- CHAPTER 32 -
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
A slight smile creased Theodore Bartlett's face as he saw that the shield reinforcement courtesy of the Aegean's worked exactly as expected. During the extremely short debrief of the Battle Born's Captain, Bartlett had gleaned that Chriton's Aegean's hadn't had time to bring their generators fully online before they were destroyed, so seeing that 2nd Fleets ships were much tougher targets must have given the enemy pause. In front of him, 20 Sovereigns, 13 Galaxies and two Wraith's conformal shields glowed brightly as they shunted the incoming attack aside. Their status bars changed drastically as shields were smashed flat despite the Aegean's best efforts. 5 Sovereigns and 7 Galaxies were destroyed outright, their star bright funeral pyres flashing more dimly on the Flag Bridge's holographic display. The other's sustained only minor damage, and they and the rest of 2nd Fleet's capital ships again fired their Phaser Lances into the heart of the enemies formation. This time they scored direct hits on the massive enemy vessel in the center of their formation. It ruptured in a few places, sending various unknown fluids and atmosphere into space where they froze rapidly. Then the fighters that had been racing in, and being relatively ignored by the enemy, salvoed their external loads of quantum torpedoes at the enemy Behemoth, then closed in to strafe the nearby Battleships with PPCs. Although the powerful warheads barely affected the enemies ships, if enough of them struck even they could kill. 2nd Fleet's fighters launched over 10000, with over 8000 targeting the enemy capital ship.
- VF-117 out of the ISS Athena, (Wing Commander) Cmdr. Vic McDermot's Fighter -
Vic looked out his bubble canopy as the holo display bracketed his target in red. It was largely unnecessary, as such a large vessel was rather hard to miss. Bobbing and weaving his way through the enemies Battleships, with the rest of his squadron at his heels, Vic drove his fighter onwards towards the fat and happy target. The evasion pattern was seemingly random but was in fact a carefully choreographed maneuver that had been honed due to long periods in both simulator and combat missions alike. Enemy fire against the fighters was sporadic at best, it was almost like they were choosing to ignore the fighter strike coming at them. Vic shrugged in his flight suit. If the new baddies wanted to ignore him and his comrades, that was just peachy. It would mean that there would be far fewer empty bunks than was normally the case in fighter ops.
"Coming up on launch point in five. four.three. two. one. launch!" he said into VF-117's squadron tactical net. He and the six other Cobra's of his flight volleyed the four external quantums they all carried. Around him, the other squadrons were doing the same. While they couldn't give the torps the same initial kick in velocity as shipboard launchers could (meaning they had to close more to make sure that the torps drive had enough fuel to hit the target), they did let them loose directly at their targets from full impulse. The powerful engines in the rear of the quantums kicked in and they streaked in on the enemy Behemoth bringing death and destruction with them.
-The fleet had ignored the small craft, thinking that nothing as small as they could pose a greater threat than the capital vessels even now charging up their wake. Now they recoiled afresh as the tiny craft volleyed blue/white orbs of death into their midst. The flagship, already wounded by weapons on enemy vessels that were supposed to have been destroyed by now, was struck by a titanic avalanche of destruction as the zero point warheads of the quantums detonated. For a brief second System A875 34B9 gained a second star as close to 8000 quantums exploded as one. After the fireball died down, there was absolutely nothing left of the fleet's flagship and several nearby Battleships. The small strike craft blew through the ranks of remaining warships, then began to turn around for another attack run. Overcoming its initial shock, The Race quickly changed targeting priorities and the Launcher class bioships swung around to send out their potent spores towards them. Detonating in a prearranged pattern, and with more than 10 times the explosive force of a Heavy Photon Torp, they cut vast swaths through the returning fighters. The spore's explosion wasn't directed, it was area effect, and it affected a fairly substantial area. Nearly every Launcher was targeting the fighters, and they exacted a heavy toll in revenge for the loss of their capital ship. Only 100 fighters survived the bombardment, and most of those were severely damaged. The fleet's lighter Scouts and Destroyers raced after them in an effort to crush them completely. Range had now dropped sufficiently for the lighter ships in the fleet to use their less powerful bio-pulse weaponry on the enemy. With vengeance in their hearts, they dove on the enemy vessels -
