ulysses face and laughed out loud. Many of his captive pirate underlings laughed along with him. “You can’t touch me, and trust me on this, we can drag out the proceedings for a long, long time.”
Ulysses reached up and slowly wiped the spittle from his cheek with his exoskeleton-encased hand. Then he grinned back at the smug pirate faintly. The dark part of him snarled gleefully as its cage door opened. It was still chained, but it was being given freedom it seldom enjoyed. “You are right. I can’t do a blasted thing to you…” Ulysses paused and the Pirate’s grin got even bigger. Then Ulysses continued. “Or rather I should say I COULDN’T do a blasted thing to you under the OLD laws.” Gomorra’s happy, satisfied grin disappeared with stunning rapidity.
“Old laws?!” Gomorra said through narrowed eyes
“Yes. Quite recently changed by the Emperor himself. You have apparently not yet heard of them so I shall enlighten you. As per His Imperial Majesties General Edict 12, Section A, all individuals found supporting the actions of, benefiting from or engaging in organized criminal activity are to be executed at the earliest possible opportunity.” Ulysses mild grin erupted into a predatory smile. “To bad we caught you both benefiting and engaging in organized criminal activity. Either one is a death sentence. So you see, I can indeed kill you where you stand, and I can do so quite legally. But even if it was still illegal for execution without trial, I am not certain I would not have done so. Removing an animal like you from the galaxy would be well worth the ensuing court-martial.” And with that Ulysses pulled his phaser from its holster. A look of stark fear mingled with shock crossed Gomorra’s face. The demon in Ulysses soul reveled in the fear and terror, urging Ulysses farther. Ulysses pressed the activation button and an orange beam spat out from the emitter housing. Gomorra dissolved into nothingness with a hideous scream as the beam’s effect consumed him. An Imperial Type 2 Hand Phaser could be set to administer a slow, painful disintegration, and that was exactly what Ulysses had set his to accomplish before he had even left the Forge. Ulysses cold, wolfish eyes flared brightly as his dark half reveled in the killing, and for once Ulysses didn’t care. Gomorra and his ilk were worse than animals, and they deserved the fate they brought upon themselves.
The Pirates clumped along one wall, bound and under guard, stared in disbelief. “Bu…But you said that you would spare us!” the one who had conversed on the com screen with Ulysses stammered.
“No I didn’t.” Ulysses snarled at him. “I said I would be as lenient as possible, which fortunately for the galaxy means that I can kill you after I have gathered evidence that you are actually pirates.” Ulysses smacked his com badge. “Ulysses to transporter room. You may execute General Edict 12 at your leisure.”
“Aye Sir!” came the eager response from the other end of the com. The Pirate’s screams of fear and protest died away as the transporter grabbed them. Both they and their brethren being held in the Valley Forge’s brig rematerialized in space to die slowly and painfully in frozen vacuum of deep space.
The fierce growl of approval that emanated from the surviving merchie crewmembers. ‘Thank you sir!’ and ‘Thank you!’ sprang from the crowd as they lurched foreword to embrace their savior and the one who had dispensed justice on their behalf. Ulysses gaze fell upon them, causing many to come up short. Many shrank back in newfound fear from what they saw in Ulysses eyes. Far to many of them had seen similar looks in the Pirates. They could see that part of him relished the killing, much like some of the pirates had. It frightened them almost more than seeing it in the Pirates, for this was a Starfleet officer, sworn to defend them.
Like a dog shaking water off of its fur, Ulysses brought his dark side back under firm control, reeling it back into its cage and locking it there.
“Any further assistance you require shall be given, merely ask the medics and marines. We are going to proceed back to Sector One and will bring you and your disabled ships along with us. You can find replacement crew and repair your ships there. On behalf of Starfleet and the Empire, I apologize for allowing what you have endured to happen.” Ulysses tapped his com badge. “Vanguard to Valley Forge, one to beam up.”
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Chapter Nine – Reunions
Valley Forge, Sector One
Ulysses scowled over his hands as he sat in his command chair. He felt a nearly overwhelming urge to have a shower, but resisted it. It was a benefit to the galaxy as a whole that the pirates had been swiftly and permanently dealt with. Yet for all their subhuman impulses that they were allowed to engage in, their pursuit had been almost perfect. Ulysses himself would have left a couple of his destroyers to guard the captured merchies, but he couldn’t fault their precise approach formation. Their envelopment maneuver was right out of the Starfleet handbook and was as exacting as any Academy professor demanded. That spoke of bad things, for Pirate activity was on a meteoric rise since nearly the beginning of the Imperial/GA conflict.
And the fragmentary reports coming in from across the Empire were painting a picture of a resurgent pirate threat that was both smart and well equipped. They had to be getting their equipment from some source, but where? As much as he wanted to see the violent, murderous and oftentimes corrupt Terran Empire government dead and buried, Ulysses knew that it was fortunate he and the rest of Starfleet had been given a free hand in dealing with pirates by the Emperor. Though Ulysses might wish the man dead for extremely personal reasons, he had to grudgingly admit that the Emperor’s plans so far had genuine benefits. Many of the Councilors that had made up the old government had been complacent in regards to organized crime. Ulysses suspected that many had been more than complacent, either bought off or otherwise in the pocket of organized crime. Piracy had been bad enough even then, but it was a genuine threat now. The few thousand merchant ships that had disappeared annually under the old regime had been bad enough. But in the last month alone, close to the average ANNUAL merchant tonnage lost to piracy. And it wasn’t even as bad as the numbers alone said. Usual pirates stole the cargo, had their perverse brand of fun, then left the merchie relatively intact. The new pirates left no survivors, both in ship and crew form, in their wake.
The streaked, cloud like, swirling blue tunnel of slipstream drive gave way to normal space. The Valley Forge was immediately challenged and the massive outer shell of battle stations, weapons platforms and starships that sheathed Sol System like a modern day castle ramparts locked her up with their fire control sensors, ready to fire at a moments notice. The mere fact that her computer had already given them the correct countersign to their challenge was the sole reason they hadn’t already opened fire.
In front of them, stretching deeper and deeper insystem till it thinned from view was the ever-present column of starships plying for Sol’s inner system. Many had noticeably shifted in visible light color as they approached the normal ¾’s C transit velocity. The nearer ships were still accelerating insystem so the shift wasn’t as noticeable. With precise movement of his hand, Ulysses reset the holo display from direct visual feed to a composite sensor return. The ships resolved themselves from smears of Doppler shifted color to computer generated representations of what they would look like if at speeds considerably slower.
“Incoming signal from Perimeter Command sir.”
“Put it up.”
“Would you mind explaining why you are towing four Atlas class cargo ships Captain?!”
“We received their distress call enroute to the Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range for space trials. Their escort had been wiped out by Pirates numbering eight Destroyers and three Battle Cruisers.” That gave the Perimeter Command Commodore pause, for a wolf pack that large was something dangerous. “We stopped to lend them a hand. All pirate ships and their crews are destroyed. I have a full report to file with Starfleet Command on the incident.”
“Very well Captain. You may proceed insystem for debrief and final outfitting. Drop the disabled merchies at…” the Commodore scanned through his list of possible slips, “Repair Dry Dock 7127.”
“Understood sir.” Ulysses said as the Commodore terminated the connection. “Helm, take us in.” The stars and blue ID bracketed battle stations shifted back into subtle motion as his command brought its STL drive online. The Forge and her trailing merchies on their tractor beam leashes left the approach lane and its near prow to stern column of starships. Ulysses double-checked the merchies IFF beacons. It wouldn’t do to have them come through so much only to be mistaken for an enemy by an errant mine intent on performing its sole duty of self immolation. Everything was as it should be, Ulysses’ concern proving unwarranted as their beacons continued to broadcast clear and perfectly.
At least Repair Dry Dock 7127 wasn’t to far off of the Main Transit Locus. Rather than continue around the outside of the system’s defenses, Ulysses had chosen the direct approach, cutting across the outer defensive perimeter and speeding up the drop off time by quite a margin. True he could have micro-jumped there in milliseconds, but excessive micro-jumping was rather wasteful on the QSS drives life span and the trip was only 15 minutes at full impulse. The massive merchant shipyard and repair slip at the edge of Sol System grew large on the main viewer. Though not as individually impressive as The Yard here at Sol, or the massive military shipyards at Alpha Centauri and Vulcan, they were still one of the largest concentrations of Merchant shipbuilding and repair in the known galaxy. Slip after slip, tied together with mesh like superstructures stretched out to beyond where human vision could see. Yard spotlights cast pools of light on thousands of hulls of various styles. All were in varying states of completion, everything from freshly laid keel’s to nearly completed cargo ships were visible. Robotic arms and living work crews in construction hardsuits and work bee’s swarmed about everything, giving the entire complex the look of a disturbed anthill.
“Open a channel.” Ulysses said as they cruised towards their destination.
“Channel open.”
“This is the ISS Valley Forge to Repair Dry Dock 7127. I have some customers for you.”
“Understood Valley Forge. You may let them go. We’ll take it from here.”
“Very good. Valley Forge out. You may disengage the tractor beams. Open a channel to the Merchant ships.” Ulysses turned to face the window that expanded on his holodisplay. “Captain, I’m afraid that we must part company. I wish you and your crews a speedy recovery and once again apologize for Starfleet’s inability to protect you.”
“No apology is necessary Captain Vanguard. If it wasn’t for you showing up when you did we would all be dead by now instead of the pirates. On behalf of my crew and myself I thank you and your valiant crew.” The ranking surviving merchie officer said with a broad smile of gratitude.
“You’re welcome. Vanguard out.” Ulysses watched as the com screen shrank back to the nothingness from which it sprang. “Request a course for Terra Orbit from System Control. Once you have it, give it to Helm and engage.”
“Aye sir.” The Com officer said.
After a few seconds of quiet conversation between the junior officer and a Lt. in System Control, the Valley Forge swung up and away from the civilian shipyard. Once she had achieved sufficient separation, she swung towards the barely visible point of light that was Terra and engaged her slipstream drive. In a barely imperceptible time period, space reverted to the swirling tunnel of slipstream. Then normal space reappeared with the ¼ crescent of Terra hanging prominently to one side of the holo display. The glowing outlines of vast cities shone on the mother world’s night side. A time traveler, if such a thing were possible, from the late 21’s century would have found the world largely the same as it had been in his day. Certainly the cities were slightly larger and definitely more vertical, but the ratio of land usage was approximately the same. What that traveler would find strikingly different would be the night sky. Massive defensive stations and shipyards, to say nothing of The Yard itself, had sprouted in Terra orbit. Many of these structures could easily be seen from earth, forming miniature constellations of star like lights as they sat serenely in orbit.
They were nothing in scale compared to the industrial constructs in Alpha Centauri, both in orbit and on the planet itself, but they remained an impressive concentration of weapons platforms and construction centers.
“Send Starfleet Command my regards and transmit our after action report. Something tells me that they will want a debrief before we do anything else.”
Valley Forge, Terra Orbit, 2 hours later
Ulysses rematerialized in the Forge’s main transporter room. His debrief hadn’t been as bad as he suspected. That was partially because the Admiralty had received reports from other ships on the resurgent Pirate threat. His debriefer had even let slip that the other reports had shown similar starships, both in capabilities and styling. This didn’t bode well for merchant ships, for Starfleet would find it very difficult to find adequate ships to guard the convoys that plied the trade routes inside the Empire. Ships were being rushed into production as fast as possible, but it would be a while before there were enough hulls to defend against heavily armed and speedy Pirate wolf packs while adequately defending the new borders with the Grand Alliance.
“Well Cmdr.,” Ulysses said to P’tel, “it would seem that Starfleet Command is already aware of the rising pirate threat. They just seem unable to do much about it with the current state of affairs.”
“That is not entirely unexpected Captain.” She replied as he stepped down from the transporter platform. “Starfleet has been under staffed, both in manpower and hulls, since the end of the Imperial/Borg war. The recent flare up between the Empire and the members of the Grand Alliance has merely enhanced the problem. Now, even more of our ships are tied down defending instead of engaging in active operations. In a way it’s a good thing that the war has slowed to sniping from both sides. If the Empire had to engage in a large-scale conflict, we would be forced to leave important areas either weakly defended or not defended at all. There just aren’t enough warships currently active to meet all of Starfleet’s requirements.”
“That’s changing slowly but surely. Many of the second run of capital ships are nearing completion, which should bolster our lines sufficiently to allow us to go on the offensive again soon. Unfortunately, we most likely won’t be a part of it. Starbase 2000, while being the most important and largest base we have in the Delta Quadrant, is still about as far from the front lines as one can get. I have also heard disturbing reports coming from that area. T’var has said that with the slowing of settlement in former Borg Space these last few years, Starbase 2000 has dropped from its former perch as the premier Fleet Station. She was unable to provide specifics but she definitely implied that being posted there wasn’t the honor it once was.”
“I feel confident that you will prove otherwise Captain.”
“Exec, your confidence in me is welcome, but I’m not sure of your logic.”
“In the short time I have known you sir, you have risen two grades in rank, gained captaincy of one of the Empire’s premier warships and been decorated with the Empire’s highest award for valor. You have managed to find a workable solution to every task placed in front of you. Logic dictates that this will continue to be the case.”
Ulysses was about to reply when his communicator chirped. He absently tapped it. “Vanguard here.”
“Captain, Starbase Alpha reports that our Chief Medical Officer and our Political Commissar are ready to beam up.”
“Very good. Vanguard out.” Ulysses turned towards the transporter chief. “You may activate the transport at your leisure Chief.”
“Aye sir.” After a few taps on the transporter control pad, the chief pushed two of the activation sliders upwards. A faint whine filled the transporter room as the final two members of the Valley Forge’s crew materialized. Both Ulysses and P’tel had known that they would be ready for beam up close to when Starfleet Command would be done their debrief, so they had merely waited the few intervening minutes in the transporter room.
The first figure was clad in the red and black of a Section 31 Commissar. She had auburn hair pulled back into a braided ponytail. Her features, while beautiful, were largely canceled out by her severe expression and ice blue eyes. As she stared down at Ulysses, he could see the cold calculation in her eyes. While privately Ulysses thought admitting political commissars into a starships chain of command, however unofficially, was a bad idea, there was nothing he could do about it. While the Commissar’s might not formally be part of the chain of command, no serving officer in their right mind would second guess a member of Section 31. Getting his ships commissar to sign off on his plans would be just one more obstacle that would have to be overcome. Ulysses forced his face to show a smile as he extended his hand to her as she stepped down from the platform.
“Commissar Stevens, what a pleasure to meet you. Welcome aboard the Valley Forge.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Captain.” She replied with a false smile that never quite made it to her eyes. From the looks of things, Commissar Jessica Stevens would prove to be a very thorny problem indeed.
Ulysses turned to survey his CMO. Just when he thought that the universe had stopped throwing him curve balls for once, another hit him between the eyes. Here she was, nearly the same as he had remembered her. It had been years, but she was just as striking as he had remembered. Ulysses brain shifted gears after being stuck in neutral for a barely perceptible second. He extended his hand to his new Doctor.
“Cmdr. Anna Petersmith,” Ulysses managed to get out normally, “it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Welcome aboard the Valley Forge.” The pair shook hands as he spoke. Everyone else was behind them, so the shock and surprise in Ulysses eyes was seen only by the Doctor.
“It’s good to finally meet the Hero of the Empire in the flesh. I must say that you are considerably shorter in person than you appear on the holos.” She said with a twinkle in her eyes. One thing was certain, her sense of humor hadn’t changed much in the last 11 years.
Valley Forge, Sector One
Ulysses scowled over his hands as he sat in his command chair. He felt a nearly overwhelming urge to have a shower, but resisted it. It was a benefit to the galaxy as a whole that the pirates had been swiftly and permanently dealt with. Yet for all their subhuman impulses that they were allowed to engage in, their pursuit had been almost perfect. Ulysses himself would have left a couple of his destroyers to guard the captured merchies, but he couldn’t fault their precise approach formation. Their envelopment maneuver was right out of the Starfleet handbook and was as exacting as any Academy professor demanded. That spoke of bad things, for Pirate activity was on a meteoric rise since nearly the beginning of the Imperial/GA conflict.
And the fragmentary reports coming in from across the Empire were painting a picture of a resurgent pirate threat that was both smart and well equipped. They had to be getting their equipment from some source, but where? As much as he wanted to see the violent, murderous and oftentimes corrupt Terran Empire government dead and buried, Ulysses knew that it was fortunate he and the rest of Starfleet had been given a free hand in dealing with pirates by the Emperor. Though Ulysses might wish the man dead for extremely personal reasons, he had to grudgingly admit that the Emperor’s plans so far had genuine benefits. Many of the Councilors that had made up the old government had been complacent in regards to organized crime. Ulysses suspected that many had been more than complacent, either bought off or otherwise in the pocket of organized crime. Piracy had been bad enough even then, but it was a genuine threat now. The few thousand merchant ships that had disappeared annually under the old regime had been bad enough. But in the last month alone, close to the average ANNUAL merchant tonnage lost to piracy. And it wasn’t even as bad as the numbers alone said. Usual pirates stole the cargo, had their perverse brand of fun, then left the merchie relatively intact. The new pirates left no survivors, both in ship and crew form, in their wake.
The streaked, cloud like, swirling blue tunnel of slipstream drive gave way to normal space. The Valley Forge was immediately challenged and the massive outer shell of battle stations, weapons platforms and starships that sheathed Sol System like a modern day castle ramparts locked her up with their fire control sensors, ready to fire at a moments notice. The mere fact that her computer had already given them the correct countersign to their challenge was the sole reason they hadn’t already opened fire.
In front of them, stretching deeper and deeper insystem till it thinned from view was the ever-present column of starships plying for Sol’s inner system. Many had noticeably shifted in visible light color as they approached the normal ¾’s C transit velocity. The nearer ships were still accelerating insystem so the shift wasn’t as noticeable. With precise movement of his hand, Ulysses reset the holo display from direct visual feed to a composite sensor return. The ships resolved themselves from smears of Doppler shifted color to computer generated representations of what they would look like if at speeds considerably slower.
“Incoming signal from Perimeter Command sir.”
“Put it up.”
“Would you mind explaining why you are towing four Atlas class cargo ships Captain?!”
“We received their distress call enroute to the Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range for space trials. Their escort had been wiped out by Pirates numbering eight Destroyers and three Battle Cruisers.” That gave the Perimeter Command Commodore pause, for a wolf pack that large was something dangerous. “We stopped to lend them a hand. All pirate ships and their crews are destroyed. I have a full report to file with Starfleet Command on the incident.”
“Very well Captain. You may proceed insystem for debrief and final outfitting. Drop the disabled merchies at…” the Commodore scanned through his list of possible slips, “Repair Dry Dock 7127.”
“Understood sir.” Ulysses said as the Commodore terminated the connection. “Helm, take us in.” The stars and blue ID bracketed battle stations shifted back into subtle motion as his command brought its STL drive online. The Forge and her trailing merchies on their tractor beam leashes left the approach lane and its near prow to stern column of starships. Ulysses double-checked the merchies IFF beacons. It wouldn’t do to have them come through so much only to be mistaken for an enemy by an errant mine intent on performing its sole duty of self immolation. Everything was as it should be, Ulysses’ concern proving unwarranted as their beacons continued to broadcast clear and perfectly.
At least Repair Dry Dock 7127 wasn’t to far off of the Main Transit Locus. Rather than continue around the outside of the system’s defenses, Ulysses had chosen the direct approach, cutting across the outer defensive perimeter and speeding up the drop off time by quite a margin. True he could have micro-jumped there in milliseconds, but excessive micro-jumping was rather wasteful on the QSS drives life span and the trip was only 15 minutes at full impulse. The massive merchant shipyard and repair slip at the edge of Sol System grew large on the main viewer. Though not as individually impressive as The Yard here at Sol, or the massive military shipyards at Alpha Centauri and Vulcan, they were still one of the largest concentrations of Merchant shipbuilding and repair in the known galaxy. Slip after slip, tied together with mesh like superstructures stretched out to beyond where human vision could see. Yard spotlights cast pools of light on thousands of hulls of various styles. All were in varying states of completion, everything from freshly laid keel’s to nearly completed cargo ships were visible. Robotic arms and living work crews in construction hardsuits and work bee’s swarmed about everything, giving the entire complex the look of a disturbed anthill.
“Open a channel.” Ulysses said as they cruised towards their destination.
“Channel open.”
“This is the ISS Valley Forge to Repair Dry Dock 7127. I have some customers for you.”
“Understood Valley Forge. You may let them go. We’ll take it from here.”
“Very good. Valley Forge out. You may disengage the tractor beams. Open a channel to the Merchant ships.” Ulysses turned to face the window that expanded on his holodisplay. “Captain, I’m afraid that we must part company. I wish you and your crews a speedy recovery and once again apologize for Starfleet’s inability to protect you.”
“No apology is necessary Captain Vanguard. If it wasn’t for you showing up when you did we would all be dead by now instead of the pirates. On behalf of my crew and myself I thank you and your valiant crew.” The ranking surviving merchie officer said with a broad smile of gratitude.
“You’re welcome. Vanguard out.” Ulysses watched as the com screen shrank back to the nothingness from which it sprang. “Request a course for Terra Orbit from System Control. Once you have it, give it to Helm and engage.”
“Aye sir.” The Com officer said.
After a few seconds of quiet conversation between the junior officer and a Lt. in System Control, the Valley Forge swung up and away from the civilian shipyard. Once she had achieved sufficient separation, she swung towards the barely visible point of light that was Terra and engaged her slipstream drive. In a barely imperceptible time period, space reverted to the swirling tunnel of slipstream. Then normal space reappeared with the ¼ crescent of Terra hanging prominently to one side of the holo display. The glowing outlines of vast cities shone on the mother world’s night side. A time traveler, if such a thing were possible, from the late 21’s century would have found the world largely the same as it had been in his day. Certainly the cities were slightly larger and definitely more vertical, but the ratio of land usage was approximately the same. What that traveler would find strikingly different would be the night sky. Massive defensive stations and shipyards, to say nothing of The Yard itself, had sprouted in Terra orbit. Many of these structures could easily be seen from earth, forming miniature constellations of star like lights as they sat serenely in orbit.
They were nothing in scale compared to the industrial constructs in Alpha Centauri, both in orbit and on the planet itself, but they remained an impressive concentration of weapons platforms and construction centers.
“Send Starfleet Command my regards and transmit our after action report. Something tells me that they will want a debrief before we do anything else.”
Valley Forge, Terra Orbit, 2 hours later
Ulysses rematerialized in the Forge’s main transporter room. His debrief hadn’t been as bad as he suspected. That was partially because the Admiralty had received reports from other ships on the resurgent Pirate threat. His debriefer had even let slip that the other reports had shown similar starships, both in capabilities and styling. This didn’t bode well for merchant ships, for Starfleet would find it very difficult to find adequate ships to guard the convoys that plied the trade routes inside the Empire. Ships were being rushed into production as fast as possible, but it would be a while before there were enough hulls to defend against heavily armed and speedy Pirate wolf packs while adequately defending the new borders with the Grand Alliance.
“Well Cmdr.,” Ulysses said to P’tel, “it would seem that Starfleet Command is already aware of the rising pirate threat. They just seem unable to do much about it with the current state of affairs.”
“That is not entirely unexpected Captain.” She replied as he stepped down from the transporter platform. “Starfleet has been under staffed, both in manpower and hulls, since the end of the Imperial/Borg war. The recent flare up between the Empire and the members of the Grand Alliance has merely enhanced the problem. Now, even more of our ships are tied down defending instead of engaging in active operations. In a way it’s a good thing that the war has slowed to sniping from both sides. If the Empire had to engage in a large-scale conflict, we would be forced to leave important areas either weakly defended or not defended at all. There just aren’t enough warships currently active to meet all of Starfleet’s requirements.”
“That’s changing slowly but surely. Many of the second run of capital ships are nearing completion, which should bolster our lines sufficiently to allow us to go on the offensive again soon. Unfortunately, we most likely won’t be a part of it. Starbase 2000, while being the most important and largest base we have in the Delta Quadrant, is still about as far from the front lines as one can get. I have also heard disturbing reports coming from that area. T’var has said that with the slowing of settlement in former Borg Space these last few years, Starbase 2000 has dropped from its former perch as the premier Fleet Station. She was unable to provide specifics but she definitely implied that being posted there wasn’t the honor it once was.”
“I feel confident that you will prove otherwise Captain.”
“Exec, your confidence in me is welcome, but I’m not sure of your logic.”
“In the short time I have known you sir, you have risen two grades in rank, gained captaincy of one of the Empire’s premier warships and been decorated with the Empire’s highest award for valor. You have managed to find a workable solution to every task placed in front of you. Logic dictates that this will continue to be the case.”
Ulysses was about to reply when his communicator chirped. He absently tapped it. “Vanguard here.”
“Captain, Starbase Alpha reports that our Chief Medical Officer and our Political Commissar are ready to beam up.”
“Very good. Vanguard out.” Ulysses turned towards the transporter chief. “You may activate the transport at your leisure Chief.”
“Aye sir.” After a few taps on the transporter control pad, the chief pushed two of the activation sliders upwards. A faint whine filled the transporter room as the final two members of the Valley Forge’s crew materialized. Both Ulysses and P’tel had known that they would be ready for beam up close to when Starfleet Command would be done their debrief, so they had merely waited the few intervening minutes in the transporter room.
The first figure was clad in the red and black of a Section 31 Commissar. She had auburn hair pulled back into a braided ponytail. Her features, while beautiful, were largely canceled out by her severe expression and ice blue eyes. As she stared down at Ulysses, he could see the cold calculation in her eyes. While privately Ulysses thought admitting political commissars into a starships chain of command, however unofficially, was a bad idea, there was nothing he could do about it. While the Commissar’s might not formally be part of the chain of command, no serving officer in their right mind would second guess a member of Section 31. Getting his ships commissar to sign off on his plans would be just one more obstacle that would have to be overcome. Ulysses forced his face to show a smile as he extended his hand to her as she stepped down from the platform.
“Commissar Stevens, what a pleasure to meet you. Welcome aboard the Valley Forge.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Captain.” She replied with a false smile that never quite made it to her eyes. From the looks of things, Commissar Jessica Stevens would prove to be a very thorny problem indeed.
Ulysses turned to survey his CMO. Just when he thought that the universe had stopped throwing him curve balls for once, another hit him between the eyes. Here she was, nearly the same as he had remembered her. It had been years, but she was just as striking as he had remembered. Ulysses brain shifted gears after being stuck in neutral for a barely perceptible second. He extended his hand to his new Doctor.
“Cmdr. Anna Petersmith,” Ulysses managed to get out normally, “it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Welcome aboard the Valley Forge.” The pair shook hands as he spoke. Everyone else was behind them, so the shock and surprise in Ulysses eyes was seen only by the Doctor.
“It’s good to finally meet the Hero of the Empire in the flesh. I must say that you are considerably shorter in person than you appear on the holos.” She said with a twinkle in her eyes. One thing was certain, her sense of humor hadn’t changed much in the last 11 years.
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Chapter Ten – The Sleeping Dragon
Imperial Exploratory Fleet 8, Delta Quadrant, Near Galactic Fringe
Voyager cruised along with her squadron mates and her charges leisurely through normal space. The SWAC Nebula was performing a long-range scan with her powerful sensors to see if there was anything of interest in the local area. So far, this area of the galaxy seemed not to possess any major powers. Most were small one or two system polities and only a handful had recently achieved warp flight. None had possessed significant amounts of needed resources, nor had any held any useful tech. Basically this region of space was a cosmic backwater, far away from any major powers and underdeveloped as a whole. In the old days, this area would be prime real estate for colonization. But not so any longer, for with the recent breaches in Starfleet loyalty and resurgent enemies surrounding the Empire on all sides new colonization was now on indefinite hold.
“The Aegis says she will complete her scan in two minutes Admiral.” Voyager’s captain, Scot Cavit, reported to his CO. He had been her first officer for many years before she was bumped up to Flag rank and he assumed her seat on Voyager’s Main Bridge.
“It’s about time. In a few more months, we should be finished with this babysitting mission and we can return to the front lines where we belong.” Janeway replied.
“I couldn’t agree more Admiral. All this nursemaiding to Scifleet is getting stale. We haven’t encountered a credible threat in weeks. Sims are fine as a stopgap, but nothing replaces actual combat to keep a crew on its toes.” Janeway’s head nodded in agreement on the small screen situated to the right of the Captain’s chair. Voyager didn’t have the holodisplay upgrade, but she did have three standard panel displays, one front and two to either side allowing for a wider view of surrounding space. They were currently showing the after aspects of the other ships in the Voyager Battlegroup and the three Scifleet Nebulas they were escorting.
“Incoming communiqué from the Aegis Sir.” Lt. Harry Kim spoke up from behind and to the left of Cavit. “It appears that they have found something of interest. It’s a system near the periphery of our scout path. It appears to be moderately industrialized and possesses spaceborn infrastructure around its fourth planet.”
“Well well Admiral, it looks like we will have something of interest after all. Do you think that that system could be where our recent shadow’s have come from?”
“Hmm, a distinct possibility seeing as how it’s the only nearby system that seems to have the tech base to do so. Cloak all vessels.” Janeway ordered. “Order the Aegis, Socrates, Othello, and Wallenstein,” Janeway named the three Scifleet vessels and their cargo ship, “to form up, Theta formation. The Battlegroup will lay in a course for that system and engage warp immediately. I want a standard recon sweep from the outer system. We don’t know who they are yet, and I don’t want any unnecessary surprises. Once we get a close in scan, we can better determine how to proceed.”
“As you command Admiral.” Cavit turned toward his helmsman as Janeway cut the communication. “Mr. Paris, plot a course for the new system, warp 9.”
“Aye sir. Laying in coordinates now. Battlegroup and Scifleet units have formed up, Theta formation. Warp drive is online and standing by.”
“Engage.”
Interstellar Concordium System 450, System Picket Battlegroup 84
Everything was going according to plan. The Terran Empire was as weak as it had been in a century, the ISC had rebuilt its shattered legions and had found a powerful ally in the Dominion. The time was ripe to strike. Only a few more months would be required to get the Dominion fleet back up to strength, then all would be brought under the Galactic Unity’s banner of peace and brotherhood. The tech briefings on the latest Imperial and Grand Alliance starship designs showed that the ISC enjoyed a quantitative advantage over them in many areas. With a little luck, the powers of the Alpha and Beta quadrants would soon be disarmed and would embrace the peace and prosperity being in the GU offered them. Without it, the pacification campaign would merely take longer with the end result being the same.
Aboard the ISC Battlecruiser Path of the True, it was highly evident that the time to the kickoff of the new pacification campaign was rapidly approaching. Ships were being turned out from repair/refit slips with redoubled speed. The training regimen was constantly speeding up of late, focusing on the ships of the GA and the TE. There had even been some late model ships dropped off for study and wargaming. Granted the crews placed on the three ex-Terran Empire Galaxies weren't up to Starfleet standards due to their unfamiliarity with the alien equipment and it’s maximum capabilities, but the Path of the True and her squadron mate Forge of Unity had handily beaten them in a 3 on 2 match up suffering only minor simulated damage in return. And the rumor mill had it that some Romulan D’deridexes and Klingon Negh’Var’s were due to come in as well. They were reported to have come fresh from the hidden shipyards that birthed them for both the Romulan Star and Klingon Empires. The Path of the True’s Meskeen captain, Grot, looked foreword to testing his mettle against the top of the line Battlecruisers of the premier members of the Grand Alliance.
“Captain, perimeter scouts report a group of starships approaching at high warp under cloak. They appear to be of Terran Empire origin!” Grot’s lynx like Korlivilaran tactical officer said tersely.
The frog like Meskeen’s black eyes seemed to bulge out of his head even more so than usual. No! They couldn’t have found us, not now when we are so close. The Meskeen Officer’s mind whirred as he sifted through the possibilities. “Do the scouts have a count and type available?”
“Unit count coming in now sir. Scout’s say its five Intrepid class, 10 Saber class, three Nebula class and one Atlas class.”
The Captain visibly relaxed. That meant that it was only the Deep Range Exploratory Fleet that had been nosing around the Gamma Quadrant and not an attack fleet. Yet that still meant that System 450 would have unexpected and unwelcome pests soon. The Exploratory fleet had proven devilishly hard to keep track of, despite the ISC’s superior anti-cloak sensors. It didn’t help that for an exploration unit they kept an extremely intense sensor watch. The SWAC Nebula’s sensor dish was almost as good as a standard ISC sensor array, which meant that the tailing ISC ships were spotted nearly as soon as they picked up their quarry. Yet the Imperial Exploratory Fleet’s path was taking it closer and closer to the edge of ISC space. It was therefore not entirely unexpected that they would discover the lightly industrialized system of 450 and come in for a closer look.
It appeared that ISC Pacification Fleet’s recent training was about to be brought into a true trial by fire, for the Terran Empire must not yet learn of its impending doom even at this late of a date. While Intelligence said that the TE was short on Genesis warheads, with seeming proof provided by their lack of use even in the darkest days of the now stalled Grand Alliance offensive, it was best to cover all bases. The ISC had been burned by poor intelligence of the Terran Empire before, and it would not happen this time if any Commanding officers that Grot knew had anything to say on the matter.
“Orders from System Overlord Ilska sir. We are to go to red alert. All ships are to engage cloak and fall to a safe distance from the probable destination coordinates of the Imperial fleet. Once they have dropped out of warp, we will close to PPD range and take them out. The Imperial’s must not be allowed to escape. Attempt to capture if possible, but under no circumstances allow them to get away.”
“Transmit our acknowledgement and bring us to red alert. Order the Battlegroup to execute formation Renzik. Maintain cloak until I give the order to fire. Either they are very arrogant, which is a distinct possibility, or they think their cloak is more effective vs. our sensors than it really is. Judging from the sensor capabilities of our captured Galaxy, our cloaks are slightly better and should allow us to close undetected till we are in position to fire.”
ISS Voyager, Flag Bridge
Admiral Janeway looked on impassively as she sat in her command chair. The wraparound display panels filled the four points of the compass on Voyager’s somewhat cramped Flag Bridge, broken only by four doors. There was only so much room on a cruiser, and since a cruiser was the smallest Imperial warship to house a separate bridge for flag officers, it was understandably small in relation to larger vessel’s Flag Bridges. Just the same, it was hers and from it she commanded one of the best Battlegroups in all of Starfleet. The ships of her Battlegroup were close enough that Voyager’s passives could pick them up. They were drawn in on the viewscreens as transparent outlines indicating their cloaked status. The rainbow spray of stars shrank away, coalescing into fiery points of light as the Battlegroup dropped back into normal space. One point of light was slightly larger and more luminous than the rest, for it was the star who’s planets she had come to investigate.
The Aegis’ powerful passive sensors probed deep into the system, seeking out its fourth planet. It relayed its findings to Voyager so that she could see what Admiral October saw on the Flag Bridge of his Scifleet command ship. A small holoprojector came to life in front of Katherine’s seat. A serene M-class world appeared front and center, with the massive constructs of deep space construction yards and smelters along with what could only be defensive battle stations enveloping it. While they weren’t all that numerous, they were being expanded, and the sheer size of those completed indicated that this was a colony world of a major power. If, as their small number initially suggested, the orbital industry was the first attempts of a new species to build starships, there would be less of the truly massive ones. Yet nearly all of them would be capable of building a Wraith sized warship. It was most assuredly a colony world, no doubt about it.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing Admiral?” Horatio October’s deep tenor voice came over the secure whisker laser com.
“If you are referring to the apparent total absence of patrol starships then yes, I believe I am.” Janeway leaned foreword and rubbed the bridge of her nose while her mouth frowned. Something wasn’t right here she though as she stared at the plot. “You just don’t build all those shipyards and then leave their defense to fixed fortifications alone. There has to be starships out there, and since we can’t see them, they must be operating under cloak.”
“Should the Aegis we go active with her tachyon sensors?” October asked. From the sound of it he thought that it was an unappealing option. Katherine was apt to agree with him, for Scifleet though he may be, he knew that if the new species had the right sensors, activating her anti-cloak sensor systems would give away their position immediately despite their cloak. As she mulled over her options, it became a moot point.
ISCV Path of the True
Grot paced his bridge restlessly as a small moisturizer floating above him sent a fine mist down on him to keep his amphibian skin moist. The range wound down as his Battlegroup and others slowly closed the range to the very edge of what they knew Imperial anti-cloak sensors could detect. Finally they were all in position. Supreme Overlord Ilska transmitted the attack order and as one, the cloaked defenders of System 450 opened fire. Plasmatic Pulsar Devices had been refined considerably since the ISC and the Terran Empire last met. They had always been a long ranged weapon but Pronhoulite engineers and tweaked the design so that it was not only among the most powerful weapons known, it was also one of the longest ranged.
Erupting out of still cloaked ISC warships the PPD’s crashed down on the Voyager Battlegroup and their Scifleet charges. Most of the normal defensive fleet was out on maneuvers with 101st Pacification Fleet, but those remaining were more than sufficient. The PPD’s carrier beams streamed out across the vast gulf between the ISC ships and their Terran Empire targets. Once in place and on target, the carrier beam allowed plasma packets to travel FTL down its length. Their targets were basically naked, with neither shields nor ablative armor generators deployed, and the resulting carnage was to be expected when weapons that could fracture a moon met their exposed hulls.
Large though the Scifleet Nebulas and Atlas cargo ship might be, they were no where near up to current Imperial battle line standards in terms of survivability. Though the Nebulas possessed their Starfleet counterpart’s triple, reinforced hull, they lacked their heavy external armor and internal damage control and redundant systems. Even if they had had their meager defenses fully online, it wouldn’t have been enough to hold back the onslaught for long. The compact outline of their hulls were momentarily outlined in amber as the unexpected and overpowering blasts temporarily overloaded their cloaks’ stealth field. Plasma slammed into their nacelles and pylons, but at the range of the engagement, launching at targets under cloak, it was far from a precision strike. Most beams hit their targets near where their gunners desired them to, but some didn’t. A large section of Socrates saucer was cleaved away by the knife like plasma waves as the carrier beam played across her primary hull. The large ship rang like a gong as the five waves ate deep into her, exposing deck after deck to the cold vacuume of space. Her port nacelle was sheared off along with most of the left side of her secondary hull. Under the massive energy transfer, whole sections of Duranium hull matrix had no option but to vaporize into their component atoms, leaving gaping white hot wounds behind. Many trailed plasma flame as EPS conduits ruptured near Environmental system distribution trunks.
Imperial Exploratory Fleet 8, Delta Quadrant, Near Galactic Fringe
Voyager cruised along with her squadron mates and her charges leisurely through normal space. The SWAC Nebula was performing a long-range scan with her powerful sensors to see if there was anything of interest in the local area. So far, this area of the galaxy seemed not to possess any major powers. Most were small one or two system polities and only a handful had recently achieved warp flight. None had possessed significant amounts of needed resources, nor had any held any useful tech. Basically this region of space was a cosmic backwater, far away from any major powers and underdeveloped as a whole. In the old days, this area would be prime real estate for colonization. But not so any longer, for with the recent breaches in Starfleet loyalty and resurgent enemies surrounding the Empire on all sides new colonization was now on indefinite hold.
“The Aegis says she will complete her scan in two minutes Admiral.” Voyager’s captain, Scot Cavit, reported to his CO. He had been her first officer for many years before she was bumped up to Flag rank and he assumed her seat on Voyager’s Main Bridge.
“It’s about time. In a few more months, we should be finished with this babysitting mission and we can return to the front lines where we belong.” Janeway replied.
“I couldn’t agree more Admiral. All this nursemaiding to Scifleet is getting stale. We haven’t encountered a credible threat in weeks. Sims are fine as a stopgap, but nothing replaces actual combat to keep a crew on its toes.” Janeway’s head nodded in agreement on the small screen situated to the right of the Captain’s chair. Voyager didn’t have the holodisplay upgrade, but she did have three standard panel displays, one front and two to either side allowing for a wider view of surrounding space. They were currently showing the after aspects of the other ships in the Voyager Battlegroup and the three Scifleet Nebulas they were escorting.
“Incoming communiqué from the Aegis Sir.” Lt. Harry Kim spoke up from behind and to the left of Cavit. “It appears that they have found something of interest. It’s a system near the periphery of our scout path. It appears to be moderately industrialized and possesses spaceborn infrastructure around its fourth planet.”
“Well well Admiral, it looks like we will have something of interest after all. Do you think that that system could be where our recent shadow’s have come from?”
“Hmm, a distinct possibility seeing as how it’s the only nearby system that seems to have the tech base to do so. Cloak all vessels.” Janeway ordered. “Order the Aegis, Socrates, Othello, and Wallenstein,” Janeway named the three Scifleet vessels and their cargo ship, “to form up, Theta formation. The Battlegroup will lay in a course for that system and engage warp immediately. I want a standard recon sweep from the outer system. We don’t know who they are yet, and I don’t want any unnecessary surprises. Once we get a close in scan, we can better determine how to proceed.”
“As you command Admiral.” Cavit turned toward his helmsman as Janeway cut the communication. “Mr. Paris, plot a course for the new system, warp 9.”
“Aye sir. Laying in coordinates now. Battlegroup and Scifleet units have formed up, Theta formation. Warp drive is online and standing by.”
“Engage.”
Interstellar Concordium System 450, System Picket Battlegroup 84
Everything was going according to plan. The Terran Empire was as weak as it had been in a century, the ISC had rebuilt its shattered legions and had found a powerful ally in the Dominion. The time was ripe to strike. Only a few more months would be required to get the Dominion fleet back up to strength, then all would be brought under the Galactic Unity’s banner of peace and brotherhood. The tech briefings on the latest Imperial and Grand Alliance starship designs showed that the ISC enjoyed a quantitative advantage over them in many areas. With a little luck, the powers of the Alpha and Beta quadrants would soon be disarmed and would embrace the peace and prosperity being in the GU offered them. Without it, the pacification campaign would merely take longer with the end result being the same.
Aboard the ISC Battlecruiser Path of the True, it was highly evident that the time to the kickoff of the new pacification campaign was rapidly approaching. Ships were being turned out from repair/refit slips with redoubled speed. The training regimen was constantly speeding up of late, focusing on the ships of the GA and the TE. There had even been some late model ships dropped off for study and wargaming. Granted the crews placed on the three ex-Terran Empire Galaxies weren't up to Starfleet standards due to their unfamiliarity with the alien equipment and it’s maximum capabilities, but the Path of the True and her squadron mate Forge of Unity had handily beaten them in a 3 on 2 match up suffering only minor simulated damage in return. And the rumor mill had it that some Romulan D’deridexes and Klingon Negh’Var’s were due to come in as well. They were reported to have come fresh from the hidden shipyards that birthed them for both the Romulan Star and Klingon Empires. The Path of the True’s Meskeen captain, Grot, looked foreword to testing his mettle against the top of the line Battlecruisers of the premier members of the Grand Alliance.
“Captain, perimeter scouts report a group of starships approaching at high warp under cloak. They appear to be of Terran Empire origin!” Grot’s lynx like Korlivilaran tactical officer said tersely.
The frog like Meskeen’s black eyes seemed to bulge out of his head even more so than usual. No! They couldn’t have found us, not now when we are so close. The Meskeen Officer’s mind whirred as he sifted through the possibilities. “Do the scouts have a count and type available?”
“Unit count coming in now sir. Scout’s say its five Intrepid class, 10 Saber class, three Nebula class and one Atlas class.”
The Captain visibly relaxed. That meant that it was only the Deep Range Exploratory Fleet that had been nosing around the Gamma Quadrant and not an attack fleet. Yet that still meant that System 450 would have unexpected and unwelcome pests soon. The Exploratory fleet had proven devilishly hard to keep track of, despite the ISC’s superior anti-cloak sensors. It didn’t help that for an exploration unit they kept an extremely intense sensor watch. The SWAC Nebula’s sensor dish was almost as good as a standard ISC sensor array, which meant that the tailing ISC ships were spotted nearly as soon as they picked up their quarry. Yet the Imperial Exploratory Fleet’s path was taking it closer and closer to the edge of ISC space. It was therefore not entirely unexpected that they would discover the lightly industrialized system of 450 and come in for a closer look.
