Chapter 38 - In Death Ground
Prescott's Star
Cobras, Defiants, Novas and Sabers bobbed and weaved through the Unity's lines at knife fight range, burning EW drones from the stars and pouring close range fire in on the ISC Superdreadnoughts weaker aft shield arcs. They were tailed by ISC Destroyers and Cruisers sending reams of weapons fire after them. The smarter Imperial commanders used the dead and dying hulks of ISC ships as cover whenever possible, ducking behind them to shield them from their pursuers as they corkscrewed and jinked in wild evasion courses. A wing of Cobras, recently arrived from Imperial carriers that were still far beyond visual range dove in close to a ISC Superdreadnought, their PPCs sending a torrent of amber/orange bolts into a downed shield arc. The bolts ate away at the leviathans armored hide, leaving molten edged craters in its hull. The SD's carapace was punctured, sending a spray of molten hull plateing and frozen water vapor out into space. A torpedo magazine was hit, and the hull breach widened in a white hot fireball as the plasma warheads it contained detonated within the ships hull. As the Cobras pulled up and out from their successful run to target the next vessel on their assigned list, half their number were atomized as the attacked became the attacker. A The deep blue/green slash of one of the ISC SD's dorsal phaser arrays cut through space, and it was near perfectly aimed. Moving in a sweeping arc, its path intersected that of the Cobra wing, leaving nothing of half of them except subatomic debris clouds.
ISC Superdreadnoughts sent a wave of plasma torps and phaser beams down on their assigned targets, still little more than a point of light to the unaided eye, causing more than one Imperial Wraith to wilt in spite of their attached Aegeans' best effort to boost it's shields. Fleet ISC Destroyers were also playing havoc amongst Ulysses fleet. They bored in on their assigned targets, trying to score kills on the precious Aegeans who's shield boosting capabilities were keeping Ulysses ships in the fight. They were met with a hail of PPC fire from the Aegean's escorting Achilles. Opening up with as many of their PPC's as they could bear on the approaching enemy, they sent out a near solid phalanx of bolts. It caught the first wave of hard charging Unity forces square, rapidly chewing through their shields and armor to kill the ship beneath. It was so intense that it forced the ISC Destroyers to break off and look for easier prey among the growing number of lamed Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths in Ulysses battle line. They never got a chance, for a squadron of Vaadwaur ships swooped down on them just as they were completing their turns and sent a rippling red energy wave into them. Impulse drive shorted out and the transferred kinetic kick of the weapon's impact sent the ISC Destroyers spiraling out on random but linear flight paths. The Achilles' and Vaadwaur ships finished off their now drifting targets with concentrated weapons fire. Then the Vaadwaur flitted off to execute similar attacks elsewhere in Ulysses formation.
ISS Valley Forge
"Section Iota Five is weakening, order surrounding vessels to shift position to compensate." Ulysses said, his voice still calm even as his Flagship shook when a fresh volley slammed into her shields. He was hurting the enemy badly, using his close ranged firepower superiority given him by both his Phaser Lances and uprated quantum torpedoes to the hilt. But even this wouldn't be enough, as he had known from the outset. The Galactic Unity's shields were too much tougher than the Empire's own. GU Battleships and Superdreadnoughts died hard, and his own losses were increasing as the enemy overcame their shock and shifted their manuvers to exploit the situation. But he must wait as long as possible before implementing Phase Two of his battle plan. Otherwise, it might not prove decisive enough, leaving him in a position where all he could do is order a retreat and even then most of his ships wouldn't be able to break free given they lacked Slipstream drive.
On the holodisplay, his concave wall parted slightly and a fresh volley of quantums slipped through the gaps, fired from the fire support Nebulas, Steamrunners and New Orleans classes hanging well aft of the battle line. Far too many ships were IDed in the black and white of combat casualties, and the number was growing. Not yet, just a bit longer, just hold on a bit longer, he thought. His hands were constantly in motion, issuing target prioritizations, shifting fire, pulling back to survey the battlefield.
Commissar Stevens pierced the holographic veil. "Admiral, you must issue Phase Two."
"Not yet Commissar." Ulysses said without pausing his direction of the battle nor taking his eyes off of the holodisplay before him.
"Admiral, our ships are being decimated. You must issue the command before it's to late! We could loose the battle."
