- CHAPTER 44 -
- IKV Bortas, Klingon Liberation Fleet, Qo'noS System -
Luza grinned fiercely as the Imperial fleet approached. While only a fraction of the Klingon Fleet had the new Breen Energy Dampening Weapon, they should be sufficient to take out what was approaching them. The Trojan horses that had been sent in ahead of the main fleet had performed better than expected, taking out more vessels and installations than they had planned for. It only served to make the Fleet's job easier, but then use of the massive firepower of the Fleet had never truly been planned on being used. The captured Imperial installations and vessels would only add to the backbone of Qo'noS's new Klingon defenses.
"Targets coming in from the flagship. Our Vampire wing is ordered to target this Galaxy wing." Five of the dangerous opponents were highlighted on the small screen to the right of Luza's command chair.
"Very well, order the squadron to form up for an attack run on them." She said.
"Squadron confirms orders and awaits your order to launch."
"Target their lead vessels and fire."
The squadron of Vampires opened up with their Maulers. The Galaxy wing had been more occupied with the bigger Negh'Vars and Vor'chas than the Vampires, relying on their escorts to provide cover against the smaller vessels. Silver swords lanced out of the Mauler emitters mounted in the prow of each Vampire, hitting squarely on their targets. The Galaxies powerful shields flashed, then failed. Ablative armor generators were stripped away, and the hull turned to molten pools under the assault, yet the Galaxy was a tough customer. Her extensive internal volume was devoted to backup power supplies and targeting sensors. Armored internal bulkheads smashed down, channeling the destruction and limiting its total damage. Here and there, a Galaxy had a hole blown through its whole saucer. Two weren't so lucky, or else the Vampire's gunnery officers were particularly sharp on the long BVR shot. Whatever the cause, the Mauler's targeting them hit their secondary hull instead of the large target of the saucer section. Despite the shields and armors best efforts, the beams punched through and penetrated their AM storage tanks. Though the blow wasn't fatal, it did force the dual warp cores offline due to lack of fuel, meaning that the two Galaxies were now operating on backup fusion reactors. Though they could still fight, it was at a greatly reduced rate.
The attack drew the ire of the Galaxies escorts down upon Luza's squadron in spades. Like a swarm of wasps, they charged to the defense of their charges. The Defiants and Sabers crashed down on the Vampires, expecting to have a fairly easy time as long as they used their superior maneuverability to stay out of the Mauler's arc. Flying in wing pairs, these ships had been the bane of Luza's old B'rel's existence, for they possessed the edge in both firepower (greatly outgunning the ancient vessel) and speed and maneuverability (here the edge was smaller, but still noticeable). This was no longer the case, as the Imperial's learned the hard way. Whipping their ships around in maneuvers every bit as tight as those the Imperial warships pulled, the Vampires lined up on them with their rapid-fire disruptor banks. Pulsed green death spat from the five fore emitters, hammering away at the Imperial shields and armor. Though the Mauler needed time to recharge, there was more than enough power to keep the disrupter's capacitor charged and engage in hard maneuvering. The Bortas lurched slightly as a Defiant, true to its name, launched back in turn with a string of PPC bolts and a pair of quantums from her foreword weapons.
"Fore shields down 2%." Her tactical officer said.
"Target the offending vessel and teach it the error of its ways."
"Aye sir." A throaty Klingon chuckle went around the bridge.
The Defiant had spun end for end and began to pull away to open the range so it could turn around and reattack. As it did so, its wingmate was cut in half by a sustained burst from a fellow Vampire. The Bortas didn't give its quarry a chance to reattack. His sharp helmsman slammed the fleet footed cruiser into a rapid turn to port and laid in a pursuit course even as the Imperial began his own turn. The enemies rear quantum tube seeded its deadly spoor into space, but the Klingon vessel managed to dodge most of them using its high maneuverability and ECM. The few that did manage to strike were mere irritants, and then the Defiant settled into the Vampire's cross hairs. Quantums and disruptor bolts were freed from their weapons, slashing deeply into the rear hull of the Defiant. After repeated hits, the entire aft end of the vessel sheared off while the rest of it went into a ballistic course, dead in space. Luza looked back down at her master plot. Her squadron had cut a swath through the Defiants and Sabers sent out to kill them, but there were two with light damage. Their captains fevereantly swore that they were still combat capable, and judging from her own cursory visual inspection, they were just that. Not that she would have had the heart to tell them to withdraw from the greatest battle in Klingon history even if their damage had been more extensive. Turning her attention back to the wings primary targets, she was just in time to see a wing of asymmetrical claw like vessels stream in range and volley their weapons. The phasers and quantums that had been spewing continuously from the wounded Galaxies died mid stream as the Breen weapons leached their power away.
