Chapter 20 - Weighed in the Balance.
IBS Tolstoy
"Get those fresh power leads in here!" a voice shouted somewhere on the shattered deck. Marines in full power armor strained to drag the heavy cables through the rubble towards the quantum launcher. It was lucky, it had been only on the edge of a weapons strike rather than a few feet over. It had only had its power cut off by the deadly attack, not total vaporization like its nearest neighbor. The Marines dragged the unwieldy EPS lines to the inert launcher, passing by a gaping, multi deck crater in the stations surface. Emergency forcefields shimmered as they kept in atmosphere and kept out the hard radiation that bathed the still white hot alloy and armor beyond. Phaser beams and plasma torpedoes screamed back and forth beyond the crater, almost to fast to see, soundless in the empty void of space. Perhaps that was what made this place so creepy. There was terrible amounts of energy being set loose only a few feet from the station, but aside from the odd shudder, the station was being left largely alone for the time being. The infrequent groans, pops and screeches of the nearby decks as they fought against their weakening supports was bad enough, picked up through the replenished atmosphere by the Marines external audio mikes.
The crewman who was furiously running diagnostics on his launcher called out again over his shoulder. "Hook em up, we may have been lightly singed by that near miss, but we can still fire once we have the juice by God!" His uniform and hair sill smoked slightly in places, and his face had horrible looking burns, but the antiballistic fabric and emergency forcefield of his uniform had kept the worst of the nearby explosion at bay.
The Marines finally butted the torso thick power leads up to the appropriate junction on the side of the quantum tube. After a few seconds more of grunting and straining with their synthetic muscles, they managed to seat the cables firmly into their sockets. The Marine signaled his Damage Control Team leader.
"Sir, the leads are in place. Commence power up at your discretion." After the acknowledgement from the far end, the cables came alive, buzzing quietly as energetic plasma began to course through them, feeding the systems of the launcher with their needed energy. Telltale lights sparked to life as main power war restored. The crewman entered a blur of commands on his panel, his keystrokes causing quiet beeps and chirps. Seconds later, a soft, subsonic hum was heard as the launcher once again sent a burst of quantum torpedoes at its tasked targets. The Marines, their job done, turned around and went to their next assignment. There was reported to be some crew trapped in behind a pile of fallen debris and only the power armor's synthetic muscles could shift some of the larger, heavier pieces.
ISS Valley Forge
"Sir, reports coming in that the EW drones have reached staging area Frank."
"Order them to proceed to Loci Kappa under low grade ECM. I want the enemy to get a good look at em, but not enough to see through their ruse." Ulysses said.
Commissar Stevens walked through the holographic shroud that largely concealed Ulysses while providing him with the unfettered view of the battlefield he needed to coordinate his fleet.
"Mr. Vanguard, I think you should deploy." her speech was stopped mid sentence as Ulysses raised a hand palm up.
"Miss Stevens, while you may be my political watchdog, your grasp of tactics isn't that good. Going to Loci Kappa's aid is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. I don't intend on playing to the tune they pipe because it's a good way to get dead. Just sit down and shut up, I don't have the time to explain it all to you now." Ulysses said.
The very nerve of this man, thinking he can talk to a Section 31 officer in such a disrespectful manner, Stevens thought. Then she was interrupted by a call from her left.
"Here come the enemy forces through Loci Delta." Davenport said. After a few seconds, CIC began to assign numbers and class to its plot. "Sweet Mary Mother of God!"
There were similar expletives uttered throughout the fleet as the tactical plot resolved itself. Although the new enemy fleet was only half as numerous as their first one, they were very top heavy in hull class. 80% of them were Dreadnoughts or Superdreadnoughts with the rest being Battleships. They cut through the Loci forts like a hot knife through butter, leaving shattered, savaged battlestations in their wake and taking only light casualties in return. They immediately engaged high warp directly towards what their sensors told them was an Imperial fleet at staging area Frank. Caught thusly between the two opposing forces, they would have been picked apart in detail, allowing the enemy to close and pick apart the orbital forts around Lilith at their leisure. Ulysses merely turned an 'I told you so look' on Stevens, and she meekly backed out through the holodisplay. She may not like her inexperience in tactical battles being shown in front of the entire crew of the Flag Bridge, but she knew that any further interference now would be counterproductive to winning the coming engagement. She would deal with Captain Vanguard's insubordination after the battle was done.