- Cmdr. Vic McDermot's Fighter -
Acrid smoke filled the cockpit from burnt out systems. Fortunately Vic's flight suit used rebreathing equipment, so all the smoke did was make viewing his still living instruments and the surrounding space difficult. His Cobra was still in space, and still flying after a fashion. The rest of VF-117 hadn't been as lucky. They were all destroyed. As much as Vic wanted to blame poorer piloting skills on that, he knew deep down that it was merely luck and chance that he was still alive. Alarms were howling for his attention, and it seemed like nearly all of his systems were either destroyed or dying. Yet his Cobra still responded to input from his throttle and control stick, if slightly sluggishly, so Vic stayed in his fighter rather than bail out. Aiming for an onrushing bioship about the size of a Imperial scout vessel, he pulled the PPC trigger experimentally. The twin cannons on his port side fired as normal, but the two on the starboard did nothing. Calling up his power distribution MFD, Vic transferred all power to his starboard cannons to the port ones. Filled with the sudden extra power, the two Pulse Phasers on the port side increased their tempo till the bolts were nearly coming out in a continuous stream. Lining up his gunnery piper on the enemy Scout, he let loose. Juking to port, the bioship evaded, but only for a split second.
The Frigate sized ship was nearly as maneuverable as Vic's own Cobra, but it was a bigger target. The targeting piper quickly fell back in place as he jockeyed the nose of his fighter back on target. The controls still felt mushy, but at least no new warnings started up when he executed the violent maneuver to target the Bioship again. Vic shredded a forward spine of the Scout clean off and stitched a gore and icor filled track down the top of the bioship. The Scout died, it took more damage than a comparable Imperial scout would have, but it still was considerably easier to down than its nasty bigger brother the Battleship. Something to note on the off chance I survive this furrball Vic thought. Executing a victory roll and a war whoop, Vic then spotted another Cobra that was nearly getting tagged by a Destroyer sized Bioship The Cobra was badly damaged, with one of its quad impulse engines shattered and sparking and its entire ventral side cracked and pitted. Sliding in behind the Destroyer, Vic volleyed a quartet of his internal quantums, then let loose with a stream of PPC fire. The Destroyer staggered when the torps hit, but it kept on the stricken Cobra with single minded determination. Yet the deadly flail of Pulse Phasers raked the ship mercilessly and eventually they proved to much for the Species 8472 warship. It broke in near equal halves as the combined quantum and pulse phaser assault tore it in two. Vic keyed his com to the fighter who's bacon he had just saved.
"Cobra that I just rescued, form up on my wing and lets try and get back to a friendly ship."
"Roger that!" came the intensely relieved female voice. Her Cobra slipped into position along side Vic's. Picking a relatively clear lane back towards the oncoming 2nd Fleet, Vic shoved his throttle full open and the two fighters rocketed ahead and into the brewing maelstrom of heavy capital ship weaponry that was streaking through space.
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
The great ship shook as the powerful bio-pulse beam from a Battleship struck it a glancing blow to the port saucer. Her massive reinforced shields nearly collapsed, but they held the beam aside and soon afterward began to regenerate. Thank God for the Aegeans Bartlett thought. Without their shield boosting abilities, 2nd Fleet would be in considerably worse shape than it was now. Range had finally wound down sufficiently for all of 2nd Fleet's weapons to engage the enemy. Massive Heavy Photons spat from the five Wraiths to streak in on individual Battleships even as Quantum torpedo turrets, phaser strips and PPCs sent out an avalanche of destruction on the Species 8472 craft. Seeing how the bioships apparently used no form of shields, relying instead upon the regenerative properties of their living ships to heal damage with mind numbing rapidity. And it was that same set up that now worked against them, for the massive payload of antimatter housed in a heavy photon was specifically designed to take out shieldless targets. The torps themselves were relatively slow moving, yet their engines sufficed to get them into contact with their targets. They broke apart, and carefully designed force fields directed the stream of AM directly at their targets naked hulls. Space flared brightly as matter met antimatter and annihilated itself, leaving behind the shattered hulks of enemy vessels. But even as they fired, the enemy fleet took its revenge against the fighter swarm. Ships that had up till this point in the engagement not fired a weapon spun and launched a massive barrage of torpedo like weapons into the path of 2nd Fleet's fighters.
