- CHAPTER 50 -
- ISS Athena, 20 hours later -
"Sir, I have an all ships message incoming on hypercom from Starfleet Command. Priority Alpha!"
"Put it up." Ulysses said. Now what could possibly warrant a priority alpha code in peace time, he wondered? A section of the swirling holographic tube of slipstream was replaced by a expanding window. Fleet Admiral Ross' face appeared, looking drawn and pale.
"This is Admiral Ross to all active Imperial vessels. At 17:46 this afternoon, the Terran Empire was brutally attacked. The target was Terra herself, and the current death toll is horrendous. In a terrorist attack, close to two billion men, women and children were savagely murdered!" A gasp of shock went around the bridge. The dark part of Ulysses howled in triumph deep in side of him, reveling in the death of so many of the enemy. Yet the rest of him was horrified at the loss of life. The good part of him clamped down iron control lest the darkness surface. Ulysses suppressed a shudder as he realized just how much the dark side of him approved of the attack. It sickened him to know that part of him actually could desire such a thing. Though even the good side in him wanted to see the Terran Empire wiped out, the deaths of so many innocents wasn't the way to do it.
The image of Admiral Ross paused, looking as if he were struggling to keep his emotions in check. He quickly succeeded and continued. "The attack was centered at San Francisco and the Council Tower in particular, but affected all of San Francisco and some spaceborn targets as well. Nearly all of the Council Members were killed in the attack, with only Chairman Greg Betare and Councilman Jack Chambers surviving. Though this is a horrific tragedy, I urge calm. Those behind this dastardly attack shall be exposed and brought to justice. More information shall be released as it is found out. Admiral Ross out." The com screen shrank back to oblivion, leaving only the serene vessels of 2nd Fleet swarming through slipstream.
"Admiral T'var to Captain Ulysses." T'var's voice came from an expanding com window. It was not surprising that T'var wanted to talk with her Flag Captain. It wasn't every day that two billion souls died, and the fact that the true culprits were as yet unidentified only made it worse.
"Ulysses here Admiral."
"I want the fleet to change course."
"Let me guess, Sector One perhaps?"
"Very clairvoyant of you." The Vulcan deadpanned as only that species can. "I believe that we will be needed there shortly."
"A hunch Ma'am?"
"Vulcan's don't believe in hunches Captain. It is merely a strong statistical probability." T'var said, almost haughtily.
"Understood." Ulysses eyes would have glittered with mirth if the cause for the course change hadn't involved the deaths of two billion souls. It was a hunch all right, just try getting a Vulcan to admit to it though. "Shall all ships proceed, or should the most heavily damaged ones be turned over to Starbase 665 to begin repairs?" The Vulcan steepled her fingers as she considered the question.
"Have the most heavily damaged ones proceed as planned to Starbase 665. The rest shall reform and increase to best possible fleet speed for Sector One."
"Of course Ma'am."
"Very good. T'var out." The com window closed to nothingness.
"Com," Ulysses said, "open a channel to the fleet please."
"Channel open."
"This is Captain Vanguard. In light of the recent Alpha Priority communiqué, the Admiral has decided to revise our orders. All vessels less than 65% operational or with critical repairs that only a shipyard can take care of are to proceed on to Starbase 665 as planned. The rest of us are to proceed to Sector One. The Admiral feels, as do I, that a little retribution is called for, and Second Fleet shall be on call to help mead it out." An animal like growl of agreement coursed through the duty officers surrounding him. A lot of them had friends, and some even family at San Francisco. Ulysses understood their hunger for vengeance more than they would ever know. "Ulysses out."
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge, Two and a half weeks later, Five days out from Sector One -
"Admiral, we are receiving an incoming alert from Starfleet Command. It's addressed to you personally."
