Newbie Galactic Combat II - Story Thread

[CaptRR]

Well here's some more fodder for the story people. I would have had this out of Saturday, but my computer had some problems and I had to reinstalled winxp, unfortunately I forgot to backup my story. Oh well it let me start the chapters again
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Chapter 15

The battle was not going well, Admiral Panar thought as a fresh round of fighters swarmed in on his line. A cruiser vanished in a cloud of plasma, there was no time for the crew to make it to escape pods, even if their was time they would have been incinerated by their dead mother ship's exploding fusion reactor. Panar closed his eyes for a moment, wishing that he could ignore what was happening, he had messed up, and badly, trapped by the despicable Terrens, his fleet was going too slow to escape, and unable to avoid the swarms of fighters coming in at his ships in all directions.

The battle should have been his, he had the terren fleet outnumbered, and in an even fight his capital ships could beat any terren vessel, but then the Terrens had flushed their carriers, and it had become obvious that they had made quantum leaps in fighter technology. First there were the numbers, he had expected to fight a few dozen, maybee a hundred, not the hundreds that were ripping his fleet to shreds. All things being equal his Fleet Defender Point Defense gun ships should have been able to stop them, but as the first formation of fighters got into range of his Fleet Defenders it had become clear that the terrens had beefed their defensive characteristics. Only about a dozen fighters died in that first salvo, not the tens of dozens that had been expected, and the survivors ripped into the fleet defenders with a vengeance. One Defender after another died, and with it the fleets primary fighter defense, and all the while the Terren carriers kept on on sending more waves of fighters.

Panar looked into his plot, as a Light Cruiser vanished from it, only to be replaced by the faint readings of escape pods, there were too many of those faint readings littering his plot.

"Admiral," it Commander Lakan, the Fleet Deputy Commander, "I'm afraid that was the Last Fleet Defender."

Panar knew he was right, the fighters sensing the sudden lack of Point Defense Fire split up and began hitting separate targets, within 30 minutes Panar had lost half his fleet and he hadn't even gotten into range of the enemies capital ships yet. He knew it was over. There was nothing he could do, he couldn't run, couldn't fight. The battle was basically decided, the only thing he could hope to do was inflict some casualties.

"Communications to all ships." He said.

"Yes sir," The communications officer responded. He flipped a few switches and then nodded to the admiral that he was on.

"All ships" Panar tried to sound like a leader, trying to sound like their was some fight left in him. "I want all ships to charge the enemy line into point blank range, we need to eliminate some of those Battleships." Panar knew that what he was doing was suicide, he no longer had the advantage in tonnage, and he was about even in numbers. His ships would be ripped to shreds, but he could at least take a few of them with him.

He took a deep breath as another ship vanished from the plot, "Good luck to all of you. Command Out." On the command deck their was no sound, only the necessary conversations for a ship at war.

Panars ship was one of the first destroyed in what would become known as the final charge. Over 35 Draven ships died in the charge, joining their 40 brothers in the. In the end over 28,000 Dravens sacrificed themselves for a single enemy Battleship. 28,000 Hero's lost in the silence of space.

Chapter 16

News of the Draven fleet traveled fast, and although details where hard find the repercussions where almost instant. Josha had been in numerous meetings with Central Powers Representatives over the Last couple of days, most had not been good.

This meeting was beginning in the same way, "Chairman" said the Central powers Speaker, "the actions of your fleet have left us in a predicament." The Weyrling slurred his speech slightly.

"I assure you Mr. Speaker that Sledgehammer fleet was not acting on my orders." He had said the same thing numerous times, it was true, but that didn't make any difference, the fact was the Draven fleet was gone, Operation Sledgehammer was now in serious doubt.

"And these numbers" continued the Speaker, "are you sure you can't get us the extra ships any sooner?"

"I'm afraid not sir, those are the best case estimates for the latest ship designs, we have increased production at most of our major shipyards but even at this hurried pace the newest Dreadnaughts are still a year away."

"This is not acceptable, your Admiral Panar may have cost us this war."

