I wonder if he could take a fury if they were similarly armed.
A Fury could snap him like a twig with a thought. Now if for some reason the Fury Pair couldn't use their ESP powers, things come closer to even, but the Fury can still react and move faster and has omnidirectional sensors and personal shielding 'built in', to say nothing of the nasty things their tech can do if given a chance. If you get a Fury after you, you're already dead. It's just a question of how much 'fun' the Fury Pair want to have with you before they kill you. You'll see what I mean in the next story.
Lore, IIRC, isn't unique to the Terran empire and there are others like him
Yep, Section 31 does have other Soong type androids, the D-class Assassian Androids. Unfeeling, relentless, downright scary beasties designed almost excluisvely for killing biologics that have been deemed undesireable by the Empire.
CaptainChewbacca wrote:How many are there? Are they deployed individually, or in a group? Has Lore ever met one? Do they have free will?
Quick trip to Spain, I see.
Something about Libertarianism always bothered me. Then one day, I realized what it was:
Libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to the phrase, "Work Will Make You Free."
In Libertarianism, there is no Government, so the Bosses are free to exploit the Workers.
In Communism, there is no Government, so the Workers are free to exploit the Bosses.
So in Libertarianism, man exploits man, but in Communism, its the other way around! If all you want to do is have some harmless, mindless fun, go H3RE INST3ADZ0RZ!! Grrr! Fight my Brute, you pansy!
How many are there? Are they deployed individually, or in a group? Has Lore ever met one? Do they have free will?
D-Class Assassin Androids? About a dozen or so. (although Maddox hasn't had much luck replicating Soong's work on them, so for the forseeable future, that's about all that their'll be)
Fury Pairs? About 2 dozen or so.
Usually, deployment for the D-Class is solitary, but certian targets warrent greater numbers to ensure mission completion. Same goes for Fury Pairs.
Lore has met them.
D-class has free will up to a point. But they cannot cause excessive civilian and innocent casualties in the execution of their mission, nor can they choose not to execute their mission. They are sorta like Data when he was under Lore's evil emotion transmitter's effects. Doing their mission and succeeding brings good feelings. Failing makes the feel bad, so they endevour to succeed on their mission.
Is there a mirror data??
I was think in canon Lore was produced first but was to life like for comfort (according to lore himself anyway) Data was less life like but more sane.
In your mirror Lore might have been a prototype. And Data was the perfected production model.
So does my reasoning stand up? Is there a mirror data assinating people out there?
So does my reasoning stand up? Is there a mirror data assinating people out there?
Yes, hence the whole D-Class Soong Type Assassin Android.
They look like Lore and Data, but the just took the Data template and made more of them. Lore was built first, but then S-31 and the TE stepped in and said 'no more of that'.
So what IS Data doing in the TE universe anyway, I suppose by your reasoning Lore was the only one to have free will since everything after him was an assasin? Are we ever going to see him?
Data as an individual per say is not present in the TEverse. There are Section 31 assassin androids built to near his basic canon specs though, but as for true self aware AI's, Lore is pretty much it in the TE. He might make an apparance in the follow on story to Unity. Not 100% certain yet. Next 'chapter' is done, but I'm gonna hold off posting till the entire battle is finished.
Well, the Second Battle of Prescott's Star is done, weighing in at a whopping 10,000+ words. Hopefully it'll be a good read. Not sure when it's gonna get posted, as I have to make sure it doesn't mess up anything CaptainChewbacca has planned for future events. Since he's currently on holiday and has only intermittent internet access, it may be a while before he can check it over. But rest assured that it'll be out soon.
It kicks ass and that's all I'm saying now. I need to check over it again but right now I require sleep. It will be posted when I get online next. (10-16 hours)
Ulysses strode down the short hallway to the Flag Bridge, already abuzz with activity. Red alert alarms ceased their piercing cacophony, but the steady pulse of the crimson alert panels remained, mirroring Ulysses own quickening heartbeat. He strode through the double blast doors and stopped, surveying the organized chaos swirling around him.
“Admiral on the Bridge!” A marine honor guard at the door barked, his armored feet clanking together and his similarly clad arm snapping upward in salute so perfect even his Academy DI would have found it impossible to criticize it. All action temporarily stopped on the Flag Bridge as the assembled officers and enlisted ratings braced to attention and raised their arms in salute. All save Commissar Stevens, she merely stood and stared at him. Ulysses responded to his crew’s courtesy in kind crisply, his hand knifing through air. As one, the personnel of the Flag Bridge released their own salutes, staring up at him from the pit that surrounded his station. Again, all save Commissar Stevens who busied herself with her station mounted near the bulkhead behind Ulysses.
“Report.” Ulysses voice resonated throughout the Flag Bridge, and he was surprised at how calm it sounded, betraying none of the somersaulting his stomach was doing. The officers staffing the Flag Bridge seemed to take heart from his calm, even voice and presence, relaxing from their near frantic pace to a more even approach. They still had an edge, which was good, but they no longer were ON edge.
“GU Fleet is just entering the system now Admiral. CIC is still working up numbers, but preliminary estimates are that they have a slight advantage in SDs.” An aide provided. Ulysses nodded, then continued on to his throne in the center of the bridge. Settling in, he slipped his hands into the gloves that controlled the holo display. The Flag Bridge melted away, replaced with a 360 degree bubble of holographic space. ID tags popped up over all Squadrons, along with Battlegroup and Taskforce Flagships, to allow rapid access to overall battle stats and greatly ease unit identification. With a deft flick of his wrist and a gesture of his hand, the displays POV shifted up and back from his ships, settling nearly over Lilith’s substantial polar icecap. Ulysses never got tired of the photorealistic visuals of the holodisplay. This is what the Gods must view things like, he thought, feeling the rush of power the view gave him.
Suddenly, a rash of angry red contacts swarmed up in the distance. CIC began to assign them class designations as quickly as they could. Which turned out to be surprisingly fast, for the enemy seemed to have his EW suites offline. The enemy vessels were also arrayed in what was almost a parade ground formation, a long wall of capital ships with their escorts arrayed about it similarly. Their fleet numbers were slightly better than his own. They had decelerated to impulse short of his hastily assembled warp inhibitor network, slowing nearly to a crawl. And had done so deliberately. Intimidation, Ulysses thought. They WANT us to see how strong they are, to dishearten us, to try and break our will to fight. Not that that was going to happen.
“My God… there’s so many of them!” Commissar Stevens’ voice filled the sudden tension filled silence on the Flag Bridge. She had just blurted out what everyone in the fleet was feeling at that exact moment, and the fact that she had voiced it increased the anxiety in the room above and beyond what it would normally have been.