"Orders to all fleet units, engage on course 445 mark 320 and drop out of FTL at." Ulysses consulted the path the rapidly advancing Enemy fleet, designated Force Beta by CIC, was cruising down. It was a simple least time, high warp course that would avoid the effects of the anti-warp field being emitted by the battlestations. ".system coordinates 442.515.870. Deploy into formation Theta Two and bring your anti-warp generators online."
Force Beta was rapidly approaching Lilith's general area, their flight path designed to skirt as tightly as possible the warp bubble destroying field. It was a relatively minor matter to pop directly in front of them, presenting a road block that would have to be dealt with before they could advance. The Imperial fleet, 1700 strong, formed up into a concave, ovoid wall, spreading around the main axis of advance for Force Beta. Lighter units were the farthest out, ready to swoop in on the exposed flanks of the enemy when they were yanked out of warp. EW drones of all types were deployed to confuse enemy sensors as much as possible. The heavy hitters of Ulysses fleet were placed in the middle with their support cadre of Aegeans, Nebulas, Steamrunners and Akiras tucked in the relative safely behind them. But the support ships weren't the only thing hiding in the great capital ships sensor shadows. Ulysses and his staff had thought up a little surprise for an invading fleet to encounter.
It all happened in seconds, leaving virtually no time for Force Beta to react. They had thought that the Imperial fleet was safely drawn towards Loci Kappa, not lying in wait near Lilith. They barely brought their full EW online and didn't have time to reinforce their forward shield arcs before they were dragged from warp.
"Fire!" Ulysses barked as CIC threw targeting brackets around the primary targets. Ulysses' ships opened fire with everything they had. Fire support ships cut loose with their torpedo biased armaments, filling space with wave after wave of blue/white Quantum Torpedoes and the reddish orange of Heavy Torpedoes. But the broadsides were even denser than would usually be the case, for Ulysses chose then to unleash his surprise.
Tractor beams pulled their charges from concealment, swinging Type-V Orbital Weapons Platforms into clear attack lanes. These torpedo turrets added their warheads to the volleys, thickening them to over twice what they would have normally been. What would have been a significant nuisance, but a nuisance none the less otherwise became a serious threat to the enemy capital ships. In a capital ship slugging match, torpedoes usually lacked the strength to get through an active shield, used instead to weaken points in the shield to better allow follow up phaser and lance strikes to punch through. But if used in sufficient numbers, they could eventually pare away even a superdreadnought's shields. A great wave rushing in like the evening tide crashed in on the designated targets. Zero point energy incursions and large scale matter/antimatter fireballs pockmarked the enemy fleet at the knife range of two light seconds. Dozens of starships died in the opening volley, and it was only the beginning.
"Engage with the Lances, Mr. Davenport."
"Aye sir!" Percy said eagerly.
Type-X OWPs swung from behind their mother ships and birthed fire even as the first return fire came from the ISC fleet in return. The Imperial's shipboard launchers spoke with the OWPs, and united they sent a tidal bore of destruction down on Force Delta. Shields were smashed flat, armor was splintered and vaporized. One after the other, in a rapidly growing stream, the ISC capital ships fell out of formation after taking catastrophic damage. The range was close enough for the Imperial's primary weapons to be brought into play. PPC and phaser beam fire sprouted from their armored emplacements, turning the intervening space between the ISC and Imperial fleet's star bright with released energy.
