—Chapter 25—
The combined Romulan/Klingon fleet was still some five hours outside the Sol system which contained Earth, when every ship in that fleet received an automated hail from the Terran Empire. The message was brief: "I, Charles Tucker, I, Lord Emperor of the Terran Empire wish to sue for peace and offer a negotiated solution to the approaching mixed Romulan and Klingon fleet. To push through with your intended attack on Earth is senseless when you can achieve your goals by a bloodless victory, but if my offer of a negotiated solution is ignored, rest assured, my fleet will resist your attempts at conquest, and it will do so quite effectively."
On receipt of that message, the Romulan Praetor Rhi'ell contacted his counterpart among the Klingons, General Moklor.
"Well?" said Rhi'ell.
"I don't like it," said Moklor, arguably the less cerebral of the two leaders, but one well versed in the art of war. "These Human vermin have never backed down from conflict before."
"True," said Rhi'ell, "but it doesn't answer my question, General, and they've never face this sort of a threat before."
"We go in with on high alert," said Moklor. "Given the number of ships in our fleet, we'll be able to create a hell of a sensor net. No way that they'll achieve tactical surprise, if we do it right."
"Yes, General," said Rhi'ell. "I agree."
Four hours & forty-seven minutes later, the invading fleet dropped out of warp just outside of Pluto's orbital path, and headed for Earth at 1/20th impulse, each and every ship of the six hundred conducting sensor sweeps, which painted a wonderfully complete image of the tactical layout in this star system. The Humans would have found it impossible to hide even a single mine from the invaders, though it appeared that they intended no treachery, as the entire Human fleet was assembled and spread out in a rough line across some two hundred kilometers wide, and twenty kilometers high, just outside of the Moon's lunar orbital path.
The invading fleet made a beeline for the Humans, adopting the same general tactical posture as the Terran fleet, though as a function of its greater numbers, the invading fleet was more tightly packed and thus more intimidating. At least the Humans had made an attempt at puffing their chests, and had presented that fabulous new ship the Orions had been blabbing about as they streamed away from the Terran Empire side of the Green Belt. Yes, that one ship was presented prominently in the place of honor, surrounded in a circular pattern by six clusters of six ships each, the rest of the Human fleet dispersed to one side or the other of that formation. Neither the Romulan Rhi'ell, nor the Klingon Moklor were impressed, not now when they outnumbered the Humans at a 3 to 1 ratio, so they ordered that their flagships should take an opposing position to the Terran formation, surrounded by their fleet, stacked some forty decks high, fifteen decks higher than the Human formation, and seemingly much more menacing.
Both Rhi'ell and Moklor viewed the Human formation on the main video monitor on their respective Bridges, and each leader had the image of the other displayed as a picture in picture.
"Their shields are up," said Moklor, "but their weapons are not powered."
Rhi'ell nodded: it was true that it would only take two or three seconds for weapons to be powered up, but still, it at least indicated some willingness to negotiate. Possibly, thought Rhi'ell.
"I noted that fact as well, General," said Rhi'ell.
"I'm looking at sensor data now, Rhi'ell. Not a single weapons signature in that entire fleet. We have nothing to lose by hearing the Humans out," said Moklor. "Contact them, and share your data stream with me."
Rhi'ell nodded his agreement, and looked at his Comm officer, and that Romulan acted on his captain's unspoken command.
"We're being hailed, Majesty," said the Defiant's Comm officer, looking at the Emperor, who was captaining the Defiant.
"Put it up," said Trip, "and share the feed with the Zhael and the Vulcans."
A moment later, the Bridge monitor of the Defiant showed a split view of the two flagships, Romulan and Klingon respectively, then the feed switched to the Bridge view, displaying Rhi'ell and Moklor, each in their appointed portion of the screen
"My Lord Emperor," said Rhi'ell, saluting the Human standing on the Bridge of the Defiant, "I salute you on your ascension to the throne."
Moklor followed the Romulan's lead in his turn: this universe was a dark place in many ways, but despite that, or perhaps because of it, manners and decorum were important fixtures in each and every culture and species, perhaps because fortunes changed places so often, and it served no purpose to antagonize an opponent who might have his foot on your throat the next day, or next week.
"Thank you, Admiral Rhi'ell," said Trip, for the Romulan was known from past conflicts, then looked at Moklor. "General Moklor, your name is known far and wide across the Terran Empire. Though we drove you off in your last foray into our terrain, your handling of your ships was masterful. By all accounts, we barely prevailed over your fleet."
Moklor bowed his head, proud that his actions were respected, and that his honor was acknowledged even by his enemies.
"Gratitude, Majesty," said Moklor. "But it seems that we find ourselves at odds once more, and this time, I have the advantage."
"I can see why you might think so, General Moklor," said Trip, taking the captain's chair, the bracelet on his left wrist clicking as it made contact with the built in arm rest of the captain's chair, the armrest through which the power and data cables ran in order to service the built in slender console built into the armrest. "But this ship of mine is quite special, and it has many weapons with which you're simply not prepared to resist. Would you like to see a minor demonstration, which just my serve to avoid open combat between us both."
"Why not, Majesty," said Moklor, barely suppressing a contemptuous grin: a Klingon warrior could not be cowed into submission by fear, or novel weapons.
"The female to the left of you," said Trip. "Is she of any personal significance to you?"
"No," said Moklor.
Trip sent a command to the Tantalus Field device through his bracelet, and the Klingon female screamed briefly as she disintegrated from the deck of the Klingon flagship in the span of 1.3 seconds, to the astonishment of every person sharing this video feed, and to the entire Bridge of the Defiant, and most of all T'Pol who had known nothing of this hidden power of the Defiant.
