Chapter 2 – Invasion
Over 3 Million Kilometres away from the Sovereign, Krenim vessels were appearing by the dozens, every second more ships came in to the area. The ships managed to travel 50,000 light years in 3 months, incredibly fast for any ftl drive used. The Krenim Imperium used a prototype to travel the vast distance between their space and that of the Federation. Although this was a prototype, only half of these were fitted headed for the alpha quadrant to gain more territory for the Krenim Imperium. Half of these ships would have to tow the massive outpost that was going along as well. This outpost would be the base of Krenim Operations for the sector if not the Quadrant, in an attempt to make them one of the powers of the Alpha Quadrant.
Bridge Of Sovereign
"Captain, we have a problem – there is over 400 Krenim vessels in this star system, 20 of them are on approach. The ships are of various sizes, while 250 of these vessels are the ships that we have met before, 110 are twice the size of the vessels we met before, and 38 of these vessels appear to be 1.2 Kilometres in length. There are two other contacts with in this group one appears to be a 10.2 Kilometre Vessel, and the other appears to be a battlestation at the diameter of 19 Kilometres. Although theses ships are weak compared to Federation vessels, they have the numbers." A Horrified Lt. Hales shouted out towards the Crew including the Captain. "This appears to be an invasion force".
The Captain and several of the crew looked towards Lt. Hales, all in shock. Shortly afterwards, the Captain managed to reply "Lt. Hales, Send all data of these Krenim and this invasion force." Captain Montgomery walked towards the science station. "Lt. Wright can scan the area to see if there are any more subspace distortions in the area or any more vessels that are on approach?"
Lt Samantha Wright, one of the new officers that had not fought in any of the battles was one of those who were uncertain that they would survive a conflict against so many vessels, however as she began the search she could see that the sensor readings could confirm her worst fears, that she may not live past her first assignment. As she looked over the display in front of her, she noticed something odd. "Captain, it appears that these ships are using a prototype engine, for these scans it looks like these engines have to be aligned almost perfectly when in use, perhaps this could be used to help us, delay them some how?"
"What do you Suggest Lieutenant? A Curious Commander Ronson asked, looking towards the science officer. Then looking towards the Captain, "Captain we do have 4 Tri – Cobalt Torpedoes on board, may be their nature can cause the subspace engines to be disabled?"
"Commander that would work, though there is one problem with that one of our ships would have to remain behind, though it couldn't be a shuttle craft as they wouldn't last long against that many Krenim Vessels…" Just as Lt. Wright was explaining a plan, Lt Christopher Hales interrupted her, with a similar idea.
"Perhaps we could use several of these shuttle craft as mobile bombs, for example a Tri Cobalt device in each shuttle craft, with some additional quantum torpedoes to make sure. Though we would have to jump to warp at the same time, the Shuttles could be equipped in 5 minutes."
"Lt Hales, that is an interesting idea, though how long would it affect the Krenim Engines?" The Captain Asked.
"At Least a couple of weeks at most, but this may depend on how well they can repair or rebuild their equipment"
Krenim Outpost
While most of the ships that were in formation around the base were warships and were lightly armed, there were several other ships a lot more powerful. Of these ships there was one which was over 10 Kilometres long, there was something different about the markings however that made the vessel stand out. The hull was reinforced with an unknown element, something that was found in the delta quadrant.
20 of the Warships were now on approach towards the 2 Federation ships, on board the lead warship a young Krenim Captain of the name Obrist. His orders were to capture the Larger Federation ship and destroy the already crippled one. While on the bridge, he noticed that both ships were just sitting there waiting as if they were planning something…
"Mannox, what are the weapons configurations of those vessels?" Obrist shouted out towards the tactical console.
"The larger vessel appears to be heavily armed; it has two different torpedo types. There are 9 torpedo tubes, 5 forward and 4 aft. This ship also has some sort of beam weapons; it is difficult to determine how many this ship has. This ship could potentially be a match for 10 of our warships. The smaller one appears to be more of a light cruiser, its beam weapons are badly damaged, and it appears to have 2 forward torpedo tubes that appear to use anti-matter weapons."
"Is there anything noticeable about these ships that could show a weakness?" Obrist looked towards the crew, and then looked at his status console in front of him showing the ships. He focused mainly upon the main deflector dish of the Sovereign noticing the variations between the two ship designs.
"Perhaps, it appears that if we attack from behind there would be more of a chance of success; however we do not know what weapons these ships are carrying…" Mannox was about to finish off his sentence, when Obrist interrupted him…
"That sort of talk will get you killed one day; make it so that half of the fleet attacks from both sides, so that they can't escape very easily." Obrist managed to say towards him and the Crew.
With this the Krenim attack force of 20 ships became two separate groups heading towards the federation vessels.
Sovereign Bridge
"Captain the Shuttles are ready, they have been programmed with 4 different locations to maximise the effect of the destruction, this will also destroy several of the weaker Krenim vessels…" Just as Lt Hales noticed this, he accessed his console and noticed that the Krenim had split up. "Captain the Krenim ships have split up, it looks like they are going to attack from both sides, they will get here in 5 minutes"
"Lt. Hales Inform the Columbus to set a course for the nearest Starbase" Just after the Captain had said this, "Lt. Cmdr Howard launch the shuttle crafts just before the Krenim warships are on top of us, make sure that they make it to the correct co-ordinates before detonation."
"All 4 shuttles have been programmed with several evasive patterns. They will warp to the location then jump out of warp at the pre programmed co-ordinates and detonate, hopefully this will disable the subspace engines with in this sector. However we must go to warp before the shockwave reaches us."
