- CHAPTER 47 -
- ILV Scarlet Fang, Lyra System, Sector 19, That same time -
Zathran stood hunched over his weapons officer. Usually such close proximity would cause both males to become anxious, but not today. Today was the liberation of Lyra, and both officers were concentrating on their duties far more than their instinctive responses.
"There!" Zathran pointed to the icon that indicated an Imperial Steamrunner wing. "Target that group and order the rest of our claw to follow." Orders went out to the rest of the Lyran vessels in the attack wing, and they all formed up and shot off to engage the latest enemy. The Breen weapons were proving extremely useful, but that wing of Steamrunner's had broken off from the main enemy fleet relatively unnoticed under cloak and was lining up for an attack on the Flagship. Other escorts, including a wing of eager Klingon Vor'cha's, were vectoring in to attack the Steamrunner's as well, but Zathran's claw was the closest.
"ESG capacitor fully charged, the rest of our claw reports the same." Zathran's weapons officer said, his voice showing the faint growl of anticipation.
"Full power to the impulse engines!" Zathran roared, his sensitive nose taking in the full sent of a pack on the hunt. While this hunt wasn't the same as the ancient Lyran's executed against the meat animals on Lyra, it did have similarities. Every member must perform his or her assigned duties to the utmost if the attack was to succeed. Zathran stalked back to his command chair, the yellow, lime green and crimson displays of his cruisers bridge standing out sharply on the healthy sheen of his space black pelt. The Scarlet Fang's lime and gold hull leapt to full impulse, her wingmates forming up and matching her maneuver as they made the final charge to their quarry at 80 PSL. Phaser beams, disruptor bolts and quantum torpedoes crisscrossed the intervening space between the Lyran cruisers and their quarry as the battle raged about them. It was lessening steadily as the new Breen weapon began to take its toll against the Imperial fleet, yet was still thick enough to pose a hazard. Yet not a single beam, either targeting them deliberately or fired at another vessel parallel to their path, struck Zathran's pack as they gained the range on their prey.
The Imperial officer commanding the Steamrunner wing was no fool. Seeing that multiple vessels were converging on his position, he dropped his cloak and brought his shields and armor fully online with his weapons following shortly thereafter. The Steamrunner was a highly maneuverable torpedo heavy platform, relying on its quad foreword burst fire tubes and dual rapid fire tubes to dish out most of its damage rather than its smallish phaser arrays. It was considerably maneuverable for its size, which made such a set up effective. It could bring its tubes to bear, fire off its salvo, then turn away before most ships could bring down its foreword shields.
It was exactly what the Steamrunner's did now, swerving to target Zathran's cruisers, sending a torrent of 160 quantums towards them. That much firepower should prove sufficient to at least heavily damage his cruisers, but the Imperials didn't know about the latest advances in ESG technology.
"Ready for ESG Radius Two activation on my mark. Steady." the massive volley closed on the Lyran cruisers, turning the foreword view screen solidly blue white as the wave of quantums blotted out the stars. "Steady. NOW!" With a surge of power that sounded like a synthesized growl, the invisible energy bubble engulfed the Scarlet Fang and her claw mates like a mother protecting her cubs. A soft hum filled the ship, assuring the crews that their protection was there and operating. The sound was almost like a mother's purr, and just as welcome. The massive wave of zero point warheads closed in their terminal attack runs. and disappeared as they encountered the ESG field. It flared briefly like a dome of fire when the quantums disappeared, but other than that, there was no outward sign of the quantums destruction. They just disappeared from the tactical plot and space itself.
"Execute ramming attack!" Zathran roared in triumph. The Steamrunner's had been so sure that their attack would stop Zathran's ships cold that they had turned again to continue their attack runs on the ILV Ivory Fang. They bean to start panicked maneuvers to take them out of the high-speed collision courses the Lyran's were on, but they were already far to late. "They scatter and run like a heard of Gallers!" Zathran said, for the Steamrunner wing did indeed look like a spooked heard of the four legged herbivore meat animals from Lyra. The range dropped with stunning rapidity as the Imperial vessels broke off their high speed attack runs to maneuver violently in vain attempts to escape. Their short phaser strips came into play. They were not as powerful nor as numerous as those on a Galaxy or Sovereign, but they were all the Steamrunner's had left. Shields flared on the Lyran cruisers, yet they were mere pinpricks compared to what happened to the Imperials.