"I don't think its quite that bad," Josha knew even though he wasn't lying hw was stretching the truth "the Weyrling Sledgehammer fleet is still largely intact, and we are pulling some of our Reserves to the front in order to stop any incursions into alliance space. For now..."

"For now our fleet is on its own" The speaker interrupted, he wasn't mad, didn't show any emotion, just stating a fact.

Josha took a breath before continuing, he had to choose his next words carefully "Unfortunately that's true, but the new Draven ships coming out of the shipyards will be much more powerful than the entire Sledgehammer was before this mistake. Our reserves will be sufficient to hold major alliance systems, while rebuild. Besides if I know your matriarch she'll be keeping the terrens too occupied to worry about an invasion."

The mention of the matriarch seemed to calm the room. In fact Josha had expected more of a tong lashing than what he got. The Dravens had dropped the ball after all, but this conversation with the Central Powers Speaker had been very civilized, like a father having a conversation with one of his children who had made a mistake. That was a far cry from the Speaker that had been ready to bite his head off just a few days before. Something was different about the Speaker, something that Josha couldn't put his finger one.

In fact now that he thought about it, many of the Weyrlings he had met the Last couple of day had acted the same way, a kind of cool detachment that wasn't there before.

"O.K. Mr Chairman" said the speaker, "Our fleet will do what we can to convince the terrens to stay away from alliance space, but I expect you to have a working fleet in one year, at that time we will recommence Sledgehammer."

'Thank you Mr Speaker" Josha turned to leave, but stopped when the Speaker called out to him.

"Mr Chairman, the Matriarch will be coming to Alliance HQ in a few months, I will expect you to give her an update of the Draven fleet once she gets here."

"The matriarch is coming here?" Josha could hardly believe it, he had expected the Matriarch to stay with the Weyrling fleet.

"Yes, I believe she is being escorted by one of your ships," The Speaker thought for a moment, "a Captain Jalan, I think that's the name of the ships commander."

"Captain Jalan of the Troikens Pride?"

"Yes, you know him?"

Josha inhaled then let it out slowly, "lets just say I've had a few dealing with him in the past, he isn't very fond of the Alliance." Josha wanted to say more, but he couldn't come right out and tell the Speaker that he didn't trust one of the Captains from one of his ships. Even if that Captain had been basically appointed by Yalare along with most of the commanders of the Sledgehammer fleet.

No he couldn't say anything, all he could do was hope the Matriarch had a safe journey.

[Ruatha]

Good update as usual.

I was shocked to see the Draven fleet gone. Thankfully the Terran player has dropped out and the AI plays for them now. Otherwise the entire Weyrling fleet would be dead as well I assume!
I think the Terran player thought the odds overwhelming, he was a replacement and had propably not checked his aggressive/defensive bonus!
If had stayed until the battle against the Dravens he would have had a good chance to kill us both off!

What will happen in Lasat? I'm not sure!!
Who will get the call to decide it? Let's see who Posts the results of that journey first!
I've got some ideas but if you write first I'm adaptable!! (Haven't written anything yet, only ideas.)

In the game the Indestructible has just entered the Lasat system. I've done some simulations of a battle between those two ships, the Indestructible and Troikens Pride.
Interesting results....

Tbon> I'm thinking of exporting the video-game "Eat-man" to the Zax Society. Let's just hope they're not as addicted to that as too bubblebaths.
Hmm, perhaps the Weyrlings can get some side income from smuggling bubblebaths to the Zax!

[ March 11, 2003, 12:47: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Raging Deadstar]

Great Chapter, makes me wonder what terrible things await the mantiarch? i really look forward to find out whats going to happen in the next few chapters

Great Work CaptRR

[mlmbd]

CaptRR, losing the fleet was totally unexpected! Wow, I do hope those Dreadnaught's are the answer! Oh, excellent addition!

mlmbd

[CaptRR]

Thats right folks, NGC story lives!!! I'm reviving this story becouse I'm simply too stubborn to let it die, and besides I havn't finished my story yet. So here is the next chapter
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Chapter 17

It was raining inside of the floating city that made up the capital of the Draven Republic. It was a scheduled rain, artificial like everything else in Capital City. Many hours before the residents had taken in much of their outdoor materials in anticipation for the downpour, and so the streets looked almost abandoned. Even the cities police force took the weather in stride by reducing the number of patrols. After all no proper Draven wanted to be out in a rainstorm, so there was really no need for the heightened patrols that had become common in the wartime republic.

