- CHAPTER 36 -
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge -
Ulysses was striding towards the rooms holo wreathed command chair, with P'tel and Percy making for helm and tactical respectively when a Romulan in fleet uniform leapt from behind one of the stations and grabbed Ulysses. A dagger was quickly placed near his throat and Corval used Ulysses as a shield. There had been no warning of imminent attack and the telepathic weapon had a look of sheer terror on his sweat drenched face. With a blade hovering scant millimeters from his throat, Ulysses dared not try anything. P'tel and Percy were also caught unawares, assuming that since nothing had tried to attack them when they first came aboard the bridge, there was nothing there to attack. Both leveled their compression phaser rifles on Corval as he hid behind Ulysses.
"Nnnnn.ooo one mmmoove!" Corval shouted. Despite his warning, Percy's training took over and he began to sidestep around the circular outer perimeter of the Flag Bridge in an effort to get a clear shot. He, while being a fair shot, was no marksman, and since he couldn't risk stunning the Captain as they needed every hand available to just run the mammoth ship, he needed a clear lane of fire to ensure that only the attacker was stunned, not his captain. He had made about two steps when Corval moved the knife till it was in contact with Ulysses neck. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin, but it was a clear sign for him to stop.
"Do as he says Mr. Davenport." For a man in his predicament, Ulysses Vanguard sounded surprisingly calm. Seeing no other option, Percy stopped, but like P'tel, he never lowered his rifle. If he got a clear shot, he would take it, just as he was sure P'tel would take hers.
"I knn.nnoooo what youuu arrre planning on dooooing! Yooou willll not, ifff you va.aa.alue your Cappptainssss life."
"You need to let us go." Ulysses said. "There is a vitally important job that needs to be done immediately or we are all going to die. Now I am sure that you don't want that to happen, so why don't you put down the knife so we can save both you and ourselves?"
"Yooou, Yyyou are diffff.fferent from themmm." Corval said into Ulysses ear. "You arrre hhhiiiding. something from mmmeee." With a sudden jerk, the arm that holding his waist Ulysses waist went to the side of his face. It was vaguely similar to a Vulcan mind meld touch, but this one was cruder, as if were live wires that were trying to force themselves into the side of his head instead of merely touching it. It felt as if a bomb had gone off inside Ulysses head. It was so intense and unexpected that his knees nearly buckled, and it was only through sheer force of will that Ulysses remained standing. Instantly he knew who this terrified man was. At first Ulysses had thought that it was merely a member of the crew that had been damaged by the apparent Psychonic attack. Now he knew that his hostage taker was in fact the originator of the attack. A quick glance down at the department branch band on his uniform cuff confirmed his suspicion. It was black, the same color as the rest of his black uniform. Only one branch of the fleet used anything like that color scheme, and it was PSI Branch.
Like a wildfire, Corval forced his way into Ulysses mind. He was far more powerful than any telepath Ulysses had encountered. He had no way of knowing that it was due to the extremely close telepathic link that Corval had established with Species 8472 that had supercharged Corval's abilities so. It didn't matter how it had happened though, for the fact remained that Corval was able to see everything Ulysses had hidden from so may people for so long. He was like an open book to the telepath, and Corval was reading every page at a lightening pace.
But like every mind meld, it was a two way street. You just had to know where to look for the other lane. Ulysses did and found it. He plunged into the others chaotic mind, and near instantly knew that Corval was going to die. The backlash of the attack was too severe, and even now it was spreading through what remained of his mind, adding more and more destruction in its wake. In what was left, Ulysses found a sorrow nearly as deep as his own. In a way this being was a kindred spirit. Both had been horribly scarred during their childhood by the Terran Empire, and both now served them. The only difference between them was that Ulysses had gained the relative peace in his tortured soul, while Corval had not. Ulysses put his full effort into sending that peace to Corval.
There was a gasp of surprise as Corval encountered the teachings of Spock and the inner peace they helped bring to Ulysses. A slow smile spread across his tortured face, the muscle movement bringing slight pain because he so rarely used them in this manner. The knife at Ulysses throat was withdrawn and Corval took a step backward.
"Thank you for this precious gift Ulysses Vanguard. You have finally brought my soul peace." Corval said in an awed whisper. For the first time he didn't speak with any impediment. Perhaps it was due to his newfound peace, or perhaps it was due to nearly all of his "training" being obliterated by the Psychonic attack. Ulysses would never find out, for Corval took in a shuddering breath, his eyes rolled back and he began to crumple to the floor. Ulysses reached out, caught him and eased him down onto his back. With a final twitch, Corval laid still and exhaled his last breath.