"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!" Bartlett swore from the shock of it. One second there had been over 2000 fighters on his holo display, their outlines highlighted in green that from the distance they were now all but hid the starfield behind them. The next there was only a handful of battered and broken survivors scattered across a wide swath of space. Then survival instinct overcame shock as Theodore began to wave his hand like a conductor, selecting one of the fighter killers. "Select all vessels of this class and designate primary targets!" His new targeting priorities flashed out to the rest of the fleet, and swarms of Defiants, Sabers, Novas and Intrepids swung towards them. They deadly enemy craft were shaped rather like a cheese wedge, which was different than the usual symmetrical spindle that made up the normal bioship. They also proved to have nearly as tough of hide as a Battleship. Scores of the Imperial vessels were cut down short of their targets as powerful beams speared and shattered them, but the ones that survived wiped out every one of the new priority targets from space.
The lighter Imperial warships were using their high maneuverability to its best extent. Flying in wing pairs, with one covering the other as it attacked, they acted almost like fighters themselves, bobbing and weaving through rank after rank of enemy vessels as they hammered away at targets of opportunity. This was the most efficient way of using them, for if they were anchored to the rest of the battle line, their maneuverability and small cross sections would be wasted. These were their greatest strength, so Imperial doctrine was to use them as they would a fighter, sending them out to distract and shave away at the enemy. Ten Saber wing pairs converged on a Battleship, laying into it from all directions. Their pinpricks only succeeded in bringing down the fury of both it and its escorting Destroyers. Eight of the 20 Sabers were blotted out almost immediately. Although they had powerful shields and thick armor for such small and maneuverable craft, the lacked the added protection of the Aegeans, which had stayed back to cover the capital ships. It wouldn't have mattered much even if they did have the Aegeans shield enhancement available to them, for beams powerful enough to normally cleave an Akira in half in one shot all but vaporized them. This same thing was repeated through out the entire clashing formations as the Imperial Defiants, Sabers, Novas and Intrepids sought out their targets.
-The new enemy's lighter units, while not as dangerous as his capital ships, and not anywhere as numerous as his fighters had been, were still an annoyance. This new enemy was considerably better at tactics than the old enemy's in their geometrically precise ships had been. Where the old enemy had merely sent all of his vessels in one massive wave, the new enemy used tactics that enhanced his advantages and limited his disadvantages. He was truly a worthy opponent, but he was still to weak to succeed. Despite heavier losses than was originally planned for, the current loss rate was acceptable to The Race. And despite the enemy being harder to kill than expected, they were still dying, with more and more of their fellows joining them as the battle progressed. The one wild card in the mix was the new enemies massive capital ship. It had housed the enemies surprising, yet pathetic attempt to use telepathy as a weapon against The Race. While its raw power was relatively high for an individual, compared with the full power of The Voice, the telepathic link that bound all the individuals of The Race towards consensual purpose, it was a mere annoyance.