That was exactly what a lone man in a raincoat had been hoping for, as he traveled down the streets of the Republics largest floating city. Very few people wondered out of their houses, or for that matter even bothered to look outside during a rain, so the man was able to slip through the city with no one noticing. He didn't take any chances though, like a fish swimming through an ancient ocean he twisted his way, though ally's and streets alike, a few times he even retraced his steps, one could never be too careful in what had become a dangerous republic. That wasn't known to the general public of course, most people were simply too busy with their own lives to pay much attention to what was going on around them, the few that did seemed to change their mind quickly. The ones that didn't simply vanished.

It hadn't always been that way, only over the Last month had people began to turn up missing. Something was happening inside the Draven government. Ever since the loss of the Sledgehammer fleet the Yalare Administration had gotten very paranoid, many of the Committees that had been the staple of the Draven Republic had been either reorganized or disbanded all together. It was probably no coincidence that most of the disbanded committee's had been appointed by President Dravel himself, and tended to be political rivals of Yalare. Some of the chairmen of those committee's had disappeared from the public view, many had retired to the colony worlds, or so the Government said.

Representative Somar didn't think so, and as he made his way through the rain, he was sure that everyone in the Peoples Committee didn't think so either. Not that it mattered much what they thought, Yalare had managed to secure his position over the Last year with such skill and grace that he had rendered the Peoples Committee all but impotent. When they had authorized martial law, it had been thought that it would Last only a few months, until the tension caused by the Landing City disaster had passed, and so no one had thought to enact a time limit on the Martial Law vote, in their hurry to save the Republic, they had made it into a dictatorship.

Finally Somar came to his destination, a small indiscriminate house close to the edge of the floating city. The house seemed to scream of a modest background, but the very fact of the houses existence in a crowded city where tall buildings where the norm, gave away its true origins. As Somar walked toward the door, he noticed the rain tapering off, he had made it just in time. Soon the police would be back on the streets, he quickened his pace, and reached the door just before it opened. The man at the door seemed just as modest as the house he inhabited.

"Welcome, Representative Somar, rainy day isn't it?"

"Not as much as back home," Somar recited the code phrase, if he had said anything else, he would not be allowed in the house. The Man smiled and moved aside inviting Somar in.

"I'm glad you could make it Somar."

Somar took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack, like the rest of the home; it seemed to come from a simpler time. He couldn't even see a terminal, even though there must me one, it was a testament to the craft men who designed the architecture, hiding modern necessity in an ocean of antiques, and doing so without sacrificing the simple beauty of the time that it was modeled after.

"I wish the circumstances were different Hamal, I really do."

Hamal only smiled, but it was forced, he had been on the peoples committee for over 30 years, and only retired just before the Landing City disaster. Even though he was officially out of politics, he still had a lot of contacts, not only in the Peoples Committee, but also in the Prime Ministers inner circle. Hamal, was part of the Crown Conservatives, a political party that tended to favor loyalty to the Presidency. They tended to avoid too many programs that would "rock the boat", even if it meant making many of the same mistakes over and over.

Somar on the other hand was leader Industrial Reformists party and tended to favor a totally elected form of government, most of his party regarded the office of the Presidency in its current form to be a slap in the face of Democratic Society, so they almost always tended to side against the President. Prime Minister Yalare was a member of the Industrial Reformists.

Hamal was already heading towards the couch, an elegant, if not terribly expensive piece of furniture that was made out of what was once called wood. Hamal waited until Somar sat before continuing, "I understand," he made a small regretful sigh, "It appears our republic had been corrupted."