Ulysses pivoted his chair to face Stevens’ station. He liked to speak to his officers whenever possible, although once the battle was met, it became far too easy to loose track of which direction was front and which was back within the cocoon of the holodisplay. “Yes there certainly is Commissar. The good news is that when we engage them, we’re bound to hit something with that many targets to choose from.” A soft chuckle ran around the bridge. The remark had its desired response, cutting the tension back down to acceptable levels. “Orders to the Fleet.” Ulysses said smoothly. “Execute battle plan Chimera Two.”
On the holoplot, the titanic, hulking forms of Imperial cargo ships broke orbit. Flying away from Lilith along the safest least-time courses to the subspace corridor network loci, Ulysses could practically hear their crews’ sighs of relief to be exiting the war zone. Unfortunately, the least time corridor route required them to nearly go through the approaching GU Fleet, so the majority were taking the longer routes. But there were some diehards who were willing to risk the fact that the GU would stay true to form and leave non-combatant craft largely alone by making for the least time loci.
“Admiral, I have a signal coming in from the enemy commander.”
“Put it up please.” Time to see the face of the enemy. Ulysses thought as he leaned back in his chair.
The com window blossomed on his display, and the face on the other end of the com caused Ulysses to pause for a fraction of a second. A Terran? And a Fleet Marshal no less. Ulysses thought, taking in the gold, sky blue and ivory white uniform of the ISC Peaceforces and the shoulder flashes of the ISC equivalent of a Fleet Admiral. Starfleet command will be very interested in that little bit of information. I wonder how Pub. In. will end up spinning it? The Empire’s propaganda ministry had been spouting off of late that no Terran would willingly leave the Empire to join something like the ISC, that all those billions that had left with their retreating forces had been taken by force rather than willingly joining the aliens. It would appear that that ‘fact’, like so many others in the Empire, would need some revising. Just as Ulysses himself had thought it would when he first heard it rebroadcast on the local news networks.
“I am Fleet Marshal Teresa Chora of the Galactic Unity Peaceforces.”
Ulysses nodded respectfully. “Pleased to meet you Fleet Marshal. My name is Ulysses Vanguard, Admiral, Imperial Starfleet.”
“I surmised as much already Admiral. We have compiled quite a file on you in light of your recent elevation in rank.”
“Understandable, I would do the same thing in your position if I was able to. But then you didn’t call just to tell me about my file in the Galactic Unity’s database, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. Direct, just like your file says.” Chora’s mouth perked a bit, in a ghost of a smile, then quickly reverted to what seemed its customary, dour looking demeanor. “Since you are direct, let me get right to the heart of the matter. I am calling to demand your surrender, or at least the withdrawal of your mobile units from this system. There is no way the majority of your forces can engage us unless we let them. We can pick them off at our leisure from beyond their range. You know this. I plead with you not to sacrifice them needlessly, there is no need for them to die today.”
Teresa hoped that he would comply, for he seemed like a reasonable sort for a Terran. So far, the orders she had seen issued by him supported everything his file said about his character. Most Terran Commanders wouldn’t have ordered the civilian populous to remain civil. Hell, most had done the exact opposite in the planets already conquered, and the civilians were practicing civil disobedience or joining the militia and playing terrorist. This would change in time, just like it had once the Terran’s propaganda was broken and the true nature of the ISC was seen by the people that had been liberated from the Terran Empire the last time. But there would always be some who needed to visit Justice to be shown the error of their ways. She sincerely hoped that Admiral Vanguard was not one of these individuals. The smartest play he could do would be to surrender outright, for while it might take some years, the ISC and Dominion would overrun the Terran Empire eventually. In the interim, she didn’t think that a brevet Admiral, even one with Ulysses’ reputation, would last long if he surrendered a major system and retreated back to the Terran Empire. Starfleet officers that displeased their Emperor had developed a nasty habit of disappearing of late.
“I’m sorry, Fleet Marshal, but I must decline your offer.” Ulysses said, raising his hands from their armrest and sticking his chin on their steepled fingers.
“Admiral Vanguard, I beg you not to order your people to their deaths in an un-winnable fight.”
A wolfish smile played at Ulysses lips and his lone eye blazed. “For one who hasn’t even fired a shot yet, you seem quite certain of your victory, Fleet Marshal. If you want this system, come and take it.” The com window closed and the channel was cut by a gesture from Ulysses.
“Open a channel to Rear Admiral Anace.”
“Channel open Admiral.” Paulette Wendell said from beyond the holodisplay’s barely translucent veil as the com window blossomed to life, showing brevet Rear Admiral Suzette Anace’s oval face, curly brown hair and deep brown eyes.
ISS Vigilance, Enroute to the Outer System of Prescott’s Star
“Rear Admiral Anace,” Ulysses’ calm voice resonated throughout the Vigilance’s Flag Bridge as his virtual doppelganger spoke on the holodisplay, “you have your orders, and it’s what you and your ships have trained so hard for these last few days. Good luck and good hunting.” Ulysses said with a nod.
“Aye sir!” Suzette Anace deep voice replied. “We’ll be ready when you give the order Skipper.”
Ulysses com hologram nodded again. “Vanguard out.” And his com window closed as the connection was closed from his end.
“Open a channel to the Taskforce.” Anace waited till the connection was established, then continued. “Ok people, I want as intense of a passive watch on our little deception as possible. I don’t want there to be as much as a flicker on the GU’s plots. We’re just a bunch of merchies going hell bent for leather to the least time loci.” A predatory grin birthed on her lips as a soft chuckle ran around the Flag Bridge. “Keep us out of their hair and inconspicuous, just like we trained. All except our escort. Captain Terrel, I want you to act like you would in any other escort situation.” She told the lone Imperial vessel in her Taskforce that wasn’t hidden behind its holo-chameleon cloak. “After all, one wouldn’t want the big, bad GU to try a long range attack on helpless Imperial merchantmen. Keep you ECM at a respectable output. It’ll help mask the mines’ and buoys’ deployment when we reach point Invictus.”
ISS Valley Forge
Ulysses was very thankful that the Nightingale yards had cranked out as many of the warp inhibitor platforms as they had. It was still far short of the net such an important system should have, but at least it would keep them coming at impulse for almost four hours. Even such a small radius of coverage centered around Lilith was far preferable to letting them drop out of warp in his lap. As he watched the holodisplay, what had been clearly defined enemy formations finally dissolved into a sea of ECM as they picked up their pace of advance.
“Order Indomitable Squadron to deploy recon drones to cover the GU’s line of advance.” The RD’s would give him a better picture of the enemy’s actions now that they had hid behind their EW systems, but their limited duration and necessity of flying close to the enemy meant they would have to constantly be replenished until the range wound down. “All ships will form up, formation Talbot, and proceed on course 149 mark 025, 3/4rs impulse.”
“The fleet reports ready Admiral.”
“Engage.”