Ulysses felt the Forge rock under him as she took hits from Plasmatic Pulsar Device emplacements and Plasma torpedoes. He saw the ships forward shields flare nearly out of existence, and nearly gave the order to divert power and reinforce them. But the Valley Forge was no longer under his direct control. His need to act as Fleet Admiral had necessitated giving control of his ship over to P'tel, and he had every confidence in her ability to keep his ship and her crew alive. Even as he brought his eyes away from the bridge tactical repeater he saw his ship's representation on his command holodisplay swing into a hard 180 degree about face, bringing her nearly as heavy aft weaponry and fully charged shield to interdict fresh enemy fire. The ship didn't change position in the formation at all. Good job Miss Sulu, Ulysses thought. His ship rocked again, harder this time, as more enemy fire homed in on her. He forced himself to ignore it and concentrate on the Fleet's attack. His hands flew like a symphony conductor's as he tasked and retasked the targeting priorities. His own ships began to die, as he knew was inevitable with the weight of fire coming in from the enemy. He showed no emotion as the death and damage reports began to come in. There would be time for grieving later, but not now. Now he needed a clear head, one that made their sacrifice worth something. For if he couldn't hold the enemy, or at least cripple them enough to keep them from taking out Lilith's orbital forts, their sacrifice wouldn't be worth it. He had already taken a large bite out of Force Beta, but their own return fire had punched holes in his own ranks.
On the holodisplay, Force Alpha was now attempting to disengage from the battle around Loci Kappa and come to the aid of Force Beta. They had largely reduced the battlestations there to impotence and the defending fleet was only harrying them now, staying in range enough so that Force Alpha couldn't jump to warp but not close enough to get fried easily.
Ulysses fleet was taking a pounding, but he was giving as good as he got. Two of his squadron mates died in rapid succession, the Muteki and Thanatos now nothing more than mangled wrecks shedding life pods. Ulysses winced inside. They had been good ships with good crews. Now they were gone, taking lord knew how many of their crews with them. Thousands of Cobras streaked in and out of the fleet battle like bulls to the matador, chewing on vulnerable ships with their PPCs. Squadrons died by the handful, but there were a lot of fighters, and with virtually no escorts along and the other ships concentrating on the Imperial capital ships, the ISC fleet began to feel the sting of the Cobra's venom. Many of the fleet's Soulwolfs were assigned sniper duty, operating in the flanks of the ISC fleet, coordinating their fire via Datalink Net in order to keep redundant fire to an absolute minimum. Achilles class ships spun like dervishes to keep a fresh undamaged shield arc facing the enemy, all the while firing a vortex of PPC bolts at the enemy.
Finally it happened, Force Beta began to unravel. It started in dribs and drabs at first, a ship here and there falling astern, then swinging around and streaking away for Loci Delta. But soon, there were entire squadrons breaking and fleeing back towards the subspace corridors. Seeing their fellows break and run, Force Alpha did the same, falling back through Loci Kappa and its now near totally shattered defenders.
"Orders to the Fleet. Pursuit course on Force Beta. Aim for their engines, I want as many of them disabled as possible." With those orders, Ulysses settled into his command chair, fairly deflating. He heard a muted cheer course throughout his ship, one reinforced by the cheering on the Flag Bridge. What had become a largely orderly retreat was quickly turned into a near rout. The ISC ships had been strung out to much by their delay in ordering a retreat. The ones that had broke first were now quite far in front of their peers who had stayed longer. This allowed the combined fire from the Imperial fleet to pick them off piece meal. By the time the last ISC ship reached the Locus, only 231 ships had escaped from Loci Delta while 1305 had escaped through Loci Kappa. Total ISC losses numbered 1464 ships, mostly of capital ship classes. In return they had destroyed 452 ships and 25 Battlestations. While those losses were bad, the losses to the ISC fleet had been far worse in comparison. Loosing nearly ¾ of the capital ships in your attacking fleet for the destruction of only a handful of enemy capital ships and battlestations wasn't a good day if you were the ISC.
"Deploy SAR forces immediately, I want every lost escape pod and spaced crewman found ASAP. And that includes those of our enemy, make that abundantly clear to all teams. Then order the fleet to return to Lilith orbit. Order all salvageable vessels to towed back to Lilith with us. We need to get a priority list organized as to who needs the repairs the most. I want to be as ready as we can be for a fresh attack. Send a message off to Starfleet Command. Initial assault on Prescott's Star repulsed with minimal losses. Request immediate reinforcements and recommend that all Sector Fleets be placed on heightened alert." Ulysses said. "Attach the tactical battle logs and send it."
"Aye sir."
"If anything odd happens, I'll be in my ready room." Ulysses said as he got up and strode off of the Flag Bridge without a backward glance.