"Yes, it does." Somar made a small if mischievous smile, "Hamal, I know we haven't always agreed, in fact I think I called out an overbearing Idiot one time..."

"I believe the exact phrase was 'Overbearing Idiotic Weyrling Sympathizer'"

Somar snickered, and then turned serious, "However, I never doubted your commitment to the Republic. That being said, I need your help."

Hamal, considered for just a moment, no matter the two's political differences they had always understood each other's commitment to the Draven Republic; they just had different views of how to run it. "I'll do what I can, of course."

Somar considered how he was going to proceed, then decided the best route was probably the most direct. "I've been hearing rumors, none of them can be confirmed of course, but the people who are telling me have always been very reliable."

"What kind of Rumors?"

"Most have been discouraging, but inconclusive, over the Last month police forces have been beefed up in the floating city's, even thought the crime rate has actually reduced. Also over 24 junior officers have been promoted to ship captains, the Defense Committee claims that they are being promoted do to the man power shortages caused by Sledgehammer, but there are better more qualified officers that have been waiting for Captains slots much longer. The only connection that I can see between the officers is that they all have close ties to the Yalare family."

Hamal nodded, but wasn't surprised; undoubtedly he had already heard everything he was saying.

Somar continued, "Then there are the disappearances, many committee members, especially on the Defense committee have conveniently retired, but I know many of them, and when I tried to contact them, they all had taken their retirement off world, and were unable to be reached, and that's just what my sources have seen, I've only scratched the surfice."

"I see," said Hamal, "That confirms what my sources have told me, it seems that Yalare is securing the Republics armed forces, as well as the Committes that control them. Almost all of the new dreadnaughts built in Kornephoros seem to be crewed by officers loyal to Yalare, the ones in Acamar seem to be unaffected, but then again they are under the watchful eye of Josha, and dispite him, in effect, being put into exile at the CP headquarters he still has a lot of pull, and he's actually in Acamar, not 3 months away like our prime minister."

Somar spoke up, "But Acamar only has about one third the production capacity of Kornephoros, even if Yalare is unable to get any of his loyalists into Acamar, he still has over two-thirds of the new ships under his orders."

"But what will Yalare with those ships?" Hamal asked the question almost rhetorically, like a teacher asking a student something he should already know.

Somar hesitated; this was the moment he had feared when he made the journey here, taking such careful steps to avoid detection. Now was the defining moment. He could get up and leave and no one would be able to prove that anything he had said was treasonous, but if he continued and was caught he would most certainly have a quake and painful disappearance of his own. Somar did not like that thought, but if he left his republic was doomed, and he could not allow that.

Somar spoke slowly, and carefully, if he was going to go down for treason, he was going to make sure he did it with at least some dignity. "Hamal, I think the Prime Minister intends to take over the Republic when the time comes for President Dravel to be sworn in."

Hamal did not say a thing for a few moments, and Somar thought his fears were confirmed, that this had been some kind of elaborate rouse to get him to commit treason so Yalare could get rid of him. His fears ended almost as fast as they had begun, "I think your right Somar, the question is what are we going to do about it?"

Somar felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the two talked for hours about a what they could do to make sure Yalare didn't destroy what the founders had worked so hard to create, and as they talked they never noticed 2 men in a building next door, as they aimed a listening dish towards Hamal's small house. The two men were no strangers to this type of work; after all they had been in the Last skimmer to leave Landing City.

[ March 21, 2003, 02:40: Message edited by: CaptRR ]

[Ruatha]

Nice.
I'll write up some stuff I've already plotted. It'll come up in about a week, and then the future of Elyssandra will be decided........

[mlmbd]

CaptRR,

Thats right folks, NGC story lives!!! I'm reviving this story becouse I'm simply too stubborn to let it die, and besides I havn't finished my story yet. So here is the next chapter

Yeah, US! Like the story addition! Oh, I am very glad to hear, ; "you are not finished with your story, yet". Because, I am not finished reading, yet!

