Discontinuity: Indefatigable
by chaos_eternus
"Fools," Osiris smirked as she watched the vessels flash into vision in bursts of light around the Ha'tak she had set as bait, "do they really think they are the only ones with cloaks?"
"My Lady," the Jaffas tone was respectful but a touch smug, "we have picked up twenty-three energy bursts of the type associated with the enemies vessels drives, however only fifteen vessels are currently visible on sensors."
"Indeed," Osiris frowned, wondering at the relatively low number of ships. She was expecting more… then again, if they could only detect on Ha'tak, this might be all they thought they needed. Yes, that made sense. Overconfidence on the part of her enemies was acceptable; they didn't understand they were dealing with a God after all.
"Order the Al-kesh to engage," she replied, then leaned forward, pointing at a small ship, but one that looked tough and powerful. A definite warship, "and prepare to take that ship."
"Taking fire from the Ha'tak,"
"Return fire," Picard ordered calmly, "boarding teams stand ready."
He grabbed onto the armrests of his chair as the ship rocked suddenly, "report!"
"New contacts," Data replied, "they appear to be Goa'uld Al-kesh class bombers."
"Where did they come from?"
"They appear to have been cloaked,"
A chill settled into Picards stomach, then "all ships evasive! This may be an ambush."
His words came too late.
The four remaining Anubis Ha'taks decloaked on the flank on the fleet, firing simultaneously on the IKS Pagh, shattering the vessel within moments before turning their fire onto a Romulan D'deridex whose shields had already been weakened by the Al-kesh. Even as that ship died, a group of eight Al-kesh were gathering around the USS Bernard Montgomery, firing with uncommon care on the vessels shields.
Two of the Ha'taks moved to assist those Al-kesh, firing upon any ship which looked likely to come to the destroyers aid, not firing to kill, but to drive away and taking any kills just as a welcome bonus.
The other two Ha'taks turned their guns on the alliance fleet, firing with callous disregard for the lives of their own bombers, destroying three of their own Al-kesh even as a Federation Akira and a Cardassian Hideki died whilst a Federation Ambassador reeled off, short a nacelle.
An Intrepid, spilling shuttles and lifepods, turned towards the lone Ha'tak in front of the fleet, one of the two Osiris had managed to build since arriving in this universe and began thrusting forwards.
Its intentions were not missed by the Ha'tak but the vessel, far weaker and less strongly built then the vessels brought over through the Intergate was already severely damaged. Its weapons fire killed the engines of the Intrepid but not it's structural integrity or its momentum and a mere thirty seconds before impact, Udajeet, Tel'tacs and a small handful of Al-kesh began to stream from the hull, making their careful way to the other Ha'taks of the fleet.
The Federation ship impacted then died, the catastrophic failure of its warp core shattering the Ha'tak, killing the bulk of its crew and destroying a good proportion of those that had already fled the ship including the bulk of the Udajeet fighters.
With their front secured, the alliance fleet had an easier time of turning to face the four Ha'taks on their flank. A Defiant, the Pegasus and a Galaxy, the Emissary had other ideas however and raced towards the convoy of ships fleeing the destroyed Ha'tak, capturing several Udajeet intact before the Al-kesh arrived to try and drive them off.
A second Ha'tak died with its shields still raised as a full volley of the rare phase-plasma torpedoes shattered its hull armour, digging their way straight into a Naquadah storage room.
The two ships engaging the escaping convoy also volleyed off a spread of phase plasmas, destroying three of the Al-kesh and leaving the fourth a lifeless hulk. They then turned their attention to the Tel'tacs who promptly fled to hyperspace. With no immediate threat remaining to them, the Pegasus moved to rejoin the fleet whilst the Emissary continued its salvage operations.
A second Ambassador reeled out of battle, a smoking hole where the bridge used to be then the Al-kesh in amongst the fleet vanished, escaping swiftly into hyperspace. They were joined swiftly by six of the eight Al-kesh that had gathered around the USS Bernard Montgomery , the three surviving Ha'taks and the USS Montgomery herself, towed by the Ha'taks.
"That was a colossal mistake," Picard growled.
"The Goa'uld may be arrogant and often stupid," Captain Ewing sighed, "but often stupid is not the same thing as always stupid."
"It was a classic ambush," he admitted grudgingly, "and I fell straight for it. I should have remembered the Goa'uld have cloaking abilities of their own."
"Maybe," the Tau'ri Captain shook his head, "maybe not. Either way, next time you go on a strike mission I would strongly advise you take Indefatigable with you. We can not help tied up to a stardock."
"The information you have provided us…" Picard paused then shook his head, dismissing his own words, "you're right and I will know better then to pay attention to those alliance elements that don't trust you or want to prove we can do this without the Indefatigable in future."
"Doesn't help us deal with the Montgomery ."
"No," Picard frowned, "but that appears to have been the entire point of the mission, capture a more modern and capable vessel."
"Which they did," Ewing noted, "and most likely, most of the crew as well."
"All we need to know is exactly where the Bernard Montgomery is and we can trigger her self-destruct remotely," Ewing's eyebrows shot up into her hairline at that but he refrained from comment, "but the issue will be finding the ship."
"And finding Osiris," he replied, "if I know Goa'ulds she is going to ground. Hiding out whilst she builds up her forces ready for a further attack."
"An attack which she will carry out using reverse engineered Federation technology," Picard growled.
He got a nod in return, "which is a good thing. You know how to deal with Federation technology, but if she is having difficulties replacing Goa'uld tech, which from the new build Ha'tak we saw seems likely then…"
"Then the playing field will be evened," the Enterprise Captain shot forwards in his seat, a tight smile on his face, "more then, given the technology samples the Emissary managed to obtain."
"Exactly," Ewing noted, "the issue will be time. I suspect we will not hear of Osiris again for months, possibly years."
Grimacing, Picard leaned backwards in his seat, "and when she does reappear?"
"Then I would expect it to be a battle she thinks she can win," he shrugged, "not a time and place of our choosing. The longer she takes to reappear though, the more worried I would be about her being… very direct."
Stilling, Picard glanced over the rim of his mug, "Earth?"
"That would appeal to her in far too many ways," he sighed, "but there is no world in the alliance that is not at risk right now."