IBS Tolstoy
"Get those fresh power leads in here!" a voice shouted somewhere on the shattered deck. Marines in full power armor strained to drag the heavy cables through the rubble towards the quantum launcher. It was lucky, it had been only on the edge of a weapons strike rather than a few feet over. It had only had its power cut off by the deadly attack, not total vaporization like its nearest neighbor. The Marines dragged the unwieldy EPS lines to the inert launcher, passing by a gaping, multi deck crater in the stations surface. Emergency forcefields shimmered as they kept in atmosphere and kept out the hard radiation that bathed the still white hot alloy and armor beyond. Phaser beams and plasma torpedoes screamed back and forth beyond the crater, almost to fast to see, soundless in the empty void of space. Perhaps that was what made this place so creepy. There was terrible amounts of energy being set loose only a few feet from the station, but aside from the odd shudder, the station was being left largely alone for the time being. The infrequent groans, pops and screeches of the nearby decks as they fought against their weakening supports was bad enough, picked up through the replenished atmosphere by the Marines external audio mikes.
The crewman who was furiously running diagnostics on his launcher called out again over his shoulder. "Hook em up, we may have been lightly singed by that near miss, but we can still fire once we have the juice by God!" His uniform and hair sill smoked slightly in places, and his face had horrible looking burns, but the antiballistic fabric and emergency forcefield of his uniform had kept the worst of the nearby explosion at bay.
The Marines finally butted the torso thick power leads up to the appropriate junction on the side of the quantum tube. After a few seconds more of grunting and straining with their synthetic muscles, they managed to seat the cables firmly into their sockets. The Marine signaled his Damage Control Team leader.
"Sir, the leads are in place. Commence power up at your discretion." After the acknowledgement from the far end, the cables came alive, buzzing quietly as energetic plasma began to course through them, feeding the systems of the launcher with their needed energy. Telltale lights sparked to life as main power war restored. The crewman entered a blur of commands on his panel, his keystrokes causing quiet beeps and chirps. Seconds later, a soft, subsonic hum was heard as the launcher once again sent a burst of quantum torpedoes at its tasked targets. The Marines, their job done, turned around and went to their next assignment. There was reported to be some crew trapped in behind a pile of fallen debris and only the power armor's synthetic muscles could shift some of the larger, heavier pieces.
ISS Valley Forge
"Sir, reports coming in that the EW drones have reached staging area Frank."
"Order them to proceed to Loci Kappa under low grade ECM. I want the enemy to get a good look at em, but not enough to see through their ruse." Ulysses said.
Commissar Stevens walked through the holographic shroud that largely concealed Ulysses while providing him with the unfettered view of the battlefield he needed to coordinate his fleet.
"Mr. Vanguard, I think you should deploy." her speech was stopped mid sentence as Ulysses raised a hand palm up.
"Miss Stevens, while you may be my political watchdog, your grasp of tactics isn't that good. Going to Loci Kappa's aid is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. I don't intend on playing to the tune they pipe because it's a good way to get dead. Just sit down and shut up, I don't have the time to explain it all to you now." Ulysses said.
The very nerve of this man, thinking he can talk to a Section 31 officer in such a disrespectful manner, Stevens thought. Then she was interrupted by a call from her left.
"Here come the enemy forces through Loci Delta." Davenport said. After a few seconds, CIC began to assign numbers and class to its plot. "Sweet Mary Mother of God!"
There were similar expletives uttered throughout the fleet as the tactical plot resolved itself. Although the new enemy fleet was only half as numerous as their first one, they were very top heavy in hull class. 80% of them were Dreadnoughts or Superdreadnoughts with the rest being Battleships. They cut through the Loci forts like a hot knife through butter, leaving shattered, savaged battlestations in their wake and taking only light casualties in return. They immediately engaged high warp directly towards what their sensors told them was an Imperial fleet at staging area Frank. Caught thusly between the two opposing forces, they would have been picked apart in detail, allowing the enemy to close and pick apart the orbital forts around Lilith at their leisure. Ulysses merely turned an 'I told you so look' on Stevens, and she meekly backed out through the holodisplay. She may not like her inexperience in tactical battles being shown in front of the entire crew of the Flag Bridge, but she knew that any further interference now would be counterproductive to winning the coming engagement. She would deal with Captain Vanguard's insubordination after the battle was done.
