Y176, February 11. Occupied Hydran Space: The Klingon Firewall base HN21
“I don’t care if the Admiral says there are no more Hydran ships,” Restoth screamed, “I need reinforcements and I need them now!” His second shrank away from the anger in the base commandant’s voice.
What had appeared to be a pirate raid only a few minutes ago had turned into a full fledged assault on his station by half a dozen Hydran ships. The two frigates he had as patrolling escorts were already running back for the cover of his station’s heavy phasers. A score of fighters were sniping at their tails, fortunately out of effective range of their gatling phasers. Then a hellbore from one of the cruisers burned through the rear shield of one of the frigates and the fighters pounced. Within seconds the F5 was fireburst of rapidly cooling metallic, composite, and organic materials.
“Send him that and see how long it takes to get a response!” Even as Restoth spoke, the station trembled slightly from the release of energy. Twin beams of white-hot phaser energy streaked past the fleeing frigate, enveloped a pair of Hydran fighters, and streaked toward the cruiser oblivious to the two destroyed fighters. The other fighters swerved away from the base and rejoined their fleet.
It gave Restoth a moment’s respite for his own fighters to finish arming their drones and become ready for launch. His spare shuttles were being loaded with drones for use as scatterpacks. Restoth had considered reserving one for a wild weasel but his third officer had fought the Hydrans in the early days of the war and reminded him that hellbores were not as affected by ECM as most other weapons. His defenses were as ready as they would be when the Hydrans had reformed for their assault on his station.
He had also received a response from headquarters ordering him to fight to the last and that reinforcements were on their way. The combination had given Restoth few words to encourage his troops with. Most of them were too young and this was their first posting: a harmless place to learn the methodology of obedience and formation flying. Restoth wished his uncle had not been so foolish as to have his cruiser defeated by a Federation destroyer in the opening days of the war. It had doomed him and his cousins and brother to such duty as this station for the rest of the war and perhaps generations to come.
The Hydran fighters were formed into a wedge and were leading the other ships in. Restoth was forced to decide whether to send his own fighters against the wedge or have them go around it and attack the main fleet with drones and phasers. He judged the fleet’s defenses too strong to allow a drone to reach a ship and he wasn’t certain his base could defend itself from the firepower of ten Hydran fighters. His own fighters probably weren’t even adequate for the task. He counted drones and gatling phasers and the numbers didn’t favor him. He sent the fighters in anyway, with orders to hold their drones until they would also be able to use their phasers immediately after.
In seconds the two forces were in combat with one another and drones from the station, a scatterpack, and the remaining frigate joined with those of his fighters in battling the Hydran ones. To Restoth’s surprise, his older Z-1’s were holding their own. For a moment, he thought they might win. The two groups became so tightly entangled that neither side could add weapons fire to support their own fighters and the tracking computers could no longer differentiate Klingon from Hydran. When the figurative dust cleared, two Hydran fighters limped back toward their carrier. Of his own fighters, Restoth could see only wreckage.
The Hydran ships came on and his base fired a maximum strike at the first cruiser it could reach. The Hydran was a fusion-beam type and it was charging the station in hopes of reaching it intact enough to cut a hole with its primary weapon. A fusion ship was devastating at close range. This one would never reach his station. The alpha strike left it a lifeless hulk, dead in space. Its sister ship reached the base and fired its fusion beams into its shields. They collapsed despite a fierce counterstrike by the frigate and the base’s remaining weapons. With no reason not to try it, Restoth beamed marine squads onto the Hydran ship and attempted to capture it.
That battle was soon forgotten. As soon as the base’s shields had been penetrated, the remaining cruisers fired their hellbores. Despite the downed shields being quickly rotated out of the direct line of fire, the Hydran weapon wreaked havoc on the outer hull and much of the cargo area. The frigate captain valiantly charged at the Hydrans in an effort to distract them from the base. His action only partially succeeded as they Hydrans were able to disintegrate his ship in a matter of a few seconds and then they pressed forward.
Those few seconds were enough and Restoth released a howl of excitement. His long range sensors detected the approaching reinforcements. He quickly ordered increased shield reinforcement and transfer of power from offense to defensive systems. The Hydrans, realizing their attack could not succeed in time, fired a parting salvo and fled.
Y176, February 11. The Romulan Star Empire: Sector 006
Admiral S’Trelov was rather pleased with his current situation. His command included a pair of King Eagles and many smaller ships based on the Klingon design. Despite the many advantages of the new Hawk series ships, S’Trelov was fond of the Kestrels. It also meant he would be fighting the Federation; his ships were easier to supply if they didn’t stray too far from the tenuous link the Empire maintained with the Klingons. S’Trelov was grateful the link was more stable than it had ever been but he didn’t expect the Federation would let it remain unchallenged for very long. And his men hated Gorns so badly that it was tough to get them to follow procedures. He agreed the lizards deserved no more than a quick death, thus he too was better used against he Federation.
S’Trelov’s happy reverie and whimsical plan were both shattered in the same instant. He received orders from Romulus. They came from the Praetor’s office, with enough seals on them that he had no choice but to act immediately. He contacted the two Admirals under his direct command. Within one hour of the message being sent out, forty-two Romulan warships were advancing in a wide envelopment maneuver designed to prevent the enemy force that was coming from reaching the Romulan home systems. Over 125 Gorn warships had left their bases and were on a direct course for Romulus. S’Trelov’s forces were his homeworld’s first line of defense.
