"Sir, we are inside her shields...now!"
"Good, target the shield generator with the Laser and Ion cannons!"
The Titan was getting its shields hammered by smaller weapon fire and the occasional larger weapons meant for capital ships. Noah could feel the difference between the impacts. With the smaller shots, the shields would register the hit and recalibrate in an instant. With the larger shots, they actually caused the shields to flicker a bit before readjusting and resuming full strength. This delay allowed the occasional smaller shot to slip through and strike the hull of the ship. Noah knew that overloading the enemy shields in the same manner would allow them to do minor damage to the worldship. But once they slipped inside the shields, they could wreak destruction on it.
The Laser and Ion cannon fire continued in a steady stream toward their target. A orange ball of fire flared up and instantly disappeared. "We got it! Her shields are down!" came the call from the Gunnery officer.
"Excellent!" Noah said. "Now, open fire with our rail guns and missiles. Let them have it!"
Even the most novice crew member now could see the genius behind waiting until they were inside the shields to unload with the projectiles and missiles. At point blank range the missiles could not be evaded or counter-measured. The missiles would penetrate the hull before exploding and killing everything in their concussive blasts. The railgun's projectiles would also tear into the hull with crippling effect.
The explosions ripped through the worldship as the Titan made a pass along its length. Huge sections of the ship were ripped out or exploded into space as the railgun's projectiles and missiles found their targets. The defensive firing from the command ship lessened as more damage was dealt to it. One by one the enemy turrets fell silent. Noah noticed this and started to smile at their good fortune. No sooner had he gotten cocky, than the Titan suddenly shuddered and slowed down. Red lights filled the screens at every station on the bridge.
"Report!" Noah yelled.
"Captain, our shields are down! We have lost two of the three engines! Decks five aft through fifteen aft are damaged!"
"One engine? Do our maneuvering thrusters work?"
"Aye, sir. They are all functioning."
"Ok, we're going to have to use them! Take evasive action, we need to come about and take this ship out now! What is the report on the enemy ship?"
"The enemy ship is in bad shape, Captain. She is no longer moving and half of her turrets are no longer firing at us. We've given her a beating but she's still alive. If only barely," came the explanation from Ensign Torrance. "But that is the least of our worries Captain. The entire Varak fleet is bearing down on us now!"
"How long until they intercept?"
"Captain, they will be in range in thirty seconds!"
"Helm where are we on the second attack run?" Noah asked.
"We are coming about and starting our run now, Captain." More impacts on the Titan's hull could be felt as the worldship's remaining weapons found their mark.
"Okay. Gunnery, keep firing at will," Noah said as he pulled up the comm panel. "Engineering! Get ready to perform another mini jump to these coordinates. Oh, Nine, Eight, Seven, on my mark!"
"Captain," O'Malley said. "We need to allow at least twelve hours between mini jumps or it drains all the power except life support! We'll be sitting ducks, Noah!"
"If we can take out this worldship, we will still need to escape the rest of that fleet long enough to make repairs and refuel. Without it, we're dead."
Noah turned his attention to the screen as the Titan started its attack run.
"Concentrate fire on the bridge and the royal chambers. I want everything we have on those targets. Let me know the instant they are taken out!"
The Titan rushed toward the command ship as fast as it could on its one engine. The command ship's withering fire caused near constant impacts on the hull. Noah tuned out most of the continuous reports of damage from the bridge personnel as he focused on the target. As soon as the Titan reached the command ship, Ensign Torrance let out a yell.
"Captain, the enemy bridge has taken a direct hit from one of our missiles!" The bridge erupted in cheers as they could see the bodies and debris vented into space.
"Concentrate all fire on the royal chambers. We need it taken out, now!"
The Titan sped across the command ship as it unleashed all of its weapons on the target. A few seconds later, the target erupted in a huge orange flash for an instant and then debris was scattered into the vacuum of space.
"Helm! Mini-jump...NOW!!" Noah yelled.
The ship's viewscreen changed vantage points in an instant. Instead of flying over the now listless worldship, they were now looking out from the inside the asteroid belt in the far reaches of the system. The Titan was not moving and all power was now out except life support and tracking systems.
"Report!" Noah said.
"Captain! The enemy fleet has stopped and is circling back towards the worldship. Multiple internal explosions can be detected in her. Captain, it is breaking into two pieces."
"And us?" Noah asked.
"There are damage reports on all decks. We have eighty percent hull integrity. There is considerable internal damage that will take time to repair. We have no power to the engines or weapon systems. The only power left has been diverted to life support and threat tracking systems," O'Malley said.
"Divert the power from the tracking systems to life support and engineering. The stasis chambers on that artifact have to continue to operate. Besides, we might need Engineering to help us out of this jam we're in," Noah said as he sat back down into his chair to review the damage reports. A holoscreen appeared in front of him with the image of Liana.
"Captain, now that the power is out, I think you'd better get down here. I need to show you something that we found," she said before she abruptly cut off the transmission.