"Sleep well friend." Ulysses whispered back, then reached out and closed Corval's sightless eyes. Standing up slowly, Ulysses spoke over his shoulder to his officers. "Lest get going." P'tel and Percy were still slightly shocked by the startling turn of events, yet they jerked into motion fairly bolting for their stations. Ulysses settled down into the Flag Bridge's chair and quickly took stock of the situation. 2nd Fleet was on the verge of breaking through the enemy force. They had taken losses, but the enemy had taken less, worse the luck. It was time to change the odds to the home teams favor. With a quick glance at his left terminal, Ulysses knew that the Athena was as battle ready as she was going to be. "Initiate micro jump to these coordinates." He said as he pressed the button that would transmit the desired zone to P'tel's helm station.
"Aye sir. Jumping. now." For a brief time, the holo display showed only the swirling cloud like tube of slipstream, then the Athena was back in normal space in the middle of the enemy force.
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
Bartlett stared up in awe along with the rest of 2nd Fleet as the Athena popped back into normal space amongst the enemy. For a split second nothing happened, then it was as if a star went supernova amongst the enemy. All 20 Quantum turrets, 100 Phalanx turrets, 30 Type XV Phaser strips, 25 Quad PPC turrets, four foreword and dual rearward Type II Phaser Lances and dual fore and single aft Heavy torpedo launchers on the stupendous ship went into continuous rapid fire. Quantum turrets spat out long strings of blue white death that slammed unerringly into the unprepared enemy. Their smaller siblings, the Phalanx turrets also sent out their less lethal loads nearly one behind the other. Quad Pulse Phaser Cannon turrets hammered away, leaving destruction in their wake as they stitched across the enemy vessels in exquisite precision. They were joined by the heavy phaser arrays that covered every possible arc with multiple strips. Lances of energy, like the lightening bolts of Zeus himself, slammed into ships all around the Athena. Nor were her normal weapons alone, for her heavy weaponry joined in the killing. Beams as thick as a frigate, four foreword, two aft, spewed from the Phaser Lance emitters. Each struck a separate enemy Battleship, each broke it in half. The two fore and single aft heavy photon launcher sent their shuttle sized antimatter loads towards three Battleships. All three targets disappeared as their hulls were enveloped by the torps load of antimatter and annihilated in eye tearing flashes of light. She was like a whirlwind, rolling up all opposition to her battlefield supremacy, leaving only devastation in her wake. The heart of the enemy formation glowed like the heart of a star as the titanic power of the Athena's weapons systems was unleashed. Ship after ship died, some in massive antimatter/matter explosions, some thanks to zero point warheads, others to the ceaseless torrent of pulse phaser bolts and phaser strikes.
Suddenly strikes came in from outside the enemy fleet as well. Erupting out of slipstream, the 200 Soulwolf class Heavy Destroyers came in fighting, sending their own deadly beams into the fray. They represented the current bleeding edge in Imperial Tech, incorporating both a Type II Phaser Lance and QSS drive into a package slightly smaller than an Intrepid. Their hull was specifically designed to make them among the fastest vessels in space, either at Impulse or in Slipstream. Resembling an amalgam of an ancient Oberth, a Prometheus and a Dauntless, they were more nimble than a Defiant, and they used this ability ruthlessly as they rapidly maneuvered clear of each other and cut loose with their powerful main armament. While their smaller drives meant longer recharge times between lance shots, 200 enemy vessels died in the opening barrage. Having salvoed their Phaser Lances, the Soulwolfs closed in to ripple fire quantums, PPCs and phaser arrays, throwing the armament of a current line Battle Cruiser from a mere Destroyer sized platform.
-All was lost. The enemy had lured the fleet into a staggering trap, hitting it with both the supposedly neutralized capital ship and over 200 destroyer-sized vessels that had those damnable energy weapons. All that was left open to the fleet was to destroy as many of the enemy as they could before they died. It wouldn't be long at the rate they were being killed off, but they could still do some damage. Rapidly picking their targets, the fleet concentrated its remaining firepower on just three ships. -
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge -
Ulysses and Percy cheered while P'tel's eyes were the only feature of her that gave away her own joy at the sight. The holo display and their terminals flashed them the info that 2nd Fleet's reinforcements had arrived. Where the Athena had been kicking the heart out of the enemy formation for what seemed like hours but was merely a few dozen seconds, the Soulwolf's streamed out to kill at the flanks of the enemy fleet. Angry crimson/orange lances of fire nearly the size of the firing ships themselves after leaving their emitter stabbed at the spindle shaped craft.
