- CHAPTER 31 -
- ISS Hopolite, Main Bridge -
Ulysses was just about to press his combadge when the view screen shifted radically and his battered ship groaned and creaked as the tractor placed additional stresses on the already tortured hull. Then there was a brief flicker of the main viewer as it went from black with pinpricks of light to the aqua blue of slipstream then back again in a nearly imperceptible period of time. The preplanned micro jump was designed only to take 2nd Fleet just beyond engagement range to allow it to sort itself out. Ulysses tapped his communicator.
"Captain Vanguard to the Athena."
"This is the Athena Captain Vanguard. What do you need?"
"I hope that you aren't forgetting the last few of us here on the Hopolite! There are still people here who would very much like to be on a more secure ship when the enemy finally comes calling." Despite himself, Ulysses allowed his irritation at being forgotten about creep into his voice. The person on the other end of the com was silent for a second, then spoke in a terse whisper.
"Oh Shit! .Sorry about that Sir!" There was a slight quaver in the officers voice. She was most likely extremely junior to a captain, and not every Imperial officer was as inclined to be lenient as Ulysses was. In fact, they would most likely take the opportunity to tear a strip off of the sorry sod on the other end of the com.
"Its OK, just be sure that we get out of here soon please." On the viewer, the enemy fleet was growing larger as 2nd Fleet started to engage them. Locked up in the Athena's tractor, and without main power or impulse drive online, there was nothing the Hopolite could do except sit and wait for the Athena to remember that they needed to be transported.
"Stand by for transport Sir. We will initiate it in a . AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" The com stopped, terminated on the other end as the com officer screamed.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Ulysses said to P'tel. She merely raised a single eyebrow in reply. Ulysses tapped his combadge again. "Vanguard to Athena, respond please." Silence deep enough to swallow thought permeated the Hopolite's bridge. "Athena, respond!" Again nothing. Then the view flickered blue again as the Athena micro jumped yet again. "What the HELL?!?"
"I don't like this one bit Captain. Something is seriously wrong on the Athena." P'tel said, and even she couldn't hide the slight quaver of fear from her voice. Ulysses could tell from the looks in their eyes that the other officers present had had the exact same reaction. On the screen, there was a moment of seeming confusion among the arrayed Imperial vessels as their most powerful ship suddenly dropped out of formation. But they were to close to engagement range to turn back immediately unless they wanted to give the enemy basically a free shot at them, so command devolved to 2nd Fleet's 3rd in command till they could break through the enemy and rejoin the flag ship. The main viewer showed the Imperials continue on course as they closed with the enemy. Despite their initial confusion, they still had an intact chain of command and a mission to perform, and so they advanced on the enemy. Weapons fire erupted from the Imperial vessels first as the Phaser Lances mounted on the Sovereigns and Galaxies started to lay down long range fire. It wasn't to long before the enemy began to respond with powerful beams of their own. The darkened bridge of the Hopolite began to flicker with amber/orange light as the two fleets began to lay into each other.
"They are most likely having the same problem contacting the Athena as we are sir." Clay Heidberg said.
"And they will have to break free from the enemy before they can return here to offer the both of us assistance, that means that were on our own till then." Percy Davenport said from his dead tactical console.
"Damn." Ulysses swore softly. "All right then, if that's how it is, then well just have to come up with something on our own. Options?"
"We could try and hotwire the transporters into working again, but they wouldn't have enough power left in their backups to get us all off, and maybe not even one of us. I just don't know the extent of the damage they took." Chief Engineer Heidberg said with a frown. "It wouldn't be even a concern if we still had an intact shuttle bay. But it was gutted in the bioships attack and all our shuttles are melted to slag."
"The Captains Yacht." P'tel said quietly, almost below earshot of the others. Yet they all looked up with startled expressions. Ulysses felt like smacking himself on the forehead for his oversight. Clay actually did.
"Shit, of COURSE!" The Chief Engineer said a mere octave below a shout. "The Yacht is basically a self contained starship in its own right, and it has its own transporters. Damned but we are fools for not remembering it sooner. Best thing about it is its only five decks down via the turboshaft. Shall we go then?"