It took several days before the leading elements of his fleets met contact with the Gorn advancement. During that time, the large scale assault had been confirmed and defensive redeployments had been ordered throughout the Empire. S’Trelov’s scheduled offensive had been immediately put on hold. When he reported the initial contact, he was informed by the Praetor’s office that it had been cancelled. It made him extremely unhappy such that his junior officers began to joke that the Klingon stink from some of the ships had rubbed off on the Admiral.
With the axis of the Gorn advancement located and confirmed, S’Trelov deployed his forces to intercept them and reinforce each other should the Gorns attempt to pin it down and elude it. In this way the combined force would be too large to leave unfought in the Gorns' rear. It was an excellent plan. It worked perfectly with the exception that the Gorns not only did not attempt to pin it, they did not attempt to engage it. Scout reports rapidly confirmed that the entire Gorn fleet had reversed its course and was returning to its bases. No battle fought, but a month’s worth of operational planning wasted, the Romulan fleets returned to their bases. When his junior officers spoke of a Klingon stench having rubbed off on the Admiral, they did it in quiet whispers, looking over their shoulders.
Y176, February 11. The Klingon Empire: on the Federation border near Lyran supply base ‘Green tooth’
Six Federation warships lead by a scout raced towards the Lyran base. Their mission was to destroy it and get out before being cut off by reinforcements. Commander Jim Mitchell of the USS Lexington was confident his ships could do the job. It was regrettable that he couldn’t do it without losses, but he wasn’t allowed the luxury of the time it would take to reduce the base without taking casualties.
The Lyrans were waiting for his squadron when it arrived. The base had launched its fighters and there was a fully armed destroyer waiting. Mitchell brought his ships down to tactical warp speed far enough away that his own carrier could launch its fighters before they engaged. Supported by drones from his ships, the fighters raced for their Lyran counterparts. The Z-1s were no match for the newer F-16s and were overwhelmed by the drone wave beyond phaser range. The Lyran ship and base raised their ESG fields to defend against further drones.
Mitchell ordered his ships to ignore the destroyer and go for the base. Knowing his target was stationary, all of his ships were variants that favored the photon torpedo over other weapons. A second drone wave launched, this time towards the base. The Lyrans were able to repel it barely and Mitchell ordered a barrage of photon torpedoes fired from long range. Damage to one of the base’s shield wasn’t quite enough to bring it down, so he moved in closer. It risked exposing his fleet to the base’s phasers but he had no choice.
Recognizing their peril, the Lyrans sent the destroyer out to engage his fleet. He allowed it to divert him in that he had the next wave of drones fired at it. The ESG used, the Lyrans were forced to launch a wild weasel shuttle and power down their fire control sensors. With the threat from the destroyer temporarily neutralized, the Federation task force closed in on the base.
The scout used its sensors to provide some defense for Mitchell’s larger ships and the base chose to target two destroyers instead. The heavy phasers and disrupters from the Lyran station crossed paths with the photon torpedoes and phaser blasts from the Federation ship. Both destroyers were crippled by the attack; both would later have to be abandoned on the return trip to the Federation but their crews would be safely evacuated.
The base, too, survived. While heavily damaged, there were enough repair facilities in the area that it would be repaired and operational within two months. Mitchell was prepared to renew the assault when he received unwelcome news. The scout reported that large numbers of Klingon and Lyran forces would arrive before the photon torpedoes could be rearmed. Mitchell ordered half of the fighters to return to their ship and the other half to attack the crippled Lyran base. There would be no time for the last fighters to catch up with the soon to be fleeing carrier. He supported the attack with remote-controlled shuttles from his other ships. These, loaded with explosives, would ram the base.
Mitchell’s own ship and the other cruiser remained to the last instant, waiting until they were certain the base was destroyed. He was gratified to see it go just as the scout reported the Klingon reinforcements were imminent. With a moment of desperate inspiration, he ordered the fighter pilots to eject from their shuttles and the two cruisers raced through the debris and pulled the escape pods in with transporter beams. As the first Klingon ship entered the system, the Federation cruisers leapt to warp and escaped.
Y176, February 11. Orbiting the Federation Planet Vitalia: USS Solidarity.
Blossom was in engineering, watching the engineers as they recrystalized dilithium. The communications panel gave a loud whistle and Lieutenant Venton’s voice crackled above the sound of the warp engines. “Admiral Hardy to the bridge.”
Blossom gave the two engineers her biggest grin and laughed as she said, “I’d love to see you finish but duty calls.” Her chief engineer replied with a mock grimace. “Go on back to your cushy spot on the bridge, ma’am. We’ll make sure you can actually move the ship.” Blossom touched her forehead in salutation and left.
Colonel Martek joined her on the turbolift along the way. “This should be it,” she commented.
“Yes, Admiral,” he said in response and turned to face the doors that would open onto the bridge. Blossom refrained from further comment when she noticed he appeared to be grinding his teeth.
To save him further worry, Blossom ordered the Lieutenant to give his report as soon as she stepped onto the bridge. From his communications station, Venton said, “Message from Starfleet Command: Operation Trinity is underway. Proceed.”
Blossom nodded and made her way to the dreadnought’s command seat. She glanced at Martek; he still appeared overly stiff. “Set course for Tholia. Maximum warp.” Her crew and her ship jerked into activity. When she could feel the throbbing of the deck beneath her settle into a steady hum, she looked again for the Marine Colonel. His expression was one of rapt serenity.
Topic: The Klingon Web (Read 10059 times)