The Long War
Chapter Five: Thunder and Lightning
USS Hibernia led the way. Task Force Twenty-Two was sitting in front of a small fleet of Klingon ships, ten K'T'Inga class Battlecruisers and a dozen B'Rel Birds of Prey. Hibernia was positioned directly in front of a pair of Battlecruisers.
"Commander Dalton, have all available phaser batteries target the Klingon ship to our port side. Lock Torpedoes onto the starboard target. Do not fire until you receive a direct order." Lowe was usually a fairly casual commander, but as soon as a target entered his sights all other priorities were relegated to the back of his mind and he demanded strict military protocol.
Once, some of his men might have complained, but not now. They'd served with him too long and seen him save them once too often to ever question him. "Now what the devil is Kirk up to?" Lowe muttered silently.
"Klingon Commander. You have entered space belonging to the United Federation of Planets. Withdraw immediately to your side of the border or we may have to remove you. Forcibly." He knew he shouldn't have added the threat to the end of that statement, but James Kirk had trouble being civil to Klingons.
In truth, he wanted to do nothing except blast them out of the stars and be done with them. A Klingon had murdered his son and he would never forgive them for it. David hadn't even been a warrior; he'd been a scientist, murdered because a Klingon had wanted to make a point. The Klingon leader replied instantly, his image appearing on the main view screen. "I am Commander Krunj. You cannot dictate where I go or where my ships go. Move aside; I have no quarrel with you at this time. But if you impede us on our way through this area of space, we will destroy you."
Krunj cut off the transmission and his ships moved forward. Kirk had no choice. "Task Force order, all ships open fire. Weapons free."
Hibernia leapt into the fight. Her two forward torpedo launchers fed a stream of projectile into a battlecruiser. The destroyer Falcon joined in with a stream of rapid phaser pulses and a burst of torpedos. The frigate Woden joined them in pounding the beleaguered Battlecruiser.
It exploded in a spectacular boil of light. Hibernia's phasers continued pounding a second Battlecruiser as she tried to bring her torpedo launchers to bear. The Klingons were now irrevocably in the fight. Three Birds of Prey strafed the small cruiser and the Battlecruiser brought its massive forward armaments to bear.
Kirk saw Hibernia and two other ships attacking a Battlecruiser. It exploded, a good omen; the first kill belonged to Starfleet. He ordered Enterprise to engage a flight of Birds of Prey.
Individually the small ships couldn't stand up to the famed Heavy Cruiser. Together they dodged torpedos and shot stuttering pulses of disruptor energy into the shields.
As the Enterprise rocked from another volley of hits, Kirk ordered, "When they come around for another pass, have all phaser batteries target the lead ship. Destroy it if you can, but at the least make sure they know they've been hit."
From tactical Gu've'yi responded, "Aye sir. All dorsal phaser batteries are standing by. Ventral batteries are on incident fire." Those three short sentences conveyed an entire wealth of information if you understood the dialect.
The Birds of Prey had been very careful to stay away from the forward torpedo launcher, which meant they'd been concentrating on the dorsal, or top, surface where the armament was lighter. Gu've'yi's tactical station was fully capable of controlling every weapon mounted on the Enterprise, but in heavy large scale combat like this there was too much for one person to handle.
In this situation a team of gunners in several control rooms controlled each phaser battery while the tactical officer co-ordinated phaser fire and managed shield settings. Torpedo control was dependent on the ship; some ships transferred torpedo control to the helm, some ships left torpedo controls to the tactical officer, and other ships, like Enterprise had torpedo control routed to the First Officer's station.
Gu've'yi had overridden the dorsal phaser batteries and placed them under his direct control. As the three Birds of Prey moved in for another strafing run he hit a large red button. All three batteries opened up with a stream of full power phaser blasts.
The leading Bird of Prey shuddered as the first phaser blast hit. Then more followed, a virtual torrent of phaser energy pounded the small ship. Its shields flickered, then failed. They were never designed for that kind of punishment. The Klingon frigate's life ended in a spectacular explosion as it released its complement of antimatter in an uncontrolled reaction that vaporized
whatever wreckage remained.
"Good work. Keep hitting them; the rest won't be as easy, but take them out as fast as you can." Enterprise shuddered once gain as the pair of Birds of Prey strafed once again. This time they dodged nimbly and were careful not to get caught in the deadly crossfire like their sister ships had. They took hits, but nothing like the torrent that had killed the first ship.
Captain Randall of the USS Constantinople was in a rather tight spot. He was trying to fight it out with a quartet of Klingon Battlecruisers while a pair of Birds of Prey harassed the Heavy Cruiser as best they could.