It appeared that ISC Pacification Fleet’s recent training was about to be brought into a true trial by fire, for the Terran Empire must not yet learn of its impending doom even at this late of a date. While Intelligence said that the TE was short on Genesis warheads, with seeming proof provided by their lack of use even in the darkest days of the now stalled Grand Alliance offensive, it was best to cover all bases. The ISC had been burned by poor intelligence of the Terran Empire before, and it would not happen this time if any Commanding officers that Grot knew had anything to say on the matter.
“Orders from System Overlord Ilska sir. We are to go to red alert. All ships are to engage cloak and fall to a safe distance from the probable destination coordinates of the Imperial fleet. Once they have dropped out of warp, we will close to PPD range and take them out. The Imperial’s must not be allowed to escape. Attempt to capture if possible, but under no circumstances allow them to get away.”
“Transmit our acknowledgement and bring us to red alert. Order the Battlegroup to execute formation Renzik. Maintain cloak until I give the order to fire. Either they are very arrogant, which is a distinct possibility, or they think their cloak is more effective vs. our sensors than it really is. Judging from the sensor capabilities of our captured Galaxy, our cloaks are slightly better and should allow us to close undetected till we are in position to fire.”
ISS Voyager, Flag Bridge
Admiral Janeway looked on impassively as she sat in her command chair. The wraparound display panels filled the four points of the compass on Voyager’s somewhat cramped Flag Bridge, broken only by four doors. There was only so much room on a cruiser, and since a cruiser was the smallest Imperial warship to house a separate bridge for flag officers, it was understandably small in relation to larger vessel’s Flag Bridges. Just the same, it was hers and from it she commanded one of the best Battlegroups in all of Starfleet. The ships of her Battlegroup were close enough that Voyager’s passives could pick them up. They were drawn in on the viewscreens as transparent outlines indicating their cloaked status. The rainbow spray of stars shrank away, coalescing into fiery points of light as the Battlegroup dropped back into normal space. One point of light was slightly larger and more luminous than the rest, for it was the star who’s planets she had come to investigate.
The Aegis’ powerful passive sensors probed deep into the system, seeking out its fourth planet. It relayed its findings to Voyager so that she could see what Admiral October saw on the Flag Bridge of his Scifleet command ship. A small holoprojector came to life in front of Katherine’s seat. A serene M-class world appeared front and center, with the massive constructs of deep space construction yards and smelters along with what could only be defensive battle stations enveloping it. While they weren’t all that numerous, they were being expanded, and the sheer size of those completed indicated that this was a colony world of a major power. If, as their small number initially suggested, the orbital industry was the first attempts of a new species to build starships, there would be less of the truly massive ones. Yet nearly all of them would be capable of building a Wraith sized warship. It was most assuredly a colony world, no doubt about it.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing Admiral?” Horatio October’s deep tenor voice came over the secure whisker laser com.
“If you are referring to the apparent total absence of patrol starships then yes, I believe I am.” Janeway leaned foreword and rubbed the bridge of her nose while her mouth frowned. Something wasn’t right here she though as she stared at the plot. “You just don’t build all those shipyards and then leave their defense to fixed fortifications alone. There has to be starships out there, and since we can’t see them, they must be operating under cloak.”
“Should the Aegis we go active with her tachyon sensors?” October asked. From the sound of it he thought that it was an unappealing option. Katherine was apt to agree with him, for Scifleet though he may be, he knew that if the new species had the right sensors, activating her anti-cloak sensor systems would give away their position immediately despite their cloak. As she mulled over her options, it became a moot point.
ISCV Path of the True
Grot paced his bridge restlessly as a small moisturizer floating above him sent a fine mist down on him to keep his amphibian skin moist. The range wound down as his Battlegroup and others slowly closed the range to the very edge of what they knew Imperial anti-cloak sensors could detect. Finally they were all in position. Supreme Overlord Ilska transmitted the attack order and as one, the cloaked defenders of System 450 opened fire. Plasmatic Pulsar Devices had been refined considerably since the ISC and the Terran Empire last met. They had always been a long ranged weapon but Pronhoulite engineers and tweaked the design so that it was not only among the most powerful weapons known, it was also one of the longest ranged.
Erupting out of still cloaked ISC warships the PPD’s crashed down on the Voyager Battlegroup and their Scifleet charges. Most of the normal defensive fleet was out on maneuvers with 101st Pacification Fleet, but those remaining were more than sufficient. The PPD’s carrier beams streamed out across the vast gulf between the ISC ships and their Terran Empire targets. Once in place and on target, the carrier beam allowed plasma packets to travel FTL down its length. Their targets were basically naked, with neither shields nor ablative armor generators deployed, and the resulting carnage was to be expected when weapons that could fracture a moon met their exposed hulls.
Large though the Scifleet Nebulas and Atlas cargo ship might be, they were no where near up to current Imperial battle line standards in terms of survivability. Though the Nebulas possessed their Starfleet counterpart’s triple, reinforced hull, they lacked their heavy external armor and internal damage control and redundant systems. Even if they had had their meager defenses fully online, it wouldn’t have been enough to hold back the onslaught for long. The compact outline of their hulls were momentarily outlined in amber as the unexpected and overpowering blasts temporarily overloaded their cloaks’ stealth field. Plasma slammed into their nacelles and pylons, but at the range of the engagement, launching at targets under cloak, it was far from a precision strike. Most beams hit their targets near where their gunners desired them to, but some didn’t. A large section of Socrates saucer was cleaved away by the knife like plasma waves as the carrier beam played across her primary hull. The large ship rang like a gong as the five waves ate deep into her, exposing deck after deck to the cold vacuume of space. Her port nacelle was sheared off along with most of the left side of her secondary hull. Under the massive energy transfer, whole sections of Duranium hull matrix had no option but to vaporize into their component atoms, leaving gaping white hot wounds behind. Many trailed plasma flame as EPS conduits ruptured near Environmental system distribution trunks.
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Chapter Eleven – Volley and Thunder
ISS Voyager
Deployed armor and active shields might have stemmed the worst of the damage, but the PPD was designed to be a long ranged heavy attack weapon. With it, ISC fleets could tear the heart out of enemy forces from well beyond their own maximum range. This was exactly what Path of the True and her consorts were doing to the Voyager Battlegroup. Waves of deadly plasma accelerated to FTL velocities slammed into the naked Imperial vessels, slashing into their hulls, wiping out phaser arrays, engines, shield grids, armor nodes and sensors.
The first inkling Voyager had that it was under attack was when the first plasma wave hit. By luck of the draw, it was only a glancing blow, but it was still more than sufficient to shear away a good portion of the upper front saucer section. Damage caused by the stupendous energies being released on her hull temporally overloaded her cloak’s ability to mask her signature. Her cloak failed in the area around the PPD strike while the rest of the ship remained cloaked. A third of her port dorsal phaser array and her secondary sensor array was obliterated. Flame and debris streamed into space only to be cut of abruptly as shimmering emergency force fields and thick armored bulkheads slammed into place. Then The force of the blast shunted Voyager down and to starboard. Then the cloak snapped back fully online hiding the hideous wound from all sensors.
Admiral Janeway and her staff were atomized when the knife of plasma cut deep into the armored primary hull and vaporized the Flag Bridge. They never even knew what hit them, never even suspected that they were the first direct casualties in the continuation of a war the Imperials thought won long ago.
The starfield shown on the main viewscreen on the bridge shifted as Voyager lurched drunkenly aside while her red alert alarms began to knell. Fleeting glimpses of destruction were caught on the shifting starfield as PPD’s streamed into the formation from nearly all sides. Starships flashed into fiery partial existence as their cloaks overloaded, then disappeared like phantoms leaving behind clouds of debris as their cloaks came back online. That was the truly scary thing, for the damage was happening so fast and against cloaked ships that there was no time to get an accurate reading on how badly the Battlegroup was being hurt.
Tom tried desperately to bring Voyager back under control even as the Battlegroup shed its failed stealth in favor of as much defensive systems as it could bring online. Socrates and Othello rippled out from under their cloak and began frantic evasion patterns in an effort to break weapons lock. ECM drones spat from their racks, creating exponentially expanding sensor signatures in an effort to confuse ISC sensors. Yet they did not know that standard Imperial deception ECM settings had been analyzed in their entirety by ISC engineers.
Path of the True
“Good hits on all targets.” The Korlivilaran said, then continued. “ECM drone separation sir.”
“I see it.” Grot said as his tactical repeater began to blossom hostile signatures. Yet a full ¾ of them disappeared rapidly as CIC rightly designated them as attempts to spoof the sensor systems and squelched them out. While the plot was still cluttered with false signatures, starships regularly fought using the full play of their ECM systems. The effective drones represented more of a nuisance than anything else and one that would soon be eliminated.
“Order the BG to close to extreme plasma torp range and engage with all tubes” The powerful Battlecruisers thrusted to 85 PSL while their smaller consorts kept pace easily. The ISC’s new internal damper design allowed for a full 10% increase in dependable max speed. An ISC Destroyer could press 90 PSL with little inherent risk
Voyager
Captain Cavit was in shock. The Admiral was gone. Admiral October soon joined her as the dyeing Socrates blew in half as her AM tanks and warp core let go. With his death, command of the Battlegroup devolved to him.
“Order the Battlegroup to go to warp NOW!” Cavit shouted.
“Impossible Captain.” Tuvok coolly responded from his Tactical station. “A high level anti warp field has come online. Warp speed is impossible.”
“Then lay in a course for the nearest subspace corridor locus!” He ordered even as he gripped the armrests of his command chair tightly. Tom Paris was maneuvering Voyager as hard as he could in an effort to avoid the PPD fire. Unfortunately even the enemy destroyers mounted, them if not in the numbers the larger ships did. A spinning, shattered warp nacelle from the Othello flashed across the main viewscreen as Tom twitched his ship to avoid it at the last second.
“Enemy is closing on us sir. Sensors say 85 PSL!” Harry Kim told his Captain with an edge of panic piercing his usual almost Vulcan like coolness.
“But that’s insane, their sure to have a compensator failure!”
“The sensors don’t lie sir. All Enemy vessels are closing at a steady 85 PSL.”
“What’s the estimated time to the nearest locus and enemy intercept at present speed?” The Captain demanded.
Tuvok regarded him levelly. “One minute 23.8 seconds and 62.5 seconds respectively. Their formation is slightly out of formation. If their lead elements can be delayed we should be able to make it to the locus before they can overtake us.” Voyager was rocked violently as the remnants of a PPD strike hit her aft shields. It was fortunate that one of the Battlegroups few surviving Saber’s had been almost directly in the line of fire. Its sacrifice was the only thing that allowed the flagship to survive. “Aft shields now down to 5%”
“Sir,” Kim shouted, “CIC says that the enemy is most likely the Interstellar Concordium. Weapons are consistent with known Plasmatic Pulsar Device effects.”
“Oh hell...” Scot murmured. So the ISC hadn’t been nearly totally destroyed as was originally thought. They had packed up stakes and set about rebuilding their shattered military out here on the galactic rim about as far away from Imperial space as possible.
“Captain, Aegis is reporting new sensor contacts bearing 183 Mark 127 approaching at high warp.” The Scifleet Nebula might be missing half of her starboard warp nacelle and a good chunk of her main deflector, but her sensor suite was still kicking and her impulse drive was pushing her hard to keep pace with the rest of the fleeing Battlegroup. Of course one Nebula, two Intrepids and a Saber, all with battle damage and only one with functional warp engines wasn’t much of a Battlegroup. “Preliminary scans indicate that they are a mix of ISC and... and Dominion vessels sir!”
“Well isn’t that lovely!” Cavit turned to Lt. Kim. “Give me the Vanguard on secure com.”
“Channel open.”
The haunted face of the Vanguard’s First Officer stared back at Scot.
“Captain Michelin is dead sir, I have assumed command.” Cmdr. Justin Beach said. “I think I know why you’re calling sir. Datalink has sent Aegis’ data to us as well. The Empire must learn of this new threat. We’ll do our duty.”
“I expected nothing less Cmdr.” Scot said with mingled respect and regret. Both knew that only one solution held the best chance of successful escape for the lone ship left in the Voyager Battlegroup that was FTL capable to escape. Part of Scot longed to save at least some part of the other ships personnel, but both he and the other CO’s knew that their was neither the time available nor the space onboard Voyager to house more than a handful.
“Good luck Sir.”
“Same to you Cmdr.”
“Don’t worry sir, well keep em off your back.”
Beach gave a series of orders, and seconds later the three remaining consorts to the ISS Voyager swung about. The damaged portions of their hulls and their warp nacelles were still glowing white hot despite the cold of space, yet their impulse drives were still fully functional. Turning to face the enemy, they began to shed escape pods as all nonessential crew and scientists were ordered to abandon ship. The range dropped and PPD fire slackened. Because the carrier beam sent the plasma into subspace for it’s transit to the target, it was only effective at long range. At shorter ranges, there wasn’t enough distance to both send the plasma waves into subspace and then return them to normal space using any known means. That didn’t mean that the ISC vessels teeth had been pulled by any stretch of the imagination, for they still had powerful phaser strips and plasma torpedo batteries. The first volley of yellow plasma torps flashed across space shortly after the surviving imperials launched their quantums. Yet the lead ISC vessels couldn’t maneuver excessively lest they allow Voyager a lead on them that they would be unable to make up short of the locus. Nearly every quantum hit it’s target in spite of the ISC’s ECM, for it took quite a bit to fool a SWAC sensor suite.
At the same time the far from nimble plasma torps had to close on furiously jinking targets that, even robbed of ¾ of their customary ECM effectiveness, were considerably harder to hit than their enemies. The blue orbs of quantum torpedoes slammed into ISC Destroyers now firewalling their drives to their max 90 PSL and beyond. Even without a weapons pod, a Nebula still possessed the high capacity quantum tube mounted just above its main deflector dish. Volleys of eight quantums spat from it every five seconds and were joined by a steady stream coming from the Saber and Intrepid. The handful of ISC Destroyers escorting the trio of Battlecruisers was cut down short of intercepting Cavit’s command. The three Battlecruisers were forced to begin maneuvering as their shields were stripped away lest a lucky hit take out their impulse drives and allow Voyager to escape. The distance between the lead ISC vessels and their highest priority target grew with each passing second, and the enemy commander knew this all to well. Fire shifted from trying to hit the elusive Voyager to the three charging Imperial ships. They were considerably closer, and once the ISC ships no longer had to worry about their fire, they could still catch Cavit short of the undefended locus and prevent his escape.
All enemy vessels in range turned their fire on the charging Imperials. Range between the lead ISC vessels and the Imperials was winding down fast as they closed on each other at significant fractions of the speed of light. Phaser fire formed a deadly latticework between the 6 ships. It was joined by PPD fire from the more distant ISC formations and the end result was never in doubt. Aegis was blown apart, the largest surviving piece the size of a man’s fist. The small Saber class Yanakov was cut roughly in half in a cloud of vaporized alloy and armor. Vanguard staggered as long ranged PPD fire clawed at her secondary hull. Her impulse engine was sheared violently off, ceasing her violent evasion patterns and making her a sitting duck for the long ranged snipers closing on her position
Adrift, its engines mangled, sparking wrecks leaking drive plasma in the ship’s wake, the Vanguard awaited her execution. The enemy swung leisurely toward her, bringing both his powerful PPD and Plasma Torpedo banks on target. The orange beam streamed out from the PPD emitter, intersecting with the stricken Intrepid. The first of five yellow plasma waves dutifully followed the carrier beam down on their target. A loud CRUNCH echoed throughout the Cruiser as it was shaken violently, a large fracture with molten edges forming in what remained of her outer hull and armor. A second CRUNCH, this one louder than the first was heard, forcing the breech wider still, opening more compartments to space. Chunks of ruptured hull plate and splintered bulkheads now trailed from the Intrepid, joining a growing swarm of lifeboats. The third and fourth plasma waves hit, causing the ship to creak and groan from the stresses as her SIF labored to hold the mangled wreckage together. The fifth wave struck with a pair of plasma torps, finally burrowing through the dyeing Intrepid’s inner hull to find her AM storage tanks. The resulting explosion claimed what was left of the Imperial Cruiser, vaporizing a good portion of her secondary and primary hulls, sending the remaining primary hull pin wheeling foreword trailing debris and flames. The nacelle pylons and scorched and broken warp nacelles blew aft from the boil of light that marked the ISS Vanguard’s funeral pyre.
But she and her lost consorts had bought the time that Cavit so desperately needed. Voyager flashed from normal space and into the subspace domain that held the subspace corridor network just as an avalanche of PPD fire crisscrossed its vacated location.
The angry, swirling reddish orange tube like vortex of a subspace corridor formed around Voyager and she brought her warp engines to full power. The ISC knew how to use subspace corridors, for they had been using them for over 100 years longer than the Empire. And there the come Cavit thought. A trio of ISC Battlecruisers popped into the corridor, but because of the lead granted to him by the Battlegroups sacrifice, they could only gain on him slowly. Their warp drives were more powerful than his, enabling them to slowly make up the distance and engage him, but they would have to close to phaser range. ISC plasma torpedoes didn’t have warp sustainer engines and PPD’s, by all Imperial science had been able to figure out about them, shouldn’t work in subspace corridors.
ISS Voyager
Deployed armor and active shields might have stemmed the worst of the damage, but the PPD was designed to be a long ranged heavy attack weapon. With it, ISC fleets could tear the heart out of enemy forces from well beyond their own maximum range. This was exactly what Path of the True and her consorts were doing to the Voyager Battlegroup. Waves of deadly plasma accelerated to FTL velocities slammed into the naked Imperial vessels, slashing into their hulls, wiping out phaser arrays, engines, shield grids, armor nodes and sensors.
The first inkling Voyager had that it was under attack was when the first plasma wave hit. By luck of the draw, it was only a glancing blow, but it was still more than sufficient to shear away a good portion of the upper front saucer section. Damage caused by the stupendous energies being released on her hull temporally overloaded her cloak’s ability to mask her signature. Her cloak failed in the area around the PPD strike while the rest of the ship remained cloaked. A third of her port dorsal phaser array and her secondary sensor array was obliterated. Flame and debris streamed into space only to be cut of abruptly as shimmering emergency force fields and thick armored bulkheads slammed into place. Then The force of the blast shunted Voyager down and to starboard. Then the cloak snapped back fully online hiding the hideous wound from all sensors.
Admiral Janeway and her staff were atomized when the knife of plasma cut deep into the armored primary hull and vaporized the Flag Bridge. They never even knew what hit them, never even suspected that they were the first direct casualties in the continuation of a war the Imperials thought won long ago.
The starfield shown on the main viewscreen on the bridge shifted as Voyager lurched drunkenly aside while her red alert alarms began to knell. Fleeting glimpses of destruction were caught on the shifting starfield as PPD’s streamed into the formation from nearly all sides. Starships flashed into fiery partial existence as their cloaks overloaded, then disappeared like phantoms leaving behind clouds of debris as their cloaks came back online. That was the truly scary thing, for the damage was happening so fast and against cloaked ships that there was no time to get an accurate reading on how badly the Battlegroup was being hurt.
Tom tried desperately to bring Voyager back under control even as the Battlegroup shed its failed stealth in favor of as much defensive systems as it could bring online. Socrates and Othello rippled out from under their cloak and began frantic evasion patterns in an effort to break weapons lock. ECM drones spat from their racks, creating exponentially expanding sensor signatures in an effort to confuse ISC sensors. Yet they did not know that standard Imperial deception ECM settings had been analyzed in their entirety by ISC engineers.
Path of the True
“Good hits on all targets.” The Korlivilaran said, then continued. “ECM drone separation sir.”
“I see it.” Grot said as his tactical repeater began to blossom hostile signatures. Yet a full ¾ of them disappeared rapidly as CIC rightly designated them as attempts to spoof the sensor systems and squelched them out. While the plot was still cluttered with false signatures, starships regularly fought using the full play of their ECM systems. The effective drones represented more of a nuisance than anything else and one that would soon be eliminated.
“Order the BG to close to extreme plasma torp range and engage with all tubes” The powerful Battlecruisers thrusted to 85 PSL while their smaller consorts kept pace easily. The ISC’s new internal damper design allowed for a full 10% increase in dependable max speed. An ISC Destroyer could press 90 PSL with little inherent risk
Voyager
Captain Cavit was in shock. The Admiral was gone. Admiral October soon joined her as the dyeing Socrates blew in half as her AM tanks and warp core let go. With his death, command of the Battlegroup devolved to him.
“Order the Battlegroup to go to warp NOW!” Cavit shouted.
“Impossible Captain.” Tuvok coolly responded from his Tactical station. “A high level anti warp field has come online. Warp speed is impossible.”
“Then lay in a course for the nearest subspace corridor locus!” He ordered even as he gripped the armrests of his command chair tightly. Tom Paris was maneuvering Voyager as hard as he could in an effort to avoid the PPD fire. Unfortunately even the enemy destroyers mounted, them if not in the numbers the larger ships did. A spinning, shattered warp nacelle from the Othello flashed across the main viewscreen as Tom twitched his ship to avoid it at the last second.
“Enemy is closing on us sir. Sensors say 85 PSL!” Harry Kim told his Captain with an edge of panic piercing his usual almost Vulcan like coolness.
“But that’s insane, their sure to have a compensator failure!”
“The sensors don’t lie sir. All Enemy vessels are closing at a steady 85 PSL.”
“What’s the estimated time to the nearest locus and enemy intercept at present speed?” The Captain demanded.
Tuvok regarded him levelly. “One minute 23.8 seconds and 62.5 seconds respectively. Their formation is slightly out of formation. If their lead elements can be delayed we should be able to make it to the locus before they can overtake us.” Voyager was rocked violently as the remnants of a PPD strike hit her aft shields. It was fortunate that one of the Battlegroups few surviving Saber’s had been almost directly in the line of fire. Its sacrifice was the only thing that allowed the flagship to survive. “Aft shields now down to 5%”
“Sir,” Kim shouted, “CIC says that the enemy is most likely the Interstellar Concordium. Weapons are consistent with known Plasmatic Pulsar Device effects.”
“Oh hell...” Scot murmured. So the ISC hadn’t been nearly totally destroyed as was originally thought. They had packed up stakes and set about rebuilding their shattered military out here on the galactic rim about as far away from Imperial space as possible.
“Captain, Aegis is reporting new sensor contacts bearing 183 Mark 127 approaching at high warp.” The Scifleet Nebula might be missing half of her starboard warp nacelle and a good chunk of her main deflector, but her sensor suite was still kicking and her impulse drive was pushing her hard to keep pace with the rest of the fleeing Battlegroup. Of course one Nebula, two Intrepids and a Saber, all with battle damage and only one with functional warp engines wasn’t much of a Battlegroup. “Preliminary scans indicate that they are a mix of ISC and... and Dominion vessels sir!”
“Well isn’t that lovely!” Cavit turned to Lt. Kim. “Give me the Vanguard on secure com.”
“Channel open.”
The haunted face of the Vanguard’s First Officer stared back at Scot.
“Captain Michelin is dead sir, I have assumed command.” Cmdr. Justin Beach said. “I think I know why you’re calling sir. Datalink has sent Aegis’ data to us as well. The Empire must learn of this new threat. We’ll do our duty.”
“I expected nothing less Cmdr.” Scot said with mingled respect and regret. Both knew that only one solution held the best chance of successful escape for the lone ship left in the Voyager Battlegroup that was FTL capable to escape. Part of Scot longed to save at least some part of the other ships personnel, but both he and the other CO’s knew that their was neither the time available nor the space onboard Voyager to house more than a handful.
“Good luck Sir.”
“Same to you Cmdr.”
“Don’t worry sir, well keep em off your back.”
Beach gave a series of orders, and seconds later the three remaining consorts to the ISS Voyager swung about. The damaged portions of their hulls and their warp nacelles were still glowing white hot despite the cold of space, yet their impulse drives were still fully functional. Turning to face the enemy, they began to shed escape pods as all nonessential crew and scientists were ordered to abandon ship. The range dropped and PPD fire slackened. Because the carrier beam sent the plasma into subspace for it’s transit to the target, it was only effective at long range. At shorter ranges, there wasn’t enough distance to both send the plasma waves into subspace and then return them to normal space using any known means. That didn’t mean that the ISC vessels teeth had been pulled by any stretch of the imagination, for they still had powerful phaser strips and plasma torpedo batteries. The first volley of yellow plasma torps flashed across space shortly after the surviving imperials launched their quantums. Yet the lead ISC vessels couldn’t maneuver excessively lest they allow Voyager a lead on them that they would be unable to make up short of the locus. Nearly every quantum hit it’s target in spite of the ISC’s ECM, for it took quite a bit to fool a SWAC sensor suite.
At the same time the far from nimble plasma torps had to close on furiously jinking targets that, even robbed of ¾ of their customary ECM effectiveness, were considerably harder to hit than their enemies. The blue orbs of quantum torpedoes slammed into ISC Destroyers now firewalling their drives to their max 90 PSL and beyond. Even without a weapons pod, a Nebula still possessed the high capacity quantum tube mounted just above its main deflector dish. Volleys of eight quantums spat from it every five seconds and were joined by a steady stream coming from the Saber and Intrepid. The handful of ISC Destroyers escorting the trio of Battlecruisers was cut down short of intercepting Cavit’s command. The three Battlecruisers were forced to begin maneuvering as their shields were stripped away lest a lucky hit take out their impulse drives and allow Voyager to escape. The distance between the lead ISC vessels and their highest priority target grew with each passing second, and the enemy commander knew this all to well. Fire shifted from trying to hit the elusive Voyager to the three charging Imperial ships. They were considerably closer, and once the ISC ships no longer had to worry about their fire, they could still catch Cavit short of the undefended locus and prevent his escape.
All enemy vessels in range turned their fire on the charging Imperials. Range between the lead ISC vessels and the Imperials was winding down fast as they closed on each other at significant fractions of the speed of light. Phaser fire formed a deadly latticework between the 6 ships. It was joined by PPD fire from the more distant ISC formations and the end result was never in doubt. Aegis was blown apart, the largest surviving piece the size of a man’s fist. The small Saber class Yanakov was cut roughly in half in a cloud of vaporized alloy and armor. Vanguard staggered as long ranged PPD fire clawed at her secondary hull. Her impulse engine was sheared violently off, ceasing her violent evasion patterns and making her a sitting duck for the long ranged snipers closing on her position
Adrift, its engines mangled, sparking wrecks leaking drive plasma in the ship’s wake, the Vanguard awaited her execution. The enemy swung leisurely toward her, bringing both his powerful PPD and Plasma Torpedo banks on target. The orange beam streamed out from the PPD emitter, intersecting with the stricken Intrepid. The first of five yellow plasma waves dutifully followed the carrier beam down on their target. A loud CRUNCH echoed throughout the Cruiser as it was shaken violently, a large fracture with molten edges forming in what remained of her outer hull and armor. A second CRUNCH, this one louder than the first was heard, forcing the breech wider still, opening more compartments to space. Chunks of ruptured hull plate and splintered bulkheads now trailed from the Intrepid, joining a growing swarm of lifeboats. The third and fourth plasma waves hit, causing the ship to creak and groan from the stresses as her SIF labored to hold the mangled wreckage together. The fifth wave struck with a pair of plasma torps, finally burrowing through the dyeing Intrepid’s inner hull to find her AM storage tanks. The resulting explosion claimed what was left of the Imperial Cruiser, vaporizing a good portion of her secondary and primary hulls, sending the remaining primary hull pin wheeling foreword trailing debris and flames. The nacelle pylons and scorched and broken warp nacelles blew aft from the boil of light that marked the ISS Vanguard’s funeral pyre.
But she and her lost consorts had bought the time that Cavit so desperately needed. Voyager flashed from normal space and into the subspace domain that held the subspace corridor network just as an avalanche of PPD fire crisscrossed its vacated location.
The angry, swirling reddish orange tube like vortex of a subspace corridor formed around Voyager and she brought her warp engines to full power. The ISC knew how to use subspace corridors, for they had been using them for over 100 years longer than the Empire. And there the come Cavit thought. A trio of ISC Battlecruisers popped into the corridor, but because of the lead granted to him by the Battlegroups sacrifice, they could only gain on him slowly. Their warp drives were more powerful than his, enabling them to slowly make up the distance and engage him, but they would have to close to phaser range. ISC plasma torpedoes didn’t have warp sustainer engines and PPD’s, by all Imperial science had been able to figure out about them, shouldn’t work in subspace corridors.
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HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter Thirteen – Starbase 2000
Starbase 2000, Delta Quadrant
The dirtside component of Starbase 2000 was a cool M-class planet barely inside the liquid water zone of the local Yellow, main sequence sun known as Prescott’s Star. The change in orbit to make the planet warmer was deemed by Starfleet Command to be so insignificant to be uneconomical to move, so vast polar ice caps covered much of the planet. Near the equator, the mean temperature was pleasant, but at the poles, the temperature regularly plummeted to well, WELL below freezing. The planet was called Lilith, and though the system was well into former Borg held space, but the system possessed no intelligent life and few resources that the Borg didn’t already have in more populous systems. Just the same, there was a significant metal heavy asteroid belt and some of the moons orbiting the star’s gas giants could make excellent colony worlds in the future.
But that wasn’t the reason Starfleet chose Prescott’s Star for the location of its primary base of operations in the Delta Quadrant. The main reason was that Prescott’s Star, like only a handful of other systems yet discovered, was a rather large nexus of subspace corridor loci. While most systems held around four or five loci, Prescott’s Star held upwards of 20. Many were still being plotted by Scifleet vessels to allow accurate navigation through them, but one could already travel throughout most of the Delta quadrant from Prescott’s Star without having to “change lanes” through another star system.
It was on Lilith, in the Capital city of Eden, where the Starfleet brass responsible for one of the largest Starbases, Fleetyards and conglomeration of colonized sectors outside of the core worlds met to plan out how to put the government’s vision into practice. Although Lilith’s population had grown to over five billion in the ten years since the colony was founded, it was still under Starfleet jurisdiction. While the original prestige of the post may have left as Starfleet and the Empire became preoccupied with pressing concerns elsewhere, there was still a colony to run and a gaggle of sectors to rule.
Inside the Sector Council Chambers there was a collection of brass not seen outside of Starfleet Command on Terra. All officers of Flag Rank were required to attend, as it would be they that executed first the Terran Council and now the Emperor’s will. One would have thought that such a collection of high-ranking officers would be a prime target for any faction with a grudge against the Terran Empire, and indeed it is. But the assembled officers had given weighty kickbacks to local criminal cartels for protection and intel official sources couldn’t provide. They felt secure in their security precautions. No external force could get past the system’s defenses before they could be whisked away via transporter and no local force could slip past their security net. Or so they thought.
Unity Operative 11J, Outside the Sector Council Chambers, Eden
The operative slunk about in the shadows of the vibrant and growing city. It was through a combination of factors that he could succeed where others would be caught. Even though the Terran Empire was currently engaged in a war with eight other powers, the security measures at this base had grown lax. The security of Starbase 2000 had grown considerably more haphazard over the recent years. Most of it was due to diligent and dedicated personnel being shifted to more active posts. Part of it was due to the stepping down of Starbase 2000’s priority being seen as a green light to begin dumping the true dregs of Starfleet there so they wouldn’t bother anyone else. But no matter the cause, the new holes in the base’s security umbrella meant that an operative could sneak into the base, and with a little liberal palm greasing, bring explosives as well.
From beneath his tunic, the operative pulled a remote detonator. After pressing the lone button, a booming explosion was heard. The Sector Council Chambers collapsed in on itself, crushing nearly every ranking Starfleet Flag Officer in the Delta Quadrant under thousands and thousands of tons of rubble. From here and there, wild cheers could be heard from small knots of Starfleet personnel. Others, the young officers and enlisted personnel yet to be corrupted by the growing rot of the place, could only stare in wild-eyed, terror filled disbelief as death visited their upper ranks almost to a man. Civil defense and emergency response team alarms began to sound throughout the city.
From his place in the shadows, the operative working towards the ends of the Galactic Unity straightened upright while at the same time searching for any prying eyes. Finding none with both his eyes and passive sensor suite, his ancient, vagabond style clothing shifted to liquid and reformed into the Starfleet command branch uniform. His face shifted, taking the form of the junior officer he had first come across that fitted his needs. The young Lieutenant had been so young, so trusting, it was pitifully easy to vaporize him and assume his identity. With a brief grin at his success, the Changeling put on his game face and joined the Starfleeters running towards the Council Chambers in a vain attempt to render aid. There were only a few thousand Founders left thanks to the surprise attack by the Terran Empire on their homeworld. The Jem’Hadar responsible for his safety had been nearly implacable when they learned that he planned to join the advance team of operatives that would lay the groundwork for the coming offensive. They had argued, and it took a lot of desperation to make a Jem’Hadar argue with a God, that the risks such exposure would entail would be unacceptable given the current situation. The Founder had almost agreed with them, but the success of the proposed mission took paramount over his life, and only a Changeling could pull the mission off. And since no one suspected him, he could remain to continue sowing death, destruction and chaos in preparation to the Unity assault on this system.
ISS Valley Forge, 8 minutes out from Starbase 2000
Ulysses was pleased with the way his Battlegroup was coming together. The four Wraith (U)s of the Battlegroup, theMuteki, Thanatos, Kraken and Heidon were, after removing some rough edges, performing admirably in the squadron level sims. Their CO’s had been recommended by T’var as being of agreeable mindset, and they were proving very useful in bringing most of the flotilla’s escort commanders inline. Most Captains were able to recommend which CO’s would be under them in their Battlegroups’ command structure. Since Ulysses also had the Lion of Terra, his requests held more sway with the brass than your average Fleet Captain would have. But while his fellow superdreadnought squadronmates might be ones of his choosing, many of the Battlegroup’s escorts were not. Although many were following the example of their Flag Captain, whose command style was backed up by stellar efficiency numbers, many were bound and determined to bring up their own sloppy numbers through violent means. While capital punishment for the Battlegroup as a whole was down considerably from Starfleet norm, on certain ships it was up by an astounding margin. One thing was certain, Commissar Stevens was surely taking detailed notes on all the comings and goings of his command. While she knew full well that he was more easygoing in the gratuitous punishment area than most officers in the fleet, she most certainly couldn’t argue with the results his command style was bearing.
At the very least, Starbase needed a strong hand right now. From all reports, the attack on the Eden Council Chamber had been a disaster. The current ranking officer for the entire sector was a very junior Commodore from Supply and Spare Requisition. Starfleet Command had sent word that replacement Sector Commander and other flag personnel had been sent, but they would be months away. Till they arrived, it looked like it would be up to a young Captain to whip the station into shape. Although he might not have traditional seniority, the Lion of Terra on his left breast gave him all the seniority he would need. Not that it would be easy, nor without a large amount of risk, but it was what needed to be done.
“Coming up on Starbase 2000 Skipper.” Demora interrupted his thoughts. Ulysses was about to reply when the significance of what she had said hit him. Crew were very particular of to whom the ancient honorific of Skipper was bestowed. It spoke volumes of the mutual trust that had been built up during the long weeks of travel. While Ulysses didn’t spare any officer or crewmember corporal punishment when it was warranted, he never used it as a means to play his crew off of each other and never used it for minor infractions. While some crewmen initially used this less harsh regime to their benefit, they eventually brought a thorough punishment down upon themselves and became ostracized from the majority of their crewmates who were trying their darndest to give 110%.
“Thank you helm.” Ulysses replied warmly. “Slow to full impulse.”
“Aye Sir.”
The assembled warships with their minnow like escorts slowed from Slipstream. With the five upgraded Wraiths in an X formation in their center, 25 Achilles Destroyers, 25 Soulwolf Heavy Destroyers and two Aegean Fleet Support Destroyers rounded out the Valley Forge Battlegroup. The star flecked ebon black of normal space stretched out around them.
“IIF interrogation coming in, automated system only.” P’tel said with an arched eyebrow.
“Automated only? Where’s the duty watch officer?”
“Unknown sir.”
“Open a channel.”
“Channel open.”
“Starbase 2000, this is Captain Vanguard of the Valley Forge, respond.”
There was a noticeable lag, and Ulysses was about to repeat his demand when the com screen finally blossomed to life. It showed a nonchalant young officer who looked irritated at having been disturbed.
“Yah, yah, just pull up and dock wherever there is a free space.” He flippantly replied, then the com channel closed. Ulysses eyes bulged. He knew things had deteriorated, but this was verging on the insane.
“Sir, sensors indicate that there are a large number of independent merchant and pleasure craft docked to the Starbase proper!” Cmdr. Davenport said in a shocked tone.
“What!” That WAS insane. No Starfleet facility permitted docking directly with their facilities. It was far to easy to have ‘accidents’ that crippled them that way. Ulysses shifted his holo display to tactical mode and like an orchestra conductor spun and zoomed the display so that the still distant weapons studded mushroom like shape of Starbase 2000 was clearly visible. Sure enough, there were a multitude of alien vessels docked to it’s external ports. If even one of them induced their warp core to breach, the explosion would cause serious damage to the station before it could spool its shields up. Most of the system defense fleet was at anchor in geosync orbit near the Starbase, with only the bare minimum of patrols out. Ulysses shook his head in disbelief. From looking at the readiness of this base, you could never tell that the Empire was at war.
“Alright, this is how we are going to play this. I want our full marine compliment in power armor ready by the time we dock. Order the rest of the Battlegroup to provide overwatch while the Forge docks. Once we are docked, I want...”
Starbase 2000, 10 minutes later
Ulysses strode into Ops with his command cloak billowing behind him. A plethora of alien species stared back at him or ignored him. There were only two dozen or in Starfleet black and silver, and they seemed to be in the middle of deals or drinks or both. The mood of Ops was more like a lounge than the nerve center for the entire systems defense. With a quick scan of the room, Ulysses found a likely suspect. He was a trim looking Command branch Captain well into middle age with a nasty looking scar on his cheek, and he seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in the two female aliens purring sweet nothings into his ears. Ulysses approached him directly and when he was standing directly in front of him, yet in the dim light it was hard to see him without activating his enhanced Borg vision. He put all the command snap into his voice that he could.
“Are you in charge of this rabble?!” The Captain took a few seconds to acknowledge Ulysses presence, and behind him, Ulysses heard the room go silent at his cold demand.
“I might be, what business is it of yours? I think that you better go back to your ship and stay there. You have no authority here little boy, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now.” He said with an arrogant smile. Many had tried to take command of Starbase 2000 and make something out of it, but they had all succumbed to its rot eventually. And now with all other high ranking officers out of the way, Captain Styles was free to take charge of the station. His bailiwick might be a cesspool but it was by God HIS cesspool now and no uppity young snot was going to get his just deserts away from him. The young pup in front of him couldn’t be any more than his early twenties. And if he couldn’t be made to see reason, well then that was what he had the other personnel on the Ops deck for. They liked the recent changes in command and didn’t have any desire to rock the boat. In fact, they had strong incentive to keep things as they were for as long as possible.
“I asked you a question Captain and I expect an answer.” Ulysses continued, and his voice was like liquid nitrogen. The room behind him had gone dead silent and more than a few of the aliens were making their way discreetly out of the room. Many others were looking on at the growing confrontation with eyes eager to see what happened next.
A slight frown crossed Stiles’ face. Couldn’t this wet behind the ears pup take a hint. He was alone, yet not a hint of fear came from him. “I don’t give a good God damn what you expect ‘Captain’,” Stiles put as much scorn into the title as humanly possible, “but since you can’t take the hint...” Stiles pulled his phaser from its holster in a fluid motion that was over in an eyeblink. From the soft scrapping sounds behind him and a few eager snickers, the rest of the Ops officers and enlisted personnel had pulled their own phasers as well. “Now unless you have an army squirreled away somewhere ‘Captain’, you better get out of here before you wind up in Sickbay... or the Morgue!”
“Well I guess I can’t argue with you Captain.” Ulysses said in a meek and mild tone, putting on his best scared looking expression. “It’s evident who has the upper hand here.” Stiles’ grin grew enormously as Ulysses cautiously backed away half a step. Then Ulysses half shadowed face flashed a clearly predatory smile. “Isn’t it Gunny?”
“Aye, It is indeed sir.” A disembodied voice said from an empty space in Ops. Stiles grin disappeared instantly, as did those on the rest of the Ops staff. A split second later, 20 figures in full power armor decloaked around the Ops deck. All hefted grav guns filled with flechette rounds. And all were expert marksmen. At the spitting range of the Ops deck, if they fired things would get very messy very fast.
Starbase 2000, Delta Quadrant
The dirtside component of Starbase 2000 was a cool M-class planet barely inside the liquid water zone of the local Yellow, main sequence sun known as Prescott’s Star. The change in orbit to make the planet warmer was deemed by Starfleet Command to be so insignificant to be uneconomical to move, so vast polar ice caps covered much of the planet. Near the equator, the mean temperature was pleasant, but at the poles, the temperature regularly plummeted to well, WELL below freezing. The planet was called Lilith, and though the system was well into former Borg held space, but the system possessed no intelligent life and few resources that the Borg didn’t already have in more populous systems. Just the same, there was a significant metal heavy asteroid belt and some of the moons orbiting the star’s gas giants could make excellent colony worlds in the future.
But that wasn’t the reason Starfleet chose Prescott’s Star for the location of its primary base of operations in the Delta Quadrant. The main reason was that Prescott’s Star, like only a handful of other systems yet discovered, was a rather large nexus of subspace corridor loci. While most systems held around four or five loci, Prescott’s Star held upwards of 20. Many were still being plotted by Scifleet vessels to allow accurate navigation through them, but one could already travel throughout most of the Delta quadrant from Prescott’s Star without having to “change lanes” through another star system.
It was on Lilith, in the Capital city of Eden, where the Starfleet brass responsible for one of the largest Starbases, Fleetyards and conglomeration of colonized sectors outside of the core worlds met to plan out how to put the government’s vision into practice. Although Lilith’s population had grown to over five billion in the ten years since the colony was founded, it was still under Starfleet jurisdiction. While the original prestige of the post may have left as Starfleet and the Empire became preoccupied with pressing concerns elsewhere, there was still a colony to run and a gaggle of sectors to rule.
Inside the Sector Council Chambers there was a collection of brass not seen outside of Starfleet Command on Terra. All officers of Flag Rank were required to attend, as it would be they that executed first the Terran Council and now the Emperor’s will. One would have thought that such a collection of high-ranking officers would be a prime target for any faction with a grudge against the Terran Empire, and indeed it is. But the assembled officers had given weighty kickbacks to local criminal cartels for protection and intel official sources couldn’t provide. They felt secure in their security precautions. No external force could get past the system’s defenses before they could be whisked away via transporter and no local force could slip past their security net. Or so they thought.
Unity Operative 11J, Outside the Sector Council Chambers, Eden
The operative slunk about in the shadows of the vibrant and growing city. It was through a combination of factors that he could succeed where others would be caught. Even though the Terran Empire was currently engaged in a war with eight other powers, the security measures at this base had grown lax. The security of Starbase 2000 had grown considerably more haphazard over the recent years. Most of it was due to diligent and dedicated personnel being shifted to more active posts. Part of it was due to the stepping down of Starbase 2000’s priority being seen as a green light to begin dumping the true dregs of Starfleet there so they wouldn’t bother anyone else. But no matter the cause, the new holes in the base’s security umbrella meant that an operative could sneak into the base, and with a little liberal palm greasing, bring explosives as well.
From beneath his tunic, the operative pulled a remote detonator. After pressing the lone button, a booming explosion was heard. The Sector Council Chambers collapsed in on itself, crushing nearly every ranking Starfleet Flag Officer in the Delta Quadrant under thousands and thousands of tons of rubble. From here and there, wild cheers could be heard from small knots of Starfleet personnel. Others, the young officers and enlisted personnel yet to be corrupted by the growing rot of the place, could only stare in wild-eyed, terror filled disbelief as death visited their upper ranks almost to a man. Civil defense and emergency response team alarms began to sound throughout the city.
From his place in the shadows, the operative working towards the ends of the Galactic Unity straightened upright while at the same time searching for any prying eyes. Finding none with both his eyes and passive sensor suite, his ancient, vagabond style clothing shifted to liquid and reformed into the Starfleet command branch uniform. His face shifted, taking the form of the junior officer he had first come across that fitted his needs. The young Lieutenant had been so young, so trusting, it was pitifully easy to vaporize him and assume his identity. With a brief grin at his success, the Changeling put on his game face and joined the Starfleeters running towards the Council Chambers in a vain attempt to render aid. There were only a few thousand Founders left thanks to the surprise attack by the Terran Empire on their homeworld. The Jem’Hadar responsible for his safety had been nearly implacable when they learned that he planned to join the advance team of operatives that would lay the groundwork for the coming offensive. They had argued, and it took a lot of desperation to make a Jem’Hadar argue with a God, that the risks such exposure would entail would be unacceptable given the current situation. The Founder had almost agreed with them, but the success of the proposed mission took paramount over his life, and only a Changeling could pull the mission off. And since no one suspected him, he could remain to continue sowing death, destruction and chaos in preparation to the Unity assault on this system.