ESG field encountered first shields, then armor as the Lyran cruisers bulled the larger Imperial vessels out of their path. The ESG made the generating vessels immune to any form of kinetic shock from the ram, shunting the target around its bubble even if struck straight on. On board the Steamrunner's, hull plating buckled and splintered as shields failed. Normally fully intact shields would barely be touched by a full impulse ram by even a similarly sized unit. Yet the ESG leached the shields energy, draining them rapidly and allowing the ESG field to adversely interact with the hull beneath. SIF did its best, but it just wasn't good enough in some cases as three of the five Steamrunner's broke into pieces under the extreme strain. The entire attack, done at high impulse, was over in an eye blink, yet the five Lyran vessels left three destroyed and two heavily damaged Imperials in their wake in exchange for no damage other than slightly reduced shields from the last ditch phaser attack against them.
Suddenly, the remnants of the Imperial fleet turned tail and fled. They had been savaged horribly, and no longer had sufficient strength to stop the Lyran fleet even if they didn't posses the Breen weapon. The Imperial commander had decided to cut his losses and fall back to another system in the hopes that reinforcements would arrive soon enough to make the Lyran's current victory a temporary one.
Off to the edge of the slackening battle, a Breen Cruiser swung around to line up on its next victim, a fleeing Imperial Akira. The Akira was laying down a steady barrage of quantums and phasers from its aft offensive array. There were even four streams of PPC fire and three streams of Phalanx micro torpedoes reaching out to tag its pursuers. An upgraded Akira then, an excellent prize indeed. The Breen Energy Dampening Weapon fired from the vessels asymmetrical prow, sending a silvery ball of energy towards the fleeing Akira. It slammed home, wreathing the Akira in the customary surges of energy. And nothing happened. The fire from the Akira didn't abate one bit. Its engines didn't shut down forcing the massive warship on a ballistic track. It continued on its course as if nothing happened, then once it reached the edge of the warp field inhibitor, leapt to high warp. The Breen commander made a note to have his weapon looked over thoroughly for defects or damage. Nothing else could explain why the Imperial vessel had slipped through his clutches with so much ease.
- Qo'noS, Planetary Palace, Secure Bunker, That same time -
"The enemy is at the palace walls sir." Peter told the softly moaning prostrate from in the bunkers corner. Looking up as if finally realizing there was a new being in the bunker, the Governor seemed to grow a spine. It was easy to do when the other party was both under your command and incapable of giving anything back upon pain of the agonizer or worse. It was far, FAR easier than contemplating the raving Klingon hordes that were descending on the Palace from all sides like a plague as the Governor had been doing till Peter provided a convenient target.
"No doubt due to your incompetence!" The terrified Governor lashed out, his fear causing him to attack the one whom was most responsible for the long delay in that occurrence. "You shall return and fight to the last man. The enemy must be pushed off of Qo'noS!"
"That is impossible to do sir." Peter said, forcing a sigh away that longed to come out ahead of his words. "You saw what the enemy's new weapon system did to the battle stations and Fleet units assigned here. Once the enemy controlled the space above with as large of a fleet as the one they have and took out our planetary shields, the end was already determined." Then Peter snorted behind his armored helmet. "To the last man. we are very nearly there now, and with all contact lost with the other planetary garrisons and no reinforcements coming in the eight hours plus since the attack began, I seriously doubt that there is any serious resistance left anywhere on Qo'noS."
"Yet more incompetence! You will pay dearly for you extreme mishandling of this situation!"
"I think not!" Peter snorted again.
"What. WHAT DID YOU SAY!!" the Governor's eyes bulged in terror fueled rage.