"As I told you already Commissar, not yet!" There was an edge in Ulysses voice now, his words almost a growl. "You signed off on my battle plan, so let me worry about its execution. Now sit down and let me do the job I swore to do when I joined Starfleet, or so help me, I'll have you removed from the Flag Bridge for the duration of this battle!"
Commissar Stevens closed her mouth with an audible click. Ulysses cursed his temper silently, but continued to fight the battle while keeping his back to the Section 31 Commissar. Finally, she relented and retreated through the holodisplay's aft section. There would very likely be repercussions to his defiance to his watchdog's wishes, but that was a battle for another day. Right now, he had to ensure that as many of his people as possible and the billions on Lilith were around to see it.
ISS Voyager
Commodore Cavit kept his command tucked in tight with the wing of Akiras he was tasked with escorting. He had a squadron of Intrepids under his command, a scratch built unit made up from the odds and ends left over from the first battle. But even if it wasn't as smooth in operation as Cavit would like it would have to do, for the enemy hadn't given them any more time to work out the final kinks.
The Akiras had swept in on the enemy from their position along the fringes of Ulysses wall. The multicolored rainbow of weapons fire that filled space between the two opposing fleets gleamed dully off of the Akiras and his Intrepids charcoal gray armored hulls. Looping below the enemy wall, aiming for an apparent gap in its escort coverage, the small Imperial Battlegroup wrenched back the course to put themselves in a vertical climb parallel to the Unity's formation. The Akiras torpedo tubes went into continuous rapid fire, space flashing bright as their small weapons pod birthed volley after volley of quantum torpedoes.
Cavit's Intrepids joined in with their own quantum tubes, pumping out pairs of the uprated weapons steady as a metronome. Phaser arrays joined in the medley of death, lancing outward as fast as their capacitors charged and unleashing their destructive energies against the enemy. The shimmering blue/white spheroids angled away from their motherships, pulling near 90 degree turns to align with their targets. They bored in, slamming into paper thin shields and vaporizing the armor underneath. Phaser strikes, with almost surgical precision, cut deep glowing wounds into the already savaged warships. Cavit and the squadron he was escorting were rewarded with a brilliant flash aft of them. An ISC Superdreadnought's warp core breached, turning the once powerful weapon of conquest into largely vaporized expanding cloud of debris. A howl of glee coursed through Voyager's rebuilt Flag Bridge.
"Watch your screens, they aren't liable to be too pleased with us for taking out one of their heavies and should be dispatching somebody to take us out before we can do it again." Cavit said. Then, the tactical plot proved him right, for a squadron of ISC Battlecruisers broke off from their position to interpose themselves directly in the middle of their course. "Orders to the Squadron, Target those BC's and give 'em hell!" Shield reinforcement across the battlegroup shifted from their starboard to frontal shields arcs, and the already speeding Imperial warships boosted to maximum military power. All forward weapons systems on both Cavit's Squadron and the Akiras they were escorting went into continuous rapid fire. The enemy responded in kind, blue/green ISC phasers crisscrossing with the amber/orange ones of the Empire and brilliant white/blue quantums passing the deep red hued orange plasma torpedoes.
Both ships disappeared as their conformal shield grids flared brightly under the assault, but neither flinched. At least until some of them started to die. The Akiras could put out an ungodly number of torpedoes for something their size, and with the new enhanced ones giving the torpedoes a far heavier punch, the ISC ships thicker shields were rapidly drained. Five star bright explosions and an abrupt cessation of enemy fire heralded another victory for Commodore Cavit's charges even as his command shuddered slightly from impacting their leftover debris at a high percentage of lightspeed. The fresh chorus of cheers were cut off abruptly as the Intrepid class ISS Osiris blew up. Her shields had been pounded near flat in the short but pointed engagement, and her helmsman hadn't been quick enough to dodge a particularly massive piece of debris left over from the ISC Battlecruisers' destruction. The hunk of gutted but still thoroughly dense alloy blew through the Osiris' virtually nonexistent shields and crumpled her hull with a mutual closing velocity in excess of 75 PSL apiece.
"Orders from the Flag, Commodore." A com officer spoke into the deathly silence. "We are to come to course 334 mark 319 and render assistance to a squadron of Promies that have gotten into some heavy resistance."
"Understood." Cavit said after a beat. "Orders to the Squadron, form up and shift course to bearing 334 mark 319."