ISS Valley Forge, 8 minutes out from Starbase 2000
Ulysses was pleased with the way his Battlegroup was coming together. The four Wraith (U)s of the Battlegroup, theMuteki, Thanatos, Kraken and Heidon were, after removing some rough edges, performing admirably in the squadron level sims. Their CO’s had been recommended by T’var as being of agreeable mindset, and they were proving very useful in bringing most of the flotilla’s escort commanders inline. Most Captains were able to recommend which CO’s would be under them in their Battlegroups’ command structure. Since Ulysses also had the Lion of Terra, his requests held more sway with the brass than your average Fleet Captain would have. But while his fellow superdreadnought squadronmates might be ones of his choosing, many of the Battlegroup’s escorts were not. Although many were following the example of their Flag Captain, whose command style was backed up by stellar efficiency numbers, many were bound and determined to bring up their own sloppy numbers through violent means. While capital punishment for the Battlegroup as a whole was down considerably from Starfleet norm, on certain ships it was up by an astounding margin. One thing was certain, Commissar Stevens was surely taking detailed notes on all the comings and goings of his command. While she knew full well that he was more easygoing in the gratuitous punishment area than most officers in the fleet, she most certainly couldn’t argue with the results his command style was bearing.
At the very least, Starbase needed a strong hand right now. From all reports, the attack on the Eden Council Chamber had been a disaster. The current ranking officer for the entire sector was a very junior Commodore from Supply and Spare Requisition. Starfleet Command had sent word that replacement Sector Commander and other flag personnel had been sent, but they would be months away. Till they arrived, it looked like it would be up to a young Captain to whip the station into shape. Although he might not have traditional seniority, the Lion of Terra on his left breast gave him all the seniority he would need. Not that it would be easy, nor without a large amount of risk, but it was what needed to be done.
“Coming up on Starbase 2000 Skipper.” Demora interrupted his thoughts. Ulysses was about to reply when the significance of what she had said hit him. Crew were very particular of to whom the ancient honorific of Skipper was bestowed. It spoke volumes of the mutual trust that had been built up during the long weeks of travel. While Ulysses didn’t spare any officer or crewmember corporal punishment when it was warranted, he never used it as a means to play his crew off of each other and never used it for minor infractions. While some crewmen initially used this less harsh regime to their benefit, they eventually brought a thorough punishment down upon themselves and became ostracized from the majority of their crewmates who were trying their darndest to give 110%.
“Thank you helm.” Ulysses replied warmly. “Slow to full impulse.”
“Aye Sir.”
The assembled warships with their minnow like escorts slowed from Slipstream. With the five upgraded Wraiths in an X formation in their center, 25 Achilles Destroyers, 25 Soulwolf Heavy Destroyers and two Aegean Fleet Support Destroyers rounded out the Valley Forge Battlegroup. The star flecked ebon black of normal space stretched out around them.
“IIF interrogation coming in, automated system only.” P’tel said with an arched eyebrow.
“Automated only? Where’s the duty watch officer?”
“Unknown sir.”
“Open a channel.”
“Channel open.”
“Starbase 2000, this is Captain Vanguard of the Valley Forge, respond.”
There was a noticeable lag, and Ulysses was about to repeat his demand when the com screen finally blossomed to life. It showed a nonchalant young officer who looked irritated at having been disturbed.
“Yah, yah, just pull up and dock wherever there is a free space.” He flippantly replied, then the com channel closed. Ulysses eyes bulged. He knew things had deteriorated, but this was verging on the insane.
“Sir, sensors indicate that there are a large number of independent merchant and pleasure craft docked to the Starbase proper!” Cmdr. Davenport said in a shocked tone.
“What!” That WAS insane. No Starfleet facility permitted docking directly with their facilities. It was far to easy to have ‘accidents’ that crippled them that way. Ulysses shifted his holo display to tactical mode and like an orchestra conductor spun and zoomed the display so that the still distant weapons studded mushroom like shape of Starbase 2000 was clearly visible. Sure enough, there were a multitude of alien vessels docked to it’s external ports. If even one of them induced their warp core to breach, the explosion would cause serious damage to the station before it could spool its shields up. Most of the system defense fleet was at anchor in geosync orbit near the Starbase, with only the bare minimum of patrols out. Ulysses shook his head in disbelief. From looking at the readiness of this base, you could never tell that the Empire was at war.
“Alright, this is how we are going to play this. I want our full marine compliment in power armor ready by the time we dock. Order the rest of the Battlegroup to provide overwatch while the Forge docks. Once we are docked, I want...”
Starbase 2000, 10 minutes later
Ulysses strode into Ops with his command cloak billowing behind him. A plethora of alien species stared back at him or ignored him. There were only two dozen or in Starfleet black and silver, and they seemed to be in the middle of deals or drinks or both. The mood of Ops was more like a lounge than the nerve center for the entire systems defense. With a quick scan of the room, Ulysses found a likely suspect. He was a trim looking Command branch Captain well into middle age with a nasty looking scar on his cheek, and he seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in the two female aliens purring sweet nothings into his ears. Ulysses approached him directly and when he was standing directly in front of him, yet in the dim light it was hard to see him without activating his enhanced Borg vision. He put all the command snap into his voice that he could.
“Are you in charge of this rabble?!” The Captain took a few seconds to acknowledge Ulysses presence, and behind him, Ulysses heard the room go silent at his cold demand.
“I might be, what business is it of yours? I think that you better go back to your ship and stay there. You have no authority here little boy, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now.” He said with an arrogant smile. Many had tried to take command of Starbase 2000 and make something out of it, but they had all succumbed to its rot eventually. And now with all other high ranking officers out of the way, Captain Styles was free to take charge of the station. His bailiwick might be a cesspool but it was by God HIS cesspool now and no uppity young snot was going to get his just deserts away from him. The young pup in front of him couldn’t be any more than his early twenties. And if he couldn’t be made to see reason, well then that was what he had the other personnel on the Ops deck for. They liked the recent changes in command and didn’t have any desire to rock the boat. In fact, they had strong incentive to keep things as they were for as long as possible.
“I asked you a question Captain and I expect an answer.” Ulysses continued, and his voice was like liquid nitrogen. The room behind him had gone dead silent and more than a few of the aliens were making their way discreetly out of the room. Many others were looking on at the growing confrontation with eyes eager to see what happened next.
A slight frown crossed Stiles’ face. Couldn’t this wet behind the ears pup take a hint. He was alone, yet not a hint of fear came from him. “I don’t give a good God damn what you expect ‘Captain’,” Stiles put as much scorn into the title as humanly possible, “but since you can’t take the hint...” Stiles pulled his phaser from its holster in a fluid motion that was over in an eyeblink. From the soft scrapping sounds behind him and a few eager snickers, the rest of the Ops officers and enlisted personnel had pulled their own phasers as well. “Now unless you have an army squirreled away somewhere ‘Captain’, you better get out of here before you wind up in Sickbay... or the Morgue!”
“Well I guess I can’t argue with you Captain.” Ulysses said in a meek and mild tone, putting on his best scared looking expression. “It’s evident who has the upper hand here.” Stiles’ grin grew enormously as Ulysses cautiously backed away half a step. Then Ulysses half shadowed face flashed a clearly predatory smile. “Isn’t it Gunny?”
“Aye, It is indeed sir.” A disembodied voice said from an empty space in Ops. Stiles grin disappeared instantly, as did those on the rest of the Ops staff. A split second later, 20 figures in full power armor decloaked around the Ops deck. All hefted grav guns filled with flechette rounds. And all were expert marksmen. At the spitting range of the Ops deck, if they fired things would get very messy very fast.
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HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter Fourteen – Why You Don’t Mess With a Fury
Former Borg Space, Deep in the Delta Quadrant, Stalker Class SSS Moloch
Frank and Victoria were deep in the link with their ship. The bond between Fury and their Stalker was far deeper than any normal starship and crew, for Furies possessed the ability to give commands by mere thought alone. The link was more like that between the Borg and their vessels than anything else yet encountered. When the link was active, the ship became an extension of them selves, responding to their will with the speed of thought. The sleek stiletto shaped ship dropped out of slipstream under phase cloak. The blue white supergiant star of the system they had slowed to survey hung brightly directly ahead of them. The two M Class worlds in the system were highlighted in the holo display. Both were already covered with vibrant ecosystems that were virtually identical to that of Terra’s. Minor variations were included to promote genetic diversity, but the Genesis Effect was designed to not only remove all hostile opposition on a world but to terraform it so that it was easily colonizeable by follow on Imperial missions.
Yet these reformatted, formerly Borg infested worlds had not been settled by follow on Imperial colonization expeditions. Borg space had been vast, removing Drone infestations had depleted the considerable stockpile of Genesis torpedoes the Empire had accumulated, creating a mind boggling number of virgin worlds ripe for colonization. While nearly every star that had a rocky world in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants had already been settled, many for centuries, there was always a demand for new worlds. The Empire had always pushed for large families to support the personnel demands of Starfleet, the Imperial Marine Corps and the Terran Empire Army, for there was always a fresh enemy to subdue before they could harm the Empire. That, combined with Genesis devices and the ability to alter the orbit of any solid planet around its parent star gave a plethora of inhabitable systems to work with. The Empires population base expanded rapidly, soon making humans the most populous race in the galaxy.
But with the serious losses in both materiel, and more importantly, personnel during the Borg/Imperial war, all colonization plans were on indefinite hold while the Empire repopulated core systems and its depleted military. As a result, the multitudinous worlds that were once under Borg control had been left largely alone by the Empire. But while the Terrans and their allies were away, the minor powers of the Delta Quadrant were left free to exploit the new worlds left unoccupied. The Kazon Sects, the Krenim Imperium, the Ocampan Commonwealth, even the Talaxian Confederacy had begun to encroach on what was, by right of conquest, Terran Empire space.
Frank supposed that since the Empire was not settling the area immediately, the local powers felt that they could trespass freely. And given the current situation with the Grand Alliance powers and Starfleet fleet strengths following the Borg/Imperial war, they would be free to do so for a while yet. There just wasn’t enough hulls to properly patrol all the territory that was rightly the Terran Empire’s while still providing effective sector and border defense fleets. That would change soon because shipyards across the Empire had stepped up new hull production in the wake of the new GA threat. While most of the new construction was yet to become operational, many soon would.
But all of that was secondary to the Fury Pair’s assigned mission. The Emperor himself had ordered them to search for proof of trespass and already they had found a lot. The previous seven systems they had surveyed all were in the process of being settled by various Delta Quad powers. Emperor Chambers would not be pleased by what was going on out here, but that wasn’t Frank and Victoria’s concern. They would survey five more worlds, then turn back towards the distant star of Sol to deliver their report.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
Hirogen usually didn’t take on contracts from others, preferring to choose their own prey. Yet the game offered to the party’s Alpha Hunt Leader had been too tempting to walk away from. The being, claiming to be operating under the auspices of something called the Galactic Unity, had offered a true prize. Everyone in the Delta Quadrant knew of the great Terran Empire, slayers of the hated Borg. The being had offered a way to track the most elusive and deadly of their craft in exchange for all information on its tactics and all data that could be gleaned from its computers once the hunt was complete. What true hunter could give up the chance to bring down a near mythical Terran Empire Fury.
The alien device that had been installed on the Alpha’s bridge seemed to be working perfectly, for there was a faint blip on the panel while there was nothing at all on any of the other sensitive scanners his ship possessed. Now to test the other new system the GU operative had installed. With a few commands entered into the control panel, a quartet of small missiles spat from the box launcher mounted on his ships dorsal side. Seconds after they left their launch rails, they began to home in on the blip on the alien sensor system. The other five ships in his party launched their own quartets of tiny missiles. All that remained was to see if they did indeed scare their quarry from its hiding place in the thicket.
Moloch
The Fury Pair sensed the peculiarity at the same time. The six Hirogen vessels that had been flying a roughly parallel track to their own had launched four small missiles that had promptly swung to their general bearing. Despite their initial spike of emotion, they remained calm, for nothing could harm them while they were under phase cloak. Just the same, they began to execute an evasion routine that would bring them closer to the Hirogen vessels. Even though sensors were degraded while under phase cloak, a detailed scan could still be achieved on the Hunting Party once the range was low enough.
The small missiles homed in on the general location of the Moloch as the lithe ship swung about to pass close to the Hirogen vessels. It was evident that all of the missiles would pass by them. Victoria ran through a level four diagnostic on the Phase Cloak subsystem in order to ensure that it was operating as it should. There had to be some explanation as to why the Hunting Party had apparently caught a sniff of them despite being under Phase Cloak. Four, eight, twelve of the small missiles passed by aimlessly. The final quartet was on course to pass nearby, but well outside all known effective warhead damage radii. The missiles were slipping by to starboard when the closest one’s sensors caught the trail of the Moloch. Its miniaturized multiphaseic sensors had a hideously short range and weren’t 100% reliable to maintain target lock even when provided with updates by similar shipboard systems. Yet all it took was one to maintain lock to execute their designed purpose. ISC scientists had not as yet been able to crack the ability to reliably and safely phase cloak their own warships, they had managed to come up with a weapons system that would negate the Terran Empire’s advantage in this area.
A proximity fused warhead detonated inside the missile, but it wasn’t a normal destructive yield weapon. In fact, much of the miniscule force of the detonation disappeared into the multitiered chaos of Phase Cloak. The warhead had but one purpose, to overload an operating Phase Cloak and drag the vessel kicking and screaming back to normal space.
A sound like arching electricity filled the Moloch and the ships computer instantly transmitted to its living crew that the Phase Cloak was no longer operational and that the ship was Phasing back into normal space.
<Well, it looks like our routine patrol has just gotten considerably more interesting.> Frank thought.
<It’s your fault. You were the one who wanted some more action, well now you have it.> Victoria thought back.
<Initiate combat mode. You got to be offense last time, it’s my turn now.> Frank’s thoughts took on an eager overtone.
<Fine, go play with your guns, I’ll keep us alive with the defensive systems>
Both Furies slipped into combat mode, time seeming to slow as their internal pharmacopoeia pumped a plethora of drugs into their systems. Reaction times were accelerated, brain functions as well. Scarcely a second had passed since the ship began to reemerge into normal space, yet they had the armor, shields, weapons systems and electronic warfare systems fully online. On the holodisplay, the Hirogen vessels opened fire on the still nebulous Moloch as she began her evasion routine. Some people say that dog’s can’t smile, but there most certainly was a smile on Victoria’s face as she deftly avoided all of the incoming fire, spinning and weaving between the onrushing beams and warheads. Although the energy weapons were traveling at C and the torpedoes near so, they appeared to move in slow motion from the Furies perspective. What should have been a crippling strike was totally ineffective.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
“You are indeed worthy prey!” The power armor clad Hirogen hunter smiled behind his helmet as the fleet prey craft in front of his ship nimbly spun through his flurry of phaser beams and torpedoes. Not a single one scored a hit, some beams passing within meters of the prey’s hull, but never landing a hit. The ship was fully back in normal space now, bringing its weapons and shields online. It was easily the most maneuverable starship the Hirogen Alpha had ever encountered, and his sensors showed the reason. There were full impulse engines in place of a normal starships RCS. The stresses placed on the prey’s hull must be enormous, but since it was rumored to be nearly solid, that would account for its staying together. “Order the rest of the party to decloak and launch the attack.”
The second jaw of the hunt decloaked from their concealed position on the far side of the nearest gas giant planet. Bringing their warp drives online as soon as they had a clear approach vector, they screamed foreword to join in the stalking of their prey.
Moloch
<I grow tired of this senseless waste of time, initiate tactical attack mode.> Frank thought. Victoria complied, deploying the Stalker class’ primary armament from their concealed, armored positions. Six Phaser Lance Mk II’s snouted out from positions along the charcoal gray dabbled black knife like hull. It looked like the stiletto silhouette of the Moloch sprouted fangs. One of the newcomers scored a torpedo hit on them, causing a barely felt shudder to run through the ship.
<Shields holding> Victoria thought needlessly, for Frank knew instantly through his connection with the ship how much the shields went down.
<I’m taking him out first> Frank thought as he brought the fire control sensors to target the Hirogen vessel that had scored the lucky hit. With weapons fire streaming in from eight ships now, there was just to much to avoid it all, yet only the odd hit made it past Victoria’s maneuvers. When you could damn near shift direction 90 degrees in a second, had the EW capability of a Battlecruiser and were the size of a Frigate, you were a damned small target.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
The prey seemed to be toying with them, sending only the odd burst of phaser fire and Quantum torpedo out from its powerful weapons arrays. Hirogen vessels were well armed and defended for their size, and were highly maneuverable for their mass class, but they had nothing on the Fury vessel. She threaded the needle with inhuman skill, allowing only ineffectual fire to hit her. It did nothing to bring down her powerful shields much. Then extra weapons emerged from their armored sheaths. Seconds after they were deployed, six amber red lances of energy erupted from them. Each hit a Hunter and with each hit, a Hunter died. Pieces of the formerly powerful craft pin wheeled away from each other as the insanely strong lances of energy stabbed through their shields and armored carapaces to cut them in half. Molten splinters of what had been armor and bulkhead along with the normal debris jettisoned by explosive decompression filled space.
The prey had turned and shown that it was a hunter all along. The Hirogen Alpha had barely opened his mouth to order the retreat when the Moloch spun around and fired again, vaporizing the remaining Hunters in brilliant, star bright funeral pyres. Hirogen Hunting Party 2499 was no more than a debris field.
Moloch
Like a cat toying with a mouse, the Furies savored their prey’s rapidly growing terror, drinking their emotions like a fine wine. But to long a pause, even in combat mode, would give an advantage to the enemy. With something akin to regret, the second wave of Phaser Lance fire spat out, cutting deep into the remaining Hirogen vessels. The terror was cut off as the Hirogen hunters were vaporized along with large portions of their ships.
<Secure from tactical attack and combat modes>
<Sensors show a Talaxian patrol is leaving station in the inner system to investigate. We should leave before they get here.> Victoria’s placated, bliss filled after battle thoughts filled Franks head through their telepathic bond. The holodisplay showed the still splintering Hirogen vessels breaking apart with exquisite slowness.
<First grab one of those missiles they used to bring us out of phase cloak. The Emperor will want to look at them for sure. Then engage standard cloak and bring the slipstream core online, set a course for Sector One>
The Moloch slipped behind one of the still cruising missiles, scanning it with her powerful sensor array. She was nearly in range for transport when all remaining missiles self destructed.
ISCV Warrior’s Bane
“It is a good thing you put self destruct mechanisms onto the new warheads.” The captain told his chief engineer. “We now have proof that they will work against Imperial vessels, which was the entire point of this exercise. We also have the added benefit of seeing a Stalker in action. It is good that the Imperials don’t have very many of them, for they will prove difficult when encountered in combat.”
“The Stalker has engaged her cloak and is leaving sensor range Sir.”
“Understood, lay in a course for ISC space. I have an after action report to prepare for Command. If you need me, I will be in my ready room.”
The cloaked Interstellar Concordium Battlecruiser swung about and engaged her warp drive. It was a short hop to the nearest subspace corridor, and from there it would be only a week long trip to friendly borders.
Former Borg Space, Deep in the Delta Quadrant, Stalker Class SSS Moloch
Frank and Victoria were deep in the link with their ship. The bond between Fury and their Stalker was far deeper than any normal starship and crew, for Furies possessed the ability to give commands by mere thought alone. The link was more like that between the Borg and their vessels than anything else yet encountered. When the link was active, the ship became an extension of them selves, responding to their will with the speed of thought. The sleek stiletto shaped ship dropped out of slipstream under phase cloak. The blue white supergiant star of the system they had slowed to survey hung brightly directly ahead of them. The two M Class worlds in the system were highlighted in the holo display. Both were already covered with vibrant ecosystems that were virtually identical to that of Terra’s. Minor variations were included to promote genetic diversity, but the Genesis Effect was designed to not only remove all hostile opposition on a world but to terraform it so that it was easily colonizeable by follow on Imperial missions.
Yet these reformatted, formerly Borg infested worlds had not been settled by follow on Imperial colonization expeditions. Borg space had been vast, removing Drone infestations had depleted the considerable stockpile of Genesis torpedoes the Empire had accumulated, creating a mind boggling number of virgin worlds ripe for colonization. While nearly every star that had a rocky world in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants had already been settled, many for centuries, there was always a demand for new worlds. The Empire had always pushed for large families to support the personnel demands of Starfleet, the Imperial Marine Corps and the Terran Empire Army, for there was always a fresh enemy to subdue before they could harm the Empire. That, combined with Genesis devices and the ability to alter the orbit of any solid planet around its parent star gave a plethora of inhabitable systems to work with. The Empires population base expanded rapidly, soon making humans the most populous race in the galaxy.
But with the serious losses in both materiel, and more importantly, personnel during the Borg/Imperial war, all colonization plans were on indefinite hold while the Empire repopulated core systems and its depleted military. As a result, the multitudinous worlds that were once under Borg control had been left largely alone by the Empire. But while the Terrans and their allies were away, the minor powers of the Delta Quadrant were left free to exploit the new worlds left unoccupied. The Kazon Sects, the Krenim Imperium, the Ocampan Commonwealth, even the Talaxian Confederacy had begun to encroach on what was, by right of conquest, Terran Empire space.
Frank supposed that since the Empire was not settling the area immediately, the local powers felt that they could trespass freely. And given the current situation with the Grand Alliance powers and Starfleet fleet strengths following the Borg/Imperial war, they would be free to do so for a while yet. There just wasn’t enough hulls to properly patrol all the territory that was rightly the Terran Empire’s while still providing effective sector and border defense fleets. That would change soon because shipyards across the Empire had stepped up new hull production in the wake of the new GA threat. While most of the new construction was yet to become operational, many soon would.
But all of that was secondary to the Fury Pair’s assigned mission. The Emperor himself had ordered them to search for proof of trespass and already they had found a lot. The previous seven systems they had surveyed all were in the process of being settled by various Delta Quad powers. Emperor Chambers would not be pleased by what was going on out here, but that wasn’t Frank and Victoria’s concern. They would survey five more worlds, then turn back towards the distant star of Sol to deliver their report.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
Hirogen usually didn’t take on contracts from others, preferring to choose their own prey. Yet the game offered to the party’s Alpha Hunt Leader had been too tempting to walk away from. The being, claiming to be operating under the auspices of something called the Galactic Unity, had offered a true prize. Everyone in the Delta Quadrant knew of the great Terran Empire, slayers of the hated Borg. The being had offered a way to track the most elusive and deadly of their craft in exchange for all information on its tactics and all data that could be gleaned from its computers once the hunt was complete. What true hunter could give up the chance to bring down a near mythical Terran Empire Fury.
The alien device that had been installed on the Alpha’s bridge seemed to be working perfectly, for there was a faint blip on the panel while there was nothing at all on any of the other sensitive scanners his ship possessed. Now to test the other new system the GU operative had installed. With a few commands entered into the control panel, a quartet of small missiles spat from the box launcher mounted on his ships dorsal side. Seconds after they left their launch rails, they began to home in on the blip on the alien sensor system. The other five ships in his party launched their own quartets of tiny missiles. All that remained was to see if they did indeed scare their quarry from its hiding place in the thicket.
Moloch
The Fury Pair sensed the peculiarity at the same time. The six Hirogen vessels that had been flying a roughly parallel track to their own had launched four small missiles that had promptly swung to their general bearing. Despite their initial spike of emotion, they remained calm, for nothing could harm them while they were under phase cloak. Just the same, they began to execute an evasion routine that would bring them closer to the Hirogen vessels. Even though sensors were degraded while under phase cloak, a detailed scan could still be achieved on the Hunting Party once the range was low enough.
The small missiles homed in on the general location of the Moloch as the lithe ship swung about to pass close to the Hirogen vessels. It was evident that all of the missiles would pass by them. Victoria ran through a level four diagnostic on the Phase Cloak subsystem in order to ensure that it was operating as it should. There had to be some explanation as to why the Hunting Party had apparently caught a sniff of them despite being under Phase Cloak. Four, eight, twelve of the small missiles passed by aimlessly. The final quartet was on course to pass nearby, but well outside all known effective warhead damage radii. The missiles were slipping by to starboard when the closest one’s sensors caught the trail of the Moloch. Its miniaturized multiphaseic sensors had a hideously short range and weren’t 100% reliable to maintain target lock even when provided with updates by similar shipboard systems. Yet all it took was one to maintain lock to execute their designed purpose. ISC scientists had not as yet been able to crack the ability to reliably and safely phase cloak their own warships, they had managed to come up with a weapons system that would negate the Terran Empire’s advantage in this area.
A proximity fused warhead detonated inside the missile, but it wasn’t a normal destructive yield weapon. In fact, much of the miniscule force of the detonation disappeared into the multitiered chaos of Phase Cloak. The warhead had but one purpose, to overload an operating Phase Cloak and drag the vessel kicking and screaming back to normal space.
A sound like arching electricity filled the Moloch and the ships computer instantly transmitted to its living crew that the Phase Cloak was no longer operational and that the ship was Phasing back into normal space.
<Well, it looks like our routine patrol has just gotten considerably more interesting.> Frank thought.
<It’s your fault. You were the one who wanted some more action, well now you have it.> Victoria thought back.
<Initiate combat mode. You got to be offense last time, it’s my turn now.> Frank’s thoughts took on an eager overtone.
<Fine, go play with your guns, I’ll keep us alive with the defensive systems>
Both Furies slipped into combat mode, time seeming to slow as their internal pharmacopoeia pumped a plethora of drugs into their systems. Reaction times were accelerated, brain functions as well. Scarcely a second had passed since the ship began to reemerge into normal space, yet they had the armor, shields, weapons systems and electronic warfare systems fully online. On the holodisplay, the Hirogen vessels opened fire on the still nebulous Moloch as she began her evasion routine. Some people say that dog’s can’t smile, but there most certainly was a smile on Victoria’s face as she deftly avoided all of the incoming fire, spinning and weaving between the onrushing beams and warheads. Although the energy weapons were traveling at C and the torpedoes near so, they appeared to move in slow motion from the Furies perspective. What should have been a crippling strike was totally ineffective.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
“You are indeed worthy prey!” The power armor clad Hirogen hunter smiled behind his helmet as the fleet prey craft in front of his ship nimbly spun through his flurry of phaser beams and torpedoes. Not a single one scored a hit, some beams passing within meters of the prey’s hull, but never landing a hit. The ship was fully back in normal space now, bringing its weapons and shields online. It was easily the most maneuverable starship the Hirogen Alpha had ever encountered, and his sensors showed the reason. There were full impulse engines in place of a normal starships RCS. The stresses placed on the prey’s hull must be enormous, but since it was rumored to be nearly solid, that would account for its staying together. “Order the rest of the party to decloak and launch the attack.”
The second jaw of the hunt decloaked from their concealed position on the far side of the nearest gas giant planet. Bringing their warp drives online as soon as they had a clear approach vector, they screamed foreword to join in the stalking of their prey.
Moloch
<I grow tired of this senseless waste of time, initiate tactical attack mode.> Frank thought. Victoria complied, deploying the Stalker class’ primary armament from their concealed, armored positions. Six Phaser Lance Mk II’s snouted out from positions along the charcoal gray dabbled black knife like hull. It looked like the stiletto silhouette of the Moloch sprouted fangs. One of the newcomers scored a torpedo hit on them, causing a barely felt shudder to run through the ship.
<Shields holding> Victoria thought needlessly, for Frank knew instantly through his connection with the ship how much the shields went down.
<I’m taking him out first> Frank thought as he brought the fire control sensors to target the Hirogen vessel that had scored the lucky hit. With weapons fire streaming in from eight ships now, there was just to much to avoid it all, yet only the odd hit made it past Victoria’s maneuvers. When you could damn near shift direction 90 degrees in a second, had the EW capability of a Battlecruiser and were the size of a Frigate, you were a damned small target.
Hirogen Hunting Party 2499
The prey seemed to be toying with them, sending only the odd burst of phaser fire and Quantum torpedo out from its powerful weapons arrays. Hirogen vessels were well armed and defended for their size, and were highly maneuverable for their mass class, but they had nothing on the Fury vessel. She threaded the needle with inhuman skill, allowing only ineffectual fire to hit her. It did nothing to bring down her powerful shields much. Then extra weapons emerged from their armored sheaths. Seconds after they were deployed, six amber red lances of energy erupted from them. Each hit a Hunter and with each hit, a Hunter died. Pieces of the formerly powerful craft pin wheeled away from each other as the insanely strong lances of energy stabbed through their shields and armored carapaces to cut them in half. Molten splinters of what had been armor and bulkhead along with the normal debris jettisoned by explosive decompression filled space.
The prey had turned and shown that it was a hunter all along. The Hirogen Alpha had barely opened his mouth to order the retreat when the Moloch spun around and fired again, vaporizing the remaining Hunters in brilliant, star bright funeral pyres. Hirogen Hunting Party 2499 was no more than a debris field.
Moloch
Like a cat toying with a mouse, the Furies savored their prey’s rapidly growing terror, drinking their emotions like a fine wine. But to long a pause, even in combat mode, would give an advantage to the enemy. With something akin to regret, the second wave of Phaser Lance fire spat out, cutting deep into the remaining Hirogen vessels. The terror was cut off as the Hirogen hunters were vaporized along with large portions of their ships.
<Secure from tactical attack and combat modes>
<Sensors show a Talaxian patrol is leaving station in the inner system to investigate. We should leave before they get here.> Victoria’s placated, bliss filled after battle thoughts filled Franks head through their telepathic bond. The holodisplay showed the still splintering Hirogen vessels breaking apart with exquisite slowness.
<First grab one of those missiles they used to bring us out of phase cloak. The Emperor will want to look at them for sure. Then engage standard cloak and bring the slipstream core online, set a course for Sector One>
The Moloch slipped behind one of the still cruising missiles, scanning it with her powerful sensor array. She was nearly in range for transport when all remaining missiles self destructed.
ISCV Warrior’s Bane
“It is a good thing you put self destruct mechanisms onto the new warheads.” The captain told his chief engineer. “We now have proof that they will work against Imperial vessels, which was the entire point of this exercise. We also have the added benefit of seeing a Stalker in action. It is good that the Imperials don’t have very many of them, for they will prove difficult when encountered in combat.”
“The Stalker has engaged her cloak and is leaving sensor range Sir.”
“Understood, lay in a course for ISC space. I have an after action report to prepare for Command. If you need me, I will be in my ready room.”
The cloaked Interstellar Concordium Battlecruiser swung about and engaged her warp drive. It was a short hop to the nearest subspace corridor, and from there it would be only a week long trip to friendly borders.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter Fifteen – Downtime
VF-117, Capt. Vic McDermott’s Fighter
Vic’s [/i]Cobra[/i] spun through a viciously tight turn, the whine of the straining impulse thrusters barely covering the creaks and groans given off by of his fighter's hull. The substantial fist of inertia caused by hairpin turns at 70 PSL incessantly pushed him deeper into his acceleration couch in spite of the fighter’s powerful internal dampers. He was sweating in spite of his suits environmental systems best efforts, for he had been fighting inertia for close to three hours straight now. His Cobra pulled up behind his quarry, the narrow arch of his primary weapons coming to bear at last. He let lose a burst of quad Pulse Phaser bolts. Vic’s dogged persistence was rewarded as the Romulan Fighter/Bomber flew right threw his spray of high powered energy. The Kestrel’s shields flared and died and the amber bolts of his weapons mangled its impulse engines. But it was only the onboard computer of his fighter that alerted him to his successful intercept. In a modern battlefield, for something as fragile as a fighter, speed was life. Hit and fade, never loiter in the same area very long, always stay in motion, these were the staples of a fighter jock’s life. But even if you followed these rules, you were still likely to wind up atomized. VF-5003 found that out the hard way. Their evasive maneuvers brought them into the deadly ground between the capital ships laying into each other. Phaser and disrupter beams with quantum and plasma torpedoes crisscrossed space, forming a deadly lattice of interwoven energy, plowing molten furrows in the massive ablative armor hides of their targets. Vic spared a wince as VF-5003 died in rapid secession, their fragile craft turned unintentionally to atoms by the enormous energies being exchanged between the capital ships.
“Form up Double D’s.” Vic said into VF-117 “Dirty Devils’” group channel. VF-117 had been reformed around the handful of survivors from the ill fated attack on Species 8472 as well as new faces added while Athena underwent repairs. In that time, all of 2nd Fleet's destroyed fighters had been replaced, bringing them back up to combat ready levels.
“Two” Cmdr. Jessica Evron, the wing’s second in command commed.
“Three.” Lt. Jordan Beauregard said.
“Four.” Lt. Bernice Chivers acknowledged.
“Five.” Lt. Quincy Jefferies, the final pilot in the reconstituted VF-117, commed.
The other Cobras settled in around his one by one, then, following the datalinked signals from Vic’s fighter, vectored in on the newest approaching wave of Romulan fighters. The Romulans were nearly close enough to volley their loads of plasma torps when Vic’s wing pounced on them. Slicing in from multiple vectors, they descended upon the enemy like the birds of prey they were. VF-117 had drawn CSP duty, so their fighters had been outfitted in Space Superiority mode. Phalanx torpedoes spat from their small launchers, creating a snowstorm of warheads in front of the Cobras. After each fighter volleyed its initial salvo, they broke off at oblique angles. The Romulan Kestrel’s EW did its best, but it couldn’t spoof all of the warheads. Shields flared, blotted out of existence as the micro quantums struck home. Armor boiled away, external torpedoes detonated as the plasma sustainer field within them was breached, the entire enemy wing was gutted. Vic had trained his pilots mercilessly since he had been promoted to squadron CO, and it showed. He knew full well that being a pilot was the most dangerous assignment in the Empire, having seen nearly all of his fellow pilots blown away in a scant few seconds. If extra training gave his pilots an edge in future combat, he was more than willing to listen to some grousing.
“New Target bearing 284 mark 059.” The SWAC controller onboard Athena said. The connection was slightly distorted by the massive electronic warfare battle being waged between the Monitor and the Romulan fleet, yet was still easily understood. The secure datalink between the “Dirty Devils" and the ship that they were out here to protect updated Vic’s holo display to highlight their new targets, an enemy wing trying to slip in under cloak with the roaring chaos of the battle to help keep them hidden. It’ll take more than that to spoof the sensors on the Athena.
“Roger Control. VF-117 vectoring in on designated targets.” The mountain of alloy that was the Bastion Class Monitor Athena swung into view on the bubble canopy of Vic’s fighter as he maneuvered to the appropriate approach bearing. Even as far away as he was, the mammoth warship was visible with the unaided eye if slightly distorted due to its high PSL drive away from her attackers. Deadly green hued beams and torpedoes chased after her as 23 beaked nosed D’deridexes and their escorts tried to bring her down in a stern chase. Her shields had already burned away across many sections, but her massive armor, though pitted and glowing in many places, was holding the storm at bay. As he watched, the Athena’s phaser arrays and quantum turrets spat hellfire back at her attackers. Like the mythic huntress that was her namesake, measured and carefully choreographed fire stalked individual Romulan ships, burning lighter ones from space while hammering shield arcs flat on the larger ones others.
Then without warning, the arrow shaped bulk of the Athena flared star bright for a fraction of a second before Vic’s fighter’s onboard computer blotted out the terrible light. Slowly it faded, and through his canopy Vic saw his home torn into molten fragments, some the size of whole Battlecruisers.
“Son of a Bitch!” Vic swore softly as his fist slammed down on his right knee. Someone was gonna catch hell for that. He reached up and cracked the seal on his flightsuit’s helmet, pulling it off and setting it in his lap. The panorama of space overhead rippled and dissipated, replaced with the rainbow hued, thatch pattern metal walls of the sim deck. Granted the sim’s initial suppositions weren’t that fair, for how often would the Athena be alone, relying on only her own considerable firepower and her fighters for her survival? Still, everything was going fine till something went horribly wrong.
The stony faced Vulcan that was mistress of all of Second Fleet approached the daises that had appeared before the staggered ranks of fighter sim modules. Letting her eyes roam across and up the 5000 vertically stacked ranks of modules, she spoke. Her voice carried across the large compartment as if she was standing right next to each pilot.
“By the large, you have performed well, but there is still quite some room for improvement.” Above her precise Vulcan head of hair and pointed ears, a rotating tactical holo of the simmed battle burst forth. With a few commands entered into the PADD in front of her, the battle quickly fast-forwarded to the spot she desired. Every pilot in the compartment looked on to see just who was responsible for the simulated destruction of their mothership. The tactical holo labeled seven offending wings of Cobras, all operating in close proximity to each other. “A case in point will now be highlighted. Instead of immediately executing the targeting instructions issued by CIC, Fighter Wings 3300, 23, 9921, 445, 713, 8394, and 102 stopped to engage targets of opportunity. As a result, ISS Athena, NCC – 400004 was completely destroyed with the loss of all hands. Instead of attacking a squadron of Shadows that were getting a bearing on our weakened port shield section six, they chose to jump a squadron of Shrikes that were already engaged by CSP wings. Instead of being part of the choreographed weapons fireplan, their failure to follow orders resulted in a lack of firepower tasked to destroy or disable the Shadows. These wings were the only ones outfitted for standoff attack that still had full or near full torpedo loads. Without their added firepower, the Romulan Battlecruisers survived to close to Mauler range and attacked our downed shield section, breaching the armor and hitting the internal heavy torpedo magazine. The explosion of that alone wouldn’t be enough to hurt us terribly, but at the same time, as weapons were retasked to make up the shortfall caused by the errant fighter squadrons, they left other targets relatively unscathed. That allowed the other threats to gain range and hit us on other weakened shield sections. The combined firepower from so many directions overwhelmed our weakened defenses.
“I cannot stress enough that in a battle like the one we just simmed, you need to follow the commands given to you by CIC controllers. We need to choreograph our fire in order to ensure that attacks are applied evenly to those targets that need to be targeted. You don’t have enough information in your cockpits to determine this. We will restart the sim from the beginning and this time see if we can do it right.” She never raised her voice above conversational levels, but it was like a bucket of ice water to the assembled pilots, especially those who had been responsible for the screw up. No one dared complain when Fleet Admiral T’var ordered another hours long session in the sim chamber. Although another stint in the over active deep tissue massage of the sim chamber was the last thing any of them wanted to do, they obeyed. They knew as much as she did that they still had edges to clean up before they were an effective instrument of death. They were willing to put up with the minor nuisance of extra sim time if it meant that they stood a better chance of living in a real battle. Vic re-donned his helmet as a hologram of Athena’s primary catapult tube formed around him.
Terra Orbit, San Francisco Memorial Yards, Observation Deck, 3 hours 45 minutes later
“Well that one went much better, don’t you agree Ma’am?” T’var’s aide said after the second sim was completed.
“Indeed, they followed instructions admirably the second time, although I think that Admiral Bartlett wasn’t in top form directing the Romulan fleet the second time through. There were a few times where his forces could have crippled us but missed the opportunity.” T’var gazed out through the transparent aluminum dome as the final repairs were nearing completion on her flagship. The hastily patched rents in her armored carapace were nearly sealed now, and all internal damage was totally repaired. It would only be a day or two before the yards would finally set her free to once again act as the centerpiece of the reformed and expanded 2nd Fleet, but it was still not decided where 2nd Fleet would head for. Starfleet Command had been trying to puzzle that out for months now, and still couldn’t come up with a decent decision. Attacking any one member of the Grand Alliance would bring the others to its aid. And even with a fully mobilized 2nd Fleet, the Empire would need more than that to try and retake core enemy systems. Fleet strength was building up, but it would be another year or two before a realistic offensive could begin that didn't strip Imperial systems bare of defense. If all the Empire wanted to do was destroy enemy worlds, that would be far easier to accomplish with current fleet levels, but the Emperor wanted nothing less than retaking all the systems lost to the Grad Alliance powers. In a peculiar way, this was better, for it prevented T’var from making a choice she hoped never to make. If she was ordered to destroy a world, she knew she couldn’t do it. It went against everything she believed in. Even if they are the enemies of the Empire, was it not the Empire’s treatment of them that caused them to lash out? Were the situations reversed, wouldn’t Terrans and even Vulcans lash out against their oppressors? Behind her emotionless Vulcan mask, T’var pondered what might be, both Spock’s utopian vision and much darker ones.
The Terran Empire had always taken the approach that alien species needed to be gauged as to the threat they posed to the Empire, then dealt with accordingly. That was the reason that the Empire was always at war, it saw hostile empires as threats to its very survival and destroyed them to prevent that action. Some, like the Borg, deserved to be extinguished, for they posed a clear and present threat to the Terran Empire. Others, like the Grand Alliance powers, weren’t as black and white. In their time, they had proven a dangerous foe, but they had never initiated open war. The Empire had done that, not even considering making the attempt to live along side them, instead choosing to exterminate, conquer and enslave. It had been fear that had driven the early Empire to go to war, fear that they would attack you first and you would loose. While there was some logic to attacking your enemy before he could attack you, there was even more logic in trying to live peacefully with them. If Spock’s vision of a powerful governing body, encompassing many species on equal footing was achievable, wouldn’t that be more a logical path than that of constant conflict? And what did that say about those who chose to serve in the ranks of its warriors? Were they evil because they served the will of their political masters without question?
Of that she did have an answer. Some were indeed beings of darkness, reveling in the pain and suffering of others, but by and large those in the Empire’s armed forces were people defending their homes from what they thought were threats. It was the Empire's leaders that had shifted from self preservation to conquest, still feeding the people propaganda that species like the Cardassians and Ferengi were threats to the Terran Empire. There had to be some way to make the general population of the Empire see that not every alien species was a threat, but for the life of her, T’var couldn’t see it. The belief had been held for to many generations to be easily changed. But there had to be a way, and T’var was determined that she would find it.
VF-117, Capt. Vic McDermott’s Fighter
Vic’s [/i]Cobra[/i] spun through a viciously tight turn, the whine of the straining impulse thrusters barely covering the creaks and groans given off by of his fighter's hull. The substantial fist of inertia caused by hairpin turns at 70 PSL incessantly pushed him deeper into his acceleration couch in spite of the fighter’s powerful internal dampers. He was sweating in spite of his suits environmental systems best efforts, for he had been fighting inertia for close to three hours straight now. His Cobra pulled up behind his quarry, the narrow arch of his primary weapons coming to bear at last. He let lose a burst of quad Pulse Phaser bolts. Vic’s dogged persistence was rewarded as the Romulan Fighter/Bomber flew right threw his spray of high powered energy. The Kestrel’s shields flared and died and the amber bolts of his weapons mangled its impulse engines. But it was only the onboard computer of his fighter that alerted him to his successful intercept. In a modern battlefield, for something as fragile as a fighter, speed was life. Hit and fade, never loiter in the same area very long, always stay in motion, these were the staples of a fighter jock’s life. But even if you followed these rules, you were still likely to wind up atomized. VF-5003 found that out the hard way. Their evasive maneuvers brought them into the deadly ground between the capital ships laying into each other. Phaser and disrupter beams with quantum and plasma torpedoes crisscrossed space, forming a deadly lattice of interwoven energy, plowing molten furrows in the massive ablative armor hides of their targets. Vic spared a wince as VF-5003 died in rapid secession, their fragile craft turned unintentionally to atoms by the enormous energies being exchanged between the capital ships.
“Form up Double D’s.” Vic said into VF-117 “Dirty Devils’” group channel. VF-117 had been reformed around the handful of survivors from the ill fated attack on Species 8472 as well as new faces added while Athena underwent repairs. In that time, all of 2nd Fleet's destroyed fighters had been replaced, bringing them back up to combat ready levels.
“Two” Cmdr. Jessica Evron, the wing’s second in command commed.
“Three.” Lt. Jordan Beauregard said.
“Four.” Lt. Bernice Chivers acknowledged.
“Five.” Lt. Quincy Jefferies, the final pilot in the reconstituted VF-117, commed.