"Lets go!" Ulysses said. "After you number one. It was you after all that remembered it so it should be you to get there first." P'tel merely nodded acquiescence. She strode towards the open lift doors with the others following her through the scorched and broken wreckage of the bridge. P'tel stepped down the first few rungs in the ladder, then clamped her boots tight against its outside and proceeded to slide down its length using her hands to slow her decent into the near pitch black shaft.
- Wraith class ISS Yamato, One Minute Earlier -
The orderly ranks of Imperial warships deployed their ablative armor generators and brought their shields fully online. Weapons turrets and armored hatch coverings were drawn out of the way in preparation for the coming engagement. The ISS Athena and the rest of 2nd Fleet dropped their fighter compliment and plots on bridges and CICs were flooded with a massive swarm of tiny green blips. While 2nd Fleet in its current state wasn't a carrier heavy battle line, any fleet that had a Bastion couldn't be considered light on fighters. With the space saved thanks to her new systems, the Athena alone spewed out 2000 Cobra Fighters. The rest of the fleet contributed a further 500. The fleet, seemingly insignificant little craft formed up into their designated squadrons then brought their ECM online, further cluttering any sensor system that didn't have access to their IFF transponder codes. Hopefully Species 8472 would ignore the swarm of fighters, for Chriton hadn't had the time to deploy his own few fighter wings before the ships that had carried them were destroyed. Those that had launched successfully were to few, and with to many scratch built squadrons to be effective. It was hoped that the enemy would ignore them in light of those facts and concentrate instead on the cap ships that it had to know were the most dangerous to them.
The fleet also brought its own, considerably more powerful ECM online, as well as launching ECM drones. These flew out under the cover of ECM and engaged their holo emitters and jamming devices. While the fact that they weren't firing would rapidly show which were the real and which were the false targets, the would undoubtedly provide at least a momentary distraction to the enemy that the fleet could exploit. Throughout the entire fleet, the crimson flashing lights of Red Alert blazed and power was shunted to weapons, defenses and engines. Soon the enemy would be inrange and then the fun would start.
One minute everything was running smoothly, with the fleet doing its job with its usual efficient, competent demeanor, the next the Athena had micro jumped out of formation. This wasn't good news. If the rest of 2nd Fleet had to fight without the monitor's support, things could get messy fast. Rear Admiral Theodore Bartlett bit his lower lip absently and spoke without taking his eyes off of the now distant Athena on the holo projection.
"Try and hail the flagship."
"I can't get a response sir." Said the concerned com officer. "The signal is getting through, but its like no one is answering on their end." Theodore bit his lip at this. Something had gone terribly wrong on the Fleet's flagship, but right now there was scarce little time to do anything about it. The battle was about to be joined and if 2nd Fleet turned and went to slipstream, even immediately, they were bound to lose more ships than if they tried to fight their way through then slip jump once on the other side.
"Keep trying. Give me all ships frequency."
"Done sir."
"This is Rear Admiral Bartlett to 2nd Fleet. We shall continue the attack as planned, then once we have pushed through the enemy, micro jump to the Athena's location. Bartlett out."
"Coming into weapons range now sir." He didn't even have to give the word, for the rest of the fleet did indeed know the plan. The fired as they entered effective range and the leading edge of enemy vessels was savagely mauled. 2nd Fleet's Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths opened fire with their Phaser Lances, sending spears of energy into the enemy with deadly effect. Species 8472's organic starships didn't splinter and explode like normal vessels. When an attack became to much for the organisms biological repair ability, the ships seemingly shriveled like a spider under a flame. Over 15 vessels did just that as 2nd Fleet's opening salvo burned them down.
-The Race's fleet writhed under the new enemies fire. Their recent, though brief, encounter with this weapon class had indicated that it was not as powerful as the Race's own bio-pulse cannons. Yet that didn't mean that they didn't pack a considerable punch. And where the fleet had caught the first of the new enemies unawares and in a crossfire, this enemy was under neither pressure and the effect was chilling. Yet The Race had no choice but to fly through the withering barrage to enter its own firing range, which it was doing right about. now. The free ride the new enemy's latest fleet had been getting until now ended as bio-pulse beams struck back with their full fury. Yet here was another surprise waiting. While enemy ships still died, they were no where near as effected as the first fleet had been. This reduction in weapons efficiency was both irritating and worrisome. Yet even this wouldn't prevent successful completion of elimination of the enemy, or so the military analysis's said through the voice. The fleet pressed on. -
- ISS Hopolite, Main Bridge -
Ulysses was just about to press his combadge when the view screen shifted radically and his battered ship groaned and creaked as the tractor placed additional stresses on the already tortured hull. Then there was a brief flicker of the main viewer as it went from black with pinpricks of light to the aqua blue of slipstream then back again in a nearly imperceptible period of time. The preplanned micro jump was designed only to take 2nd Fleet just beyond engagement range to allow it to sort itself out. Ulysses tapped his communicator.
