"Lt. Hija, have you heard of this ridiculous man of or the 'Federation'?" Captain Praji of the Imperial Stardestroyer Devastator glanced down at his subordinate standing on one of the recessed crew stations or 'pits' set in an arc around the 'runway,' a nickname for the platform senior officers used to keep an eye on the functioning of their bridge. They both wore the standard grey uniform of the Imperial navy with peaked caps and spit polished black boots. Black clad, scuttle helmed chiefs and a few droids rounded out the bridge crew.
The Deck officer shook his head, "'fraid not sir, but from the look of that pretty little ship it's probably a pleasure yacht. Look at the sleek bow and all the windows! My guess is: Somebody with more money than sense from the corporate sector; that is, unless he's referring to the Trade Federation."
"Is that supposed to funny Lieutenant? Because if it is--I'm not laughing." Captain Praji enjoyed the young officer's chagrin, and then snorted, "Anyway, that's no damned Nemoidian, if anything his accent sounds like an inner core man, from the academy."
Hija nodded thoughtfully.
Captain Praji moved closer to the window and stared hard at the little vessel, his hands clasped behind his back. The ship reminded him of a sleek, deft seabird as it glided right up in front of his Stardestroyer with unnatural grace and precision for a ship that size. "It's strange though, she's not using Ion drives, so how does she maneuver so gracefully, and I don't see any turbolaser batteries, do you?"
Lt. Hija chuckled, "They must be out of their minds to interfere with a Stardestroyer. Shall I inform Lord Vader?"
Captain Praji's face jerked. "No!" he blurted, and then regained his composure. "No, of course not, Lord Vader is boarding this ship personally in search of rebel spies. Tractor the Rebel ship into the main hangar; launch two flights of TIE's to warn the Enterprise off. Tell the flight commander to escort them out of the system, if they resist, destroy them." With that, he left to confer with the Stormtrooper commander waiting at the back of the bridge.
"Yes Captain," Lt. Hija bent over the communications station.
"Starship Enterprise, this is the Imperial Stardestroyer 'Devastator,' remove your vessel from this system immediately or we will open fire," Lt. Hija switched off the channel and let out a heavy exhale. He turned back to the task of tractoring the Rebel ship without even waiting for a reply.
On the Enterprise bridge Captain Picard arched an eyebrow in surprise then turned to his command crew, "Counselor Troi?"
The voluptuous woman paused for a beat before speaking; she leaned forward, hands on knees, and then spoke carefully, "I sense an incredible amount of self assurance on that vessel, coupled with a sense of power that is justified by itself. They are a rigid military hierarchy, but behind the arrogance is a cloud of fear and dread. The officer we spoke to regards us as a potentially annoying interruption; like a fly buzzing in his face."
Commander Riker sat up straight, "arrogant people. A Galaxy Class starship is a fly to them?"
Captain Picard grunted thoughtfully, "A ship that size may indeed regard us as only an aggravation," he raised a palm to his first officer who opened his mouth to protest, "but first impressions can be deceiving Number One. Do you have any--"
"Captain the Imperial vessel is launching multiple small craft;" Data interrupted suddenly, "they are on an intercept course."
"Onscreen," Picard said, "magnify."
Two dozen tiny gunmetal gray dots emerged from the Devastator's belly and swarmed towards the Enterprise. They jumped out upon magnification, a simple spherical cockpit, two forward weapons emplacements, twin ion engines, and a pair of vertical panels attached to the hull by short wing struts.
"The Devastator will have the Tantive IV drawn into it's hangar bay in approximately 1.23 minutes," Data glanced up from his panel.
Captain Picard gritted his teeth, spun about, sat down in his command chair and yanked the front of his tunic down to straighten it.
"Open a channel to the Tantive IV Mr. Data, use our main deflector to burn through their jamming if you must. Ensign, prepare to close with them and extend our shields around their vessel."
"Aye Captain," Wesley said. The comm system chimed "channel open," Data replied.
"Captain Antilles, this is Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise--"
"Enterprise!" Came the frantic voice of a young woman, "This is Ambassador Leia Organa, please help us. We cannot fall into Imperial hands, the fate of the Republic is at stake and--"
The transmission broke up and, as if on cue, escape pods from the blockade runner began to spew forth and fall toward the planet below. Immediately, green turbolasers spat from the Devastator, vaporizing them one by one. Deanna cried out at the sight and hid her face in her hands.
"They are without honor!" Worf shouted.
"Picard to transporter room! O'Brien, lock on to the escape pods and beam those people aboard now! Data feed him telemetry."
The android officer simply nodded in response.
"Aye sir, I'm on it," the transporter chief replied in a lilting Irish accent. It was a race between O'Brien's skill with the transporter and the aim of the imperial gunners. Sometimes he was successful and sometimes he was not.
"Ambassador Organa, prepare to be transported to safety, we will bring your crew over to our vessel," Picard called.
"What? How–"
Captain Picard grinned, "Oh, Don't worry about that--" he paused to search his diplomatic experience for the correct phrase, "--Your Highness. This should only take a few minutes," He turned to Data, "how long will it take to bring the whole crew here?"