Then the massive bulk of the Athena jarred as 25 bio-pulse beams slammed into her. Her powerful shields were knocked flat, and the beams clawed at the titanic armor under them, creating long molten furrows in her carapace. A few weapons emplacements were sheared off, stifling their fury, but the others continued to respond in kind, destroying ship after ship with methodical precision as she continued to fire all of her remaining weapons as soon as they reloaded and their capacitors recharged. She was wounded, but not mortally so. She had been designed from the outset to absorb punishment and still function, so the killing continued. Nearly every enemy vessel was either damaged or outright destroyed, and where there had once been a proud fleet there was only drifting wreckage almost thick enough to walk across the battle field on. Most of it still glowed brightly thanks to the stupendous energy released on it. Weak shall perish my ass, Ulysses thought. Then he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something wasn't right here. Something bad was about to happen. He could feel it in his very bones, just like he could tell that Chriton was going to get his fleet killed because of his own delusions. It wasn't every time he was in trouble that he got these flashes, they seemed to come and go of their own accord, but when they did come, he trusted them implicitly. Even while the last few Species 8472 vessels died under constant phaser and quantum barrage, Ulysses spun his chair around, searching the display for something out of the ordinary. There it was, a lone friendly contact a good ways off. With a flick of his hand, the computer zoomed in on the contact. It was a Constitution class vessel, painted space black, with no windows or running lights visible. Its main deflector stared back at Ulysses like some giant red unblinking eye. Section 31 vessel, Ulysses thought, for no other ships in the fleet used that color scheme. From its oversize torpedo system mounted on her graceful neck, the Connie launched a projectile that disappeared into phase cloak, then the Section Constitution disappeared into phase cloak herself. His plot was empty now, and if he hadn't looked, he would never have seen anything.
"Orders to the fleet, engage slipstream on bearing 333 mark 771 NOW!"
Despite the suddenness of his orders, P'tel had learned from experience that when Ulysses gave them he had a darn good reason. His commands were sent out on the fleet wide tactical channel and all ships turned on course and jumped, for one didn't question orders from the flag, no matter how odd they might sound. They left not a moment to soon, for a bare second after they vacated the area, the Connie's torpedo phased back into realspace.
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge -
Ulysses was striding towards the rooms holo wreathed command chair, with P'tel and Percy making for helm and tactical respectively when a Romulan in fleet uniform leapt from behind one of the stations and grabbed Ulysses. A dagger was quickly placed near his throat and Corval used Ulysses as a shield. There had been no warning of imminent attack and the telepathic weapon had a look of sheer terror on his sweat drenched face. With a blade hovering scant millimeters from his throat, Ulysses dared not try anything. P'tel and Percy were also caught unawares, assuming that since nothing had tried to attack them when they first came aboard the bridge, there was nothing there to attack. Both leveled their compression phaser rifles on Corval as he hid behind Ulysses.
"Nnnnn.ooo one mmmoove!" Corval shouted. Despite his warning, Percy's training took over and he began to sidestep around the circular outer perimeter of the Flag Bridge in an effort to get a clear shot. He, while being a fair shot, was no marksman, and since he couldn't risk stunning the Captain as they needed every hand available to just run the mammoth ship, he needed a clear lane of fire to ensure that only the attacker was stunned, not his captain. He had made about two steps when Corval moved the knife till it was in contact with Ulysses neck. It wasn't hard enough to break the skin, but it was a clear sign for him to stop.
"Do as he says Mr. Davenport." For a man in his predicament, Ulysses Vanguard sounded surprisingly calm. Seeing no other option, Percy stopped, but like P'tel, he never lowered his rifle. If he got a clear shot, he would take it, just as he was sure P'tel would take hers.
"I knn.nnoooo what youuu arrre planning on dooooing! Yooou willll not, ifff you va.aa.alue your Cappptainssss life."
"You need to let us go." Ulysses said. "There is a vitally important job that needs to be done immediately or we are all going to die. Now I am sure that you don't want that to happen, so why don't you put down the knife so we can save both you and ourselves?"