The other Cobras settled in around his one by one, then, following the datalinked signals from Vic’s fighter, vectored in on the newest approaching wave of Romulan fighters. The Romulans were nearly close enough to volley their loads of plasma torps when Vic’s wing pounced on them. Slicing in from multiple vectors, they descended upon the enemy like the birds of prey they were. VF-117 had drawn CSP duty, so their fighters had been outfitted in Space Superiority mode. Phalanx torpedoes spat from their small launchers, creating a snowstorm of warheads in front of the Cobras. After each fighter volleyed its initial salvo, they broke off at oblique angles. The Romulan Kestrel’s EW did its best, but it couldn’t spoof all of the warheads. Shields flared, blotted out of existence as the micro quantums struck home. Armor boiled away, external torpedoes detonated as the plasma sustainer field within them was breached, the entire enemy wing was gutted. Vic had trained his pilots mercilessly since he had been promoted to squadron CO, and it showed. He knew full well that being a pilot was the most dangerous assignment in the Empire, having seen nearly all of his fellow pilots blown away in a scant few seconds. If extra training gave his pilots an edge in future combat, he was more than willing to listen to some grousing.
“New Target bearing 284 mark 059.” The SWAC controller onboard Athena said. The connection was slightly distorted by the massive electronic warfare battle being waged between the Monitor and the Romulan fleet, yet was still easily understood. The secure datalink between the “Dirty Devils" and the ship that they were out here to protect updated Vic’s holo display to highlight their new targets, an enemy wing trying to slip in under cloak with the roaring chaos of the battle to help keep them hidden. It’ll take more than that to spoof the sensors on the Athena.
“Roger Control. VF-117 vectoring in on designated targets.” The mountain of alloy that was the Bastion Class Monitor Athena swung into view on the bubble canopy of Vic’s fighter as he maneuvered to the appropriate approach bearing. Even as far away as he was, the mammoth warship was visible with the unaided eye if slightly distorted due to its high PSL drive away from her attackers. Deadly green hued beams and torpedoes chased after her as 23 beaked nosed D’deridexes and their escorts tried to bring her down in a stern chase. Her shields had already burned away across many sections, but her massive armor, though pitted and glowing in many places, was holding the storm at bay. As he watched, the Athena’s phaser arrays and quantum turrets spat hellfire back at her attackers. Like the mythic huntress that was her namesake, measured and carefully choreographed fire stalked individual Romulan ships, burning lighter ones from space while hammering shield arcs flat on the larger ones others.
Then without warning, the arrow shaped bulk of the Athena flared star bright for a fraction of a second before Vic’s fighter’s onboard computer blotted out the terrible light. Slowly it faded, and through his canopy Vic saw his home torn into molten fragments, some the size of whole Battlecruisers.
“Son of a Bitch!” Vic swore softly as his fist slammed down on his right knee. Someone was gonna catch hell for that. He reached up and cracked the seal on his flightsuit’s helmet, pulling it off and setting it in his lap. The panorama of space overhead rippled and dissipated, replaced with the rainbow hued, thatch pattern metal walls of the sim deck. Granted the sim’s initial suppositions weren’t that fair, for how often would the Athena be alone, relying on only her own considerable firepower and her fighters for her survival? Still, everything was going fine till something went horribly wrong.
The stony faced Vulcan that was mistress of all of Second Fleet approached the daises that had appeared before the staggered ranks of fighter sim modules. Letting her eyes roam across and up the 5000 vertically stacked ranks of modules, she spoke. Her voice carried across the large compartment as if she was standing right next to each pilot.
“By the large, you have performed well, but there is still quite some room for improvement.” Above her precise Vulcan head of hair and pointed ears, a rotating tactical holo of the simmed battle burst forth. With a few commands entered into the PADD in front of her, the battle quickly fast-forwarded to the spot she desired. Every pilot in the compartment looked on to see just who was responsible for the simulated destruction of their mothership. The tactical holo labeled seven offending wings of Cobras, all operating in close proximity to each other. “A case in point will now be highlighted. Instead of immediately executing the targeting instructions issued by CIC, Fighter Wings 3300, 23, 9921, 445, 713, 8394, and 102 stopped to engage targets of opportunity. As a result, ISS Athena, NCC – 400004 was completely destroyed with the loss of all hands. Instead of attacking a squadron of Shadows that were getting a bearing on our weakened port shield section six, they chose to jump a squadron of Shrikes that were already engaged by CSP wings. Instead of being part of the choreographed weapons fireplan, their failure to follow orders resulted in a lack of firepower tasked to destroy or disable the Shadows. These wings were the only ones outfitted for standoff attack that still had full or near full torpedo loads. Without their added firepower, the Romulan Battlecruisers survived to close to Mauler range and attacked our downed shield section, breaching the armor and hitting the internal heavy torpedo magazine. The explosion of that alone wouldn’t be enough to hurt us terribly, but at the same time, as weapons were retasked to make up the shortfall caused by the errant fighter squadrons, they left other targets relatively unscathed. That allowed the other threats to gain range and hit us on other weakened shield sections. The combined firepower from so many directions overwhelmed our weakened defenses.
“I cannot stress enough that in a battle like the one we just simmed, you need to follow the commands given to you by CIC controllers. We need to choreograph our fire in order to ensure that attacks are applied evenly to those targets that need to be targeted. You don’t have enough information in your cockpits to determine this. We will restart the sim from the beginning and this time see if we can do it right.” She never raised her voice above conversational levels, but it was like a bucket of ice water to the assembled pilots, especially those who had been responsible for the screw up. No one dared complain when Fleet Admiral T’var ordered another hours long session in the sim chamber. Although another stint in the over active deep tissue massage of the sim chamber was the last thing any of them wanted to do, they obeyed. They knew as much as she did that they still had edges to clean up before they were an effective instrument of death. They were willing to put up with the minor nuisance of extra sim time if it meant that they stood a better chance of living in a real battle. Vic re-donned his helmet as a hologram of Athena’s primary catapult tube formed around him.
Terra Orbit, San Francisco Memorial Yards, Observation Deck, 3 hours 45 minutes later
“Well that one went much better, don’t you agree Ma’am?” T’var’s aide said after the second sim was completed.
“Indeed, they followed instructions admirably the second time, although I think that Admiral Bartlett wasn’t in top form directing the Romulan fleet the second time through. There were a few times where his forces could have crippled us but missed the opportunity.” T’var gazed out through the transparent aluminum dome as the final repairs were nearing completion on her flagship. The hastily patched rents in her armored carapace were nearly sealed now, and all internal damage was totally repaired. It would only be a day or two before the yards would finally set her free to once again act as the centerpiece of the reformed and expanded 2nd Fleet, but it was still not decided where 2nd Fleet would head for. Starfleet Command had been trying to puzzle that out for months now, and still couldn’t come up with a decent decision. Attacking any one member of the Grand Alliance would bring the others to its aid. And even with a fully mobilized 2nd Fleet, the Empire would need more than that to try and retake core enemy systems. Fleet strength was building up, but it would be another year or two before a realistic offensive could begin that didn't strip Imperial systems bare of defense. If all the Empire wanted to do was destroy enemy worlds, that would be far easier to accomplish with current fleet levels, but the Emperor wanted nothing less than retaking all the systems lost to the Grad Alliance powers. In a peculiar way, this was better, for it prevented T’var from making a choice she hoped never to make. If she was ordered to destroy a world, she knew she couldn’t do it. It went against everything she believed in. Even if they are the enemies of the Empire, was it not the Empire’s treatment of them that caused them to lash out? Were the situations reversed, wouldn’t Terrans and even Vulcans lash out against their oppressors? Behind her emotionless Vulcan mask, T’var pondered what might be, both Spock’s utopian vision and much darker ones.
The Terran Empire had always taken the approach that alien species needed to be gauged as to the threat they posed to the Empire, then dealt with accordingly. That was the reason that the Empire was always at war, it saw hostile empires as threats to its very survival and destroyed them to prevent that action. Some, like the Borg, deserved to be extinguished, for they posed a clear and present threat to the Terran Empire. Others, like the Grand Alliance powers, weren’t as black and white. In their time, they had proven a dangerous foe, but they had never initiated open war. The Empire had done that, not even considering making the attempt to live along side them, instead choosing to exterminate, conquer and enslave. It had been fear that had driven the early Empire to go to war, fear that they would attack you first and you would loose. While there was some logic to attacking your enemy before he could attack you, there was even more logic in trying to live peacefully with them. If Spock’s vision of a powerful governing body, encompassing many species on equal footing was achievable, wouldn’t that be more a logical path than that of constant conflict? And what did that say about those who chose to serve in the ranks of its warriors? Were they evil because they served the will of their political masters without question?
Of that she did have an answer. Some were indeed beings of darkness, reveling in the pain and suffering of others, but by and large those in the Empire’s armed forces were people defending their homes from what they thought were threats. It was the Empire's leaders that had shifted from self preservation to conquest, still feeding the people propaganda that species like the Cardassians and Ferengi were threats to the Terran Empire. There had to be some way to make the general population of the Empire see that not every alien species was a threat, but for the life of her, T’var couldn’t see it. The belief had been held for to many generations to be easily changed. But there had to be a way, and T’var was determined that she would find it.
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Chapter Sixteen – Consolidation
Starbase 2000, Delta Quadrant, Ops Deck
Captain Stiles eyes went wide as he took in the hulking shapes of Imperial Marines in powered combat armor, yet to his credit his phaser never so much as twitched. Ulysses predatory grin never left his face as he began to speak again.
“Go ahead.” He spoke quietly, but his voice was loud in the deathly silence that gripped Ops. “Give them an excuse.” Ulysses stepped foreword till the tip of Stiles’ phaser was pressed into his chest. Stiles stared dumbstruck at the urging in the Imperial Captain’s voice and actions.
“But if they open fire, you’ll be cut down with the rest of us.”
“Small price to pay to have you and your ilk dealt with expediently." Ulysses replied in a tone that could have cut through a duranium bulkhead. Stiles visibly flinched. He could see it in the young firebrand's eyes that he was perfectly willing to make good on his statement. "You swore an oath to protect the people of the Empire, and by your actions you have BROKEN that sacred trust! Over five BILLION souls are depending on this Battle Station and the Fleet to protect them from a hostile galaxy! As it now sits, this station couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag. So I say again, give them an excuse.” Ulysses voice had reverted to a neutral tone, but there was no mistaking the look in his eyes. Stiles resolve failed him. Looking at the Captain's face, it was like a house cat meeting a lion in search of a snack.
Of all things, this was the least he expected from someone assigned to Starbase 2000. He had seen plenty of officers willing to sacrifice themselves for the false ideals of honor. Yet most of those who were assigned here were quickly exorcised of it. This young officer was different. Something in the way he carried himself, something in his voice, said that he would never lose that ideal. It was to much part of what he was for it to be removed by a mere assignment to Starfleet’s latest dumping ground for troublemakers.
Stiles lowered his phaser, then dropped it to the deck. From the sounds all around him, his compatriots were following his lead and doing likewise. Ulysses stepped foreword, bringing his face fully into the light, and what Stiles saw caused him to shrink back in fear. There was death dancing in the young firebrand’s eyes, a predatory gleam that had no place on a humans face. Yet it was gone in an eyeblink as Ulysses brought himself back under iron willed self control.
“Take them to the brig, hold them there till a formal courts martial can be convened to look into their recent actions.” Ulysses snapped.
“Aye Sir.” With a gesture of his grav gun, Gunny McKennon got the jackals in motion. “You heard the Skipper, get your mangy carcasses moving! And if there is any funny business on the way there, well I don't need to explain to you what a round of hypervelocity flechettes will do to you.”
----------
They had just finished clearing out when a breathless Commissar Stevens huffed into Ops, her fists balled angrily at her sides. “Captain, just what the HELL do you think you are doing!”
“A bit of house cleaning.” Ulysses replied tersely.
“With fully decked out Marines!?” She said, her hand waving towards the retreating figures in power armor.
“And not just here, I sent them out across the entire station.” Ulysses continued
Stevens eyes went round as saucers. "The entire station..."
"Yes, the entire station. Lord knows how far down the rot he brought here has spread. I would rather have people I can trust spread throughout the station keeping an eye on things.
“But that would take damn near the entire Marine compliment of the whole Battlegroup!” She exploded.
“Yes it indeed would, for this is a rather large Battlestation after all.”
Stevens prepared to launch into another angry tirade then stopped herself. She could tell that it wouldn't faze him in the slightest and she couldn't really call him to task for enforcing Starfleet regs, even if it was in a place like Starbase 2000. While the devotion he was inspiring in both his command and the rest of the Battlegroup as a whole was disturbing on any number of levels, she had to admit that everything he was doing was well within the regs. It still caused her to be suspicious, for everyone knew that it was a power hungry Admiral who had allowed nearly all of the Empire's government to be murdered. If this young, charismatic officer chose to turn his loyalties from the Empire, there could be trouble. It wouldn't do for her to totally alienate herself from him so early over something as trivial as what had just transpired. True he was supposed to clear all military actions with her ahead of time, but now that she thought about it this was more of a disciplinary action than anything else. Breath escaped from between her lips as she exhaled heavily.
“You don't do things by half measures do you Mr. Vanguard?" Stevens put a slight grin on her face and a parental tone in her voice. Ulysses wasn't fooled for a minute, yet he played along.
"Half measures are worse than useless, because they can lead one to think that one is secure when one really isn't. Which is exactly why I never use them. The Galaxy is to dangerous a place for false security." Ulysses sighed. "This place needs leadership, right now it's like a ship with a broken rudder. Will you back me in my plan to assume control of this sector till Starfleet can dispatch someone with proper rank and seniority?" Much as it irked Ulysses to come begging to the Section 31 stoolie, he knew that it was the best way to guarantee getting competent leadership for this sector, at least until Starfleet Command sent the next self serving Flag officer to this backwater.
Stevens gave the young Captain an appraising stare. The rampant golden lion glittered on his breast, nestled next to a rather impressive series of medals for one so young. She totally misread his eagerness to assume command of the decapitated command structure the sector had been saddled with. Without a doubt someone had to take charge, and if her evidently eager charge wanted to take on the responsibility there were not that many others in the sector that had the seniority to challenge him. Add to that there was a personal factor as well. While she distrusted the young Captain’s motives as a matter of course, there was a certain prestige gained from being assigned as the political watchdog to a Sector CO, even if he still was a Captain. The fact that there never had been a mere captain, even one in possession of the Lion of Terra, in command of an entire sector was unheard of. Of course having the entire Flag Rank Chain of Command eliminated at one time was also unheard of, so having an unheard of solution to the problem wasn't all that unexpected.
"Very well Mr. Vanguard, I agree that this sector needs some form of leadership until Starfleet can send some more Brass out here. I see no reason why that temporary leadership shouldn't be you. I will back your proposal to Starfleet Command."
"Thank you Commissar, you will not regret your decision."
"I never doubted it for a minute."
Imperial Throne Room, Moscow, Terra
Jack silently cursed his poor luck. First the entire upper echelons of Sector 2000's chain of command get taken out by a still unknown operative, then that young pup he had sent out there to be out of the public eye decides that he needs to assume command. While that choice was the right one from a purely military stand point, it put a real wrench into the works of his own plans. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried to divert attention from this new 'Hero of the Empire', he found a way to keep it firmly centered upon him. His right hand curled into a hidden white knuckled fist under his space black silk cloak. All of his propaganda plans would have to be reworked. He would be forced to cast even more attention at Captain Vanguard. It couldn't be helped, but it was irritating that the young officer had such an unintentional magnetism for the public eye.
"Send my approval of Captain Vanguard's actions to Starfleet Command. Make sure that they dispatch a full compliment of flag officers as soon as possible. While the young Captain Vanguard and his staff are highly capable, they are not seignior enough to be left in charge of an entire sector for an extended period of time. Till the replacement officers and their staffs arrive however, he is temporarily promoted to Vice Admiral to give his assumed authority the proper backing of rank."
"I shall contact Starfleet Command with your words immediately Your Highness." A low level aide said, bowing lowly then turning on his heel and striding out of the throne room.
Briefing Room, ISS Valley Forge, Later that day
"...and that's the extent of it people." Ulysses explained to his command staff. "I have been affirmed as CO of this sector by both Starfleet Command and the Emperor himself, at least until proper official bureaucrats can be dispatched. But I needn't tell any of you that they will be at least a month in coming due to the distances involved even if they leave immediately. So first things first, you’ve had a chance to peruse your various departments at a trans sector level. What are the good and bad points. Exec, why don't you start us off."
"Sir, the command situation is every bit as ripped up as I initially thought. Not only is every flag officer in the sector dead, but much of the bureaucracy was also destroyed when the Sector Council Chamber was blown up. We have Captains and Commanders flailing around in the domain of Admirals and Vice Admirals and it shows. For the most part, they don't have the experience necessary to effectively accomplish their unexpected duties." Ulysses grimaced. If he couldn't put together an effective chain of command, however temporarily, things would go from bad to worse. Seeing her Captain's sour face, P'tel continued. "All is not lost however, for there are quite a few officers that have risen admirably to their new duties. They should prove sufficient to provide a rudimentary chain of command at the very least."
"Ok, write up a list of the good ones for my perusal. Also do a list of the real trouble makers we'll have to keep an eye on." P'tel nodded. Ulysses eyes moved on to his Chief Engineer. "How's the fleet wide readiness status Commander?"
"It's not as high as I would like at all Skip. From my calls to various BG Flagship Chief Engineers, many are in dire need of yard maintenance, but there are only a few slips at Nightingale Yards that are as active. It appears that many of the yard crews were shirking their duties long before the Brass was killed. It's gotten even worse since. On a more positive note the cleanup dirtside is nearly finished." It was a weak positive in light of the initial negative, and Heidberg knew it as much as his Captain did.
"This cannot continue. I want every ship in the fleet brought up to full combat readiness within the week. Sorry to add to your already full plate Exec, but I want you to coordinate with Cmdr. Heidberg. Get those yards up to speed, and use any amount of force that's required if they don't take the hint that things are gonna undergo a radical change." P'tel could tell that he found the probable use of force to coerce the yard crews to bring their productivity up to fleet standard distasteful. Yet it was good to know for certain that he wasn't naive enough to think that it wouldn't be required in more than a few cases. That was a matter of course at this post, it had been Starfleet's dumping ground for to long for it to be otherwise.
"Aye Sir." P'tel bore her geometrically expanding workload with typical Vulcan stoic ness.
"Cmdr. Davenport, I want your department to coordinate a fleet wide war-game set for before the end of the week. I need to know how much rust we need to remove from our sword before it's an effective weapon again. If any ship Captains give you grief, contact me immediately."
"Aye Skipper, you can count on me."
"I had no doubts otherwise Cmdr." Ulysses graced his tactical officer with a small grin, then turned to his CMO. "Cmdr. Petersmith, What's the situation dirtside?"
"Its a lot better than I thought sir. The blast was pretty much contained by the Council Chambers. While nearly everyone in the building died, there was mostly only light injuries outside. There really isn't that much more that I can do. Lilith has the same healthcare capabilities of any core world. Most of those affected by the explosion have already been released from the local hospitals with only a few critical cases still there. They are in good hands, my people would only be in the way."
Ulysses nodded his understanding. "All right Doctor, thank you. Any questions before we adjourn?" No one made any attempt to speak. "Ok then, we have a lot of work ahead of us, so lets get cracking."
Starbase 2000, Delta Quadrant, Ops Deck
Captain Stiles eyes went wide as he took in the hulking shapes of Imperial Marines in powered combat armor, yet to his credit his phaser never so much as twitched. Ulysses predatory grin never left his face as he began to speak again.
“Go ahead.” He spoke quietly, but his voice was loud in the deathly silence that gripped Ops. “Give them an excuse.” Ulysses stepped foreword till the tip of Stiles’ phaser was pressed into his chest. Stiles stared dumbstruck at the urging in the Imperial Captain’s voice and actions.
“But if they open fire, you’ll be cut down with the rest of us.”
“Small price to pay to have you and your ilk dealt with expediently." Ulysses replied in a tone that could have cut through a duranium bulkhead. Stiles visibly flinched. He could see it in the young firebrand's eyes that he was perfectly willing to make good on his statement. "You swore an oath to protect the people of the Empire, and by your actions you have BROKEN that sacred trust! Over five BILLION souls are depending on this Battle Station and the Fleet to protect them from a hostile galaxy! As it now sits, this station couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag. So I say again, give them an excuse.” Ulysses voice had reverted to a neutral tone, but there was no mistaking the look in his eyes. Stiles resolve failed him. Looking at the Captain's face, it was like a house cat meeting a lion in search of a snack.
Of all things, this was the least he expected from someone assigned to Starbase 2000. He had seen plenty of officers willing to sacrifice themselves for the false ideals of honor. Yet most of those who were assigned here were quickly exorcised of it. This young officer was different. Something in the way he carried himself, something in his voice, said that he would never lose that ideal. It was to much part of what he was for it to be removed by a mere assignment to Starfleet’s latest dumping ground for troublemakers.
Stiles lowered his phaser, then dropped it to the deck. From the sounds all around him, his compatriots were following his lead and doing likewise. Ulysses stepped foreword, bringing his face fully into the light, and what Stiles saw caused him to shrink back in fear. There was death dancing in the young firebrand’s eyes, a predatory gleam that had no place on a humans face. Yet it was gone in an eyeblink as Ulysses brought himself back under iron willed self control.
“Take them to the brig, hold them there till a formal courts martial can be convened to look into their recent actions.” Ulysses snapped.
“Aye Sir.” With a gesture of his grav gun, Gunny McKennon got the jackals in motion. “You heard the Skipper, get your mangy carcasses moving! And if there is any funny business on the way there, well I don't need to explain to you what a round of hypervelocity flechettes will do to you.”
----------
They had just finished clearing out when a breathless Commissar Stevens huffed into Ops, her fists balled angrily at her sides. “Captain, just what the HELL do you think you are doing!”
“A bit of house cleaning.” Ulysses replied tersely.
“With fully decked out Marines!?” She said, her hand waving towards the retreating figures in power armor.
“And not just here, I sent them out across the entire station.” Ulysses continued
Stevens eyes went round as saucers. "The entire station..."
"Yes, the entire station. Lord knows how far down the rot he brought here has spread. I would rather have people I can trust spread throughout the station keeping an eye on things.
“But that would take damn near the entire Marine compliment of the whole Battlegroup!” She exploded.
“Yes it indeed would, for this is a rather large Battlestation after all.”
Stevens prepared to launch into another angry tirade then stopped herself. She could tell that it wouldn't faze him in the slightest and she couldn't really call him to task for enforcing Starfleet regs, even if it was in a place like Starbase 2000. While the devotion he was inspiring in both his command and the rest of the Battlegroup as a whole was disturbing on any number of levels, she had to admit that everything he was doing was well within the regs. It still caused her to be suspicious, for everyone knew that it was a power hungry Admiral who had allowed nearly all of the Empire's government to be murdered. If this young, charismatic officer chose to turn his loyalties from the Empire, there could be trouble. It wouldn't do for her to totally alienate herself from him so early over something as trivial as what had just transpired. True he was supposed to clear all military actions with her ahead of time, but now that she thought about it this was more of a disciplinary action than anything else. Breath escaped from between her lips as she exhaled heavily.
“You don't do things by half measures do you Mr. Vanguard?" Stevens put a slight grin on her face and a parental tone in her voice. Ulysses wasn't fooled for a minute, yet he played along.
"Half measures are worse than useless, because they can lead one to think that one is secure when one really isn't. Which is exactly why I never use them. The Galaxy is to dangerous a place for false security." Ulysses sighed. "This place needs leadership, right now it's like a ship with a broken rudder. Will you back me in my plan to assume control of this sector till Starfleet can dispatch someone with proper rank and seniority?" Much as it irked Ulysses to come begging to the Section 31 stoolie, he knew that it was the best way to guarantee getting competent leadership for this sector, at least until Starfleet Command sent the next self serving Flag officer to this backwater.
Stevens gave the young Captain an appraising stare. The rampant golden lion glittered on his breast, nestled next to a rather impressive series of medals for one so young. She totally misread his eagerness to assume command of the decapitated command structure the sector had been saddled with. Without a doubt someone had to take charge, and if her evidently eager charge wanted to take on the responsibility there were not that many others in the sector that had the seniority to challenge him. Add to that there was a personal factor as well. While she distrusted the young Captain’s motives as a matter of course, there was a certain prestige gained from being assigned as the political watchdog to a Sector CO, even if he still was a Captain. The fact that there never had been a mere captain, even one in possession of the Lion of Terra, in command of an entire sector was unheard of. Of course having the entire Flag Rank Chain of Command eliminated at one time was also unheard of, so having an unheard of solution to the problem wasn't all that unexpected.
"Very well Mr. Vanguard, I agree that this sector needs some form of leadership until Starfleet can send some more Brass out here. I see no reason why that temporary leadership shouldn't be you. I will back your proposal to Starfleet Command."
"Thank you Commissar, you will not regret your decision."
"I never doubted it for a minute."
Imperial Throne Room, Moscow, Terra
Jack silently cursed his poor luck. First the entire upper echelons of Sector 2000's chain of command get taken out by a still unknown operative, then that young pup he had sent out there to be out of the public eye decides that he needs to assume command. While that choice was the right one from a purely military stand point, it put a real wrench into the works of his own plans. It seemed like no matter how hard he tried to divert attention from this new 'Hero of the Empire', he found a way to keep it firmly centered upon him. His right hand curled into a hidden white knuckled fist under his space black silk cloak. All of his propaganda plans would have to be reworked. He would be forced to cast even more attention at Captain Vanguard. It couldn't be helped, but it was irritating that the young officer had such an unintentional magnetism for the public eye.
"Send my approval of Captain Vanguard's actions to Starfleet Command. Make sure that they dispatch a full compliment of flag officers as soon as possible. While the young Captain Vanguard and his staff are highly capable, they are not seignior enough to be left in charge of an entire sector for an extended period of time. Till the replacement officers and their staffs arrive however, he is temporarily promoted to Vice Admiral to give his assumed authority the proper backing of rank."
"I shall contact Starfleet Command with your words immediately Your Highness." A low level aide said, bowing lowly then turning on his heel and striding out of the throne room.
Briefing Room, ISS Valley Forge, Later that day
"...and that's the extent of it people." Ulysses explained to his command staff. "I have been affirmed as CO of this sector by both Starfleet Command and the Emperor himself, at least until proper official bureaucrats can be dispatched. But I needn't tell any of you that they will be at least a month in coming due to the distances involved even if they leave immediately. So first things first, you’ve had a chance to peruse your various departments at a trans sector level. What are the good and bad points. Exec, why don't you start us off."
"Sir, the command situation is every bit as ripped up as I initially thought. Not only is every flag officer in the sector dead, but much of the bureaucracy was also destroyed when the Sector Council Chamber was blown up. We have Captains and Commanders flailing around in the domain of Admirals and Vice Admirals and it shows. For the most part, they don't have the experience necessary to effectively accomplish their unexpected duties." Ulysses grimaced. If he couldn't put together an effective chain of command, however temporarily, things would go from bad to worse. Seeing her Captain's sour face, P'tel continued. "All is not lost however, for there are quite a few officers that have risen admirably to their new duties. They should prove sufficient to provide a rudimentary chain of command at the very least."
"Ok, write up a list of the good ones for my perusal. Also do a list of the real trouble makers we'll have to keep an eye on." P'tel nodded. Ulysses eyes moved on to his Chief Engineer. "How's the fleet wide readiness status Commander?"
"It's not as high as I would like at all Skip. From my calls to various BG Flagship Chief Engineers, many are in dire need of yard maintenance, but there are only a few slips at Nightingale Yards that are as active. It appears that many of the yard crews were shirking their duties long before the Brass was killed. It's gotten even worse since. On a more positive note the cleanup dirtside is nearly finished." It was a weak positive in light of the initial negative, and Heidberg knew it as much as his Captain did.
"This cannot continue. I want every ship in the fleet brought up to full combat readiness within the week. Sorry to add to your already full plate Exec, but I want you to coordinate with Cmdr. Heidberg. Get those yards up to speed, and use any amount of force that's required if they don't take the hint that things are gonna undergo a radical change." P'tel could tell that he found the probable use of force to coerce the yard crews to bring their productivity up to fleet standard distasteful. Yet it was good to know for certain that he wasn't naive enough to think that it wouldn't be required in more than a few cases. That was a matter of course at this post, it had been Starfleet's dumping ground for to long for it to be otherwise.
"Aye Sir." P'tel bore her geometrically expanding workload with typical Vulcan stoic ness.
"Cmdr. Davenport, I want your department to coordinate a fleet wide war-game set for before the end of the week. I need to know how much rust we need to remove from our sword before it's an effective weapon again. If any ship Captains give you grief, contact me immediately."
"Aye Skipper, you can count on me."
"I had no doubts otherwise Cmdr." Ulysses graced his tactical officer with a small grin, then turned to his CMO. "Cmdr. Petersmith, What's the situation dirtside?"
"Its a lot better than I thought sir. The blast was pretty much contained by the Council Chambers. While nearly everyone in the building died, there was mostly only light injuries outside. There really isn't that much more that I can do. Lilith has the same healthcare capabilities of any core world. Most of those affected by the explosion have already been released from the local hospitals with only a few critical cases still there. They are in good hands, my people would only be in the way."
Ulysses nodded his understanding. "All right Doctor, thank you. Any questions before we adjourn?" No one made any attempt to speak. "Ok then, we have a lot of work ahead of us, so lets get cracking."
-
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Chapter Seventeen – The Tip of The Lance
ISS Voyager
Cavit’s wounded ship came to another juncture in the subspace corridor network. They had been going deeper and deeper into the unmapped routes, forced away from charted lanes by converging ISC and Dominion Forces. They were, in essence lost in space with virtually no idea where these tunnels would lead to.
“Steady Mr. Tuvok. Make this separation just as cleanly as the last one and we’ll be down to one tag along.” Scott told his Chief Tactical officer.
“Coming up on the transfer point…” Harry Kim said stonily from his post.
“Now Mr. Tuvok.” Cavit ordered.
“Launching EW drone now, aye Sir.” The Vulcan’s unflappably calm voice replied. The drone brought its impulse engines online as it cleared the launch tube and swung away from Voyager, taking one branch of the corridor while it’s mother ship took the other. To an outside observer, it looked like the Imperial Intrepid class underwent mitosis, both visually and on sensors, with both giving of exactly the same readings. Behind them, the slowly gaining ISC Destroyers were forced to split, one following the near perfect mimic, the other remaining with their true quarry. Although the ISC’s edge in speed was slight, it was undeniably there. It was pure luck that kept the initial waves of pursuers from following them. They had spoofed first one, then another of the Battlecruisers away using EW drones sent down branches of the corridor network. The last one had nearly been in phaser range when the corridor branched yet again. With an usual portion of luck, the ISC ship had followed the EW drone instead of Voyager, leaving the Imperial vessel temporarily alone in its flight. All to soon though, new pursuers were detected coming down nearly every adjoining branch of the network. The few that picked up and followed Cavit’s trail had also been fooled into tracking drones, and Voyager’s seemingly blessed state continued. The latest ships to have picked up their trail had just been divided. It was now time to conquer.
“Wait till they are out of com range of their friend, then blow them out of the stars.”
Time seemed to slow as everyone waited till they could attack without worry of the Destroyer’s compatriot finding out about it immediately. After a seeming eternity, it was time. Voyager cut her drives and swung around through the vertical, letting inertia maintain her foreword velocity. Although she would eventually loose her original vector’s velocity due to the interaction of the subspace corridor, the manuvers allowed her to bring her most powerful weapons arch to bear on her pursuer. The range began to drop sharply, and a message drone spat out of the ISC ship’s aft tube. It was truly fortunate that this particular design had no PPD as part of its weapons load out, lest Cavit’s crippled command would have been disabled far short of her own effective attack range.
This ISC ship was a fire support ship, a long range archer that helped bring down wounded capital ships or hunted lesser vessels at a distance. But although its target was wounded, her combat capability was only lessened slightly. Even if it was an ISC Destroyer, and even against a crippled Imperial Heavy Cruiser, a Destroyer/Heavy Cruiser battle still favored the Heavy Cruiser by a wide margin. Plasma warheads had a higher yield than their quantum brethren, but their range was shorter, allowing Cavit to score first. Steady streams of blue white spheroids spat from the twin foreword launchers mounted in Voyager’s secondary hull, crossing the angry void to ravage the ISC’s shields. The Concordium Destroyer closed to its own torpedo range and both ships opened up on each other. Plasma and quantum torpedoes flashed through the swirling vortex of the corridor, flaring and dieing against shields. The distance fell to energy weapons range and the true disparity between the combatants became clear. Whereas the ISC ship had heavy, long ranged torpedo volleys, it sacrificed phaser capacity to get it. In an energy range knife fight, it was hopelessly outclassed by the heavy phaser arrays its Imperial opponent carried. Heavy Plasma strikes were followed up by phasers, but they only brought Voyager’s shields down and began hammering at her armored carapace. Cavit, on the other hand, rained overpowering phaser strikes down on the smaller enemy, punching through their shields almost at will, turning the Destroyer’s outer hull into a white hot mass of molten alloy. A brace of quantums and a stiletto of phaser energy finally found the small ships warp core, shattering the remnants of the Destroyer, sending them pin wheeling apart trailing plasma flame.
“Good shot Mr. Tuvok.”
“Naturally Captain.”
“Mr. Paris, get us going again. Mr. Kim, get coordinate damage control teams. I want our latest damage totally repaired before we meet up with another ISC or Dominion patrol.”
“Captain, sensors show that the corridor ahead of us is becoming clogged with debris. There are a lot of starship pieces out there, and they’re old.” Tom Parris said from his station. The main viewer showed the tale as well.
“Gods, there was a war fought in here…” Cavit murmured as Tom began to thread his way through the remnants of starships.
“Designs and materials are from an as yet undocumented set of species.” Tuvok supplied.
“Sir, we are coming up on another junction. One leads out of the network and into normal space, the other continues on.” Kim said.
“Ok, we need to put down somewhere and make repairs. Since we have no pursuers to see us, this looks like the best time we have. Gives us a chance to find out just where we are as well. Make for the terminus Mr. Paris.”
Voyager emerged from the subspace corridor network near a star system.
“There is a planet in this system that should hide us from sensors while we make repairs Captain.” Harry told his commander. “It looks like the planet underwent a very limited orbital bombardment a few thousand years ago, just enough to destroy all the major cities and infrastructure and wreck the biosphere. The surface is still largely intact, with little to no glassing or penetration to the planets mantle.” Lt. Kim smiled slightly as he continued. “Best of all, there are high concentrations of scanner scattering radiation present in its upper atmosphere. They should be sufficient to nearly completely mask our presence.”
“That’s the best news I have heard in a while. Launch the last EW drone on a course for the nearest termini. If our luck holds, it will draw off any pursuers that followed our trail here. Mr. Paris, reconfigure for atmospheric flight and take us down to a suitable landing site, preferably inside what was once a city.”
Cavit set his command down near the center of what had once been a bustling metropolis. Although it paled next to the giant man made forests of alloy that were the major cities of Imperial Core worlds, it was still an impressive city even if it was only abandoned, poisoned ruins. The repairs went on for days, with the massive hull breach in Voyager’s foreword saucer becoming largely patched and various other assorted wounds healed thanks to her engineering crew’s ministrations. It was on the fourth day that faint readings were detected. They came not from space, as was expected, but from the very ground beneath Voyager herself.
--- ---
“Would you look at that…” the security officer assigned to the team that was searching out the anomalous power source murmured. Before him and the rest of the team stretched row after row of stasis pods, each housing an individual of a previously unknown alien species. In an adjoining room, there was a series of antiquated Frigates. Though their technology was several thousand years out of date, it was still close to a current day pirate’s armament. It was a true testament to this species that it had the foresight to attempt to preserve itself even as its homeworld was destroyed from orbit.
“Captain,” The squad leader commed, “the power source appears to be a geothermal core tap, it’s powering a series of stasis pods, each containing an alien. Preliminary analysis of their equipment indicates that they are the same race that built most of the debris we found in the nearby subspace corridors.
“If their vessels were indeed engaging in combat inside the corridor network, they must have knowledge of their routes. I recommend that we revive one of the aliens to question him for this information Captain. It is possible that he may know a way back to plotted corridor lanes that we do not.” Tuvok interjected. Cavit mulled over the recommendation for a few seconds, then spoke.
“Do it Lieutenant.”
ISS Valley Forge, Two weeks later
Preparations had advanced with relative ease, far more easily than Ulysses had dared hope that is. After a few carefully selected examples had been made, the other hard cases and their followers had fallen more or less in line. True there was still more corporal punishment being doled out than he would like in an ideal universe, Starbase 200 was far from that ideal. Too many of these officers and enlisted personnel only knew how to behave under the crawling pain of an agonizer, never being taught another way. Ulysses wasn’t naïve enough to believe that most of them would ever learn otherwise.
The civilians on Lilith were exactly the opposite. They were skeptical at first, for after a seemingly unending series of obviously worthless officers that had been foisted upon them, they had every right to be jaded. But officers and enlisted from the Valley Forge Battlegroup made the rounds at local bars, eateries and holosuites, and they did much to further Ulysses image. For unlike your normal bunch of sailors on leave, they were far more courteous and generally pleasant to be around. Not that they didn’t raise their fair share of ruckus once they got inebriated on the local brand of home brew, but taken on the whole they were far better than what Lilithians were used to. This, combined with the perplexed reverence the officers and enlisted personnel all seemed to hold their CO with finally convinced the civilians, and word spread like wild fire. Upon learning that responsible and just leadership had fallen into their laps for the first time in many years, they held a planet wide celebration. The citizens went out of their way to accommodate any changes that “Skipper” Vanguard chose to make.
The Fleet units in Lilith orbit, while powerful on paper, had experienced a considerable degradation of the combat skills thanks to Command sponsored inactivity. They were just now coming up to a level that Ulysses liked, but still had room for improvement. The most important thing was that many of their commanders had begun copying Ulysses command style where applicable. They weren’t stupid, for they knew that giving their crews freer reign than was normal wasn’t a paying proposition for all circumstances, but they were trying as much as possible.
They Nightingale shipyards had been whipped into shape by the combined energies of Chief Engineer Heidberg and P’tel. All pending repairs had been cleared in record time with no degradation in work quality. Refit schedules were drawn up, with the oldest ships placed at the head of the line to receive upgrades to make them combat effective. While still a powerful Fleet, 7895th Fleet had been raided fairly heavily after the end of the Borg/Imperial war. Her heavy forces were close to full strength, namely a mixture of mostly first batch Wraiths that survived the Imperial/Borg war with a handful of new Wraith (R)’s as squadron flagships. Her lighter screening elements were another story, being most often understrength and of older designs largely removed from frontline service. Using his recently gained powers, Ulysses ordered a series of special upgrades to be started to some of the oldest vessels in his improving fleet. The old Excelsiors were receiving some of the most significant upgrades, allowing the venerable designs to compete with modern designs that will likely be arrayed against them.
Ulysses wasn’t sure what was driving him to temper his new fleet into a weapon with such force. All he knew was that he had a bad feeling that had been growing since he had arrived at Prescott’s Star. Something big was in the works, something bad. And he had a sinking suspicion that it would land in his lap.
Eden City, Lilith
No, no, NO!!!! All of my plans are in ruins and all because of one sniveling solid!
Unity Operative 11J was not a happy changeling. Of all the unforeseen obstacles to his plan, the one he had never expected was having a competent leader step foreword and assume command of the Sector. The Galactic Unity would attack soon, and many of his assigned objectives had yet to be realized. If anything, his initial success had turned to ashes, because this young upstart had forged them in the few short weeks he had been in command, into a dangerous foe, one preparing for trouble instead of causing it. Instead of inept and incompetent leadership, it now had relatively inexperienced commanders but ones that were learning how to do their jobs right.
Ground side security had been tightened considerably, and he no longer had access to restricted areas thanks to the renewed anti-changeling detection methods. Passwords could be obtained, medical scans passed thanks to his mastery of mimicry, but DNA analysis of samples removed from his body, namely blood, was not so easily forged. True he could store a solids blood and release it into the waiting hypo as required, but keeping it fresh was something else. Scans would be able to tell if the blood was fresh or not, and if it came up false all would be lost. There was one mission he could yet achieve, although his likelihood of survival afterward was practically nil. It was unfortunate but not unexpected. His blow would allow the Galactic Unity to more easily assume dominion over this sector. The solids would be taught the proper respect for their superiors. In the hiding shroud of a shadow filled alleyway, the changeling switched personas, assuming the identity of a Starbase 2000 crewman.
ISS Voyager
Cavit’s wounded ship came to another juncture in the subspace corridor network. They had been going deeper and deeper into the unmapped routes, forced away from charted lanes by converging ISC and Dominion Forces. They were, in essence lost in space with virtually no idea where these tunnels would lead to.
“Steady Mr. Tuvok. Make this separation just as cleanly as the last one and we’ll be down to one tag along.” Scott told his Chief Tactical officer.
“Coming up on the transfer point…” Harry Kim said stonily from his post.
“Now Mr. Tuvok.” Cavit ordered.
“Launching EW drone now, aye Sir.” The Vulcan’s unflappably calm voice replied. The drone brought its impulse engines online as it cleared the launch tube and swung away from Voyager, taking one branch of the corridor while it’s mother ship took the other. To an outside observer, it looked like the Imperial Intrepid class underwent mitosis, both visually and on sensors, with both giving of exactly the same readings. Behind them, the slowly gaining ISC Destroyers were forced to split, one following the near perfect mimic, the other remaining with their true quarry. Although the ISC’s edge in speed was slight, it was undeniably there. It was pure luck that kept the initial waves of pursuers from following them. They had spoofed first one, then another of the Battlecruisers away using EW drones sent down branches of the corridor network. The last one had nearly been in phaser range when the corridor branched yet again. With an usual portion of luck, the ISC ship had followed the EW drone instead of Voyager, leaving the Imperial vessel temporarily alone in its flight. All to soon though, new pursuers were detected coming down nearly every adjoining branch of the network. The few that picked up and followed Cavit’s trail had also been fooled into tracking drones, and Voyager’s seemingly blessed state continued. The latest ships to have picked up their trail had just been divided. It was now time to conquer.
“Wait till they are out of com range of their friend, then blow them out of the stars.”
Time seemed to slow as everyone waited till they could attack without worry of the Destroyer’s compatriot finding out about it immediately. After a seeming eternity, it was time. Voyager cut her drives and swung around through the vertical, letting inertia maintain her foreword velocity. Although she would eventually loose her original vector’s velocity due to the interaction of the subspace corridor, the manuvers allowed her to bring her most powerful weapons arch to bear on her pursuer. The range began to drop sharply, and a message drone spat out of the ISC ship’s aft tube. It was truly fortunate that this particular design had no PPD as part of its weapons load out, lest Cavit’s crippled command would have been disabled far short of her own effective attack range.
This ISC ship was a fire support ship, a long range archer that helped bring down wounded capital ships or hunted lesser vessels at a distance. But although its target was wounded, her combat capability was only lessened slightly. Even if it was an ISC Destroyer, and even against a crippled Imperial Heavy Cruiser, a Destroyer/Heavy Cruiser battle still favored the Heavy Cruiser by a wide margin. Plasma warheads had a higher yield than their quantum brethren, but their range was shorter, allowing Cavit to score first. Steady streams of blue white spheroids spat from the twin foreword launchers mounted in Voyager’s secondary hull, crossing the angry void to ravage the ISC’s shields. The Concordium Destroyer closed to its own torpedo range and both ships opened up on each other. Plasma and quantum torpedoes flashed through the swirling vortex of the corridor, flaring and dieing against shields. The distance fell to energy weapons range and the true disparity between the combatants became clear. Whereas the ISC ship had heavy, long ranged torpedo volleys, it sacrificed phaser capacity to get it. In an energy range knife fight, it was hopelessly outclassed by the heavy phaser arrays its Imperial opponent carried. Heavy Plasma strikes were followed up by phasers, but they only brought Voyager’s shields down and began hammering at her armored carapace. Cavit, on the other hand, rained overpowering phaser strikes down on the smaller enemy, punching through their shields almost at will, turning the Destroyer’s outer hull into a white hot mass of molten alloy. A brace of quantums and a stiletto of phaser energy finally found the small ships warp core, shattering the remnants of the Destroyer, sending them pin wheeling apart trailing plasma flame.
