Chapter 5: Warzone
The mighty frame of a Venator-class attack cruiser sailed through the empty darkness of space, surrounded only by the faint light of a million stars. Its blocky configuration and simple vedge-like silhouette told of a more practical, more militaristic design philosophy. A vessel built for war, with both its offensive and defensive capabilities being among the best this galaxy had to offer.
The Stalwart, as this particular warship was designated, was flanked by several other vessels. Some being of the same class as itself, and others of the smaller, albeit similarly shaped, Acclamator-class.
Admiral Roth, the man in charge of the taskforce, stood at the front of the bridge of the Stalwart, gazing through the huge panoramic window in front of him, at the vast emptiness and void on the outside.
Behind him, he could hear a very inpatient Captain pace up and down the narrow walkway, with the rest of the bridge crew working tirelessly in the two crewpits on either side of that aisle. Every now and then the Captain would look down at men working in the pits, anxious for them to complete their scans of Shelo, as this system was named.
Roth, along with the rest of the taskforce, had been tasked with the tedious mission of inspecting a number of outlying systems on the galactic rim, for any signs of Separatist activity.
The Admiral knew however, that the chances of them actually finding anything related to the Confederacy of Independent Systems out here, was almost non-existent. There were billions of uninhabited systems, just like this one, and any single one of them could be home to a re-supply station, a monitoring post, or anything like that.
But the low chance of enemy contact was also the reason the Stalwart and its accompanying force had been assigned to this mission. As all the ships under Roth's command, including the Stalwart, were fresh from the shipyards, and as such, they had to be 'run-in' before they were deployed into any serious combat situations.
If this had been peace-time, the ships wouldn't even have been deployed for recon missions yet, not without further dry-dock testing. But as it was, the clone wars were taking its toll on the Republic forces, and new ships had to be rushed into service.
And although missions like this were unwanted among the military-men, they were necessary. So instead of sending battle hardened ships that could be used to safeguard some important world, or stave of a Separatist assault, a fitting compromise had been reached.
And this was where Admiral Roth and his little entourage entered the picture.
His ships weren't the only things in need of testing and experience either, as his crew was also relatively fresh. Most of them hadn't even served aboard a real military vessel before this very mission. They had merely been recruited by the Republic and given a crash course in what they needed to know, in order to serve aboard a starship and fill out the void of officers needed for the Republic fleet.
"Have you completed your scans yet?" The Captain behind Roth asked, directing his question to the men operating the ships sensors.
"Almost Sir, there's no sign of any Separatist activity yet, no man-made stellar objects have been registered on our scopes, and from what we can tell, the planets look uninhabited too." One of the younger Lieutenants answered. "But there is something giving off some strange readings out there, not far from our current position."
The Admiral, overhearing the conversation, noticed that the Lieutenant who had replied was nervous, and not from anything he had seen on his scopes either, but rather about his whole position here on the ship. The man in question had been a sensors operator on a mining ship before the war, and as such, this entire experience would no doubt be quite intimidating for him.
"What is it? Smugglers?" The Captain asked eagerly, rushing over to the Lieutenant who had spoken, thinking that perhaps this time they had actually stumbled across something of some significance. They had yet to test their weapons on a live target, and if it turned out this sensor reading was really smugglers or pirates, he would be quick to give the order to disable the bandit.
"From what I can tell, it's a simple spatial anomaly, Sir. That's-" The Lieutenant started, but before he could finish he was cut off by the gruff voice of the Admiral.
"Spatial anomalies do not concern me, Lieutenant. If you find any sign of the Separatists or other man made unknowns, then report it, otherwise, don't." The stern faced man said.
How he despised this mission and the apparent naiveté of some of his crewmen. Space anomalies indeed, what would be next, performing a planetary survey just to see if it was terraformable?
He might as well have been shipped off with a crew consisting of chimps.
"Aye, Sir." The Lieutenant acknowledged and turned back to the console he was operating.
"Sir!" The same Lieutenant shouted mere seconds after he had turned around to resume his duties, and this time the Admiral heard, in his voice, that he had discovered something of significance. "I'm picking up several ships exiting hyperspace, not far from here!"