Data's fingers flew madly, "I estimate four minutes Captain."
"Not good enough use the cargo transporters, shuttle transporters, anything! Make it so!" Picard barked.
"We're taking an awful risk sitting right in front of their guns." Riker stood right at his Captain's elbow now.
"I know Number One, but we have got to give them more time!"
One of the Imperial officers swallowed heavily at what he saw on his screen.
"Excuse me, sir?" He leaned around his station and called out to the Captain.
"Yes, what is it ensign?" Captain Praji waved the stormtrooper commander away and stalked to the sensor station.
"The, uh, Enterprise has projected some sort of energy field around the Rebel ship. It has cut off our scans and prevented us from using our docking clamps."
"What?" Praji straightened, his face purpling with rage, "call the flight commander, all TIE's engage! Double power to the tractor beams, now!"
The Enterprise shook suddenly, then lurched forward. The bridge lights flickered briefly then came on again.
"What was that?" Riker asked. He clamped a hand on the back of Ensign Crusher's chair to remain upright.
"Commander, the Imperial ship has doubled the power of their tractor beams. We are being pulled in as well," Data stated. "Inertial dampers holding," he added.
"Their fighters are attacking!" Worf cried.
The vertical winged fighters came in groups of three, strafing the saucer section with rapid bursts of green energy.
"Devastator, this is Delta leader. I confirm, we have a 'go'. Delta group form on me, we have clearance to attack."
"Delta leader, this is Devastator, affirmative. Weapons free, good hunting."
"Gamma group, move around their aft quarter and hit those dorsal projections, I'm going in!" The Delta flight commander cried with undisguised glee. I love this part!
"Copy Delta leader, breaking off," Gamma leader replied.
Delta leader dove in on the Enterprise from above and loosed a barrage of turbo laser fire all along the saucer section.
"What the–? All craft pull up! It's a trap! Ahhh!"
Delta leader and his companions cried out in shock when their fire splattered across the Dorsal shields of the Enterprise several hundred meters from the hull itself, exactly where they had planned to pull out of his attack run. Three TIE fighters slammed into the bubble shields of the Federation flagship and bloomed in bright orange spheres of flaming gases and debris."By the Emperor!" Gamma leader cried, "All craft form on me to continue the attack. Devastator, we've lost Delta six, three, and two."
"Shields holding sir," Worf called.
"A suicide run?" Riker collapsed back in his seat in disbelief.
Data cocked his head like a bird inspecting a strange new object, "Commander, I believe the Imperial pilots did not expect to encounter our shields in their present position, and thus they did not intend to ram us at all. I can only surmise that their own vessels shielding acts as a sort of second skin or--"
"Later Mr. Data, options?" Picard glanced around the bridge. The Enterprise shook again as the enemy fighters savaged her port quarter on another pass.
"Captain," Worf looked up with an excited grin spreading across his face, "these fighters are not shielded."
"Are they not? Very good Mr. Worf, transport all the pilots into the brig, open a channel to the Devastator, then tractor a few of them into the main shuttle bay for study."
"Aye sir," Worf said, his toothy smile widened even further. He stood straight and tall and seemed about to burst with Klingon pride. It is an honor to fight alongside such a cunning warrior.
"Gamma six, we have them in our tractor beam now, you only need to keep them from escaping. We are scrambling TIE bomber support as we speak," Lt. Hija said hunched over the communications station on the Devastator's bridge.
"No problem sir, no return fire, no weaponry at all yet. Let's just hope they don't have any other dirty tri--" Gamma leader stopped transmitting in mid-sentence.
"What was that?" Lt. Hija asked.
"Life signs from Gamma leader have ceased!"
"What, how?" Captain Praji fought to keep his stride under control and walk down the runway towards the sensor station, "report Lieutenant!" he barked, eyes flashing.
"Look!" Someone shouted. Heads craned around just in time to see the TIE's go out of control one by one. The pilots began to call out to their missing wingmates in a panic just before their life signs ended and their own ships lost control. Most spun off into space, although a pair crashed into one another, exploding in a fiery burst, while another clipped the strange oval shield and spun away missing a wing and arcing with blue white electricity discharges.
"Sir, they are towing some of our TIE's into their main hangar!"
Captain Praji's face seemed to harden even further, "bastards! All forward guns fire! I want that ship annihilated!"
"Channel open Captain," Worf announced proudly.
:"Devastator, this is Captain Jean-Luc Pic--"
The Enterprise shook violently under the heavy guns of the Stardestroyer at point blank range.
"Forward shields buckling, Dorsal shields also collapsing!" Worf hung onto the rail in front of his crew station as the deck shuddered under his feet.
"Ensign, take us underneath their belly; get us right behind the Tantive IV!" Riker shouted.
"Excellent idea commander, there is an 85.6 chance that they will not damage a ship that they are trying to capture. Given the relatively low power output of their sensor arrays and their general lack of sophistication in that area, we should be able to block their sensor scans long enough to rescue the Republic crew," Data stated the obvious, again.