The Bortas' com speakers came to life with an odd melding of growls and beeps. Though Luza didn't understand the Breen language and the universal translator had a tough time deciphering it, she couldn't help but think that they were laughing at her for letting them steal her kills. Normally such an affront on her honor would have caused her wrath to be unleashed, but there were enough kills to go around so she chose to let the slight pass just this once.
- Ops, Starbase 10 -
The two fleets came together in warp, but soon dropped to impulse as their warp inhibitors area of effect came into range of each other fleet. The battles were mostly short, as the Imperial heavies engaged at long range and only fired a few times before turning and engaging full impulse to clear the inhibitor's field. Even so, the disabled units were all out of proportion to such an engagement. Another 10 Galaxies, 27 Sovereigns, 55 Prometheuses, 42 Akiras and 34 Nebulas went inoperative, to say nothing of the losses in light units. The Imperial fleet broke off and went to warp, with the Klingon Fleet close behind. They would be in orbit in less than a minute, and there was nothing here that could stop them. They could damage them slightly, to be sure, but with the overwhelming on shot kill advantage of their mysterious weapon, the entire planetary defense net would be offline seconds after that monstrous fleet dropped out of warp. There was really only one option available to her, but Commodore Alex Mushashi was loath to take it. Precious seconds ticked by, steady as the metronome of the red alert beacons. This was all happening so fast that there just wasn't time to analyze things. No time to think about the ongoing chaos that mired Sector 1 Command. No time to question how the Klingons could assemble such a massive fleet in total secrecy. No time to devise any last minute salvation, merely to act as standing orders dictated.
"Orders to the Fleet, they are to set course for Starbase 138, transmitting a full account of what happened here as soon as they are free of the jamming."
"But sir, that means that we won't have any starship cover when the enemy fleet arrives. With the tonnage advantage they have." the com officer began, the first inklings that he was doomed seeping into his brain.
"Just send the message damn you! Don't you think I know that!!" She cursed him, her rage against her own helplessness causing her to lash out at the first convenient target. "Can't you see that by holding the remaining Fleet units here, we damn them to the same fate that awaits us?!"
The com officer and most of the Ops duty officers had been vainly clinging to the hope that their position could yet be saved. The truth dawned on them, and they seemed to wilt like deflating balloons. Yet even as that erupted on their consciousness, they stayed at their post, never panicking. They were Terrans, and they still had their duties to perform, even to the last that wouldn't change.
"Message sent sir." The subdued com officer replied.
"No give me the Defense Perimeter channel." When the com officer signaled his readiness, she continued. "All Stations of the Qo'noS Defense Perimeter, this is Commodore Mushashi, acting CO of Sector 10 Command." She hesitated for a brief moment as part of her raged against what she must do, yet it passed and she continued. "All units are hereby ordered to implement General Order 4 immediately. I repeat, all units are to implement General Order 4 immediately. Long live the Empire. Mushashi out." A hush fell across Starbase 10's Ops at her words. They all knew that General Order 4 stated that, in the face of an enemy attack on a strategically important target, with no likelihood of advantageous battle outcome or counterattack in the near future, all static defensive installations are to be scuttled to remove their use by the enemy. Her orders had gone out to every working com display on every working station in Qo'noS orbit, and upon hearing them, their crews began a mad scramble for the escape pods.
She turned to her panel and began to speak. "Computer, activate General Order 4, 60 second countdown from activation. Authorization Commodore Alex Mushashi 119 Alpha 342 Epsilon 556 Destruct Enable."
"Acknowledged. Primary authorization authenticated, primary locks disengaged. Secondary authorization required to continue." The computer said. Alex turned to look across Ops to the tactical officer. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, a tortured look on his face, then visibly sagged and nodded to her.