What now T'var thought. The scant few rumblings heard over the hyper com so far were bad enough. High ranking Imperial officers implicated in the terrorist attack. Attempts on both Chairman Betare and Councilman Chamber's lives, with the attempt against Betare succeeding. What could happen that hadn't happened already.
"Put it up." The com window expanded on the holo display, showing a Vulcan Fleet Admiral. "Admiral Selek, to what do I owe this unexpected message?"
"Admiral T'var, is your fleet still enroute to Sol system?"
"Yes, Second Fleet is on course and on time." T'var cocked her head to one side slightly and raised a solitary eyebrow. "Why?" In typical Vulcan fashion, Selek didn't beat around the bush.
"There is a massive fleet converging on Sol. It is made up of Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Breen, Gorn, Mirak, Lyran, Ferengi and numerous other minor empires long thought vanquished. Where they gathered such a mighty armada is unknown, but they will be at Terra and Vulcan's doorstep within two days. Current fleet units can only slow them down, not stop them. How soon can you be at Sector One?"
"If we accelerate to maximum velocity, we shall be there in two days, five hours and fifteen minutes, but it will require leaving our slower vessels behind. 1/3 of our current operational combat strength will be left in our wake."
"That cannot be helped. I am ordering you to accelerate to maximum."
"I understand."
"Selek out." The com channel died.
"Orders to the Fleet. All vessels are to increase to maximum attainable velocity and proceed on course to Sector One."
- The Octagon, Terra -
Jack stared at the latest fleet status reports, a weary hand rubbing his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, yet it had only been nearly a day since the horrid truth was known. How strange that the fleet he had tried so hard to eliminate was now the most substantial attack force coming to his aid. Second Fleet was a known hotbed of banned thought, no matter how loyal and powerful their battle records might be. Their removal would both further remind the populace that the universe was a hostile place and remove a possible threat to his grip on power. The bulk of Second Fleet would be in Sector One would be here in slightly under two days, yet it remained to be seen what even their added presence would do to stem the enemy advance.
Already, they had retaken all of their pre conquest territory and were beginning to advance into adjacent sectors. Worse yet, they had attacked Regula One, utterly destroying it and all records the R&D station contained. While a new base for the creation of Genesis torpedoes would eventually be established, it would take time to properly screen the personnel and more time to build the weapons themselves. It was time that the Empire just didn't have. All fleets that had been sent against them had been defeated, with many loosing their ships to the enemy in the process. He finally threw down the PADD in disgust. It was only through generous application of his iron will that he didn't scream at the universe for playing such a cruel joke against him. Here he was, leader of the most powerful faction in the galaxy being brought low by slaves and criminals. The fact that he had "predicted" just such an attack made it all the worse. The public believed every thing he said without question now, just like he had hoped when he started leaking selective parts of his plan to them during media covered Council Sessions. Then, before the terrorist attack, no one had wanted to believe him. Now, when he had been proven right, and had the citizens eating out of his hand, the attack was too large and powerful to stop.
"Damn that sneaky bastard!" He swore at the alloy walls of his suite. "Damn him to hell! He knew all along what he was doing. You thought that it was a deal with the devil, but you thought you were the devil didn't you Jacky boy. Well he taught you different didn't he." Jack's blood shot eyes narrowed and his mouth sneered into a self-loathing smile. "As you sow, so shall you reap. The Terran Empire forgot this, dropping its guard. As a result, the conquered peoples of the galaxy have risen up to strike us down like we did to their fore fathers." Jack's com screen chirped.
"Councilman Chambers." He said, his practiced public mask slipping back in place as he activated the com.
"I believe that we may have had our first bit of good news in a while sir."
"What the devil are you talking about?"
"An Akira (U) class has just reported in, the ISS Wellington."
"So, what is so great about that, there are tens of thousands of Akira class vessels serving across our space. What makes this one so special?!" It was all Jack could do not to snap with all the venom he could muster. His irritation must have shown despite his effort, for the Rear Admiral on the com screen gulped and continued with the point quickly.