“Good shot Mr. Tuvok.”
“Naturally Captain.”
“Mr. Paris, get us going again. Mr. Kim, get coordinate damage control teams. I want our latest damage totally repaired before we meet up with another ISC or Dominion patrol.”
“Captain, sensors show that the corridor ahead of us is becoming clogged with debris. There are a lot of starship pieces out there, and they’re old.” Tom Parris said from his station. The main viewer showed the tale as well.
“Gods, there was a war fought in here…” Cavit murmured as Tom began to thread his way through the remnants of starships.
“Designs and materials are from an as yet undocumented set of species.” Tuvok supplied.
“Sir, we are coming up on another junction. One leads out of the network and into normal space, the other continues on.” Kim said.
“Ok, we need to put down somewhere and make repairs. Since we have no pursuers to see us, this looks like the best time we have. Gives us a chance to find out just where we are as well. Make for the terminus Mr. Paris.”
Voyager emerged from the subspace corridor network near a star system.
“There is a planet in this system that should hide us from sensors while we make repairs Captain.” Harry told his commander. “It looks like the planet underwent a very limited orbital bombardment a few thousand years ago, just enough to destroy all the major cities and infrastructure and wreck the biosphere. The surface is still largely intact, with little to no glassing or penetration to the planets mantle.” Lt. Kim smiled slightly as he continued. “Best of all, there are high concentrations of scanner scattering radiation present in its upper atmosphere. They should be sufficient to nearly completely mask our presence.”
“That’s the best news I have heard in a while. Launch the last EW drone on a course for the nearest termini. If our luck holds, it will draw off any pursuers that followed our trail here. Mr. Paris, reconfigure for atmospheric flight and take us down to a suitable landing site, preferably inside what was once a city.”
Cavit set his command down near the center of what had once been a bustling metropolis. Although it paled next to the giant man made forests of alloy that were the major cities of Imperial Core worlds, it was still an impressive city even if it was only abandoned, poisoned ruins. The repairs went on for days, with the massive hull breach in Voyager’s foreword saucer becoming largely patched and various other assorted wounds healed thanks to her engineering crew’s ministrations. It was on the fourth day that faint readings were detected. They came not from space, as was expected, but from the very ground beneath Voyager herself.
--- ---
“Would you look at that…” the security officer assigned to the team that was searching out the anomalous power source murmured. Before him and the rest of the team stretched row after row of stasis pods, each housing an individual of a previously unknown alien species. In an adjoining room, there was a series of antiquated Frigates. Though their technology was several thousand years out of date, it was still close to a current day pirate’s armament. It was a true testament to this species that it had the foresight to attempt to preserve itself even as its homeworld was destroyed from orbit.
“Captain,” The squad leader commed, “the power source appears to be a geothermal core tap, it’s powering a series of stasis pods, each containing an alien. Preliminary analysis of their equipment indicates that they are the same race that built most of the debris we found in the nearby subspace corridors.
“If their vessels were indeed engaging in combat inside the corridor network, they must have knowledge of their routes. I recommend that we revive one of the aliens to question him for this information Captain. It is possible that he may know a way back to plotted corridor lanes that we do not.” Tuvok interjected. Cavit mulled over the recommendation for a few seconds, then spoke.
“Do it Lieutenant.”
ISS Valley Forge, Two weeks later
Preparations had advanced with relative ease, far more easily than Ulysses had dared hope that is. After a few carefully selected examples had been made, the other hard cases and their followers had fallen more or less in line. True there was still more corporal punishment being doled out than he would like in an ideal universe, Starbase 200 was far from that ideal. Too many of these officers and enlisted personnel only knew how to behave under the crawling pain of an agonizer, never being taught another way. Ulysses wasn’t naïve enough to believe that most of them would ever learn otherwise.
The civilians on Lilith were exactly the opposite. They were skeptical at first, for after a seemingly unending series of obviously worthless officers that had been foisted upon them, they had every right to be jaded. But officers and enlisted from the Valley Forge Battlegroup made the rounds at local bars, eateries and holosuites, and they did much to further Ulysses image. For unlike your normal bunch of sailors on leave, they were far more courteous and generally pleasant to be around. Not that they didn’t raise their fair share of ruckus once they got inebriated on the local brand of home brew, but taken on the whole they were far better than what Lilithians were used to. This, combined with the perplexed reverence the officers and enlisted personnel all seemed to hold their CO with finally convinced the civilians, and word spread like wild fire. Upon learning that responsible and just leadership had fallen into their laps for the first time in many years, they held a planet wide celebration. The citizens went out of their way to accommodate any changes that “Skipper” Vanguard chose to make.
The Fleet units in Lilith orbit, while powerful on paper, had experienced a considerable degradation of the combat skills thanks to Command sponsored inactivity. They were just now coming up to a level that Ulysses liked, but still had room for improvement. The most important thing was that many of their commanders had begun copying Ulysses command style where applicable. They weren’t stupid, for they knew that giving their crews freer reign than was normal wasn’t a paying proposition for all circumstances, but they were trying as much as possible.
They Nightingale shipyards had been whipped into shape by the combined energies of Chief Engineer Heidberg and P’tel. All pending repairs had been cleared in record time with no degradation in work quality. Refit schedules were drawn up, with the oldest ships placed at the head of the line to receive upgrades to make them combat effective. While still a powerful Fleet, 7895th Fleet had been raided fairly heavily after the end of the Borg/Imperial war. Her heavy forces were close to full strength, namely a mixture of mostly first batch Wraiths that survived the Imperial/Borg war with a handful of new Wraith (R)’s as squadron flagships. Her lighter screening elements were another story, being most often understrength and of older designs largely removed from frontline service. Using his recently gained powers, Ulysses ordered a series of special upgrades to be started to some of the oldest vessels in his improving fleet. The old Excelsiors were receiving some of the most significant upgrades, allowing the venerable designs to compete with modern designs that will likely be arrayed against them.
Ulysses wasn’t sure what was driving him to temper his new fleet into a weapon with such force. All he knew was that he had a bad feeling that had been growing since he had arrived at Prescott’s Star. Something big was in the works, something bad. And he had a sinking suspicion that it would land in his lap.
Eden City, Lilith
No, no, NO!!!! All of my plans are in ruins and all because of one sniveling solid!
Unity Operative 11J was not a happy changeling. Of all the unforeseen obstacles to his plan, the one he had never expected was having a competent leader step foreword and assume command of the Sector. The Galactic Unity would attack soon, and many of his assigned objectives had yet to be realized. If anything, his initial success had turned to ashes, because this young upstart had forged them in the few short weeks he had been in command, into a dangerous foe, one preparing for trouble instead of causing it. Instead of inept and incompetent leadership, it now had relatively inexperienced commanders but ones that were learning how to do their jobs right.
Ground side security had been tightened considerably, and he no longer had access to restricted areas thanks to the renewed anti-changeling detection methods. Passwords could be obtained, medical scans passed thanks to his mastery of mimicry, but DNA analysis of samples removed from his body, namely blood, was not so easily forged. True he could store a solids blood and release it into the waiting hypo as required, but keeping it fresh was something else. Scans would be able to tell if the blood was fresh or not, and if it came up false all would be lost. There was one mission he could yet achieve, although his likelihood of survival afterward was practically nil. It was unfortunate but not unexpected. His blow would allow the Galactic Unity to more easily assume dominion over this sector. The solids would be taught the proper respect for their superiors. In the hiding shroud of a shadow filled alleyway, the changeling switched personas, assuming the identity of a Starbase 2000 crewman.
-
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Chapter 18 – Lightning War
ISS Voyager, Vaadwaur Prime, Delta Quadrant
“Wait, you say that you recently had a major war with the Borg Collective?” The Vaadwaur said incredulously as He and Cavit walked down one of Voyager’s hallways. “Before we lost our empire and went into stasis, the Borg had only a handful of planets near the galactic rim. How could an Empire as impressive as yours even been slowed down by such an inconsequential foe?”
“Things have changed in the centuries since you and the others entered stasis.” Cavit replied. “The Borg expanded to take nearly two thirds of the quadrant before we first encountered them. It was extremely good fortune that we encountered them first rather than the other way around. While our ships are powerful,” The Vaadwaur nodded his understanding, for this Imperial Cruiser was a match for a pre fall Vaadwaur Battleship, “we would have been hard pressed to hold off an all out Borg assault on our space. So we studied them, learned their weaknesses and exploited them while eliminating their advantages over us. And then, when we were ready, we struck and struck hard. It wasn’t an easy fight, but the downfall of the Borg was determined after the first engagement was successfully concluded.”
The Vaadwaur smiled. “Are you sure your species originated in the alpha quadrant Captain? What you describe is almost as cunning a strategy as one of my people would have developed. Even though there is much you could teach us, I don’t think that our two peoples are all that different. We each value strong leadership and decisive action against threats.”
“I’m glad to hear it, because there is a new threat to my people coming to light. Two of our enemies thought vanquished have seemingly joined forces. Combined, the Interstellar Concordium and the Dominion pose a significant threat if they attack with the Empire unprepared and unawares. Of my Battlegroup, only my ship escaped. I must bring word back to the Empire, the very survival of our way of life may be at stake.”
“And now we come to the heart of the matter.” The alien stopped and turned directly towards Cavit. The cobra like frills down the sides of his neck were clearly visible from his change in profile. “You want access to our corridor information so that you may plot your way home by the most direct route.”
This alien was no fool, even if he was from a fallen empire Cavit thought. “That’s exactly what I want. I am sure the Emperor will reimburse you generously for the information, and I am willing to share corridor charts that you have no knowledge of over and above what he may be willing to give you.”
“Very well, I shall take your proposal to the others so that we may decide our course of action. We shall give you our decision shortly.”
Underground Stasis Facility, Vaadwaur Prime
“…So that’s their proposition.”
“I say we attack Voyager and take her for our own. With her as the beginnings of a fleet, we could carve out a new empire for ourselves.”
“Are you mad? Voyager is part of an empire that spans half the galaxy. Even during our height, we only controlled a quarter of this quadrant. Think of the resources that we would gain with such a power as our ally. Voyager’s Captain has told me of a wondrous device his people possess. It can turn a lifeless world into a living one near instantly. Think of it, Vaadwaur Prime could be made lush and vibrant again without many, many years of exhausting terraforming. In minutes we would have our homeworld back, able to use it as a base of operations to expand and begin bringing our empire back from the dead.”
“But we have no assurance that this Emperor of theirs will do anything for us!”
“But nothing!” The chief Vaadwaur cut his argumentative companion off. “I have seen Voyager, you have not. She is a warship, and her crew are soldiers. While we may outnumber them close to four to one, they have weapons that make our best energy rifle look like a flashlight in comparison. Even if we could take the ship, she is a mere Cruiser. Think of what we could receive if we save the Terran Empire from this new threat. The Dominion we haven’t heard of, but the ISC we have. While in our time they were a loose amalgam of telepathic races with an odd ideology of bringing all species into peaceful coexistence through force of arms, the information Captain Cavit has provided indicates that they expanded considerably in our absence, as well as grew strong militarily. It was fortunate that they still kept their sense of superiority, for it was that alone that allowed the Terrans to beat them the first time they came. If they are a resurgent power so close to our own world, how do you propose that we remain outside their influence? No, I say we help these Imperials as much as we can, for they are much more preferable than any of the other powers that will inevitably come looking to bring us to heel. The Turei and their allies might even come again, and in our current state they could easily wipe us out once and for all.”
“Very well, we shall aid these Imperials in their search.” The argumentative Vaadwaur conceded. “But let it be on your head if bad things come from this union.” With the chief supporter of all counter arguments switching sides, it became a forgone conclusion as to which faction would win the debate.
ISS Voyager, Command Staff Briefing Room, That same time
“I vote that we go down there now and take what we need from these lesser beings. Their technology is antiquated and they would be no match for our Marines!” Lt. Kim argued passionately. “We could even beam down a paralytic aerosol before they knew what was happening, then bring them up here and make them give us the information.”
“Given the scans we have of they physiology, I am certain I could rapidly produce a suitable compound that would act as a truth serum in their species. In fact, they are quite similar in their biochemical response factors to the Pichartialn of Delta Timor Seven. With a few minor modifications to that species drug baselines, I could easily manufacture anything you would want to use, from voluntary nerve inhibitors to individual specific biotoxins.” The EMH piped up from the wall com panel.
“That may not prove necessary.” Tuvok replied with a raised eyebrow at the overzealous Kim and the EMH. “We do not yet know their decision. A preemptive strike in these circumstances could prove to be counter productive. I propose that we wait till we have their decision before we take any proactive action. If it is favorable, then we will not have to take any action at all while gaining the information we desire. If it isn’t, it won’t take long to implement any of these plans and extract the information from the Vaadwaur weather they are willing to provide it or not.”
“I see what you’re getting at Cmdr.” Cavit replied. “It’s the old carrot and stick routine. Give them the carrot, but if they still won’t comply, we use the till then hidden stick. I like it.” Cavit looked up at the EMH’s image on the com panel. It was still felt slightly odd to Cavit to be talking to a computer program rather than a fellow living being, but till Voyager returned to Imperial space, there were no more qualified Medical personnel on the ship. “Prepare everything you need short of actual synthesis of the agents but do not create the agents themselves. We still have a day of repairs left, even with the help the Vaadwaur have been providing, before we have to leave. We’ll wait and see their response before we proceed further.” A chorus of ayes came from his officers acknowledging that they understood. Cavit was still irritated that Voyagers long range coms had sustained to much damage to be repaired in field, but he hoped to be able to sneak back to Imperial space before that handicap could prove catastrophic.
ISS Voyager, Command Staff Briefing Room, Two Hours Later
“You made the right choice.” Cavit told the Vaadwaur, flashing the snake-head a tooth filled smile. He passed a PADD containing all known subspace corridor lanes in the Delta Quadrant across the table to him. The Vaadwaur studied them in silence for a few minutes, then returned Cavit’s smile.
“These charts match some of our explored lanes perfectly, and those that are unknown to me are from spacial coordinates that are unexplored by my people. This is no fake, for if it was, there wouldn’t be any correlation at all between our charts and yours. Yet where the two overlap, they are identical.” The alien reached into his clothing and pulled out a device similar to a Starfleet PADD. He slid it across the table to Cavit. “These are records of all the mapped subspace corridors known to the Vaadwaur. As you can see, they intersect your explored ones at quite a few points, even though we explored more towards the galactic fringe, out towards what you know as Kazon, Ocampan and Talaxian space.” The alien shook his head slowly, his eyes getting a far away look. “So much time has been lost. When we were forced into stasis, it was only to be for a few months, enough time to let our enemies think we were beaten. They would have fallen on each other rather quickly, for they hated their other allies almost as much as they hated us. Without their cohesion, they would have fallen even before our small remnant of our former strength.” A small sigh escaped him. “Over 900 years slipping away from us while we slept unawares in stasis. So much lost time to make up for.”
“With the Empire’s help, you will get that time. You have done us a great service, and the Empire remembers its friends.”
Then, without warning, the massive grounded bulk of Voyager shuddered noticeably. Both the Vaadwaur and Cavit birthed near mirror image frowns of concern. Tuvok raised a questioning eyebrow from his seat at Scot’s side. A melodic yet piercing tone sounded throughout Voyager as the alert displays scattered throughout the ship shifted to yellow alert. The Captain’s combadge chirped and he slapped it in acknowledgement almost instantly.
“Cavit here. What’s going on?” As he spoke, the ship shuddered again.
“Captain, sensors are indicating weapons fire is impacting the planet. The ISC and Dominion forces have apparently satisfied themselves that we didn’t continue on through the corridor network and have come back here to ensure we won’t escape to the Empire. Since the weapons fire is currently impacting on the far side of the planet we should be fairly safe till we get Voyager ready for lift off.”
“Make all haste Lt. Kim. I’ll be on the bridge momentarily.” Cavit and Tuvok got up, making for the door to the bridge with the Vaadwaur getting up to join them. Voyager shuddered again as the seismic shock of the distant weapons fire was transferred through the deployed landing struts. Suddenly the Briefing Room was light as if by a flash bulb going off outside its sloped windows. A blast front moving through the heavily contaminated atmosphere lashed Voyager’s shields even as the debris carried with it struck their energized barrier. A massive roar was heard even as the rocky earth itself rippled like a wave filled ocean. Cavit’s ship bucked like a spooked animal as the ground beneath her shifted drastically. Scott, Tuvok, the Vaadwaur and two body armored security officers stumbled, nearly falling to the deck, then staggered through the door onto the bridge. Behind them, a giant mushroom cloud was visible where the now dimming sun bright strobe had been birthed. Molten chunks of bedrock, some the size of battlecruisers, began to rain down in columns of hellfire even as molten lava began to spew freely from the new crack in Vaadwaur Prime’s crust.
By this time red alert klaxons were lighting off, adding their atonal wail to the steady rumble that immersed the landed starship. Cavit half sat, half fell into his chair and the Vaadwaur gripped the railing with the whitened knuckles of one hand while the other brought a communication device to his lips.
“Mr. Paris, get us the HELL out of here!” Cavit yelled to be heard above the cacophony of sound on the bridge. For once, there was no snide undertone to his helmsman’s reply.
“Aye Sir.” Tom Parris said as he began to furiously enter commands into his console. The ship slipped into the air almost immediately, and the rumble and shaking stopped almost entirely as Voyager began to claw her way into the upper atmosphere before her landing struts had even fully retracted. The external view on the main viewscreen rolled and twisted in a stomach churning display as Tom rolled and pirouetted the swift Imperial cruiser out of the enemy’s blind fire barrage.
“Captain, the near miss was a gigaton range plasma torpedo striking 107.93 km due planetary east of our landing site.” Tuvok reported from his station at Tactical. “Scanners report that all Vaadwaur ships have launched and are converging on our position.”
“Launch a Stealth Probe to scout out an escape vector. Mr. Kim, plot a corridor route that will be the least time course back to Imperial space and send it to Helm. I assume that your people will be joining us in our escape Falran?” Cavit said over his shoulder to the Vaadwaur.
“We will indeed Captain Cavit. Since your enemies are so willing to further destroy our planet in an attempt to get you, it is no longer safe for us to remain here. We shall return with you and aid you any way we can.”
“Excellent.”
“Captain, the probe has found a hole in the orbiting fleet that we can exploit.” Tuvok said from across the bridge.
“Do it!” Cavit replied.
The sleek form of an Imperial Intrepid Class cruiser in charcoal black punched through the final layer of concealing atmosphere and into the ebon vastness of space. Seconds later, a gaggle of close to one hundred Vaadwaur Frigates burst heavenward in her wake. Presented with a viable target solution on their true quarry at last, the bombarding fleet ceased fire on the near lifeless Class L world and swung into pursuit of Voyager. There were dozens of them, of both ISC and Dominion design, ranging in size from Frigates to Battlecruisers. The fleeter ISC craft closed on the small Imperial vessel and it’s unexpected consorts, but just as they got into extreme range they were rudely surprised. Vaadwaur Frigates swung about, lining up with their chosen targets. Rippling, expanding waves of reddish energy spawned from their weapons mounts, streaking outward to intersect with the oncoming enemy ships. The enemy ships acted as if swatted aside by a giant hand. They tumbled out of control, some colliding with each other causing their shields to spark and glow when they met. They remained confused just long enough to allow Voyager and the Vaadwaur to escape into the corridor network, once again slipping through the Galactic Unities grasp.
Cavit looked over his shoulder toward the Vaadwaur questioningly. “We call it a Flux Wave Captain. We find it very useful to discourage pursuit.” The alien replied. Cavit nodded and turned back to stare at the main viewer, but the wheels in his head were spinning as to what Imperial Engineers could do with that weapons system. He was still thinking when his command and its escort entered the subspace corridor network and laid in their course for Imperial Space.
ISS Voyager, Main Bridge, Six Days Later, Enroute to Imperial Space
Cavit stared in abject horror at the main viewer, mouth agape and eyes hollow. His very soul cried out for mercy from the image it displayed, but Voyager’s central computer couldn’t read her Captain’s soul and wouldn’t have changed what the viewer displayed even if it could.
Close to 3000 vessels, mostly of Interstellar Concordium manufacture, had joined this corridor via an adjoining branch less than a minute earlier, meeting up with the force already pursuing him and the Vaadwaur ships. It wouldn’t matter that Voyager would arrive ahead of all of them, for he now knew that he was far to late. The pending invasion he had sought to warn the Empire about was ALREADY underway, and his warning would be scant minutes before it struck its targets.
ISS Voyager, Vaadwaur Prime, Delta Quadrant
“Wait, you say that you recently had a major war with the Borg Collective?” The Vaadwaur said incredulously as He and Cavit walked down one of Voyager’s hallways. “Before we lost our empire and went into stasis, the Borg had only a handful of planets near the galactic rim. How could an Empire as impressive as yours even been slowed down by such an inconsequential foe?”
“Things have changed in the centuries since you and the others entered stasis.” Cavit replied. “The Borg expanded to take nearly two thirds of the quadrant before we first encountered them. It was extremely good fortune that we encountered them first rather than the other way around. While our ships are powerful,” The Vaadwaur nodded his understanding, for this Imperial Cruiser was a match for a pre fall Vaadwaur Battleship, “we would have been hard pressed to hold off an all out Borg assault on our space. So we studied them, learned their weaknesses and exploited them while eliminating their advantages over us. And then, when we were ready, we struck and struck hard. It wasn’t an easy fight, but the downfall of the Borg was determined after the first engagement was successfully concluded.”
The Vaadwaur smiled. “Are you sure your species originated in the alpha quadrant Captain? What you describe is almost as cunning a strategy as one of my people would have developed. Even though there is much you could teach us, I don’t think that our two peoples are all that different. We each value strong leadership and decisive action against threats.”
“I’m glad to hear it, because there is a new threat to my people coming to light. Two of our enemies thought vanquished have seemingly joined forces. Combined, the Interstellar Concordium and the Dominion pose a significant threat if they attack with the Empire unprepared and unawares. Of my Battlegroup, only my ship escaped. I must bring word back to the Empire, the very survival of our way of life may be at stake.”
“And now we come to the heart of the matter.” The alien stopped and turned directly towards Cavit. The cobra like frills down the sides of his neck were clearly visible from his change in profile. “You want access to our corridor information so that you may plot your way home by the most direct route.”
This alien was no fool, even if he was from a fallen empire Cavit thought. “That’s exactly what I want. I am sure the Emperor will reimburse you generously for the information, and I am willing to share corridor charts that you have no knowledge of over and above what he may be willing to give you.”
“Very well, I shall take your proposal to the others so that we may decide our course of action. We shall give you our decision shortly.”
Underground Stasis Facility, Vaadwaur Prime
“…So that’s their proposition.”
“I say we attack Voyager and take her for our own. With her as the beginnings of a fleet, we could carve out a new empire for ourselves.”
“Are you mad? Voyager is part of an empire that spans half the galaxy. Even during our height, we only controlled a quarter of this quadrant. Think of the resources that we would gain with such a power as our ally. Voyager’s Captain has told me of a wondrous device his people possess. It can turn a lifeless world into a living one near instantly. Think of it, Vaadwaur Prime could be made lush and vibrant again without many, many years of exhausting terraforming. In minutes we would have our homeworld back, able to use it as a base of operations to expand and begin bringing our empire back from the dead.”
“But we have no assurance that this Emperor of theirs will do anything for us!”
“But nothing!” The chief Vaadwaur cut his argumentative companion off. “I have seen Voyager, you have not. She is a warship, and her crew are soldiers. While we may outnumber them close to four to one, they have weapons that make our best energy rifle look like a flashlight in comparison. Even if we could take the ship, she is a mere Cruiser. Think of what we could receive if we save the Terran Empire from this new threat. The Dominion we haven’t heard of, but the ISC we have. While in our time they were a loose amalgam of telepathic races with an odd ideology of bringing all species into peaceful coexistence through force of arms, the information Captain Cavit has provided indicates that they expanded considerably in our absence, as well as grew strong militarily. It was fortunate that they still kept their sense of superiority, for it was that alone that allowed the Terrans to beat them the first time they came. If they are a resurgent power so close to our own world, how do you propose that we remain outside their influence? No, I say we help these Imperials as much as we can, for they are much more preferable than any of the other powers that will inevitably come looking to bring us to heel. The Turei and their allies might even come again, and in our current state they could easily wipe us out once and for all.”
“Very well, we shall aid these Imperials in their search.” The argumentative Vaadwaur conceded. “But let it be on your head if bad things come from this union.” With the chief supporter of all counter arguments switching sides, it became a forgone conclusion as to which faction would win the debate.
ISS Voyager, Command Staff Briefing Room, That same time
“I vote that we go down there now and take what we need from these lesser beings. Their technology is antiquated and they would be no match for our Marines!” Lt. Kim argued passionately. “We could even beam down a paralytic aerosol before they knew what was happening, then bring them up here and make them give us the information.”
“Given the scans we have of they physiology, I am certain I could rapidly produce a suitable compound that would act as a truth serum in their species. In fact, they are quite similar in their biochemical response factors to the Pichartialn of Delta Timor Seven. With a few minor modifications to that species drug baselines, I could easily manufacture anything you would want to use, from voluntary nerve inhibitors to individual specific biotoxins.” The EMH piped up from the wall com panel.
“That may not prove necessary.” Tuvok replied with a raised eyebrow at the overzealous Kim and the EMH. “We do not yet know their decision. A preemptive strike in these circumstances could prove to be counter productive. I propose that we wait till we have their decision before we take any proactive action. If it is favorable, then we will not have to take any action at all while gaining the information we desire. If it isn’t, it won’t take long to implement any of these plans and extract the information from the Vaadwaur weather they are willing to provide it or not.”
“I see what you’re getting at Cmdr.” Cavit replied. “It’s the old carrot and stick routine. Give them the carrot, but if they still won’t comply, we use the till then hidden stick. I like it.” Cavit looked up at the EMH’s image on the com panel. It was still felt slightly odd to Cavit to be talking to a computer program rather than a fellow living being, but till Voyager returned to Imperial space, there were no more qualified Medical personnel on the ship. “Prepare everything you need short of actual synthesis of the agents but do not create the agents themselves. We still have a day of repairs left, even with the help the Vaadwaur have been providing, before we have to leave. We’ll wait and see their response before we proceed further.” A chorus of ayes came from his officers acknowledging that they understood. Cavit was still irritated that Voyagers long range coms had sustained to much damage to be repaired in field, but he hoped to be able to sneak back to Imperial space before that handicap could prove catastrophic.
ISS Voyager, Command Staff Briefing Room, Two Hours Later
“You made the right choice.” Cavit told the Vaadwaur, flashing the snake-head a tooth filled smile. He passed a PADD containing all known subspace corridor lanes in the Delta Quadrant across the table to him. The Vaadwaur studied them in silence for a few minutes, then returned Cavit’s smile.
“These charts match some of our explored lanes perfectly, and those that are unknown to me are from spacial coordinates that are unexplored by my people. This is no fake, for if it was, there wouldn’t be any correlation at all between our charts and yours. Yet where the two overlap, they are identical.” The alien reached into his clothing and pulled out a device similar to a Starfleet PADD. He slid it across the table to Cavit. “These are records of all the mapped subspace corridors known to the Vaadwaur. As you can see, they intersect your explored ones at quite a few points, even though we explored more towards the galactic fringe, out towards what you know as Kazon, Ocampan and Talaxian space.” The alien shook his head slowly, his eyes getting a far away look. “So much time has been lost. When we were forced into stasis, it was only to be for a few months, enough time to let our enemies think we were beaten. They would have fallen on each other rather quickly, for they hated their other allies almost as much as they hated us. Without their cohesion, they would have fallen even before our small remnant of our former strength.” A small sigh escaped him. “Over 900 years slipping away from us while we slept unawares in stasis. So much lost time to make up for.”
“With the Empire’s help, you will get that time. You have done us a great service, and the Empire remembers its friends.”
Then, without warning, the massive grounded bulk of Voyager shuddered noticeably. Both the Vaadwaur and Cavit birthed near mirror image frowns of concern. Tuvok raised a questioning eyebrow from his seat at Scot’s side. A melodic yet piercing tone sounded throughout Voyager as the alert displays scattered throughout the ship shifted to yellow alert. The Captain’s combadge chirped and he slapped it in acknowledgement almost instantly.
“Cavit here. What’s going on?” As he spoke, the ship shuddered again.
“Captain, sensors are indicating weapons fire is impacting the planet. The ISC and Dominion forces have apparently satisfied themselves that we didn’t continue on through the corridor network and have come back here to ensure we won’t escape to the Empire. Since the weapons fire is currently impacting on the far side of the planet we should be fairly safe till we get Voyager ready for lift off.”
“Make all haste Lt. Kim. I’ll be on the bridge momentarily.” Cavit and Tuvok got up, making for the door to the bridge with the Vaadwaur getting up to join them. Voyager shuddered again as the seismic shock of the distant weapons fire was transferred through the deployed landing struts. Suddenly the Briefing Room was light as if by a flash bulb going off outside its sloped windows. A blast front moving through the heavily contaminated atmosphere lashed Voyager’s shields even as the debris carried with it struck their energized barrier. A massive roar was heard even as the rocky earth itself rippled like a wave filled ocean. Cavit’s ship bucked like a spooked animal as the ground beneath her shifted drastically. Scott, Tuvok, the Vaadwaur and two body armored security officers stumbled, nearly falling to the deck, then staggered through the door onto the bridge. Behind them, a giant mushroom cloud was visible where the now dimming sun bright strobe had been birthed. Molten chunks of bedrock, some the size of battlecruisers, began to rain down in columns of hellfire even as molten lava began to spew freely from the new crack in Vaadwaur Prime’s crust.
By this time red alert klaxons were lighting off, adding their atonal wail to the steady rumble that immersed the landed starship. Cavit half sat, half fell into his chair and the Vaadwaur gripped the railing with the whitened knuckles of one hand while the other brought a communication device to his lips.
“Mr. Paris, get us the HELL out of here!” Cavit yelled to be heard above the cacophony of sound on the bridge. For once, there was no snide undertone to his helmsman’s reply.
“Aye Sir.” Tom Parris said as he began to furiously enter commands into his console. The ship slipped into the air almost immediately, and the rumble and shaking stopped almost entirely as Voyager began to claw her way into the upper atmosphere before her landing struts had even fully retracted. The external view on the main viewscreen rolled and twisted in a stomach churning display as Tom rolled and pirouetted the swift Imperial cruiser out of the enemy’s blind fire barrage.
“Captain, the near miss was a gigaton range plasma torpedo striking 107.93 km due planetary east of our landing site.” Tuvok reported from his station at Tactical. “Scanners report that all Vaadwaur ships have launched and are converging on our position.”
“Launch a Stealth Probe to scout out an escape vector. Mr. Kim, plot a corridor route that will be the least time course back to Imperial space and send it to Helm. I assume that your people will be joining us in our escape Falran?” Cavit said over his shoulder to the Vaadwaur.
“We will indeed Captain Cavit. Since your enemies are so willing to further destroy our planet in an attempt to get you, it is no longer safe for us to remain here. We shall return with you and aid you any way we can.”
“Excellent.”
“Captain, the probe has found a hole in the orbiting fleet that we can exploit.” Tuvok said from across the bridge.
“Do it!” Cavit replied.
The sleek form of an Imperial Intrepid Class cruiser in charcoal black punched through the final layer of concealing atmosphere and into the ebon vastness of space. Seconds later, a gaggle of close to one hundred Vaadwaur Frigates burst heavenward in her wake. Presented with a viable target solution on their true quarry at last, the bombarding fleet ceased fire on the near lifeless Class L world and swung into pursuit of Voyager. There were dozens of them, of both ISC and Dominion design, ranging in size from Frigates to Battlecruisers. The fleeter ISC craft closed on the small Imperial vessel and it’s unexpected consorts, but just as they got into extreme range they were rudely surprised. Vaadwaur Frigates swung about, lining up with their chosen targets. Rippling, expanding waves of reddish energy spawned from their weapons mounts, streaking outward to intersect with the oncoming enemy ships. The enemy ships acted as if swatted aside by a giant hand. They tumbled out of control, some colliding with each other causing their shields to spark and glow when they met. They remained confused just long enough to allow Voyager and the Vaadwaur to escape into the corridor network, once again slipping through the Galactic Unities grasp.
Cavit looked over his shoulder toward the Vaadwaur questioningly. “We call it a Flux Wave Captain. We find it very useful to discourage pursuit.” The alien replied. Cavit nodded and turned back to stare at the main viewer, but the wheels in his head were spinning as to what Imperial Engineers could do with that weapons system. He was still thinking when his command and its escort entered the subspace corridor network and laid in their course for Imperial Space.
ISS Voyager, Main Bridge, Six Days Later, Enroute to Imperial Space
Cavit stared in abject horror at the main viewer, mouth agape and eyes hollow. His very soul cried out for mercy from the image it displayed, but Voyager’s central computer couldn’t read her Captain’s soul and wouldn’t have changed what the viewer displayed even if it could.
Close to 3000 vessels, mostly of Interstellar Concordium manufacture, had joined this corridor via an adjoining branch less than a minute earlier, meeting up with the force already pursuing him and the Vaadwaur ships. It wouldn’t matter that Voyager would arrive ahead of all of them, for he now knew that he was far to late. The pending invasion he had sought to warn the Empire about was ALREADY underway, and his warning would be scant minutes before it struck its targets.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter 19 – Weighed in the Balance…
Prescott’s Star, Subspace Corridor Loci Kappa, Battlestation Tolstoy
Brevet Commodore Vivian DaGaule sat in the command chair in the center of Tolstoy’s Ops deck. While she didn’t mind her promotion, it had made her persona non gratta amongst her former friends. They disliked the fact that she had been chosen for brevet promotion instead of them, and she just couldn’t find it in herself to blame them for their feelings. If the positions were reversed, she knew she would be just as angry and sullen with whoever else had received the unexpected promotion. Still, it was a lonely existence in spite of the perks being a Battlestation CO.
“Commodore? I have indications of an emergence locus on my scanners.”
“How big?”
“Its looking like about equivalent mass to a cruiser squadron, but we aren’t expecting any cruiser squadrons today, let alone from Deep Delta Quad Corridor loci.” The scanner tech replied with a slight frown.
“Hmmm. Better bump it up to Sector HQ for the Skippers perusal. And put the loci battlestations on yellow alert. This is likely nothing, but it’s best to be prepared.”
“Aye sir.” The crew of the massive battlestation scurried about to execute her orders. The lone melodic chime of yellow alert pulsed through the communication system of the Tolstoy and wall alert lights shifted from deep blue to amber.
“Emergence in three… two… one…”
The Imperial warship dropped out of the swirling crimson vortex of the corridor as it terminated its run at the outskirts of Prescott’s Star star system. Her IFF was immediately queried and authenticated, but it was a frantic burst transmission to the defending Battlestation’s computer systems that temporarily stayed the massive weapons systems from automatically targeting and blowing the follow on Vaadwaur ships from space.
“This is Captain Cavit of the Imperial Star Ship Voyager, ignore the alien vessels behind us, they are friends. I request an immediate connection to the System CO!”
“Hold on Captain, just who are the aliens behind…”
“There is no TIME you fool!!! I need a com channel NOW!! They’re right behind us!” Cavit interrupted desperately.
The com tech turned to look to Vivian for guidance. She had heard the entire exchange as it was put on the main viewer. There was just something in the Captain’s voice that told her he wasn’t lying.
“Put him through Ensign.”
ISS Voyager
Voyager’s main viewer was filled with a slightly frowning visage of an Imperial Captain. No, check that, Cavit thought, a Brevet Admiral from the rank pips on his collar, even though his uniform was that of a starship commander. Cavit spared a split second to mull over this strange turn of events before he started to give his warning.
“Admiral, there is a fleet following us, and they’ll be here in a few minutes. They are made up of primarily Interstellar Concordium vessels with a few Dominion ships along as well. They have enough firepower to do severe damage to this system.”
“Upload all your data to Starbase 2000 CIC immediately.” The Admiral snapped as a dawning realization of just how serious the situation was hit him with Cavit’s final words. “I assume the frigates that followed you here are friendly?” Cavit had time to nod before the Admiral continued on. “Coordinate their integration to Imperial standard com channels and IFF settings. We’ll sort out just who they are afterward. For now, I need them. I am placing you and your friends under the direct control of Loci Kappa Defense Command. Vanguard out.”
“Once this is all over, I hope we’re still around to find out just why a Captain is in charge of a Sector.” Tom said from his station. Before Scott could respond, Harry called out for his attention
“Captain, we are being hailed by Loci Kappa Defense Command, they are supplying us with course directions and they’re tying us into their Command Datalink Net.”
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
So it was now that all of Ulysses plans would be put to the test. His changes to the status quo would be weighed in the balance, their mettle tested in the crucible of battle. He had matured much in the last few months, grown into the burden of command that he had stumbled into unawares if he could shoulder its weight. He was now sure of himself, sure that he could lead his people as competently as any other commander in the fleet. What he wasn’t sure of was if his leadership had reforged Starbase 2000’s defenders into a proper weapon of war. Like an untested sword, the weapon looked sturdy, but would it last in combat?
Ready or not, war was coming to Prescott’s Star. There would be casualties, Ulysses steeled himself to that bitter pill for there were always casualties, even in a one sided battle. The question was, would any of the defenders be alive to care.
“Order a sector wide Alert. Bring all operational ships and static defenses to red alert. Send all data on our enemy from Voyager’s database to Starfleet Command and all Sector Fleet Bases.” Ulysses rattled off in rapid fire command mode.
“Skipper, Loci Kappa reports an incoming emergence locus. A big one.” Percy Davenport said
“Form up the fleet. Prepare to micro jump to staging area Frank on my command…”
“Sir, a new ship has dropped out of Loci Delta! She’s a scout, Nova Class, and she’s squealing something about a massive fleet coming down the corridor behind her.” Sarah Wendell interrupted from her station.
Ulysses eyes went round behind the concealing shroud of the Flag Bridge’s holo display. Then they narrowed in speculation. “Com, get me a figure as to just when that other fleet is going to arrive.”
“The scout, Tarantula is saying they are about ten minutes behind her, and they have close to 1000 ships.”
All the pieces fell into place in Ulysses mind. Oh it was a classic ploy, move forces to attack one enemy while another snuck around behind you to hit your rear areas. And what commander couldn’t do less than attack the massive force that would be entering Loci Kappa in mere seconds now. And once he was engaging them, the second strike would crash in behind him. Caught between two fires, his command would be in a very precarious position to defeat both at once. But by blessed chance he know knew about the other attack force. Now what to do about them…
“Order Bat Cru Div 6653 and 8217 to proceed with their escorts to staging area Frank and bolster Loci Kappa Defense Forces. Have the rest of the fleet remain here but have them launch a EW decoy to staging area Frank. Make them think we have sent all the mobile forces there save the reserve squadrons. Then I want every ship to go into stealth mode and the stations to bring on as much ECM as they muster. Order all units to engage with plan Zapata Five.”
“Hostile emergence at Loci Kappa!” Davenport said. “Loci Kappa Defense Command reports they have engaged the enemy.” As he spoke, Ulysses saw the enemy fleet emerge from the Corridor Terminus on his holo display. It was not as high a detail as it normally would be, due in part to the ungodly amount of ECM being put out in the local space around Lilith. But it was also due to the degraded Datalink Net thanks to the ISC’s own EW efforts. Still, the resolution was enough to know just how hard a time the Loci defenses were going to have. There were an awful lot of angry crimson contacts on the holodisplay.
“Sir, Kappa Defense is requesting reinforcements.”
“No.” Ulysses winced inside as he issued the denial, knowing full well what that order was going to cost.
“But sir, if they aren’t reinforced they can’t…”
“Damn it, don’t you think I know that?” Ulysses growled tersely. He gestured to the distant Loci Delta on his holodisplay. “But I can’t send them the ships. For now, at least, Kappa Defense is on their own.”
Loci Kappa, Prescott’s Star
The massive fleet of ISC vessels dropped into real space. They were to be the anvil of the carefully coordinated attack. Unity agents in place in the system had given word that the systems new CO had been shaking things up, but realistically, how much could one man do in this dumping ground for worthless officers? Not much High Command had decided, and so the increasingly concerned dispatches from Unity operatives were largely ignored. The forces allocated to the assault force were unaltered, with two thirds of them beginning their largely diversionary but quite real assault on the nearby defenses.
Plasma crisscrossed with phaser as the deadly beautiful lattice work of energy began to light the night. While the defenders were outnumbered by a considerable margin, they were mainly Battlestations. The massive, heavily shielded and armored hides were specifically designed to absorb the best efforts of an enemy fleet while remaining combat effective. And they were several times again the size of even the largest enemy vessel. Carefully choreographed fire lanced into the ISC ships selected for destruction. Phaser lance fire was backed up by standard heavy phaser array strikes and enough quantums to turn space white. The dumbbell shaped Imperial Battlestations coordinated their strikes with each other and their defensive fleets. The ships of Bat Cru Div 6653 and 8217 came as a nasty surprise. Largely ignored as inferior targets as the ISC fleet set about reducing the battlestations, they were able to fall into weapons range relatively unscathed. It was then that the newly refitted Excelsior class Battlecruisers struck their first blow. It had taken some pretty creative engineering to shoehorn a Phaser Lance into an Excelsior class Hull but the yard dogs, once sufficiently motivated, pulled off a minor miracle in proving that it could be done. The Battle Cruiser Division’s fire converged on their assigned targets, and their massed tongues of flame burned them from space.
Death stalked the space around the corridor locus, dispatched upon computer prioritized targets with a machines dispassion for the loss of life their destruction incurred. Hundreds of ISC vessels were burned from space within minutes, but that left over a thousand that continued to press home their numerical superiority. The smaller vessels pressed home their superior maneuverability and speed over their Imperial fellows. But the cake walk against substandard opponents that was expected never occurred. Instead of being an ill trained enemy with equipment in poor repair, the initial assault waves were rudely surprised by the precise weapons fire and squadron discipline the Imperials were exhibiting. It was nearly every bit as tight as their own, and in spite of their superior numbers, in the swirling fur ball that rapidly developed around the battlestations, the superior individual weight of fire that the finely linked battle stations and their defensive fleet could put out began to have a telling effect. The Bat’leth like Interstellar Concordium vessels maneuvered with reckless speed, diving in and out of the battle as Imperial battlestations hammered them with weapons fire. Unimaginable energies were thrown through space, depleting shields, paring away armor with high energy knives, punching massive, glowing wounds that penetrated deep into hulls. Here and there, Vaadwaur ships sent out their highly useful flux waves, staggering multi million ton vessels like they were so much balsa wood for a vital few moments. Engines knocked temporarily off line, the massive warships spun out of control, becoming easy meat for the titanic battlestations and their Phaser Lance armed escorts.
The Imperial Battlestation Tolstoy great mass shuddered anew as yet another wave of energetic plasma struck it through a downed shield. “Outer hull breach in deck 53 through 59, sectors 3442 through 3601. Inner hull still at full integrity and outer hull breaches have been sealed with emergency forcefields. Blast doors adjacent to damaged sections have been activated and the affected compartments have been evacuated of all nonessential personnel.” An Ensign called out a fresh damage report to Brevet Commodore Vivian DaGaule.
“Phasers 42 through 47 are down. Lances 12 through 19 are destroyed. Quantum tubes 30 through 43 and Heavy tubes 36 through 39 are gone. Shields compromised across multiple arcs portside and armor failing in sectors 13 Alpha through 41 Gamma. Regeneration ineffective Sir! There’s just too much weapons fire coming in to fast.” Another piece of bad news was fed to her. Yet even as the enemy savaged her command, her own weapons and those of her consorts flashed back defiance. Massed Lance fire snapped out and washed over a Superdreadnought. The ship was easily a match for even a Bastion, but she had been crippled in an earlier strike and she was the only one of her class present in the enemy fleet. Precisely choreographed fire, brought on target thanks to the stations datalink, caused all of the stations’ surviving weapons systems that bore on the target to fire as one. The enemy leviathan finally died in a star bright boil as its engines and weapons magazines finally let go in a cataclysmic boil of eye tearing light.