"Computer, activate General Order 4. Authorization Commander Ben Percival 996 Cappa 778 Theta 204 Destruct Enable."
"Acknowledged. Secondary authorization authenticated, secondary locks disengaged. Activation of General Order 4 initiated, 60 second countdown. 59.58.57." It was then that a harried looking Flag Admiral leaped through the still half opened turbolift doors. His uniform was crumpled with the golden braiding around his left shoulder out of position. Admiral Irving Johnson's white hair was disheveled, but where his wrinkled, age spotted face had initially shown a scowl when he charged onto the bridge, the dead silence other than the soft feminine voice of the computer counting down caused it to turn to something else, sheer terror.
"Dear God.!! But. but there is no time for me to escape!" He wailed like a terrified child.
For all of her own fear of her impending death, Alex's voice was surprisingly calm. "Neither is their time for the large portion of this stations personnel to evacuate. The enemy fleet will be on top of us in." She glanced at her tactical repeater just as the computer said 46. "38 seconds. When they get here, their will be no way to prevent them from taking over this and the other stations in Qo'noS orbit. Thus implementing General Order 4 is the only course I could take."
"But. but I'll BE KILLED!"
Alex snorted. "As I said, not only you but a large portion of the valiant Imperial officers and crew as well. But there is a difference between them and you. Unlike you, they will be dying in service to the Empire. You, you sniveling worm that has no business wearing a Crewman's uniform, let alone an Admiral's, will merely be dying a far, far better death than you deserve!"
The holo display above their heads shifted as the Klingon fleet dropped out of warp. There were now a scant 8 seconds till the scuttling charges on Starbase 10 detonated yet the Klingon fleet also knew this. Any vessel that mounted the Breen Energy Dampening torpedoes immediately targeted a nearby station and fired.
"NOOOO!!" The Admiral shouted as he lunged towards the console next to Alex with surprising speed for one over 100 years of age chronologically. Perhaps it was true that sex helped to keep one young. "Computer Abort General Ord." The Admiral never finished his statement as Alex's hand flashed up to crush his larynx. His hands flashed to his throat as he struggled to breathe through his collapsed windpipe. Commodore Alex Mushashi smiled down at the choking Admiral.
"I die for the Empire!" She said with great pride. The rest of the Ops duty crew braced to attention at her words.
"I DIE FOR THE EMPIRE!" They roared back. She was fiercely proud of them, for not one had cracked and tried a doomed attempt to get from the centrally situated Ops to the outer escape pods. Not that even that would have done much good, for everyone knew Klingons didn't take prisoners.
Then the computer said zero and a loud roar and a brilliant white light filled Ops. The vast stores of antimatter on the giant station met matter as the containment fields let go. That in and of itself wouldn't totally wipe out the station, but combined with the entire onboard magazine capacity of torpedoes, both heavy and quantum, detonating at the same time, along with the purposely left open blast doors and disabled SIF, it proved sufficient. The titanic release of energy tore the once powerful station apart from the inside out, leaving only a shattered and broken partial shell in its place. Close to half of the surviving stations joined Starbase 10 in its suicide, but the Breen torpedoes caught the others, freezing their countdowns before they could activate the scuttling charges.
- Klingon Liberation Fleet, Qo'noS Defense Perimeter -
The rainbow streaks on bottomless black of warp coalesced back into the pinpricks of starlight as the Fleet dropped back out of warp near Qo'noS. The fleet's final destination was now within reach, seemingly within a hand's breadth, but there was still much to be done to secure it from the Terrans. Breen torpedoes spat from their launchers to strike out at the orbiting stations. Some hit in time, others did not, the small torpedoes getting lost in the star bright boils of massive antimatter explosions as the stations scuttling charges let go. 60 OWPs, 9 Battle Stations, 15 Starbases and 2 shipyards were all that remained of the orbital defenses of Qo'noS. Even as the detonations that signified a successful implementation of General Order 4 walked across Qo'noS's sky, the dirtside weaponry activated. Massive phaser emitters sent out amber/orange shafts of light, meeting with carefully choreographed frequency windows in the planetary shield grid. Ships not able to get out of their path in time took massive damage. One of the few Romulan D'deridex Warbirds was targeted and the beam hit, splintering its port nacelle struts to slag and throwing the crippled vessel into a uncontrolled spiral away from the point of impact. Two Negh'Vars were also hit, one along its spine boom, separating the vessel into two halves. The other was hit nearly head on, the beam piercing straight down the ship nearly dead center. Its antimatter stores let loose a split second after the beam finished its cut, blowing the now halved warship to large splinters.
