-Chapter Five - Phase Two-
-ISS Valley Forge, Docked at Slip 3652, The Yard, Sol System-
-Captain's Log, Stardate 17052387: After a week of getting to know my new command and her crew, I am deeply impressed. Perhaps it is the new threat to the Terran Empire, or perhaps it is mere luck of the draw. Regardless of the cause, there are very few bad apples among my people. I have supreme confidence in my department heads to do their duties and ensure that those under them do so as well. We have yet to be assigned a Section Commissar, which I find slightly troubling. I had hoped for one to be assigned nearly as soon as I assumed command, but none have been forth coming. One has been assured to me to be present when the Valley Forge completes her space trials and returns to The Yard for final commissioning.
The Valley Forge is ready to begin her space trials. With all four QSS Cores online for the first time, the ship seems alive, almost straining against her moorings for the boundlessness of open space. Today, we shall see just what this ship can do.-
"Mr. Heidberg," Ulysses said as he sat comfortably in his command chair, "is everything set on your end?"
"Aye sir. All Slipstream Cores are at optimal power and all other systems are in normal ranges. We are ready to begin whenever you are." The chief engineer sounded proud of himself, and he had every right to be. It was he and his engineers that had picked up on a possibly dangerous fluctuation in QSS Core Three, not -The Yard's- engineers and shipwrights. -The Yard's- work crews had jumped to swap it out of course, for it wouldn't do to anger one of the youngest and most decorated Captains in Starfleet. It was only after the replacement met with Clay Heidberg's approval that Ulysses had signed off on the job as completed. And now, the -Valley Forge- was about to slip from her construction berth for the first time.
"Very good Mr. Heidberg, we will be departing momentarily." With a small motion of his gauntleted hand, the holo com channel to main engineering terminated. All around him, Ulysses could see the vast, awe inspiring panorama of -The Yard-. Peering at the indistinct shape directly to the front of his chair, he gave his orders. "Helm, take us out."
"Aye sir. Brining running lights up. All airlocks closed, casting off all moorings and umbilicals." As Lt. Demora Sulu spoke, her hands flew across her panel entering the necessary commands. Outside the -Valley Forge-, her own spotlights cast pools of sharp edged light on her pennants and registry for the first time as -The Yard's- spotlights went out. Running lights snapped on, only to blink off again seconds later as they began to slowly strobe. The great arms like appendages of -The Yard- let loose and spread apart almost like a flower opening up to the first light of dawn.
"Foreword thrusters at ¼." P'tel ordered from across the bridge.
"Foreword thrusters at ¼ aye sir." Demora replied. With a few more key presses, the great ship began to inch its way clear from its slip as strategically placed micro fusion engines lit off. Nearly all of the yard dogs responsible for her construction were present either in hardsuits anchored to the slip arms or inside the arms looking out the transparent aluminum arch roof. The quad angular spindles that made up the -Valley Forge's- slipstream nacelles emerged into space and the light of Sol as they went past the sheltering bulk of -The Yard-. Soon the rest of the ship joined them, the yellow/white light gleaming warmly off of her hull.
"We are clear of -The Yard- Captain." P'tel said as the great ship stopped her dead slow reverse and hung motionless in space beside -The Yard-.
"Good job Helm." Demora smiled at her holo-enshrouded captain. "Ok, contact Sol Traffic Control and request a flight path out of the system. Bring the Slipstream and STL drives fully online." The holo image of -The Yard- was even more imposing. Even though the -Valley Forge- was even further away from it, it merely gave the sensors a chance to see even more of it, and the support structures and attached shipyards building other starships stretched away into the distance.
"Sol STC has given us our flight plan, bearing 210 mark 053." The duty com officer said.
"Helm, engage full impulse on designated course and bearing." Ulysses commanded. Even though the Borg STL drive that the -Valley Forge- sports bears only a faint resemblance to impulse drive, for convenience sake, Starfleet officers still use the impulse scale for speed commands. Nearly instantly, the sleek form of the -Wraith- class upgrade slid into motion. One of the advantages of the Borg STL drive was that it allowed nearly full impulse speeds in any direction. Demora put the -Valley Forge- into full impulse flight with the ship flying nearly backwards. It was only after the ship had wound herself up to near 75 PSL that she gracefully swung the ship around and slightly down to orient her front to the axis of flight. That little trick was bound to come in handy when the -Valley Forge- finally engaged the enemy. It took a special Helm officer to handle maneuvering like that, but then the Sulu's had always been amongst the best Helm officers in Starfleet so it came as no surprise that the latest one lived up to the tradition.
