Chapter 28

The Blow that Broke the Anvil


In orbit between Mars and Earth

April 5, 2203

12 noon

When they received the distress signal, Derek Wildstar had a feeling that they would be too late, but he had kept it to himself as he scrambled whatever forces he could muster together and had them heading off through the wormhole and into his own universe. When they arrived, they managed to take out Zordar's dreadnaught, but they were unable to reach Earth in time to stop the Ragendoran planet killer from wiping out Earth.

The crew of the Yamato were in tears, as was President Garrison Hollifield, who had been on board discussing matters with Wildstar and his crew when the signal came in. Hollifield leaned over from the station to Wildstar's left and put his hand on his shoulder. "We'll get the bastards who did this, Derek. I swear on my honor, we'll get these bastards."

Wildstar simply nodded and let the tears flow unashamedly, knowing that every member of the crew was also weeping.

"Jordie," cried out Mark Venture before he collapsed onto his console in tears. Wildstar looked over at his friend and could not find the words to comfort him, nor could he find the words to comfort his fiancée, who had lost not only her parents, but her sister and her brother-in-law as well. He ticked off all the relatives that were lost amongst his crew, until he couldn't take it anymore. At that moment, he didn't care if Yamato were destroyed, because at least they could join all those who had been lost.

A couple of hours later, Deslok and his main aide, Talan, had come aboard. The Gamilon fleet was the first of their alliance to respond,
along with the EDF forces, but they were simply overmatched. Deslok and Wildstar had managed to destroy the dreadnaught, but they soon realized that the Legendorans were using it as a diversion. Their planet killer appeared in Earth orbit, surrounded the planet, and set off its powerful energy beams. They dug deep into the planet, and, despite the best efforts of the Yamato and the Gamilon fleet, they were unable to stop them in time.

Deslok stood up and spoke before the command staff in the conference room. "I ask myself if I could have done more, despite the odds, and I cannot come up with a satisfactory answer. We've lost over half of the Gamilon fleet in vain, and most of the EDF forces have been destroyed."

Hollifield got up and walked around, then said after a few moments, "I think this was their main target after all. They committed just enough forces to make us obligate ourselves at Bajor and the Federation's Earth, and they hit here when we were just recovering from the battle.

Hollifield walked around again in the total silence of the room. He turned and asked a question of no one in particular, "Were there any survivors at all?"

Sandor raised his head up and said simply, "No. We searched for any signal, but no...none at all."

Hollifield nodded and continued, "Then, what do we do now? What Comet Empire ships are left warped out right as we were attacking the planet killer, so we have no idea where they went. The Legendoran forces jumped as well after their device went off, so we have no idea where they are."

Wildstar twisted in his seat and asked him, "What do you suggest, Garrison?"

Hollifield sighed mournfully and said, "We should go back to where the others are and tell them the news. Then we decide what our next step will be."

"What about the dead," Eager said, almost as if on automatic pilot.

"We win this war for them. We can't bring them back, but we can make the Legendora pay for what they've done. It's not enough, I know, but it's the best we can do.," Hollifield said.

On Deep Space Nine

August 29, 2377

They came out of the wormhole and headed towards the station, where the others were. They linked in and told them the news. The look on General Kira Nurys face when he told her what had happened still resonated in his mind's eye. It was a mixture of disbelief and sheer terror, with a little bit of "that could have been Bajor, and still might be" mixed in.

It was crowded in the station's conference room. Babylon 4 had warped back to where Iscandar was several days before to continue the work the Legendora were putting into it. The plan was, once the overhaul and upgrading of Babylon 4 was completed, it would return so Deep Space Nine could come into the wormhole and have the same treatment done to it.

Captain Ben Sisko was the first to break the silence. "What we need is an idea of where they will strike next! We need intelligence, people, and we have no idea as how to get it."

Sheridan agreed and added, "That's the advantage they have. We have no idea what they have planned, and what they might be looking at as their next potential target. The Legendora are working on it, but the Ragendora have become more adept at hiding their intentions, according to them."

Dan Tanner came into the room and sat beside President Hollifield. He briefly spoke to him, then asked for the floor to say something. "I've been doing my best to track the communications of the Ragendora, and I think I may have found something."

"You have," several people asked all at once.

"I can't break into their coded transmissions yet, but I do have enough evidence to reasonably conclude where their communications are going."

Tanner walked to the data screen and punched up a schematic. "During the battle to save Yamato's Earth, I detected signals coming in and out of the system."

A display of the solar system came up, and showed where Earth was in relation to the rest of the galaxy. "It's in Wildstar's galaxy, right here." He pointed to a spot in another distant part of the galaxy, near the edge of one of the spiral arms.

"I know where that is.," said Sheridan, "It's Z'ha'dum."

"Are you sure? I thought it was destroyed," asked Garibaldi.

"Not the one in that universe, Michael. This may be our first break, but we have to decide if it's worth the risk to launch an all-out attack on that planet.," replied Hollifield.

Wildstar stood up and said, "Let us go, along with Deslok's forces. Send with us any ships you can spare, but we're going there regardless."

The room was abuzz for a few moments, then Sheridan asked Hollifield, "We can commit about half our Whitestars. How many Earthforce ships can we add to the fight?"

"Liberty, Freedom, and Excalibur are here and ready to go, and they should be sufficient for this task. It's all I want to risk right now,
because I'm unsure of whether or not they plan on hitting our Earth."

Sheridan nodded, "That should do. Captain Ashcroft?"

Ashcroft sighed and said, "Enterprise-E is in spacedock for upgrades, so she's out of the fight for now. However, Wildstar and Hercules are in the fight, as is our newest ship in our class. It has just finished its yearlong shakedown run and is ready for combat. She'll be here day after tomorrow."

Wildstar asked, "Which ship is this?"

Ashcroft smiled and replied, "Yamato II."