He glanced at the tactical display on the main viewer. So far Task Force Twenty-Two was doing very well. Somehow Enterprise seemed to be getting off lightly.
The same was not true of his ship. The Belknap class vessel shuddered as another concentrated volley hit home. "Maintain fire. Maximum rate Torpedo launch on the starboardmost Battlecruiser." Randall's voice sounded almost like an automaton. People reacted to combat in different ways; some grew excited and flamboyant, while others, such as Randall, became calmer, almost withdrawn, as it got more violent.
"Transfer fire to the portmost Battlecruiser." The first Battlecruiser they'd been hitting had fallen back with it's main reactor knocked out. Not a kill, but a mission kill was sufficient for Task Force Twenty Two's Second Squadron and its flagship the Constantinople.
"Order Antares to sweep under us and strike our target." His communications officer reacted swiftly.
"Aye sir. Antares acknowledges the order and is moving to comply." The lithe Siva class Frigate USS Antares moved with admirable grace as it flashed by a pair of Battlecruiser and then swept up from under the Constantinople to hit the Battlecruiser in its belly.
The concentrated phaser and torpedo strike to its ventral surface combined with the pounding being delivered by Constantinople was too much. The shields flickered and died. The last Torpedo fired by the Antares struck directly onto the hull and it's detonation sent the Battlecruiser reeling off right into its sister ship. The two detonated in a nova-like flash that shook the Antares and weakened its shields.
The Antares Captain moved to open a channel to congratulate Captain Randall when it happened. The last remaining Battlecruiser fired a full salvo of Torpedoes and Disruptor bolts. Constantinople's shields took the blast full on, and then they flickered. Only for a second, but it was enough. A Bird of Prey fired a full disrupter volley straight into the Bridge dome.
With a massive flash, the dome exploded. For a handful of seconds she listed uncontrollably before the secondary command center was able to bring the ship under control. While this was going on the Antares had whipped about and poured phaser fire into the Bird of Prey. The small ship disintegrated as Antares sent a single Photon Torpedo straight down its throat.
"Constantinople's been hit hard. They took a direct hit to the bridge, no survivors. The third officer has taken command from the Emergency Control Center."
"Uhura, notify the Justininan that they are to assume command of the Second Squadron."
"Understood." Commander Uhura then spoke to the officer at her side. "Notify Justinian of her new orders. I'll monitor Task Force transmissions."
Lisa nodded and followed orders. "USS Justinian, this is USS Enterprise, orders from Task Force command..." This was her first time in combat, and so far Uhura thought young Charmichel was doing good. She was obviously tense, but you'd have to be insane not to be tense.
USS Everest moved to the starboard side of USS Enterprise. The Avenger class Destroyer moved forward with its bigger sister and together they sent titanic amounts of energy into any ships that dared to cross their path. The start of the battle had shattered any formation as they moved to block the Klingons, but were once again beginning to take shape from the fluid chaos.
Hibernia and Stargazer were herding a group of Battlecruisers as a Federation destroyer and a pair of Frigates were harassing several Bird of Preys.
The Justinian and Antares had moved to flank the Constantinople while the Destroyer Tokyo and Frigate Canterbury attacked a pair of Battlecruiser and led them directly into the trap laid by the two cruisers and frigate. Together the second Squadron disabled both Battlecruisers. Though by this time Tokyo had lost warp drive and Justinian had lost both torpedo launchers, and Constantinople was barely operational.
By some miracle, though, Task Force Twenty-Two had yet to have a ship destroyed, though the Destroyer USS Falcon was disabled and out of the fight and the rest of the ships had taken damage, some severe.
However the Klingons had been hit much harder. The battle had been sharp and violent. Most of the Klingon ships were either destroyed or disabled, and most of the disabled ones were now beginning to self-destruct.
Lowe watched as Enterprise dispatched the last Battlecruiser with a pair of Torpedoes. Now there was only a handful of Birds of Prey left. Most sane opponents would retreat, knowing victory was impossible, but no one had ever said Klingons were sane. One Bird of Prey locked Torpedoes and Disruptors on Hibernia and turned straight onto the Light Cruiser. "That crazy Klingon bastard's going to ram us. All weapons fire." Hibernia's lone functioning Torpedo launcher spat a stream of torpedoes that impacted on the small Bird of Prey.
"It must have transferred full power to front shields." Dalton commented as the Bird of Prey continued advancing. Its shields were gone but it was still alive, which was a considerable miracle considering how much damage the little ship had just absorbed.
"All phaser batteries, full spread." This did the trick; a brilliant red dart went straight to the gut of the small ship and it detonated in a massive cloud.
Dalton studied the tactical display. "Captain, that was the last of them. We won."