--- --- ---
The assembled ships’ formation shifted smoothly, the ease of the manuvers borne of incessant weeks of drills that had forged the 401st Imperial Fleet into a finely honed weapon of warfare. The mighty Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths fell into place in a slightly concave, ovoid disc with squadron level escorts tucked in close to provide support. Other ships, primarily fast attack hunter/killers like Akiras, Prometheus’ and Soulwolfs, slipped in along the flanks of the rounded wall in a oval half cone. Aegeans, NebulasSteamrunners and Ark Royals tucked themselves and their escorts into the relatively safe pocket this formation generated, free to perform their tasks with little fear of direct opposition. Then the EW drones began to fill space with a plethora of false signatures that were still largely hidden from any sensors the enemy could have by the intense and copious amounts of ECM Lilith’s Battlestations were putting out. Ulysses forces had learned much since the last fight. Analysis of captured GU ships had given them insight in ways to better their electronic warfare’s effectiveness, and they had shifted their canned routines to take advantage of this.
--- --- ---
The GU Fleet had thoroughly masked itself now, but Ulysses’ ships ECCM began its work, endeavoring to sift through the false sensor echoes to bring actual targets to light. It was a tall task, for even with the knowledge gleaned from the previous attack’s wrecks, the Unity’s electronic warfare systems still had a slight edge over their latest Imperial counterparts. As the electronics of the two fleets squared off, the ships themselves closed on each other, winding the range between them down with neither side blinking.
Subtle as a bull in a china shop alright. They just came in, let us get a good look at them, then cruised in system at max STL.
“Order the fighter strikes to commence, but make sure they keep to extreme range. I don’t want to loose fighters needlessly by sending them into the jaws of that unimpeded enemy wall.”
His order went out, and shortly there after, a mass of tiny blue light beads erupted onto the holodisplay, spilling from his ship’s flight decks and shuttle bays. They were joined shortly thereafter by a much larger swarm boiling out from orbital and dirtside bases on Lilith. There were ten thousand of them, and they lit off for the Unity fleet at their max rated velocity.
Vigilance Taskforce, Point Invictus, Prescott’s Star
“Coming up on Point Invictus now Ma’am.”
Suzette Anace’s mouth birthed a tooth filled predatory grin. “Execute Chimera - Phase One on my mark. Three, two, one, MARK!”
The minelayers that were assigned to the Vigilance Taskforce, easily as large as the massive merchantmen they were playacting as, began to birth clouds of space black stealthed mines and Ulysses new energy buoys. Energy buoys were virtually never used in modern combat because they were often destroyed before they even fired a shot, and once they began to fire, they became even more obvious targets. Little more than a power plant, and EW suite and an energy weapon system, it was far more cost effective to build full up OWPs. But the drawback of OWPs was that they are hard to make stealthy. They rely on numbers and their hardiness to survive till it’s time for them to launch. But Ulysses’ plan called for stealth to be the key, not hardiness. And as such, he had revived the energy buoy weapons platform from history and was seeding it in with his hastily deployed minefield. If all went as planned, the enemy wouldn’t know they were there till it was too late.
On Suzette’s holoplot, nothing changed. Which was as it should be, for if she couldn’t detect the mines deployment, there was no way the enemy could, even with their slightly better sensors. The predatory smile remained as thousands of invisible, deadly spoor trailed out in her Battlegroup’s wake. The position of Point Invictus was almost perfect, for the Unity fleet was boring near directly for it.
“Orders to the Battlegroup: course change, come to port, heading 120 mark 015.” Backdropped by the inhospitable lump of gray, lifeless rock that was Prescott’s Star V that was in the local vicinity as it made its leisurely sweep around the distant yellow primary, the formation of Merchies snapped onto their new course with just enough raggedness to be believable. Under normal circumstances, Suzette would have been ashamed to be commanding during such sloppy maneuvering, but the seeming lack of coordination was just what she had been training to achieve. That’s it you bastards! She thought. Just keep going straight and you’ll blunder right into The Skipper’s little trap!
ISCV Purity of Heart
“Ma’am, the Division of Imperial Merchant Vessels are changing course, they appear to be commencing a dogleg maneuver that will carry them well clear of the fleet. Should we detach a squadron to scope them out?” A young Meskeen Lieutenant asked
Teresa Chora thought for a moment before replying. “Not much point. As a show of good faith, High Command wants all legitimate merchant traffic left alone, a policy I agree with wholeheartedly. And besides, they only have a lone Destroyer as escort and are staying well away from even extreme PPD range. If they attempt to close to weapons range, then send out the patrol. Otherwise, I want all the ships I can have with me when I finally engage Admiral Vanguard. He’s up to something, I can feel it, I just can’t put my finger on it yet.”
“Fleet Marshal, the Terran’s fighters will be in extreme weapons range in three minutes.”
“Have all assault ships prepare a warm welcome for them since they are so willing to die in a lost cause.” There was no sense wasting PPD fire on something as fragile as a fighter. It would be like smashing an egg with an antimatter warhead. Far better to have the plasma torpedo biased ships in her fleet go on Point Defense duty.
Prescott’s Star
The fighters closed to extreme standoff attack range and let loose a torrent of quantum torpedoes. Over 120,000 were birthed in a near solid wave of blue white that proceeded to rush towards the rapidly closing Unity fleet. As much as Ulysses wanted to equip them with his enhanced quantums, he didn’t want to tip his hand until the blow would be decisive. Because of this, the standard quantums homed in on a mere handful of GU ships. Hiding behind their near invulnerable overloaded shield grids, the quantum volley slashed in on the enemy wall of battle, spending themselves against shields and then armor. Three enemy Superdreadnoughts and a number of lesser ships fell out of formation, air and debris streaming wrecks with huge white hot fissures gouged deep into their armored hulls. But like any standard torpedo engagement against ships of the line, the fighter strike hadn’t been expressly targeted to take out enemy ships. It was merely to soften up the opponents’ shields by creating small chinks in them that were more susceptible to phaser strikes and to tear a ragged hole in the enemy’s EW drones. The fact that a handful of superdreadnoughts had been knocked out was pure gravy. With their primary ordinance expended, the fighters wheeled to return and rearm. They would be able to attack once more before the fleets reached engagement range.
But even as they executed snap turns and boosted away under maximum acceleration, the plasma heavy ISC Cruisers that had streamed out a distance ahead of the main fleet body spat defiance back at them. Their shotgunned plasma torps split to track six individual targets for their customary lone one. Screaming up the now retreating fighter’s wakes, the packets of energized plasma caught a few before they reached their max range and winked out of existence as their containment fields failed. Orange phaser beams slashed through space, but at the extreme range, actually hitting something as maneuverable and small as a fighter through its ECM was a tall task for even ISC sensors. The 401st Fleet recorded its first combat casualties of the day, but all things considered, the initial fighter strikes had done everything right and gotten off quite lightly in the exchange. The tonnage and firepower losses for the enemy had been far in excess of the handful of Cobras lost in return. The opening attack done, calm returned to the battlefield as the two massive fleets continued to bore in on each other relentlessly.
