Chapter 36 - In Death Ground
ISS Valley Forge
Ulysses strode down the short hallway to the Flag Bridge, already abuzz with activity. Red alert alarms ceased their piercing cacophony, but the steady pulse of the crimson alert panels remained, mirroring Ulysses own quickening heartbeat. He strode through the double blast doors and stopped, surveying the organized chaos swirling around him.
"Admiral on the Bridge!" A marine honor guard at the door barked, his armored feet clanking together and his similarly clad arm snapping upward in salute so perfect even his Academy DI would have found it impossible to criticize it. All action temporarily stopped on the Flag Bridge as the assembled officers and enlisted ratings braced to attention and raised their arms in salute. All save Commissar Stevens, she merely stood and stared at him. Ulysses responded to his crew's courtesy in kind crisply, his hand knifing through air. As one, the personnel of the Flag Bridge released their own salutes, staring up at him from the pit that surrounded his station. Again, all save Commissar Stevens who busied herself with her station mounted near the bulkhead behind Ulysses.
"Report." Ulysses voice resonated throughout the Flag Bridge, and he was surprised at how calm it sounded, betraying none of the somersaulting his stomach was doing. The officers staffing the Flag Bridge seemed to take heart from his calm, even voice and presence, relaxing from their near frantic pace to a more even approach. They still had an edge, which was good, but they no longer were ON edge.
"GU Fleet is just entering the system now Admiral. CIC is still working up numbers, but preliminary estimates are that they have a slight advantage in SDs." An aide provided. Ulysses nodded, then continued on to his throne in the center of the bridge. Settling in, he slipped his hands into the gloves that controlled the holo display. The Flag Bridge melted away, replaced with a 360 degree bubble of holographic space. ID tags popped up over all Squadrons, along with Battlegroup and Taskforce Flagships, to allow rapid access to overall battle stats and greatly ease unit identification. With a deft flick of his wrist and a gesture of his hand, the displays POV shifted up and back from his ships, settling nearly over Lilith's substantial polar icecap. Ulysses never got tired of the photorealistic visuals of the holodisplay. This is what the Gods must view things like, he thought, feeling the rush of power the view gave him.
Suddenly, a rash of angry red contacts swarmed up in the distance. CIC began to assign them class designations as quickly as they could. Which turned out to be surprisingly fast, for the enemy seemed to have his EW suites offline. The enemy vessels were also arrayed in what was almost a parade ground formation, a long wall of capital ships with their escorts arrayed about it similarly. Their fleet numbers were slightly better than his own. They had decelerated to impulse short of his hastily assembled warp inhibitor network, slowing nearly to a crawl. And had done so deliberately. Intimidation, Ulysses thought. They WANT us to see how strong they are, to dishearten us, to try and break our will to fight. Not that that was going to happen.
"My God. there's so many of them!" Commissar Stevens' voice filled the sudden tension filled silence on the Flag Bridge. She had just blurted out what everyone in the fleet was feeling at that exact moment, and the fact that she had voiced it increased the anxiety in the room above and beyond what it would normally have been.
Ulysses pivoted his chair to face Stevens' station. He liked to speak to his officers whenever possible, although once the battle was met, it became far too easy to loose track of which direction was front and which was back within the cocoon of the holodisplay. "Yes there certainly is Commissar. The good news is that when we engage them, we're bound to hit something with that many targets to choose from." A soft chuckle ran around the bridge. The remark had it's desired response, cutting the tension back down to acceptable levels. "Orders to the Fleet." Ulysses said smoothly. "Execute battle plan Chimera Two."
On the holoplot, the titanic, hulking forms of Imperial cargo ships broke orbit. Flying away from Lilith along the safest least-time courses to the subspace corridor network loci, Ulysses could practically hear their crews' sighs of relief to be exiting the war zone. Unfortunately, the least time corridor route required them to nearly go through the approaching GU Fleet, so the majority were taking the longer routes. But there were some diehards who were willing to risk the fact that the GU would stay true to form and leave non-combatant craft largely alone by making for the least time loci.