"Captain, Sol STC has given us clearance to go to Slipstream." P'tel said.
"Cmdr. Davenport, engage the phase cloak. Lt. Sulu, lay in a course for Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range and engage slipstream once the ship is fully phase cloaked."
The massive vessel began to slowly phase out of normal space. A soft tone sounded throughout the ship and status lights shifted to the pale purple of phase cloak. Seconds after that the starfield around the -Valley Forge- disappeared as she dove into the swirling blue maelstrom of slipstream. That was one of the advantages of phase cloak and QSS drive, one could go FTL inside Sol System's defensive perimeter instead of waiting for close to a whole day as you left the warp inhibitor field and battle stations behind.
"Cmdr. P'tel, you have the bridge. I shall be in main engineering in case you need me."
"Aye sir." P'tel replied as she strode through the holodisplay to sit down in the command chair. Ulysses entered the port side turbolift. With a barely detectable sensation of acceleration, the turboshaft began to rapidly cross the close to 800-m distance between the bridge and the ships primary engineering compartment. The lift slowed to a stop and its doors opened, allowing Ulysses to exit into the brightly lit engineering space.
"Attention on deck!" a guard standing watch over the turboshaft said as the -Valley Forge's- master entered. Every crewman and officer who could faced Ulysses and braced to attention. A transparent dome set in a pit in the middle of the open floor dominated the room. That dome encased the Quantum Slipstream Core that amply powered the normal operations of the ship. Streamers of blue plasma came off of the external cylindrical wall of the QSS Core to meet at the collector down the middle. While Ulysses wasn't exactly sure of the engineering behind the QSS Core, he did know that it pulled power directly from a level of subspace. In essence, the active QSS Core acted as a tap on that infinite reserve of energy. Seeing the ribbons of yellow edged blue plasma arch from the outside shell to the inner core was eerily beautiful in spite of having the potential of blowing the entire vessel from existence if something went wrong. If the subspace tap ever got loose, nothing, not even sub atomic particles, would be found of the -Valley Forge-. During combat, the surplus Cores could be brought online to better power the warships massive weapons and defensive systems, but they were largely there for redundancy.
"As you were." Ulysses said, jaunting off a salute. Most of his crew had become accustomed to his somewhat informal command style. While most officers loved all the pomp and circumstance that went with their ranks, Ulysses preferred a more low key approach most of the time. "Well Cmdr. Heidberg, how's she look?"
"Everything's in the green sir. After ramping all four cores to maximum rated power with no problems, we have dropped them back to normal levels. Alpha Core is handling the current load exactly to specs. Beta Core is at full powered standby. Cappa and Delta Cores are at low powered standby. Power distribution relays are within operational tolerances. Slipstream nacelles and the phase cloak are operating normally. There is a minor fluctuation with the artificial gravity on deck 10 section 7, and I have a crew working on it as we speak." Clay grinned. "All in all, an excellent beginning to our space trials!"
"Well done!" Ulysses grinned back, then pitched his voice for it to carry across the open engineering space. "We have an excellent ship here and it is largely thanks to your efforts. Well done all of you." Smiles erupted across the faces of the -Valley Forge's- engineering crew. They were mostly young, fresh faced ensigns and crewmen with a smattering of older Imp Drones who were well on their way to becoming wholly human. The oldest ones were only six years chronologically, but given their implanted knowledge, it was enough to make them nearly indistinguishable from their fellow crewmates. Unlike the handful of relatively new Imp Drones who were still emotional infants. Those didn't smile, or if they did, they did so merely because the rest of those around them were smiling, not because they knew enough to be proud of their work. With a final nod to the engineering crew, Ulysses turned and strode back into the turbo lift.
"Bridge." He told the lift. It eased quickly into motion. The car had been underway only a short while before his communicator chirped.
"Vanguard here."
"Captain, we have picked up a distress call. I recommend that you return to the bridge." The lift slowed as she was speaking.
"Already done Exec." Ulysses said as he strode through the opening doors. "Play back the distress call." With a few commands, the bridge speakers opened an ear to hell.
".ayday..is the Merchant...der attack . pirates. Request imm..tance! Rep." The voice said through harsh interference amidst alarms and explosions. It cut out amidst a squeal of static.
"Do we have a fix on their position?" Ulysses demanded as he walked through the holo display to settle into the seat P'tel had just vacated.