ISCV Purity of Heart
Fleet Marshal Chora winced as Fearless Defender, Even Hand of Justice and Tenacious Civility fell out of her battle line. Close to two dozen escort vessels were also heavily damaged, wounded minnows next to the gutted sharks of the dying Superdreadnoughts. Orders need not be given, for her officers knew what to do all on their own. Fresh EW drones were salvoed, slotting themselves into place in the formation, filling the large hole the torpedo volley had blown in her wall of ECM. A light cruiser squadron was dispatched to save as many as could be pulled from the wrecks. Other ships, still in her squadron and holding their own, had a plethora of minor wounds - hull breaches, glowing scars in armor, damaged subsystems and the like.
Her fist clenched in anger as her counter volley claimed only a handful of the Imperial fighters. She longed for fighters of her own, so that she could respond in kind. But ISC High Command had decided to concentrate its resources on ships of the line, not small, fragile fighters. As such, she dare not send her lightest units out to hit at long range in a counter blow, for they were far more vulnerable to long ranged fire and far more expensive in both materials and personnel for every one lost. She took some solace in the fact that she would soon be in PPD range and this battle could be quickly finished.
ISS Valley Forge
The light beads of Imperial Cobras swarmed back into their births on Ulysses holoplot, those from Lilith’s fixed fortifications cycling through the Ark Royals’ hangar decks to rearm. After the next attack, they would barely be done rearming again before the battle lines met. And it wouldn’t be standoff attack they would be reaming for, it would be close attack, with PPC gun packs attached to external hard points instead of externally and internally mounted quantum torpedoes. And it was then that the fighters would be blooded, for even in the swirling near-chaos of a fleet vs. fleet engagement, there was little something as fragile as a fighter could do to hide from close in weapons.
Fully rearmed now, the near 10,000 strong swarm again sped off ahead to strike at the enemy. The Unity fleet was now much closer, having been close on the fighter strike’s heels as they returned to reload.
“Orders to the Fleet. Deploy armor and commence shield reinforcement forward. Damage control teams to the ready.” Ulysses resisted the urge to rub his sweaty gloved palms on his uniform’s legs, again surprised at how calm his voice sounded. This battle was different from the other ones he had fought, for in those, there had been no time to sit and stew as a potent force came inexorably closer. Both the S-8472 fleet and the first Unity attack had been fast paced affairs, with enemy contact rapidly established and nothing much to do but fight. Pre-combat jitters were getting to him, all his self doubt and feelings of unreadyness coming to the fore, as he could only wait for his plan to come to fruition and pray it would work.
Prescott’s Star
The second fighter strike was nearly as successful as the first, and another rash of enemy vessels fell out of the Unity’s formation, their hulls battered and broken. Again, long range PD plasma fire had little effect, the fleet fighters able to outrun most of the plasma torpedoes before they hit. But this time, the fleet fighters made it back to Ulysses wall of battle with the Unity fleet hot on their heels. They would be in extreme PPD range in mere minutes. But they were also just now entering Point Invictus’ area of effect, and the storm of quantums had temporarily blinded their sensors to what lay in front of them.
ISCV Purity of Heart
“Fleet Marshal! I am detecting tens of thousands of faint sensor returns, they’re all around us!”
Her ships opened fire on the now visible targets, clawing at the nebulous sensor returns with their phasers and plasma torpedoes, blotting the from space. But Ulysses’ emphasis on stealthing them had paid off. Combined by the perfectly timed second fighter strike, the mines and buoys had remained hidden until the Unity fleet was near totally enshrouded in them. Flashes of star bright light began to erupt within Chora’s fleet as the mines unleashed their zero point energy warheads on her ships. But they weren’t the worst, for even as their eye searing self immolation spent itself against her ships, a deadly latticework of silver lances was let loose. Fusion beams, the massively powerful but short legged weapon system of the Hydrans, was unleashed at optimal range. The Purity of Heart shuddered and bucked as brilliant sliver lances ravaged her.
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
Dear God, Ulysses thought, somewhat shocked, it actually worked. Fusion Beams spider webbed throughout the Unity formation, adding their energies to the simple mines that were wreaking terrible havoc on the ISC vessels. Whole squadrons were falling out of formation, bleeding debris and air into the swirling cauldron of released energy that enshrouded them. “All units, engage Helping Hand maneuver on my mark. Three, two, one, MARK!” On his command, tractors flashed outward, catching all non-Slipstream capable units, save the fire support and carrier ships nestled in the formation’s pocket, in a web of mutual support. Then, after this was accomplished, the entire Fleet flashed out of normal space for a fraction of a second only to reappear well within standard phaser range of the Unity Fleet.
There was an imperceptible shudder followed by a metallic groaning sound as the Forge lodged her protest at the excessive strain even the millisecond at Slipstream while dragging such a load along with her. The maneuver put stupendous strain on her space frame, causing micro fractures to form across her hull. Throughout Ulysses entire fleet, ships were strained to the near breaking point. But in the end, it worked. The holodisplay shifted to show the now much closer Unity Fleet. The mines were done now, either having spent themselves or destroyed, as were his Fusion buoys. But they had done their job. What had been an unshaken enemy Fleet, with near double his own weight of metal, was now brought down to near half again his number in active units. Most of those still functioning were damaged to some degree. And best of all, his maneuver had brought the 401st within the PPD’s minimum range.
“All ships, open fire! Fireplan Alpha Four!”
ISS Valley Forge, Slipstream One
“Damn it!” Clay Heidberg swore as he stared at his master situation display. “I told him that this little stunt was likely to fry the nacelle inducers! ‘Acceptable risk’, he said. Well now look, just like I told him would happen when we dragged that much extra mass into Slipstream, we no longer have FTL!” He swatted his com badge. “Bridge, this is Slipstream One. Don’t expect to go to Slipstream any time soon, the entire nacelle inducer matrix is fused and will require time in a repair slip to fix!”
“Understood Chief.” P’tel’s calm voice replied. “This was allowed for. Do what you can. P’tel out.” The same story was being played out across the fleet as every slipstream capable ship had the exact same problem show up. Aside from the fused nacelle inducers though, there was only some minor microfracturing for damage. The 401st was near 100% combat effective, and was within range of the enemy fleet.
