The City Ship maintained its position in the upper atmosphere as the enemy fleet creeped closer, but once the fleet was close enough to begin the assault however it was the City itself that would be the first to strike. It released bolts of blue energy from each of it's platforms and as each bolt hit the barrier of the forward enemy ship it rippled and permeated around the shield, the final hit caused it to rapidly fluctuate as it was barely able to hold against the accumulated energy of the attack.
The lead Ori ship slowed as another overtook its position to provide protection from the next wave of bolts that would be launched from the City Ship, the surrounding Ori ships opened fire on the City with a flurry of Ion bolts which rippled into the great shield as they struck like a rock hitting water. The City had however prepared it's next assault as a second volley was launched at the ship now providing cover to the unshielded enemy.
Inside the bridge of the ship the Prior could be seen looking out through the viewer as each shot struck the shield, a loud thud could be heard and a shaking of the ship felt with each successive blow.
"Shields are failing!" a warrior informed the Prior.
A few moments later however the Priors attention was peaked elsewhere as upon hearing the transport chamber doors, he turned to see a small device located in the center of the chamber. It was emitting a hum at an increasingly louder pitch, the Priors eyes were now wide open as he realized what had happened and that it was now too late to act, the device initiated with an incredibly bright expanding ball of white energy firing out from its center like an expanding wave passing through the walls of the entire ship out to the surrounding space briefly before dissipating to nothing.
The Prior and the others on the bridge now exchanged puzzled glances pondering the significance of what had just transpired, however the true purpose of the device was revealed to them moments later as power began to drain across the ship. The nose of the ship had started to glow blue as it prepared to fire on the City but dimmed as it was robbed of energy. The City Ship was now taking fire from the majority of the enemy fleet but released another volley on the nearest ship in range, moments later a white wave of energy erupted from it as it too went dark.
The enemy fleet had now all entered weapons range as bolt after bolt pounded against the City shield creating ripples across increasingly larger sections of the barrier as it struggled against the bombardment. However the shield began to hum louder and oscillated at a faster and higher pitch as more power was seemingly routed to it, the star drive behind the City sprang to life and began to propel it forwards towards the incoming fleet. As it gained speed the great barrier was still being pounded by strike after strike in rapid succession.
The Prior and the Specialist looked to each other, curious as to what intention this new tactic held as they stood watching the City on approach.
"They intend to hasten the inevitable," the Prior beamed as the City grew closer.
The Specialist hurried over to the tactical console to view readings from the City Ship before turning back to the Prior.
"We must jump to hyper space as soon as possible!" the Specialist shouted out, agitated.
The City had now reached it's maximum speed however the shield was now reducing itself slowly around the center section, providing protection to the more critical areas of the structure as it hurtled towards the bulk of the fleet.
"There is no need for concern, their destruction is mere moments away," the Prior assured.
"You don't understand!" the Specialist argued as the City Ship passed by them heading into the heart of the Armada. He ran to the flight control console and threw the operator out of the way as he hammered down on the controls, the ship now increased to its maximum sub-light velocity away from the others.
From the center of the City a large wave of energy exploded outwards encompassing the ships surrounding it, penetrating their shields and passing through the hulls rendering them without power. The City Ship itself emerging at the other side of the now dormant fleet floated due to it's remaining inertia heading towards a fiery grave within the twin stars of Astria.
In orbit around the 3rd moon the Divinity lay dormant still unable to assert any action and forced to watch the battle from afar via the still active sensory arrays.
Adantus was pacing once more until he noticed a bright flash of light on the viewer far in the distance near the planet, moments later as the light began to subside his attention was brought much closer as a very large hyperspace rift opened, from which the colonial vessel Unity emerged along with several transports. Adantus stood dumbfounded at the sight before him as the giant vessel settled into a higher orbit above them.
Near the planet of Astria however one vessel remained reasonably unaffected by the wave as it had reached sufficient distance to not be disabled, the Specialist stood assessing console readouts as the displays flickered slightly as he worked.
"The shielding I was able to generate through emergency energy reserves absorbed most of the wave, we have minor fluctuations in primary power," he advised the Prior.
"What of the fleet?" the Prior questioned.
"Disabled ... however it is temporary, we simply need to purge the power conduits of the wave energy manually on the affected vessels. However we have no ability to communicate the method from here," the Specialist offered before pausing as a thought occurred in his mind.
A fighter emerged from the bay of the ship heading towards the first first of the crippled warships, entering it's bay the fighter slowed and deposited a small circular platform onto the bay floor before turning and shooting out of the chamber back into space.