"Yes sir. We were just close enough to catch it despite evident jamming. It was so weak and garbled, I doubt any of the local patrols or stations hear it." P'tel said.
"Lay in an intercept course, Red Alert!" Ulysses ordered as he settled into his command chair. Shortly there after, klaxons and crimson light panels snapped on throughout the ship. The -Valley Forge- swung into a tight loop ending up on an almost reciprocal heading from the one it had been on. "Well Guns, it looks like you are going to get a true live fire exercise. Bring up the chameleon skin. Make us a Patrol Frigate. I want these bastards to get a big surprise!"
"Aye sir!" Percy growled his eager agreement. Unlike some officers, Percy had come from Merchant Ship parents, so he had a very strong dislike for pirates in all their guises, be they in gaudy primary colors of true outlaws or the black and silver of Imperial Starfleet.
The external hull of the -Valley Forge- shimmered, then appeared to morph into that of a Norway class Patrol Frigate. The Norway was a very light Frigate, mounting only minimal ablative armor, standard shields, three Mk IX Phaser arrays and a single quantum tube. For her usual task, anti piracy patrols, she was usually sufficient, but she wasn't a true warship and would be chopped to pieces in a normal fleet engagement.
"Coming up on the distress signal's coordinates, slowing to impulse." Demora said. The ships computer, detecting that the chameleon skin was operating in deception mode, masked the ships sensor signature and engaged an appropriate one. It also did its best to mask the slipstream drive, using ECM to generate a false warp engine power down signature. The holo display around Ulysses shifted back to the ebony, star flecked darkness of deep space.
"Targets bearing 501 mark 003. CIC makes them four Atlas class cargo ships vs. three Battle Cruisers and five Destroyers of probable pirate design." Percy said. Pirates used such varying load outs and ships that it was hard to nail down exactly what they were. Although they were indistinguishable from other stars at the present range, the holo display automatically bracketed the area of space and zoomed in so that the nearby vessels became distinguishable as individual ships. Hard as it might be to tell pirates from the rest of the civilian craft on most occasions, these were quite evidently pirate vessels. Their ships were space black with flames along their nacelles and rampant, red eyed skull and crossbones on their prows. They were all painted very similarly, with the individual ship classes also identical to their brothers. That would seem to indicate at least a Squadron level organization rather than a group of singletons.
Pirates usually didn't organize in such large groups, for there was truly no honor among thieves. Most would sell out a fellow pirate at the drop of a hat, for unescorted merchant traffic was hard to find and competition for what little remained of it was fierce. Shipping companies weren't stupid, once they began to lose more and more cargo to piracy, they had resorted to the tried and true method of escorted convoys. It had taken the pirates a while, but now it seemed that they had finally responded to the changes with the equally effective but opposite in goal Wolf Pack tactic. This did not bode well for the already strained Starfleet. With so many ships tied down guarding the border and core worlds against the Grand Alliance, there was less and less warships patrolling the trade routes. And with Pirate Wolf Packs raiding commerce in ever-increasing numbers, things were going to get worse before they got better. Starfleet would have to guard convoys with heavier units to ensure their survival, and it had very few heavy units to spare.
"We have a debris field bearing 114 mark 105. They appear to be the remains of two Defiant and three Nova class Destroyers." Percy said grimly. The pirates must have waited in ambush, letting the convoy get to far away from the subspace corridor terminus to retreat, then bringing their warp field inhibitors online to prevent escape at warp. Against three Battle Cruisers, even pirate ones, the Imperial escorts hadn't stood a chance. They had gotten some licks in though. "Sensors also detect unknown debris cloud along the same bearing. The remains are congruent with three Destroyer class vessels."
"Open a hailing frequency." Ulysses ordered.
"Channel open sir." The com officer said from beyond the holographic veil.
"Pirate vessels, this is the Imperial Warship -Valley Forge-. Stand down and prepare to be boarded."
"Sir, all pirate vessels are vectoring in on us. They have extended the effect of their warp field inhibitors to prevent our retreat. There is no response to our hails."
"Good. The dirty bastards are closing in on what they think is helpless Norway Patrol Frigate. Helm, let's start acting like one. I want these animals in close before we let our mask drop. Have the fighter wings ready to launch at a moments notice." Ulysses smiled wolfishly, and his hazel eyes were merciless. "We gave them the option to surrender and they chose not to take it. They won't get a second chance." A growl of agreement went around the bridge as his ship began to go evasive, running away from the onrushing pirates. But they would soon learn that the sheep they were chasing was a big bad wolf wearing a wool coat.