ISCV Purity of Heart
That sneaky sonofabitch! Teresa thought. He set me up and I walked right into it! Then her holodisplay flickered, shifting the enemy fleet’s position to one virtually on top of her own. There was no time to think about how the maneuver had been accomplished, she could only act. “All units, open fire! Emergency power to forward shields! Destroyer Flotilla Alpha, Cruiser Taskforces nine through thirteen and Battlecruiser Taskforces three through ten are to deploy aft along base course and up to gain clear PPD firing lines on the enemy fleet. Get a fresh volley of EW drones out NOW.” With her fleet’s damaged shields, shifting the power to the front ones would leave most of them quite weak in other aspects, but that couldn’t be helped. Besides, Mr. Vanguard wanted to have a good old fashioned slug fest between capital ships. With her individually superior shielding and still superior numbers, she was still certain she could win even with his energy range firepower advantage. “Cruiser Battlegroups 39 through 46, concentrate fire on their Aegean class support ships hiding just behind their wall. Take them out and we’ll have a much easier time taking these Imperial scum out.
Prescott’s Star
Space disappeared as titanic energies crisscrossed space. Phasers and Phaser Lance fire crashed in on the ISC ships in a carefully controlled fireplan. Squadrons concentrated their fire on individual targets, killing ship after ship. Quantums, the enhanced ones this time, spat from Ulysses launchers and from the Type-V OWPs he had molecularly coupled to his unit’s hulls. He wished that he had more Type-X’s, but nearly all of those had been destroyed during the first battle and the yards hadn’t had time to make more yet. Still, the Type-V’s, packed with the enhanced Quantums were a handy addition. They were only slightly less vulnerable than fighters, but they packed considerably more punch by devoting all drive and life support space to heavier armor, more potent shields and more weapons bunkerage. The two fleets had slowed to a virtual stop relative to each other, content for the moment to flail away on one another at close range.
Cobras, Defiants, Novas and Sabers bobbed and weaved through the Unity’s lines at knife fight range, burning EW drones from the stars and pouring close range fire in on the ISC Superdreadnoughts weaker aft shield arcs. They were tailed by ISC Destroyers and Cruisers sending reams of weapons fire after them. The smarter Imperial commanders used the dead and dying hulks of ISC ships as cover whenever possible, ducking behind them to shield them from their pursuers as they corkscrewed and jinked in wild evasion courses. A wing of Cobras, recently arrived from Imperial carriers that were still far beyond visual range dove in close to a ISC Superdreadnought, their PPCs sending a torrent of amber/orange bolts into a downed shield arc. The bolts ate away at the leviathans armored hide, leaving molten edged craters in its hull. The SD’s carapace was punctured, sending a spray of molten hull plateing and frozen water vapor out into space. A torpedo magazine was hit, and the hull breach widened in a white hot fireball as the plasma warheads it contained detonated within the ships hull. As the Cobras pulled up and out from their successful run to target the next vessel on their assigned list, half their number were atomized as the attacked became the attacker. A The deep blue/green slash of one of the ISC SD’s dorsal phaser arrays cut through space, and it was near perfectly aimed. Moving in a sweeping arc, its path intersected that of the Cobra wing, leaving nothing of half of them except subatomic debris clouds.
ISC Superdreadnoughts sent a wave of plasma torps and phaser beams down on their assigned targets, still little more than a point of light to the unaided eye, causing more than one Imperial Wraith to wilt in spite of their attached Aegeans’ best effort to boost it’s shields. Fleet ISC Destroyers were also playing havoc amongst Ulysses fleet. They bored in on their assigned targets, trying to score kills on the precious Aegeans who’s shield boosting capabilities were keeping Ulysses ships in the fight. They were met with a hail of PPC fire from the Aegean’s escorting Achilles. Opening up with as many of their PPC’s as they could bear on the approaching enemy, they sent out a near solid phalanx of bolts. It caught the first wave of hard charging Unity forces square, rapidly chewing through their shields and armor to kill the ship beneath. It was so intense that it forced the ISC Destroyers to break off and look for easier prey among the growing number of lamed Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths in Ulysses battle line. They never got a chance, for a squadron of Vaadwaur ships swooped down on them just as they were completing their turns and sent a rippling red energy wave into them. Impulse drive shorted out and the transferred kinetic kick of the weapon’s impact sent the ISC Destroyers spiraling out on random but linear flight paths. The Achilles’ and Vaadwaur ships finished off their now drifting targets with concentrated weapons fire. Then the Vaadwaur flitted off to execute similar attacks elsewhere in Ulysses formation.
ISS Valley Forge
“Section Iota Five is weakening, order surrounding vessels to shift position to compensate.” Ulysses said, his voice still calm even as his Flagship shook when a fresh volley slammed into her shields. He was hurting the enemy badly, using his close ranged firepower superiority given him by both his Phaser Lances and uprated quantum torpedoes to the hilt. But even this wouldn’t be enough, as he had known from the outset. The Galactic Unity’s shields were too much tougher than the Empire’s own. GU Battleships and Superdreadnoughts died hard, and his own losses were increasing as the enemy overcame their shock and shifted their manuvers to exploit the situation. But he must wait as long as possible before implementing Phase Two of his battle plan. Otherwise, it might not prove decisive enough, leaving him in a position where all he could do is order a retreat and even then most of his ships wouldn’t be able to break free given they lacked Slipstream drive.
On the holodisplay, his concave wall parted slightly and a fresh volley of quantums slipped through the gaps, fired from the fire support Nebulas, Steamrunners and New Orleans classes hanging well aft of the battle line. Far too many ships were IDed in the black and white of combat casualties, and the number was growing. Not yet, just a bit longer, just hold on a bit longer, he thought. His hands were constantly in motion, issuing target prioritizations, shifting fire, pulling back to survey the battlefield.
Commissar Stevens pierced the holographic veil. “Admiral, you must issue Phase Two.”
“Not yet Commissar.” Ulysses said without pausing his direction of the battle nor taking his eyes off of the holodisplay before him.
“Admiral, our ships are being decimated. You must issue the command before it’s to late! We could loose the battle…”
“As I told you already Commissar, not yet!” There was an edge in Ulysses voice now, his words almost a growl. “You signed off on my battle plan, so let me worry about its execution. Now sit down and let me do the job I swore to do when I joined Starfleet, or so help me, I’ll have you removed from the Flag Bridge for the duration of this battle!”
Commissar Stevens closed her mouth with an audible click. Ulysses cursed his temper silently, but continued to fight the battle while keeping his back to the Section 31 Commissar. Finally, she relented and retreated through the holodisplay’s aft section. There would very likely be repercussions to his defiance to his watchdog’s wishes, but that was a battle for another day. Right now, he had to ensure that as many of his people as possible and the billions on Lilith were around to see it.
ISS Voyager
Commodore Cavit kept his command tucked in tight with the wing of Akiras he was tasked with escorting. He had a squadron of Intrepids under his command, a scratch built unit made up from the odds and ends left over from the first battle. But even if it wasn’t as smooth in operation as Cavit would like it would have to do, for the enemy hadn’t given them any more time to work out the final kinks.