"The Wellington's engineer was experimenting with some minor modifications to her deflector array when Sector 19 was attacked. His ship was hit by the energy draining weapon, but it suffered no ill effects."
"WHAT!" Jack shouted as he bolted upright out of his chair.
"She's transmitted the modifications its engineer had executed. They appear to be the cause of the new weapon's nullification. They are relatively minor changes. They should be able to rapidly be executed aboard every other ship in Starfleet."
"Do that! Immediately!" Jack grasped the news like a drowning man did a piece of flotsam.
"Aye sir." Jack cut the communication off mid sentence. He sat back down in shocked silence, barely able to breathe for a few minutes. Slowly, a smile began to play at the corner of his mouth. Then it expanded to become a grin. A sharp yip of laughter exploded into a near hysterical laughing fit. The forces still left to the Terran Empire would hold. They were to strong, with the enemy still consolidating his gains and forced to defend his recently acquired systems to devote his full strength to crushing the Empire. What he had been able to send had been bad enough, but now they were denied their secret weapon. There would be no more steamrolling of Imperial positions. The Line would HOLD by God! And if this little object lesson in Terran Empire's enemies didn't force even his most vehement detractors into his side, he didn't know what would. The end result, while not as good as he had originally planned, would still catapult him to Emperorship of what would remain the single most powerful government in the galaxy. This so called Grand Alliance would be nearly as powerful, but they would be dealt with in time. Petty squabbles, which Section 31 had played upon for years, would resurface once the new boarders solidified and former enemies found themselves with common boarders. And given time, that treacherous worm O'tole would be unearthed and called into account for what he had nearly done to the great Terran Empire.
-Terran Empire 80th Fleet, Romulan/Imperial Front, Galorndon Core, One day later -
"Now we get to see if these modifications work." The Wraith class ISS Warrior's Captain muttered softly.
"Orders from the flag sir, all units are to engage in twenty seconds."
"Drop cloak, raise shields and armor, divert emergency power to weapon and defensive systems. Bring ECM online and deploy the decoys."
"Decoys away." As the young Lt. spoke, three probe like decoys were fired from the Warrior's foreword torpedo launcher. They moved out to a predetermined distance from the ship, then changed into near perfect replicas of the Warrior. The Warrior had yet to be refitted with the new holographic displays, so her Captain had to make due with the four massive viewscreens that ringed the bridge. The fore viewscreen showed the aqua tube of slipstream, but within seconds it slowed and faded to a normal star scape as Warrior and the rest of 80th Fleet dropped out of slipstream. 80th Fleet was a small, rapid strike force, consisting of three Wraith's, 50 Prometheuses, 20 Dauntlesses and 150 Soulwolf's. On the side and rear viewscreens, the other vessels of 80th Fleet were also powering up weapons and defensive systems and deploying decoys. Soon, the space around 80th Fleet was filled with ships, nearly tripling the fleet's size.
These ships had all been upgraded with Slipstream drive, being on of the newest strike Fleets in the Empire. Jamming devices were spooled up to full power even as the Fleet Data Net began to share target info between the Imperial ships. Before them sat a secondary arm of the Romulan offensive into Imperial space. The Warrior's computer began to provide designations before the Romulan's brought all their own jamming online. Tentatively, there were close to 50 of what command had started calling the D'deridex class Warbird's, 80 Griffin's, 30 Shadow's and 100 Shrike's along with a handful of Breen, Cardassian and Gorn vessels.
It was a powerful fleet, but the Imperials had surprise on their side. Launching their initial attacks from a range where the enemy appeared as mere pinpricks of light visually, a massive wave of quantum's spat from tubes. Light Romulan units, mainly wings of Shrike's and Griffin's swung around from their patrol routes to engage the Imperials. Many of them had been outfitted with the energy-dampening weapon, and they expected to soon add some more Imperial vessels to the growing Romulan fleet.