Chapter Five: Thunder and Lightning
USS Hibernia led the way. Task Force Twenty-Two was sitting in front of a small fleet of Klingon ships, ten K'T'Inga class Battlecruisers and a dozen B'Rel Birds of Prey. Hibernia was positioned directly in front of a pair of Battlecruisers.
"Commander Dalton, have all available phaser batteries target the Klingon ship to our port side. Lock Torpedoes onto the starboard target. Do not fire until you receive a direct order." Lowe was usually a fairly casual commander, but as soon as a target entered his sights all other priorities were relegated to the back of his mind and he demanded strict military protocol.
Once, some of his men might have complained, but not now. They'd served with him too long and seen him save them once too often to ever question him. "Now what the devil is Kirk up to?" Lowe muttered silently.
"Klingon Commander. You have entered space belonging to the United Federation of Planets. Withdraw immediately to your side of the border or we may have to remove you. Forcibly." He knew he shouldn't have added the threat to the end of that statement, but James Kirk had trouble being civil to Klingons.
In truth, he wanted to do nothing except blast them out of the stars and be done with them. A Klingon had murdered his son and he would never forgive them for it. David hadn't even been a warrior; he'd been a scientist, murdered because a Klingon had wanted to make a point. The Klingon leader replied instantly, his image appearing on the main view screen. "I am Commander Krunj. You cannot dictate where I go or where my ships go. Move aside; I have no quarrel with you at this time. But if you impede us on our way through this area of space, we will destroy you."
Krunj cut off the transmission and his ships moved forward. Kirk had no choice. "Task Force order, all ships open fire. Weapons free."
Hibernia leapt into the fight. Her two forward torpedo launchers fed a stream of projectile into a battlecruiser. The destroyer Falcon joined in with a stream of rapid phaser pulses and a burst of torpedos. The frigate Woden joined them in pounding the beleaguered Battlecruiser.
It exploded in a spectacular boil of light. Hibernia's phasers continued pounding a second Battlecruiser as she tried to bring her torpedo launchers to bear. The Klingons were now irrevocably in the fight. Three Birds of Prey strafed the small cruiser and the Battlecruiser brought its massive forward armaments to bear.
Kirk saw Hibernia and two other ships attacking a Battlecruiser. It exploded, a good omen; the first kill belonged to Starfleet. He ordered Enterprise to engage a flight of Birds of Prey.
Individually the small ships couldn't stand up to the famed Heavy Cruiser. Together they dodged torpedos and shot stuttering pulses of disruptor energy into the shields.
As the Enterprise rocked from another volley of hits, Kirk ordered, "When they come around for another pass, have all phaser batteries target the lead ship. Destroy it if you can, but at the least make sure they know they've been hit."
From tactical Gu've'yi responded, "Aye sir. All dorsal phaser batteries are standing by. Ventral batteries are on incident fire." Those three short sentences conveyed an entire wealth of information if you understood the dialect.
The Birds of Prey had been very careful to stay away from the forward torpedo launcher, which meant they'd been concentrating on the dorsal, or top, surface where the armament was lighter. Gu've'yi's tactical station was fully capable of controlling every weapon mounted on the Enterprise, but in heavy large scale combat like this there was too much for one person to handle.
In this situation a team of gunners in several control rooms controlled each phaser battery while the tactical officer co-ordinated phaser fire and managed shield settings. Torpedo control was dependent on the ship; some ships transferred torpedo control to the helm, some ships left torpedo controls to the tactical officer, and other ships, like Enterprise had torpedo control routed to the First Officer's station.
Gu've'yi had overridden the dorsal phaser batteries and placed them under his direct control. As the three Birds of Prey moved in for another strafing run he hit a large red button. All three batteries opened up with a stream of full power phaser blasts.
The leading Bird of Prey shuddered as the first phaser blast hit. Then more followed, a virtual torrent of phaser energy pounded the small ship. Its shields flickered, then failed. They were never designed for that kind of punishment. The Klingon frigate's life ended in a spectacular explosion as it released its complement of antimatter in an uncontrolled reaction that vaporized
whatever wreckage remained.
"Good work. Keep hitting them; the rest won't be as easy, but take them out as fast as you can." Enterprise shuddered once gain as the pair of Birds of Prey strafed once again. This time they dodged nimbly and were careful not to get caught in the deadly crossfire like their sister ships had. They took hits, but nothing like the torrent that had killed the first ship.
Captain Randall of the USS Constantinople was in a rather tight spot. He was trying to fight it out with a quartet of Klingon Battlecruisers while a pair of Birds of Prey harassed the Heavy Cruiser as best they could.