Vaadwaur Warship 003
Falran disliked how the scabberous looking Terran PPC mounts hastily slapped onto all Vaadwaur ships ruined its otherwise sleek lines. But what he had no argument with was the increase in firepower they gave what remained of the Vaadwaur Fleet. The Terran commander, Admiral Vanguard, had originally proposed dispersing his ships throughout his fleet. He wanted them to act as support craft, using their Flux Waves to make enemy incursions into his rear areas that much easier to take out. But Falran had convinced him that the Vaadwaur ships would be far better off operating in concert with each other rather than trying to integrate them into a navy they had only a passing similarity with. The Vaadwaur were now operating in squadron level groups, stalking about Ulysses wall of battle, hitting targets assigned to them by the Terran commander.
"Pop up target in sector Beta 12." His tactical officer said from his station, indicating that one of the Imperial squadrons hadn't done a proper job and had allowed one of their assigned targets to slip past them.
"Show the Imperials how it's done!" Falran said with a slight smile. Being able to show up the mighty Imperials, even in something as small as taking out a target that had leaked past their front line defenders, was something he relished. The Vaadwaur might be down, but they most certainly were not out.
"Coming up on target now."
"Fire the Flux Wave."
"Firing. NOW!"
On the main viewer, an undulating wave of energy spat outward from his ship. It struck the ISC Cruiser square, sending it into an uncontrolled spiral. It slammed into one of its companions, draining both of their shields considerably. Falran's squadron opened fire, spitting streams of PPC bolts into the ISC's weakened shields. They were not alone in their attack, for five squadrons of Imperial Fighters had converged on the luckless trio of ISC Cruisers as well. Six of the furiously maneuvering fighters were hit, flashing out of existence in the blink of an eye, but the combined firepower of the rest added to Falran's own ships finished off the ISC ships soon thereafter.
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
"Divert Soulwolf Squadrons Four through Nine to take out those ISC ships." Ulysses spoke as he highlighted the cluster of enemy vessels that were falling back from the frontlines more and more with each passing moment. Early attacks had been largely repulsed, and the ISC were using their superior speed to outdistance most pursuers. If they were allowed to get into PPD range to quickly, he would have no choice but to kick off phase two immediately.
36% of his ships were now combat ineffective. The enemy had over 41% of theirs in the same state, but their fleet had been bigger to begin with. ECCM allowed for fleeting glimpses through the EW haze, and close in attack runs gave infrequent snapshots of the enemy, letting him know that more and more shield power was being diverted forward to reinforce the enemy's defenses as he battered at them without respite. The Forge bucked again, and this time damage alarms chimed above the otherwise near unnatural quiet of the Flag Bridge. Just a little while longer, hold on just a bit more and we can end this. He silently willed his ship and crew.
ISS Valley Forge, Main Bridge
The bridge was darkened slightly, lit more by control consoles and displays and the steady strobe of the Red Alert panels than the overhead lighting fixtures. There was a faint burnt synthetic smell as primary fuses melted into a puddle under an unexpected power surge in the EPS grid.
"Damage Report." P'tel said from her throne in the center of the bridge.
"Slipstream Two took another hit." Gabe Eton said grimly from the deputy tactical station. "The core's offline and most of the section is depressurized and open to space. 100% casualties. Emergency forcefields aren't responding, but section blast doors have deployed. The breach is cut off from the rest of the ship. Port Phaser Lance is gone, that last plasma salvo vaped the entire mount and took a good bite out of our primary hull. We have hull breaches on decks seven through 21 from frame four to frame 25. Most sections near the outer hull within that area are totally gone. 89% casualties within affected sections. PPC Turret Alpha Eight through Alpha 10 are offline. Primary, secondary and tertiary power leads are cut. Dispatching Damage Control teams."
Lt. Sulu had been in the process of swinging the downed shield out of the way, but an ISC warship had fired his weapons at just the right instant to have them catch the edge of the downed shield and eat away at the Valley Forge's armored hide. The fully regenerated and reinforced aft shield arc was now facing the Unity Fleets battle line, and the aft weapons were firing back defiance at them.
"Forward shields are regenerating." Gabe continued. "But there's going to be a large kink in our armor on our dorsal primary hull. Recommend that all future manuvers keep the breach out of direct line of fire if at all possible."
"Understood. Helm, make it so."