On her holodisplay, Vivian saw a gaggle of furiously maneuvering upgraded Excelsiors streak after an enemy Battleship. The vessel was already crippled, but even so it still set a deadly stream of plasma waves from its capital weaponry to one of Tolstoy sister stations. The beam was severed suddenly as the massed fire from the Excelsior wing cut the ISC ship in two, her entire front third disappearing in a plume of plasma and debris leaving behind a broken and drifting hulk that shed escape pods like tears. To her right, the Sovereign class Sojourner, her port warp nacelle a shattered, plasma leaking stump and with a large, glowing molten wound marring her ventral saucer, screamed down on a ISC Frigate wing. Even in her wounded state, all of her weapons spat death. Her twin Phaser Lances sent solid shafts of amber red light outward, piercing their targets clean through, then cutting them lengthwise as they continued on their course. Both died in terrible, short lived suns as their cores breached within instants of each other. A barrage of quantums and standard phasers scored hits on the others, eventually punching through their light defenses and turning them into so much vaporized scrap. Then the Sojourner died as a massive barrage of plasma torpedoes struck her hull. The heavy armor resisted as best it could, but space itself was blotted out by the dense barrage. The ship splintered into three main chunks, carried along the same basic trajectory thanks to simple physics. With the full weight of the fleet, the defenses might have been able to rout the enemy, but even as a fresh attack went out from Vivian’s command, the first of her multi hundred million ton sister stations died in a brilliant fireball. The tears that wetted Vivian’s eyes were not only thanks to the hideous brightness of its death.
Prescott’s Star, Subspace Corridor Loci Kappa, Battlestation Tolstoy
Brevet Commodore Vivian DaGaule sat in the command chair in the center of Tolstoy’s Ops deck. While she didn’t mind her promotion, it had made her persona non gratta amongst her former friends. They disliked the fact that she had been chosen for brevet promotion instead of them, and she just couldn’t find it in herself to blame them for their feelings. If the positions were reversed, she knew she would be just as angry and sullen with whoever else had received the unexpected promotion. Still, it was a lonely existence in spite of the perks being a Battlestation CO.
“Commodore? I have indications of an emergence locus on my scanners.”
“How big?”
“Its looking like about equivalent mass to a cruiser squadron, but we aren’t expecting any cruiser squadrons today, let alone from Deep Delta Quad Corridor loci.” The scanner tech replied with a slight frown.
“Hmmm. Better bump it up to Sector HQ for the Skippers perusal. And put the loci battlestations on yellow alert. This is likely nothing, but it’s best to be prepared.”
“Aye sir.” The crew of the massive battlestation scurried about to execute her orders. The lone melodic chime of yellow alert pulsed through the communication system of the Tolstoy and wall alert lights shifted from deep blue to amber.
“Emergence in three… two… one…”
The Imperial warship dropped out of the swirling crimson vortex of the corridor as it terminated its run at the outskirts of Prescott’s Star star system. Her IFF was immediately queried and authenticated, but it was a frantic burst transmission to the defending Battlestation’s computer systems that temporarily stayed the massive weapons systems from automatically targeting and blowing the follow on Vaadwaur ships from space.
“This is Captain Cavit of the Imperial Star Ship Voyager, ignore the alien vessels behind us, they are friends. I request an immediate connection to the System CO!”
“Hold on Captain, just who are the aliens behind…”
“There is no TIME you fool!!! I need a com channel NOW!! They’re right behind us!” Cavit interrupted desperately.
The com tech turned to look to Vivian for guidance. She had heard the entire exchange as it was put on the main viewer. There was just something in the Captain’s voice that told her he wasn’t lying.
“Put him through Ensign.”
ISS Voyager
Voyager’s main viewer was filled with a slightly frowning visage of an Imperial Captain. No, check that, Cavit thought, a Brevet Admiral from the rank pips on his collar, even though his uniform was that of a starship commander. Cavit spared a split second to mull over this strange turn of events before he started to give his warning.
“Admiral, there is a fleet following us, and they’ll be here in a few minutes. They are made up of primarily Interstellar Concordium vessels with a few Dominion ships along as well. They have enough firepower to do severe damage to this system.”
“Upload all your data to Starbase 2000 CIC immediately.” The Admiral snapped as a dawning realization of just how serious the situation was hit him with Cavit’s final words. “I assume the frigates that followed you here are friendly?” Cavit had time to nod before the Admiral continued on. “Coordinate their integration to Imperial standard com channels and IFF settings. We’ll sort out just who they are afterward. For now, I need them. I am placing you and your friends under the direct control of Loci Kappa Defense Command. Vanguard out.”
“Once this is all over, I hope we’re still around to find out just why a Captain is in charge of a Sector.” Tom said from his station. Before Scott could respond, Harry called out for his attention
“Captain, we are being hailed by Loci Kappa Defense Command, they are supplying us with course directions and they’re tying us into their Command Datalink Net.”
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
So it was now that all of Ulysses plans would be put to the test. His changes to the status quo would be weighed in the balance, their mettle tested in the crucible of battle. He had matured much in the last few months, grown into the burden of command that he had stumbled into unawares if he could shoulder its weight. He was now sure of himself, sure that he could lead his people as competently as any other commander in the fleet. What he wasn’t sure of was if his leadership had reforged Starbase 2000’s defenders into a proper weapon of war. Like an untested sword, the weapon looked sturdy, but would it last in combat?
Ready or not, war was coming to Prescott’s Star. There would be casualties, Ulysses steeled himself to that bitter pill for there were always casualties, even in a one sided battle. The question was, would any of the defenders be alive to care.
“Order a sector wide Alert. Bring all operational ships and static defenses to red alert. Send all data on our enemy from Voyager’s database to Starfleet Command and all Sector Fleet Bases.” Ulysses rattled off in rapid fire command mode.
“Skipper, Loci Kappa reports an incoming emergence locus. A big one.” Percy Davenport said
“Form up the fleet. Prepare to micro jump to staging area Frank on my command…”
“Sir, a new ship has dropped out of Loci Delta! She’s a scout, Nova Class, and she’s squealing something about a massive fleet coming down the corridor behind her.” Sarah Wendell interrupted from her station.
Ulysses eyes went round behind the concealing shroud of the Flag Bridge’s holo display. Then they narrowed in speculation. “Com, get me a figure as to just when that other fleet is going to arrive.”
“The scout, Tarantula is saying they are about ten minutes behind her, and they have close to 1000 ships.”
All the pieces fell into place in Ulysses mind. Oh it was a classic ploy, move forces to attack one enemy while another snuck around behind you to hit your rear areas. And what commander couldn’t do less than attack the massive force that would be entering Loci Kappa in mere seconds now. And once he was engaging them, the second strike would crash in behind him. Caught between two fires, his command would be in a very precarious position to defeat both at once. But by blessed chance he know knew about the other attack force. Now what to do about them…
“Order Bat Cru Div 6653 and 8217 to proceed with their escorts to staging area Frank and bolster Loci Kappa Defense Forces. Have the rest of the fleet remain here but have them launch a EW decoy to staging area Frank. Make them think we have sent all the mobile forces there save the reserve squadrons. Then I want every ship to go into stealth mode and the stations to bring on as much ECM as they muster. Order all units to engage with plan Zapata Five.”
“Hostile emergence at Loci Kappa!” Davenport said. “Loci Kappa Defense Command reports they have engaged the enemy.” As he spoke, Ulysses saw the enemy fleet emerge from the Corridor Terminus on his holo display. It was not as high a detail as it normally would be, due in part to the ungodly amount of ECM being put out in the local space around Lilith. But it was also due to the degraded Datalink Net thanks to the ISC’s own EW efforts. Still, the resolution was enough to know just how hard a time the Loci defenses were going to have. There were an awful lot of angry crimson contacts on the holodisplay.
“Sir, Kappa Defense is requesting reinforcements.”
“No.” Ulysses winced inside as he issued the denial, knowing full well what that order was going to cost.
“But sir, if they aren’t reinforced they can’t…”
“Damn it, don’t you think I know that?” Ulysses growled tersely. He gestured to the distant Loci Delta on his holodisplay. “But I can’t send them the ships. For now, at least, Kappa Defense is on their own.”
Loci Kappa, Prescott’s Star
The massive fleet of ISC vessels dropped into real space. They were to be the anvil of the carefully coordinated attack. Unity agents in place in the system had given word that the systems new CO had been shaking things up, but realistically, how much could one man do in this dumping ground for worthless officers? Not much High Command had decided, and so the increasingly concerned dispatches from Unity operatives were largely ignored. The forces allocated to the assault force were unaltered, with two thirds of them beginning their largely diversionary but quite real assault on the nearby defenses.
Plasma crisscrossed with phaser as the deadly beautiful lattice work of energy began to light the night. While the defenders were outnumbered by a considerable margin, they were mainly Battlestations. The massive, heavily shielded and armored hides were specifically designed to absorb the best efforts of an enemy fleet while remaining combat effective. And they were several times again the size of even the largest enemy vessel. Carefully choreographed fire lanced into the ISC ships selected for destruction. Phaser lance fire was backed up by standard heavy phaser array strikes and enough quantums to turn space white. The dumbbell shaped Imperial Battlestations coordinated their strikes with each other and their defensive fleets. The ships of Bat Cru Div 6653 and 8217 came as a nasty surprise. Largely ignored as inferior targets as the ISC fleet set about reducing the battlestations, they were able to fall into weapons range relatively unscathed. It was then that the newly refitted Excelsior class Battlecruisers struck their first blow. It had taken some pretty creative engineering to shoehorn a Phaser Lance into an Excelsior class Hull but the yard dogs, once sufficiently motivated, pulled off a minor miracle in proving that it could be done. The Battle Cruiser Division’s fire converged on their assigned targets, and their massed tongues of flame burned them from space.
Death stalked the space around the corridor locus, dispatched upon computer prioritized targets with a machines dispassion for the loss of life their destruction incurred. Hundreds of ISC vessels were burned from space within minutes, but that left over a thousand that continued to press home their numerical superiority. The smaller vessels pressed home their superior maneuverability and speed over their Imperial fellows. But the cake walk against substandard opponents that was expected never occurred. Instead of being an ill trained enemy with equipment in poor repair, the initial assault waves were rudely surprised by the precise weapons fire and squadron discipline the Imperials were exhibiting. It was nearly every bit as tight as their own, and in spite of their superior numbers, in the swirling fur ball that rapidly developed around the battlestations, the superior individual weight of fire that the finely linked battle stations and their defensive fleet could put out began to have a telling effect. The Bat’leth like Interstellar Concordium vessels maneuvered with reckless speed, diving in and out of the battle as Imperial battlestations hammered them with weapons fire. Unimaginable energies were thrown through space, depleting shields, paring away armor with high energy knives, punching massive, glowing wounds that penetrated deep into hulls. Here and there, Vaadwaur ships sent out their highly useful flux waves, staggering multi million ton vessels like they were so much balsa wood for a vital few moments. Engines knocked temporarily off line, the massive warships spun out of control, becoming easy meat for the titanic battlestations and their Phaser Lance armed escorts.
The Imperial Battlestation Tolstoy great mass shuddered anew as yet another wave of energetic plasma struck it through a downed shield. “Outer hull breach in deck 53 through 59, sectors 3442 through 3601. Inner hull still at full integrity and outer hull breaches have been sealed with emergency forcefields. Blast doors adjacent to damaged sections have been activated and the affected compartments have been evacuated of all nonessential personnel.” An Ensign called out a fresh damage report to Brevet Commodore Vivian DaGaule.
“Phasers 42 through 47 are down. Lances 12 through 19 are destroyed. Quantum tubes 30 through 43 and Heavy tubes 36 through 39 are gone. Shields compromised across multiple arcs portside and armor failing in sectors 13 Alpha through 41 Gamma. Regeneration ineffective Sir! There’s just too much weapons fire coming in to fast.” Another piece of bad news was fed to her. Yet even as the enemy savaged her command, her own weapons and those of her consorts flashed back defiance. Massed Lance fire snapped out and washed over a Superdreadnought. The ship was easily a match for even a Bastion, but she had been crippled in an earlier strike and she was the only one of her class present in the enemy fleet. Precisely choreographed fire, brought on target thanks to the stations datalink, caused all of the stations’ surviving weapons systems that bore on the target to fire as one. The enemy leviathan finally died in a star bright boil as its engines and weapons magazines finally let go in a cataclysmic boil of eye tearing light.
On her holodisplay, Vivian saw a gaggle of furiously maneuvering upgraded Excelsiors streak after an enemy Battleship. The vessel was already crippled, but even so it still set a deadly stream of plasma waves from its capital weaponry to one of Tolstoy sister stations. The beam was severed suddenly as the massed fire from the Excelsior wing cut the ISC ship in two, her entire front third disappearing in a plume of plasma and debris leaving behind a broken and drifting hulk that shed escape pods like tears. To her right, the Sovereign class Sojourner, her port warp nacelle a shattered, plasma leaking stump and with a large, glowing molten wound marring her ventral saucer, screamed down on a ISC Frigate wing. Even in her wounded state, all of her weapons spat death. Her twin Phaser Lances sent solid shafts of amber red light outward, piercing their targets clean through, then cutting them lengthwise as they continued on their course. Both died in terrible, short lived suns as their cores breached within instants of each other. A barrage of quantums and standard phasers scored hits on the others, eventually punching through their light defenses and turning them into so much vaporized scrap. Then the Sojourner died as a massive barrage of plasma torpedoes struck her hull. The heavy armor resisted as best it could, but space itself was blotted out by the dense barrage. The ship splintered into three main chunks, carried along the same basic trajectory thanks to simple physics. With the full weight of the fleet, the defenses might have been able to rout the enemy, but even as a fresh attack went out from Vivian’s command, the first of her multi hundred million ton sister stations died in a brilliant fireball. The tears that wetted Vivian’s eyes were not only thanks to the hideous brightness of its death.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter 20 – Weighed in the Balance…
IBS Tolstoy
“Get those fresh power leads in here!” a voice shouted somewhere on the shattered deck. Marines in full power armor strained to drag the heavy cables through the rubble towards the quantum launcher. It was lucky, it had been only on the edge of a weapons strike rather than a few feet over. It had only had its power cut off by the deadly attack, not total vaporization like its nearest neighbor. The Marines dragged the unwieldy EPS lines to the inert launcher, passing by a gaping, multi deck crater in the stations surface. Emergency forcefields shimmered as they kept in atmosphere and kept out the hard radiation that bathed the still white hot alloy and armor beyond. Phaser beams and plasma torpedoes screamed back and forth beyond the crater, almost to fast to see, soundless in the empty void of space. Perhaps that was what made this place so creepy. There was terrible amounts of energy being set loose only a few feet from the station, but aside from the odd shudder, the station was being left largely alone for the time being. The infrequent groans, pops and screeches of the nearby decks as they fought against their weakening supports was bad enough, picked up through the replenished atmosphere by the Marines external audio mikes.
The crewman who was furiously running diagnostics on his launcher called out again over his shoulder. “Hook em up, we may have been lightly singed by that near miss, but we can still fire once we have the juice by God!” His uniform and hair sill smoked slightly in places, and his face had horrible looking burns, but the antiballistic fabric and emergency forcefield of his uniform had kept the worst of the nearby explosion at bay.
The Marines finally butted the torso thick power leads up to the appropriate junction on the side of the quantum tube. After a few seconds more of grunting and straining with their synthetic muscles, they managed to seat the cables firmly into their sockets. The Marine signaled his Damage Control Team leader.
“Sir, the leads are in place. Commence power up at your discretion.” After the acknowledgement from the far end, the cables came alive, buzzing quietly as energetic plasma began to course through them, feeding the systems of the launcher with their needed energy. Telltale lights sparked to life as main power war restored. The crewman entered a blur of commands on his panel, his keystrokes causing quiet beeps and chirps. Seconds later, a soft, subsonic hum was heard as the launcher once again sent a burst of quantum torpedoes at its tasked targets. The Marines, their job done, turned around and went to their next assignment. There was reported to be some crew trapped in behind a pile of fallen debris and only a power armor’s synthetic muscles could shift some of the larger, heavier pieces.
ISS Valley Forge
“Sir, reports coming in that the EW drones have reached staging area Frank.”
“Order them to proceed to Loci Kappa under low grade ECM. I want the enemy to get a good look at em, but not enough to see through their ruse.” Ulysses said.
Commissar Stevens walked through the holographic shroud that largely concealed Ulysses while providing him with the unfettered view of the battlefield he needed to coordinate his fleet.
“Mr. Vanguard, I think you should deploy…” her speech was stopped mid sentence as Ulysses raised a hand palm up.
“Miss Stevens, while you may be my political watchdog, your grasp of tactics isn’t that good. Going to Loci Kappa’s aid is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. I don’t intend on playing to the tune they pipe because it’s a good way to get dead. Just sit down and shut up, I don’t have the time to explain it all to you now.” Ulysses said.
The very nerve of this man, thinking he can talk to a Section 31 officer in such a disrespectful manner, Stevens thought. Then she was interrupted by a call from her left.
“Here come the enemy forces through Loci Delta…” Davenport said. After a few seconds, CIC began to assign numbers and class to its plot. “Sweet Mary Mother of God!”
There were similar expletives uttered throughout the fleet as the tactical plot resolved itself. Although the new enemy fleet was only half as numerous as their first one, they were very top heavy in hull class. 80% of them were Dreadnoughts or Superdreadnoughts with the rest being Battleships. They cut through the Loci forts like a hot knife through butter, leaving shattered, savaged battlestations in their wake and taking only light casualties in return. They immediately engaged high warp directly towards what their sensors told them was an Imperial fleet at staging area Frank. Caught thusly between the two opposing forces, they would have been picked apart in detail, allowing the enemy to close and pick apart the orbital forts around Lilith at their leisure. Ulysses merely turned an I told you so look on Stevens, and she meekly backed out through the holodisplay. She may not like her inexperience in tactical battles being shown in front of the entire crew of the Flag Bridge, but she knew that any further interference now would be counterproductive to winning the coming engagement. She would deal with Captain Vanguard’s insubordination after the battle was done.
“Orders to all fleet units, engage on course 445 mark 320 and drop out of FTL at…” Ulysses consulted the path the rapidly advancing Enemy fleet, designated Force Beta by CIC, was cruising down. It was a simple least time, high warp course that would avoid the effects of the anti-warp field being emitted by the battlestations. “…system coordinates 442.515.870. Deploy into formation Theta Two and bring your anti-warp generators online.”
Force Beta was rapidly approaching Lilith’s general area, their flight path designed to skirt as tightly as possible the warp bubble destroying field. It was a relatively minor matter to pop directly in front of them, presenting a road block that would have to be dealt with before they could advance. The Imperial fleet, 1700 strong, formed up into a concave, ovoid wall, spreading around the main axis of advance for Force Beta. Lighter units were the farthest out, ready to swoop in on the exposed flanks of the enemy when they were yanked out of warp. EW drones of all types were deployed to confuse enemy sensors as much as possible. The heavy hitters of Ulysses fleet were placed in the middle with their support cadre of Aegeans, Nebulas Steamrunners and Akiras tucked in the relative safely behind them. But the support ships weren’t the only thing hiding in the great capital ships sensor shadows. Ulysses and his staff had thought up a little surprise for an invading fleet to encounter.
It all happened in seconds, leaving virtually no time for Force Beta to react. They had thought that the Imperial fleet was safely drawn towards Loci Kappa, not lying in wait near Lilith. They barely brought their full EW online and didn’t have time to reinforce their forward shield arcs before they were dragged from warp.
“Fire!” Ulysses barked as CIC threw targeting brackets around the primary targets. Ulysses’ ships opened fire with everything they had. Fire support ships cut loose with their torpedo biased armaments, filling space with wave after wave of blue/white Quantum Torpedoes and the reddish orange of Heavy Torpedoes. But the broadsides were even denser than would usually be the case, for Ulysses chose then to unleash his surprise.
Tractor beams pulled their charges from concealment, swinging Type-V Orbital Weapons Platforms into clear attack lanes. These torpedo turrets added their warheads to the volleys, thickening them to over twice what they would have normally been. What would have been a significant nuisance, but a nuisance none the less otherwise became a serious threat to the enemy capital ships. In a capital ship slugging match, torpedoes usually lacked the strength to get through an active shield, used instead to weaken points in the shield to better allow follow up phaser and lance strikes to punch through. But if used in sufficient numbers, they could eventually pare away even a superdreadnought’s shields. A great wave rushing in like the evening tide crashed in on the designated targets. Zero point energy incursions and large scale matter/antimatter fireballs pockmarked the enemy fleet at the knife range of two light seconds. Dozens of starships died in the opening volley, and it was only the beginning.
“Engage with the Lances Mr. Davenport.”
“Aye sir!” Percy said eagerly.
Type-X OWPs swung from behind their mother ships and birthed fire even as the first return fire came from the ISC fleet. The Imperial’s shipboard launchers spoke with the OWPs, and united they sent a tidal bore of destruction down on Force Delta. Shields were smashed flat, armor was splintered and vaporized. One after the other, in a rapidly growing stream, the ISC capital ships fell out of formation after taking catastrophic damage. The range was close enough for the Imperial’s primary weapons to be brought into play. PPC and phaser beam fire sprouted from their armored emplacements, turning the intervening space between the ISC and Imperial fleet’s star bright with released energy.
Ulysses felt the Forge rock under him as she took hits from Plasmatic Pulsar Device emplacements and Plasma torpedoes. He saw the ships forward shields flare nearly out of existence, and almost gave the order to divert power and reinforce them. But the Valley Forge was no longer under his direct control. His need to act as Fleet Admiral had necessitated giving control of his ship over to P’tel, and he had every confidence in her ability to keep his ship and her crew alive. Even as he brought his eyes away from the bridge tactical repeater he saw his ship’s representation on his command holodisplay swing into a hard 180 degree about face, bringing her nearly as heavy aft weaponry and fully charged shield to interdict fresh enemy fire. The ship didn’t change position in the formation at all. Good job Miss Sulu, Ulysses thought. His ship rocked again, harder this time, as more enemy fire homed in on her. He forced himself to ignore it and concentrate on the Fleet’s attack. His hands flew like a symphony conductor’s as he tasked and retasked the targeting priorities. His own ships began to die, as he knew was inevitable with the weight of fire coming in from the enemy. He showed no emotion as the death and damage reports began to come in. There would be time for grieving later, but not now. Now he needed a clear head, one that made their sacrifice worth something. For if he couldn’t hold the enemy, or at least cripple them enough to keep them from taking out Lilith’s orbital forts, their sacrifice wouldn’t be worth it. He had already taken a large bite out of Force Beta, but their own return fire had punched holes in his own ranks.
On the holodisplay, Force Alpha was now attempting to disengage from the battle around Loci Kappa and come to the aid of Force Beta. They had largely reduced the battlestations there to impotence and the defending fleet was only harrying them now, staying in range enough so that Force Alpha couldn’t jump to warp but not close enough to get fried easily.
Ulysses fleet was taking a pounding, but he was giving as good as he got. Two of his squadron mates died in rapid succession, the Muteki and Thanatos now nothing more than mangled wrecks shedding life pods. Ulysses winced inside. They had been good ships with good crews. Now they were gone, taking lord knew how many of their crews with them. Thousands of Cobras streaked in and out of the fleet battle like bulls to the matador, chewing on vulnerable ships with their PPCs. Squadrons died by the handful, but there were a lot of fighters, and with virtually no escorts along and the other ships concentrating on the Imperial capital ships, the ISC fleet began to feel the sting of the Cobra’s venom. Many of the fleet’s Soulwolfs were assigned sniper duty, operating in the flanks of the ISC fleet, coordinating their fire via Datalink Net in order to keep redundant fire to an absolute minimum. Achilles class ships spun like dervishes to keep a fresh undamaged shield arc facing the enemy, all the while firing a vortex of PPC bolts at the enemy.
Finally it happened, Force Beta began to unravel. It started in dribs and drabs at first, a ship here and there falling astern, then swinging around and streaking away for Loci Delta. But soon, there were entire squadrons breaking and fleeing back towards the subspace corridors. Seeing their fellows break and run, Force Alpha did the same, falling back through Loci Kappa and its now near totally shattered defenders.
“Orders to the Fleet. Pursuit course on Force Beta. Aim for their engines, I want as many of them disabled as possible.” With those orders, Ulysses settled into his command chair, fairly deflating. He heard a muted cheer course throughout his ship, one reinforced by the cheering on the Flag Bridge. What had become a largely orderly retreat was quickly turned into a near rout. The ISC ships had been strung out to much by their delay in ordering a retreat. The ones that had broke first were now quite far in front of their peers who had stayed longer. This allowed the combined fire from the Imperial fleet to pick them off piece meal. By the time the last ISC ship reached the Locus, only 231 ships had escaped from Loci Delta while 1305 had escaped through Loci Kappa. Total ISC losses numbered 1464 ships, mostly of capital ship classes. In return they had destroyed 452 ships and 25 Battlestations. While those losses were bad, the losses to the ISC fleet had been far worse in comparison. Loosing nearly ¾ of the capital ships in your attacking fleet for the destruction of only a handful of enemy capital ships and battlestations wasn’t a good day if you were the ISC.
“Deploy SAR forces immediately, I want every lost escape pod and spaced crewman found ASAP. And that includes those of our enemy, make that abundantly clear to all teams. Then order the fleet to return to Lilith orbit. Order all salvageable vessels to towed back to Lilith with us. We need to get a priority list organized as to who needs the repairs the most. I want to be as ready as we can be for a fresh attack. Send a message off to Starfleet Command. Initial assault on Prescott’s Star repulsed with minimal losses. Request immediate reinforcements and recommend that all Sector Fleets be placed on heightened alert.” Ulysses said. “Attach the tactical battle logs and send it.”
“Aye sir.”
“If anything odd happens, I’ll be in my ready room.” Ulysses said as he got up and strode off of the Flag Bridge without a backward glance
IBS Tolstoy
“Get those fresh power leads in here!” a voice shouted somewhere on the shattered deck. Marines in full power armor strained to drag the heavy cables through the rubble towards the quantum launcher. It was lucky, it had been only on the edge of a weapons strike rather than a few feet over. It had only had its power cut off by the deadly attack, not total vaporization like its nearest neighbor. The Marines dragged the unwieldy EPS lines to the inert launcher, passing by a gaping, multi deck crater in the stations surface. Emergency forcefields shimmered as they kept in atmosphere and kept out the hard radiation that bathed the still white hot alloy and armor beyond. Phaser beams and plasma torpedoes screamed back and forth beyond the crater, almost to fast to see, soundless in the empty void of space. Perhaps that was what made this place so creepy. There was terrible amounts of energy being set loose only a few feet from the station, but aside from the odd shudder, the station was being left largely alone for the time being. The infrequent groans, pops and screeches of the nearby decks as they fought against their weakening supports was bad enough, picked up through the replenished atmosphere by the Marines external audio mikes.
The crewman who was furiously running diagnostics on his launcher called out again over his shoulder. “Hook em up, we may have been lightly singed by that near miss, but we can still fire once we have the juice by God!” His uniform and hair sill smoked slightly in places, and his face had horrible looking burns, but the antiballistic fabric and emergency forcefield of his uniform had kept the worst of the nearby explosion at bay.
The Marines finally butted the torso thick power leads up to the appropriate junction on the side of the quantum tube. After a few seconds more of grunting and straining with their synthetic muscles, they managed to seat the cables firmly into their sockets. The Marine signaled his Damage Control Team leader.
“Sir, the leads are in place. Commence power up at your discretion.” After the acknowledgement from the far end, the cables came alive, buzzing quietly as energetic plasma began to course through them, feeding the systems of the launcher with their needed energy. Telltale lights sparked to life as main power war restored. The crewman entered a blur of commands on his panel, his keystrokes causing quiet beeps and chirps. Seconds later, a soft, subsonic hum was heard as the launcher once again sent a burst of quantum torpedoes at its tasked targets. The Marines, their job done, turned around and went to their next assignment. There was reported to be some crew trapped in behind a pile of fallen debris and only a power armor’s synthetic muscles could shift some of the larger, heavier pieces.
ISS Valley Forge
“Sir, reports coming in that the EW drones have reached staging area Frank.”
“Order them to proceed to Loci Kappa under low grade ECM. I want the enemy to get a good look at em, but not enough to see through their ruse.” Ulysses said.
Commissar Stevens walked through the holographic shroud that largely concealed Ulysses while providing him with the unfettered view of the battlefield he needed to coordinate his fleet.
“Mr. Vanguard, I think you should deploy…” her speech was stopped mid sentence as Ulysses raised a hand palm up.
“Miss Stevens, while you may be my political watchdog, your grasp of tactics isn’t that good. Going to Loci Kappa’s aid is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. I don’t intend on playing to the tune they pipe because it’s a good way to get dead. Just sit down and shut up, I don’t have the time to explain it all to you now.” Ulysses said.
The very nerve of this man, thinking he can talk to a Section 31 officer in such a disrespectful manner, Stevens thought. Then she was interrupted by a call from her left.
“Here come the enemy forces through Loci Delta…” Davenport said. After a few seconds, CIC began to assign numbers and class to its plot. “Sweet Mary Mother of God!”
There were similar expletives uttered throughout the fleet as the tactical plot resolved itself. Although the new enemy fleet was only half as numerous as their first one, they were very top heavy in hull class. 80% of them were Dreadnoughts or Superdreadnoughts with the rest being Battleships. They cut through the Loci forts like a hot knife through butter, leaving shattered, savaged battlestations in their wake and taking only light casualties in return. They immediately engaged high warp directly towards what their sensors told them was an Imperial fleet at staging area Frank. Caught thusly between the two opposing forces, they would have been picked apart in detail, allowing the enemy to close and pick apart the orbital forts around Lilith at their leisure. Ulysses merely turned an I told you so look on Stevens, and she meekly backed out through the holodisplay. She may not like her inexperience in tactical battles being shown in front of the entire crew of the Flag Bridge, but she knew that any further interference now would be counterproductive to winning the coming engagement. She would deal with Captain Vanguard’s insubordination after the battle was done.
“Orders to all fleet units, engage on course 445 mark 320 and drop out of FTL at…” Ulysses consulted the path the rapidly advancing Enemy fleet, designated Force Beta by CIC, was cruising down. It was a simple least time, high warp course that would avoid the effects of the anti-warp field being emitted by the battlestations. “…system coordinates 442.515.870. Deploy into formation Theta Two and bring your anti-warp generators online.”
Force Beta was rapidly approaching Lilith’s general area, their flight path designed to skirt as tightly as possible the warp bubble destroying field. It was a relatively minor matter to pop directly in front of them, presenting a road block that would have to be dealt with before they could advance. The Imperial fleet, 1700 strong, formed up into a concave, ovoid wall, spreading around the main axis of advance for Force Beta. Lighter units were the farthest out, ready to swoop in on the exposed flanks of the enemy when they were yanked out of warp. EW drones of all types were deployed to confuse enemy sensors as much as possible. The heavy hitters of Ulysses fleet were placed in the middle with their support cadre of Aegeans, Nebulas Steamrunners and Akiras tucked in the relative safely behind them. But the support ships weren’t the only thing hiding in the great capital ships sensor shadows. Ulysses and his staff had thought up a little surprise for an invading fleet to encounter.
It all happened in seconds, leaving virtually no time for Force Beta to react. They had thought that the Imperial fleet was safely drawn towards Loci Kappa, not lying in wait near Lilith. They barely brought their full EW online and didn’t have time to reinforce their forward shield arcs before they were dragged from warp.
“Fire!” Ulysses barked as CIC threw targeting brackets around the primary targets. Ulysses’ ships opened fire with everything they had. Fire support ships cut loose with their torpedo biased armaments, filling space with wave after wave of blue/white Quantum Torpedoes and the reddish orange of Heavy Torpedoes. But the broadsides were even denser than would usually be the case, for Ulysses chose then to unleash his surprise.
Tractor beams pulled their charges from concealment, swinging Type-V Orbital Weapons Platforms into clear attack lanes. These torpedo turrets added their warheads to the volleys, thickening them to over twice what they would have normally been. What would have been a significant nuisance, but a nuisance none the less otherwise became a serious threat to the enemy capital ships. In a capital ship slugging match, torpedoes usually lacked the strength to get through an active shield, used instead to weaken points in the shield to better allow follow up phaser and lance strikes to punch through. But if used in sufficient numbers, they could eventually pare away even a superdreadnought’s shields. A great wave rushing in like the evening tide crashed in on the designated targets. Zero point energy incursions and large scale matter/antimatter fireballs pockmarked the enemy fleet at the knife range of two light seconds. Dozens of starships died in the opening volley, and it was only the beginning.
“Engage with the Lances Mr. Davenport.”
“Aye sir!” Percy said eagerly.
Type-X OWPs swung from behind their mother ships and birthed fire even as the first return fire came from the ISC fleet. The Imperial’s shipboard launchers spoke with the OWPs, and united they sent a tidal bore of destruction down on Force Delta. Shields were smashed flat, armor was splintered and vaporized. One after the other, in a rapidly growing stream, the ISC capital ships fell out of formation after taking catastrophic damage. The range was close enough for the Imperial’s primary weapons to be brought into play. PPC and phaser beam fire sprouted from their armored emplacements, turning the intervening space between the ISC and Imperial fleet’s star bright with released energy.
Ulysses felt the Forge rock under him as she took hits from Plasmatic Pulsar Device emplacements and Plasma torpedoes. He saw the ships forward shields flare nearly out of existence, and almost gave the order to divert power and reinforce them. But the Valley Forge was no longer under his direct control. His need to act as Fleet Admiral had necessitated giving control of his ship over to P’tel, and he had every confidence in her ability to keep his ship and her crew alive. Even as he brought his eyes away from the bridge tactical repeater he saw his ship’s representation on his command holodisplay swing into a hard 180 degree about face, bringing her nearly as heavy aft weaponry and fully charged shield to interdict fresh enemy fire. The ship didn’t change position in the formation at all. Good job Miss Sulu, Ulysses thought. His ship rocked again, harder this time, as more enemy fire homed in on her. He forced himself to ignore it and concentrate on the Fleet’s attack. His hands flew like a symphony conductor’s as he tasked and retasked the targeting priorities. His own ships began to die, as he knew was inevitable with the weight of fire coming in from the enemy. He showed no emotion as the death and damage reports began to come in. There would be time for grieving later, but not now. Now he needed a clear head, one that made their sacrifice worth something. For if he couldn’t hold the enemy, or at least cripple them enough to keep them from taking out Lilith’s orbital forts, their sacrifice wouldn’t be worth it. He had already taken a large bite out of Force Beta, but their own return fire had punched holes in his own ranks.
On the holodisplay, Force Alpha was now attempting to disengage from the battle around Loci Kappa and come to the aid of Force Beta. They had largely reduced the battlestations there to impotence and the defending fleet was only harrying them now, staying in range enough so that Force Alpha couldn’t jump to warp but not close enough to get fried easily.
Ulysses fleet was taking a pounding, but he was giving as good as he got. Two of his squadron mates died in rapid succession, the Muteki and Thanatos now nothing more than mangled wrecks shedding life pods. Ulysses winced inside. They had been good ships with good crews. Now they were gone, taking lord knew how many of their crews with them. Thousands of Cobras streaked in and out of the fleet battle like bulls to the matador, chewing on vulnerable ships with their PPCs. Squadrons died by the handful, but there were a lot of fighters, and with virtually no escorts along and the other ships concentrating on the Imperial capital ships, the ISC fleet began to feel the sting of the Cobra’s venom. Many of the fleet’s Soulwolfs were assigned sniper duty, operating in the flanks of the ISC fleet, coordinating their fire via Datalink Net in order to keep redundant fire to an absolute minimum. Achilles class ships spun like dervishes to keep a fresh undamaged shield arc facing the enemy, all the while firing a vortex of PPC bolts at the enemy.
Finally it happened, Force Beta began to unravel. It started in dribs and drabs at first, a ship here and there falling astern, then swinging around and streaking away for Loci Delta. But soon, there were entire squadrons breaking and fleeing back towards the subspace corridors. Seeing their fellows break and run, Force Alpha did the same, falling back through Loci Kappa and its now near totally shattered defenders.
“Orders to the Fleet. Pursuit course on Force Beta. Aim for their engines, I want as many of them disabled as possible.” With those orders, Ulysses settled into his command chair, fairly deflating. He heard a muted cheer course throughout his ship, one reinforced by the cheering on the Flag Bridge. What had become a largely orderly retreat was quickly turned into a near rout. The ISC ships had been strung out to much by their delay in ordering a retreat. The ones that had broke first were now quite far in front of their peers who had stayed longer. This allowed the combined fire from the Imperial fleet to pick them off piece meal. By the time the last ISC ship reached the Locus, only 231 ships had escaped from Loci Delta while 1305 had escaped through Loci Kappa. Total ISC losses numbered 1464 ships, mostly of capital ship classes. In return they had destroyed 452 ships and 25 Battlestations. While those losses were bad, the losses to the ISC fleet had been far worse in comparison. Loosing nearly ¾ of the capital ships in your attacking fleet for the destruction of only a handful of enemy capital ships and battlestations wasn’t a good day if you were the ISC.
“Deploy SAR forces immediately, I want every lost escape pod and spaced crewman found ASAP. And that includes those of our enemy, make that abundantly clear to all teams. Then order the fleet to return to Lilith orbit. Order all salvageable vessels to towed back to Lilith with us. We need to get a priority list organized as to who needs the repairs the most. I want to be as ready as we can be for a fresh attack. Send a message off to Starfleet Command. Initial assault on Prescott’s Star repulsed with minimal losses. Request immediate reinforcements and recommend that all Sector Fleets be placed on heightened alert.” Ulysses said. “Attach the tactical battle logs and send it.”
“Aye sir.”
“If anything odd happens, I’ll be in my ready room.” Ulysses said as he got up and strode off of the Flag Bridge without a backward glance
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
- Posts: 439
- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
- Location: Michigan USA
- Contact:
Chapter 21 – When the Bow Breaks
Imperial Palace, Moscow, Terra
The vast forest of super strong alloy and transparent aluminum that were modern sky scrapers housing billions enfolded the newly completed Imperial Palace. These artificial tree trunks stretched their roots deep underground into the supporting bedrock and their branches high into the nebulous atmosphere of the stratosphere. Enclosed walkways connected the structures at regular intervals, allowing for the oldest method of transportation to be employed for nearby commutes and errands so as not to overly tie up the transporter net. Swimming in between these geometrically ordered trunks were level upon level of air car and shuttle routes. The plethora of small craft resembled leaves, but ones aligned in perfectly straight ranks rather than the chaotic mass of a normal tree.
Emperor Jack Chambers the First finished his contented stare at his new capital city through the perfect one way glass of his throne room’s ceiling and went back to the daily grind of being a supreme ruler. Of course, his current task was much more fun than the normal decisions he made. He was like a kid in a candy store, for as Emperor of the Terran Empire, he had more power than even his wildest fantasies had prepared him for.
This power gave him the ability to activate programs that had long lain dormant under the Terran Council’s inept and inefficient leadership. The schematics for a vessel bigger than even a Bastion class Monitor, and also considerably greater in firepower, were displayed on a PADD in on his desk. There was also a plan that was somewhat insane. A disgruntled Krenim scientist had approached an Imperial envoy claiming that he could produce an immensely powerful weapons system. His own government had been to timid to fund his experiments, but the Terran Council had taken him in, even if they had only given him minor funding and support. They had apparently not given much credence to his claims but on the off chance that they proved true, didn’t want him in the employ of one of the Empire’s enemies. That lack of funding was about to change. If the effects of this weapons system were indeed as good as his claims, he would get as much funding as he needed. Commander Bruce Maddox had requisitioned fresh funding for his work at the Daystrom Institute of Technology. He was attempting to replicate the construction of a D-class Soong type android and not having much luck. While Jack, like any student of history, was against a true, wide spread artificial intelligence given its past in the empire, he was willing to give more funding if it meant more D-class androids could be created for Section 31. If only Soong hadn’t died before creating only a handful of the D-class, and if only his most promising students hadn’t proved so inept at duplicating his work. Then there would be plenty of loyal soldiers to fill out both the special ops branch of Section and the shortage of skilled personnel on a starship. But looking back on the M 5 incident, the relative lack of Imperial AI’s could be seen as a god send. When an AI can go bonkers and destroy 12 Constitutions before finally being brought down, having one on every ship doesn’t look as good in practice as it did on paper.
The old regime had also been far to penny pinching with its budget for Section 31. How were the watchers supposed to be effective if they had insufficient and sub standard tools to work with. Unsurprisingly, Section’s budget would be greatly increased, and it would have its discretionary powers widened as well. The old regime had been hesitant to grant Section broad powers, fearful that a powerful enough organization would one day challenge them for control of the Empire. Jack had no such fears, for he knew where everyone of the Section department heads and many of their underlings secrets were buried. They wouldn’t dare try anything with him, for none of them would come out unscathed. But, Section connections had helped him seize power, even if they had been duped into doing so. It was sort of a backhanded thank you to his old associates there that he reward their help. But it was also a very strong desire to strengthen his hold on power that made him increase Section’s powers and budget. Section would be his eyes and ears, with greater freedom than ever before to scour out dissent to Imperial rule.
Jack shifted gears, switching to fleet deployments. Second Fleet, which had been virtually stripped down to a task force thanks to repairs and the drawing off of able ships for reinforcements was ready to receive new build ships. The shipyards at Alpha Centauri, Vulcan and Sol had been putting in massive amounts of overtime to get the ships built, but now their hard work was about to pay off. With the ships of Second Fleet, the Empire would once again possess an advantage over its enemies. It was nearly time to begin obliterating the so called Grand Alliance one faction at a time. While they might have been able to get more ships than expected from their hidden, Orion Cartel supplied shipyards, they hadn’t really captured many Imperial yards intact. They couldn’t hope to out produce the Empire’s industry once it got up to speed. While it had been plugging away ever since the Imperial/Borg war, there hadn’t been the sincere urgency to turn out ships like there was now that the Grand Alliance was a very real and evident threat. There was nothing like a credible threat to ones life to spur activity.
Second Fleet’s command staff were cause for concern. While there had long been suspicions that they had sympathetic leanings towards the pacifistic teachings of the traitor Spock, there had never been any actual proof uncovered. Not even the particularly dogged Commissar he had assigned her had been able to find anything seditious. And without that proof, Jack was hesitant to purge one of the best Fleet commanders in Starfleet. Possible personal leanings aside, Jack was perfectly willing to wait till the Alliance was crushed before the made his move against T’var and her senior staff.
An alert chimed on Jack’s personal office’s communications console, and an aide immediately brought up the message on his board.
“Your Highness, I have an incoming message from Starbase 2000 to all Starfleet ships and bases. It is a combat alert!”
“Does the message give any specifics as to just who is launching the attack and why it warrants an Empire wide combat alert?” Jack asked as he strode over to look at the message on the aide’s terminal.
“No your Highness.”
Jack frowned then began to pace. About 15 minutes went by, then the com board lit up. It was only a handful of contact reports at first, but they grew into a steady widening river as bases and colonies all through the Delta Quadrant signified that they were under attack.
“Who launched the attack?! The Voth?!” Heaven help us if those isolationist dinos decide they want a bigger piece of the local neighborhood than they already possessed Jack thought, his mind going a mile a minute. Their tech is so far advanced from ours, we wouldn’t stand a chance! Hell, even the Krenim Imperium is a threat, current fleet strengths in the Delta Quadrant being what they are.
Then installations and colonized systems along the Gamma Quadrant came under attack. A Starbase in the Delta Quadrant punched through the jamming to get a frantic call off. The incoming call was fed to the Imperial Palace as well as Starfleet Command
“They’re too many of them!” the panicked officer on the other end of the com wailed through the static of interference. The com signal was barely getting through, the amount of jamming that would take would have to be enormous. “We can’t hold them off much longer!!” Her words were punctuated by a violent shaking of the starbase and sparks and smoke flying down around her. Grabbing the console for support, she went on. “Send reinforcements imm…” The com screen flared white for a brief instant, then the com screen flashed to the Imperial seal. Two blinking words flashed under it: Connection Lost.
“What the HELL is going on? I want information NOW!”
“The listening post near Epsilon Bootis managed to get this image before it went offline your Highness”. The holodisplay shifted to show a vast armada of alien ships. “Starfleet Intelligence is putting it at 99% chance that 1/3 of this fleet are Dominion ships. The other 2/3s, within 87% certainty, are Interstellar Concordium vessels. The total number of hulls in this single fleet is over 4000.”