- ISS Athena, 20 hours later -
"Sir, I have an all ships message incoming on hypercom from Starfleet Command. Priority Alpha!"
"Put it up." Ulysses said. Now what could possibly warrant a priority alpha code in peace time, he wondered? A section of the swirling holographic tube of slipstream was replaced by a expanding window. Fleet Admiral Ross' face appeared, looking drawn and pale.
"This is Admiral Ross to all active Imperial vessels. At 17:46 this afternoon, the Terran Empire was brutally attacked. The target was Terra herself, and the current death toll is horrendous. In a terrorist attack, close to two billion men, women and children were savagely murdered!" A gasp of shock went around the bridge. The dark part of Ulysses howled in triumph deep in side of him, reveling in the death of so many of the enemy. Yet the rest of him was horrified at the loss of life. The good part of him clamped down iron control lest the darkness surface. Ulysses suppressed a shudder as he realized just how much the dark side of him approved of the attack. It sickened him to know that part of him actually could desire such a thing. Though even the good side in him wanted to see the Terran Empire wiped out, the deaths of so many innocents wasn't the way to do it.
The image of Admiral Ross paused, looking as if he were struggling to keep his emotions in check. He quickly succeeded and continued. "The attack was centered at San Francisco and the Council Tower in particular, but affected all of San Francisco and some spaceborn targets as well. Nearly all of the Council Members were killed in the attack, with only Chairman Greg Betare and Councilman Jack Chambers surviving. Though this is a horrific tragedy, I urge calm. Those behind this dastardly attack shall be exposed and brought to justice. More information shall be released as it is found out. Admiral Ross out." The com screen shrank back to oblivion, leaving only the serene vessels of 2nd Fleet swarming through slipstream.
"Admiral T'var to Captain Ulysses." T'var's voice came from an expanding com window. It was not surprising that T'var wanted to talk with her Flag Captain. It wasn't every day that two billion souls died, and the fact that the true culprits were as yet unidentified only made it worse.
"Ulysses here Admiral."
"I want the fleet to change course."
"Let me guess, Sector One perhaps?"
"Very clairvoyant of you." The Vulcan deadpanned as only that species can. "I believe that we will be needed there shortly."
"A hunch Ma'am?"
"Vulcan's don't believe in hunches Captain. It is merely a strong statistical probability." T'var said, almost haughtily.
"Understood." Ulysses eyes would have glittered with mirth if the cause for the course change hadn't involved the deaths of two billion souls. It was a hunch all right, just try getting a Vulcan to admit to it though. "Shall all ships proceed, or should the most heavily damaged ones be turned over to Starbase 665 to begin repairs?" The Vulcan steepled her fingers as she considered the question.
"Have the most heavily damaged ones proceed as planned to Starbase 665. The rest shall reform and increase to best possible fleet speed for Sector One."
"Of course Ma'am."
"Very good. T'var out." The com window closed to nothingness.
"Com," Ulysses said, "open a channel to the fleet please."
"Channel open."
"This is Captain Vanguard. In light of the recent Alpha Priority communiqué, the Admiral has decided to revise our orders. All vessels less than 65% operational or with critical repairs that only a shipyard can take care of are to proceed on to Starbase 665 as planned. The rest of us are to proceed to Sector One. The Admiral feels, as do I, that a little retribution is called for, and Second Fleet shall be on call to help mead it out." An animal like growl of agreement coursed through the duty officers surrounding him. A lot of them had friends, and some even family at San Francisco. Ulysses understood their hunger for vengeance more than they would ever know. "Ulysses out."
- ISS Athena, Flag Bridge, Two and a half weeks later, Five days out from Sector One -
"Admiral, we are receiving an incoming alert from Starfleet Command. It's addressed to you personally."
