The Dancer Prince
Chapter 26
Written by Ambassador Yrishna Wolf.
Vernok Krix was fighting for the defense of more than just territory, it was fighting for the defense of an entire galaxy's way of life. As each of its two hundred torpedo bays opened, locking on to their targets, the phaser arrays too prepared to have their part in the battle. Vernok Krix had witheld another artillery barrage from the fleet's mother ships its shields brought down to seventy eight percent. Their locks acquired and the destroyers entering optimum range, Vernok Krix opened fired volley after volley of triquantum torpedoes were allowed to set sail, as they found their marks. Some destroyers didn't even have time maneuver out of the way as fifteen triquantum torpedoes at a time found their mark on a single destroyer, some being ripped apart as torpedoes pierced right through hitting other ships nearby.
Fourteen seperate destroyer groups effectuated strifing assaults on the starbase, firing their forward Larisa guns on the starbase's shields. The starbase returned fire with phaser discharges that destroyed some of the destroyers strafing, but the starbase was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of vessels in the area. The torpedoes found their marks on some of the bigger mother ships, taking out a Selevenar class battleship, as phasers concentrated their firing upon the destroyers that were continually strafing the starbase. The shields allowed a color display in space, as they continually held up against weapons fire. But at this rate, the shields couldn't be expected to hold forever. The first shield was about to fail.
"Damage report!" Gul Arnek demanded as she fell out of her chair, one of the consoles nearby exploading.
"First shields are down to twenty percent and failing, a second destroyer group is attempting a strafing run!" The Tactical Officer shouted.
"Casualties reported on Decks 4 and 3, Med-Teams on their way," The Damage Control Officer replied.
"Diverting emergency power to the shields to compensate for power parity losses."
"Concentrate phaser and torpedo fire on the strafing destroyers, whenever you have a clear shot have a go at the mother ships!"
Vernok Krix's torpedo bays readjusted as they fired on the attacking destroyers, phasers seconding their assault. An entire destroyer group of fifteen Mary-Rosbourg class destroyers were instantly destroyed. Admiral Ulixes' vessel, as well as several of the Styx mother ships were powering up their most feared weapon. Destroyers were convering in a pincer maneuver that was designed to distract the attention of Vernok Krix. The maneuver worked, Vernok Krix's phaser arrays realligned and fired on the destroyers as the Styx mother ships fired their big guns. The first shields failed, allowing the second shields to activate in their place, taking most of the pounding. Vernok Krix shook heavily as officers were thrown off their chairs. Gul Arnek knew that weapon wasn't normal, she looked over the sensor readings. The weapons had discharged something that was twice the power level of the Monarchy's most powerful Larisa gun... She looked over, those weren't Segan ships.
"Reallign torpedoes, Tactical," Gul Arnek glared at the viewscreen staring at the more than five thousand seven hundred vessels still remaining afloat defiantly, "Get those mother ships out of my sky."
Two minutes away, the Cardassian-S.M.U. fleet was approaching at maximum impulse speeds. All seven hundred and fity of the Galor-refit class starships were preparing for the battle at hand alongside their one hundred fifty allies. As they dropped out of impulse, they opened fire additional megaton torpedoes that had been stocked in their hangars in the even of a large invasion like this one. The torpedoes caught the enemy fleet by surprise as two of the megaton torpedoes crashed onto the mother ships. More of the megaton torpedoes crashed into the lead vessels, unprotected by their escorts that were continually completing their strafing runs. Admiral Ulixes knew he had the Cardassian S.M.U. fleet where he wanted them. He ordered the second task force to initiate the run, as immediately two thousand five hundred destroyers, half of the invading fleet pulled away and headed past the fleet and the Starbase. Vernok Krix attempted to destroy as many of the destroyers that were flying overhead, taking out twenty of the destroyers.
- - - - -
In charge of the combined Cardassian and Supreme Militants' Union fleet was a young Captain the age of twenty-five. He had performed brilliantly during the Styx War and had earned his mark under the command of the Cunningham, the vessel that had defeated the Pacifica-C during combat drills. Now, his ego swelled, he was about to lead this one thousand ship task force into what he hoped would be ultimate victory. He spotted the two thousand ship task force heading straight for Cardassia Prime, and he saw his opening. They were performing a flanking tactical maneuver that they could cut off. He had his tactical officer place the battle on screen.
"I'm hoping Vernok Krix can hold out," Captain Takagushimi announced as he looked over to his navigations officer, "Have the fleet intercept them at coordinates 241 mark 88, engage at maximum impulse."
The Captain had done exactly what the Styx and the Segan military strategists had hoped he would do. As the Styx fleet maneuvered in a wide circle around the mine fields. The Cardassian and S.M.U. fleet saild straight towards it hoping to cut the advancing Sego-Styx fleet off by using the old theorem the shortest distance between two points can be accomplished through a straight line. Before the Captain could realize what he was doing, his ship having gathered too much momentum, ship after ship of his task force flew into the mining field established by the thirty mine-layers that had gotten through. As they cleared the mining field, half of the S.M.U. task force remained aloft, and only two hundred Galor Class starships survived the trip. They now stared at the guns of two thousand five hundred Destroyers that could easily decimate the surviving tatters of of the S.M.U. Cardassian fleet.
"Retreat back to Cardassia Prime," Captain Takagushimi ordered, he was defeated for the first time by the Styx.
Vernok Krix's fourth shield had been taken down, it only had one more and it wouldn't be enough. It had destroyed five hundred vessels, just like the combat-drills had predicted. The combat drills, however, were wrong... They hadn't expected a combined assault from two different powers. The six-thousand fleet starship had arrived to overwhelm Vernok Krix and they were ready to put an end to this battle. The Styx mother ships locked on to Vernok Krix as they fired another volley of their massive weapons. Vernok Krix's last shield held out against three such attacks, but now it failed, the massive weapon finding the hull of Vernok Krix and tearing a portion of it off. The destroyers locked on with their triquantum torpedoes and fired four volleys, as Vernok Krix's hull succumbed, tumbling into itself as the dual fusion cores exploaded. Vernok Krix had been defeated, and all that was stopping the still massive Sego-Styx Fleet was a mere three hundred vessels.