The doors to the Emperor’s personal office opened just then, and Jack looked up distractedly to see his daughter enter, then shifted his attention back to the holodisplay that now showed an expanding crescent of attacked systems along the Delta and Gamma Quadrants. “What ever it is Dorothy, it will have to wait. There is a crisis developing”
“I know.” There was a wet crunch behind him that didn’t sound right. Turning around again with a perplexed frown, he caught sight of his two personal guards as they fell soundlessly to the ground, they heads a shattered, bloody mess. Jack’s eyes bulged in surprise as what he thought was his daughter extended her arms. The amber, transparent fluid like arms struck the aide’s skull, punching though it like it was wet tissue paper. “Your Highness, allow me to convey the respects of the Galactic Unity.” Jack was still staring stupidly at the changeling that had so perfectly replaced his daughter when the twin liquid arms encircled his neck then tightened, growing strong as steel cables. Jack was lifted off the ground, his hands frantically clawing on the immovable binds that began to crush his neck, his feet flailing in the air feet off of the ground. “This is just the beginning of the end for your Empire, but you won’t be around to see the end. It is unfortunate, for I personally would like to see you suffer till the bitter end. But I have my orders, so the least I can do is make you suffer a bit before I kill you now.” And then the changeling smiled as the mimicked face of Jack’s daughter fell away to the more customary visage of a Founder.
Grand Alliance Combined Command Council, Location Classified
“Look, all I know is that something major is going on. All Starfleet assets along our boarder have gone to a heightened state of alert.” The Cardassian delegate, Legate Dammar, said to the assembled members of the GA Command Council. “We have received communications from our assets in place within the Terran Empire that something is launching a major offensive along their Gamma and Delta Quadrant holdings. This concurs with our observed sudden spike in communications going to and from the outlying holdings of the Terran Empire. Something big is in the works.”
The Romulan representative, Admiral Jarok nodded his agreement. “I have also received word that something major is occurring in the outlying Terran Empire sectors…” Just then the double doors that led to the Council Chamber swung open to admit another being.
“I’m sure that all of you have by now heard of the growing assault on Terran space.” Peter O’tole said. “I am here to tell you just what is going on. As of 0600 hours local time, the Terran Empire is at a state of war with the Galactic Unity. It is they who have so graciously given sufficient resources to build your hidden building slips, and it is they that now call on you to assist them in taking out the Terran Empire once and for all time.”
General Worf looked up from a report he was perusing from his seat at the oval table. “While I am all for removing the Terrans as a threat to the existence of the Klingon Empire, what are this Galactic Unity’s plans for after they have defeated the Terrans?”
“Why, then all peoples will live in peace under the banner of the Galactic Unity. It is now time for all of your peoples to repay the debt of honor you owe to the Galactic Unity for their assistance in helping to free you from the Terran boot heel!”
Worf laughed heartily, his long mane of brown hair shaking as his pointed teeth showed from behind his lips. “We did not just escape from one boot heel to be placed under another. If your masters can get rid of the Terran Empire, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. But the Klingon Empire is no ones slave any longer. We shall live as WE chose to live, not how the Galactic Unity chooses for us to live.” There were nods of agreement from around the table as each of the other delegates cast their support behind Worf’s assertion.
“Be wary of what you chose here, while the Galactic Unity will welcome the willing with open arms, even the unwilling will be made to see the light.” Peter said with a slight frown. He had underestimated his control over these pawns. He had spent to much time with their overly grateful political masters, and not enough time shaping his thoughts towards the support of their military officers. While the politicians on the Klingon High Council, Romulan Senate, Cardassian Detapa Council, and the others had been malleable enough, those actually in charge of their empire’s arms were made of sterner stuff. They might even be willing to go against their political masters should the need arise. He had never thought that virtually to a man, the military leaders of the GA might be true, died in the wool patriots.
“Ah, so now the helpful Galactic Unity shows its true colors!” Worf growled.
Oh boy had he miscalculated, Peter thought. His masters in the GU would not be happy, but they had planned for this very eventuality just in case. They were nothing if not thorough.
“Take some time to think it over, I will be back in two days for your reply. Perhaps once you see just how powerful the Galactic Unity is, you will be more eager to support it.” Then Peter pressed a button on one of his armband. Seconds later, a transporter beam caught him and he disappeared from the room in a swirling purple shimmer.
Imperial Palace, Moscow, Terra
The vast forest of super strong alloy and transparent aluminum that were modern sky scrapers housing billions enfolded the newly completed Imperial Palace. These artificial tree trunks stretched their roots deep underground into the supporting bedrock and their branches high into the nebulous atmosphere of the stratosphere. Enclosed walkways connected the structures at regular intervals, allowing for the oldest method of transportation to be employed for nearby commutes and errands so as not to overly tie up the transporter net. Swimming in between these geometrically ordered trunks were level upon level of air car and shuttle routes. The plethora of small craft resembled leaves, but ones aligned in perfectly straight ranks rather than the chaotic mass of a normal tree.
Emperor Jack Chambers the First finished his contented stare at his new capital city through the perfect one way glass of his throne room’s ceiling and went back to the daily grind of being a supreme ruler. Of course, his current task was much more fun than the normal decisions he made. He was like a kid in a candy store, for as Emperor of the Terran Empire, he had more power than even his wildest fantasies had prepared him for.
This power gave him the ability to activate programs that had long lain dormant under the Terran Council’s inept and inefficient leadership. The schematics for a vessel bigger than even a Bastion class Monitor, and also considerably greater in firepower, were displayed on a PADD in on his desk. There was also a plan that was somewhat insane. A disgruntled Krenim scientist had approached an Imperial envoy claiming that he could produce an immensely powerful weapons system. His own government had been to timid to fund his experiments, but the Terran Council had taken him in, even if they had only given him minor funding and support. They had apparently not given much credence to his claims but on the off chance that they proved true, didn’t want him in the employ of one of the Empire’s enemies. That lack of funding was about to change. If the effects of this weapons system were indeed as good as his claims, he would get as much funding as he needed. Commander Bruce Maddox had requisitioned fresh funding for his work at the Daystrom Institute of Technology. He was attempting to replicate the construction of a D-class Soong type android and not having much luck. While Jack, like any student of history, was against a true, wide spread artificial intelligence given its past in the empire, he was willing to give more funding if it meant more D-class androids could be created for Section 31. If only Soong hadn’t died before creating only a handful of the D-class, and if only his most promising students hadn’t proved so inept at duplicating his work. Then there would be plenty of loyal soldiers to fill out both the special ops branch of Section and the shortage of skilled personnel on a starship. But looking back on the M 5 incident, the relative lack of Imperial AI’s could be seen as a god send. When an AI can go bonkers and destroy 12 Constitutions before finally being brought down, having one on every ship doesn’t look as good in practice as it did on paper.
The old regime had also been far to penny pinching with its budget for Section 31. How were the watchers supposed to be effective if they had insufficient and sub standard tools to work with. Unsurprisingly, Section’s budget would be greatly increased, and it would have its discretionary powers widened as well. The old regime had been hesitant to grant Section broad powers, fearful that a powerful enough organization would one day challenge them for control of the Empire. Jack had no such fears, for he knew where everyone of the Section department heads and many of their underlings secrets were buried. They wouldn’t dare try anything with him, for none of them would come out unscathed. But, Section connections had helped him seize power, even if they had been duped into doing so. It was sort of a backhanded thank you to his old associates there that he reward their help. But it was also a very strong desire to strengthen his hold on power that made him increase Section’s powers and budget. Section would be his eyes and ears, with greater freedom than ever before to scour out dissent to Imperial rule.
Jack shifted gears, switching to fleet deployments. Second Fleet, which had been virtually stripped down to a task force thanks to repairs and the drawing off of able ships for reinforcements was ready to receive new build ships. The shipyards at Alpha Centauri, Vulcan and Sol had been putting in massive amounts of overtime to get the ships built, but now their hard work was about to pay off. With the ships of Second Fleet, the Empire would once again possess an advantage over its enemies. It was nearly time to begin obliterating the so called Grand Alliance one faction at a time. While they might have been able to get more ships than expected from their hidden, Orion Cartel supplied shipyards, they hadn’t really captured many Imperial yards intact. They couldn’t hope to out produce the Empire’s industry once it got up to speed. While it had been plugging away ever since the Imperial/Borg war, there hadn’t been the sincere urgency to turn out ships like there was now that the Grand Alliance was a very real and evident threat. There was nothing like a credible threat to ones life to spur activity.
Second Fleet’s command staff were cause for concern. While there had long been suspicions that they had sympathetic leanings towards the pacifistic teachings of the traitor Spock, there had never been any actual proof uncovered. Not even the particularly dogged Commissar he had assigned her had been able to find anything seditious. And without that proof, Jack was hesitant to purge one of the best Fleet commanders in Starfleet. Possible personal leanings aside, Jack was perfectly willing to wait till the Alliance was crushed before the made his move against T’var and her senior staff.
An alert chimed on Jack’s personal office’s communications console, and an aide immediately brought up the message on his board.
“Your Highness, I have an incoming message from Starbase 2000 to all Starfleet ships and bases. It is a combat alert!”
“Does the message give any specifics as to just who is launching the attack and why it warrants an Empire wide combat alert?” Jack asked as he strode over to look at the message on the aide’s terminal.
“No your Highness.”
Jack frowned then began to pace. About 15 minutes went by, then the com board lit up. It was only a handful of contact reports at first, but they grew into a steady widening river as bases and colonies all through the Delta Quadrant signified that they were under attack.
“Who launched the attack?! The Voth?!” Heaven help us if those isolationist dinos decide they want a bigger piece of the local neighborhood than they already possessed Jack thought, his mind going a mile a minute. Their tech is so far advanced from ours, we wouldn’t stand a chance! Hell, even the Krenim Imperium is a threat, current fleet strengths in the Delta Quadrant being what they are.
Then installations and colonized systems along the Gamma Quadrant came under attack. A Starbase in the Delta Quadrant punched through the jamming to get a frantic call off. The incoming call was fed to the Imperial Palace as well as Starfleet Command
“They’re too many of them!” the panicked officer on the other end of the com wailed through the static of interference. The com signal was barely getting through, the amount of jamming that would take would have to be enormous. “We can’t hold them off much longer!!” Her words were punctuated by a violent shaking of the starbase and sparks and smoke flying down around her. Grabbing the console for support, she went on. “Send reinforcements imm…” The com screen flared white for a brief instant, then the com screen flashed to the Imperial seal. Two blinking words flashed under it: Connection Lost.
“What the HELL is going on? I want information NOW!”
“The listening post near Epsilon Bootis managed to get this image before it went offline your Highness”. The holodisplay shifted to show a vast armada of alien ships. “Starfleet Intelligence is putting it at 99% chance that 1/3 of this fleet are Dominion ships. The other 2/3s, within 87% certainty, are Interstellar Concordium vessels. The total number of hulls in this single fleet is over 4000.”
The doors to the Emperor’s personal office opened just then, and Jack looked up distractedly to see his daughter enter, then shifted his attention back to the holodisplay that now showed an expanding crescent of attacked systems along the Delta and Gamma Quadrants. “What ever it is Dorothy, it will have to wait. There is a crisis developing”
“I know.” There was a wet crunch behind him that didn’t sound right. Turning around again with a perplexed frown, he caught sight of his two personal guards as they fell soundlessly to the ground, they heads a shattered, bloody mess. Jack’s eyes bulged in surprise as what he thought was his daughter extended her arms. The amber, transparent fluid like arms struck the aide’s skull, punching though it like it was wet tissue paper. “Your Highness, allow me to convey the respects of the Galactic Unity.” Jack was still staring stupidly at the changeling that had so perfectly replaced his daughter when the twin liquid arms encircled his neck then tightened, growing strong as steel cables. Jack was lifted off the ground, his hands frantically clawing on the immovable binds that began to crush his neck, his feet flailing in the air feet off of the ground. “This is just the beginning of the end for your Empire, but you won’t be around to see the end. It is unfortunate, for I personally would like to see you suffer till the bitter end. But I have my orders, so the least I can do is make you suffer a bit before I kill you now.” And then the changeling smiled as the mimicked face of Jack’s daughter fell away to the more customary visage of a Founder.
Grand Alliance Combined Command Council, Location Classified
“Look, all I know is that something major is going on. All Starfleet assets along our boarder have gone to a heightened state of alert.” The Cardassian delegate, Legate Dammar, said to the assembled members of the GA Command Council. “We have received communications from our assets in place within the Terran Empire that something is launching a major offensive along their Gamma and Delta Quadrant holdings. This concurs with our observed sudden spike in communications going to and from the outlying holdings of the Terran Empire. Something big is in the works.”
The Romulan representative, Admiral Jarok nodded his agreement. “I have also received word that something major is occurring in the outlying Terran Empire sectors…” Just then the double doors that led to the Council Chamber swung open to admit another being.
“I’m sure that all of you have by now heard of the growing assault on Terran space.” Peter O’tole said. “I am here to tell you just what is going on. As of 0600 hours local time, the Terran Empire is at a state of war with the Galactic Unity. It is they who have so graciously given sufficient resources to build your hidden building slips, and it is they that now call on you to assist them in taking out the Terran Empire once and for all time.”
General Worf looked up from a report he was perusing from his seat at the oval table. “While I am all for removing the Terrans as a threat to the existence of the Klingon Empire, what are this Galactic Unity’s plans for after they have defeated the Terrans?”
“Why, then all peoples will live in peace under the banner of the Galactic Unity. It is now time for all of your peoples to repay the debt of honor you owe to the Galactic Unity for their assistance in helping to free you from the Terran boot heel!”
Worf laughed heartily, his long mane of brown hair shaking as his pointed teeth showed from behind his lips. “We did not just escape from one boot heel to be placed under another. If your masters can get rid of the Terran Empire, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. But the Klingon Empire is no ones slave any longer. We shall live as WE chose to live, not how the Galactic Unity chooses for us to live.” There were nods of agreement from around the table as each of the other delegates cast their support behind Worf’s assertion.
“Be wary of what you chose here, while the Galactic Unity will welcome the willing with open arms, even the unwilling will be made to see the light.” Peter said with a slight frown. He had underestimated his control over these pawns. He had spent to much time with their overly grateful political masters, and not enough time shaping his thoughts towards the support of their military officers. While the politicians on the Klingon High Council, Romulan Senate, Cardassian Detapa Council, and the others had been malleable enough, those actually in charge of their empire’s arms were made of sterner stuff. They might even be willing to go against their political masters should the need arise. He had never thought that virtually to a man, the military leaders of the GA might be true, died in the wool patriots.
“Ah, so now the helpful Galactic Unity shows its true colors!” Worf growled.
Oh boy had he miscalculated, Peter thought. His masters in the GU would not be happy, but they had planned for this very eventuality just in case. They were nothing if not thorough.
“Take some time to think it over, I will be back in two days for your reply. Perhaps once you see just how powerful the Galactic Unity is, you will be more eager to support it.” Then Peter pressed a button on one of his armband. Seconds later, a transporter beam caught him and he disappeared from the room in a swirling purple shimmer.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter 22 – Recon In Force
Imperial Space, Near the B’hava’el System
The Enterprise Battlegroup was on manuvers near the along the Cardassian/Imperial frontlines. Light raids were still sporadically launched by both sides, but till an appreciable fleet was built up, neither side possessed sufficient firepower to take and hold fresh systems without leaving others severely depleted in their mobile picket forces. That wasn’t a smart move, for both the Grand Alliance and the Empire had very good intelligence of each other’s space. The slightest sign of weakness would be pounced on merely to destroy infrastructure and ships even if the planet couldn’t be held. And there certainly couldn’t be any sign of weakness this close to the frontline of the war, especially since then Captain now Vice Admiral Ben Sisko had fought tooth and nail to halt a determined Cardassian advance on this sector.
Riker thought to himself, we should have exterminated the Cardassians when we had the chance, then we wouldn’t have the problem we’re now saddled with. We’re nearly completely encircled by hostile enemies, and they are nearly as strong together as we are alone. For now at least, for Second Fleet was only beginning its build up when the Enterprise and her fellow Sovereign class wing mates had shipped out to go on patrol along the Cardassian Front. Starfleet Command had left it up to Riker’s discretion weather or not the Battlegroup would attack the Cardies or not. He was most certainly authorized to engage any target of opportunity that presented itself, but he wasn’t to hazard his command needlessly. The bad hit morale would take with the destruction of the Enterprise would be a bad blow, especially if she died at the hands of the Grand Alliance.
His wool gathering was disrupted by a chime from his com. “Riker here, what is it.” He said after he swatted his combadge lazily.
“Admiral, there has been an Empire wide combat alert announced.” Lore’s voice said.
“Source?” The Admiral replied, the chance for combat piquing his interest. So far the patrol had been as uneventful as one before the recent unpleasantness with the Empire’s subject species. The Cardassians seemed to be unwilling to attack, perhaps they heard that the Enterprise was coming and wouldn’t dare attack her. Riker smiled at the thought, personally swelling his already puffed up ego even more.
“Starbase 2000 Sir, in the Delta Quadrant.” Lore replied nearly as soon as he finished.
“I know where the damned base is Captain!” Riker snapped.
“Yes sir, I apologize for seemingly implying different.” Thomas doubted that the golden android really was sorry, but his hollow words had been delivered quick enough to allow it to slide. Especially since Riker really didn’t know where the base was. Lore had been under his command long enough to supply little useful tidbits of information like that to his superiors that weren’t bright enough or just to lazy to keep them in their own memory. It was one of the useful tricks he had picked up during his career in Starfleet to help him advance in a society that was largely anti AI. Not that Lore could really blame them, with over 12 colonized worlds having their atmospheres burned away and their surfaces turned into a ebon, glassed version of Luna, before the errant M 5 computer and the old ISS Essex that housed her were finally brought down. The final death toll had been over a billion. No, the humans had every right to fear AIs, not that it made their fear of his own self more palatable, but at least Lore could understand their point of view.
That fear was what, among other things, made his ‘brothers’ in the D-class special ops Androids so scary. It was more what the public’s imagination made up than any official mission logs or factoids the Empire’s government had let slip for propaganda purposes that contributed to their mythos, just like the Furies.
“Wait a minute,” Riker said after a moments thought, “that’s the base that that little upstart Vanguard got sent to isn’t it?” The name seemed to surface from a half remembered report he had read a few days ago, something about nearly every flag rank officer in the entire sector being killed.
“Yes Admiral, Brevet Admiral Ulysses Vanguard is currently in charge of the entire sector around the Starbase. It is on his authority that the alert was issued.”
On the Enterprise’s Main Bridge, Lore’s exquisite hearing picked up Riker’s mumbling something about wet behind the ears upstart presuming that he could issue a Empire wide alert to possible hostilities with a major power.
Lore stamped down on his initial impulse to point out that being assigned command, however temporary, by the Emperor himself gave the ‘wet behind the ears upstart’ all the authority he needed. That also said nothing about the Lion of Terra he had been awarded, for Starfleet Command didn’t hand those things out like combadges. As much as he would personally love to show up his immediate superior, doing so would have an extremely detrimental effect on his further promotion. He was to wise on how to play the game to make that mistake. Instead he pretended not to hear Riker’s comment.
“Orders sir? Shall we take any special action over this alert?”
“No, anything happening out in the Delta quadrant can’t affect us here. Maintain scans of any Cardassian patrols nearby that we can take out. The Enterprise has spent too long in Sol system. With the upcoming offensive against the GA, I want to ensure our combat skills are every bit as good in actual practice as they are in the sims.”
“As the Admiral commands.”
The next hour, nothing unusual happened. Then in a sudden, widening flood, fragmentary reports and coms began to fill the subspace and hypercom channels. It took a while to sort them out into something resembling a complete picture, but it was rapidly clear that the Empire was under large scale attack.
“I want everything we have on the tactical abilities of the, what did they call them?” Riker said as further frantic coms were picked up by his ship.
“The Interstellar Concordium Tom.” A feminine voice said from behind him, while at the same time he felt a deceptively pleasant sort of pressure inside his head. Riker immediately schooled his expression to its usual cocky smile, hiding his surprise as Commissar Troi entered the Flag Bridge. That woman could sneak up on an Andorian neo-leopard. Riker focused on his anti-esper training, activating the learned techniques that were part of every Starfleet officers basic training. Eventually the pressure abated, but not before there was something of an amused laugh sent into his brain. Yes, Deanna had always enjoyed playing mind games. Originally Riker had been intrigued by it, but that was a long time ago. Now it was a potentially hazardous threat to his position.
“Yes, the Interstellar Concordium, that’s it.” Riker agreed. “I want a report on the past and projected current abilities ASAP.”
A young officer scurried to accommodate his Admiral’s wishes, scurrying out the door to head to CIC to get their analysis and access the library computer for historical battle logs to add to the report.
He was barely out the door when the red alert klaxon began to toll.
“Admiral,” Lore said, “sensors have spotted what appears to be a scouting party at extreme range. CIC puts it as 30 Jem’Hadar Destroyers and a double pair of Battlecruisers.”
“Finally some action! Order the Battlegroup to come about onto a heading…” Admiral Riker consulted his tactical repeater, “330 mark 23 and engage formation Riker Alpha at maximum warp. Riker to Commander LaForge, is there a volatile nebula nearby, or perhaps some way we could hack into the Dominions computer systems?” Both the Dominion and Imperial ships were brought out of warp by the activation of the Enterprise’s warp field inhibitor as their vectors intercepted. Knowing Riker’s preference towards a technological solution to combat, LaForge already had some possibilities lined up. He didn’t even start into his list before a burst of hearty laughter cut him off. Riker looked irritatedly at the source of the interruption. Deana could barely contain her mirth, but finally brought it back under control. The Enterprise shook as the first Dominion fire hit her.
“For the love of God Tom! Shoot them!”
Riker just looked back with a look of slight incomprehension. Troi rolled her eyes, he might have become even better looking since they had been together, but he was still dense as a brick in a combat situation. It was only due to the fact that he kissed all the appropriate asses in Starfleet Command that he had risen as high as he had.
“Oh Hell!” Troi said with another snort of laughter. She strode over to the communications console on the Flag Bridge. “This is the Flag to all units. Fire at will!”
Enterprise Main Bridge
“… Fire at will!” Troi’s voice said from the bridge speakers. Finally someone in command prodded some sense into Riker. Things on Enterprise just hadn’t been the same since Picard had been executed for treason. While Riker was an adequate officer in many respects, his combat instincts left much to be desired. Lore had been on the verge of ordering the Battlegroup to open fire on his own, and was thoroughly relived that someone higher up had done it for him.
Commander Yar needed no further prodding. The Enterprise had been steadily accruing shield damage while Riker made up his mind as to how to attack. The Battlegroup’s Sovereigns and escorting Defiants finally swung to the offense. The nimble and tough Defiants broke formation to chase down the Dominion Destroyers. The beetle shaped craft were every bit as maneuverable as their Imperial counterparts, but during the Imperial/Dominion war, they had proven easy meat to the one-two punch of PPC fire and Quantum torpedoes.
“CIC says the Dominion ships have higher capacity shield grids than known variants. They recommend concentrating fire to expedite taking them out.” Natasha said to the direct link to Flag Bridge even as she and the other Sovereigns birthed a firestorm of phasers targeting the first Dominion Battlecruiser. The 10 Prometheus class escorts the fleshed out the Battlegroup opened fire on the other enemy Battlecruiser, causing both Dominion vessels to be bathed in fire sufficient to rapidly shear away their shields.
Enterprise Flag Bridge
Riker was quietly seething that Deanna would usurp his rightful authority. He nearly missed Cmdr. Yar’s communiqué.
“Defiants coordinate fire in wing pairs, All Sovereigns and Prometheus’s, coordinate fire on the lead Battlecruiser.” He ordered, his anger leaking into his voice. Troi merely looked on with a twinkle in her eyes as she leaned against the communications console for support.
The pair of Battlecruisers had swung about in an attempt to outrun the sleek and Deadly Imperial Battleships. They had not been upgraded with the ISC’s new damper though, that was why they were in a scouting party and not part of the main offensive fleet. They were still faster than the Sovereigns that pursued them, but it was only by a slim margin. They were bathed in hellfire as Natasha and her fellow tactical officers unloaded their weapons into them. Volley after volley of deadly blue/white orbs spat from the Sovereign’s multiple foreword tubes and from the ventral turret. ECM caused only a handful to break lock, but the engagement range was so short that guidance corrections could be transmitted from the more powerful sensors and ECCM equipped motherships. None of the torpedoes missed their mark, crashing in on the helpless Battlecruisers like an avalanche. They were followed by every facing phaser array lancing into them. The discrepancy of allied firepower to enemy shield and armor strength was too great. The Imperials didn’t even need to fire the twin phaser lances the packed under their saucers, which would have been overkill on such overmatched opponents.
The Defiants chased down the Destroyers, tag teaming them with concentrated fire as they bobbed and weaved in evasive pursuit patters. Even though they proved tougher than earlier versions, they were still only Destroyers and they still were lacking in weapons upgrades. Their lone forward phased polaron beam and single fore and aft torpedo tube were no match for the more heavily armed and armored Imperial Destroyers. Double quad streams of amber PPC bolts backed up by triple torp quantum barrages punched through Dominion shields to gnaw at their lightly armored hides. Once this happened, the ships usually died rapidly, for they were not as toughly built as their Imperial opponents. The Dominion had always emphasized numbers over individual combat capability. It was a sound tactic given the near limitless supplies of troops they could grow, and was most evident in the design of their Destroyers. They were nimble, but weakly armed and armored, quickly built, useful in swarming tactics and the inevitable suicide runs the Jem’Hadar employed whenever they got the chance.
Though they had a slight numerical advantage over their Imperial opponents, they were at a distinct disadvantage where it really counted - tonnage. They were fighting against ships that were considerably outside their weight class, and thus the outcome was a forgone conclusion. The quartet of sleek Dominion Battlecruisers died in short order, forming star bright funeral pyres as their warp cores let go. Large chunks of their hulls remained, only to be largely claimed by secondary explosions as EPS grids and internal magazines let go.
The heavies in the enemy RIF squadron dispatched, the Imperial Battleships and Destroyers began to lend a hand with their powerful phaser arcs to the Defiants. The tough little ships had already taken a large bite out of the Jem’Hadar Destroyers, with more than half of their number atomized and fragmented wreckage. The enemy, sensing that the battle was well and thoroughly lost, spun almost as one to execute suicide runs on the Imperial capital ships. While this increased their threat level by several orders of magnitude, it also sent them into more predictable courses. Nearly all were flayed short of their intended targets.
Two Jem’Hadar Destroyers survived the storm of energy weapons and torpedo fire, though largely hulks by the time they impacted, to hit their targets. Their beetle like hulls, already venting plasma with molten pits on their outer surface from successful weapons strikes, slammed into a lone Sovereign almost side by side on her engineering hull. The kinetic strike of something that massive traveling at close to .7 c was bad enough for the already weakened shields, but combined with the near simultaneous detonation of the pairs warp cores and internal AM stores and torpedo magazines, proved deadly. Even ablative armor can only stand so much punishment, and the combined factors nearly proved too much for the ships defenses. Slipstream One was exposed to space and largely gutted. The core went critical, melting down to slag and taking quite a few of the surrounding compartments out with it. A giant, irregular, molten wound opened up on the engineering hull of the once proud ship. Bodies and other debris streamed aft of the stricken vessel like blood before internal bulkheads and emergency forcefields slammed the breach off from the rest of the ship. Running lights and the blue glow from her slipstream nacelles died as she lost over half of her power and a good portion of her secondary hull and its vital power distribution trunks. The ship slowed to a stop relative to the nearby stars as her Impulse drive went offline.
Then after a few seconds, Slipstream Two shouldered the full load for the surviving ship and the surviving engineering and damage control teams diverted power around destroyed compartments. Running lights came back on, as did the ships massive twin impulse engines, but her slipstream nacelles remained dark and dead, the port one trailing drive plasma from a large fracture about a third of the way up from the secondary hull juncture.
“Admiral, Vengeance reports that she has multiple hull breaches across her engineering hull and that her port warp pylon is fractured along the 27 frame.” One of the Flag Bridge officers reported to Riker even as his tactical plot subdivided to show the damage to his fellow ships. The Vengeance was the most badly hurt, but a number of the Defiants had also sustained moderate damage as they engaged over a third again their number before the rest of the Battlegroup lent them a hand.
“Order SAR teams out.” Riker ordered. “Once they have completed their search patterns, lock on the Vengeance with a tractor beam and engage for Bajor at max sustainable slipstream velocity.” There was a slight frown on his face as Thomas computed just how the word the damage to the Vengeance and other ships in his command for his after action report to Starfleet Command. Troi’s mind showed her an image of a hamster running furiously in its exercise wheel as she scrutinized her former lover from across the Flag Bridge. With another guffaw of laughter, she sauntered sultrily off of the bridge.
Imperial Space, Near the B’hava’el System
The Enterprise Battlegroup was on manuvers near the along the Cardassian/Imperial frontlines. Light raids were still sporadically launched by both sides, but till an appreciable fleet was built up, neither side possessed sufficient firepower to take and hold fresh systems without leaving others severely depleted in their mobile picket forces. That wasn’t a smart move, for both the Grand Alliance and the Empire had very good intelligence of each other’s space. The slightest sign of weakness would be pounced on merely to destroy infrastructure and ships even if the planet couldn’t be held. And there certainly couldn’t be any sign of weakness this close to the frontline of the war, especially since then Captain now Vice Admiral Ben Sisko had fought tooth and nail to halt a determined Cardassian advance on this sector.
Riker thought to himself, we should have exterminated the Cardassians when we had the chance, then we wouldn’t have the problem we’re now saddled with. We’re nearly completely encircled by hostile enemies, and they are nearly as strong together as we are alone. For now at least, for Second Fleet was only beginning its build up when the Enterprise and her fellow Sovereign class wing mates had shipped out to go on patrol along the Cardassian Front. Starfleet Command had left it up to Riker’s discretion weather or not the Battlegroup would attack the Cardies or not. He was most certainly authorized to engage any target of opportunity that presented itself, but he wasn’t to hazard his command needlessly. The bad hit morale would take with the destruction of the Enterprise would be a bad blow, especially if she died at the hands of the Grand Alliance.
His wool gathering was disrupted by a chime from his com. “Riker here, what is it.” He said after he swatted his combadge lazily.
“Admiral, there has been an Empire wide combat alert announced.” Lore’s voice said.
“Source?” The Admiral replied, the chance for combat piquing his interest. So far the patrol had been as uneventful as one before the recent unpleasantness with the Empire’s subject species. The Cardassians seemed to be unwilling to attack, perhaps they heard that the Enterprise was coming and wouldn’t dare attack her. Riker smiled at the thought, personally swelling his already puffed up ego even more.
“Starbase 2000 Sir, in the Delta Quadrant.” Lore replied nearly as soon as he finished.
“I know where the damned base is Captain!” Riker snapped.
“Yes sir, I apologize for seemingly implying different.” Thomas doubted that the golden android really was sorry, but his hollow words had been delivered quick enough to allow it to slide. Especially since Riker really didn’t know where the base was. Lore had been under his command long enough to supply little useful tidbits of information like that to his superiors that weren’t bright enough or just to lazy to keep them in their own memory. It was one of the useful tricks he had picked up during his career in Starfleet to help him advance in a society that was largely anti AI. Not that Lore could really blame them, with over 12 colonized worlds having their atmospheres burned away and their surfaces turned into a ebon, glassed version of Luna, before the errant M 5 computer and the old ISS Essex that housed her were finally brought down. The final death toll had been over a billion. No, the humans had every right to fear AIs, not that it made their fear of his own self more palatable, but at least Lore could understand their point of view.
That fear was what, among other things, made his ‘brothers’ in the D-class special ops Androids so scary. It was more what the public’s imagination made up than any official mission logs or factoids the Empire’s government had let slip for propaganda purposes that contributed to their mythos, just like the Furies.
“Wait a minute,” Riker said after a moments thought, “that’s the base that that little upstart Vanguard got sent to isn’t it?” The name seemed to surface from a half remembered report he had read a few days ago, something about nearly every flag rank officer in the entire sector being killed.
“Yes Admiral, Brevet Admiral Ulysses Vanguard is currently in charge of the entire sector around the Starbase. It is on his authority that the alert was issued.”
On the Enterprise’s Main Bridge, Lore’s exquisite hearing picked up Riker’s mumbling something about wet behind the ears upstart presuming that he could issue a Empire wide alert to possible hostilities with a major power.
Lore stamped down on his initial impulse to point out that being assigned command, however temporary, by the Emperor himself gave the ‘wet behind the ears upstart’ all the authority he needed. That also said nothing about the Lion of Terra he had been awarded, for Starfleet Command didn’t hand those things out like combadges. As much as he would personally love to show up his immediate superior, doing so would have an extremely detrimental effect on his further promotion. He was to wise on how to play the game to make that mistake. Instead he pretended not to hear Riker’s comment.
“Orders sir? Shall we take any special action over this alert?”
“No, anything happening out in the Delta quadrant can’t affect us here. Maintain scans of any Cardassian patrols nearby that we can take out. The Enterprise has spent too long in Sol system. With the upcoming offensive against the GA, I want to ensure our combat skills are every bit as good in actual practice as they are in the sims.”
“As the Admiral commands.”
The next hour, nothing unusual happened. Then in a sudden, widening flood, fragmentary reports and coms began to fill the subspace and hypercom channels. It took a while to sort them out into something resembling a complete picture, but it was rapidly clear that the Empire was under large scale attack.
“I want everything we have on the tactical abilities of the, what did they call them?” Riker said as further frantic coms were picked up by his ship.
“The Interstellar Concordium Tom.” A feminine voice said from behind him, while at the same time he felt a deceptively pleasant sort of pressure inside his head. Riker immediately schooled his expression to its usual cocky smile, hiding his surprise as Commissar Troi entered the Flag Bridge. That woman could sneak up on an Andorian neo-leopard. Riker focused on his anti-esper training, activating the learned techniques that were part of every Starfleet officers basic training. Eventually the pressure abated, but not before there was something of an amused laugh sent into his brain. Yes, Deanna had always enjoyed playing mind games. Originally Riker had been intrigued by it, but that was a long time ago. Now it was a potentially hazardous threat to his position.
“Yes, the Interstellar Concordium, that’s it.” Riker agreed. “I want a report on the past and projected current abilities ASAP.”
A young officer scurried to accommodate his Admiral’s wishes, scurrying out the door to head to CIC to get their analysis and access the library computer for historical battle logs to add to the report.
He was barely out the door when the red alert klaxon began to toll.
“Admiral,” Lore said, “sensors have spotted what appears to be a scouting party at extreme range. CIC puts it as 30 Jem’Hadar Destroyers and a double pair of Battlecruisers.”
“Finally some action! Order the Battlegroup to come about onto a heading…” Admiral Riker consulted his tactical repeater, “330 mark 23 and engage formation Riker Alpha at maximum warp. Riker to Commander LaForge, is there a volatile nebula nearby, or perhaps some way we could hack into the Dominions computer systems?” Both the Dominion and Imperial ships were brought out of warp by the activation of the Enterprise’s warp field inhibitor as their vectors intercepted. Knowing Riker’s preference towards a technological solution to combat, LaForge already had some possibilities lined up. He didn’t even start into his list before a burst of hearty laughter cut him off. Riker looked irritatedly at the source of the interruption. Deana could barely contain her mirth, but finally brought it back under control. The Enterprise shook as the first Dominion fire hit her.
“For the love of God Tom! Shoot them!”
Riker just looked back with a look of slight incomprehension. Troi rolled her eyes, he might have become even better looking since they had been together, but he was still dense as a brick in a combat situation. It was only due to the fact that he kissed all the appropriate asses in Starfleet Command that he had risen as high as he had.
“Oh Hell!” Troi said with another snort of laughter. She strode over to the communications console on the Flag Bridge. “This is the Flag to all units. Fire at will!”
Enterprise Main Bridge
“… Fire at will!” Troi’s voice said from the bridge speakers. Finally someone in command prodded some sense into Riker. Things on Enterprise just hadn’t been the same since Picard had been executed for treason. While Riker was an adequate officer in many respects, his combat instincts left much to be desired. Lore had been on the verge of ordering the Battlegroup to open fire on his own, and was thoroughly relived that someone higher up had done it for him.
Commander Yar needed no further prodding. The Enterprise had been steadily accruing shield damage while Riker made up his mind as to how to attack. The Battlegroup’s Sovereigns and escorting Defiants finally swung to the offense. The nimble and tough Defiants broke formation to chase down the Dominion Destroyers. The beetle shaped craft were every bit as maneuverable as their Imperial counterparts, but during the Imperial/Dominion war, they had proven easy meat to the one-two punch of PPC fire and Quantum torpedoes.
“CIC says the Dominion ships have higher capacity shield grids than known variants. They recommend concentrating fire to expedite taking them out.” Natasha said to the direct link to Flag Bridge even as she and the other Sovereigns birthed a firestorm of phasers targeting the first Dominion Battlecruiser. The 10 Prometheus class escorts the fleshed out the Battlegroup opened fire on the other enemy Battlecruiser, causing both Dominion vessels to be bathed in fire sufficient to rapidly shear away their shields.
Enterprise Flag Bridge
Riker was quietly seething that Deanna would usurp his rightful authority. He nearly missed Cmdr. Yar’s communiqué.
“Defiants coordinate fire in wing pairs, All Sovereigns and Prometheus’s, coordinate fire on the lead Battlecruiser.” He ordered, his anger leaking into his voice. Troi merely looked on with a twinkle in her eyes as she leaned against the communications console for support.
The pair of Battlecruisers had swung about in an attempt to outrun the sleek and Deadly Imperial Battleships. They had not been upgraded with the ISC’s new damper though, that was why they were in a scouting party and not part of the main offensive fleet. They were still faster than the Sovereigns that pursued them, but it was only by a slim margin. They were bathed in hellfire as Natasha and her fellow tactical officers unloaded their weapons into them. Volley after volley of deadly blue/white orbs spat from the Sovereign’s multiple foreword tubes and from the ventral turret. ECM caused only a handful to break lock, but the engagement range was so short that guidance corrections could be transmitted from the more powerful sensors and ECCM equipped motherships. None of the torpedoes missed their mark, crashing in on the helpless Battlecruisers like an avalanche. They were followed by every facing phaser array lancing into them. The discrepancy of allied firepower to enemy shield and armor strength was too great. The Imperials didn’t even need to fire the twin phaser lances the packed under their saucers, which would have been overkill on such overmatched opponents.
The Defiants chased down the Destroyers, tag teaming them with concentrated fire as they bobbed and weaved in evasive pursuit patters. Even though they proved tougher than earlier versions, they were still only Destroyers and they still were lacking in weapons upgrades. Their lone forward phased polaron beam and single fore and aft torpedo tube were no match for the more heavily armed and armored Imperial Destroyers. Double quad streams of amber PPC bolts backed up by triple torp quantum barrages punched through Dominion shields to gnaw at their lightly armored hides. Once this happened, the ships usually died rapidly, for they were not as toughly built as their Imperial opponents. The Dominion had always emphasized numbers over individual combat capability. It was a sound tactic given the near limitless supplies of troops they could grow, and was most evident in the design of their Destroyers. They were nimble, but weakly armed and armored, quickly built, useful in swarming tactics and the inevitable suicide runs the Jem’Hadar employed whenever they got the chance.
Though they had a slight numerical advantage over their Imperial opponents, they were at a distinct disadvantage where it really counted - tonnage. They were fighting against ships that were considerably outside their weight class, and thus the outcome was a forgone conclusion. The quartet of sleek Dominion Battlecruisers died in short order, forming star bright funeral pyres as their warp cores let go. Large chunks of their hulls remained, only to be largely claimed by secondary explosions as EPS grids and internal magazines let go.
The heavies in the enemy RIF squadron dispatched, the Imperial Battleships and Destroyers began to lend a hand with their powerful phaser arcs to the Defiants. The tough little ships had already taken a large bite out of the Jem’Hadar Destroyers, with more than half of their number atomized and fragmented wreckage. The enemy, sensing that the battle was well and thoroughly lost, spun almost as one to execute suicide runs on the Imperial capital ships. While this increased their threat level by several orders of magnitude, it also sent them into more predictable courses. Nearly all were flayed short of their intended targets.
Two Jem’Hadar Destroyers survived the storm of energy weapons and torpedo fire, though largely hulks by the time they impacted, to hit their targets. Their beetle like hulls, already venting plasma with molten pits on their outer surface from successful weapons strikes, slammed into a lone Sovereign almost side by side on her engineering hull. The kinetic strike of something that massive traveling at close to .7 c was bad enough for the already weakened shields, but combined with the near simultaneous detonation of the pairs warp cores and internal AM stores and torpedo magazines, proved deadly. Even ablative armor can only stand so much punishment, and the combined factors nearly proved too much for the ships defenses. Slipstream One was exposed to space and largely gutted. The core went critical, melting down to slag and taking quite a few of the surrounding compartments out with it. A giant, irregular, molten wound opened up on the engineering hull of the once proud ship. Bodies and other debris streamed aft of the stricken vessel like blood before internal bulkheads and emergency forcefields slammed the breach off from the rest of the ship. Running lights and the blue glow from her slipstream nacelles died as she lost over half of her power and a good portion of her secondary hull and its vital power distribution trunks. The ship slowed to a stop relative to the nearby stars as her Impulse drive went offline.
Then after a few seconds, Slipstream Two shouldered the full load for the surviving ship and the surviving engineering and damage control teams diverted power around destroyed compartments. Running lights came back on, as did the ships massive twin impulse engines, but her slipstream nacelles remained dark and dead, the port one trailing drive plasma from a large fracture about a third of the way up from the secondary hull juncture.
“Admiral, Vengeance reports that she has multiple hull breaches across her engineering hull and that her port warp pylon is fractured along the 27 frame.” One of the Flag Bridge officers reported to Riker even as his tactical plot subdivided to show the damage to his fellow ships. The Vengeance was the most badly hurt, but a number of the Defiants had also sustained moderate damage as they engaged over a third again their number before the rest of the Battlegroup lent them a hand.
“Order SAR teams out.” Riker ordered. “Once they have completed their search patterns, lock on the Vengeance with a tractor beam and engage for Bajor at max sustainable slipstream velocity.” There was a slight frown on his face as Thomas computed just how the word the damage to the Vengeance and other ships in his command for his after action report to Starfleet Command. Troi’s mind showed her an image of a hamster running furiously in its exercise wheel as she scrutinized her former lover from across the Flag Bridge. With another guffaw of laughter, she sauntered sultrily off of the bridge.
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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Chapter 23 – Battle Lines
Orion Cartel Dreadnought Godfather, Peter O’tole’s personal suite
“Damn it you aren’t listening to me!” Peter shouted at the com screen. “I feel quite strongly that even with this gift the militaries of the Grand Alliance will not support your war. You are giving away a priceless advantage to them on the very slim chance that it will sway them to joining your crusade. I have met with these people, you have not. I’m telling you straight you won’t win them over with this.”
“The Council of Five has interpreted things differently.” The Meskeen on the other end of the scrambled tight beam com said, secondary eyelids nictitating across his unnervingly solid black eyes. Peter was skilled in hiding his emotion from others, one had to be in his line of work, but inside he was repulsed by the amphibian ISC representative. “And in the end, their allegiance will not matter one way or the other. If they choose to resist the gift of harmony we offer them freely, they will be brought into peace and fellowship along similar means as the Terran Empire.”
“Oh they’ll resist, have no doubt about that! You might have their politicians eating out of your hand, but their military leaders are something else. They have just gotten out from under one set of overlords, and they aren’t about to take on another set no matter how much help you offer them.”
The Meskeen hissed, a sound like a snake and cat combined. “After so long operating together, you still do not understand. We are not overlords, we are liberators!” He began to recite something that Peter had heard many times before. He had always felt that it was mere lip service to a hollow reasoning for conquest before, but now he saw for the first time that the ISC actually believed it. “A peaceful, harmonious and well ordered universe is the right of all sentient species. Civilizations collapse when that right is violated, therefore it must be protected at all costs. This unending war that has consumed over half the galaxy for hundreds of years must and will stop. The misguided peoples of the Alpha and Beta quadrants will be made to see the error of their ways and come to embrace the harmony we offer. Once they understand, they will accept it without resistance, for all life seeks this harmony weather they realize it or not.”