"I said I think not Governor Stiles!" Peter shot back, and the enhanced force his external speakers gave his words seemed to cause the Governor to realize that he was arguing with a highly trained warrior in full power armor. It was usually easy for him to forget such things because anyone lower than him could be bossed around with ease, and due to his position, that meant most everybody in the sector. He was only now beginning to truly comprehend that his position now meant absolutely nothing. "Within a few minutes the Klingon's will be here, in this very bunker. Nothing you can say or I could have done is going to change that, and that means that the Qo'noS system and likely the entire sector will be under Klingon rule again very soon." As if to underscore his words, the computer broke in.
"Palace perimeter wall breached. Enemy forces are inside the palace complex. At current rate of advance it is estimated they will breach the Secure Bunker in 18 minutes." The computers warning elicited a squeal of terror from both the two female slaves and the Governor.
"There, you see?! We are finished, it is merely a matter of time. They evidently want you alive for some reason. Why I cannot fathom, for you have absolutely no knowledge that will be of use to them, unless they actually desire knowledge of how to shirk responsibility and buy your way to power. You don't deserve to live when so many true heroes of Terra have given their lives today thanks to political entities like yourself. If you and your superiors had detached the fleet units sooner, this entire fiasco would have been averted." Pure terror filled Stile's eyes as Peter's words registered. He began to blubber like a baby, begging for his life. I don't think that I'll even give the Klingon's the satisfaction of getting their hands on you." Peter raised his right arm, lining up the computer- generated sight in his HUD with the groveling, whimpering Governor. The phaser emitter on his suits forearm spat a single pulse that vaporized the Governor where he stood.
"Computer, shut down palace defenses." Peter said.
"Warning, outer perimeter is breached. Deactivation of palace defenses not recommended."
"Understood. Shut down the defenses."
"Authorization required."
"Authorization Peter Issard, Palace security Commandant, Code Alpha Alpha Nine Charley Enable."
"Authorization granted. Shutting down defenses." Far above on the surface, the theater shield over the palace flashed off and the surviving defensive batteries powered down. All locked blast doors and forcefield barriers were retracted and shut down. A roar sprang from the Klingon's assaulting the Palace. It was a terrible, scary sound to human ears, but there were few of them left alive above the palace. Seconds later, a power armored Klingon warrior appeared in the open door of the turbolift. It had taken time to melt through the blast doors and overload the shields that lined the turboshaft, but suddenly they had disappeared back into the walls of the shaft. Even the troublesome automated phaser batteries had stopped their attacks on the Klingon invaders. The first Klingon through the now defenseless turboshaft and into the Bunker quickly saw that it was occupied by only three beings. Two were cowering alien slaves. The third was a figure clad in scorched power armor. He was standing facing the turbolift doors with his arms clasped behind himself.
"Where is the Governor?!" The Klingon's artificially enhanced voice demanded after his grav gun was leveled on Peter. At such close range, it couldn't help but hit, and given his armors' current condition, Peter knew that the first one would be lethal. Not that it mattered now anyway. The suit's computer was carrying out his final orders. His external audio pickups heard more intruders descending the shaft. Behind his mask, Peter smiled to himself.
"The Governor? I killed him. And now I'll kill you."
"What?" The Klingon said, perplexed. Then he began to laugh. "Are you trying to make a joke Terran?!"
"No joke. Watch. BOOM!" The Klingon laughed again, but his gun never wavered from Peter's armored torso. Then Peter's suit began to whine, softly at first, but getting steadily louder. The Klingon stopped laughing, his helmet cocking to one side as he tried to figure out just what was happening. The last thing he saw was an impossibly bright flash as Peter's fusion reactor overloaded less than six feet away from him. A fountain of blue fire and nondescript debris jetted upward through the fully open turboshaft to consume the bunker's surface entrance. Nearby Klingon's were knocked off their feet, and the few unlucky enough to be caught in the shaft itself were disintegrated. Peter's final act of defiance took seven enemy infantry with him, including the overeager brigade commander who went into the open turboshaft against the advice of his junior officers.
