Chapter 1
Enjoy!I wrote:Kaldor sat in a state of deep meditation. Trying to ready himself for the attack on the Vulcan homeworld, a major Federation planet. The Vulcans always proved good adversaries in combat. They were quick thinkers, adaptive and resilient. In battles it was always easy to pick the Vulcan commanded ships.
Now Kaldor had a small fleet, one with which to extend himself and his grasp with The Force. These ships would now act as one.
A voice interrupted Kaldor's thoughts; "Master, we're approaching the Vulcan system."
"Excellent." Kaldor serenely rose to his feet. He walked out onto the bridge, ready to do his duty.
The Dominion's trust in him was somewhat unprecedented; seemingly Weyoun and The Founder liked him. After all, he was given a small fleet after only a month in combat. And Kaldor couldn't sense any distrust from them. But Weyoun was difficult to read at the best of times. Perhaps it was just the way the species was designed.
Kaldor took his headset, putting on gave a small pinch to the brain. Something that became hard to get used to no matter how often you wore one. Perhaps it was just his physiology that was incompatible. It was still irritating.
The image of the waiting Sixth Fleet greeted him. Two hundred and fifteen Starfleet and Federation ships were waiting for him. Admiral Saavik was leading it. She'd been in Starfleet for the better part of a century. Experienced against the Klingons and half a dozen other powers. She served with the famed Captain Kirk and his crew one more than one occasion. Regardless of that, the thousand ships Kaldor had would see them through the day.
Kaldor signalled the his group; "This is Jedi Master Kaldor, all ships prepare to engage. Cardassian wings head for the planet and your predetermined planetary targets. Dominion ships take flanking positions."
The Cardassians hated that Kaldor could give them orders. The truth was that he was the best commander they had in the Alpha Quadrant. The Cardassian's best ones were killed by the Klingons and the Maquis. The few that were left were needed in higher up positions. This left very few expendable men for the battlefront. Kaldor's abilities made him very useful on the front.
The Jem' Hadar attack ships moved forward past the heavier cruisers. Those attack ships were designed to be expendable. The cruisers had many uses; they could be carriers for damaged ships, command vessels for fleets, and they carried enough of the white to supply whole fleets for weeks.
The Sixth Fleet jumped into action. Smaller Sabre and Akira ships rushed around the larger Galaxy ships. There it was; Saavik's flagship. The Soverign class ship USS Surak. The ship was on the back lines of the formation. This probably meant they were being commanded from that protected position, that a complex defence was going to be used.
The Jem' Hadar attack ships rushed the lines. As usual the Klingons rushed to encounter them. The space came alive with massive amounts of weapons fire and exploding ships. The Klingons put up their usual valiant fight. But for every ship they destroyed, two more came rushing at it. Regardless of their desperate situation, the Klingons fought well. They'd fulfilled their life's purpose; dying.
Kaldor's headset flashed a sensor report:
84 Jem' Hadar ships destroyed.
47 Klingon ships destroyed.
15 Starfleet ships destroyed.
0 Cardassian ships have reached objectives.
An alert buzzer went off on the bridge.
"Master! There appears to be an array of phaser banks on the planet. They're inflicting heavy damage on the Cardassians."
Kaldor's headset sensor readings confirmed it. 30 Cardassian ships had been destroyed or damaged beyond operating capability. It was unlikely that the Cardassian ships would follow through on their standing orders of suicide runs.
"Tell the Cardassians to pull back and rejoin the fleet. We'll concentrate on the Federation ships first. We'll deal with the planet afterwards"
"Yes Master... The signal is being acknowledged by all except five Cardassian ships."
"Excellent."
"The Federation ships are pulling back. They're heading toward the planet. The Klingon ships are holding their positions."
The Klingon ships did have a method to their madness. Their goal was to hold off the Dominion until the planetary array was ready. Then when it was ready they would fall back to its protective arc. This was indeed more evidence that the Vulcans were clever opponents.
"Send all available ships to help eliminate the Klingons. Then have them hold position out of range of that array."
All of the attack craft surrounding Kaldor's cruiser departed and set course for the Klingons. Kaldor could see the slow disappearance of Klingon disruptor fire, in the emergence of more explosions and Dominion weapons fire.
Then blankness. The Klingons had been vanquished. Now all that remained was Saavik and her fleet.
"This is Master Kaldor to all ships. We will commence attacks on the Starfleet ships momentarily. In the meantime, put the Federation ships between yourselves and the planet. All significantly damaged ships are to proceed to the front of the attack and absorb as much enemy fire as possible."
A few moments passed.
"Master, the ships are in formation."
"Then let us commence the attack."
* * *
Meanwhile, on the planet:
The Vulcan command centre was the usual Vulcan stoic. There was no sense of alarm; everything went as though this was an everyday event. Admiral Saavik stood in front of a massive screen, watching the battle.