"Admiral, I have a signal coming in from the enemy commander."
"Put it up please." Time to see the face of the enemy. Ulysses thought as he leaned back in his chair.
The com window blossomed on his display, and the face on the other end of the com caused Ulysses to pause for a fraction of a second. A Terran? And a Fleet Marshal no less. Ulysses thought, taking in the gold, sky blue and ivory white uniform of the ISC Peaceforces and the shoulder flashes of the ISC equivalent of a Fleet Admiral. Starfleet command will be very interested in that little bit of information. I wonder how Pub. In. will end up spinning it? The Empire's propaganda ministry had been spouting off of late that no Terran would willingly leave the Empire to join something like the ISC, that all those billions that had left with their retreating forces had been taken by force rather than willingly joining the aliens. It would appear that that 'fact', like so many others in the Empire, would need some revising. Just as Ulysses himself had thought it would when he first heard it rebroadcast on the local news networks.
"I am Fleet Marshal Teresa Chora of the Galactic Unity Peaceforces."
Ulysses nodded respectfully. "Pleased to meet you Fleet Marshal. My name is Ulysses Vanguard, Admiral, Imperial Starfleet."
"I surmised as much already Admiral. We have compiled quite a file on you in light of your recent elevation in rank."
"Understandable, I would do the same thing in your position if I was able to. But then you didn't call just to tell me about my file in the Galactic Unity's database, did you?"
"No, I didn't. Direct, just like your file says." Chora's mouth perked a bit, in a ghost of a smile, then quickly reverted to what seemed its customary, dour looking demeanor. "Since you are direct, let me get right to the heart of the matter. I am calling to demand your surrender, or at least the withdrawal of your mobile units from this system. There is no way the majority of your forces can engage us unless we let them. We can pick them off at our leisure from beyond their range. You know this. I plead with you not to sacrifice them needlessly, there is no need for them to die today."
Teresa hoped that he would comply, for he seemed like a reasonable sort for a Terran. So far, the orders she had seen issued by him supported everything his file said about his character. Most Terran Commanders wouldn't have ordered the civilian populous to remain civil. Hell, most had done the exact opposite in the planets already conquered, and the civilians were practicing civil disobedience or joining the militia and playing terrorist. This would change in time, just like it had once the Terran's propaganda was broken and the true nature of the ISC was seen by the people that had been liberated from the Terran Empire the last time. But there would always be some who needed to visit Justice to be shown the error of their ways. She sincerely hoped that Admiral Vanguard was not one of these individuals. The smartest play he could do would be to surrender outright, for while it might take some years, the ISC and Dominion would overrun the Terran Empire eventually. In the interim, she didn't think that a brevet Admiral, even one with Ulysses' reputation, would last long if he surrendered a major system and retreated back to the Terran Empire. Starfleet officers that displeased their Emperor had developed a nasty habit of disappearing of late.
"I'm sorry, Fleet Marshal, but I must decline your offer." Ulysses said, raising his hands from their armrest and sticking his chin on their steepled fingers.
"Admiral Vanguard, I beg you not to order your people to their deaths in an unwinable fight."
A wolfish smile played at Ulysses lips and his lone eye blazed. "For one who hasn't even fired a shot yet, you seem quite certain of your victory, Fleet Marshal. If you want this system, come and take it." The com window closed and the channel was cut by a gesture from Ulysses.
"Open a channel to Rear Admiral Anace."
"Channel open Admiral." Paulette Wendell said from beyond the holodisplay's barely translucent veil as the com window blossomed to life, showing brevet Rear Admiral Suzette Anace's oval face, curly brown hair and deep brown eyes.
ISS Vigilance, Enroute to the Outer System of Prescott's Star
"Rear Admiral Anace," Ulysses' calm voice resonated throughout the Vigilance's Flag Bridge as his virtual doppelganger spoke on the holodisplay, "you have your orders, and it's what you and your ships have trained so hard for these last few days. Good luck and good hunting." Ulysses said with a nod.