Prescott's Star
Cobras, Defiants, Novas and Sabers bobbed and weaved through the Unity's lines at knife fight range, burning EW drones from the stars and pouring close range fire in on the ISC Superdreadnoughts weaker aft shield arcs. They were tailed by ISC Destroyers and Cruisers sending reams of weapons fire after them. The smarter Imperial commanders used the dead and dying hulks of ISC ships as cover whenever possible, ducking behind them to shield them from their pursuers as they corkscrewed and jinked in wild evasion courses. A wing of Cobras, recently arrived from Imperial carriers that were still far beyond visual range dove in close to a ISC Superdreadnought, their PPCs sending a torrent of amber/orange bolts into a downed shield arc. The bolts ate away at the leviathans armored hide, leaving molten edged craters in its hull. The SD's carapace was punctured, sending a spray of molten hull plateing and frozen water vapor out into space. A torpedo magazine was hit, and the hull breach widened in a white hot fireball as the plasma warheads it contained detonated within the ships hull. As the Cobras pulled up and out from their successful run to target the next vessel on their assigned list, half their number were atomized as the attacked became the attacker. A The deep blue/green slash of one of the ISC SD's dorsal phaser arrays cut through space, and it was near perfectly aimed. Moving in a sweeping arc, its path intersected that of the Cobra wing, leaving nothing of half of them except subatomic debris clouds.
ISC Superdreadnoughts sent a wave of plasma torps and phaser beams down on their assigned targets, still little more than a point of light to the unaided eye, causing more than one Imperial Wraith to wilt in spite of their attached Aegeans' best effort to boost it's shields. Fleet ISC Destroyers were also playing havoc amongst Ulysses fleet. They bored in on their assigned targets, trying to score kills on the precious Aegeans who's shield boosting capabilities were keeping Ulysses ships in the fight. They were met with a hail of PPC fire from the Aegean's escorting Achilles. Opening up with as many of their PPC's as they could bear on the approaching enemy, they sent out a near solid phalanx of bolts. It caught the first wave of hard charging Unity forces square, rapidly chewing through their shields and armor to kill the ship beneath. It was so intense that it forced the ISC Destroyers to break off and look for easier prey among the growing number of lamed Galaxies, Sovereigns and Wraiths in Ulysses battle line. They never got a chance, for a squadron of Vaadwaur ships swooped down on them just as they were completing their turns and sent a rippling red energy wave into them. Impulse drive shorted out and the transferred kinetic kick of the weapon's impact sent the ISC Destroyers spiraling out on random but linear flight paths. The Achilles' and Vaadwaur ships finished off their now drifting targets with concentrated weapons fire. Then the Vaadwaur flitted off to execute similar attacks elsewhere in Ulysses formation.
ISS Valley Forge
"Section Iota Five is weakening, order surrounding vessels to shift position to compensate." Ulysses said, his voice still calm even as his Flagship shook when a fresh volley slammed into her shields. He was hurting the enemy badly, using his close ranged firepower superiority given him by both his Phaser Lances and uprated quantum torpedoes to the hilt. But even this wouldn't be enough, as he had known from the outset. The Galactic Unity's shields were too much tougher than the Empire's own. GU Battleships and Superdreadnoughts died hard, and his own losses were increasing as the enemy overcame their shock and shifted their manuvers to exploit the situation. But he must wait as long as possible before implementing Phase Two of his battle plan. Otherwise, it might not prove decisive enough, leaving him in a position where all he could do is order a retreat and even then most of his ships wouldn't be able to break free given they lacked Slipstream drive.
On the holodisplay, his concave wall parted slightly and a fresh volley of quantums slipped through the gaps, fired from the fire support Nebulas, Steamrunners and New Orleans classes hanging well aft of the battle line. Far too many ships were IDed in the black and white of combat casualties, and the number was growing. Not yet, just a bit longer, just hold on a bit longer, he thought. His hands were constantly in motion, issuing target prioritizations, shifting fire, pulling back to survey the battlefield.
Commissar Stevens pierced the holographic veil. "Admiral, you must issue Phase Two."
"Not yet Commissar." Ulysses said without pausing his direction of the battle nor taking his eyes off of the holodisplay before him.
"Admiral, our ships are being decimated. You must issue the command before it's to late! We could loose the battle."