"Rig'nak, you've got the bridge, I'll be in Engineering," Noah said. He popped out of his chair and ran to the elevators.
RELIEF
Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Serrat System, Drad'ek midship
Nal'Sek walked off the elevator onto the deck below the princess' quarters. His eyes were still red from the dressing down he had just received from the princess. How he wished he could be rid of her incessant complaints. One day, he swore to himself, he would take her to the surface of one of the planets they visited and leave her. He knew it would never happen. But that was his fantasy.
A communication overhead interrupted his daydream.
"Captain! We have a contact. The enemy ship is now coming up behind us!"
He realized he was too far from the bridge and ran to the nearest screen to pull up the battle. He found a station in the mess hall.
"Screen," Nal'Sek said to the computer. A screen rose up from the side of the chair. He could see the ship on the screen bearing down on them. They had very little time before they would be dangerously close. The feed on the screen next to his chair showed the gun batteries were already pounding the ship.
"I want all weapons batteries to fire on that ship. That ship cannot be allowed to slip inside our shields," yelled Nal'Sek.
The enemy ship kept coming. Its shields deflected most of the shots from the Drad'ek as it avoided a few more. Nal'Sek was impressed by the skill of the pilot.
Too dangerous, he thought.
We are now vulnerable.
"Recall the fleet! I want all ships to converge on the enemy ship! Tell them that there will be a Star of Varak for the warrior who kills that ship."
The mention of the highest honor bestowed on any Varak caused quite a bit of commotion both on his bridge and in the communications from each ship. Each ship's captain was declaring that the prize was theirs and uttering insults to their rivals. The ships turned toward the Drad'ek but the mention of the Star of Varak caused them to not approach in a strategic fashion. Each ship tried to be the first one to the enemy ship and many of the Varak captains intentional
ly cut each other off. This caused a delay in their relief of the Drad'ek.
"Captain! The enemy ship is now inside our shields! It is unleashing a large amount of firepower on our hull!" yelled the praetor.
The praetor turn to Nal'Sek, "We just lost our shields!"
"Hull integrity?" asked Nal'Sek.
"Eighty percent. But dropping fast. With the missiles and their projectiles they are starting to open us up!"
As if on cue, the Drad'ek shuddered as a massive projectile breached the hull somewhere.
"Slow down. Let the ship shoot past us. It should cause them to fall into the gun range of our approaching fleet."
Nal'Sek smiled as the ship slowed to a stop and his plan started to work to perfection. He watched as the enemy ship overshot them. His smile disappeared when he realized the rest of the fleet was still too far away to assist. He realized, too late, that they were more interested in ensuring that their rivals did not get the Star of Varak, than actually getting to the Drad'ek and assisting on time.
"Captain! The enemy ship is severely damaged. But our remaining batteries are dwindling due to the damage to the main power coupling for the weapons. She is coming about for a run right at us!"
"Keep firing! She is bleeding. Let's kill her now!" yelled Nal'Sek as he watched the ship slowly approach them. He could see that most of the ship's engines were not working. "It's crippled! We should be able to kill it! Why are we not killing it? Do I have to do it myself?"
Nal'Sek got up from his makeshift command module and began to run to the elevator to the bridge.
"Captain, the enemy ship has fired two missiles that have targeted our bridge! We have no gun batteries in place left to stop them!" yelled the praetor.
Nal'Sek, stopped and returned to the chair. He looked at the screen and the telemetry which informed him that they had less than ten seconds to impact.
"Well," he muttered out loud, "at least I don't have to listen to Her Highness complain anymore…"
GAMEPLAN
Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Serrat System, UAF Titan
"What is it?" Noah demanded as he rushed into the lab. "We're sitting ducks right now. I hope what you have to tell me is going to our power issues. Otherwise, I'm wasting my time here."
"Captain, so nice of you to join me," Liana said. She was still seething at being thrown off the bridge earlier. But she needed to play this smart. "I need to show you what we have found out about this artifact. We've been studying it since we got it on board, and I think you need to see this. Now."
"Okay," said Noah. He crossed his arms and sat on a table. "Show me," he sighed.
Finally, a captive audience, she thought. For the next few minutes, Liana went over everything they had learned, from the object, with Noah.
"From the records we retrieved from Ankarii IV, as well as the data we obtained in the lab, we have discovered that the artifact contains a great many things that would be useful to us."
"Such as?"
"Navigational charts, for one. Most of these are not any of the systems we had seen before. They certainly weren't part of what the Xen handed over to us when we allied," she said.
"Hmm, and these charts, where have you retrieved them from?"
"The data cores we took from the wreckage. And that is not all," she said. "The artifact seems to have a hidden historical record of the Xen and Varak peoples. I haven't gotten deeper into the data from the wreckage, but it may even give us clues as to their common ancestor as well."
"Wait, their common ancestor?"
"Yes, it appears the Varak are of a similar people to the Xen. But they both are descended from the same race of people. A common ancestor"
Noah did not look impressed. "So, Doctor, what was so important that I needed to come down here? You could've just written a report, instead. I'm in the middle of trying to get power back to the ship," he scoffed.