"Orders to all fleet units, engage on course 445 mark 320 and drop out of FTL at." Ulysses consulted the path the rapidly advancing Enemy fleet, designated Force Beta by CIC, was cruising down. It was a simple least time, high warp course that would avoid the effects of the anti-warp field being emitted by the battlestations. ".system coordinates 442.515.870. Deploy into formation Theta Two and bring your anti-warp generators online."
Force Beta was rapidly approaching Lilith's general area, their flight path designed to skirt as tightly as possible the warp bubble destroying field. It was a relatively minor matter to pop directly in front of them, presenting a road block that would have to be dealt with before they could advance. The Imperial fleet, 1700 strong, formed up into a concave, ovoid wall, spreading around the main axis of advance for Force Beta. Lighter units were the farthest out, ready to swoop in on the exposed flanks of the enemy when they were yanked out of warp. EW drones of all types were deployed to confuse enemy sensors as much as possible. The heavy hitters of Ulysses fleet were placed in the middle with their support cadre of Aegeans, Nebulas, Steamrunners and Akiras tucked in the relative safely behind them. But the support ships weren't the only thing hiding in the great capital ships sensor shadows. Ulysses and his staff had thought up a little surprise for an invading fleet to encounter.
It all happened in seconds, leaving virtually no time for Force Beta to react. They had thought that the Imperial fleet was safely drawn towards Loci Kappa, not lying in wait near Lilith. They barely brought their full EW online and didn't have time to reinforce their forward shield arcs before they were dragged from warp.
"Fire!" Ulysses barked as CIC threw targeting brackets around the primary targets. Ulysses' ships opened fire with everything they had. Fire support ships cut loose with their torpedo biased armaments, filling space with wave after wave of blue/white Quantum Torpedoes and the reddish orange of Heavy Torpedoes. But the broadsides were even denser than would usually be the case, for Ulysses chose then to unleash his surprise.
Tractor beams pulled their charges from concealment, swinging Type-V Orbital Weapons Platforms into clear attack lanes. These torpedo turrets added their warheads to the volleys, thickening them to over twice what they would have normally been. What would have been a significant nuisance, but a nuisance none the less otherwise became a serious threat to the enemy capital ships. In a capital ship slugging match, torpedoes usually lacked the strength to get through an active shield, used instead to weaken points in the shield to better allow follow up phaser and lance strikes to punch through. But if used in sufficient numbers, they could eventually pare away even a superdreadnought's shields. A great wave rushing in like the evening tide crashed in on the designated targets. Zero point energy incursions and large scale matter/antimatter fireballs pockmarked the enemy fleet at the knife range of two light seconds. Dozens of starships died in the opening volley, and it was only the beginning.
"Engage with the Lances, Mr. Davenport."
"Aye sir!" Percy said eagerly.
Type-X OWPs swung from behind their mother ships and birthed fire even as the first return fire came from the ISC fleet in return. The Imperial's shipboard launchers spoke with the OWPs, and united they sent a tidal bore of destruction down on Force Delta. Shields were smashed flat, armor was splintered and vaporized. One after the other, in a rapidly growing stream, the ISC capital ships fell out of formation after taking catastrophic damage. The range was close enough for the Imperial's primary weapons to be brought into play. PPC and phaser beam fire sprouted from their armored emplacements, turning the intervening space between the ISC and Imperial fleet's star bright with released energy.