"What? Can you identify them?" The Captain asked.
Even Roth found this interesting enough to actually turn around and walk over to the officer who had first discovered the approaching hyperspace signatures.
"Yes, the enemy vessels read as Separatist capital-class ships. It's a Separatist battle group!" The Lieutenant said with obvious worry in his voice.
"But how could that be? It can't be coincidence, and our patrol plans are supposed to be top-secret!" The Captain said.
"Top-secret doesn't seem to be enough these days." Roth replied simply as he turned to face the window again, watching as several tiny objects appeared out in the distance.
At present, they were nothing more then dots on the horizon, barely visible with the naked eye. But soon, as they made their approach, those dots would grow into the great hulks that the Separatist warships were.
The question of how a Separatist fleet could just suddenly appear at their exact location still played through the Admirals mind. It was puzzling to say the least, and damn near impossible, unless they somehow had gotten their hands on Roth's patrol plans. But that would mean that someone quite high-ranking would be the traitor.
The doors leading from the bridge slid open, and in walked a man wearing an unassuming old brown robe. "Well, if I was guessing man, I'd say we've got a mole on one of our ships." The always calm and composed voice of the Jedi Knight said
"That's really the only possible way they could have known about us." He added, as he joined the Admiral and the Captain at the front of the bridge.
His name was Cartaine, a simple Jedi Knight in rank, still far from attaining the position of Master. He had been stuck with this less important task of aiding Admiral Roth by the council. Not long ago he had still been a Padawan learner, and as such, this was the first real assignment he had been given to fulfil on his own, a sort of test, to see if he was ready or not, for the ever increasing duties of the Jedi.
"There are over a dozen contacts registering now, they have fired up their weapons systems and are currently targeting our ships." The Lieutenant reported, the fear in his voice rising with every word.
"It would seem as if our enemy is anxious for a fight." Cartaine added light-heartedly. How he could retain his happy-go-lucky humour during times like these was beyond the Admiral.
"Transfer your readings to my screen." Roth said to the Lieutenant, and walked over to the nearest console. Its display shifted to that of a graphical interpretation of what was going on outside, as the Lieutenant patched his feed through to it.
Roth could see at least thirty Munificent-class Frigates, four Recusant-class Destroyers and two of the massive Trade Federation Battleships on the screen.
His own force, consisting of no more then twelve Venator-Class Destroyers and nine Acclamator-Class Frigates, wouldn't even be a challenge for the Separatists, should he decide to stay and fight.
No, the only thing to do now was to withdraw and report their findings.
"How long before they reach weapons range?" He asked one of the other officers down in the pit.
"At least another minute, Sir."
"Sir," Another officer interjected. "We have reports of sabotage aboard the ship, engineering reports our hyperdrive has been disabled, and at least five other ships are reporting the same thing."
"What! This can't be!" The Captain shouted angrily. "Sabotage of that magnitude would mean that we don't just have one infiltrator among us, but several!"
"Indeed, it's strange that I haven't sensed any of them earlier, they know what they're doing, that's for sure." The Jedi commented.
The Admiral himself was growing quite worried now. His options were quickly fading, but something had to be done, and soon.
"The approaching ships are scrambling vulture droids, they… they seem limitless." The young Lieutenant said, his voice faltering, as his screen was filled with an ever increasing number of smaller dots, representing fighter craft.
"How long before the hyperdrives can be repaired?" The Admiral asked.
"Impossible to say at this moment, Sir. The repair crews haven't even had time to analyse the damage yet." One of the officers replied.
Roth looked out at the fleet slowly advancing towards them, with a scold on his face. It would seem there really was only option left to him then, unfortunately that option was exactly what the enemy was hoping for.
"Fine, if it's a battle they want, that's what they'll get." He said with a determined voice. "Contact all the other Ship Captains in our battlegroup and have them take up an offensive formation and scramble fighters. Tell them to fix their hyperdrives as fast as possible, I don't intend to stay here a second longer then needed." He told one of the communications officers, who promptly relayed that order to the rest of the fleet.
"Cartaine, I think you would be more useful in your starfighter during this engagement, I want you and your fighters to thin out those vulture droids."