"Oh ye of little faith," Liana said with a smirk. She felt triumphant and it was going to be good to watch Noah squirm a bit as she revealed the next bit of information. "The records from the wreck show that they had used the artifact as a power source until they developed their own on the planet. Once they did that, they buried the artifact to keep it safe from the Varak."
Noah's eyes widened. "So what you're saying is..."
"...that this artifact, apparently has enough power for an entire city. It could certainly power this ship right now," she said.
"Yes, that is very good news," Noah said. "But how are we going to hook this thing to the ship? And will it simply just blow up in our faces?"
Liana pulled her lab glove off and reached out to touch the artifact.
"No! Don't do that, you'll get us all killed!" Noah shouted as he moved to push her hands away.
"Relax, Captain. I will do nothing of the sort," she said, slapping his hands away.
Liana continued. "We determined that the artifact is not going to blow the ship up. Apparently the beacon effect of the object is now dormant. So simply touching it with your hands will not cause it to activate." She ran her hand over the object to demonstrate. It caused her hand to vibrate slightly but nothing happened otherwise.
"Okay, so it is not going to blow us all up. But how do we connect it to our ship? Its Xen and we're human. How are we supposed to even connect the goddamned thing?"
Liana let out a small laugh. "Captain, don't you remember? One of the things you complained about in front of me, my very first day on the ship was that the retrofitters had installed Xen connectors into the systems on board," she said, smiling just a little."And this," she continued while shining a light on the artifact, "is a connector that will fit the cables."
She watched as it suddenly registered to Noah that the port for the connection was the same as the ones that had been added to his ship.
"Okay Doctor Sarduun. Let's say I believe you. Let's say that our circuitry can even handle the power load from the artifact. And if that is the case, then maybe we can use it. So what I will have you do is get prepared to connect it to our computer system here. It's one system so any input from anywhere on the ship will suffice," Noah said as he ran his, now vibrating, hand over the artifact.
"No problem, captain. I can take care of this while you attend to other matters."
"But Liana, and I'm serious about this. Do not connect that artifact, unless I say so. I don't trust this technology. It is still possible that the damned thing will fry our whole ship. We need to use this only if we're out of options."
"It will be done, captain. I will await your orders."
"Good! Now if you'll excuse me, I have some repairs to attend to," Noah said as he stood up to leave. He started, grimacing as a sharp pain on his right side.
"Noah, look!" Liana said while pointing to his side. "Your wound has reopened!"
Noah clutched his side and came away with a bloody hand. His dressing was soaking through and bleeding into his shirt.
"I don't have time for that right now. I need to ensure that the whole ship is safe, first," Noah said as he moved toward the door.
"The ship is not going to survive if its captain dies in the middle of battle," she countered.
"They will be fine. Rig'nak can take over and O'Malley will be a good XO for him."
Liana smiled at him. She noticed that he hadn't realized it yet, but Noah had stopped calling him Reggie and had been calling him by his proper name since Rig'nak had foiled the assassination attempt.
"What?" Noah asked. "What did I say?"
But all Liana would do was shake her head and wave him out.
MOBILIZATION
Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth
Pon'mot was pleased at the reports that he had been receiving from his contacts all day. Since divulging to the humans the real reason why his people had come to this part of the universe, and of the nefarious Varak who were once again trying to enslave them, the reports indicated that the hostilities between Xen and human had ended. Roskan an
d the human president were angry that his people had not been truthful to begin with. He knew that a great accounting would need to be made between the leadership of his people and the humans and he was not looking forward to dealing with that eventuality. But at least the humans were now forewarned and were willing to assist them in fighting off the Varak. If only to save their own lives.
"Get me Admiral Roskan," he said to his assistant. The male Xen assistant pulled up the comm panel and connected them. Roskan's face could be seen on the holoscreen.
"Ah, Admiral Roskan. I wanted to tell you the good news! It appears that my honesty is having a positive effect. The conflicts between our ships and crews have been eliminated and some of our ships stand ready to join your 4th fleet in search of the Varak and Captain Jameson," he offered.
"Thank you Ambassador Pon'mot. Your help would be greatly appreciated. We leave in ten hours' time. How many of your ships can be available at that time?"
"Admiral, it appears that we have five ships in the system that can join your fleet. We have other ships available, but they are in different systems and will not make it here in time."
"Five is better than nothing. It's the least you can do for getting us into this shit storm," Roskan said. "Please have them rendezvous with the fleet at the docks orbiting Mars. The other half of my fleet is assembling at the Earth orbital docks and will join up with them once we're under way."
"It will be done Admiral, thank you," said Pon'mot. He turned and gave a hand motion and the feed terminated.
REACTION
Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth's Orbital Shipyards
The transmission ended and Roskan turned to the captain, of his flagship, who was now slowly shaking his head.
"Looks like we're taking Xen to the party?" Captain Yung asked.
"Yup. It appears so."
"Admiral, permission to speak freely?"
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