The Akiras had swept in on the enemy from their position along the fringes of Ulysses wall. The multicolored rainbow of weapons fire that filled space between the two opposing fleets gleamed dully off of the Akiras and his Intrepids charcoal gray armored hulls. Looping below the enemy wall, aiming for an apparent gap in its escort coverage, the small Imperial Battlegroup wrenched back the course to put themselves in a vertical climb parallel to the Unity’s formation. The Akiras torpedo tubes went into continuous rapid fire, space flashing bright as their small weapons pod birthed volley after volley of quantum torpedoes.
Cavit’s Intrepids joined in with their own quantum tubes, pumping out pairs of the uprated weapons steady as a metronome. Phaser arrays joined in the medley of death, lancing outward as fast as their capacitors charged and unleashing their destructive energies against the enemy. The shimmering blue/white spheroids angled away from their motherships, pulling near 90 degree turns to align with their targets. They bored in, slamming into paper thin shields and vaporizing the armor underneath. Phaser strikes, with almost surgical precision, cut deep glowing wounds into the already savaged warships. Cavit and the squadron he was escorting were rewarded with a brilliant flash aft of them. An ISC Superdreadnought’s warp core breached, turning the once powerful weapon of conquest into largely vaporized expanding cloud of debris. A howl of glee coursed through Voyager’s rebuilt Flag Bridge.
“Watch your screens, they aren’t liable to be too pleased with us for taking out one of their heavies and should be dispatching somebody to take us out before we can do it again.” Cavit said. Then, the tactical plot proved him right, for a squadron of ISC Battlecruisers broke off from their position to interpose themselves directly in the middle of their course. “Orders to the Squadron, Target those BC’s and give ‘em hell!” Shield reinforcement across the battlegroup shifted from their starboard to frontal shields arcs, and the already speeding Imperial warships boosted to maximum military power. All forward weapons systems on both Cavit’s Squadron and the Akiras they were escorting went into continuous rapid fire. The enemy responded in kind, blue/green ISC phasers crisscrossing with the amber/orange ones of the Empire and brilliant white/blue quantums passing the deep red hued orange plasma torpedoes.
Both ships disappeared as their conformal shield grids flared brightly under the assault, but neither flinched. At least until some of them started to die. The Akiras could put out an ungodly number of torpedoes for something their size, and with the new enhanced ones giving the torpedoes a far heavier punch, the ISC ships thicker shields were rapidly drained. Five star bright explosions and an abrupt cessation of enemy fire heralded another victory for Commodore Cavit’s charges even as his command shuddered slightly from impacting their leftover debris at a high percentage of lightspeed. The fresh chorus of cheers were cut off abruptly as the Intrepid class ISS Osiris blew up. Her shields had been pounded near flat in the short but pointed engagement, and her helmsman hadn’t been quick enough to dodge a particularly massive piece of debris left over from the ISC Battlecruisers’ destruction. The hunk of gutted but still thoroughly dense alloy blew through the Osiris’ virtually nonexistent shields and crumpled her hull with a mutual closing velocity in excess of 75 PSL apiece.
“Orders from the Flag, Commodore.” A com officer spoke into the deathly silence. “We are to come to course 334 mark 319 and render assistance to a squadron of Promies that have gotten into some heavy resistance.”
“Understood.” Cavit said after a beat. “Orders to the Squadron, form up and shift course to bearing 334 mark 319.”
Vaadwaur Warship 003
Falran disliked how the scabberous looking Terran PPC mounts hastily slapped onto all Vaadwaur ships ruined its otherwise sleek lines. But what he had no argument with was the increase in firepower they gave what remained of the Vaadwaur Fleet. The Terran commander, Admiral Vanguard, had originally proposed dispersing his ships throughout his fleet. He wanted them to act as support craft, using their Flux Waves to make enemy incursions into his rear areas that much easier to take out. But Falran had convinced him that the Vaadwaur ships would be far better off operating in concert with each other rather than trying to integrate them into a navy they had only a passing similarity with. The Vaadwaur were now operating in squadron level groups, stalking about Ulysses wall of battle, hitting targets assigned to them by the Terran commander.
“Pop up target in sector Beta 12.” His tactical officer said from his station, indicating that one of the Imperial squadrons hadn’t done a proper job and had allowed one of their assigned targets to slip past them.
“Show the Imperials how it’s done!” Falran said with a slight smile. Being able to show up the mighty Imperials, even in something as small as taking out a target that had leaked past their front line defenders, was something he relished. The Vaadwaur might be down, but they most certainly were not out.
“Coming up on target now.”
“Fire the Flux Wave.”
“Firing… NOW!”
On the main viewer, an undulating wave of energy spat outward from his ship. It struck the ISC Cruiser square, sending it into an uncontrolled spiral. It slammed into one of its companions, draining both of their shields considerably. Falran’s squadron opened fire, spitting streams of PPC bolts into the ISC’s weakened shields. They were not alone in their attack, for five squadrons of Imperial Fighters had converged on the luckless trio of ISC Cruisers as well. Six of the furiously maneuvering fighters were hit, flashing out of existence in the blink of an eye, but the combined firepower of the rest added to Falran’s own ships finished off the ISC ships soon thereafter.
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
“Divert Soulwolf Squadrons Four through Nine to take out those ISC ships.” Ulysses spoke as he highlighted the cluster of enemy vessels that were falling back from the frontlines more and more with each passing moment. Early attacks had been largely repulsed, and the ISC were using their superior speed to outdistance most pursuers. If they were allowed to get into PPD range to quickly, he would have no choice but to kick off phase two immediately.
36% of his ships were now combat ineffective. The enemy had over 41% of theirs in the same state, but their fleet had been bigger to begin with. ECCM allowed for fleeting glimpses through the EW haze, and close in attack runs gave infrequent snapshots of the enemy, letting him know that more and more shield power was being diverted forward to reinforce the enemy’s defenses as he battered at them without respite. The Forge bucked again, and this time damage alarms chimed above the otherwise near unnatural quiet of the Flag Bridge. Just a little while longer, hold on just a bit more and we can end this. He silently willed his ship and crew.
ISS Valley Forge, Main Bridge
The bridge was darkened slightly, lit more by control consoles and displays and the steady strobe of the Red Alert panels than the overhead lighting fixtures. There was a faint burnt synthetic smell as primary fuses melted into a puddle under an unexpected power surge in the EPS grid.
“Damage Report.” P’tel said from her throne in the center of the bridge.
“Slipstream Two took another hit.” Gabe Eton said grimly from the deputy tactical station. “The core’s offline and most of the section is depressurized and open to space. 100% casualties. Emergency forcefields aren’t responding, but section blast doors have deployed. The breach is cut off from the rest of the ship. Port Phaser Lance is gone, that last plasma salvo vaped the entire mount and took a good bite out of our primary hull. We have hull breaches on decks seven through 21 from frame four to frame 25. Most sections near the outer hull within that area are totally gone. 89% casualties within affected sections. PPC Turret Alpha Eight through Alpha 10 are offline. Primary, secondary and tertiary power leads are cut. Dispatching Damage Control teams.”