Ruatha, I will eagerly be waiting!

mlmbd

[Ruatha]

Weyrling Empire 2406.7
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At Kalzeron prime.

Illian sat in his lab discussing with the One, this is something he had been occupied with alot since the awakening.

The Weyrlings were in a completely new and henceforth unknown situation. What capabilities have they gained and what limits does the One have, this needs to be ascertained Illian belives.

"-How comes that you still exist while we retain our individuality? There shouldn't be enough neurons for you to use should there?", Illian asked in his mind and directed the question towards the one.
The use of their newfound capabilities where becoming easier and easier for each day, and more and more of the uses of it was discovered.
To speak with someone, you no longer had to be in the presence of that person, you could just voice a sentence in your head while picturing who you wanted to receive it, one or several individuals. If you wished you could send the sentence or tought or emotion blindly for anyone to hear but that was generally not appreciated, others could shield away your thoughts but it was thought that it was the senders obligation to make sure where the thought was sent.
When the awakening happened everyone had sent blindly and it had been hard to make out one's own individual thoughts even though the One had let the individual minds up to surface again. It had taken weeks before people began feeling themselfs again, clarifying the boundaries of their own individualites.
Most Weyrlings had come through this phase without problems. Those who where in contact with aliens though where an altogether different matter.
It had quickly become clear that they couldn't contain their joy over not being alone anymore, so the One had retained control of all Weyrlings who had contact with aliens, only letting their individuality take control when they where alone. This didn't leave them enough time to train their new abilities and clear out the borders of their own individuality. All these people where slowly being replaced and sent home so that they would get enough time on their own to deal with the new situation. Meanwhile the One was seeing that the aliens where noticing the difference in the Weyrlings they met, still it didn't want to try to mimic emtions as it thought it propable that it would insert the wrong emotional response, no response was better.

"-I use the neurons in the Weyrlings that are asleep, and a proportion of every Weyrling brain is used by me. If you where to make extensive tests you would find that the cognitive functions of the Weyrlings has degraded some since I awoke, but at present we do not have tests precise enough to show this. The wast amount of Weyrlings means that I don't have to use very much of each brain to function, but I'm nowhere near my original thought capacity though.", the One responded.

"- So now we have telepathic and teleempathic capabilities, but sadly enough we haven't found any aliens who have the Celia vortex so we can't scan any aliens. That would have been great though!"

"- Yes, it would have made my understanding of the aliens much easier, I still cannot understand their motivations and thoughts. It will make it hard for me to deal with them, therefore most of the dealings with aliens are best left in the hands of the individuals, not the collective."

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Weyrling Empire 2406.8
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The Starship Indestructible located in the Lasat starsystem:

Matriarch Elyssandra was sitting in the command bridge of the Indestructible, admiral Gryt was leading the battle.
After they had entered the Lasat system the Troikens Pride had slowly placed itself in a position behind the Indestructible.
Captain Jalan had stated that his intent was to protect the vulnerable rear of the Indestructible which where out of the Indestructibles weapons aiming arch.

During an uneventful passage between some asteroids the second in command Larissa had sat at the helm when the Troikens Pride had opened fire with all four of it's telekinetic cannons. The Indestructibles shields had flared up but held most of the incoming fire away and the ship had escaped the first volleys unharmed except some minor dents in the armour. Admiral Gryt and Elyssandra had run to the helm when the ship was shaken by the incoming fire and the ship's crew had instantly taken their battle positions. When Gryt and Elyssandra reached the bridge they where fully informed, their new telepathic capabilities had it's advantages.

Admiral Gryt barked out his orders;
"-All weapons fire at will, use your opportunities!
Heading 250 by 180 and full reverse!"