What now T'var thought. The scant few rumblings heard over the hyper com so far were bad enough. High ranking Imperial officers implicated in the terrorist attack. Attempts on both Chairman Betare and Councilman Chamber's lives, with the attempt against Betare succeeding. What could happen that hadn't happened already.
"Put it up." The com window expanded on the holo display, showing a Vulcan Fleet Admiral. "Admiral Selek, to what do I owe this unexpected message?"
"Admiral T'var, is your fleet still enroute to Sol system?"
"Yes, Second Fleet is on course and on time." T'var cocked her head to one side slightly and raised a solitary eyebrow. "Why?" In typical Vulcan fashion, Selek didn't beat around the bush.
"There is a massive fleet converging on Sol. It is made up of Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Breen, Gorn, Mirak, Lyran, Ferengi and numerous other minor empires long thought vanquished. Where they gathered such a mighty armada is unknown, but they will be at Terra and Vulcan's doorstep within two days. Current fleet units can only slow them down, not stop them. How soon can you be at Sector One?"
"If we accelerate to maximum velocity, we shall be there in two days, five hours and fifteen minutes, but it will require leaving our slower vessels behind. 1/3 of our current operational combat strength will be left in our wake."
"That cannot be helped. I am ordering you to accelerate to maximum."
"I understand."
"Selek out." The com channel died.
"Orders to the Fleet. All vessels are to increase to maximum attainable velocity and proceed on course to Sector One."
- The Octagon, Terra -
Jack stared at the latest fleet status reports, a weary hand rubbing his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, yet it had only been nearly a day since the horrid truth was known. How strange that the fleet he had tried so hard to eliminate was now the most substantial attack force coming to his aid. Second Fleet was a known hotbed of banned thought, no matter how loyal and powerful their battle records might be. Their removal would both further remind the populace that the universe was a hostile place and remove a possible threat to his grip on power. The bulk of Second Fleet would be in Sector One would be here in slightly under two days, yet it remained to be seen what even their added presence would do to stem the enemy advance.
Already, they had retaken all of their pre conquest territory and were beginning to advance into adjacent sectors. Worse yet, they had attacked Regula One, utterly destroying it and all records the R&D station contained. While a new base for the creation of Genesis torpedoes would eventually be established, it would take time to properly screen the personnel and more time to build the weapons themselves. It was time that the Empire just didn't have. All fleets that had been sent against them had been defeated, with many loosing their ships to the enemy in the process. He finally threw down the PADD in disgust. It was only through generous application of his iron will that he didn't scream at the universe for playing such a cruel joke against him. Here he was, leader of the most powerful faction in the galaxy being brought low by slaves and criminals. The fact that he had "predicted" just such an attack made it all the worse. The public believed every thing he said without question now, just like he had hoped when he started leaking selective parts of his plan to them during media covered Council Sessions. Then, before the terrorist attack, no one had wanted to believe him. Now, when he had been proven right, and had the citizens eating out of his hand, the attack was too large and powerful to stop.
"Damn that sneaky bastard!" He swore at the alloy walls of his suite. "Damn him to hell! He knew all along what he was doing. You thought that it was a deal with the devil, but you thought you were the devil didn't you Jacky boy. Well he taught you different didn't he." Jack's blood shot eyes narrowed and his mouth sneered into a self-loathing smile. "As you sow, so shall you reap. The Terran Empire forgot this, dropping its guard. As a result, the conquered peoples of the galaxy have risen up to strike us down like we did to their fore fathers." Jack's com screen chirped.
"Councilman Chambers." He said, his practiced public mask slipping back in place as he activated the com.
"I believe that we may have had our first bit of good news in a while sir."
"What the devil are you talking about?"
"An Akira (U) class has just reported in, the ISS Wellington."
"So, what is so great about that, there are tens of thousands of Akira class vessels serving across our space. What makes this one so special?!" It was all Jack could do not to snap with all the venom he could muster. His irritation must have shown despite his effort, for the Rear Admiral on the com screen gulped and continued with the point quickly.