He glanced at the tactical display on the main viewer. So far Task Force Twenty-Two was doing very well. Somehow Enterprise seemed to be getting off lightly.
The same was not true of his ship. The Belknap class vessel shuddered as another concentrated volley hit home. "Maintain fire. Maximum rate Torpedo launch on the starboardmost Battlecruiser." Randall's voice sounded almost like an automaton. People reacted to combat in different ways; some grew excited and flamboyant, while others, such as Randall, became calmer, almost withdrawn, as it got more violent.
"Transfer fire to the portmost Battlecruiser." The first Battlecruiser they'd been hitting had fallen back with it's main reactor knocked out. Not a kill, but a mission kill was sufficient for Task Force Twenty Two's Second Squadron and its flagship the Constantinople.
"Order Antares to sweep under us and strike our target." His communications officer reacted swiftly.
"Aye sir. Antares acknowledges the order and is moving to comply." The lithe Siva class Frigate USS Antares moved with admirable grace as it flashed by a pair of Battlecruiser and then swept up from under the Constantinople to hit the Battlecruiser in its belly.
The concentrated phaser and torpedo strike to its ventral surface combined with the pounding being delivered by Constantinople was too much. The shields flickered and died. The last Torpedo fired by the Antares struck directly onto the hull and it's detonation sent the Battlecruiser reeling off right into its sister ship. The two detonated in a nova-like flash that shook the Antares and weakened its shields.
The Antares Captain moved to open a channel to congratulate Captain Randall when it happened. The last remaining Battlecruiser fired a full salvo of Torpedoes and Disruptor bolts. Constantinople's shields took the blast full on, and then they flickered. Only for a second, but it was enough. A Bird of Prey fired a full disrupter volley straight into the Bridge dome.
With a massive flash, the dome exploded. For a handful of seconds she listed uncontrollably before the secondary command center was able to bring the ship under control. While this was going on the Antares had whipped about and poured phaser fire into the Bird of Prey. The small ship disintegrated as Antares sent a single Photon Torpedo straight down its throat.
"Constantinople's been hit hard. They took a direct hit to the bridge, no survivors. The third officer has taken command from the Emergency Control Center."
"Uhura, notify the Justininan that they are to assume command of the Second Squadron."
"Understood." Commander Uhura then spoke to the officer at her side. "Notify Justinian of her new orders. I'll monitor Task Force transmissions."
Lisa nodded and followed orders. "USS Justinian, this is USS Enterprise, orders from Task Force command..." This was her first time in combat, and so far Uhura thought young Charmichel was doing good. She was obviously tense, but you'd have to be insane not to be tense.
USS Everest moved to the starboard side of USS Enterprise. The Avenger class Destroyer moved forward with its bigger sister and together they sent titanic amounts of energy into any ships that dared to cross their path. The start of the battle had shattered any formation as they moved to block the Klingons, but were once again beginning to take shape from the fluid chaos.
Hibernia and Stargazer were herding a group of Battlecruisers as a Federation destroyer and a pair of Frigates were harassing several Bird of Preys.
The Justinian and Antares had moved to flank the Constantinople while the Destroyer Tokyo and Frigate Canterbury attacked a pair of Battlecruiser and led them directly into the trap laid by the two cruisers and frigate. Together the second Squadron disabled both Battlecruisers. Though by this time Tokyo had lost warp drive and Justinian had lost both torpedo launchers, and Constantinople was barely operational.
By some miracle, though, Task Force Twenty-Two had yet to have a ship destroyed, though the Destroyer USS Falcon was disabled and out of the fight and the rest of the ships had taken damage, some severe.
However the Klingons had been hit much harder. The battle had been sharp and violent. Most of the Klingon ships were either destroyed or disabled, and most of the disabled ones were now beginning to self-destruct.
Lowe watched as Enterprise dispatched the last Battlecruiser with a pair of Torpedoes. Now there was only a handful of Birds of Prey left. Most sane opponents would retreat, knowing victory was impossible, but no one had ever said Klingons were sane. One Bird of Prey locked Torpedoes and Disruptors on Hibernia and turned straight onto the Light Cruiser. "That crazy Klingon bastard's going to ram us. All weapons fire." Hibernia's lone functioning Torpedo launcher spat a stream of torpedoes that impacted on the small Bird of Prey.
"It must have transferred full power to front shields." Dalton commented as the Bird of Prey continued advancing. Its shields were gone but it was still alive, which was a considerable miracle considering how much damage the little ship had just absorbed.
"All phaser batteries, full spread." This did the trick; a brilliant red dart went straight to the gut of the small ship and it detonated in a massive cloud.
Dalton studied the tactical display. "Captain, that was the last of them. We won."