It had been dealt with as such, and shortly there after, the enemy capital ship had mysteriously disappeared only to reappear a considerable distance away nearly instantaneously. It must have used a similar device to that which was found in the wreckage of the old enemies craft. While The Races engineers had yet to crack the secret of FTL propulsion, having never had the need for it in their home space thanks to the warp point network that honeycombed it. But apparently the space that the enemies came from was as different in that respect as it was in most others, for the enemies apparently HAD to use FTL drives to cross the interstellar void. But all of that was secondary information, for initial analysis of that vessel had shown just how powerful it was. If it had been in the battle, and even now if it rejoined it, The Race would have had no choice but to fall back to rejoin the overwhelming reinforcements enroute to the artificial warp point. But as it stood now, the vessel appeared to be non operational, so all the fleet had to do was to wipe out the functional enemies, then take out the big vessel on its own. Then The Race would have its foothold in the enemies space, have a base of operations once a working FTL drive was designed from which to strike back at the enemies and in so doing protect the Race from further irrational and wantonly violent assault. The weak shall perish, for that was what the voice had decreed. -
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
A slight smile creased Theodore Bartlett's face as he saw that the shield reinforcement courtesy of the Aegean's worked exactly as expected. During the extremely short debrief of the Battle Born's Captain, Bartlett had gleaned that Chriton's Aegean's hadn't had time to bring their generators fully online before they were destroyed, so seeing that 2nd Fleets ships were much tougher targets must have given the enemy pause. In front of him, 20 Sovereigns, 13 Galaxies and two Wraith's conformal shields glowed brightly as they shunted the incoming attack aside. Their status bars changed drastically as shields were smashed flat despite the Aegean's best efforts. 5 Sovereigns and 7 Galaxies were destroyed outright, their star bright funeral pyres flashing more dimly on the Flag Bridge's holographic display. The other's sustained only minor damage, and they and the rest of 2nd Fleet's capital ships again fired their Phaser Lances into the heart of the enemies formation. This time they scored direct hits on the massive enemy vessel in the center of their formation. It ruptured in a few places, sending various unknown fluids and atmosphere into space where they froze rapidly. Then the fighters that had been racing in, and being relatively ignored by the enemy, salvoed their external loads of quantum torpedoes at the enemy Behemoth, then closed in to strafe the nearby Battleships with PPCs. Although the powerful warheads barely affected the enemies ships, if enough of them struck even they could kill. 2nd Fleet's fighters launched over 10000, with over 8000 targeting the enemy capital ship.
- VF-117 out of the ISS Athena, (Wing Commander) Cmdr. Vic McDermot's Fighter -
Vic looked out his bubble canopy as the holo display bracketed his target in red. It was largely unnecessary, as such a large vessel was rather hard to miss. Bobbing and weaving his way through the enemies Battleships, with the rest of his squadron at his heels, Vic drove his fighter onwards towards the fat and happy target. The evasion pattern was seemingly random but was in fact a carefully choreographed maneuver that had been honed due to long periods in both simulator and combat missions alike. Enemy fire against the fighters was sporadic at best, it was almost like they were choosing to ignore the fighter strike coming at them. Vic shrugged in his flight suit. If the new baddies wanted to ignore him and his comrades, that was just peachy. It would mean that there would be far fewer empty bunks than was normally the case in fighter ops.
"Coming up on launch point in five. four.three. two. one. launch!" he said into VF-117's squadron tactical net. He and the six other Cobra's of his flight volleyed the four external quantums they all carried. Around him, the other squadrons were doing the same. While they couldn't give the torps the same initial kick in velocity as shipboard launchers could (meaning they had to close more to make sure that the torps drive had enough fuel to hit the target), they did let them loose directly at their targets from full impulse. The powerful engines in the rear of the quantums kicked in and they streaked in on the enemy Behemoth bringing death and destruction with them.
-The fleet had ignored the small craft, thinking that nothing as small as they could pose a greater threat than the capital vessels even now charging up their wake. Now they recoiled afresh as the tiny craft volleyed blue/white orbs of death into their midst. The flagship, already wounded by weapons on enemy vessels that were supposed to have been destroyed by now, was struck by a titanic avalanche of destruction as the zero point warheads of the quantums detonated. For a brief second System A875 34B9 gained a second star as close to 8000 quantums exploded as one. After the fireball died down, there was absolutely nothing left of the fleet's flagship and several nearby Battleships. The small strike craft blew through the ranks of remaining warships, then began to turn around for another attack run. Overcoming its initial shock, The Race quickly changed targeting priorities and the Launcher class bioships swung around to send out their potent spores towards them. Detonating in a prearranged pattern, and with more than 10 times the explosive force of a Heavy Photon Torp, they cut vast swaths through the returning fighters. The spore's explosion wasn't directed, it was area effect, and it affected a fairly substantial area. Nearly every Launcher was targeting the fighters, and they exacted a heavy toll in revenge for the loss of their capital ship. Only 100 fighters survived the bombardment, and most of those were severely damaged. The fleet's lighter Scouts and Destroyers raced after them in an effort to crush them completely. Range had now dropped sufficiently for the lighter ships in the fleet to use their less powerful bio-pulse weaponry on the enemy. With vengeance in their hearts, they dove on the enemy vessels -