"Admiral Saavik, the Dominion fleet is about to commence the attack. They've placed their more heavily damaged ships at the front."
"Just the kind of strategy I'd expect from Kaldor. Are our ships in position?"
"Affirmative."
"Is the flagship in its appropriate position?"
"Yes, it's holding at the back."
Saavik had studied Kaldor's strategies extensively, in almost every engagement he had gone after the ship he believed to be leading the attack. It worked pretty well, as the fleets lost co-ordination, thus making them easy prey for Dominion ships.
"They're attacking. They'll be in weapons range in twelve seconds."
"Acknowledged."
* * *
Kaldor's fleet rushed the Vulcan lines. As predicted, they were targeting the damaged lead ships. This was the part of the battle he loved the most, finishing off the enemy.
Suddenly, the lighting failed on the bridge.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Kaldor yelled out of surprise and anger.
"We're under attack from the rear; it's the Romulans."
"The Romulans!"
"Yes, they must've been cloaked beyond our sensor range."
"That much is obvious. How many are there?" There were too many to count with his eyes alone.
"About two hundred ships. They have us surrounded... The lead Romulan ship is hailing us."
"Put them through." Now was the time to negotiate.
The image of Grand Admiral M'irk appeared on Kaldor's headset. This was the first time he'd seen a female in such a high position. Maybe it was some sort of ploy.
"Greetings Mr. Thann. I am Grand Admiral M'irk of the Romulan Star Empire. Would you care to surrender and avoid unnecessary bloodshed?" The Romulan female was now the only person he'd come across who sounded as smug as Gul Dukat.
"I think not. We still have tactical superiority. End communication."
Kaldor sensed his tactical officer did not agree. His sensor readings showed that the fleet was losing. And how did that Romulan woman know his name?
It was a trap, the Vulcans had lured him near the planet, in order to have Romulans outflank him. Kaldor was outraged that he couldn't see this coming.
"Send a signal to all ships, fight to the end. And fall back out of range of the planetary array. As for us... how close are we to Saavik's ship?"
"Rather close, it seems they are moving to attack us."
"Impressive. Come about and fire at will as soon as they're in range. Order all nearby ships to fire on it if necessary."
"No other ships in the area are available to fire on it."
"Right, plot a collision course. Maximum available speed."
Kaldor's cruiser charged the Surak.
"Master, we will have collision in 3, 2, 1."
The bridge, along with the rest of the ship shuddered and groaned. Sparks erupted form many conduits and consoles.
"We're reporting massive casualties from all over the ship. Our shield systems are completely gone. Propulsion reports that our engine core is critical. We must retreat."
"NO! I will not fall back in our moment of victory. What is the status of the Surak?"
"It is nearly destroyed, no weapons or propulsion readings. Very few life signs."
"Master, the core is breaching." The internal operations officer announced.
"Can it be ejected?" Kaldor knew the lost core spelled death for the ship.
"Yes, 5 seconds until total ejection."
"Right, when it's ejected get a weapons lock. Maybe we can blast a hole in their lines. I can use that opportunity to escape and make a report to the Founder of what has transpired. Tell the launch crew to prepare my ship for departure."
Kaldor left the bridge in a hurry. He was headed towards the ship's launch bay. Reaching into the Force, he was able to sense a safe route to take.
A voice came over the comm. system; "Master, two ships have been destroyed by our warp core. What shall be done now?"
"Keep that hole in the lines as long as possible. The First is to take command. Resort to a suicide run if we lose weapons."
"Acknowledged."
Kaldor came upon the launch bay at last. There was only one ship left: his Delta-7 Jedi star fighter. R3 was still in it. He'd recently been updated with star maps of this galaxy.
Kaldor ran and jumped into the cockpit. Firing up its systems for the first time in weeks. Recently he'd taken to just carrying it around in holding bays.
Something was amiss; the launch door was not opening. Kaldor looked over to the launch crew, to see what was keeping them. Through the smoke of the damaged bay he could see they were all lying dead.
Kaldor activated the weapons on his star fighter, and fired two quick shots at the door in front of him.
The doors blasted away, taking various containers and components out into the vacuum of space. Kaldor's engines fired. Soon his small red and white ship was out in space. He couldn't sense anyone's seeing him.
In moments Kaldor was in hyperspace, on his way back to Terok Nor. He felt drained from the events of the battle, having tried to use the force to bolster his men's fighting will. As he went into a quick Jedi meditative sleep, he thought fondly of getting revenge on the Vulcans. And Admiral Saavik.
Also; sorry if having Saavik irritates anyone, but I couldn't think another Vulcan with combat experience etc.
Also, if anyone finds and punctuation or just bizarre errors, please inform me. There are often a lot of problems when cut/pasting from MS Word to here.
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