"Yooou, Yyyou are diffff.fferent from themmm." Corval said into Ulysses ear. "You arrre hhhiiiding. something from mmmeee." With a sudden jerk, the arm that holding his waist Ulysses waist went to the side of his face. It was vaguely similar to a Vulcan mind meld touch, but this one was cruder, as if were live wires that were trying to force themselves into the side of his head instead of merely touching it. It felt as if a bomb had gone off inside Ulysses head. It was so intense and unexpected that his knees nearly buckled, and it was only through sheer force of will that Ulysses remained standing. Instantly he knew who this terrified man was. At first Ulysses had thought that it was merely a member of the crew that had been damaged by the apparent Psychonic attack. Now he knew that his hostage taker was in fact the originator of the attack. A quick glance down at the department branch band on his uniform cuff confirmed his suspicion. It was black, the same color as the rest of his black uniform. Only one branch of the fleet used anything like that color scheme, and it was PSI Branch.
Like a wildfire, Corval forced his way into Ulysses mind. He was far more powerful than any telepath Ulysses had encountered. He had no way of knowing that it was due to the extremely close telepathic link that Corval had established with Species 8472 that had supercharged Corval's abilities so. It didn't matter how it had happened though, for the fact remained that Corval was able to see everything Ulysses had hidden from so may people for so long. He was like an open book to the telepath, and Corval was reading every page at a lightening pace.
But like every mind meld, it was a two way street. You just had to know where to look for the other lane. Ulysses did and found it. He plunged into the others chaotic mind, and near instantly knew that Corval was going to die. The backlash of the attack was too severe, and even now it was spreading through what remained of his mind, adding more and more destruction in its wake. In what was left, Ulysses found a sorrow nearly as deep as his own. In a way this being was a kindred spirit. Both had been horribly scarred during their childhood by the Terran Empire, and both now served them. The only difference between them was that Ulysses had gained the relative peace in his tortured soul, while Corval had not. Ulysses put his full effort into sending that peace to Corval.
There was a gasp of surprise as Corval encountered the teachings of Spock and the inner peace they helped bring to Ulysses. A slow smile spread across his tortured face, the muscle movement bringing slight pain because he so rarely used them in this manner. The knife at Ulysses throat was withdrawn and Corval took a step backward.
"Thank you for this precious gift Ulysses Vanguard. You have finally brought my soul peace." Corval said in an awed whisper. For the first time he didn't speak with any impediment. Perhaps it was due to his newfound peace, or perhaps it was due to nearly all of his "training" being obliterated by the Psychonic attack. Ulysses would never find out, for Corval took in a shuddering breath, his eyes rolled back and he began to crumple to the floor. Ulysses reached out, caught him and eased him down onto his back. With a final twitch, Corval laid still and exhaled his last breath.
"Sleep well friend." Ulysses whispered back, then reached out and closed Corval's sightless eyes. Standing up slowly, Ulysses spoke over his shoulder to his officers. "Lest get going." P'tel and Percy were still slightly shocked by the startling turn of events, yet they jerked into motion fairly bolting for their stations. Ulysses settled down into the Flag Bridge's chair and quickly took stock of the situation. 2nd Fleet was on the verge of breaking through the enemy force. They had taken losses, but the enemy had taken less, worse the luck. It was time to change the odds to the home teams favor. With a quick glance at his left terminal, Ulysses knew that the Athena was as battle ready as she was going to be. "Initiate micro jump to these coordinates." He said as he pressed the button that would transmit the desired zone to P'tel's helm station.
"Aye sir. Jumping. now." For a brief time, the holo display showed only the swirling cloud like tube of slipstream, then the Athena was back in normal space in the middle of the enemy force.
- ISS Yamato, Flag Bridge -
Bartlett stared up in awe along with the rest of 2nd Fleet as the Athena popped back into normal space amongst the enemy. For a split second nothing happened, then it was as if a star went supernova amongst the enemy. All 20 Quantum turrets, 100 Phalanx turrets, 30 Type XV Phaser strips, 25 Quad PPC turrets, four foreword and dual rearward Type II Phaser Lances and dual fore and single aft Heavy torpedo launchers on the stupendous ship went into continuous rapid fire. Quantum turrets spat out long strings of blue white death that slammed unerringly into the unprepared enemy. Their smaller siblings, the Phalanx turrets also sent out their less lethal loads nearly one behind the other. Quad Pulse Phaser Cannon turrets hammered away, leaving destruction in their wake as they stitched across the enemy vessels in exquisite precision. They were joined by the heavy phaser arrays that covered every possible arc with multiple strips. Lances of energy, like the lightening bolts of Zeus himself, slammed into ships all around the Athena. Nor were her normal weapons alone, for her heavy weaponry joined in the killing. Beams as thick as a frigate, four foreword, two aft, spewed from the Phaser Lance emitters. Each struck a separate enemy Battleship, each broke it in half. The two fore and single aft heavy photon launcher sent their shuttle sized antimatter loads towards three Battleships. All three targets disappeared as their hulls were enveloped by the torps load of antimatter and annihilated in eye tearing flashes of light. She was like a whirlwind, rolling up all opposition to her battlefield supremacy, leaving only devastation in her wake. The heart of the enemy formation glowed like the heart of a star as the titanic power of the Athena's weapons systems was unleashed. Ship after ship died, some in massive antimatter/matter explosions, some thanks to zero point warheads, others to the ceaseless torrent of pulse phaser bolts and phaser strikes.