The Jedi nodded, ran down the walkway and exited the bridge.
With the Jedi's exit, the only thing remaining for the Admiral was to wait. Outside, he could see the enemy fleet growing bigger by the second, the swirling masses of droid starfighters tumbling about around their larger motherships like insects circling their hives.
They would suffer horrible losses this day if the repair crews weren't able to fix the hyperdrives in time, this much the Admiral knew. Their only hope lay in escape. If they wouldn't be able to do that though, there was nothing holding the Separatists from grounding his fleet into spacedust.
- - - - -
"Damage report!" Riker shouted, as he picked his battered self up from the floor of the bridge.
Although prepared, he had been knocked off his feet during the violent turbulence from the anomaly. His arm had been badly hit during that fall, and as a result, he was now cradling it with his other arm. He forced himself to shrug off most of that pain though, showing weakness in front of the crew right now was a bad idea.
He tried to wave the smoke that filled the bridge from his eyes, wanting to see the extent of the damage with his own two eyes.
Lining the walls were several broken consoles shooting sparks and a few of them were even openly on fire. Crewmen were running to and fro in a mild state of panic, trying to put out those fires, while others were working their consoles furiously, trying to control the damage and bring some measure of stability to the whole situation.
"I said damage report!" Riker shouted again.
Worf, who was supposed to give him that report quickly made his way over to his station, having been thrown some distance from it when the worst of the turbulence had hit.
"Internal sensors are showing damage across all decks, and the hull has been breached in several places," The Klingon said with a loud enough voice to be heard over the chaos on the bridge.
"I have temporarily patched the breaches with emergency forcefields, and it looks as if they're holding." He continued, checking his console for more information.
"Propulsion is offline, both warp and impulse. But I've managed to get the shields back up to seventy-three percent. Apparently they weren't as affected by the anomaly as most other systems." He continued as the information kept scrolling across his screen.
"There are several wounded, some quite serious, but no reports of casualties as of yet." He finally concluded his report.
At least there was some good news in all of this, Riker thought to himself, no casualties so far. "Have we cleared the anomaly?" He asked, directing his question to the helmsman.
"Yes, the anomaly has disappeared and we are free of its gravitational pull." Came the answer.
Riker sat down in his chair with a deep sigh, the ship had taken a fair beating, but at least they were still in one piece. "Dispatch damage control teams and contact the Captain. He needs to be informed of the situation."
But just as Riker had settled down in his seat, thinking the worst was over, Worf interrupted him once more. "Sir! Sensors are picking up several ships not far from our current position."
"What? Are you sure, check the readings again, it might be a glitch in the system." Riker said, turning towards Worf.
"The sensors are working correctly, the ships are out there."
"Alright, what kind of ships are they?" Riker asked, his curiosity piqued.
"I'm having problems locking on to them, probably due to some residual effects from the anomaly." Worf explained, obviously irritated at the equipment not working properly.
"But if I'm reading this correctly then there are at least thirty ships out there, all roughly the same size of the Enterprise, with two of them actually four kilometres in length. There are also several hundred smaller craft in the area, roughly the size of our shuttles."
That was quite a substantial force, Riker thought to himself. "Can you identify them?" Riker asked, and winced in pain as his injured arm made itself remembered again.
"No, they match no known vessel types." Worf replied.
"Any indication as to what they are doing out there?"
"I'm getting readings of heavy energy exchange between the ships, it almost looks as if they are engaged in battle." He finished and looked up at the Commander.
Rikers expression now changed from one of curiosity to one of alarm.
"On screen." He demanded.
The holographic displayer blinked into view, with the view of space splayed across it. Visible against the backdrop of the multitude of tiny stars however, was a scene quite different from what Riker was used to.
A space battle of huge proportions was being fought two unknown factions.
Dozens of kilometre long capital ships could be seen, spewing blue and red energy bolts at each other from their weapon emplacements. Smaller explosions could be seen, filling the voids between the behemoths, lighting up the interior of the bridge from time to time.
There were also smaller, perhaps one man fighter craft, dodging and tumbling about while spewing forth their own weapons fire there. Riker had never before seen ships of this type and configuration, the sheer energy output that the sensors were reporting from them were simply too high to be matched by the majority of species in the galaxy. That is… anyone in their own galaxy, he thought, as a very disturbing notion came to mind.