"As I told you already Commissar, not yet!" There was an edge in Ulysses voice now, his words almost a growl. "You signed off on my battle plan, so let me worry about its execution. Now sit down and let me do the job I swore to do when I joined Starfleet, or so help me, I'll have you removed from the Flag Bridge for the duration of this battle!"
Commissar Stevens closed her mouth with an audible click. Ulysses cursed his temper silently, but continued to fight the battle while keeping his back to the Section 31 Commissar. Finally, she relented and retreated through the holodisplay's aft section. There would very likely be repercussions to his defiance to his watchdog's wishes, but that was a battle for another day. Right now, he had to ensure that as many of his people as possible and the billions on Lilith were around to see it.
ISS Voyager
Commodore Cavit kept his command tucked in tight with the wing of Akiras he was tasked with escorting. He had a squadron of Intrepids under his command, a scratch built unit made up from the odds and ends left over from the first battle. But even if it wasn't as smooth in operation as Cavit would like it would have to do, for the enemy hadn't given them any more time to work out the final kinks.
The Akiras had swept in on the enemy from their position along the fringes of Ulysses wall. The multicolored rainbow of weapons fire that filled space between the two opposing fleets gleamed dully off of the Akiras and his Intrepids charcoal gray armored hulls. Looping below the enemy wall, aiming for an apparent gap in its escort coverage, the small Imperial Battlegroup wrenched back the course to put themselves in a vertical climb parallel to the Unity's formation. The Akiras torpedo tubes went into continuous rapid fire, space flashing bright as their small weapons pod birthed volley after volley of quantum torpedoes.
Cavit's Intrepids joined in with their own quantum tubes, pumping out pairs of the uprated weapons steady as a metronome. Phaser arrays joined in the medley of death, lancing outward as fast as their capacitors charged and unleashing their destructive energies against the enemy. The shimmering blue/white spheroids angled away from their motherships, pulling near 90 degree turns to align with their targets. They bored in, slamming into paper thin shields and vaporizing the armor underneath. Phaser strikes, with almost surgical precision, cut deep glowing wounds into the already savaged warships. Cavit and the squadron he was escorting were rewarded with a brilliant flash aft of them. An ISC Superdreadnought's warp core breached, turning the once powerful weapon of conquest into largely vaporized expanding cloud of debris. A howl of glee coursed through Voyager's rebuilt Flag Bridge.
"Watch your screens, they aren't liable to be too pleased with us for taking out one of their heavies and should be dispatching somebody to take us out before we can do it again." Cavit said. Then, the tactical plot proved him right, for a squadron of ISC Battlecruisers broke off from their position to interpose themselves directly in the middle of their course. "Orders to the Squadron, Target those BC's and give 'em hell!" Shield reinforcement across the battlegroup shifted from their starboard to frontal shields arcs, and the already speeding Imperial warships boosted to maximum military power. All forward weapons systems on both Cavit's Squadron and the Akiras they were escorting went into continuous rapid fire. The enemy responded in kind, blue/green ISC phasers crisscrossing with the amber/orange ones of the Empire and brilliant white/blue quantums passing the deep red hued orange plasma torpedoes.
Both ships disappeared as their conformal shield grids flared brightly under the assault, but neither flinched. At least until some of them started to die. The Akiras could put out an ungodly number of torpedoes for something their size, and with the new enhanced ones giving the torpedoes a far heavier punch, the ISC ships thicker shields were rapidly drained. Five star bright explosions and an abrupt cessation of enemy fire heralded another victory for Commodore Cavit's charges even as his command shuddered slightly from impacting their leftover debris at a high percentage of lightspeed. The fresh chorus of cheers were cut off abruptly as the Intrepid class ISS Osiris blew up. Her shields had been pounded near flat in the short but pointed engagement, and her helmsman hadn't been quick enough to dodge a particularly massive piece of debris left over from the ISC Battlecruisers' destruction. The hunk of gutted but still thoroughly dense alloy blew through the Osiris' virtually nonexistent shields and crumpled her hull with a mutual closing velocity in excess of 75 PSL apiece.
"Orders from the Flag, Commodore." A com officer spoke into the deathly silence. "We are to come to course 334 mark 319 and render assistance to a squadron of Promies that have gotten into some heavy resistance."
"Understood." Cavit said after a beat. "Orders to the Squadron, form up and shift course to bearing 334 mark 319."