"The Wellington's engineer was experimenting with some minor modifications to her deflector array when Sector 19 was attacked. His ship was hit by the energy draining weapon, but it suffered no ill effects."
"WHAT!" Jack shouted as he bolted upright out of his chair.
"She's transmitted the modifications its engineer had executed. They appear to be the cause of the new weapon's nullification. They are relatively minor changes. They should be able to rapidly be executed aboard every other ship in Starfleet."
"Do that! Immediately!" Jack grasped the news like a drowning man did a piece of flotsam.
"Aye sir." Jack cut the communication off mid sentence. He sat back down in shocked silence, barely able to breathe for a few minutes. Slowly, a smile began to play at the corner of his mouth. Then it expanded to become a grin. A sharp yip of laughter exploded into a near hysterical laughing fit. The forces still left to the Terran Empire would hold. They were to strong, with the enemy still consolidating his gains and forced to defend his recently acquired systems to devote his full strength to crushing the Empire. What he had been able to send had been bad enough, but now they were denied their secret weapon. There would be no more steamrolling of Imperial positions. The Line would HOLD by God! And if this little object lesson in Terran Empire's enemies didn't force even his most vehement detractors into his side, he didn't know what would. The end result, while not as good as he had originally planned, would still catapult him to Emperorship of what would remain the single most powerful government in the galaxy. This so called Grand Alliance would be nearly as powerful, but they would be dealt with in time. Petty squabbles, which Section 31 had played upon for years, would resurface once the new boarders solidified and former enemies found themselves with common boarders. And given time, that treacherous worm O'tole would be unearthed and called into account for what he had nearly done to the great Terran Empire.
-Terran Empire 80th Fleet, Romulan/Imperial Front, Galorndon Core, One day later -
"Now we get to see if these modifications work." The Wraith class ISS Warrior's Captain muttered softly.
"Orders from the flag sir, all units are to engage in twenty seconds."
"Drop cloak, raise shields and armor, divert emergency power to weapon and defensive systems. Bring ECM online and deploy the decoys."
"Decoys away." As the young Lt. spoke, three probe like decoys were fired from the Warrior's foreword torpedo launcher. They moved out to a predetermined distance from the ship, then changed into near perfect replicas of the Warrior. The Warrior had yet to be refitted with the new holographic displays, so her Captain had to make due with the four massive viewscreens that ringed the bridge. The fore viewscreen showed the aqua tube of slipstream, but within seconds it slowed and faded to a normal star scape as Warrior and the rest of 80th Fleet dropped out of slipstream. 80th Fleet was a small, rapid strike force, consisting of three Wraith's, 50 Prometheuses, 20 Dauntlesses and 150 Soulwolf's. On the side and rear viewscreens, the other vessels of 80th Fleet were also powering up weapons and defensive systems and deploying decoys. Soon, the space around 80th Fleet was filled with ships, nearly tripling the fleet's size.
These ships had all been upgraded with Slipstream drive, being on of the newest strike Fleets in the Empire. Jamming devices were spooled up to full power even as the Fleet Data Net began to share target info between the Imperial ships. Before them sat a secondary arm of the Romulan offensive into Imperial space. The Warrior's computer began to provide designations before the Romulan's brought all their own jamming online. Tentatively, there were close to 50 of what command had started calling the D'deridex class Warbird's, 80 Griffin's, 30 Shadow's and 100 Shrike's along with a handful of Breen, Cardassian and Gorn vessels.
It was a powerful fleet, but the Imperials had surprise on their side. Launching their initial attacks from a range where the enemy appeared as mere pinpricks of light visually, a massive wave of quantum's spat from tubes. Light Romulan units, mainly wings of Shrike's and Griffin's swung around from their patrol routes to engage the Imperials. Many of them had been outfitted with the energy-dampening weapon, and they expected to soon add some more Imperial vessels to the growing Romulan fleet.