"Captain Vanguard to the Athena."
"This is the Athena Captain Vanguard. What do you need?"
"I hope that you aren't forgetting the last few of us here on the Hopolite! There are still people here who would very much like to be on a more secure ship when the enemy finally comes calling." Despite himself, Ulysses allowed his irritation at being forgotten about creep into his voice. The person on the other end of the com was silent for a second, then spoke in a terse whisper.
"Oh Shit! .Sorry about that Sir!" There was a slight quaver in the officers voice. She was most likely extremely junior to a captain, and not every Imperial officer was as inclined to be lenient as Ulysses was. In fact, they would most likely take the opportunity to tear a strip off of the sorry sod on the other end of the com.
"Its OK, just be sure that we get out of here soon please." On the viewer, the enemy fleet was growing larger as 2nd Fleet started to engage them. Locked up in the Athena's tractor, and without main power or impulse drive online, there was nothing the Hopolite could do except sit and wait for the Athena to remember that they needed to be transported.
"Stand by for transport Sir. We will initiate it in a . AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" The com stopped, terminated on the other end as the com officer screamed.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Ulysses said to P'tel. She merely raised a single eyebrow in reply. Ulysses tapped his combadge again. "Vanguard to Athena, respond please." Silence deep enough to swallow thought permeated the Hopolite's bridge. "Athena, respond!" Again nothing. Then the view flickered blue again as the Athena micro jumped yet again. "What the HELL?!?"
"I don't like this one bit Captain. Something is seriously wrong on the Athena." P'tel said, and even she couldn't hide the slight quaver of fear from her voice. Ulysses could tell from the looks in their eyes that the other officers present had had the exact same reaction. On the screen, there was a moment of seeming confusion among the arrayed Imperial vessels as their most powerful ship suddenly dropped out of formation. But they were to close to engagement range to turn back immediately unless they wanted to give the enemy basically a free shot at them, so command devolved to 2nd Fleet's 3rd in command till they could break through the enemy and rejoin the flag ship. The main viewer showed the Imperials continue on course as they closed with the enemy. Despite their initial confusion, they still had an intact chain of command and a mission to perform, and so they advanced on the enemy. Weapons fire erupted from the Imperial vessels first as the Phaser Lances mounted on the Sovereigns and Galaxies started to lay down long range fire. It wasn't to long before the enemy began to respond with powerful beams of their own. The darkened bridge of the Hopolite began to flicker with amber/orange light as the two fleets began to lay into each other.
"They are most likely having the same problem contacting the Athena as we are sir." Clay Heidberg said.
"And they will have to break free from the enemy before they can return here to offer the both of us assistance, that means that were on our own till then." Percy Davenport said from his dead tactical console.
"Damn." Ulysses swore softly. "All right then, if that's how it is, then well just have to come up with something on our own. Options?"
"We could try and hotwire the transporters into working again, but they wouldn't have enough power left in their backups to get us all off, and maybe not even one of us. I just don't know the extent of the damage they took." Chief Engineer Heidberg said with a frown. "It wouldn't be even a concern if we still had an intact shuttle bay. But it was gutted in the bioships attack and all our shuttles are melted to slag."
"The Captains Yacht." P'tel said quietly, almost below earshot of the others. Yet they all looked up with startled expressions. Ulysses felt like smacking himself on the forehead for his oversight. Clay actually did.
"Shit, of COURSE!" The Chief Engineer said a mere octave below a shout. "The Yacht is basically a self contained starship in its own right, and it has its own transporters. Damned but we are fools for not remembering it sooner. Best thing about it is its only five decks down via the turboshaft. Shall we go then?"