Peter could merely stare at the being, realizing for perhaps the first time just how alien he truly was. When he had first been approached with their offer of a mutually beneficial alliance in 2371 he had only seen the power they held. And in the long years since, he had never fully understood his partners. Never understood them till now. Shaking his frown creased face, the Orion Cartel head replied, “Just remember who warned you ahead of time when this all blows up in your face.” And with that Peter cut the communication. For a long time, he just sat there in his lavish quarters, alone, mulling over the epiphany that had struck him. What he had dismissed as harmless rhetoric was now seen in a new and more realistic light. The ISC the lions share of the Galactic Unity, were true believers of their dogma. Even the Terran Empire, convinced of their own superiority, were not as united by a common belief set as the ISC were. There was nothing more dangerous than a fundamentalist willing to compel his viewpoint on others through force of arms. And he was in with just such a group up to his eyebrows, using the influence and support to eliminate his rivals and take over the Cartel.
“Damn.” He swore softly. He had taken the tiger by the tail eagerly enough, not realizing at the time just what it was, and helped release it on the unsuspecting galaxy, intent on coming along for the ride. For the life of him, Peter didn’t know how to now let go, not without getting eaten in the process.
Grand Alliance Combined Command Council, Location Classified
The holodisplay above the assembled multi species command council swirled into life. On it, a composite sensor display of the Mirak Homeworld and its defending fleet and installations kicked into motion. One of the sensor contacts was highlighted.
“This, Ladies and Gentlemen,” Zathoran, High Admiral of the Lyran Star Empire and his species delegate to the Combined Command Council, said, “was a Terran starship operating under phase cloak in our home star. With the new sensor systems recently given to us by the Galactic Unity, we found the previously elusive prey as easy to track as a mortally wounded Raknar squealing on the savanna. As you are all aware, normal subspace sensors do not have the fidelity to pick out anything useful from the phase cloak domain. Despite years of working on the problem, none of our peoples, not even the hated Terrans, have managed to produce a sensor system sensitive enough to sniff out hiding vessels. The GU has, and has given us all numerous examples of the technology.” Zathoran pressed a button on the holodisplay’s controller, causing the scene above him to advance at a faster pace. The blue dot of the phase cloaked Imperial vessel scurried in system. A Lyran patrol had subtly altered its course to cause themselves and the Imperial to intercept. It was at this point that Zathoran paused and zoomed in on the relevant portion of space.
What had been mere dots designating starships with slowly fading lines behind them representing their past courses expanded to small 3D representations of actual starships. They were a squadron of Cruisers. The Imperial contact resolved itself into a ghosted Intrepid class. It was colored in the ebon black and crimson of Section 31, likely one of their SIGINT/ELINT birds on a spy mission. Zathoran pressed the play button on the control.
“It was at this point that we activated the device. As we were told, it forced the Terran vessel from phase cloak. We proceeded to latch our fangs around its throat. It died swiftly.” On the holodisplay, the Lyran Cruisers birthed a storm of emerald splinters from their disruptor banks, and each speared the helpless Intrepid with an ESG lance. Then the holodisplay dissolved and Zathoran sat down in his chair.
Worf stood and approached the daisies at the head of the oval table. “This concludes the final report on the new sensor systems and anti phase cloak device. It is now clear that all our experiences with the systems are similar, and that they work 100% of the times they have so far been used. Are there any questions?” None of the delegates made an attempt to speak, so Worf continued. “All right, on to new business. The GU has expanded their assault on the Terrans. They now control at least 100 Terran worlds and are encroaching further into Terran space with each passing moment.” Many of the delegates smiled at this, or did their race’s equivalent. The Gorn representative remained totally impassive except for a raspy hissing sound coming past his pointed teeth.
“While I to am heartened by the Terrans current predicament, I am worried that the GU’s success will inevitably harm our own independence. Have you looked at the broadcasts that they have begun sending? That, combined with their strong insistence that we join them has given me cause for concern. While they can fight alone, they are almost ordering us to join them or else. I am sure that you have all received further communication from the Orion Cartel to this effect. I for one did not pay the price in blood to overthrow the Terrans from our space only to become the obedient lapdogs of the Galactic Unity. The Klingon Empire is no ones servant.” The Romulan and Ferengi delegates were nodding with concerned frowns on their faces.
Peter O’tole strode into the meeting hall just then, bearing a concerned frown of his own. “You have all by now seen the power of the Galactic Unity. You have first hand evidence of their technical superiority. You have all seen the speed at which they are plunging into Terran space. I am here one last time to ask for you to add your peoples strength to ours and bring peace to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants after centuries of suffering and warfare.”
“I cannot speak for the others, but the Klingon Empire does not agree with your master’s policies. They will turn us into shadows of ourselves, if we are to remain as an independent entity at all. In a way, they are worse than the Terrans. At least they were open in their methods. Your masters seek to bring everyone into their line of thinking weather they desire to be or not. They hide their intentions with gifts of aid and speeches of brotherhood, but they have no respect for our rights to do as we choose. We have taken our freedom back after centuries of being slaves. We will not blindly give that hard won freedom away, not even to those that slay our enemies.”
Many of the delegates voiced their agreement with Worf’s speech, just as O’tole predicted they would. “I am not so sure your governments would so quickly dismiss the Galactic Unities proposal, especially after all the assistance they have given your people through me. Think carefully on this.” He cautioned.
“I have. I have thought of nothing else since your masters revealed themselves from the shadows. And I am even inclined to agree with you. The High Council is weak willed, overly grateful to those who gave us the means to rise up against the Terrans. They are blinded by it, and cannot see that the Galactic Unity is as great a threat to us as the Terrans are. But that is why they are politicians. I speak for the military, and they follow ME. The Klingon Empire will not join in your masters’ war with the Terrans, nor will they join the Galactic Unity as long as it remains dedicated to its final aims for all peoples.”
“The Romulan Star Empire also declines to support the Galactic Unity as we do not find it in our best interests to do so.” Jarok said
On it went till every Grand Alliance officer said basically the same thing. Unlike O’tole, they saw the GU for what it truly was and what it would inevitably do to them. They had made their choice to fight for their freedom rather than give it away with a whimper, just as O’tole thought they would.
“Very well, you have made your choice!” O’tole spat. “Just be prepared for the consequences.” Peter spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, furious that a bunch of military leaders could see so easily what had been lying hidden under his nose for years.
ISS Athena, Second Fleet Flagship, Sol System
Capt. Vic McDermott staggered across his quarters and into the adjacent personal bathroom, one of the perks of rank. He fell to his knees and his hand flailed along the wall till it hit the flush mounted control. A portion of the wall slid back and a toilet was pushed out just in time to receive Vic’s offering. When he was finally finished, Vic grabbed a towel to wipe off his face. Never get into a drinking contest where the drink of choice was something that smokes all by itself, is bioluminescent, and that tastes like it should be scouring EPS conduits, he thought to himself. It was a promise he had made many times in the past, and one that he always seemed to break, especially when the substance in question had as much kick as the mystery brew from last night did.
And since Vic knew that he would eventually break his promise to himself once the memory of the aftermath faded sufficiently, it explained why he was so good at recovering from an all night bender. The old adage practice makes perfect fit his situation to a tee. He went over the sink and ran a few liberal swigs of water around his mouth in an attempt to clean out the sickly aftertaste of vomit from it. Its use finished, the toilet pulled itself quietly back into the wall. The thought of what would happen to that vomit almost made him throw up again, but he swallowed it back down. By the time he or another member of the crew would see any form of it again, it would be so thoroughly broken down into its component parts as to be virtually unrecognizable, thank God. Just the same, he forced himself to think of something a little more appetizing. He approached the rooms replicator.
“Computer, one McDermott Morning After Breakfast.” He growled at the idiot savant. The machine computed his command for a second, then in a transporter like whirl assembled a tall glass filled with Vic’s special brew.
“What the hell is that?” Cmdr. Jessica Evron said as she sauntered out from the bedroom wearing only a smile. In spite of his hammering headache, slightly off kilter balance and the foul aftertaste inhabiting his mouth, Vic managed a smile.
“That, my love,” he said, taking hold of the bubbling sludge green concoction, “is all you need to get over a hangover in one convenient package. Want to try some?” Vic swung the glass towards Jessica. One of the larger bubbles on the top popped with a wet slurp that sounded like it belonged in a bog and not something the human body should be ingesting.
Jessica’s face screwed up at the looks of the drink, but she had to admit that it actually smelled decent, a mixture of peppermint and apples. “No way are you gonna get me to drink that sludge. And if you didn’t drink that rocket fuel you wouldn’t need to drink this either.”
“Pardon me for enjoying a wee drop of the creature every now and then, unlike you and your Synthehol tap water.” Then Vic tipped the glass back and drank its contents in three consecutive gulps. His eyes and squinted shut and his mouth reacted as if it had bitten into something sour, but Vic could already fell his headache and residual tipsiness dissipating. “Now as much as I love arguing with you, we better get dressed. We go on duty in 15 minutes.”
ISS Athena, Flag Bridge
The near fully assembled ranks of Second Fleet enfolded around their Flagship on T’var’s holodisplay. Her fleet had finally been built up to pre-Imperial/Borg war strength, even more powerful in some areas. All of her ancient Ark Royal class carriers had been replaced by the new Excaliburs, many fresh from their acceptance trials. The same was true for many of her Wraiths and Sovereigns, the most recent additions forming up even now after completing their acceptance trials mere hours before.
The massive display of Imperial engineering and power cruised past the Starfleet Museum, new contrasting with old. Everything from egg like captured hulls of Romulan ships and the Terran ones they faced in the original Terran/Romulan war, to the NX class, to the venerable Constitution class, had a showing in the ranks of old warriors. And like those ships of old, Second Fleet was shipping out from her home stars to go make war on the Empire’s enemies. It wasn’t against the Grand Alliance powers as had been originally planned when Second Fleet began to build up. A new enemy had arisen, and they would have to be dealt with first before the others could be dealt with.
[AUTHORS NOTE: Some of the ships in the Imperial Museum are from here:
http://www.starfleet-museum.org/index.htm
I figure they look like early starships Earth would make, so I included em. Hope you like em.]
Orion Cartel Dreadnought Godfather, Peter O’tole’s personal suite
“Damn it you aren’t listening to me!” Peter shouted at the com screen. “I feel quite strongly that even with this gift the militaries of the Grand Alliance will not support your war. You are giving away a priceless advantage to them on the very slim chance that it will sway them to joining your crusade. I have met with these people, you have not. I’m telling you straight you won’t win them over with this.”
“The Council of Five has interpreted things differently.” The Meskeen on the other end of the scrambled tight beam com said, secondary eyelids nictitating across his unnervingly solid black eyes. Peter was skilled in hiding his emotion from others, one had to be in his line of work, but inside he was repulsed by the amphibian ISC representative. “And in the end, their allegiance will not matter one way or the other. If they choose to resist the gift of harmony we offer them freely, they will be brought into peace and fellowship along similar means as the Terran Empire.”
“Oh they’ll resist, have no doubt about that! You might have their politicians eating out of your hand, but their military leaders are something else. They have just gotten out from under one set of overlords, and they aren’t about to take on another set no matter how much help you offer them.”
The Meskeen hissed, a sound like a snake and cat combined. “After so long operating together, you still do not understand. We are not overlords, we are liberators!” He began to recite something that Peter had heard many times before. He had always felt that it was mere lip service to a hollow reasoning for conquest before, but now he saw for the first time that the ISC actually believed it. “A peaceful, harmonious and well ordered universe is the right of all sentient species. Civilizations collapse when that right is violated, therefore it must be protected at all costs. This unending war that has consumed over half the galaxy for hundreds of years must and will stop. The misguided peoples of the Alpha and Beta quadrants will be made to see the error of their ways and come to embrace the harmony we offer. Once they understand, they will accept it without resistance, for all life seeks this harmony weather they realize it or not.”
Peter could merely stare at the being, realizing for perhaps the first time just how alien he truly was. When he had first been approached with their offer of a mutually beneficial alliance in 2371 he had only seen the power they held. And in the long years since, he had never fully understood his partners. Never understood them till now. Shaking his frown creased face, the Orion Cartel head replied, “Just remember who warned you ahead of time when this all blows up in your face.” And with that Peter cut the communication. For a long time, he just sat there in his lavish quarters, alone, mulling over the epiphany that had struck him. What he had dismissed as harmless rhetoric was now seen in a new and more realistic light. The ISC the lions share of the Galactic Unity, were true believers of their dogma. Even the Terran Empire, convinced of their own superiority, were not as united by a common belief set as the ISC were. There was nothing more dangerous than a fundamentalist willing to compel his viewpoint on others through force of arms. And he was in with just such a group up to his eyebrows, using the influence and support to eliminate his rivals and take over the Cartel.
“Damn.” He swore softly. He had taken the tiger by the tail eagerly enough, not realizing at the time just what it was, and helped release it on the unsuspecting galaxy, intent on coming along for the ride. For the life of him, Peter didn’t know how to now let go, not without getting eaten in the process.
Grand Alliance Combined Command Council, Location Classified
The holodisplay above the assembled multi species command council swirled into life. On it, a composite sensor display of the Mirak Homeworld and its defending fleet and installations kicked into motion. One of the sensor contacts was highlighted.
“This, Ladies and Gentlemen,” Zathoran, High Admiral of the Lyran Star Empire and his species delegate to the Combined Command Council, said, “was a Terran starship operating under phase cloak in our home star. With the new sensor systems recently given to us by the Galactic Unity, we found the previously elusive prey as easy to track as a mortally wounded Raknar squealing on the savanna. As you are all aware, normal subspace sensors do not have the fidelity to pick out anything useful from the phase cloak domain. Despite years of working on the problem, none of our peoples, not even the hated Terrans, have managed to produce a sensor system sensitive enough to sniff out hiding vessels. The GU has, and has given us all numerous examples of the technology.” Zathoran pressed a button on the holodisplay’s controller, causing the scene above him to advance at a faster pace. The blue dot of the phase cloaked Imperial vessel scurried in system. A Lyran patrol had subtly altered its course to cause themselves and the Imperial to intercept. It was at this point that Zathoran paused and zoomed in on the relevant portion of space.
What had been mere dots designating starships with slowly fading lines behind them representing their past courses expanded to small 3D representations of actual starships. They were a squadron of Cruisers. The Imperial contact resolved itself into a ghosted Intrepid class. It was colored in the ebon black and crimson of Section 31, likely one of their SIGINT/ELINT birds on a spy mission. Zathoran pressed the play button on the control.
“It was at this point that we activated the device. As we were told, it forced the Terran vessel from phase cloak. We proceeded to latch our fangs around its throat. It died swiftly.” On the holodisplay, the Lyran Cruisers birthed a storm of emerald splinters from their disruptor banks, and each speared the helpless Intrepid with an ESG lance. Then the holodisplay dissolved and Zathoran sat down in his chair.
Worf stood and approached the daisies at the head of the oval table. “This concludes the final report on the new sensor systems and anti phase cloak device. It is now clear that all our experiences with the systems are similar, and that they work 100% of the times they have so far been used. Are there any questions?” None of the delegates made an attempt to speak, so Worf continued. “All right, on to new business. The GU has expanded their assault on the Terrans. They now control at least 100 Terran worlds and are encroaching further into Terran space with each passing moment.” Many of the delegates smiled at this, or did their race’s equivalent. The Gorn representative remained totally impassive except for a raspy hissing sound coming past his pointed teeth.
“While I to am heartened by the Terrans current predicament, I am worried that the GU’s success will inevitably harm our own independence. Have you looked at the broadcasts that they have begun sending? That, combined with their strong insistence that we join them has given me cause for concern. While they can fight alone, they are almost ordering us to join them or else. I am sure that you have all received further communication from the Orion Cartel to this effect. I for one did not pay the price in blood to overthrow the Terrans from our space only to become the obedient lapdogs of the Galactic Unity. The Klingon Empire is no ones servant.” The Romulan and Ferengi delegates were nodding with concerned frowns on their faces.
Peter O’tole strode into the meeting hall just then, bearing a concerned frown of his own. “You have all by now seen the power of the Galactic Unity. You have first hand evidence of their technical superiority. You have all seen the speed at which they are plunging into Terran space. I am here one last time to ask for you to add your peoples strength to ours and bring peace to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants after centuries of suffering and warfare.”
“I cannot speak for the others, but the Klingon Empire does not agree with your master’s policies. They will turn us into shadows of ourselves, if we are to remain as an independent entity at all. In a way, they are worse than the Terrans. At least they were open in their methods. Your masters seek to bring everyone into their line of thinking weather they desire to be or not. They hide their intentions with gifts of aid and speeches of brotherhood, but they have no respect for our rights to do as we choose. We have taken our freedom back after centuries of being slaves. We will not blindly give that hard won freedom away, not even to those that slay our enemies.”
Many of the delegates voiced their agreement with Worf’s speech, just as O’tole predicted they would. “I am not so sure your governments would so quickly dismiss the Galactic Unities proposal, especially after all the assistance they have given your people through me. Think carefully on this.” He cautioned.
“I have. I have thought of nothing else since your masters revealed themselves from the shadows. And I am even inclined to agree with you. The High Council is weak willed, overly grateful to those who gave us the means to rise up against the Terrans. They are blinded by it, and cannot see that the Galactic Unity is as great a threat to us as the Terrans are. But that is why they are politicians. I speak for the military, and they follow ME. The Klingon Empire will not join in your masters’ war with the Terrans, nor will they join the Galactic Unity as long as it remains dedicated to its final aims for all peoples.”
“The Romulan Star Empire also declines to support the Galactic Unity as we do not find it in our best interests to do so.” Jarok said
On it went till every Grand Alliance officer said basically the same thing. Unlike O’tole, they saw the GU for what it truly was and what it would inevitably do to them. They had made their choice to fight for their freedom rather than give it away with a whimper, just as O’tole thought they would.
“Very well, you have made your choice!” O’tole spat. “Just be prepared for the consequences.” Peter spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, furious that a bunch of military leaders could see so easily what had been lying hidden under his nose for years.
ISS Athena, Second Fleet Flagship, Sol System
Capt. Vic McDermott staggered across his quarters and into the adjacent personal bathroom, one of the perks of rank. He fell to his knees and his hand flailed along the wall till it hit the flush mounted control. A portion of the wall slid back and a toilet was pushed out just in time to receive Vic’s offering. When he was finally finished, Vic grabbed a towel to wipe off his face. Never get into a drinking contest where the drink of choice was something that smokes all by itself, is bioluminescent, and that tastes like it should be scouring EPS conduits, he thought to himself. It was a promise he had made many times in the past, and one that he always seemed to break, especially when the substance in question had as much kick as the mystery brew from last night did.
And since Vic knew that he would eventually break his promise to himself once the memory of the aftermath faded sufficiently, it explained why he was so good at recovering from an all night bender. The old adage practice makes perfect fit his situation to a tee. He went over the sink and ran a few liberal swigs of water around his mouth in an attempt to clean out the sickly aftertaste of vomit from it. Its use finished, the toilet pulled itself quietly back into the wall. The thought of what would happen to that vomit almost made him throw up again, but he swallowed it back down. By the time he or another member of the crew would see any form of it again, it would be so thoroughly broken down into its component parts as to be virtually unrecognizable, thank God. Just the same, he forced himself to think of something a little more appetizing. He approached the rooms replicator.
“Computer, one McDermott Morning After Breakfast.” He growled at the idiot savant. The machine computed his command for a second, then in a transporter like whirl assembled a tall glass filled with Vic’s special brew.
“What the hell is that?” Cmdr. Jessica Evron said as she sauntered out from the bedroom wearing only a smile. In spite of his hammering headache, slightly off kilter balance and the foul aftertaste inhabiting his mouth, Vic managed a smile.
“That, my love,” he said, taking hold of the bubbling sludge green concoction, “is all you need to get over a hangover in one convenient package. Want to try some?” Vic swung the glass towards Jessica. One of the larger bubbles on the top popped with a wet slurp that sounded like it belonged in a bog and not something the human body should be ingesting.
Jessica’s face screwed up at the looks of the drink, but she had to admit that it actually smelled decent, a mixture of peppermint and apples. “No way are you gonna get me to drink that sludge. And if you didn’t drink that rocket fuel you wouldn’t need to drink this either.”
“Pardon me for enjoying a wee drop of the creature every now and then, unlike you and your Synthehol tap water.” Then Vic tipped the glass back and drank its contents in three consecutive gulps. His eyes and squinted shut and his mouth reacted as if it had bitten into something sour, but Vic could already fell his headache and residual tipsiness dissipating. “Now as much as I love arguing with you, we better get dressed. We go on duty in 15 minutes.”
ISS Athena, Flag Bridge
The near fully assembled ranks of Second Fleet enfolded around their Flagship on T’var’s holodisplay. Her fleet had finally been built up to pre-Imperial/Borg war strength, even more powerful in some areas. All of her ancient Ark Royal class carriers had been replaced by the new Excaliburs, many fresh from their acceptance trials. The same was true for many of her Wraiths and Sovereigns, the most recent additions forming up even now after completing their acceptance trials mere hours before.
The massive display of Imperial engineering and power cruised past the Starfleet Museum, new contrasting with old. Everything from egg like captured hulls of Romulan ships and the Terran ones they faced in the original Terran/Romulan war, to the NX class, to the venerable Constitution class, had a showing in the ranks of old warriors. And like those ships of old, Second Fleet was shipping out from her home stars to go make war on the Empire’s enemies. It wasn’t against the Grand Alliance powers as had been originally planned when Second Fleet began to build up. A new enemy had arisen, and they would have to be dealt with first before the others could be dealt with.
[AUTHORS NOTE: Some of the ships in the Imperial Museum are from here:
http://www.starfleet-museum.org/index.htm
I figure they look like early starships Earth would make, so I included em. Hope you like em.]
-
HappyTarget
- Padawan Learner
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- Joined: 2003-01-29 08:24pm
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Chapter 24 – Safe Harbor
Imperial Palace, Moscow, Terra
Frank and Victoria had just strode out of the Palace’s stairwell when they immediately noticed something amiss. The armored guards that were supposed to be standing watch at the end of the hall, by the double doors that led to the Imperial Throne Room, were instead lying crumpled on the marble floor. The pair fell into combat mode, extending both their imbedded mechanical augments as well as their biological ones to their utmost. Their perception of time slowed, yet they themselves moved as they normally would. Enhanced vision modes were activated, and twin pairs of eyes peered through the wall even as they began to sprint down the hallway. Consciousness expanded, registering two beings in the room beyond. One was recognized as the Emperor. The other was something else. Changeling, has to be. That complicated things. A normal humanoid would be easy to drop with a thought. Just cause them to go to sleep, or use a TK attack and cause their spine to sever at the base of their skull, or even blenderize their brain. A changeling was different, for there was no spine or brain to harm. Every cell in their fluid like natural form could become very nearly anything in the known universe. And in its fluid state, as much of the changeling was now, they lacked anything concrete to harm. The Furies sent burst transmissions to Palace security and medical Emergency Response Teams, but knew that they wouldn’t arrive in time to affect the battle before them.
<Concentrate…> Frank thought to his partner while simultaneously sending a mental flash of what he planned. Violent emotions bubbled forth, allowing the pair to better harness their powers just as they had been trained to. They were nearly at the door. Their combined will began to affect their target, ripping his very cells apart with the power of thought. They concentrated on the arm that was currently entwined around the Emperor’s neck. The changeling began to cry out, his voice sounding distorted thanks to the altered perceptions of reality the combat mode Furies lived in. The iron like substance that had entwined the Emperor’s throat was nearly dissolved through, the near unconscious leader of the Terran Empire falling out of its failing grasp. With a thought, the thick, reinforced double doors bowed in, then ripped away scant milliseconds before the charging Furies blew through the jagged hole their removal left in the doorway.
The Changeling was still in the process of turning towards the sounds of the disintegrating doorway, his arm continuing to dissolve with the decay spreading down towards his body. Four phaser beams converged on his rippling amber form, two from Frank and two from the dead guards’ guns hovering in midair. Changelings were known to be highly resistant to phaser fire, but nothing could stand up to the concentrated, max level fire of four phasers at once. After a seeming eternity to the Furies, the changeling exploded, sending a spray of icor across the room. After a rapid but thorough scan of the surroundings to look for anything else out of place, the Fury pair came out of combat mode. The rest of the world seemed to speed up as the response time and thought increasers were scrubbed from the Furies bodies. The Emperor was lying on the ground gasping for breath, but a cursory probing of his vitals told Frank that he would be fine. It had been a close thing, but the leader of the Empire was safe.
The Emergency Response Teams began spilling into the room, power armored Section 31 strike teams with a medical team close on their heels. The strike teams formed a protective cordon around the Emperor’s prostrate form, their weapons arrayed outward and their suits sensor systems probing every nook and cranny in the room. The medical teams began their own examination of the Emperor’s well being.
Minutes later, Director Sloan himself entered the throne room. He approached the now seated Emperor still surrounded by a cluster of worried looking medics. There was a noticeable bruise forming around Jack’s neck. His eyes looked shattered, bloodshot, tear filled, but not from the personal attack that nearly resulted in his death. With the look of a drowning man reaching for a life preserver, his haunted eyes locked onto the Section 31 head. His hand raised and a shaky finger was pointed at Sloan.
“You find her! Dead…” the Emperor’s near pleading voice caught in his throat, but he pressed on, “dead or alive, you bring her home.”
“As you command, your Highness.”
“And you make those that have taken her from me pay.” There was fire in the Emperor’s tear filled eyes and a snarl in his voice. Family was perhaps the most important value in the Empire, and someone had just made the current conflict intensely personal for the Emperor.
--- --- ---
Several minutes later, the emperor was sitting at the head of a table that housed his appointed ministers. He had funneled his pain, terror and hate into persecuting his duties. His face was like chiseled granite. The Section 31 liaison officer was currently occupying his attention.
“You will release these weapons to general fleet wide use Mr. Stark.”
“But surely your Highness sees the sensibility in keeping these weapons in Section’s hands alone. The recent involvement Starfleet had in bringing down the Terran Council should clearly show this. Starfleet cannot be trusted with…”
“ENOUGH!” Jack roared, cutting the Section 31 officer’s stock reply off mid delivery. “Preliminary reports show that this union of the ISC and what’s left of the Dominion have weapons systems that outrange even proximity torpedoes. When combined with their speed advantages, there is virtually no way we can even engage them. Without these weapons, there will be no Starfleet left in action for you to worry about. You seem to be under the misconception that you have a voice in this decision.” The Emperors voice went deadly cold. “You do not. You will tell your superiors that they will release both all local stockpiles and the plans for these weapons to sector command centers immediately or they will answer to me personally. Am I making myself perfectly clear?” The Emperor said dangerously. There was no doubt amongst his ministers as to who had the power in the room, they collectively blanched, with the Section 31 turning the whitest of them all.
“Yes your Highness!” He managed to gulp out.
Flag Ready Room, ISS Valley Forge, Delta Quadrant
The SAR teams had only just returned and already there was celebrations breaking out on Lilith. Some of the local political leaders were already declaring a yearly celebration in honor of the victory. Ulysses brow furrowed as he frowned at the news feed his desktop terminal showed him. He took a sip of the strong raktajino housed in the mug cradled in his hands. The civilians seemed oblivious to the sacrifice he was forced to make to protect them. Tens of thousands had died with the loci battlestations and attached starships. Thousands had died in his own battle line as they engaged the second ISC fleet. And judging from the reports flooding in from all along the frontier, those losses were going to hurt in the long run. The Galactic Unity had starships to spare, and they were, for the most part, using them smartly. With their superior speed and weapons reach, they could peck away at fixed defenses and Imperial fleets. It still took time to break down system scale defense nets even with their PPD’s, but since they could dictate the battlefield it was their time to use.
Ulysses frowned anew as he mulled over the military realities facing him, trying to come up with a solution. One thing was certain, the GU wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. They had wanted to make the takeout of Prescott’s Star a true blitz. They got fancy, instead of concentrating their forces and slamming his command till it broke. Their forces had attempted a pincer movement, trying to catch him between them to crush him quickly. As a result, he had been able to beat back the initial assault. Yet given the faster speed and greater weapons reach of the GU fleets, he shouldn’t have been able to do even that much. Must have been a bunch of green COs, Ulysses thought. Makes sense given that their whole strategy seemed to revolve around Prescott being an easy mark. They did what I would do, keep my more experienced and smart COs together to take out stiffer opposition and send the weaker ones to the softest target. Good thing my staff and I managed to get this place whipped into shape before they struck, or they might have had the cake walk they expected.
Ulysses forces had driven the enemy to retreat, though many had retreated largely intact and combat worthy. And as the systems surrounding Prescott were taken out, as even now reports were coming in that they were being over run, the enemy forces could concentrate and re-attack the sector command. He had given the opposition nasty shiner, but round two wouldn’t be long in coming and his enemy would be alert that he could fight.
And even though his forces had won, they had paid a heavy price. The Loci Defense Forces at both Loci Kappa and Delta had been butchered. All Battlestations had been destroyed or thoroughly wrecked. The mobile forces were nearly as bad, with only a handful of Loci Delta pickets surviving in various states of disrepair. Loci Kappa forces were better off, for the unexpected allies Voyager had brought with it had proven highly effective in aiding the battlestations and fleet units. Their exotic weapons systems both shut down impulse and thruster control temporarily, they also threw the targeted ship away from them. As helpful as they were, they had still only lightly limited the Loci Kappa Picket forces losses.
Ulysses was unsure how to proceed with them. A meeting was a given, but with the current political situation in the system as it was, he didn’t really have the authority to deal with them. His promotion to flag rank was only a temporary expedient to solve some unexpected and unusual problems. He didn’t have the customary authority in dealing with alien governments a usual military governor of the Terran Empire would. He would have to come up with something, but he would wait till he heard what they wanted first.
The things he did have authority over were humming along nicely however. Wounded ships were already being cycled through the vacant yard slips, with damaged bulkheads and hull breeches repaired thanks to replicators, transporters and tractor beams. Those ships waiting for a slip began emergency repairs on their own, sending out work bees and hard suited engineering teams to patch up the holes in their hulls as best they could. Ulysses com chirped and he swatted it absently.
“Vanguard here.”
“Admiral?” the com officer on the other end of the line said. “We have a handful of units clearing system perimeter IFF. They appear to be friendlies.”
“I’m on my way.” Ulysses said, getting up from behind his desk and setting his half empty mug of Klingon coffee back in his ready room’s replicator on his way out. He strode out into the flag bridge.
“Admiral on the bridge.” The honor guard officer said.
Ulysses nodded in acknowledgement to his subordinates. “As you were. So, who are our reinforcements?” He said as he strode to the chair at the center of the bridge.
“They appear to be a Battleship Squadron and escorts. Their IFF says they’re the 5016th BB Squadron out of Mosaul. Flag vessel is the ISS Conquest, Brevet Commodore Giles Bastigon commanding.” Mosaul was a nearby system, home to 2 million colonists.
“Open a channel.”
“Channel open Sir.”
“Commodore Bastigon, this is Admiral Vanguard.” A small com window popped up on the holodisplay.
“Commodore Bastigon here Admiral. It’s good to hear a friendly voice. We thought that you might have been removed from this system already when we set out for here.”
“The enemy tried, but we proved more bothersome than they expected. Tell me what happened at Mosaul.”
“They sent in a fleet on us Sir. Blew out our deployed pickets from beyond our own weapons range.” The young Commodore winced at the painful memory then pressed on. “They outnumbered us by four to one, and out-massed us by at least ten to one, and with their weapons range, there was nothing we could do.” There was almost a pleading quality to the young officers voice. Ulysses knew well what that was caused by. He believed that he had failed in his duty. Officers that did that often weren’t looked well upon by their superiors. “They were also faster than we were, so we couldn’t close to our own weapon range unless they let us. And they played it smart and didn’t do so. They kept scurrying away just out of reach, all the while picking away at us with fighter strikes and their damned PPD. All my attack attempts were accomplishing was maiming my command for no gain. So I broke off pursuit and left the system.” Giles looked like a man waiting for the firing squad.
“Commodore, your course of action was exactly right. There was nothing you could do for Mosaul.” Ulysses showed a ghost of a smile as the young Imperial officer looked like a 100 ton weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Your usual Imperial Flag officer would have at least dressed him down for retreating in the face of the enemy, even if it was the right thing to do. “Stay where you are. Engineering, Medical and Security personnel will be sent out to your command. Once they are satisfied that you are who you say you are, arrangements will be made to get your damaged ships and injured crew patched up.”
“Aye aye Sir!” There was a note of startled awe in Commodore Bastigon’s voice.
“Very good, Vanguard out.” The com window closed at Ulysses gestured command. He turned towards his com officer’s station. “Lieutenant, com Captain P’tel and Commander Heidberg and have them coordinate with system medical, security and engineering departments to see to Battleship Squadron 5016ths needs. Also send out a message on sector wide com. All Starfleet units are to fight in defense of their assigned systems if possible, but withdraw to Prescott’s Star if faced with overwhelming opposition.”
“Recorded for transmission Admiral.”
Ulysses nodded. Then the sensors highlighted another group of ships entering the periphery of the system. It looked like it would be a busy day just organizing traffic and incorporating all the additional ships into the rest of the fleet.
Imperial Palace, Moscow, Terra
Frank and Victoria had just strode out of the Palace’s stairwell when they immediately noticed something amiss. The armored guards that were supposed to be standing watch at the end of the hall, by the double doors that led to the Imperial Throne Room, were instead lying crumpled on the marble floor. The pair fell into combat mode, extending both their imbedded mechanical augments as well as their biological ones to their utmost. Their perception of time slowed, yet they themselves moved as they normally would. Enhanced vision modes were activated, and twin pairs of eyes peered through the wall even as they began to sprint down the hallway. Consciousness expanded, registering two beings in the room beyond. One was recognized as the Emperor. The other was something else. Changeling, has to be. That complicated things. A normal humanoid would be easy to drop with a thought. Just cause them to go to sleep, or use a TK attack and cause their spine to sever at the base of their skull, or even blenderize their brain. A changeling was different, for there was no spine or brain to harm. Every cell in their fluid like natural form could become very nearly anything in the known universe. And in its fluid state, as much of the changeling was now, they lacked anything concrete to harm. The Furies sent burst transmissions to Palace security and medical Emergency Response Teams, but knew that they wouldn’t arrive in time to affect the battle before them.
<Concentrate…> Frank thought to his partner while simultaneously sending a mental flash of what he planned. Violent emotions bubbled forth, allowing the pair to better harness their powers just as they had been trained to. They were nearly at the door. Their combined will began to affect their target, ripping his very cells apart with the power of thought. They concentrated on the arm that was currently entwined around the Emperor’s neck. The changeling began to cry out, his voice sounding distorted thanks to the altered perceptions of reality the combat mode Furies lived in. The iron like substance that had entwined the Emperor’s throat was nearly dissolved through, the near unconscious leader of the Terran Empire falling out of its failing grasp. With a thought, the thick, reinforced double doors bowed in, then ripped away scant milliseconds before the charging Furies blew through the jagged hole their removal left in the doorway.
The Changeling was still in the process of turning towards the sounds of the disintegrating doorway, his arm continuing to dissolve with the decay spreading down towards his body. Four phaser beams converged on his rippling amber form, two from Frank and two from the dead guards’ guns hovering in midair. Changelings were known to be highly resistant to phaser fire, but nothing could stand up to the concentrated, max level fire of four phasers at once. After a seeming eternity to the Furies, the changeling exploded, sending a spray of icor across the room. After a rapid but thorough scan of the surroundings to look for anything else out of place, the Fury pair came out of combat mode. The rest of the world seemed to speed up as the response time and thought increasers were scrubbed from the Furies bodies. The Emperor was lying on the ground gasping for breath, but a cursory probing of his vitals told Frank that he would be fine. It had been a close thing, but the leader of the Empire was safe.
The Emergency Response Teams began spilling into the room, power armored Section 31 strike teams with a medical team close on their heels. The strike teams formed a protective cordon around the Emperor’s prostrate form, their weapons arrayed outward and their suits sensor systems probing every nook and cranny in the room. The medical teams began their own examination of the Emperor’s well being.
Minutes later, Director Sloan himself entered the throne room. He approached the now seated Emperor still surrounded by a cluster of worried looking medics. There was a noticeable bruise forming around Jack’s neck. His eyes looked shattered, bloodshot, tear filled, but not from the personal attack that nearly resulted in his death. With the look of a drowning man reaching for a life preserver, his haunted eyes locked onto the Section 31 head. His hand raised and a shaky finger was pointed at Sloan.
“You find her! Dead…” the Emperor’s near pleading voice caught in his throat, but he pressed on, “dead or alive, you bring her home.”
“As you command, your Highness.”
“And you make those that have taken her from me pay.” There was fire in the Emperor’s tear filled eyes and a snarl in his voice. Family was perhaps the most important value in the Empire, and someone had just made the current conflict intensely personal for the Emperor.
--- --- ---
Several minutes later, the emperor was sitting at the head of a table that housed his appointed ministers. He had funneled his pain, terror and hate into persecuting his duties. His face was like chiseled granite. The Section 31 liaison officer was currently occupying his attention.
“You will release these weapons to general fleet wide use Mr. Stark.”
“But surely your Highness sees the sensibility in keeping these weapons in Section’s hands alone. The recent involvement Starfleet had in bringing down the Terran Council should clearly show this. Starfleet cannot be trusted with…”
“ENOUGH!” Jack roared, cutting the Section 31 officer’s stock reply off mid delivery. “Preliminary reports show that this union of the ISC and what’s left of the Dominion have weapons systems that outrange even proximity torpedoes. When combined with their speed advantages, there is virtually no way we can even engage them. Without these weapons, there will be no Starfleet left in action for you to worry about. You seem to be under the misconception that you have a voice in this decision.” The Emperors voice went deadly cold. “You do not. You will tell your superiors that they will release both all local stockpiles and the plans for these weapons to sector command centers immediately or they will answer to me personally. Am I making myself perfectly clear?” The Emperor said dangerously. There was no doubt amongst his ministers as to who had the power in the room, they collectively blanched, with the Section 31 turning the whitest of them all.
“Yes your Highness!” He managed to gulp out.
Flag Ready Room, ISS Valley Forge, Delta Quadrant
The SAR teams had only just returned and already there was celebrations breaking out on Lilith. Some of the local political leaders were already declaring a yearly celebration in honor of the victory. Ulysses brow furrowed as he frowned at the news feed his desktop terminal showed him. He took a sip of the strong raktajino housed in the mug cradled in his hands. The civilians seemed oblivious to the sacrifice he was forced to make to protect them. Tens of thousands had died with the loci battlestations and attached starships. Thousands had died in his own battle line as they engaged the second ISC fleet. And judging from the reports flooding in from all along the frontier, those losses were going to hurt in the long run. The Galactic Unity had starships to spare, and they were, for the most part, using them smartly. With their superior speed and weapons reach, they could peck away at fixed defenses and Imperial fleets. It still took time to break down system scale defense nets even with their PPD’s, but since they could dictate the battlefield it was their time to use.
Ulysses frowned anew as he mulled over the military realities facing him, trying to come up with a solution. One thing was certain, the GU wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. They had wanted to make the takeout of Prescott’s Star a true blitz. They got fancy, instead of concentrating their forces and slamming his command till it broke. Their forces had attempted a pincer movement, trying to catch him between them to crush him quickly. As a result, he had been able to beat back the initial assault. Yet given the faster speed and greater weapons reach of the GU fleets, he shouldn’t have been able to do even that much. Must have been a bunch of green COs, Ulysses thought. Makes sense given that their whole strategy seemed to revolve around Prescott being an easy mark. They did what I would do, keep my more experienced and smart COs together to take out stiffer opposition and send the weaker ones to the softest target. Good thing my staff and I managed to get this place whipped into shape before they struck, or they might have had the cake walk they expected.
Ulysses forces had driven the enemy to retreat, though many had retreated largely intact and combat worthy. And as the systems surrounding Prescott were taken out, as even now reports were coming in that they were being over run, the enemy forces could concentrate and re-attack the sector command. He had given the opposition nasty shiner, but round two wouldn’t be long in coming and his enemy would be alert that he could fight.
And even though his forces had won, they had paid a heavy price. The Loci Defense Forces at both Loci Kappa and Delta had been butchered. All Battlestations had been destroyed or thoroughly wrecked. The mobile forces were nearly as bad, with only a handful of Loci Delta pickets surviving in various states of disrepair. Loci Kappa forces were better off, for the unexpected allies Voyager had brought with it had proven highly effective in aiding the battlestations and fleet units. Their exotic weapons systems both shut down impulse and thruster control temporarily, they also threw the targeted ship away from them. As helpful as they were, they had still only lightly limited the Loci Kappa Picket forces losses.
Ulysses was unsure how to proceed with them. A meeting was a given, but with the current political situation in the system as it was, he didn’t really have the authority to deal with them. His promotion to flag rank was only a temporary expedient to solve some unexpected and unusual problems. He didn’t have the customary authority in dealing with alien governments a usual military governor of the Terran Empire would. He would have to come up with something, but he would wait till he heard what they wanted first.
The things he did have authority over were humming along nicely however. Wounded ships were already being cycled through the vacant yard slips, with damaged bulkheads and hull breeches repaired thanks to replicators, transporters and tractor beams. Those ships waiting for a slip began emergency repairs on their own, sending out work bees and hard suited engineering teams to patch up the holes in their hulls as best they could. Ulysses com chirped and he swatted it absently.
“Vanguard here.”
“Admiral?” the com officer on the other end of the line said. “We have a handful of units clearing system perimeter IFF. They appear to be friendlies.”
“I’m on my way.” Ulysses said, getting up from behind his desk and setting his half empty mug of Klingon coffee back in his ready room’s replicator on his way out. He strode out into the flag bridge.
“Admiral on the bridge.” The honor guard officer said.
Ulysses nodded in acknowledgement to his subordinates. “As you were. So, who are our reinforcements?” He said as he strode to the chair at the center of the bridge.
“They appear to be a Battleship Squadron and escorts. Their IFF says they’re the 5016th BB Squadron out of Mosaul. Flag vessel is the ISS Conquest, Brevet Commodore Giles Bastigon commanding.” Mosaul was a nearby system, home to 2 million colonists.
“Open a channel.”
“Channel open Sir.”
“Commodore Bastigon, this is Admiral Vanguard.” A small com window popped up on the holodisplay.
“Commodore Bastigon here Admiral. It’s good to hear a friendly voice. We thought that you might have been removed from this system already when we set out for here.”
“The enemy tried, but we proved more bothersome than they expected. Tell me what happened at Mosaul.”
“They sent in a fleet on us Sir. Blew out our deployed pickets from beyond our own weapons range.” The young Commodore winced at the painful memory then pressed on. “They outnumbered us by four to one, and out-massed us by at least ten to one, and with their weapons range, there was nothing we could do.” There was almost a pleading quality to the young officers voice. Ulysses knew well what that was caused by. He believed that he had failed in his duty. Officers that did that often weren’t looked well upon by their superiors. “They were also faster than we were, so we couldn’t close to our own weapon range unless they let us. And they played it smart and didn’t do so. They kept scurrying away just out of reach, all the while picking away at us with fighter strikes and their damned PPD. All my attack attempts were accomplishing was maiming my command for no gain. So I broke off pursuit and left the system.” Giles looked like a man waiting for the firing squad.
“Commodore, your course of action was exactly right. There was nothing you could do for Mosaul.” Ulysses showed a ghost of a smile as the young Imperial officer looked like a 100 ton weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Your usual Imperial Flag officer would have at least dressed him down for retreating in the face of the enemy, even if it was the right thing to do. “Stay where you are. Engineering, Medical and Security personnel will be sent out to your command. Once they are satisfied that you are who you say you are, arrangements will be made to get your damaged ships and injured crew patched up.”
“Aye aye Sir!” There was a note of startled awe in Commodore Bastigon’s voice.
“Very good, Vanguard out.” The com window closed at Ulysses gestured command. He turned towards his com officer’s station. “Lieutenant, com Captain P’tel and Commander Heidberg and have them coordinate with system medical, security and engineering departments to see to Battleship Squadron 5016ths needs. Also send out a message on sector wide com. All Starfleet units are to fight in defense of their assigned systems if possible, but withdraw to Prescott’s Star if faced with overwhelming opposition.”
“Recorded for transmission Admiral.”
Ulysses nodded. Then the sensors highlighted another group of ships entering the periphery of the system. It looked like it would be a busy day just organizing traffic and incorporating all the additional ships into the rest of the fleet.