Lt. Sulu had been in the process of swinging the downed shield out of the way, but an ISC warship had fired his weapons at just the right instant to have them catch the edge of the downed shield and eat away at the Valley Forge’s armored hide. The fully regenerated and reinforced aft shield arc was now facing the Unity Fleets battle line, and the aft weapons were firing back defiance at them.
“Forward shields are regenerating.” Gabe continued. “But there’s going to be a large kink in our armor on our dorsal primary hull. Recommend that all future manuvers keep the breach out of direct line of fire if at all possible.”
ISS Valley Forge, Deck Five, near PPC Turret Alpha Eight
A jet of fire retardant foam sprayed out of a nozzle mounted on one of the Engineers synthetic arms, spraying a small flicker of flame into nonexistence. The nozzle folded back out of the way, falling into line with an assortment of various tools. The engineer extended his hands, grasping a hunk of alloy. His artificial muscles that were part of the engineering hard suit he wore strained to lift the collapsed frame member off of a trapped crewman. Basically a scaled down version of infantry power armor minus most of the protection and combat systems, it was used extensively by Starfleet engineers during battle situations, especially for damage control teams. There was a groan of stressed metal as the fractured frame member inched upwards. Another set of mechanical hands gripped the unconscious crewman under his shoulders and pulled, dragging his limp form out from under the collapsed debris. A medical tricorder was waved over him by the team’s medic, allowing for a quick diagnosis of the extent of the crewmen’s injuries.
“Get him to sickbay. Triage priority Beta.” The medic ordered. A pair of marines slipped him onto a gurney, rapidly strapped him in, then each grabbed an end and went jogging off down the hallway towards the nearest sickbay.
The damage control team’s supplemental marines, decked out in their power armor suits, were unrolling two power lead coils. They had been spliced into the closest working EPS trunk, and now only needed to be attached into the remains of the grid closest to the PPC Turret. Another Marine followed them in, stringing out a much thinner C&C datalink hard-line. The engineers strode towards the access panel where the connections would have to be made. On of them removed the cover, exposing the scorched, torn tubes beneath. The other surveyed the mess for a few seconds, then came to a decision. Reaching in, he brought out a torn datalink cable about as thick as a man’s thumb. A tool folded itself out from its stowed position along his forearm. There was a flash of light as it made contact with the cable above where it was torn, then the torn piece fell away, leaving only a cleanly cut end ready for reconnection. Taking a hold of the fresh datalink cable from the marine, the engineer let what little remained of the coil fall on the ground save for the end he grasped in his other hand.
The other engineer approached with a piece of pliable material that looked like a metallic bandage. The first engineer, using the suit’s excellent micro-movement servos, butted the two line segments together near perfectly. The second engineer applied his bandage, then deployed another tool. There was an audible humming and a rapidly strobeing purple light. Quickly, a sizzling sound was heard. The whole process lasted a handful of seconds, then the engineers stepped back. Aside from a slight bulge at the connection, there was very little to tell the difference between it and the rest of the cable.
The Marines manhandled their EPS conduits towards the exposed trunk. Fresh tools deployed from the engineers, sending out arcs of intense white lightening where they met along the connection between the conduits and the dead trunk.
ISS Valley Forge, Main Sickbay
Anna and her staff worked furiously to save the seemingly endless stream of broken bodies that had begun to pile up out into the hallway. Plasma burns, shrapnel wounds, smoke inhalation, crushed and broken bones and all combinations possible by mixing them and varying the degree came across her operating tables. It was truly hell, and something not often shown in the entertainment holos. They all too often showed only sanitized ships destroying other ships, ignoring how beings aboard them died horrible deaths or were severely wounded.
A nurse swept a neuroelectrical suppresser across a wounded man’s upper torso. He had third degree plasma burns to his upper torso and a broken arm. His thrashes of pain became low moans as the signals his pain receptors generated stopped going to his brain. She switched tools, pulling out the dermal/muscle regenerator and using it to repair the lion’s share of the burn damage.
“Hold her down.” Anna’s stern command was heard over the cries of the wounded. Her patient was bucking wildly, and there was a large splinter of bulkhead sticking out of her chest. Then the monitoring sensors shifted from irregular pulsing to a steady beep. “Damn it! Seven cc’s of leporazine!” There was a soft hiss as the hypo was pressed to the woman’s neck. There was no change to the steady beep. “Neural stimulators!” The small, stamp sized tools were stuck on the now still woman’s temples. Anna pressed their activation button. A whine was heard, and the body convulsed. But there was no change. Again, Anna pressed the activation button, another whine was heard, and again the body convulsed. This time, the steady beep shifted to something approaching normal. “That’s it, fight! Alright, let’s get this splinter out and get her patched up before she crashes on us again…” She told the surrounding nurses as she moved down the biobed to look closer at the hunk of alloy jutting out of the woman’s chest.
ISCV Purity of Heart
Teresa’s detached units were nearing nominal PPD range. They had been peppered by the Terran’s damnable enhanced torpedoes, some of the lighter ones dying, paying the price so that their brethren could reach range. They had been smart in their manuvers, hiding behind the bulk of her ships of the line, sheltering in the shadow of their potent defenses until they were nearly far enough out. Only then did they shape their course upward, terminating just high enough to gain clear firelanes against the Terrans capital ships. The Soulwolfs and Cobras that had been tailing them virtually since they began their maneuver finally caught up to them, but that was a mixed blessing. For while the Imperials could now engage the ISC vessels with their energy armament, the ISC battle line could also now engage them with their PPD’s. More of Teresa’s detached units were cut down by the Terran’s potent Phaser Lances, but they were all soon dead as the massed aft PPD batteries of her entire Fleet gave voice to their displeasure. Soulwolfs may be quick and heavily armed for an Imperial Destroyer, but their shields and armor were little better than most other Destroyers as a result. Within seconds, they were all glowing wreckage having taken only a handful of the enemy with them. The Cobras faired even worse, for with the Soulwolfs removed from the equation, every phaser and plasma torpedo emplacement the detached units possessed could be trained on their elimination exclusively.
“Fleet Marshal, I believe that we have nailed down the location of their Flagship! They, just as we, are rerouting fleet orders through other ships to prevent their localizing our Flagship.” The process sent orders through the short ranged secure datalink to nearby ships, using their com systems to transmit rather than the flagship’s own, decreasing the likelihood of the enemy deducing which ship was the enemy Flagship and executing a decapitation strike against it. But given time and a little luck, the enemy might deduce where the center of the near random pattern was and get an approximate location as too one’s Flagship. “CIC thinks that they have localized the enemy’s flagship in sector 24 grid 13.”