"Aye sir!" Suzette Anace deep voice replied. "We'll be ready when you give the order Skipper."
Ulysses com hologram nodded again. "Vanguard out." And his com window closed as the connection was closed from his end.
"Open a channel to the Taskforce." Anace waited till the connection was established, then continued. "Ok people, I want as intense of a passive watch on our little deception as possible. I don't want there to be as much as a flicker on the GU's plots. We're just a bunch of merchies going hell bent for leather to the least time loci." A predatory grin birthed on her lips as a soft chuckle ran around the Flag Bridge. "Keep us out of their hair and inconspicuous, just like we trained. All except our escort. Captain Terrel, I want you to act like you would in any other escort situation." She told the lone Imperial vessel in her Taskforce that wasn't hidden behind its holo-chameleon cloak. "After all, one wouldn't want the big, bad GU to try a long range attack on helpless Imperial merchantmen. Keep you ECM at a respectable output. It'll help mask the mines' and buoys' deployment when we reach point Invictus."
ISS Valley Forge
Ulysses was very thankful that the Nightingale yards had cranked out as many of the warp inhibitor platforms as they had. It was still far short of the net such an important system should have, but at least it would keep them coming at impulse for almost four hours. Even such a small radius of coverage centered around Lilith was far preferable to letting them drop out of warp in his lap. As he watched the holodisplay, what had been clearly defined enemy formations finally dissolved into a sea of ECM as they picked up their pace of advance.
"Order Indomitable Squadron to deploy recon drones to cover the GU's line of advance." The RD's would give him a better picture of the enemy's actions now that they had hid behind their EW systems, but their limited duration and necessity of flying close to the enemy meant they would have to constantly be replenished until the range wound down. "All ships will form up, formation Talbot, and proceed on course 149 mark 025, 3/4rs impulse."
"The fleet reports ready Admiral."
"Engage."
--- --- ---
The assembled ships' formation shifted smoothly, the ease of the manuvers borne of incessant weeks of drills that had forged the 401st Imperial Fleet into a finely honed weapon of warfare. The mighty Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths fell into place in a slightly concave, ovoid disc with squadron level escorts tucked in close to provide support. Other ships, primarily fast attack hunter/killers like Akiras, Prometheus' and Soulwolfs, slipped in along the flanks of the rounded wall in a oval half cone. Aegeans, Nebulas Steamrunners and Ark Royals tucked themselves and their escorts into the relatively safe pocket this formation generated, free to perform their tasks with little fear of direct opposition. Then the EW drones began to fill space with a plethora of false signatures that were still largely hidden from any sensors the enemy could have by the intense and copious amounts of ECM Lilith's Battlestations were putting out. Ulysses forces had learned much since the last fight. Analysis of captured GU ships had given them insight in ways to better their electronic warfare's effectiveness, and they had shifted their canned routines to take advantage of this.
--- --- ---
The GU Fleet had thoroughly masked itself now, but Ulysses' ships ECCM began its work, endeavoring to sift through the false sensor echoes to bring actual targets to light. It was a tall task, for even with the knowledge gleaned from the previous attack's wrecks, the Unity's electronic warfare systems still had a slight edge over their latest Imperial counterparts. As the electronics of the two fleets squared off, the ships themselves closed on each other, winding the range between them down with neither side blinking.
Subtle as a bull in a china shop alright. They just came in, let us get a good look at them, then cruised in system at max STL.
"Order the fighter strikes to commence, but make sure they keep to extreme range. I don't want to loose fighters needlessly by sending them into the jaws of that unimpeded enemy wall."
His order went out, and shortly there after, a mass of tiny blue light beads erupted onto the holodisplay, spilling from his ship's flight decks and shuttle bays. They were joined shortly thereafter by a much larger swarm boiling out from orbital and dirtside bases on Lilith. There were ten thousand of them, and they lit off for the Unity fleet at their max rated velocity.