"Get me the Captain, NOW!" Riker shouted without taking his eyes of the battle raging on outside.
"There's no need to shout number one, I'm already here." Came Picard's voice from behind him, as the Captain walked up to stand beside his first officer.
"Never before have I seen anything like this." He said, more to himself then anyone else.
A huge explosion and a blinding light filled the viewscreen suddenly, as one of the larger capital ships reactors went critical, and the entire thing exploded in a huge ball of fire, shocking the Captain back to his immediate surroundings.
"Number one, send out a message across all subspace frequencies, explaining that we have nothing to do with this battle. I don't want either side taking us for the enemy and attacking us." The Captain said.
"Are you sure that's wise Captain?" Riker asked. "They probably haven't noticed us yet, but if we send out a message, they will. Are you sure you want to attract their attention?"
"They might not have discovered us yet, but they will. We're too close for them not too. And without a clue as to who we are, they will probably just assume us to be part of the enemy force." Picard explained. "No, we need to make our intentions clear as soon as possible."
Riker didn't like the plan, but he did realize that it was the best way to proceed, so he relayed the order to the comm. officer.
The Captain walked over to his chair and sat down, opening a comm channel to engineering as he did. "Captain Picard to engineering."
"LaForge here." Came a reply over the background noise. Apparently things were as bad down there as it was on the bridge.
"How soon can you have propulsion back online?" The Captain asked.
"At least another hour, Sir. There are a lot of other things we have to deal with first, things like keeping the life support going and the warp core from going critical." He answered over the tumult.
"Get impulse back online as soon as you can, make it your top priority."
"Aye, Sir." Geordi acknowledged and severed the comm link.
Concern was now quite evident on Picard's face, as he pondered all the different ways this volatile situation could play out. If either one of the sides currently engaged in the battle taking place some distance from them mistook the Enterprise for an enemy ship, they would be hard pressed to defend themselves.
If the sensor readings could be trusted even one of the larger capital ships could easily overpower them, especially now that the Enterprise was in such a banged up state.
The ride through the anomaly was over, and they had survived it. But the predicament they were in now could turn out to be just as dangerous as the previous one.
How many times had not the Federation encountered enemies that seemed far superior to them, and always they were hostile. The Romulans, the Borg and now the Dominion, were but a few examples of such foes.
- - - - -
"Admiral, I have something I think you should take a look at." The same Lieutenant that had first warned Roth about the Separatist attack, shouted from his station down in the crew pit.
Roth walked over to the side of the walkway, looking down at the young crewman, wondering what could be so important as to draw his attention away from the battle raging on outside.
Two ships had already been lost, just because they hadn't had time to reach the relative safety that the battle formation provided. And more would soon follow without the keen eyes of the Admiral guiding them.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" Roth prompted, his voice informing the young man that the matter had better be important.
"I just picked up a new sensor contact on my scopes. It's a ship, holding position some distance from the engagement zone, and it's broadcasting a message. The language wasn't consistent with anything in our database so I ran it through the translator, I think the message is saying that the ship is not apart of this battle and that they mean to stay neutral in the conflict."
"What do you mean by 'just picked up'?" The Admiral asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Had the officer somehow missed this ship initially? If so, then it would constitute a serious failure to perform his duties on his part. And things like that were not welcomed right now.
"Well, it wasn't there a second ago when I checked, there was just the anomaly I was trying to tell you about earlier in the exact same position." The sensors operator explained, his voice a bit shaky.
"Could it have been a misreading by the sensors?" Roth asked.
"There's really no way to tell, at least not until we go over the sensor logs."
"I see," The Admiral replied. Could the strange ship have been outfitted with some form of stealth technology, fooling the Stalwart's sensors enough for it to remain relatively hidden?
"Can the sensors determine anything of the ship itself?" The Admiral kept asking, more curious then angry, at the moment.
"The design doesn't match any known ship types, either Republic or Separatist. It could be a civilian ship of some sort, though it's a little big to not be mentioned in our database. And what's more, is that it seems to be damaged. There are several breeches along its outer hull, and the power fluctuations seem to indicate that the power distribution is quite unstable."