Suddenly strikes came in from outside the enemy fleet as well. Erupting out of slipstream, the 200 Soulwolf class Heavy Destroyers came in fighting, sending their own deadly beams into the fray. They represented the current bleeding edge in Imperial Tech, incorporating both a Type II Phaser Lance and QSS drive into a package slightly smaller than an Intrepid. Their hull was specifically designed to make them among the fastest vessels in space, either at Impulse or in Slipstream. Resembling an amalgam of an ancient Oberth, a Prometheus and a Dauntless, they were more nimble than a Defiant, and they used this ability ruthlessly as they rapidly maneuvered clear of each other and cut loose with their powerful main armament. While their smaller drives meant longer recharge times between lance shots, 200 enemy vessels died in the opening barrage. Having salvoed their Phaser Lances, the Soulwolfs closed in to ripple fire quantums, PPCs and phaser arrays, throwing the armament of a current line Battle Cruiser from a mere Destroyer sized platform.
-All was lost. The enemy had lured the fleet into a staggering trap, hitting it with both the supposedly neutralized capital ship and over 200 destroyer-sized vessels that had those damnable energy weapons. All that was left open to the fleet was to destroy as many of the enemy as they could before they died. It wouldn't be long at the rate they were being killed off, but they could still do some damage. Rapidly picking their targets, the fleet concentrated its remaining firepower on just three ships. -
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge -
Ulysses and Percy cheered while P'tel's eyes were the only feature of her that gave away her own joy at the sight. The holo display and their terminals flashed them the info that 2nd Fleet's reinforcements had arrived. Where the Athena had been kicking the heart out of the enemy formation for what seemed like hours but was merely a few dozen seconds, the Soulwolf's streamed out to kill at the flanks of the enemy fleet. Angry crimson/orange lances of fire nearly the size of the firing ships themselves after leaving their emitter stabbed at the spindle shaped craft.
Then the massive bulk of the Athena jarred as 25 bio-pulse beams slammed into her. Her powerful shields were knocked flat, and the beams clawed at the titanic armor under them, creating long molten furrows in her carapace. A few weapons emplacements were sheared off, stifling their fury, but the others continued to respond in kind, destroying ship after ship with methodical precision as she continued to fire all of her remaining weapons as soon as they reloaded and their capacitors recharged. She was wounded, but not mortally so. She had been designed from the outset to absorb punishment and still function, so the killing continued. Nearly every enemy vessel was either damaged or outright destroyed, and where there had once been a proud fleet there was only drifting wreckage almost thick enough to walk across the battle field on. Most of it still glowed brightly thanks to the stupendous energy released on it. Weak shall perish my ass, Ulysses thought. Then he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something wasn't right here. Something bad was about to happen. He could feel it in his very bones, just like he could tell that Chriton was going to get his fleet killed because of his own delusions. It wasn't every time he was in trouble that he got these flashes, they seemed to come and go of their own accord, but when they did come, he trusted them implicitly. Even while the last few Species 8472 vessels died under constant phaser and quantum barrage, Ulysses spun his chair around, searching the display for something out of the ordinary. There it was, a lone friendly contact a good ways off. With a flick of his hand, the computer zoomed in on the contact. It was a Constitution class vessel, painted space black, with no windows or running lights visible. Its main deflector stared back at Ulysses like some giant red unblinking eye. Section 31 vessel, Ulysses thought, for no other ships in the fleet used that color scheme. From its oversize torpedo system mounted on her graceful neck, the Connie launched a projectile that disappeared into phase cloak, then the Section Constitution disappeared into phase cloak herself. His plot was empty now, and if he hadn't looked, he would never have seen anything.
"Orders to the fleet, engage slipstream on bearing 333 mark 771 NOW!"
Despite the suddenness of his orders, P'tel had learned from experience that when Ulysses gave them he had a darn good reason. His commands were sent out on the fleet wide tactical channel and all ships turned on course and jumped, for one didn't question orders from the flag, no matter how odd they might sound. They left not a moment to soon, for a bare second after they vacated the area, the Connie's torpedo phased back into realspace.