ISS Valley Forge
Ulysses strode down the short hallway to the Flag Bridge, already abuzz with activity. Red alert alarms ceased their piercing cacophony, but the steady pulse of the crimson alert panels remained, mirroring Ulysses own quickening heartbeat. He strode through the double blast doors and stopped, surveying the organized chaos swirling around him.
"Admiral on the Bridge!" A marine honor guard at the door barked, his armored feet clanking together and his similarly clad arm snapping upward in salute so perfect even his Academy DI would have found it impossible to criticize it. All action temporarily stopped on the Flag Bridge as the assembled officers and enlisted ratings braced to attention and raised their arms in salute. All save Commissar Stevens, she merely stood and stared at him. Ulysses responded to his crew's courtesy in kind crisply, his hand knifing through air. As one, the personnel of the Flag Bridge released their own salutes, staring up at him from the pit that surrounded his station. Again, all save Commissar Stevens who busied herself with her station mounted near the bulkhead behind Ulysses.
"Report." Ulysses voice resonated throughout the Flag Bridge, and he was surprised at how calm it sounded, betraying none of the somersaulting his stomach was doing. The officers staffing the Flag Bridge seemed to take heart from his calm, even voice and presence, relaxing from their near frantic pace to a more even approach. They still had an edge, which was good, but they no longer were ON edge.
"GU Fleet is just entering the system now Admiral. CIC is still working up numbers, but preliminary estimates are that they have a slight advantage in SDs." An aide provided. Ulysses nodded, then continued on to his throne in the center of the bridge. Settling in, he slipped his hands into the gloves that controlled the holo display. The Flag Bridge melted away, replaced with a 360 degree bubble of holographic space. ID tags popped up over all Squadrons, along with Battlegroup and Taskforce Flagships, to allow rapid access to overall battle stats and greatly ease unit identification. With a deft flick of his wrist and a gesture of his hand, the displays POV shifted up and back from his ships, settling nearly over Lilith's substantial polar icecap. Ulysses never got tired of the photorealistic visuals of the holodisplay. This is what the Gods must view things like, he thought, feeling the rush of power the view gave him.
Suddenly, a rash of angry red contacts swarmed up in the distance. CIC began to assign them class designations as quickly as they could. Which turned out to be surprisingly fast, for the enemy seemed to have his EW suites offline. The enemy vessels were also arrayed in what was almost a parade ground formation, a long wall of capital ships with their escorts arrayed about it similarly. Their fleet numbers were slightly better than his own. They had decelerated to impulse short of his hastily assembled warp inhibitor network, slowing nearly to a crawl. And had done so deliberately. Intimidation, Ulysses thought. They WANT us to see how strong they are, to dishearten us, to try and break our will to fight. Not that that was going to happen.
"My God. there's so many of them!" Commissar Stevens' voice filled the sudden tension filled silence on the Flag Bridge. She had just blurted out what everyone in the fleet was feeling at that exact moment, and the fact that she had voiced it increased the anxiety in the room above and beyond what it would normally have been.
Ulysses pivoted his chair to face Stevens' station. He liked to speak to his officers whenever possible, although once the battle was met, it became far too easy to loose track of which direction was front and which was back within the cocoon of the holodisplay. "Yes there certainly is Commissar. The good news is that when we engage them, we're bound to hit something with that many targets to choose from." A soft chuckle ran around the bridge. The remark had it's desired response, cutting the tension back down to acceptable levels. "Orders to the Fleet." Ulysses said smoothly. "Execute battle plan Chimera Two."
On the holoplot, the titanic, hulking forms of Imperial cargo ships broke orbit. Flying away from Lilith along the safest least-time courses to the subspace corridor network loci, Ulysses could practically hear their crews' sighs of relief to be exiting the war zone. Unfortunately, the least time corridor route required them to nearly go through the approaching GU Fleet, so the majority were taking the longer routes. But there were some diehards who were willing to risk the fact that the GU would stay true to form and leave non-combatant craft largely alone by making for the least time loci.