- ILV Scarlet Fang, Lyra System, Sector 19, That same time -
Zathran stood hunched over his weapons officer. Usually such close proximity would cause both males to become anxious, but not today. Today was the liberation of Lyra, and both officers were concentrating on their duties far more than their instinctive responses.
"There!" Zathran pointed to the icon that indicated an Imperial Steamrunner wing. "Target that group and order the rest of our claw to follow." Orders went out to the rest of the Lyran vessels in the attack wing, and they all formed up and shot off to engage the latest enemy. The Breen weapons were proving extremely useful, but that wing of Steamrunner's had broken off from the main enemy fleet relatively unnoticed under cloak and was lining up for an attack on the Flagship. Other escorts, including a wing of eager Klingon Vor'cha's, were vectoring in to attack the Steamrunner's as well, but Zathran's claw was the closest.
"ESG capacitor fully charged, the rest of our claw reports the same." Zathran's weapons officer said, his voice showing the faint growl of anticipation.
"Full power to the impulse engines!" Zathran roared, his sensitive nose taking in the full sent of a pack on the hunt. While this hunt wasn't the same as the ancient Lyran's executed against the meat animals on Lyra, it did have similarities. Every member must perform his or her assigned duties to the utmost if the attack was to succeed. Zathran stalked back to his command chair, the yellow, lime green and crimson displays of his cruisers bridge standing out sharply on the healthy sheen of his space black pelt. The Scarlet Fang's lime and gold hull leapt to full impulse, her wingmates forming up and matching her maneuver as they made the final charge to their quarry at 80 PSL. Phaser beams, disruptor bolts and quantum torpedoes crisscrossed the intervening space between the Lyran cruisers and their quarry as the battle raged about them. It was lessening steadily as the new Breen weapon began to take its toll against the Imperial fleet, yet was still thick enough to pose a hazard. Yet not a single beam, either targeting them deliberately or fired at another vessel parallel to their path, struck Zathran's pack as they gained the range on their prey.
The Imperial officer commanding the Steamrunner wing was no fool. Seeing that multiple vessels were converging on his position, he dropped his cloak and brought his shields and armor fully online with his weapons following shortly thereafter. The Steamrunner was a highly maneuverable torpedo heavy platform, relying on its quad foreword burst fire tubes and dual rapid fire tubes to dish out most of its damage rather than its smallish phaser arrays. It was considerably maneuverable for its size, which made such a set up effective. It could bring its tubes to bear, fire off its salvo, then turn away before most ships could bring down its foreword shields.
It was exactly what the Steamrunner's did now, swerving to target Zathran's cruisers, sending a torrent of 160 quantums towards them. That much firepower should prove sufficient to at least heavily damage his cruisers, but the Imperials didn't know about the latest advances in ESG technology.
"Ready for ESG Radius Two activation on my mark. Steady." the massive volley closed on the Lyran cruisers, turning the foreword view screen solidly blue white as the wave of quantums blotted out the stars. "Steady. NOW!" With a surge of power that sounded like a synthesized growl, the invisible energy bubble engulfed the Scarlet Fang and her claw mates like a mother protecting her cubs. A soft hum filled the ship, assuring the crews that their protection was there and operating. The sound was almost like a mother's purr, and just as welcome. The massive wave of zero point warheads closed in their terminal attack runs. and disappeared as they encountered the ESG field. It flared briefly like a dome of fire when the quantums disappeared, but other than that, there was no outward sign of the quantums destruction. They just disappeared from the tactical plot and space itself.
"Execute ramming attack!" Zathran roared in triumph. The Steamrunner's had been so sure that their attack would stop Zathran's ships cold that they had turned again to continue their attack runs on the ILV Ivory Fang. They bean to start panicked maneuvers to take them out of the high-speed collision courses the Lyran's were on, but they were already far to late. "They scatter and run like a heard of Gallers!" Zathran said, for the Steamrunner wing did indeed look like a spooked heard of the four legged herbivore meat animals from Lyra. The range dropped with stunning rapidity as the Imperial vessels broke off their high speed attack runs to maneuver violently in vain attempts to escape. Their short phaser strips came into play. They were not as powerful nor as numerous as those on a Galaxy or Sovereign, but they were all the Steamrunner's had left. Shields flared on the Lyran cruisers, yet they were mere pinpricks compared to what happened to the Imperials.