Breen torpedoes rained down on the planet. Though the current range was approaching the outer edge of their engagement envelope, it helped greatly that the target couldn't evade. Even so, there were so many false targets being generated by dirtside ECM that sites required a saturation bombardment to ensure deactivation. One by one, the massive phaser emplacements and shield generators were taken offline. Shields that would stop any known weapon cold were just as powerless as their smaller brethren on starships and bases against the Breen's ingenious weapon. Soon large breeches were forming in the planetary shield, and ground fire was slacking visibly. It was time to retake the Homeworld, and the assigned fleet elements moved foreword to do just that. While some units were assigned to pacify the power drained starships and stations, mostly by beaming their helpless crews to either holding cells or out into space, the true strength of the attack moved into a low orbit over the capital. Since nearly the entire planetary surface from ground level to high into the atmosphere was under the effects of transporter inhibitors that couldn't be localized for destruction, an orbital insertion was called in.
Army drop ships streamed out from their cargo tenders to scream down through the planets atmosphere. They were joined by the highly stealthed, power armored infantry in a more deadly form of orbital skydiving. Where one was done for the thrill, this one was done to insert combat troops where they were needed when transporters were offline. Lighter planetary defenses were still online, and phalanx torps and PPC fire spat out to try and kill both the drop ships and the unlucky infantry that had been detected despite their ECM units. B'rel's and Shrike's swooped down in support of the assault, flaying the PPC and Phalanx sites with disruptor bolts, turning the ground to molten ruin. Yet for all of the destruction they unleashed, they were careful of where they unleashed it, for this was THEIR planet, and they wanted it as intact as possible.
- IKV Bortas, Klingon Liberation Fleet, Qo'noS System -
Luza grinned fiercely as the Imperial fleet approached. While only a fraction of the Klingon Fleet had the new Breen Energy Dampening Weapon, they should be sufficient to take out what was approaching them. The Trojan horses that had been sent in ahead of the main fleet had performed better than expected, taking out more vessels and installations than they had planned for. It only served to make the Fleet's job easier, but then use of the massive firepower of the Fleet had never truly been planned on being used. The captured Imperial installations and vessels would only add to the backbone of Qo'noS's new Klingon defenses.
"Targets coming in from the flagship. Our Vampire wing is ordered to target this Galaxy wing." Five of the dangerous opponents were highlighted on the small screen to the right of Luza's command chair.
"Very well, order the squadron to form up for an attack run on them." She said.
"Squadron confirms orders and awaits your order to launch."
"Target their lead vessels and fire."
The squadron of Vampires opened up with their Maulers. The Galaxy wing had been more occupied with the bigger Negh'Vars and Vor'chas than the Vampires, relying on their escorts to provide cover against the smaller vessels. Silver swords lanced out of the Mauler emitters mounted in the prow of each Vampire, hitting squarely on their targets. The Galaxies powerful shields flashed, then failed. Ablative armor generators were stripped away, and the hull turned to molten pools under the assault, yet the Galaxy was a tough customer. Her extensive internal volume was devoted to backup power supplies and targeting sensors. Armored internal bulkheads smashed down, channeling the destruction and limiting its total damage. Here and there, a Galaxy had a hole blown through its whole saucer. Two weren't so lucky, or else the Vampire's gunnery officers were particularly sharp on the long BVR shot. Whatever the cause, the Mauler's targeting them hit their secondary hull instead of the large target of the saucer section. Despite the shields and armors best efforts, the beams punched through and penetrated their AM storage tanks. Though the blow wasn't fatal, it did force the dual warp cores offline due to lack of fuel, meaning that the two Galaxies were now operating on backup fusion reactors. Though they could still fight, it was at a greatly reduced rate.