Blast after blast rained down and damage reports began to come in from around the ship.
"Hull breaches in decks 34 and 37; emergency force fields holding!" Data shouted to be heard over the din.
"Mr. Worf, lock phasers and photon torpedoes, target those weapon emplacements," Picard bellowed.
Bright red phaser beams erupted from the 'saucer section' and struck one of the turbolaser batteries in rapid succession. The turret armor flashed for a split second as the phased particle beam cut through the shielding like it wasn't there and struck the hull. The armor plating glowed angrily and began to dissolve, but the phaser alone did little more than leave an ugly scorch mark on the Devastator's hull.
"The Devastators shields have collapsed in that section only, minimal damage," Worf growled.
"Worf, fire a spread of photon torpedoes through that hole!" Riker fed targeting data from his terminal.
"Aye commander. Torpedoes firing."
A succession of angry red orbs spat from the Enterprise as she dove below the Devastators plane of maneuver, green turbolasers slicing through space all around her. The torpedoes impacted in a tight cluster on the starboard side on the Devastator's leading edge, exploding in a flash.
Worf uttered a foul Klingon curse and slammed his fist against the railing, "Direct hit captain, one enemy weapon destroyed, minor structural damage."
"That was enough fire power to shred a Romulan war bird!" Riker cried. The full spread only penetrated three meters of their hull plating! If we hadn't hit the turret, we wouldn't have done more than scratch their paint job. Commander Riker gaped at the damage estimate readout on the arm of his command chair.
"Shields at thirty-one percent, they will not sustain another volley," Data said calmly.
"We must hold position until transport is complete! Engineering!"
"Laforge here," The superlative chief engineer never sounded flustered no matter the situation.
"Geordi, we need auxiliary power to shields, give us all you have. Take it from life support if you have to!"
"Aye, Captain, we'll do our best!"
The unexpected resistance by another Rebel ship set the bridge of the Devastator abuzz with renewed excitement. The prospect of adding yet another silhouette to their already well decorated bow tantalized the command crew. The hubbub died out for a moment when turbolaser battery number twenty nine exploded in a ball of superheated gas with the loss of all hands. Captain Praji watched the Enterprise slide below his vessel, firing those bizarre red beams and spitting those miniature projectiles. They should have barely scratched his shielding, but somehow they cut right through, allowing even those inferior weapons to damage his ship.
"Lieutenant, what happened?" Praji demanded.
"I am not sure sir. Those energy beams and 'torpedoes' are ridiculously underpowered, but somehow they cut through our shielding like it wasn't there!"
It seems I have an opponent far more dangerous that I originally thought. No matter, I'll show this 'Jhonnluke Pikard' what happens to those who defy the Emperor's finest!
"The rebels have brought some sort of secret weapon with them," Praji announced to the bridge crew, "I say, let them play their petty tricks; they will avail them nothing against the Devastator!"
The Captain saw several head bob up and down in agreement, and Lt. Hija smiled with renewed confidence.
"Don't worry sir, we shall make them pay!"
A general cheer rose up from the pits amid whoops and applause.
Captain Praji turned to watch the strange luxury liner take on the firepower of the Devastator with mixed amusement and awe. The Enterprise bobbed and wove under the Stardestroyer, trying desperately to avoid the rain of death coming down on them. They were so close to the hull that only those turbolasers on the forward ventral arc had decent firing solutions, and even those had to be careful not to hit the Tantive IV, which the Enterprise pilot was deftly using as a shield. It was as if the pilot had been trained to hide behind an object, peek out and fire an aimed shot, then duck back just as his opponent loosed a fusillade of return fire. Not a very original strategy...
"Lieutenant, it's been nearly a minute. How is their energy shield holding up?" The Imperial Captain sighed.
"Not well sir, our scans show it at less than half its original strength and decreasing. We will have them shortly."
"Excellent. I wonder what they did to disable our TIE's like that. It was rather odd."
Lt. Hija smirked to himself. He knew by his Captain's pronunciation that he felt it was anything but 'odd.'
"Yes, we did detect a minor fluctuation in their shielding and a strange power signature from our TIE's at the same time. Perhaps their shield is also a weapon. It may emit some sort of radiation fatal to pilots in unshielded craft."
Captain Praji grunted, "now that, Lieutenant, is not something I would not put past the rebels. Too bad they will be so much space debris in a moment." Praji clenched his fists and stared with a grim smile as turbolaser bolts rained on the diminutive Enterprise.
Another officer approached and actually touched the Imperial Captain on the shoulder. Praji spun about.
The approaching Ensign braced before his superior, "Sir, Lord Vader wants to know why we have not used the locking clamps on the Rebel vessel."
Praji's mouth fell open, and a hand unconsciously drew towards his throat, "Lieutenant, get me Lord Vader on the holo-communicator."
His subordinate paused warily, "Sir, Lord Vader sends that he is coming to the bridge personally."
Captain Praji had never heard, before that moment, a quieter bridge crew during an engagement.