Chapter 4 – Ambushed…

The Krenim and Goa'uld Vessels were hovering all around the Federation Task Force, their weapons were charged and ready to fire. The Federation Task Force was completely surrounded with almost no chance to escape with out a fight.

Bridge USS Sovereign

The Captain of the Sovereign, Rebecca Montgomery who was sitting on her chair that was positioned at the middle of the bridge, she looked around the bridge at each officer knowing that they would do their best. Knowing that the crew were prepared, she then replied to his threat.

"The Federation does not give in to terrorists or parasites that take over human hosts, I hope the Krenim find out about that so they know what they are up against"

"Impudence" Apophis turned to the other Jaffa and spoke Goa'uld to them. The computer loosely translated the wording as "Destroy them". The Transmission was cut; moments afterwards all of the Goa'uld and Krenim Vessels began their attack runs against the 11 Federation Vessels.

On the Bridge of the Sovereign, the Captain looked towards Lt. Hales. "Send a signal to all ships, fire at will".

The Sovereign as well as the other eleven Federation starships began to move in an attempt to pass through the ships to escape. Every Federation starship fired several photon and quantum torpedoes towards the Krenim vessels, causing several to be ripped to pieces. The Krenim and the Goa'uld returned fire. Several of the Federation ships took direct hits on all sides though their shields held.

Captain Rebecca Montgomery seeing that this battle would most likely get them killed, she ordered the use of the Prototype weapons to be fired. Moments later the Sovereign fired four white / blue torpedo like weapons, these weapons were fired from a newly installed torpedo turret mounted to the lower section of the saucer section.

These torpedo like weapons were fired from the isokinetic cannon refit, which was given to all eleven ships of the task force. Moments later the actual weapons directly hit several targets causing massive damage to one of the Ha'taks and ripping an Al'Kesh into two pieces.

The battle continued as the USS Centaur took several heavy hits to the dorsal saucer section; its armour was working however it was beginning to feel the strain of the battle and being attacked by several hundred ships. The Atlantis and Canterbury were the only ships that could help the Centaur however all of the ships were taking a pounding. The Nottingham and the Strood were firing their Isokinetic cannons towards the Goa'uld causing heavy damage to one of the Ha'taks. There were still 5 more though, and a lot more of the Krenim Vessels. The battle was taking a toll as the Centaur was taking heavy damage from the bombardment

Bridge of USS Centaur

Smoke was coming from all sections of the bridge with consoles exploding on all sides. Captain Charlie Reynolds had just picked himself up from the floor after a massive explosion had just rocked the ship. He immediately shouted "REPORT"

"Sir, we've lost weapons and shields. We have hull breaches on every deck, we're losing atmosphere on most of those decks." Lt. Riley reported quickly as the science station exploded killing the science officer instantly. Lt Riley continued "Captain we can't take much more of this"

Shortly afterwards several more Goa'uld weapons directly hit the hull of the Centaur causing massive hull damage. Several more consoles on the bridge exploded, including the helm console. All of the crew on the bridge with the exception of the Captain were now dead. The Captain immediately sat at the helm console; he quickly reacted to the explosions all around him.

The Centaur was being pounded by Ha'tak weapons fire, each hit was causing the vessel to break up as it was on its final journey. Moments later both of its warp nacelles were completely ripped to pieces. The remaining hulk of the centaur ploughed straight into one of the Goa'uld ha'taks moments later both vessels collided and exploded into a bright orange explosion.

Bridge USS Sovereign

"Captain, we've lost the Centaur. It looks like Captain Reynolds rammed the ship into one of the Ha'taks and took it out with him." Lt. Hales Reported as the bridge shuddered under the impact of a weapon against the hull.

"Status Report" The Captain Shouted back.

"The Atlantis and Nottingham have taken heavy damage; they won't last much longer against that kind of punishment. The Avenger, Intrepid and Strood are holding their own, but this won't last" Lt. Hales looked towards the Captain concerned that this may be the end.

"Signal the Rest of the ships, tell them to try and escape using the quantum slipstream drive" The Captain immediately responded as several more weapons hit the ship, causing a console to explode.