- Cmdr. Vic McDermot's Fighter -
Acrid smoke filled the cockpit from burnt out systems. Fortunately Vic's flight suit used rebreathing equipment, so all the smoke did was make viewing his still living instruments and the surrounding space difficult. His Cobra was still in space, and still flying after a fashion. The rest of VF-117 hadn't been as lucky. They were all destroyed. As much as Vic wanted to blame poorer piloting skills on that, he knew deep down that it was merely luck and chance that he was still alive. Alarms were howling for his attention, and it seemed like nearly all of his systems were either destroyed or dying. Yet his Cobra still responded to input from his throttle and control stick, if slightly sluggishly, so Vic stayed in his fighter rather than bail out. Aiming for an onrushing bioship about the size of a Imperial scout vessel, he pulled the PPC trigger experimentally. The twin cannons on his port side fired as normal, but the two on the starboard did nothing. Calling up his power distribution MFD, Vic transferred all power to his starboard cannons to the port ones. Filled with the sudden extra power, the two Pulse Phasers on the port side increased their tempo till the bolts were nearly coming out in a continuous stream. Lining up his gunnery piper on the enemy Scout, he let loose. Juking to port, the bioship evaded, but only for a split second.
The Frigate sized ship was nearly as maneuverable as Vic's own Cobra, but it was a bigger target. The targeting piper quickly fell back in place as he jockeyed the nose of his fighter back on target. The controls still felt mushy, but at least no new warnings started up when he executed the violent maneuver to target the Bioship again. Vic shredded a forward spine of the Scout clean off and stitched a gore and icor filled track down the top of the bioship. The Scout died, it took more damage than a comparable Imperial scout would have, but it still was considerably easier to down than its nasty bigger brother the Battleship. Something to note on the off chance I survive this furrball Vic thought. Executing a victory roll and a war whoop, Vic then spotted another Cobra that was nearly getting tagged by a Destroyer sized Bioship The Cobra was badly damaged, with one of its quad impulse engines shattered and sparking and its entire ventral side cracked and pitted. Sliding in behind the Destroyer, Vic volleyed a quartet of his internal quantums, then let loose with a stream of PPC fire. The Destroyer staggered when the torps hit, but it kept on the stricken Cobra with single minded determination. Yet the deadly flail of Pulse Phasers raked the ship mercilessly and eventually they proved to much for the Species 8472 warship. It broke in near equal halves as the combined quantum and pulse phaser assault tore it in two. Vic keyed his com to the fighter who's bacon he had just saved.
"Cobra that I just rescued, form up on my wing and lets try and get back to a friendly ship."
"Roger that!" came the intensely relieved female voice. Her Cobra slipped into position along side Vic's. Picking a relatively clear lane back towards the oncoming 2nd Fleet, Vic shoved his throttle full open and the two fighters rocketed ahead and into the brewing maelstrom of heavy capital ship weaponry that was streaking through space.
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
The great ship shook as the powerful bio-pulse beam from a Battleship struck it a glancing blow to the port saucer. Her massive reinforced shields nearly collapsed, but they held the beam aside and soon afterward began to regenerate. Thank God for the Aegeans Bartlett thought. Without their shield boosting abilities, 2nd Fleet would be in considerably worse shape than it was now. Range had finally wound down sufficiently for all of 2nd Fleet's weapons to engage the enemy. Massive Heavy Photons spat from the five Wraiths to streak in on individual Battleships even as Quantum torpedo turrets, phaser strips and PPCs sent out an avalanche of destruction on the Species 8472 craft. Seeing how the bioships apparently used no form of shields, relying instead upon the regenerative properties of their living ships to heal damage with mind numbing rapidity. And it was that same set up that now worked against them, for the massive payload of antimatter housed in a heavy photon was specifically designed to take out shieldless targets. The torps themselves were relatively slow moving, yet their engines sufficed to get them into contact with their targets. They broke apart, and carefully designed force fields directed the stream of AM directly at their targets naked hulls. Space flared brightly as matter met antimatter and annihilated itself, leaving behind the shattered hulks of enemy vessels. But even as they fired, the enemy fleet took its revenge against the fighter swarm. Ships that had up till this point in the engagement not fired a weapon spun and launched a massive barrage of torpedo like weapons into the path of 2nd Fleet's fighters.
"SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!" Bartlett swore from the shock of it. One second there had been over 2000 fighters on his holo display, their outlines highlighted in green that from the distance they were now all but hid the starfield behind them. The next there was only a handful of battered and broken survivors scattered across a wide swath of space. Then survival instinct overcame shock as Theodore began to wave his hand like a conductor, selecting one of the fighter killers. "Select all vessels of this class and designate primary targets!" His new targeting priorities flashed out to the rest of the fleet, and swarms of Defiants, Sabers, Novas and Intrepids swung towards them. They deadly enemy craft were shaped rather like a cheese wedge, which was different than the usual symmetrical spindle that made up the normal bioship. They also proved to have nearly as tough of hide as a Battleship. Scores of the Imperial vessels were cut down short of their targets as powerful beams speared and shattered them, but the ones that survived wiped out every one of the new priority targets from space.
The lighter Imperial warships were using their high maneuverability to its best extent. Flying in wing pairs, with one covering the other as it attacked, they acted almost like fighters themselves, bobbing and weaving through rank after rank of enemy vessels as they hammered away at targets of opportunity. This was the most efficient way of using them, for if they were anchored to the rest of the battle line, their maneuverability and small cross sections would be wasted. These were their greatest strength, so Imperial doctrine was to use them as they would a fighter, sending them out to distract and shave away at the enemy. Ten Saber wing pairs converged on a Battleship, laying into it from all directions. Their pinpricks only succeeded in bringing down the fury of both it and its escorting Destroyers. Eight of the 20 Sabers were blotted out almost immediately. Although they had powerful shields and thick armor for such small and maneuverable craft, the lacked the added protection of the Aegeans, which had stayed back to cover the capital ships. It wouldn't have mattered much even if they did have the Aegeans shield enhancement available to them, for beams powerful enough to normally cleave an Akira in half in one shot all but vaporized them. This same thing was repeated through out the entire clashing formations as the Imperial Defiants, Sabers, Novas and Intrepids sought out their targets.
-The new enemy's lighter units, while not as dangerous as his capital ships, and not anywhere as numerous as his fighters had been, were still an annoyance. This new enemy was considerably better at tactics than the old enemy's in their geometrically precise ships had been. Where the old enemy had merely sent all of his vessels in one massive wave, the new enemy used tactics that enhanced his advantages and limited his disadvantages. He was truly a worthy opponent, but he was still to weak to succeed. Despite heavier losses than was originally planned for, the current loss rate was acceptable to The Race. And despite the enemy being harder to kill than expected, they were still dying, with more and more of their fellows joining them as the battle progressed. The one wild card in the mix was the new enemies massive capital ship. It had housed the enemies surprising, yet pathetic attempt to use telepathy as a weapon against The Race. While its raw power was relatively high for an individual, compared with the full power of The Voice, the telepathic link that bound all the individuals of The Race towards consensual purpose, it was a mere annoyance.
It had been dealt with as such, and shortly there after, the enemy capital ship had mysteriously disappeared only to reappear a considerable distance away nearly instantaneously. It must have used a similar device to that which was found in the wreckage of the old enemies craft. While The Races engineers had yet to crack the secret of FTL propulsion, having never had the need for it in their home space thanks to the warp point network that honeycombed it. But apparently the space that the enemies came from was as different in that respect as it was in most others, for the enemies apparently HAD to use FTL drives to cross the interstellar void. But all of that was secondary information, for initial analysis of that vessel had shown just how powerful it was. If it had been in the battle, and even now if it rejoined it, The Race would have had no choice but to fall back to rejoin the overwhelming reinforcements enroute to the artificial warp point. But as it stood now, the vessel appeared to be non operational, so all the fleet had to do was to wipe out the functional enemies, then take out the big vessel on its own. Then The Race would have its foothold in the enemies space, have a base of operations once a working FTL drive was designed from which to strike back at the enemies and in so doing protect the Race from further irrational and wantonly violent assault. The weak shall perish, for that was what the voice had decreed. -