ESG field encountered first shields, then armor as the Lyran cruisers bulled the larger Imperial vessels out of their path. The ESG made the generating vessels immune to any form of kinetic shock from the ram, shunting the target around its bubble even if struck straight on. On board the Steamrunner's, hull plating buckled and splintered as shields failed. Normally fully intact shields would barely be touched by a full impulse ram by even a similarly sized unit. Yet the ESG leached the shields energy, draining them rapidly and allowing the ESG field to adversely interact with the hull beneath. SIF did its best, but it just wasn't good enough in some cases as three of the five Steamrunner's broke into pieces under the extreme strain. The entire attack, done at high impulse, was over in an eye blink, yet the five Lyran vessels left three destroyed and two heavily damaged Imperials in their wake in exchange for no damage other than slightly reduced shields from the last ditch phaser attack against them.
Suddenly, the remnants of the Imperial fleet turned tail and fled. They had been savaged horribly, and no longer had sufficient strength to stop the Lyran fleet even if they didn't posses the Breen weapon. The Imperial commander had decided to cut his losses and fall back to another system in the hopes that reinforcements would arrive soon enough to make the Lyran's current victory a temporary one.
Off to the edge of the slackening battle, a Breen Cruiser swung around to line up on its next victim, a fleeing Imperial Akira. The Akira was laying down a steady barrage of quantums and phasers from its aft offensive array. There were even four streams of PPC fire and three streams of Phalanx micro torpedoes reaching out to tag its pursuers. An upgraded Akira then, an excellent prize indeed. The Breen Energy Dampening Weapon fired from the vessels asymmetrical prow, sending a silvery ball of energy towards the fleeing Akira. It slammed home, wreathing the Akira in the customary surges of energy. And nothing happened. The fire from the Akira didn't abate one bit. Its engines didn't shut down forcing the massive warship on a ballistic track. It continued on its course as if nothing happened, then once it reached the edge of the warp field inhibitor, leapt to high warp. The Breen commander made a note to have his weapon looked over thoroughly for defects or damage. Nothing else could explain why the Imperial vessel had slipped through his clutches with so much ease.
- Qo'noS, Planetary Palace, Secure Bunker, That same time -
"The enemy is at the palace walls sir." Peter told the softly moaning prostrate from in the bunkers corner. Looking up as if finally realizing there was a new being in the bunker, the Governor seemed to grow a spine. It was easy to do when the other party was both under your command and incapable of giving anything back upon pain of the agonizer or worse. It was far, FAR easier than contemplating the raving Klingon hordes that were descending on the Palace from all sides like a plague as the Governor had been doing till Peter provided a convenient target.
"No doubt due to your incompetence!" The terrified Governor lashed out, his fear causing him to attack the one whom was most responsible for the long delay in that occurrence. "You shall return and fight to the last man. The enemy must be pushed off of Qo'noS!"
"That is impossible to do sir." Peter said, forcing a sigh away that longed to come out ahead of his words. "You saw what the enemy's new weapon system did to the battle stations and Fleet units assigned here. Once the enemy controlled the space above with as large of a fleet as the one they have and took out our planetary shields, the end was already determined." Then Peter snorted behind his armored helmet. "To the last man. we are very nearly there now, and with all contact lost with the other planetary garrisons and no reinforcements coming in the eight hours plus since the attack began, I seriously doubt that there is any serious resistance left anywhere on Qo'noS."
"Yet more incompetence! You will pay dearly for you extreme mishandling of this situation!"
"I think not!" Peter snorted again.
"What. WHAT DID YOU SAY!!" the Governor's eyes bulged in terror fueled rage.