The Battle Continues

The Krenim Vessels were surrounding all of the remaining 10 Starfleet vessels; all 10 of these ships had suffered a lot of bombardment from the 100+ ships. The Krenim tactics were very poor compared to Starfleet ships. The Federation ships despite being out numbered and out gunned were destroying Krenim Vessels left, right and centre. The Nottingham's pulse phasers were tearing through the smaller warships in seconds, however this was not to be as three Ha'taks were firing their heaviest weapons towards it.

The Nottingham attempted to evade most of the weapons fire; however the Jaffa controlling the weapons of the Ha'taks managed to score several direct hits against the already damaged armour. After several hits to the engines and main deflector the hull began to crumble under the pressure. Hull breaches covered several large sections of the hull. The Nottingham was still evading the weapons fire, as several more of the Goa'uld weapons directly hit the engineering section, rupturing the antimatter pods. Explosions started to form around the engineering section, moments later spreading around the ship. After a couple of seconds there was nothing left other than vapour.

The Achilles and Agamemnon were destroying Krenim vessels in all directions; in fact these two ships were almost untouched compared to the rest of the fleet. The Achilles was the only ship to provide covering fire for the Excalibur.

The battle was going badly despite the fact that over 32 Krenim vessels had been destroyed as well as 2 of the Ha'taks and 8 of the Al'Kesh mid range bombers had been destroyed. The Krenim were continuously providing cover fire for the Goa'uld vessels, while sacrificing some of their own ships. It was difficult if not impossible for any of the 9 remaining Federation vessels to retreat as they were completely surrounded.

Bridge - USS Sovereign

Several more weapons directly hit the ventral hull of the Sovereign; shortly afterwards several of the stations towards the back of the bridge exploded throwing three crewmen to the ground.

"Captain, we have several hull breaches on decks one, two, four and sixteen to twenty four. Force fields are holding for now while the crew is being evacuated from those sections." Lieutenant Christopher Hales managed to shout out, shortly before another console on the bridge exploded. "Every time that we have attempted to retreat the Krenim Vessels block our path."

"Lieutenant keep on searching for a way out, and once the crews have been evacuated from those sections seal those areas off with the emergency bulkheads and transfer the force field power to the shields. Ensign Biggs evasive pattern gamma epsilon eight, keep us away from the heavy weapons fire and try to keep with the Canterbury." Captain Montgomery quickly shouted out the orders as fast as possible in an attempt to keep the fleet alive for longer.

The Sovereign took several more direct hits, this time to the underside of the saucer section, this caused several consoles to explode all over the ship, several crew members were injured during these explosions. While on the bridge several more consoles exploded, forcing the crewmen to the ground.

"There are hull breaches on the lower decks, the ship can't take much more of this" Lieutenant Commander Howard reported, "the Goa'uld ships weapons are a lot more powerful that the Krenim, if we didn't have the armour we would not have lasted as long in this battle.

Captain Rebecca Montgomery had to pick herself up off the floor, she was covered in bruises and several cuts. She quickly sat back down, regretting what she was about to say "Lieutenant Hales, opened a channel to the Goa'uld, tell them that we…

The Captain was cut off by Lieutenant Hales, who was surprised that several ships had decloaked, and began attacking the Krenim and Goa'uld vessels. He immediately shouted "Captain you are not going to believe this but 50 Romulan Warbirds have just decloaked and started to attack the Krenim forces, there are also forty five Starfleet vessels on approach. The Krenim are being attacked at all angles."

"Finally, Ensign Biggs take us back in to the Krenim Fleet; Lt. Hales fire all weapons that are still available"

The Battle Continues again…

Several Federation vessels jumped out of warp, and immediately opened fire towards the Krenim ships. Within the combined fire power of the 45 Starfleet vessels and 50 Romulan Warbirds the Krenim numbers were dwindling at a very fast rate. Several Defiant, Akira and Nebula class starships were using hit and run tactics against the Ha'taks, with in several passes three of the had been destroyed.

After almost two minutes of the reinforcements arriving, the remaining Krenim and Goa'uld fleet retreated knowing that they would not win. Out of the 169 vessels that attacked only 31 Krenim Vessels survived along with 2 of the Goa'uld Fleet. The taskforce had suffered heavy damage and the loss of two of its own vessels and was now on its way back to Starbase 66, which would take almost four days at warp.