Vaadwaur Warship 003
Falran disliked how the scabberous looking Terran PPC mounts hastily slapped onto all Vaadwaur ships ruined its otherwise sleek lines. But what he had no argument with was the increase in firepower they gave what remained of the Vaadwaur Fleet. The Terran commander, Admiral Vanguard, had originally proposed dispersing his ships throughout his fleet. He wanted them to act as support craft, using their Flux Waves to make enemy incursions into his rear areas that much easier to take out. But Falran had convinced him that the Vaadwaur ships would be far better off operating in concert with each other rather than trying to integrate them into a navy they had only a passing similarity with. The Vaadwaur were now operating in squadron level groups, stalking about Ulysses wall of battle, hitting targets assigned to them by the Terran commander.
"Pop up target in sector Beta 12." His tactical officer said from his station, indicating that one of the Imperial squadrons hadn't done a proper job and had allowed one of their assigned targets to slip past them.
"Show the Imperials how it's done!" Falran said with a slight smile. Being able to show up the mighty Imperials, even in something as small as taking out a target that had leaked past their front line defenders, was something he relished. The Vaadwaur might be down, but they most certainly were not out.
"Coming up on target now."
"Fire the Flux Wave."
"Firing. NOW!"
On the main viewer, an undulating wave of energy spat outward from his ship. It struck the ISC Cruiser square, sending it into an uncontrolled spiral. It slammed into one of its companions, draining both of their shields considerably. Falran's squadron opened fire, spitting streams of PPC bolts into the ISC's weakened shields. They were not alone in their attack, for five squadrons of Imperial Fighters had converged on the luckless trio of ISC Cruisers as well. Six of the furiously maneuvering fighters were hit, flashing out of existence in the blink of an eye, but the combined firepower of the rest added to Falran's own ships finished off the ISC ships soon thereafter.
ISS Valley Forge, Flag Bridge
"Divert Soulwolf Squadrons Four through Nine to take out those ISC ships." Ulysses spoke as he highlighted the cluster of enemy vessels that were falling back from the frontlines more and more with each passing moment. Early attacks had been largely repulsed, and the ISC were using their superior speed to outdistance most pursuers. If they were allowed to get into PPD range to quickly, he would have no choice but to kick off phase two immediately.
36% of his ships were now combat ineffective. The enemy had over 41% of theirs in the same state, but their fleet had been bigger to begin with. ECCM allowed for fleeting glimpses through the EW haze, and close in attack runs gave infrequent snapshots of the enemy, letting him know that more and more shield power was being diverted forward to reinforce the enemy's defenses as he battered at them without respite. The Forge bucked again, and this time damage alarms chimed above the otherwise near unnatural quiet of the Flag Bridge. Just a little while longer, hold on just a bit more and we can end this. He silently willed his ship and crew.
ISS Valley Forge, Main Bridge
The bridge was darkened slightly, lit more by control consoles and displays and the steady strobe of the Red Alert panels than the overhead lighting fixtures. There was a faint burnt synthetic smell as primary fuses melted into a puddle under an unexpected power surge in the EPS grid.
"Damage Report." P'tel said from her throne in the center of the bridge.
"Slipstream Two took another hit." Gabe Eton said grimly from the deputy tactical station. "The core's offline and most of the section is depressurized and open to space. 100% casualties. Emergency forcefields aren't responding, but section blast doors have deployed. The breach is cut off from the rest of the ship. Port Phaser Lance is gone, that last plasma salvo vaped the entire mount and took a good bite out of our primary hull. We have hull breaches on decks seven through 21 from frame four to frame 25. Most sections near the outer hull within that area are totally gone. 89% casualties within affected sections. PPC Turret Alpha Eight through Alpha 10 are offline. Primary, secondary and tertiary power leads are cut. Dispatching Damage Control teams."
Lt. Sulu had been in the process of swinging the downed shield out of the way, but an ISC warship had fired his weapons at just the right instant to have them catch the edge of the downed shield and eat away at the Valley Forge's armored hide. The fully regenerated and reinforced aft shield arc was now facing the Unity Fleets battle line, and the aft weapons were firing back defiance at them.
"Forward shields are regenerating." Gabe continued. "But there's going to be a large kink in our armor on our dorsal primary hull. Recommend that all future manuvers keep the breach out of direct line of fire if at all possible."
"Understood. Helm, make it so."