Inversion
Author's Note: Thanks to archiv for the reviews. Here is the next installation in Inversion.
Chapter 3 Spirited Charge
The three days Archer had asked for went by in no time at all. Admiral Gardener had been one of the first at Starfleet to meet Lorian, and he had been appalled at the conditions of this mirror universe. Although he questioned the exact morality of the action he was about to take, Gardener had authorized Archer to use whatever resources he might need while Gardener himself accelerated the refitting programs for the ships in question. Going over the design schematics from the mirror T'Pol, Gardener was also spearheading new renovations for their ships, as well as turning these designs over to Karyn, who found weak spots on the Defiant that Starfleet's new neutron cannons could easily penetrate, as soon as the shields were down to at least 75 percent. For that cause, prototype phase cannons set for a continuous beam were being installed on several of the newer ships.
Lorian's crew were busy sampling the delights of Earth while the NX-01 Enterprise was in spacedock, undergoing extensive refit and upgrades. New phase cannons were being installed, rated now to up to a hundred megajoules, and the new neutron cannons were also being fitted in separate ports. Both Enterprises had now almost tripled their original firepower, and while the gains for the new ships were not quite as impressive, the extra fifty percent was nothing to sneeze at.
Karyn had spent some time to catch up with her father, who had been delighted to have his daughter around to help him at work. Although she understood that her mother would not be a part of Archer's life in this world, he was still her father, and she loved him as her own.
The work went by with even greater speed after the public had learned of the mirror universe's stigma, and the resulting deluge of workers was nearly more than the spacedocks could handle. And while the refits took a week, they had begun far before Archer's three days were up.
From there, things got harder. Lorian's point of emergence had sealed over, making the particle weapon solution quite useless. It was decided to destabilize the Xindi subspace corridor once more- though very carefully to prevent a disastrous miss.
Getting into the Delphic Expanse, or what was left of it, would take some time. Another two weeks went by contacting Earth's friends in the Xindi Primates and Aboreals. These, coupled with the Aquatics, would be sufficient to keep the still-hostile Insectoids and Reptilians at bay.
Lorian had to fight biting his lip in frustration. Time was wasting, he thought, and he was very eager to get underway.
Shran was called out of retirement to head a starship detachment from Andoria, the matter having quickly become something of importance to the Coalition of Planets. And while it was only the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellerites responding, it was a step up from previous joint operations, and something that a happy Archer constantly talked about to anyone he could.
Then, finally, the date of departure had come. A combined fleet from much of the Coalition of Planets was now en route to the subspace corridor at warp 6.5. Although the heavily reinforced Enterprises and several other retro-fitted ships lagged behind a bit, the arrival at the nebula was far ahead of schedule, despite frequent Klingon and Orion raids. These were easily repulsed- a single neutron beam was often enough to disable an Orion interceptor, and Klingon birds-of-prey no longer had the luxury of impregnable shields.
T'Pol's numerous calculations to destabilize the corridor took up another two days where they should have taken one. But then finally, everything that was needed for the jump was done. Each ship's impulse manifolds were calibrated exactly to make the corridor destabilize, and it was Archer's NX-06 Solaris that went into the nebula first, the other ships following.
"We'll have a weapons lock once we get a little closer, sir," said Malcolm. "Just give me another 2,000 meters."
"You'll have them. Travis?"
"I'm on it sir." Under Travis's skilled touch, the Solaris spun towards the Kovalaan ships. The ship was shaking even before it came into range as disrupter bolts spattered across her shields.
"Report!" called Archer, glancing at Reed.
"Shields are holding at 95 percent. No damage to hull plating."
"Range?"
"1,500 yards. I have a lock."
"Then don't wait, open fire already!"
"With pleasure," replied the Englishman dourly before he depressed a row of buttons on his console. Three phase cannons on the saucer's underside and the top-mounted neutron cannon opened fire at once, causing the Kovalaan to burst into flame and spin off crazily.
"Next target, Mr. Reed," ordered Archer. "Shoot to disable. Hoshi, relay that to the fleet."
The four cannons lanced out again, disabling the next ship. As the other coalition ships entered the nebula, two of the five Kovalaans were out of the fight. The Kumari II claimed the next ship, and the Columbia managed to get the next one. Lorian's Enterprise was the first into the corridor, with T'Pol close behind. The other ships fell one by one into two columns and entered the corridor.
Shran was conducting his patrol when Talas began to pick up subspace distortions. Hoping the week's wait was not in vain, the Andorian set out for the cause of the disturbance.
The Kumari came to a full stop next to a region of shimmering space that Talas confirmed was an transdimensional rift. Shran watched anxiously as a bright light began to suffuse the area- then smiled widely as Lorian's Enterprise left the rift. Then the rift grew wider. Shran could only gape as T'Pol's Enterprise left the rift as well. Then the NX-02 Columbia, followed by the NX-04 and the NX-06. Then came ships of the Andorian Imperial Guard, then of the Tellerite Fleet. Next came the Vulcans. At last, the procession closed with the arrival of several Xindi ships, notably several Aquatic battlecruisers and a legion of Primate ships. Lorian's Enterprise, newly titled the NX-01-02 hailed the mirror Shran's Kumari. The Andorian answered it, still looking shocked.
"We're back," said the half-Vulcan with a grin. "Hope we didn't miss anything."
Shran could only grunt and terminate the link, flaring his impulse engines to signal the rest for follow.
The mountain hangar was now jam-packed with coalition ships, a sad reminder of how many ships the rebels had lost. That their hangar had been large enough to accommodate this many ships was a testament to the strength of the Defiant.
"We can destroy the Defiant," said Archer to the mirror Shran, "but it will require us to get their shields down by about a quarter." Seeing Shran breathe a sigh, Archer made a query. "Something wrong?"
"What you said," said Shran. "Your...counterpart here captured the Defiant. That's how..."
"My god..." whispered Archer. He looked crushed. Karyn stepped up.
"This isn't you, father..."
"But it could be," he replied. It was with a visible effort that he straightened again to look the mirror Shran in the eye. "If he's still alive, I will kill him- myself."
It was a defeated Hoshi Sato who now wore the neuro-restraint. How quickly the tables had turned! Archer, who had been poisoned before, had carefully built up a resistance to her own toxin and repelled it. Now, she was in the same spot as she was on the Enterprise- Captain's Woman.
Or, Emperor's Woman, she guessed. Fleet Admiral Gardener was too bitter with Archer's coup, and he was dispatched by a still-loyal Travis Mayweather. From there, Archer had left Malcolm Reed, fresh out of sickbay, in command of Starfleet. He himself made his throne on the Defiant, not trusting the ship to anyone but himself. His permission was now required for most things aboard the ship- to make it move, shoot, go to warp- anything that could harm him should the ship be turned against him. The rebels were mostly gone as well- Jonathan Archer was the undisputed ruler of the Alpha Quadrant. And while the Klingons had not yet been subverted, well, that could be taken care of later.
Hoshi fell limp as the door hissed open. The mirror Archer grinned at her as he came into the room, having activated her neural restraint. She was sprawled on the bed, watching helplessly and angrily as he sat next to her...