The Indestructible seemed to do a loop and came out beside the Troikens Pride some time later and then their powerful phased polaron beams started to fire. The Indestructible was a battlecruiser but had only two main weapons, large mounted phased polaron beams of the fifth level. The beams penetrated the Troikens Pride's shields as if they hadn't existed, but the Troikens Pride had advanced ECM capacity and mots of the beams missed, the only damage inflicted upon the target was some severed antennas sticking out from the hull.
Despite being a light cruiser the Troikens Pride carried more weapons then the Indestructible who was a command ship and was geared towards defence with shields and heavy armour.
The Troikens Pride opened up again with it's telekinetic cannons, this time Captain Jalan didn't fire them all at once but in a sequence and aimed at the same point on the Indestructible. The first three rounds where caught by the shields who sent out bright lights as the energy ate away at the incoming projectiles, the Last round hovewer pierced through the hole left in the energy barrier by the presedent shots, it struck the Indestructible in the front of the ship, creating a man deep crater in the thick armour, this didn't cause any fear in the crew as the armour was three times as thick as that. Some melted metal struck the portholes in one of the polaron beam turrets but it didn't block very much of the view.

The Troikens Pride altered course, now it was on a straight collision course which unaltered would ram the larger Indestructible just below the command bridge.

"-Roll 180 and present another side to the target!
Then come around zero by 180 and full ahead. Take us away, this isn't a battle we wish to fight"

The Indestructibles engines spewed out massive amounts of ions as the throttle was pressed to the bottom.
The more modern engines were slowly accelerating it away from the Troikens Pride, even though they would soon be out of eyesight of each others they would still be within fire range for a long time.
The polaron beams fired again and again, there was a massive exchange of projectiles and beams between the both ships but the advanved ECM on the both ships made it almost impossible to gain a lock on the target.
Elyssandra could imagine Jalan laughing at their combat capacity, but she couldn't fathom why he had started this fight.
Another round of telekinetic cannon fire was caught by the shields, this time the aim wasn't as precise and the rounds hit different parts of the shields and caused no damage to the ship.

The Troikens Pride was no longer within sight so the gunners where relying on the target scanners to aim their shots. The gunners fired their beams at their own will and there was no coordination between the shots, that wasn't really necessary as they didn't need to concentrate their fire to penetrate any shields or armour, if the beams hit they would deliver all their destructing energy to the vulnerable innards of the Troikens Pride.
As the Indestructible fired her two beams over and over again while the generators spewed out the massive amounts of needed energy they made an impressive light show, but no real damage until one beam hit straight on. On the scanners they could see the beam hit in the middle of the light cruiser leaving no visible entry mark on the hull but instantly one of the telekinetic cannon turrets exploded outwards, sending debris in all directions. A moment later the Troikens Prides engins went dead. Now the distance between the two ships increased quickly.
On the bridge they could through the scanners see an EVA team leave the Troikens Pride heading for the engines, propably some debris from the exploding cannon that damaged some vital component in the fuel distribution cutting of all fuel to the engines, was the analysis by the bridge crew.
The Troikens pride was still firing its two remaing cannons but at the quickly increasing distance their aim was very bad and the rounds almost didn't make it all the way.

Elyssandra was somewhat upset. Her tail was wagging wildly from side to side and her fangs where visible through her tight lips.
"-Gryt, take us to alliance headquarter as quickly as possible.", Elyssandra ordered. Continuing but not speaking out, only voicing her thoughts and sending them to the One she continued:
"We need an explanation to this attack at once! Are the Dravens going to war against us or was this a madmans attack? Also we need to send in some ships to try to capture the Troikens pride, that might be our only chance to get true answers. Detatch the Psi corps ships from the Sledge fleet and send them here to try to capture the Troikens Pride. If they can get captain Jalan to convert his alligience to us we will have the answer.
And get the Speaker in the allaince headquarter to question the Dravens, if they need to know how we got the information so fast to headquarter womba**** them!"

The voice of the One responded at once in her head,
"-Womba****? We have no wombacats at the headquarter and so no defecations from them either."

"-Sorry, it means that you should come up with a lie, and in this case as they are the aggressors it can literally stink, just as womba****. They will be so occupied with providing answers that they will propably not dare to question any explanation we might give."