-ISS Valley Forge, Docked at Slip 3652, The Yard, Sol System-
-Captain's Log, Stardate 17052387: After a week of getting to know my new command and her crew, I am deeply impressed. Perhaps it is the new threat to the Terran Empire, or perhaps it is mere luck of the draw. Regardless of the cause, there are very few bad apples among my people. I have supreme confidence in my department heads to do their duties and ensure that those under them do so as well. We have yet to be assigned a Section Commissar, which I find slightly troubling. I had hoped for one to be assigned nearly as soon as I assumed command, but none have been forth coming. One has been assured to me to be present when the Valley Forge completes her space trials and returns to The Yard for final commissioning.
The Valley Forge is ready to begin her space trials. With all four QSS Cores online for the first time, the ship seems alive, almost straining against her moorings for the boundlessness of open space. Today, we shall see just what this ship can do.-
"Mr. Heidberg," Ulysses said as he sat comfortably in his command chair, "is everything set on your end?"
"Aye sir. All Slipstream Cores are at optimal power and all other systems are in normal ranges. We are ready to begin whenever you are." The chief engineer sounded proud of himself, and he had every right to be. It was he and his engineers that had picked up on a possibly dangerous fluctuation in QSS Core Three, not -The Yard's- engineers and shipwrights. -The Yard's- work crews had jumped to swap it out of course, for it wouldn't do to anger one of the youngest and most decorated Captains in Starfleet. It was only after the replacement met with Clay Heidberg's approval that Ulysses had signed off on the job as completed. And now, the -Valley Forge- was about to slip from her construction berth for the first time.
"Very good Mr. Heidberg, we will be departing momentarily." With a small motion of his gauntleted hand, the holo com channel to main engineering terminated. All around him, Ulysses could see the vast, awe inspiring panorama of -The Yard-. Peering at the indistinct shape directly to the front of his chair, he gave his orders. "Helm, take us out."
"Aye sir. Brining running lights up. All airlocks closed, casting off all moorings and umbilicals." As Lt. Demora Sulu spoke, her hands flew across her panel entering the necessary commands. Outside the -Valley Forge-, her own spotlights cast pools of sharp edged light on her pennants and registry for the first time as -The Yard's- spotlights went out. Running lights snapped on, only to blink off again seconds later as they began to slowly strobe. The great arms like appendages of -The Yard- let loose and spread apart almost like a flower opening up to the first light of dawn.
"Foreword thrusters at ¼." P'tel ordered from across the bridge.
"Foreword thrusters at ¼ aye sir." Demora replied. With a few more key presses, the great ship began to inch its way clear from its slip as strategically placed micro fusion engines lit off. Nearly all of the yard dogs responsible for her construction were present either in hardsuits anchored to the slip arms or inside the arms looking out the transparent aluminum arch roof. The quad angular spindles that made up the -Valley Forge's- slipstream nacelles emerged into space and the light of Sol as they went past the sheltering bulk of -The Yard-. Soon the rest of the ship joined them, the yellow/white light gleaming warmly off of her hull.
"We are clear of -The Yard- Captain." P'tel said as the great ship stopped her dead slow reverse and hung motionless in space beside -The Yard-.
"Good job Helm." Demora smiled at her holo-enshrouded captain. "Ok, contact Sol Traffic Control and request a flight path out of the system. Bring the Slipstream and STL drives fully online." The holo image of -The Yard- was even more imposing. Even though the -Valley Forge- was even further away from it, it merely gave the sensors a chance to see even more of it, and the support structures and attached shipyards building other starships stretched away into the distance.
"Sol STC has given us our flight plan, bearing 210 mark 053." The duty com officer said.
"Helm, engage full impulse on designated course and bearing." Ulysses commanded. Even though the Borg STL drive that the -Valley Forge- sports bears only a faint resemblance to impulse drive, for convenience sake, Starfleet officers still use the impulse scale for speed commands. Nearly instantly, the sleek form of the -Wraith- class upgrade slid into motion. One of the advantages of the Borg STL drive was that it allowed nearly full impulse speeds in any direction. Demora put the -Valley Forge- into full impulse flight with the ship flying nearly backwards. It was only after the ship had wound herself up to near 75 PSL that she gracefully swung the ship around and slightly down to orient her front to the axis of flight. That little trick was bound to come in handy when the -Valley Forge- finally engaged the enemy. It took a special Helm officer to handle maneuvering like that, but then the Sulu's had always been amongst the best Helm officers in Starfleet so it came as no surprise that the latest one lived up to the tradition.