Outside the Sovereign
The Columbus began to move towards Federation space beginning slowly at first, and then suddenly jumped to warp 7. The Krenim did not use their subspace engines to follow instead remained on course towards the Sovereign.
After a couple of minutes, 4 shuttle craft launched from all bays of the Sovereign, moving at full impulse they began to move away from the ship, heading towards the Krenim Fleet.
The Krenim Vessels arrived moments later, all of which firing weapons towards the Sovereign. The first volley mostly missed because of the range. The Sovereign immediately responded by firing several photon and quantum torpedoes into the ships. After taking several direct hits 3 of the Krenim Vessels Exploded within moments. The Krenim were firing Chroniton torpedoes towards the Sovereign, several directly hit the saucer section causing minor damage.
Krenim Outpost
The main tactical officer within the operations centre of the base noticed 4 small objects on approach. Moments later they disappeared, only to reappear at 4 different locations along the fleet. However before he could say anything all 4 of the vessels detonated, causing 4 massive explosions that directly the ships surrounding them. The shockwave moved towards the station and the other vessels, causing only minor damage, but succeeded in disabling the main engines of the fleet, as the combination of the 4 shockwaves hit the base. Consoles everywhere exploded including the tactical console instantly killing the officer standing there.
The Sovereign quickly saw this and still taking fire from 15 ships, managed to fire off one more volley of quantum torpedoes taking out another two vessels before jumping to warp. If they had took 3 seconds longer, they wouldn't have been able to jump to warp at all. The Sovereign had escaped giving the Federation the time they needed to build a fleet.
Five Days later, USS Sovereign – On Route to Starbase 66
It had been a tough week for the crews of both vessels; both ships were almost one day away from Starbase 66, within the Elbram System. The entire crew, during this time managed to repair most of the Hull Breaches on the inner sections. The temporal variance of the weapons was the main cause of most of the hull damage.
The damage to the Columbus was worse, the whole of decks 4 though 7 were completely uninhabitable, and the main phaser banks were disabled as well as the primary shield grids heavily damaged. The ship only managed to survive due to the experience of the crew that had survived against the both the Borg and the Dominion forces.
Main Bridge of Sovereign
The status of the bridge had improved over the last few days, consoles replaced as well as several other things. Some consoles started to beep. The operations console beeped showing an incoming transmission.
"Captain, there's an incoming transmission for you, from Starbase 66. It's Admiral James Norway" Lt. Cmdr Howard, informing the Captain of the Message.
"On Screen" The Captain Replied.
"It's coded secure only" Lt. Cmdr Howard
"In my ready room?" The Captain responded as she began to walk into her ready room towards the side of the bridge. As she walked into the door, she sat down next to the console and pressed a button. A small screen appeared from the Desk, showing the admiral at Starbase 66. "Admiral, how can I help you?"
"The Krenim appear to be creating a staging ground for their fleet, when you arrive after your ship has been repaired Starfleet has a mission for you that cannot be transmitted by subspace. When you arrive at the Starbase transport to my office for further information" The older Admiral explained as picked up a pad. "At Starbase 66, you will join with 10 ships including the Agamemnon and Achilles the two new prototype starships of the Achilles Class, though for now we will have to wait until you arrive. It's good to see that you managed to escape Rebecca; we were worried that you and the Sovereign were lost when we heard about the Krenim Fleet. Norway Out"
Captain Rebecca Montgomery, after hearing this began to reach for her pad of the damage reports of both the Sovereign and Columbus. Noticing how much damage was done to the Columbus took during the attack of 12 Krenim Warships. After looking at the report, she began her daily log, although a bit early during the day.
Captains Log. Stardate 57632.17
With the war with the Krenim coming, the Crew are on edge, this was not to be expected as most of the crew did not serve on the front lines during the dominion war, mainly because of the problems that the Sovereign faced during the Dry Dock. From what we have seen of the Krenim, they appear to be a race of conquerors similar to that of the dominion. The only offensive weapon that the Krenim have appears to be these Chroniton Torpedoes; their ships are relatively weak compared to Federation starships.
As for allies, it is more that likely the Klingons will jump at a chance to join a battle, though the Romulan Star Empire won't be as willing. I personally wouldn't be surprised if the Cardassians or Ferengi managed to join in with the Krenim, as at the moment numbers wise the Krenim aren't that strong. End Log.
The Edge of the Typhon Expanse – Krenim Advance Invasion Outpost 1
During the time between the escape of the two federation vessels, several of the Krenim vessels were being repaired. There were several new objects being created, that appeared to be shipyards and weapons platforms. While several hundred of the ships were still in the area around the main base, several others were scouting out the systems surrounding the area using there reactivated warp engines while their subspace engines were under repair.
On board the Main base the superficial damage towards the station was repaired quite quickly. Moments later two new vessels arrived in the system, these ships were not Krenim designs, and appeared to be more powerful. The lead vessel hailed the base, the Chief Scientist & Officer of the Krenim task force, Supreme Commander Annorax was in his office when this transmission came.
"Commander Annorax, your fleet was supposed to capture those ships, explain your insolence." An Unseen person on the monitor shouted towards Annorax.
"We did not expect to see a second starship answer the distress call of the light cruiser, if this ship did not appear we would have been more successful. As well as the fact of there weapons that almost destroyed nearly 100 ships."
"Your Excuses mean NOTHING to me Annorax, you have one more chance to capture a Federation vessel intact or I will make sure that your second in command Obrist will be more affective than you"
Shortly before the transmission ended, the face of the man was seen as his eyes glowed bright white.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Roll Credits…