Meanwhile on the boarder of Federation Space

The USS Amazon, one of the newly built sovereign class starships that had recently been finished, under the Command of Captain Daniel Leach, the mission of this starship was to find alliances and possibly new members for the Federation. This was his first mission as Captain of such a vessel; he knew that he had to do well to keep this ship.

On the Bridge, Captain Leach had just walked out of the Ready Room to start his shift on the Bridge, as always he shouted report to gain information on the information gained from the Night before. His tactical officer Lt. Cara Davis was quick to reply.

"So Far there has been nothing on long range sensors, there appears to be any inhabited systems, though there are some M Class planets on long range sensors." After a couple of seconds she noticed something else on the tactical console. "Captain there appears to be a debris field within the closest system; it appears to be at least 800,000 years old."

"Debris that is that old, and hasn't been touched, now that is a find, Lt Maybe you will get that promotion after all." Captain Daniel Leach grinned after saying that, shortly afterwards he turned more serious and looked towards the conn "Ensign Smith set a course for the debris field maximum warp"

"Warp and Course set"

"Engage"

Three Hours Later

The USS Amazon had now arrived at the co-ordinates; there was a star system with 8 planets. Two of these planets appeared to be "M Class" though they were not inhabited. The Sovereign immediately moved towards the asteroid field between the third and fourth planets, the location of the debris field.

"Captain we have arrived at the Co-ordinates" Ensign Graham Smith reported while looking towards the Captain.

Shortly afterwards the Tactical Officer, Lt. Cara Davis reported on the debris field, "Captain this appears to be wreckage from a vessel that appears to be almost 800,000 years old. There is not much left of this vessel, although there appears to be a shuttle craft or escape pod of some sorts, there are also fragments of the vessel that are intact"

"Scan the Wreckage and confirm that the shuttle pod is safe to beam on board, also scan the area for potential ambushes against us since this sounds too good to be true" The Captain was quick to respond, shortly afterwards he looked towards the Tactical officer again.

"Captain there is no threats, or anything out of the ordinary it appears as if no one has been in this star system for the last 800,000 years. Sensors also show that this asteroid field appears to also be 800,000 years old, almost as if a moon was destroyed within this time period" Lt Davis was pressing buttons along the tactical console. "The Shuttle pod has been beamed on board, however the debris is taking longer to scan."

"Very well, continue the scans of the debris field and the nearby M-Class planets to see if you can find any more details about this ship or even the race that was present at the time of this battle." The Captain looked towards his first officer "Commander, you have the bridge. I'll be investigating the shuttle pod for further information. Inform me when you have some information about the debris.

The younger Commander Kelly Montgomery looked back towards the captain and confirmed what he wanted by saying "Aye Sir".

Cargo Bay – USS Amazon

Captain Leach had taken twenty minutes to walk to the Cargo bay, during this time the science teams had analysed the shuttle pod from top to bottom, and it was very old. What the science team could not work out was why no one had found this pod within the last 800,000 years. Just after Captain Daniel Leach had arrived he immediately walked towards the science team.

"Captain, we haven't been able to access this vessel at all. Though there appears to be no faster than light travel that we can see. On the command console there appears to be 3 different parts that include flight controls and possibly a sensor interface. So far we haven't worked out how to turn this ship on" A young Lieutenant Peter Robertson explained to the Captain. "A couple of the younger science officers have tried other methods to activate this ship, so far nothing."

"Perhaps we should try a more direct approach." Captain Daniel Leach replied, the science team were completely confused by this. He then moved towards the controls and sat down putting his hands on the controls. He was thinking about how to make the ship work, moments later the lights and main controls lit up.

Ensign Ryan Walters had scanned the shuttle pod light up, he walked towards the Captain within the shuttle pod and began to explain "Captain it appears as if this ship is controlled by a certain gene within the human body, this would explain why most of us cannot control this ship as we do not have it. However according to these scans Captain, you are the only one within the cargo bay to have this gene."

Captain Leach looked around the now lit consoles; the language appeared to be like nothing he had ever seen before. He had noticed something in particular about the middle display; it appeared to be a sensor device and also an information console. There was something else, underneath this were 40 buttons, 39 of these buttons had images of constellations on them. What surprised him further was that there was only one planet that had all of these constellations within the night sky. This planet was Sol III, also known as Earth…