"Neat trick, my Lord Emperor," said Moklor, "but I'm not impressed."
"Really?" said Trip. "I could vanish the crew of your entire Bridge, or Engineering, or even an entire ship, in the blink of an eye, right before I move on to the next, and the next, and the next, at a speed which would surprise you…"
That was true, for the bracelet interfaced Trip's thoughts to the Tantalus Field device at lightning speed, capable of performing the desired operations far, far faster than simply manipulating the Tantalus Field manually.
"Respectfully, Majesty," said Rhi'ell, "your weapon, while interesting, depends on the Defiant, and I assure you, the Defiant will be our first target, should you choose combat, over submission. I doubt that ship will live long enough to alter the course of battle."
"That may or not be true," said Trip, "but you didn't really think I'd rely on just one weapon, do you?"
"You said you wanted to negotiate a surrender, Majesty," said Rhi'ell. "So what is your offer?"
"Actually, I offered a negotiated solution, not surrender. I'm offering you a chance to leave our territory with your lives," said the Emperor. "If you don't take it, now, I'm going to hold your people responsible, and as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to invade your territory, and I'm going to burn it down. Burn it all down."
Moklor started laughing at that, joined by the fellow Klingons on the Bridge, and even the Romulan Rhi'ell laughed a cultured laugh… and then the mouth of Hell opened up, and reached out for the invading fleet, as three of the six cluster of ships spread apart and the three rail cannons arranged in a triangular pattern around the Defiant began firing directly into the tightly packed ranks of the Romulan and Klingon ships: each cannon mounted 800 barrels, firing some 720,000 steel marbles per minute, for a grand total of some 2,160,000 projectiles per minute, all ripping through the Romulan and Klingon shields in seconds, and immediately afterward through their ships.
Although the invaders had scanned for weapons signatures, and spotted none, the amount of energy used by the rail cannons was insignificant compared to the energy requirements of the phaser cannon banks used on the Terran warships, since rail cannons fired through the manipulation of magnetic fields, which sped the projectiles faster and faster along the 200 meter/656 foot long barrel to a terminal velocity of 900km/560 miles per second, and all in all the rail cannons were much more effective than phasers, their only major shortcoming being the need to stockpile, carry and replenish the steel projectiles, which was a minor hassle for a planetary defense system, but a major problem on a traveling starship.
That one mistake on the parts of Admiral Rhi'ell and General Moklor cost them their lives, and the lives of some 175 ships over the course of the 47 seconds that it took for the invading fleet to scatter and move outside the range of the still blazing rail guns, only to then be swamped by the Terran Empire fleet which burned another 82 ships, before retreating at the Emperor's command in the hopes of luring the invaders back within the range of the rail guns, though the invaders were not fools, and wanted no part of that.
With those two moves on the Emperor's part, the two fleets had reached a rough numerical parity, and now morale aboard the Terran ships soared, while that of the soldiers aboard the invading fleet plummeted, and that on top of the fact that much of the command structure of the invading fleet vanished during the first salvo of the rail guns. The determining factor though, was when ship after ship began reporting their command and engineering crews just vanishing from the ship, as the Emperor used the Tantalus Field to best effect, and with that, the invading fleet scattered and made way for home, and with that victory the long reign of the Emperor Charles Tucker began, and the secrets of the Romulan cloaking device passed on to the Humans.
The Emperor made his way to Sick Bay now that the battle was over, and he moved quickly, for his mate had been hurt in the initial press during which the Terran fleet had destroyed the 82 enemy ships, as the Defiant had been the spearpoint of that attack, and had taken damage in the process, and some casualties, T'Pol among them.
As Trip stepped in Sick Bay, he saw a number of wounded being cared for by Phlox and his nurses, and Trip caught the doctor's eye, and said, "T'Pol?"
Phlox pointed to the East end of Sickbay, and Trip made his way there, to find T'Pol seated on a sick bed, head lowered, and Trip made his way to her side, after drawing closed a curtain so that they might have a degree of privacy. The Vulcan saw him from the corner of her eye, and turned her face away from the man as Trip made his way to stand in front of T'Pol. Despite T'Pol's attempt to conceal the right side of her face, Trip placed his hand beneath her chin and gently turned T'Pol's face, his heart going out to her as he saw the heavy bandages which covered that side of the Vulcan's face. He sighed, though it was all part and parcel of her choice to be here, on a ship of war, when she should have been on Vulcan.
"The doctor said he's unsure if he can save my eye, and he says even surgical intervention may not be able to eliminate the scars on my face completely," said T'Pol, avoiding his glance, and Trip felt a heavy, dull feeling through the Bond, and identified it as despair. "I will leave for Vulcan tomorrow, my Lord Emperor."
Trip reached up and caressed T'Pol's unhurt cheek with the back of his fingers, and said, "I can not allow my mate to distance herself from me, or lose herself to grief. You still have your duty to the Empire and to your Emperor, my dear, so if it comes to that we'll just get you a spiffy eye patch. You'll look quite intimidating, which is a fitting look for an Emperor's mate. Except in my bed. There, you'll be a patched kitten with a sweet smile."
The words the man was spouting were meaningless to T'Pol, but the feeling which flowed from his end of the Bond to suffuse her body was quite meaningful, for it was an unconditional love.
"If you say so, my Lord Emperor," said T'Pol, feeling hopeful now despite the streak of amusing cynicism which was part of her nature. "I suppose I could comb my hair over the patch, if it came to that."
"That's my girl," said Trip, stealing a kiss from his mate. "The battle's done, T'Pol. Let's go to my quarters for tonight, and we'll take tomorrow as it comes."