The attack drew the ire of the Galaxies escorts down upon Luza's squadron in spades. Like a swarm of wasps, they charged to the defense of their charges. The Defiants and Sabers crashed down on the Vampires, expecting to have a fairly easy time as long as they used their superior maneuverability to stay out of the Mauler's arc. Flying in wing pairs, these ships had been the bane of Luza's old B'rel's existence, for they possessed the edge in both firepower (greatly outgunning the ancient vessel) and speed and maneuverability (here the edge was smaller, but still noticeable). This was no longer the case, as the Imperial's learned the hard way. Whipping their ships around in maneuvers every bit as tight as those the Imperial warships pulled, the Vampires lined up on them with their rapid-fire disruptor banks. Pulsed green death spat from the five fore emitters, hammering away at the Imperial shields and armor. Though the Mauler needed time to recharge, there was more than enough power to keep the disrupter's capacitor charged and engage in hard maneuvering. The Bortas lurched slightly as a Defiant, true to its name, launched back in turn with a string of PPC bolts and a pair of quantums from her foreword weapons.
"Fore shields down 2%." Her tactical officer said.
"Target the offending vessel and teach it the error of its ways."
"Aye sir." A throaty Klingon chuckle went around the bridge.
The Defiant had spun end for end and began to pull away to open the range so it could turn around and reattack. As it did so, its wingmate was cut in half by a sustained burst from a fellow Vampire. The Bortas didn't give its quarry a chance to reattack. His sharp helmsman slammed the fleet footed cruiser into a rapid turn to port and laid in a pursuit course even as the Imperial began his own turn. The enemies rear quantum tube seeded its deadly spoor into space, but the Klingon vessel managed to dodge most of them using its high maneuverability and ECM. The few that did manage to strike were mere irritants, and then the Defiant settled into the Vampire's cross hairs. Quantums and disruptor bolts were freed from their weapons, slashing deeply into the rear hull of the Defiant. After repeated hits, the entire aft end of the vessel sheared off while the rest of it went into a ballistic course, dead in space. Luza looked back down at her master plot. Her squadron had cut a swath through the Defiants and Sabers sent out to kill them, but there were two with light damage. Their captains fevereantly swore that they were still combat capable, and judging from her own cursory visual inspection, they were just that. Not that she would have had the heart to tell them to withdraw from the greatest battle in Klingon history even if their damage had been more extensive. Turning her attention back to the wings primary targets, she was just in time to see a wing of asymmetrical claw like vessels stream in range and volley their weapons. The phasers and quantums that had been spewing continuously from the wounded Galaxies died mid stream as the Breen weapons leached their power away.
The Bortas' com speakers came to life with an odd melding of growls and beeps. Though Luza didn't understand the Breen language and the universal translator had a tough time deciphering it, she couldn't help but think that they were laughing at her for letting them steal her kills. Normally such an affront on her honor would have caused her wrath to be unleashed, but there were enough kills to go around so she chose to let the slight pass just this once.
- Ops, Starbase 10 -
The two fleets came together in warp, but soon dropped to impulse as their warp inhibitors area of effect came into range of each other fleet. The battles were mostly short, as the Imperial heavies engaged at long range and only fired a few times before turning and engaging full impulse to clear the inhibitor's field. Even so, the disabled units were all out of proportion to such an engagement. Another 10 Galaxies, 27 Sovereigns, 55 Prometheuses, 42 Akiras and 34 Nebulas went inoperative, to say nothing of the losses in light units. The Imperial fleet broke off and went to warp, with the Klingon Fleet close behind. They would be in orbit in less than a minute, and there was nothing here that could stop them. They could damage them slightly, to be sure, but with the overwhelming on shot kill advantage of their mysterious weapon, the entire planetary defense net would be offline seconds after that monstrous fleet dropped out of warp. There was really only one option available to her, but Commodore Alex Mushashi was loath to take it. Precious seconds ticked by, steady as the metronome of the red alert beacons. This was all happening so fast that there just wasn't time to analyze things. No time to think about the ongoing chaos that mired Sector 1 Command. No time to question how the Klingons could assemble such a massive fleet in total secrecy. No time to devise any last minute salvation, merely to act as standing orders dictated.