"Lets go!" Ulysses said. "After you number one. It was you after all that remembered it so it should be you to get there first." P'tel merely nodded acquiescence. She strode towards the open lift doors with the others following her through the scorched and broken wreckage of the bridge. P'tel stepped down the first few rungs in the ladder, then clamped her boots tight against its outside and proceeded to slide down its length using her hands to slow her decent into the near pitch black shaft.
- Wraith class ISS Yamato, One Minute Earlier -
The orderly ranks of Imperial warships deployed their ablative armor generators and brought their shields fully online. Weapons turrets and armored hatch coverings were drawn out of the way in preparation for the coming engagement. The ISS Athena and the rest of 2nd Fleet dropped their fighter compliment and plots on bridges and CICs were flooded with a massive swarm of tiny green blips. While 2nd Fleet in its current state wasn't a carrier heavy battle line, any fleet that had a Bastion couldn't be considered light on fighters. With the space saved thanks to her new systems, the Athena alone spewed out 2000 Cobra Fighters. The rest of the fleet contributed a further 500. The fleet, seemingly insignificant little craft formed up into their designated squadrons then brought their ECM online, further cluttering any sensor system that didn't have access to their IFF transponder codes. Hopefully Species 8472 would ignore the swarm of fighters, for Chriton hadn't had the time to deploy his own few fighter wings before the ships that had carried them were destroyed. Those that had launched successfully were to few, and with to many scratch built squadrons to be effective. It was hoped that the enemy would ignore them in light of those facts and concentrate instead on the cap ships that it had to know were the most dangerous to them.
The fleet also brought its own, considerably more powerful ECM online, as well as launching ECM drones. These flew out under the cover of ECM and engaged their holo emitters and jamming devices. While the fact that they weren't firing would rapidly show which were the real and which were the false targets, the would undoubtedly provide at least a momentary distraction to the enemy that the fleet could exploit. Throughout the entire fleet, the crimson flashing lights of Red Alert blazed and power was shunted to weapons, defenses and engines. Soon the enemy would be inrange and then the fun would start.
One minute everything was running smoothly, with the fleet doing its job with its usual efficient, competent demeanor, the next the Athena had micro jumped out of formation. This wasn't good news. If the rest of 2nd Fleet had to fight without the monitor's support, things could get messy fast. Rear Admiral Theodore Bartlett bit his lower lip absently and spoke without taking his eyes off of the now distant Athena on the holo projection.
"Try and hail the flagship."
"I can't get a response sir." Said the concerned com officer. "The signal is getting through, but its like no one is answering on their end." Theodore bit his lip at this. Something had gone terribly wrong on the Fleet's flagship, but right now there was scarce little time to do anything about it. The battle was about to be joined and if 2nd Fleet turned and went to slipstream, even immediately, they were bound to lose more ships than if they tried to fight their way through then slip jump once on the other side.
"Keep trying. Give me all ships frequency."
"Done sir."
"This is Rear Admiral Bartlett to 2nd Fleet. We shall continue the attack as planned, then once we have pushed through the enemy, micro jump to the Athena's location. Bartlett out."
"Coming into weapons range now sir." He didn't even have to give the word, for the rest of the fleet did indeed know the plan. The fired as they entered effective range and the leading edge of enemy vessels was savagely mauled. 2nd Fleet's Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths opened fire with their Phaser Lances, sending spears of energy into the enemy with deadly effect. Species 8472's organic starships didn't splinter and explode like normal vessels. When an attack became to much for the organisms biological repair ability, the ships seemingly shriveled like a spider under a flame. Over 15 vessels did just that as 2nd Fleet's opening salvo burned them down.
-The Race's fleet writhed under the new enemies fire. Their recent, though brief, encounter with this weapon class had indicated that it was not as powerful as the Race's own bio-pulse cannons. Yet that didn't mean that they didn't pack a considerable punch. And where the fleet had caught the first of the new enemies unawares and in a crossfire, this enemy was under neither pressure and the effect was chilling. Yet The Race had no choice but to fly through the withering barrage to enter its own firing range, which it was doing right about. now. The free ride the new enemy's latest fleet had been getting until now ended as bio-pulse beams struck back with their full fury. Yet here was another surprise waiting. While enemy ships still died, they were no where near as effected as the first fleet had been. This reduction in weapons efficiency was both irritating and worrisome. Yet even this wouldn't prevent successful completion of elimination of the enemy, or so the military analysis's said through the voice. The fleet pressed on. -