"Captain, Sol STC has given us clearance to go to Slipstream." P'tel said.
"Cmdr. Davenport, engage the phase cloak. Lt. Sulu, lay in a course for Regulus System Fleet Gunnery Range and engage slipstream once the ship is fully phase cloaked."
The massive vessel began to slowly phase out of normal space. A soft tone sounded throughout the ship and status lights shifted to the pale purple of phase cloak. Seconds after that the starfield around the -Valley Forge- disappeared as she dove into the swirling blue maelstrom of slipstream. That was one of the advantages of phase cloak and QSS drive, one could go FTL inside Sol System's defensive perimeter instead of waiting for close to a whole day as you left the warp inhibitor field and battle stations behind.
"Cmdr. P'tel, you have the bridge. I shall be in main engineering in case you need me."
"Aye sir." P'tel replied as she strode through the holodisplay to sit down in the command chair. Ulysses entered the port side turbolift. With a barely detectable sensation of acceleration, the turboshaft began to rapidly cross the close to 800-m distance between the bridge and the ships primary engineering compartment. The lift slowed to a stop and its doors opened, allowing Ulysses to exit into the brightly lit engineering space.
"Attention on deck!" a guard standing watch over the turboshaft said as the -Valley Forge's- master entered. Every crewman and officer who could faced Ulysses and braced to attention. A transparent dome set in a pit in the middle of the open floor dominated the room. That dome encased the Quantum Slipstream Core that amply powered the normal operations of the ship. Streamers of blue plasma came off of the external cylindrical wall of the QSS Core to meet at the collector down the middle. While Ulysses wasn't exactly sure of the engineering behind the QSS Core, he did know that it pulled power directly from a level of subspace. In essence, the active QSS Core acted as a tap on that infinite reserve of energy. Seeing the ribbons of yellow edged blue plasma arch from the outside shell to the inner core was eerily beautiful in spite of having the potential of blowing the entire vessel from existence if something went wrong. If the subspace tap ever got loose, nothing, not even sub atomic particles, would be found of the -Valley Forge-. During combat, the surplus Cores could be brought online to better power the warships massive weapons and defensive systems, but they were largely there for redundancy.
"As you were." Ulysses said, jaunting off a salute. Most of his crew had become accustomed to his somewhat informal command style. While most officers loved all the pomp and circumstance that went with their ranks, Ulysses preferred a more low key approach most of the time. "Well Cmdr. Heidberg, how's she look?"
"Everything's in the green sir. After ramping all four cores to maximum rated power with no problems, we have dropped them back to normal levels. Alpha Core is handling the current load exactly to specs. Beta Core is at full powered standby. Cappa and Delta Cores are at low powered standby. Power distribution relays are within operational tolerances. Slipstream nacelles and the phase cloak are operating normally. There is a minor fluctuation with the artificial gravity on deck 10 section 7, and I have a crew working on it as we speak." Clay grinned. "All in all, an excellent beginning to our space trials!"
"Well done!" Ulysses grinned back, then pitched his voice for it to carry across the open engineering space. "We have an excellent ship here and it is largely thanks to your efforts. Well done all of you." Smiles erupted across the faces of the -Valley Forge's- engineering crew. They were mostly young, fresh faced ensigns and crewmen with a smattering of older Imp Drones who were well on their way to becoming wholly human. The oldest ones were only six years chronologically, but given their implanted knowledge, it was enough to make them nearly indistinguishable from their fellow crewmates. Unlike the handful of relatively new Imp Drones who were still emotional infants. Those didn't smile, or if they did, they did so merely because the rest of those around them were smiling, not because they knew enough to be proud of their work. With a final nod to the engineering crew, Ulysses turned and strode back into the turbo lift.
"Bridge." He told the lift. It eased quickly into motion. The car had been underway only a short while before his communicator chirped.
"Vanguard here."
"Captain, we have picked up a distress call. I recommend that you return to the bridge." The lift slowed as she was speaking.
"Already done Exec." Ulysses said as he strode through the opening doors. "Play back the distress call." With a few commands, the bridge speakers opened an ear to hell.
".ayday..is the Merchant...der attack . pirates. Request imm..tance! Rep." The voice said through harsh interference amidst alarms and explosions. It cut out amidst a squeal of static.
"Do we have a fix on their position?" Ulysses demanded as he walked through the holo display to settle into the seat P'tel had just vacated.