"Orders to the Fleet, they are to set course for Starbase 138, transmitting a full account of what happened here as soon as they are free of the jamming."
"But sir, that means that we won't have any starship cover when the enemy fleet arrives. With the tonnage advantage they have." the com officer began, the first inklings that he was doomed seeping into his brain.
"Just send the message damn you! Don't you think I know that!!" She cursed him, her rage against her own helplessness causing her to lash out at the first convenient target. "Can't you see that by holding the remaining Fleet units here, we damn them to the same fate that awaits us?!"
The com officer and most of the Ops duty officers had been vainly clinging to the hope that their position could yet be saved. The truth dawned on them, and they seemed to wilt like deflating balloons. Yet even as that erupted on their consciousness, they stayed at their post, never panicking. They were Terrans, and they still had their duties to perform, even to the last that wouldn't change.
"Message sent sir." The subdued com officer replied.
"No give me the Defense Perimeter channel." When the com officer signaled his readiness, she continued. "All Stations of the Qo'noS Defense Perimeter, this is Commodore Mushashi, acting CO of Sector 10 Command." She hesitated for a brief moment as part of her raged against what she must do, yet it passed and she continued. "All units are hereby ordered to implement General Order 4 immediately. I repeat, all units are to implement General Order 4 immediately. Long live the Empire. Mushashi out." A hush fell across Starbase 10's Ops at her words. They all knew that General Order 4 stated that, in the face of an enemy attack on a strategically important target, with no likelihood of advantageous battle outcome or counterattack in the near future, all static defensive installations are to be scuttled to remove their use by the enemy. Her orders had gone out to every working com display on every working station in Qo'noS orbit, and upon hearing them, their crews began a mad scramble for the escape pods.
She turned to her panel and began to speak. "Computer, activate General Order 4, 60 second countdown from activation. Authorization Commodore Alex Mushashi 119 Alpha 342 Epsilon 556 Destruct Enable."
"Acknowledged. Primary authorization authenticated, primary locks disengaged. Secondary authorization required to continue." The computer said. Alex turned to look across Ops to the tactical officer. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, a tortured look on his face, then visibly sagged and nodded to her.
"Computer, activate General Order 4. Authorization Commander Ben Percival 996 Cappa 778 Theta 204 Destruct Enable."
"Acknowledged. Secondary authorization authenticated, secondary locks disengaged. Activation of General Order 4 initiated, 60 second countdown. 59.58.57." It was then that a harried looking Flag Admiral leaped through the still half opened turbolift doors. His uniform was crumpled with the golden braiding around his left shoulder out of position. Admiral Irving Johnson's white hair was disheveled, but where his wrinkled, age spotted face had initially shown a scowl when he charged onto the bridge, the dead silence other than the soft feminine voice of the computer counting down caused it to turn to something else, sheer terror.
"Dear God.!! But. but there is no time for me to escape!" He wailed like a terrified child.
For all of her own fear of her impending death, Alex's voice was surprisingly calm. "Neither is their time for the large portion of this stations personnel to evacuate. The enemy fleet will be on top of us in." She glanced at her tactical repeater just as the computer said 46. "38 seconds. When they get here, their will be no way to prevent them from taking over this and the other stations in Qo'noS orbit. Thus implementing General Order 4 is the only course I could take."
"But. but I'll BE KILLED!"
Alex snorted. "As I said, not only you but a large portion of the valiant Imperial officers and crew as well. But there is a difference between them and you. Unlike you, they will be dying in service to the Empire. You, you sniveling worm that has no business wearing a Crewman's uniform, let alone an Admiral's, will merely be dying a far, far better death than you deserve!"
The holo display above their heads shifted as the Klingon fleet dropped out of warp. There were now a scant 8 seconds till the scuttling charges on Starbase 10 detonated yet the Klingon fleet also knew this. Any vessel that mounted the Breen Energy Dampening torpedoes immediately targeted a nearby station and fired.
"NOOOO!!" The Admiral shouted as he lunged towards the console next to Alex with surprising speed for one over 100 years of age chronologically. Perhaps it was true that sex helped to keep one young. "Computer Abort General Ord." The Admiral never finished his statement as Alex's hand flashed up to crush his larynx. His hands flashed to his throat as he struggled to breathe through his collapsed windpipe. Commodore Alex Mushashi smiled down at the choking Admiral.