The Admiral pondered the matter quietly for a while, but ultimately, there was but one logical course to take. "Most peculiar," He said. "If it does anything else inform me immediately, it could very well be some sort of a Separatist ploy. But for now we can do nothing about it, I need every single ship at my disposal if we are to win this battle. I suggest you inform Cartaine about the ship as well." He ordered. Then he moved back to the front of the bridge to tend to their immediate situation.
"Admiral!" The hurried voice of the Captain said. "One of the Munificents have targeted us and is approaching on an attack vector, it will be in firing range within-" He barely managed to say before the deflector shields on the Stalwart started taking on a high concentration of turbo laser fire.
The sound the high intensity energy bolts made as they impacted against the shields reminded Roth of bombs going off in the distance, muffled somehow, but still so very loud and powerful. And they just kept on bombarding the Stalwart, as the enemy ship concentrated all its fire on them.
"Turn this ship about, so that the maximum number of turrets are able to fire at the enemy ship!" Roth shouted. "Let's give them a taste of what it's like to be on the receiving end for a change!" He could feel the ship suddenly jerking as the internal dampeners didn't quite have time to smooth out the sudden and abrupt change in course. "All batteries, fire at will!"
The space between the two ships was filled with turbo laser fire then, as the two mammoths started trading blows with each other. Red and blue streaks of highly concentrated energy could be seen leaving one ship and then dissipating harmlessly against the shielding of the other, and for a long time it seemed as if the two giants could go on like this forever.
But the shields could only absorb so much energy before finally overloading and giving up under the continued stress, and much to the dismay of the crew of the Munificent who had first attacked, their shields turned out to be vastly inferior to the newly designed Venator's own. Slowly they started buckling, allowing a few stray bolts to pass through unchallenged at first, and then finally they disappeared completely.
The deadly weapons on the Stalwart weren't being harmlessly absorbed any longer. Instead they were now tearing huge chunks from the enemy ship's hull with each shot, leaving trails of fire spewing out from the wide open cracks.
The space around the ship was filled with its own debris within seconds, and its superstructure was burning.
"Sir, I'm reading huge internal explosions in the attacking vessel." One of the tactical analysts reported. "The explosions seem to be spreading at a rapid pace throughout the ship."
But he hadn't even finished that sentence before the Admiral was greeted by the sight of the enemy ship breaking into two, with explosions erupting from all over its surface.
Glee overtook the bridgecrew of the Stalwart, as they cheered their first real victory in battle. But as much as Roth would have liked to join in that mirth, he knew the battle was far from over yet.
"Silence!" He shouted. And just as quickly as the roar had come into existence it died down again.
"There are still plenty more ships out there, and if we hope to come out of this alive, we have to remain focused. So I suggest you return to your duties and save the celebration for later!"
- - - - -
The mood on the bridge of the Enterprise was quite different from that of the Stalwart's. In fact, it was quite the opposite, with things looking bleaker with every passing minute.
"Sir!" Worf's voice cut through the quiet tension. "Two of the smaller craft have just broken off from the main battle and are on an intercept course with the Enterprise."
Picard had feared this moment. He knew that sooner or later somebody was bound to come around, asking who they were. The real question on his mind was weather they would do it politely, or at gunpoint. And it would seem as if the moment of truth was finally upon them.
"Are you sure they received our message of non aggression?"
"Undoubtedly," The Klingon replied. "We have been repeating the message uninterruptedly ever since you first ordered it transmitted."
"What can our sensors tell us of the enemy ships?"
Worf looked down at his console again, scanning the strange ships as they made their way for the Enterprise.
"Captain, I'm reading no life signs from either of them, it would appear that they are fully automated. I can say nothing more of them with any degree of certainty."
"Robotic starships?" Picard asked, with a puzzled expression on his face.
"It would be quite logical, Sir." Data interrupted, looking back from his post. "Assuming you had the means to program and mass produce an intelligence that was sophisticated enough to accomplish the task. It would be far more cost effective then to employ living beings in regular ships like that, not to mention more humane."