Seconds later the platform sprang to life as rings rose out of it arranging themselves into a vertical column, once they had reached the required height a bright orange light filled the space inside them, depositing the Specialist before dropping back down to the platform. He was now wearing an advanced EVA style helmet so that he could breathe in the bay now completely devoid of atmosphere. He began to walk towards the air lock unaffected by the lack of gravity as his boots magnetically provided the gravity that the ship could not.
Upon reaching the air lock he removed a panel from the side to reveal the inner workings of the door controls which were dark indicating no available power. He Disconnected the conduit from the base of the control unity and removed the affected backup power cell which he replaced with one he carried. As he inserted it the crystals hummed and Specialist waved his hand across the sensor opening the airlock door so he could proceed. Removing the central panel in the air tight chamber he repeated the steps on the device inside he used his Wrist Tool to remotely activate the system required to pressurize the chamber, once it had completed establishing the atmosphere and pressure within the room he removed the power cell and moved on to the remaining door to gain access to the rest of the ship.
The engineer on board was frantically trying to restart the main core causing it to build energy for several seconds before moments later dying down again, the level of frustration could be seen on the engineers face as without access to diagnostics he could not ascertain the cause of the problem.
"You will not succeed brother, the conduits are highly charged with positive variance current, we need to isolate and purge the charge to the secondary conduits before the core can be re-activated," the Specialist advised the engineer as he entered the room. The engineer smiled at the revelation and rallied his men to begin the necessary adjustments to the power systems.
Adantus was now getting visibly angry as there had been no contact since the massive vessel arrived, the ship was of Alteran design but he knew not if it was of Ori or Astrian origin. His question was soon to be answered however as right in front of him as he turned whilst pacing the holographic visage of Thorin appeared.
"Greetings commander," Thorin smiled.
"Its about time!" Adantus shouted out, happy and relieved to see the Commander alive and well.
"I hope I find you well commander Adantus, it has been some time since we last spoke face to face," he said as he nodded in respect. "In a manner of speaking," he half laughed referring to his holographic form.
"Indeed it has," the Commander said as he returned the nod of respect, "But would you mind explaining why you have locked me out of my own ship and forced us to watch as hundreds of Astrians died in a futile battle against the largest Ori fleet assembled?" he said, his tone getting progressively passionate.
"I apologize for the subterfuge commander, but no loss of life has been incurred this day," Thorin said, smiling.
"We detected life signs ... Commander," the Tactical Officer elaborated.
"Life signs generated by technology," Thorin offered as he pointed back towards his chest indicating the answer.
"Life modules," Adantus exclaimed as he looked to his tactical officer. A device typically implanted in the chest of an Alteran and guardian of ones health, it would monitor an individuals condition and if problems arose the users personal wrist tool would alert them to the nature of the problem and if needed to their assigned physician. In the case of ship sensor readings, the devices would supply location information as well as a summary on the health of the person being detected. Adantus realized that Thorin must have faked the readings to give the Ori a valid target as part of a distraction.
"Why are we here Thorin?" Adantus asked.
"When we received word of the Ori's approach we were in the process of evacuating the colony to Unity," he said as he looked up to signify he was speaking of the vessel above them, "We did not have sufficient time remaining and so suffice it to say our plan required ... adjustment. Once the remaining colonists have transferred from the transport vessels to Unity, we will embark on a journey across the stars and will never return."
"That's an impressive ship commander," he commented regarding Unity, bypassing the notion of sadness from the news of their departure.
"Indeed ... However for the moment Unity is vulnerable and although we have temporarily subdued the Ori fleet the same tactic will not yield results in a second confrontation," Thorin added.
"Which is where we come in," Adantus smiled as he realized the implication. "We will do what we can, old friend".
Thorin turned slightly as if his attention was momentarily distracted, "We are now approaching the limit of our time together, we must avoid detection as long as possible ... It has been good speaking with you again Commander, be well," Thorin said as his form disappeared.
Moments later the Tactical Officer was alerted to an update on his display and the ships engines began to hum, springing to life as they powered back to normal operation. The Flight Operator smiled as he had now regained full control over the Divinity.
"We are back in operation commander."
"Good, now we wait." Adantus ordered as he looked out the view screen to the ship that was now under his care, he did not know what he could do against the odds now stacked against him and his crew, but with the advantage of the stealth technology they could at the very least buy time for Unity to awaken.