"Admiral, I have a signal coming in from the enemy commander."
"Put it up please." Time to see the face of the enemy. Ulysses thought as he leaned back in his chair.
The com window blossomed on his display, and the face on the other end of the com caused Ulysses to pause for a fraction of a second. A Terran? And a Fleet Marshal no less. Ulysses thought, taking in the gold, sky blue and ivory white uniform of the ISC Peaceforces and the shoulder flashes of the ISC equivalent of a Fleet Admiral. Starfleet command will be very interested in that little bit of information. I wonder how Pub. In. will end up spinning it? The Empire's propaganda ministry had been spouting off of late that no Terran would willingly leave the Empire to join something like the ISC, that all those billions that had left with their retreating forces had been taken by force rather than willingly joining the aliens. It would appear that that 'fact', like so many others in the Empire, would need some revising. Just as Ulysses himself had thought it would when he first heard it rebroadcast on the local news networks.
"I am Fleet Marshal Teresa Chora of the Galactic Unity Peaceforces."
Ulysses nodded respectfully. "Pleased to meet you Fleet Marshal. My name is Ulysses Vanguard, Admiral, Imperial Starfleet."
"I surmised as much already Admiral. We have compiled quite a file on you in light of your recent elevation in rank."
"Understandable, I would do the same thing in your position if I was able to. But then you didn't call just to tell me about my file in the Galactic Unity's database, did you?"
"No, I didn't. Direct, just like your file says." Chora's mouth perked a bit, in a ghost of a smile, then quickly reverted to what seemed its customary, dour looking demeanor. "Since you are direct, let me get right to the heart of the matter. I am calling to demand your surrender, or at least the withdrawal of your mobile units from this system. There is no way the majority of your forces can engage us unless we let them. We can pick them off at our leisure from beyond their range. You know this. I plead with you not to sacrifice them needlessly, there is no need for them to die today."
Teresa hoped that he would comply, for he seemed like a reasonable sort for a Terran. So far, the orders she had seen issued by him supported everything his file said about his character. Most Terran Commanders wouldn't have ordered the civilian populous to remain civil. Hell, most had done the exact opposite in the planets already conquered, and the civilians were practicing civil disobedience or joining the militia and playing terrorist. This would change in time, just like it had once the Terran's propaganda was broken and the true nature of the ISC was seen by the people that had been liberated from the Terran Empire the last time. But there would always be some who needed to visit Justice to be shown the error of their ways. She sincerely hoped that Admiral Vanguard was not one of these individuals. The smartest play he could do would be to surrender outright, for while it might take some years, the ISC and Dominion would overrun the Terran Empire eventually. In the interim, she didn't think that a brevet Admiral, even one with Ulysses' reputation, would last long if he surrendered a major system and retreated back to the Terran Empire. Starfleet officers that displeased their Emperor had developed a nasty habit of disappearing of late.
"I'm sorry, Fleet Marshal, but I must decline your offer." Ulysses said, raising his hands from their armrest and sticking his chin on their steepled fingers.
"Admiral Vanguard, I beg you not to order your people to their deaths in an unwinable fight."
A wolfish smile played at Ulysses lips and his lone eye blazed. "For one who hasn't even fired a shot yet, you seem quite certain of your victory, Fleet Marshal. If you want this system, come and take it." The com window closed and the channel was cut by a gesture from Ulysses.
"Open a channel to Rear Admiral Anace."
"Channel open Admiral." Paulette Wendell said from beyond the holodisplay's barely translucent veil as the com window blossomed to life, showing brevet Rear Admiral Suzette Anace's oval face, curly brown hair and deep brown eyes.
ISS Vigilance, Enroute to the Outer System of Prescott's Star
"Rear Admiral Anace," Ulysses' calm voice resonated throughout the Vigilance's Flag Bridge as his virtual doppelganger spoke on the holodisplay, "you have your orders, and it's what you and your ships have trained so hard for these last few days. Good luck and good hunting." Ulysses said with a nod.