"I die for the Empire!" She said with great pride. The rest of the Ops duty crew braced to attention at her words.
"I DIE FOR THE EMPIRE!" They roared back. She was fiercely proud of them, for not one had cracked and tried a doomed attempt to get from the centrally situated Ops to the outer escape pods. Not that even that would have done much good, for everyone knew Klingons didn't take prisoners.
Then the computer said zero and a loud roar and a brilliant white light filled Ops. The vast stores of antimatter on the giant station met matter as the containment fields let go. That in and of itself wouldn't totally wipe out the station, but combined with the entire onboard magazine capacity of torpedoes, both heavy and quantum, detonating at the same time, along with the purposely left open blast doors and disabled SIF, it proved sufficient. The titanic release of energy tore the once powerful station apart from the inside out, leaving only a shattered and broken partial shell in its place. Close to half of the surviving stations joined Starbase 10 in its suicide, but the Breen torpedoes caught the others, freezing their countdowns before they could activate the scuttling charges.
- Klingon Liberation Fleet, Qo'noS Defense Perimeter -
The rainbow streaks on bottomless black of warp coalesced back into the pinpricks of starlight as the Fleet dropped back out of warp near Qo'noS. The fleet's final destination was now within reach, seemingly within a hand's breadth, but there was still much to be done to secure it from the Terrans. Breen torpedoes spat from their launchers to strike out at the orbiting stations. Some hit in time, others did not, the small torpedoes getting lost in the star bright boils of massive antimatter explosions as the stations scuttling charges let go. 60 OWPs, 9 Battle Stations, 15 Starbases and 2 shipyards were all that remained of the orbital defenses of Qo'noS. Even as the detonations that signified a successful implementation of General Order 4 walked across Qo'noS's sky, the dirtside weaponry activated. Massive phaser emitters sent out amber/orange shafts of light, meeting with carefully choreographed frequency windows in the planetary shield grid. Ships not able to get out of their path in time took massive damage. One of the few Romulan D'deridex Warbirds was targeted and the beam hit, splintering its port nacelle struts to slag and throwing the crippled vessel into a uncontrolled spiral away from the point of impact. Two Negh'Vars were also hit, one along its spine boom, separating the vessel into two halves. The other was hit nearly head on, the beam piercing straight down the ship nearly dead center. Its antimatter stores let loose a split second after the beam finished its cut, blowing the now halved warship to large splinters.
Breen torpedoes rained down on the planet. Though the current range was approaching the outer edge of their engagement envelope, it helped greatly that the target couldn't evade. Even so, there were so many false targets being generated by dirtside ECM that sites required a saturation bombardment to ensure deactivation. One by one, the massive phaser emplacements and shield generators were taken offline. Shields that would stop any known weapon cold were just as powerless as their smaller brethren on starships and bases against the Breen's ingenious weapon. Soon large breeches were forming in the planetary shield, and ground fire was slacking visibly. It was time to retake the Homeworld, and the assigned fleet elements moved foreword to do just that. While some units were assigned to pacify the power drained starships and stations, mostly by beaming their helpless crews to either holding cells or out into space, the true strength of the attack moved into a low orbit over the capital. Since nearly the entire planetary surface from ground level to high into the atmosphere was under the effects of transporter inhibitors that couldn't be localized for destruction, an orbital insertion was called in.
Army drop ships streamed out from their cargo tenders to scream down through the planets atmosphere. They were joined by the highly stealthed, power armored infantry in a more deadly form of orbital skydiving. Where one was done for the thrill, this one was done to insert combat troops where they were needed when transporters were offline. Lighter planetary defenses were still online, and phalanx torps and PPC fire spat out to try and kill both the drop ships and the unlucky infantry that had been detected despite their ECM units. B'rel's and Shrike's swooped down in support of the assault, flaying the PPC and Phalanx sites with disruptor bolts, turning the ground to molten ruin. Yet for all of the destruction they unleashed, they were careful of where they unleashed it, for this was THEIR planet, and they wanted it as intact as possible.