Teresa dour face switched to a wolfishly. “Got you now you sneaky bastard.” She whispered, then spoke loud and clear. “Flag to detached units. Engage the Terrans with PPD’s. Fireplan Unity Alpha on sector 24 grid 13.”
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
Now. Ulysses thought as his final units pursuing the detached ISC units were cut down. “All ships! Execute Phase Two! Repeat, execute Phase Two…” His words were drowned out by the sounds of tortured alloy as the first PPD wave slammed into his command.
ISS Vigilance
Suzette could only scowl at the tactical plot in consternation as her ships flew farther and farther away from the titanic battle burning space at Point Invictus. They were totally ignored now, as the Unity Fleet was fully engaged with Ulysses smaller wall of battle. All her firepower was forced to sit and wait, not contributing to the battle, not aiding their comrades as they were slowly picked off one by one. It was maddening, being ordered to do nothing. Her hands gripped the upholstery of her command chair’s armrests like talons. The ISC ships that had fallen back from the main battle lines slowed. On her tactical plot, they showed a deadly hail of weapons fire blot out their pursuing fighters even as long ranged PPD fire claimed the Soulwolfs.
“All ships! Execute Phase Two! Repeat, e…” the Flag Bridge’s speakers blared to life, shattering the tension filled silence that had settled on it and jerking the crew into action. They had been ordered to act immediately, not to wait for Suzette to repeat the command.
Holocloaks dropped, showing her ships for what they truly were, Steamrunners and Nebulas of Imperial Starfleet. Ulysses had thinned his fire support squadrons to dangerous levels in order to put them into the Vigilance Taskforce, but now that calculated risk was going to pay him back in spades. The Taskforce stopped its motion towards the corridor loci and swung about as if directed by one mind. All torpedo tubes went into continuous rapid fire, birthing tsunami after tsunami of enhanced quantums that began to home in on the enemy from far beyond normal torpedo range. Steamrunners might be potent fire support platforms, but they didn’t hold a candle to a standard configuration Nebula.
Each of the Taskforce’s 21 Nebulas including the Vigilance spat 51 quantums from their tubes in both their massive saucer and their attached weapons pod. The 26 Steamrunners spat out 32 apiece from their quad tubes. Over 1900 torpedoes were vomited into space. Three seconds later, another salvo, equally as dense, followed. Three seconds after that, a third was born…and unlike those used by the rest of Ulysses Fleet, these were implementing the upgraded torpedoes full capabilities.
ISCV Purity of Heart
“Fleet Marshal, the Imperial merchant ves…”
“I see them.” Teresa said with a scowl. What the devil were they doing? As she watched, the now maneuvering merchantmen transformed into Imperial warships. What were they doing there, what possible advantage could they have by sneaking past her fleet and dropping their masks now? They must have been responsible for deploying the mine field she had stumbled into, that much was quite evident. But WHY would they choose now to show their true nature? It couldn’t be to launch weapons, for they were far to far away for that. So what could it be?
“Dispatch Superdreadnought Battlegroup 31 to take them out if they fail to retreat or surrender. And send a recon drone to scout them out. Something doesn’t feel right about this.”
On her tactical plot, her detached units continued their merciless pounding of the Terran BB’s and SD’s in the general location where the enemy flagship should be. If it wasn’t already out of action, it soon would be. And then, the rest of the Terran fleet would undergo the same systematic pounding that was right now being reserved to a handful of its fellows. Soon, this battle would end, and the sector would come fully into the peace of the Galactic Unity.
Oddly, all Imperial vessels operating in the rear of her formation suddenly broke away to the periphery, disengaging from attack runs and accelerating hard to beyond the edge of her wall. Now what were the Terrans up to? A brief flicker on the tactical plot caught her attention. Her eyes narrowed. The flicker returned, looking like a massive swarm of sparks dancing where nothing should be. “What the hell..” The recon drone she had sent aft to scope out the Imperial fire support ships was nearing the cloud. Suddenly, it blossomed into thousands of targets. With a scowl, she zoomed the tactical plot in closer. The targets were small, only about the size of a… TORPEDO! The thought hit her at the same time that the enhanced quantums brought their shields online. Teresa’s eyes bulged.
“All units, emergency shield reinforcement aft!”
Prescott’s Star
The enhanced quantums, all but invisible at long range thanks to their small signatures and lack of active shields, suddenly showed themselves as they brought their shield grids up. They numbered in the thousands, and they crashed down on the weakened Unity fleet’s aft arcs like the waves of an incoming tide. Teresa had just issued her order when the first deadly volley struck. Weakened shields were saturated to the breaking point, armor boiled away exposing the weaker superstructure beneath to damage. Whole squadrons of ISC Superdreadnoughts and Battleships were knocked out of the fight, but the destruction didn’t end, for scant seconds aft the first wave hit, the next one struck, wreaking the same havoc. And still more appeared on tactical plots as the enhanced quantums brought their shield grids online, a seeming endless flood of them.
ISCV Purity of Heart
Teresa lurched forward, nearly thrown out of her chair. Lighting flickered throughout the Flag Bridge, and the tactical display nearly died before snapping back on. The picture it showed wasn’t good. Nearly 78% of her ships were down, and the number was growing with every passing moment. Her choices flashed through her head. She couldn’t retreat, for that would expose her to fire from both directions and in her weakened state her ships couldn’t survive it. Neither could she stay and continue to fight. She could hurt the Terrans more before she died, but at the rate she was loosing ships she could only hurt them a bit more. There was only one possible course open to her, distasteful as it was.
“Signal all ships, stand down and surrender. Open a channel to the Terran Fleet. We surrender! Cease fire. We surrender!”
“Fleet marshal?” An aide said, his expression stunned and his voice shocked.
“You heard me damn you! Do it now, before more die needlessly!” And pray that the Terran commander chooses to give us quarter, she thought.
So you guys really liked my first large scale Fleet vs. Fleet engagement? This is the first time I tried to impliment believable tactics rather than just throwing in deus-ex machina to solve the problem. Glad it was well recieved. I was a little worried it would fall on its face.
I'd say you worry too much, but then again when I write I am very critical of my own work. If I were you, I'd send the manuscript of Unity to someone to try to get this published under a new series of ST books
A Fury could snap him like a twig with a thought. Now if for some reason the Fury Pair couldn't use their ESP powers, things come closer to even, but the Fury can still react and move faster and has omnidirectional sensors and personal shielding 'built in', to say nothing of the nasty things their tech can do if given a chance. If you get a Fury after you, you're already dead. It's just a question of how much 'fun' the Fury Pair want to have with you before they kill you. You'll see what I mean in the next story. 
the whole d-class thing must be to subtle 4 me. Or maybe it only affected my subconcious
and that's all I'm saying now. I need to check over it again but right now I require sleep. It will be posted when I get online next. (10-16 hours)
Great battle, well done.