At the Central Powers Alliance Headquarter:

Speaker Farth was sitting on the podium staring down upon the Draven reprasentative Josha.
"-So, what explanation do the Dravens have as to why they have tried to assasinate our leader, an unprovoced attack upon the very symbol of the Weyrling Empire?
Does this mean war? Our fleets are gathered at Terran space and with the wormhole openers they can be in Draven space within weeks, is that what you wish? If so speak up and we will grant your request!
You may be sad to know this but the Matriarch survived this surprise murder attack and is heading here at this moment, she isn't pleased with our Draven allies right now!
We are right now discussing this with the Thermolians and they are as shocked by the Draven actions as we are.

Now, Draven Josha. You may leave, but return quickly with a good explanation if the alliance shall have any chance of surviving your deeds!"

In the Kuat system aboard the Destroyer Responder:

The new tactic was working.
The Hammer fleet had entered the Terran home system Sladden by a wormhole which closed behind them.
They had already landed troops at two of the Terrans homeworlds and captured them intact, destroying masses of construction star bases orbiting the planets. The resistance had been sparse. A few weapon platforms had put up a token resistance before surrendering.
The Terrans had some starships in the system but they seemed reluctant to attack the large Hammer fleet. Many of the Terran ships where leaving the system towards Nyran space. The reason for this was uncomprehensible to the Weyrlings.
A single Terran Battleship had been converted to the Weyrling side by the Weyrling intelligence service. That ship had the Last month alone glassed three Terran worlds, depriving the Terrans of resources. Still the Terrans seemed unwilling to commit their ships to battle even against this single ship.
The same pattern was seen in the neighbouring Kuat system where the Sledge fleet was glassing planet after planet with little resistance. The main Terran fleet was still located at the wormhole connecting Kuat to the Terran homesystem Sladden, unwilling to leave that strategic point even though the Sladden system already was compromised.
Thurya though that perhaps they had already destroyed so much of the Terran infrastructure that the ships were stuck due to inadequate resupplies. The Weyrling fleet was equipped to fight far from home in enemy territory, but the Terrans had planned on fighting at their known territory with ample resupply bases present. Those bases where now being destroyed in a faster and faster pace. In the Kuat system only two planets remained, more than ten worlds where now uninhabited.

The Responder had been given new and appreciated orders. Up to now they had been doing flank protection for the fleet while they went from world to world and burned millions of people to ashes, largely unapposed.
Not a very actionfilled assignment but Thurya hadn't complained, rather nothing to do than participate in the killing of millions of unarmed civilians. She could se the necesseity of it as the superior Draven fleet hadn't been able to put a dent in the Terran fleet. Attacking them would be suicide, and if she had to choose she'd rather fry some Terrans than die herself.
These new orders where appreciated though as they might indicate some coming action.
Intelligence weren't reporting any major enemy fleet movements in the neighbouring systems apart from the Sladden system. Now the Responder was assigned to recon duty, they should pass through the closest wormhole and check out the next system, if it seemed safe the Sledge fleet would follow as soon as the Last Kuat planets had been turned into artistic glass sculptures.
Thurya edged her ship closer to the Wormhole and seeing no danger she gave the order to pass through.
On the other side everything seemed calm when suddenly something started to shimmer on the left side of the ship.
Try who was manning the main gun on that side voiced to Thurya;
"-Thu, it's a ship coming out of cloak, it shouldn't be a terran ship as we've never gotten any indication that they have that kind of technology."

"-It could be a Draven ship, if it is fire as soon as you get a clear shot. We know what they tried doing to the Indestructible and we don't have that kind or armour!", Thurya sent.

"-No, it's not a Draven ship, it looks like a CCCP ship but not quite.... Hey, it got Terran markings!! Targeting, Firing!"

The Responders four Phased Polaron beams opened up almost at the same time. The Terran ship hovewer wasn't where they had thought it would be and all shots missed widely. The Terrans constantly changed their tactics and pressed their ships to unbelivable prestations, making them almost impossible to hit.
The Terran destroyer opened fire with some kind of beam and hit with the first shot, the beam wasn't fired as the Weyrling polaron beams in short bursts but rather as a continious beam.
First they could feel the ship vibrate but it didn't seem to take any damage but then the warning lights on the bridge started flaring. The ion engines magnetic inducer coils where being overloaded and started melting. The cooling system couldn't cope with the incoming energy and the cooling gases started boiling and vented out into space, sending geysers of white fumes out through the emergency vents. The engines shut down and the Responder was dead in space.