"Still, I'd prefer the ships coming to evaluate us to have a real sentience behind them, not just an artificial mind programmed for warfare." Picard said. The fact that whoever controlled these ships had the ability to mass produce thousands of vessels just like them was not lost on him either.
"Try to open a channel to one of them." He ordered.
"They're not responding," The comm officer said. "They might not even be able to, seeing as how they are completely automated."
"They're firing!" Worf shouted just as the sounds of impacts against the Enterprises shields could be heard, and a slight shudder could be felt through the entire ship.
"Report!" The Captain demanded.
"Minimal damage to the shields, but considering the size of the fighters, they do seem to be quite formidable." Worf said.
"Captain, with the Enterprise still suffering from the power fluctuations caused by the anomaly, it is possible that the attacking ships could penetrate our shields in a moment of weakness and cause massive damage as a result." Data said.
The Captain silently contemplated what course of action he should take. Should he open fire on the attack ships? The Enterprise could easily destroy these two vessels, but would it invite more of their kind to attack?
While he was deliberating, the bridge shuddered yet again as the two fighters came around for another pass, spraying the shields with their fire.
"Mr. Worf, you said the two fighters were automated, correct?" Picard asked with a solemn voice.
"Yes sir, there are no lifesigns aboard either of them."
"Are the phasers online?" Picard continued.
"Yes sir."
The thought of what he was about to do coursed through Picards mind, destroying those ships might attract the attention of the rest of the alien fleet, inviting them to attack. But then again, he couldn't let them keep on firing at his ship like that.
"Target the ships, fire when ready." But even as those words left his mouth, Picard knew that he would soon come to regret them.
Two bright beams of highly concentrated energy lanced out from the saucer section of the Enterprise and connected squarely with the hostile ships. Both of them were destroyed in an instant of brilliant fire, and their wreckage was sent spiralling off into space.
A few moments passed in silence, as the crew waited for what was to come. And then those fatal words were finally heard.
"Sir! One of the larger ships is breaking away from the battle, heading towards the Enterprise!"
Picard's head sank as he realized the worst possible thing had come to pass. There was no way the Enterprise would be able to defeat one of the larger sized ships. They probably wouldn't even last a minute against a ship with that kind of firepower, not in the state the Enterprise was in right now.
"How long until they get within firing range?" The Captain asked.
"I estimate that it will take no longer then a couple of minutes."
- - - - -
The Munificent-class Frigate that had just broken formation with the rest of the Separatist fleet didn't escape Cartaines notice. Odd that it would endanger its own mission so, he thought.
He had also been informed of the strange ship that the Frigate was apparently heading for, but with a bunch of vulture droids on his tail he hadn't had the time to give it a more detailed look.
But now that the Separatists obviously risked their own battlelines to engage the foreign ship he was all the more interested in it. There was something more too it though, it was as if the force itself was begging him to examine the odd ship. A curious feeling the Jedi noted.
"TK-421, have your wing form up behind me," Cartaine said over the comm to one of the nearest clone pilots. "I'd like to examine that Frigate that just broke formation, but I can't do that with so many vulture droids around, help me clear them out will you?"
"Copy that Gold Leader, breaking to join up with you." Came the obedient reply. And soon Cartaine found that he had four ARC-170 starfighters following him in a wedge formation, ready to plow the way for him, so to speak.
The warning lights inside the Jedi's starfighter started flashing, indicating that hostiles were approaching on attack vectors. He looked down at the sensor screen to get a better picture of what was going on. "We've got an incoming group of six vulture droids from nine 'o clock. Come around to engage." He said.
The four ARC-170's with the Jedi starfighter leading them banked and turned so sharply that would they not have had internal dampeners inside their cockpits, they would have been nothing more then stains on the glass by now. The turn had put them on a direct path for the enemy contacts, approaching them head on.
Seconds later the two forces had reached firing range and the space between them erupted into violence, as both sides started spewing their high intensity energy bolts towards the enemy. Two vulture droids as well as a ARC-170 took some heavy fire in those opening seconds and burst into flame. The screams from the clone pilot echoed over the comm systems, as his burning body was flung into space.