Ulysses felt the Forge rock under him as she took hits from Plasmatic Pulsar Device emplacements and Plasma torpedoes. He saw the ships forward shields flare nearly out of existence, and nearly gave the order to divert power and reinforce them. But the Valley Forge was no longer under his direct control. His need to act as Fleet Admiral had necessitated giving control of his ship over to P'tel, and he had every confidence in her ability to keep his ship and her crew alive. Even as he brought his eyes away from the bridge tactical repeater he saw his ship's representation on his command holodisplay swing into a hard 180 degree about face, bringing her nearly as heavy aft weaponry and fully charged shield to interdict fresh enemy fire. The ship didn't change position in the formation at all. Good job Miss Sulu, Ulysses thought. His ship rocked again, harder this time, as more enemy fire homed in on her. He forced himself to ignore it and concentrate on the Fleet's attack. His hands flew like a symphony conductor's as he tasked and retasked the targeting priorities. His own ships began to die, as he knew was inevitable with the weight of fire coming in from the enemy. He showed no emotion as the death and damage reports began to come in. There would be time for grieving later, but not now. Now he needed a clear head, one that made their sacrifice worth something. For if he couldn't hold the enemy, or at least cripple them enough to keep them from taking out Lilith's orbital forts, their sacrifice wouldn't be worth it. He had already taken a large bite out of Force Beta, but their own return fire had punched holes in his own ranks.
On the holodisplay, Force Alpha was now attempting to disengage from the battle around Loci Kappa and come to the aid of Force Beta. They had largely reduced the battlestations there to impotence and the defending fleet was only harrying them now, staying in range enough so that Force Alpha couldn't jump to warp but not close enough to get fried easily.
Ulysses fleet was taking a pounding, but he was giving as good as he got. Two of his squadron mates died in rapid succession, the Muteki and Thanatos now nothing more than mangled wrecks shedding life pods. Ulysses winced inside. They had been good ships with good crews. Now they were gone, taking lord knew how many of their crews with them. Thousands of Cobras streaked in and out of the fleet battle like bulls to the matador, chewing on vulnerable ships with their PPCs. Squadrons died by the handful, but there were a lot of fighters, and with virtually no escorts along and the other ships concentrating on the Imperial capital ships, the ISC fleet began to feel the sting of the Cobra's venom. Many of the fleet's Soulwolfs were assigned sniper duty, operating in the flanks of the ISC fleet, coordinating their fire via Datalink Net in order to keep redundant fire to an absolute minimum. Achilles class ships spun like dervishes to keep a fresh undamaged shield arc facing the enemy, all the while firing a vortex of PPC bolts at the enemy.
Finally it happened, Force Beta began to unravel. It started in dribs and drabs at first, a ship here and there falling astern, then swinging around and streaking away for Loci Delta. But soon, there were entire squadrons breaking and fleeing back towards the subspace corridors. Seeing their fellows break and run, Force Alpha did the same, falling back through Loci Kappa and its now near totally shattered defenders.
"Orders to the Fleet. Pursuit course on Force Beta. Aim for their engines, I want as many of them disabled as possible." With those orders, Ulysses settled into his command chair, fairly deflating. He heard a muted cheer course throughout his ship, one reinforced by the cheering on the Flag Bridge. What had become a largely orderly retreat was quickly turned into a near rout. The ISC ships had been strung out to much by their delay in ordering a retreat. The ones that had broke first were now quite far in front of their peers who had stayed longer. This allowed the combined fire from the Imperial fleet to pick them off piece meal. By the time the last ISC ship reached the Locus, only 231 ships had escaped from Loci Delta while 1305 had escaped through Loci Kappa. Total ISC losses numbered 1464 ships, mostly of capital ship classes. In return they had destroyed 452 ships and 25 Battlestations. While those losses were bad, the losses to the ISC fleet had been far worse in comparison. Loosing nearly ¾ of the capital ships in your attacking fleet for the destruction of only a handful of enemy capital ships and battlestations wasn't a good day if you were the ISC.
"Deploy SAR forces immediately, I want every lost escape pod and spaced crewman found ASAP. And that includes those of our enemy, make that abundantly clear to all teams. Then order the fleet to return to Lilith orbit. Order all salvageable vessels to towed back to Lilith with us. We need to get a priority list organized as to who needs the repairs the most. I want to be as ready as we can be for a fresh attack. Send a message off to Starfleet Command. Initial assault on Prescott's Star repulsed with minimal losses. Request immediate reinforcements and recommend that all Sector Fleets be placed on heightened alert." Ulysses said. "Attach the tactical battle logs and send it."
"Aye sir."
"If anything odd happens, I'll be in my ready room." Ulysses said as he got up and strode off of the Flag Bridge without a backward glance.