The Terran ship was closing in, the Responders weapons franticly tried to get a lock but the Terrans had engaged advanced ECM's making it hard to aim correctly. The Terran ship opened up with a polaron beam of their own, blowing one of the Responders four main guns into debris and sending the gunner out into space in small pieces, the emergency vacuum doors on the ship closed immediatly. Another beam from the Terrans evaporated all reamins of another Weyrling Gunner along with her gun turret.
"-Abandon ship!!", The One's voice echoed in the heads of the Responders crew. All the crew headed for the escape hatces, grabbed the emergency packs and said godbye to the Responder. Before leaving Thurya armed the automatic self-destruct mechanism and then joined the others abandoning the ship.
The small objects the individual Weyrlings posed were too small for the Terrans to track and the emergency packs containing oxygen and fluid refreshers and nutrishments would enable them to survive for a month. Previously it was belived that anyone out there wouldn't make it that long, propably not more than a week before they would open their suits to the vacum to end the intense loneliness they would experiance. Now when they were in constant contact with each other and the One they would propably survive.

The Terran ship docked with the Weyrling ship and troops swarmed aboard, finding an empty ship.
Try had been caught in his tower that had been damaged by debris from the exploding gun turrets so he hadn't been able to get loose and abandon ship at the same speed as the others. There hadn't been any fear that he shouldn't make it, he just had to wind the turret into the correct position by hand and should have had ample of time before the self destruct destroyed the ship.
Rounding a corner towards the closest escape hatch Try ran straight into a Terran marine, there was no meaning of putting up any struggle, it would have been a one-sided match. On one side a Terran marine in combat armour with a phaser gun and on the other Try in a exposure suit and no weapon.
The Weyrlings might look fearsome but against an alien they where not very god in close combat, originating on a low gravity world they where quite weak. They looked strong and fearsome with fangs, claws and big muscles, but the muscles weren't very effective, they had developed for use against other low gravity animals.
Try was quickly ushered over to the Terran ship that severed it's bonds with the Weyrlings ship. Finding it virtually deserted the Terrans quickly suspected something was wrong, and they didn't intend to stay and see what surprise the Weyrlings had planned for them.

Floating in space seperated from the other in the crew Thurya voiced to Try,
"-Hang in there my love, we'll come after you."
"-I know you will Thu!"

Thurya saw her ship explode in a consuming fire ball, the escape hatches had air pressure catapults that threw the crew safely away from the ship so there was no big risk of being hit by debris. Thu could see glowing pieces pass by her as the tears flowed down her cheeks. She was a warrior now, finally she had fought her first battle. But she didn't feel as a warrior, she felt alone."

[ March 31, 2003, 06:48: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[mlmbd]

Ruatha, the addition is just 'excellent'. It was well worth waiting for. Your decription of a de-cloaking ship was amazing! Good stuff!

mlmbd

[Ruatha]

Hi Mlmbd and thanks for the reply!!!!!

What posed the biggest difficulty was how to decribe the tie between the Indestructible and the Troikens Pride.
Earlier in the story I've said that battles continue until one side wins, that withdrawing from battle is very hard, as it is in SE4.
But in the simulation between these two ships they kept on missing, scoring one hit each during all the combat until the time ran out!
The Troikens pride took damage as described but those gunners on these two ships where absolutely stinking.
They couldn't hit a barn from the inside with a cannon!

And why that Terran fleet won't move from the wormhole I can't understand, some AI problem?
I'll have to run some more turns and see what happens.

Do you want the turns mailed to you, CaptRR and Tbontob? They aren't necessary for the story but they help me with the plot.

[ March 30, 2003, 19:10: Message edited by: Ruatha ]