"I said I think not Governor Stiles!" Peter shot back, and the enhanced force his external speakers gave his words seemed to cause the Governor to realize that he was arguing with a highly trained warrior in full power armor. It was usually easy for him to forget such things because anyone lower than him could be bossed around with ease, and due to his position, that meant most everybody in the sector. He was only now beginning to truly comprehend that his position now meant absolutely nothing. "Within a few minutes the Klingon's will be here, in this very bunker. Nothing you can say or I could have done is going to change that, and that means that the Qo'noS system and likely the entire sector will be under Klingon rule again very soon." As if to underscore his words, the computer broke in.
"Palace perimeter wall breached. Enemy forces are inside the palace complex. At current rate of advance it is estimated they will breach the Secure Bunker in 18 minutes." The computers warning elicited a squeal of terror from both the two female slaves and the Governor.
"There, you see?! We are finished, it is merely a matter of time. They evidently want you alive for some reason. Why I cannot fathom, for you have absolutely no knowledge that will be of use to them, unless they actually desire knowledge of how to shirk responsibility and buy your way to power. You don't deserve to live when so many true heroes of Terra have given their lives today thanks to political entities like yourself. If you and your superiors had detached the fleet units sooner, this entire fiasco would have been averted." Pure terror filled Stile's eyes as Peter's words registered. He began to blubber like a baby, begging for his life. I don't think that I'll even give the Klingon's the satisfaction of getting their hands on you." Peter raised his right arm, lining up the computer- generated sight in his HUD with the groveling, whimpering Governor. The phaser emitter on his suits forearm spat a single pulse that vaporized the Governor where he stood.
"Computer, shut down palace defenses." Peter said.
"Warning, outer perimeter is breached. Deactivation of palace defenses not recommended."
"Understood. Shut down the defenses."
"Authorization required."
"Authorization Peter Issard, Palace security Commandant, Code Alpha Alpha Nine Charley Enable."
"Authorization granted. Shutting down defenses." Far above on the surface, the theater shield over the palace flashed off and the surviving defensive batteries powered down. All locked blast doors and forcefield barriers were retracted and shut down. A roar sprang from the Klingon's assaulting the Palace. It was a terrible, scary sound to human ears, but there were few of them left alive above the palace. Seconds later, a power armored Klingon warrior appeared in the open door of the turbolift. It had taken time to melt through the blast doors and overload the shields that lined the turboshaft, but suddenly they had disappeared back into the walls of the shaft. Even the troublesome automated phaser batteries had stopped their attacks on the Klingon invaders. The first Klingon through the now defenseless turboshaft and into the Bunker quickly saw that it was occupied by only three beings. Two were cowering alien slaves. The third was a figure clad in scorched power armor. He was standing facing the turbolift doors with his arms clasped behind himself.
"Where is the Governor?!" The Klingon's artificially enhanced voice demanded after his grav gun was leveled on Peter. At such close range, it couldn't help but hit, and given his armors' current condition, Peter knew that the first one would be lethal. Not that it mattered now anyway. The suit's computer was carrying out his final orders. His external audio pickups heard more intruders descending the shaft. Behind his mask, Peter smiled to himself.
"The Governor? I killed him. And now I'll kill you."
"What?" The Klingon said, perplexed. Then he began to laugh. "Are you trying to make a joke Terran?!"
"No joke. Watch. BOOM!" The Klingon laughed again, but his gun never wavered from Peter's armored torso. Then Peter's suit began to whine, softly at first, but getting steadily louder. The Klingon stopped laughing, his helmet cocking to one side as he tried to figure out just what was happening. The last thing he saw was an impossibly bright flash as Peter's fusion reactor overloaded less than six feet away from him. A fountain of blue fire and nondescript debris jetted upward through the fully open turboshaft to consume the bunker's surface entrance. Nearby Klingon's were knocked off their feet, and the few unlucky enough to be caught in the shaft itself were disintegrated. Peter's final act of defiance took seven enemy infantry with him, including the overeager brigade commander who went into the open turboshaft against the advice of his junior officers.