"Yes sir. We were just close enough to catch it despite evident jamming. It was so weak and garbled, I doubt any of the local patrols or stations hear it." P'tel said.
"Lay in an intercept course, Red Alert!" Ulysses ordered as he settled into his command chair. Shortly there after, klaxons and crimson light panels snapped on throughout the ship. The -Valley Forge- swung into a tight loop ending up on an almost reciprocal heading from the one it had been on. "Well Guns, it looks like you are going to get a true live fire exercise. Bring up the chameleon skin. Make us a Patrol Frigate. I want these bastards to get a big surprise!"
"Aye sir!" Percy growled his eager agreement. Unlike some officers, Percy had come from Merchant Ship parents, so he had a very strong dislike for pirates in all their guises, be they in gaudy primary colors of true outlaws or the black and silver of Imperial Starfleet.
The external hull of the -Valley Forge- shimmered, then appeared to morph into that of a Norway class Patrol Frigate. The Norway was a very light Frigate, mounting only minimal ablative armor, standard shields, three Mk IX Phaser arrays and a single quantum tube. For her usual task, anti piracy patrols, she was usually sufficient, but she wasn't a true warship and would be chopped to pieces in a normal fleet engagement.
"Coming up on the distress signal's coordinates, slowing to impulse." Demora said. The ships computer, detecting that the chameleon skin was operating in deception mode, masked the ships sensor signature and engaged an appropriate one. It also did its best to mask the slipstream drive, using ECM to generate a false warp engine power down signature. The holo display around Ulysses shifted back to the ebony, star flecked darkness of deep space.
"Targets bearing 501 mark 003. CIC makes them four Atlas class cargo ships vs. three Battle Cruisers and five Destroyers of probable pirate design." Percy said. Pirates used such varying load outs and ships that it was hard to nail down exactly what they were. Although they were indistinguishable from other stars at the present range, the holo display automatically bracketed the area of space and zoomed in so that the nearby vessels became distinguishable as individual ships. Hard as it might be to tell pirates from the rest of the civilian craft on most occasions, these were quite evidently pirate vessels. Their ships were space black with flames along their nacelles and rampant, red eyed skull and crossbones on their prows. They were all painted very similarly, with the individual ship classes also identical to their brothers. That would seem to indicate at least a Squadron level organization rather than a group of singletons.
Pirates usually didn't organize in such large groups, for there was truly no honor among thieves. Most would sell out a fellow pirate at the drop of a hat, for unescorted merchant traffic was hard to find and competition for what little remained of it was fierce. Shipping companies weren't stupid, once they began to lose more and more cargo to piracy, they had resorted to the tried and true method of escorted convoys. It had taken the pirates a while, but now it seemed that they had finally responded to the changes with the equally effective but opposite in goal Wolf Pack tactic. This did not bode well for the already strained Starfleet. With so many ships tied down guarding the border and core worlds against the Grand Alliance, there was less and less warships patrolling the trade routes. And with Pirate Wolf Packs raiding commerce in ever-increasing numbers, things were going to get worse before they got better. Starfleet would have to guard convoys with heavier units to ensure their survival, and it had very few heavy units to spare.
"We have a debris field bearing 114 mark 105. They appear to be the remains of two Defiant and three Nova class Destroyers." Percy said grimly. The pirates must have waited in ambush, letting the convoy get to far away from the subspace corridor terminus to retreat, then bringing their warp field inhibitors online to prevent escape at warp. Against three Battle Cruisers, even pirate ones, the Imperial escorts hadn't stood a chance. They had gotten some licks in though. "Sensors also detect unknown debris cloud along the same bearing. The remains are congruent with three Destroyer class vessels."
"Open a hailing frequency." Ulysses ordered.
"Channel open sir." The com officer said from beyond the holographic veil.
"Pirate vessels, this is the Imperial Warship -Valley Forge-. Stand down and prepare to be boarded."
"Sir, all pirate vessels are vectoring in on us. They have extended the effect of their warp field inhibitors to prevent our retreat. There is no response to our hails."
"Good. The dirty bastards are closing in on what they think is helpless Norway Patrol Frigate. Helm, let's start acting like one. I want these animals in close before we let our mask drop. Have the fighter wings ready to launch at a moments notice." Ulysses smiled wolfishly, and his hazel eyes were merciless. "We gave them the option to surrender and they chose not to take it. They won't get a second chance." A growl of agreement went around the bridge as his ship began to go evasive, running away from the onrushing pirates. But they would soon learn that the sheep they were chasing was a big bad wolf wearing a wool coat.