"Aye sir!" Suzette Anace deep voice replied. "We'll be ready when you give the order Skipper."
Ulysses com hologram nodded again. "Vanguard out." And his com window closed as the connection was closed from his end.
"Open a channel to the Taskforce." Anace waited till the connection was established, then continued. "Ok people, I want as intense of a passive watch on our little deception as possible. I don't want there to be as much as a flicker on the GU's plots. We're just a bunch of merchies going hell bent for leather to the least time loci." A predatory grin birthed on her lips as a soft chuckle ran around the Flag Bridge. "Keep us out of their hair and inconspicuous, just like we trained. All except our escort. Captain Terrel, I want you to act like you would in any other escort situation." She told the lone Imperial vessel in her Taskforce that wasn't hidden behind its holo-chameleon cloak. "After all, one wouldn't want the big, bad GU to try a long range attack on helpless Imperial merchantmen. Keep you ECM at a respectable output. It'll help mask the mines' and buoys' deployment when we reach point Invictus."
ISS Valley Forge
Ulysses was very thankful that the Nightingale yards had cranked out as many of the warp inhibitor platforms as they had. It was still far short of the net such an important system should have, but at least it would keep them coming at impulse for almost four hours. Even such a small radius of coverage centered around Lilith was far preferable to letting them drop out of warp in his lap. As he watched the holodisplay, what had been clearly defined enemy formations finally dissolved into a sea of ECM as they picked up their pace of advance.
"Order Indomitable Squadron to deploy recon drones to cover the GU's line of advance." The RD's would give him a better picture of the enemy's actions now that they had hid behind their EW systems, but their limited duration and necessity of flying close to the enemy meant they would have to constantly be replenished until the range wound down. "All ships will form up, formation Talbot, and proceed on course 149 mark 025, 3/4rs impulse."
"The fleet reports ready Admiral."
"Engage."
--- --- ---
The assembled ships' formation shifted smoothly, the ease of the manuvers borne of incessant weeks of drills that had forged the 401st Imperial Fleet into a finely honed weapon of warfare. The mighty Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths fell into place in a slightly concave, ovoid disc with squadron level escorts tucked in close to provide support. Other ships, primarily fast attack hunter/killers like Akiras, Prometheus' and Soulwolfs, slipped in along the flanks of the rounded wall in a oval half cone. Aegeans, Nebulas Steamrunners and Ark Royals tucked themselves and their escorts into the relatively safe pocket this formation generated, free to perform their tasks with little fear of direct opposition. Then the EW drones began to fill space with a plethora of false signatures that were still largely hidden from any sensors the enemy could have by the intense and copious amounts of ECM Lilith's Battlestations were putting out. Ulysses forces had learned much since the last fight. Analysis of captured GU ships had given them insight in ways to better their electronic warfare's effectiveness, and they had shifted their canned routines to take advantage of this.
--- --- ---
The GU Fleet had thoroughly masked itself now, but Ulysses' ships ECCM began its work, endeavoring to sift through the false sensor echoes to bring actual targets to light. It was a tall task, for even with the knowledge gleaned from the previous attack's wrecks, the Unity's electronic warfare systems still had a slight edge over their latest Imperial counterparts. As the electronics of the two fleets squared off, the ships themselves closed on each other, winding the range between them down with neither side blinking.
Subtle as a bull in a china shop alright. They just came in, let us get a good look at them, then cruised in system at max STL.
"Order the fighter strikes to commence, but make sure they keep to extreme range. I don't want to loose fighters needlessly by sending them into the jaws of that unimpeded enemy wall."
His order went out, and shortly there after, a mass of tiny blue light beads erupted onto the holodisplay, spilling from his ship's flight decks and shuttle bays. They were joined shortly thereafter by a much larger swarm boiling out from orbital and dirtside bases on Lilith. There were ten thousand of them, and they lit off for the Unity fleet at their max rated velocity.