Cartaine nearly collided with the enemy when he was forced to fly right between two of their narrowly flying fighters to avoid their weapons. That little manoeuvre warranted a loud pitched: "Yaaaoow!" from the R4 unit situated on his wing, as it managed to scrape the top of its head against one the wings on the Vulture droids.
"Calm down R4, I know what I'm doing." The confident Jedi said, biting his teeth as he danced through the rest of the debris in his path.
As soon as the two groups had passed each other the entire region erupted into chaos, as it now was every man, or droid, for himself. Coordination becoming all but impossible in the thick jumble of laser fire and starfighters, instinct was the only thing keeping the fighters alive now. Instinct, which the droid minds lacked.
But it was in these conditions that the living pilots excelled, far outmatching their droid counterparts. As the battle no longer was a simple matter of calculations but more a matter of instinct and gut feeling coupled with the unpredictedness of the battle.
The enemy fighters started blowing up, one by one, as their numbers steadily diminished. Another enemy wing joined the fray as the dogfighting was on, but that didn't seem to slow the Jedi and his clones down.
It didn't take many more minutes before the last of the Vulture droids were blasted to pieces, erupting into a very gratifying ball of fire and debris. No more then two of the four ARC-170's that had followed Cartaine into the fray had been destroyed.
"Good job men, TK-421, take your wing and resume the mission, Gold Leader out." Cartaine said into the comm and swung about to head for the newly appeared ship and the Frigate approaching it some distance away.
His comm system crackled to life and the voice of Admiral Roth was heard: "What do you think you're doing? You're needed here."
"It's the strange ship you told me about, Admiral. A Separatist Frigate just broke formation to intercept it, and I also have reports of a wing of vulture droids attacking it some time ago. Whoever they are, I don't think they're on friendly terms with the Separatists." Cartaine explained.
"So? This does not merit the attention of a Jedi Knight during a direct engagement with the Separatists! Do I need to remind you of just what is at stake here?" The Admiral asked, his voice taking on a sterner tone.
"I know, and believe me normally I wouldn't even think twice about it, but it's something more this time, the force itself is telling me that my attention needs to be focused on that strange ship. Just trust me, you don't want to ignore what the force tells you." The Jedi explained.
On his end the Admiral was fuming, he had no understanding of the force and wasn't even sure if he even believed in its existence. But he couldn't order the Jedi to turn around either, as they were all free to do as they wanted. "Fine, report back as soon as you can. Let's just hope our fleet will still be here when you do." The Admiral said and terminated the comm channel.
"Is it just me or does he seem a little more grumpy then usual today?" Cartaine asked his R4 unit. The droid rolled through a series of beeps and chimes that sounded more like an amused chuckle then anything else.
"Well, in any case, I want you to start scanning the vessel we're headed for, I would like to know as much about it as possible before we reach it." The Jedi said, flipping a few controls in his cockpit, adjusting his monitors to display whatever the droid found.
- - - - -
Picard's stare was firmly fixed on the viewer, watching the approaching behemoth. "Have they responded in any way to our communications?" He asked and looked over at the comm officer.
"No sir, nothing so far."
The Captain's shoulders slumped. There was no possible way the Enterprise could defeat it, and propulsion was still offline so escape wasn't an option either.
Then he finally reached a decision on what to do.
He punched a few controls on the armrest of his chair, opening a comm channel to the entire ship. "This is the Captain, All non essential personnel proceed to the escape pods, I don't want any unnecessary casualties if the Enterprise is attacked. As for the rest of you… Battle stations."
The entire ship came alive then, as civilians hurried towards the escape pods for safety and the crew took up their positions, some of them getting their phaser rifles in case the enemy would try to board them at some point in the upcoming battle while other stood ready to assist with damage control.
"Mr. Worf, keep scanning the incoming ship for any weaknesses, their technology seems very different then ours, there might be something we can exploit there, load the torpedo tubes and power up the main phasers." He added once the comm link to the rest of the ship was severed. "Do not fire until fired upon, we still can't be certain about their intentions."
"Aye Sir." Came Worfs reply.
The Enterprise was now as ready as they ever would be. But with their power grid still out of focus and their shield and weapon strength considerably weakened, Picard realised they would be hard pressed to accomplish anything.