Gwarlock hated training exercises. They often trained a crew what NOT to do in battle. An exercise without the possiblity of death was a waste of time, in his opinion. Blinking indicators were fine for the admirals, but he needed to know how his recruits would act when his ship was actually venting coolant. Still, he was a fleet commander, and S'Cipio had ordered the exercise. To disobey would be disloyal, and he needed the lizard's trust.
It would be good to spar against the Federation. Today was to be an ambush, with two Gorn Battlecruisers against a Federation light cruiser. Not much of a match. Still, the mammals were allies once again, and it would serve the Confederation no use if they could not combat plasma tactics. The mammals had a penchant for these 'wargames', and it was important to bolster their pride. The only pride in battle was surviving, and making your enemies' lives forfeit. But they would learn, however slowly, however many lives lost.
'Ensssign, head to the desssignated ssector. Ssset all weaponsss on pssssuedo. Phassserss to minimal sssettingss. No damage isss to be done to the Federatttion vessssel. Am I underssstood?'
'Yesss, Captain, underssstood.'
'Number two, you have the conn. I will be in my warroom.'
Time to study the plans for this exercise. Once in his ready room, he scanned the files he had on the enemy captain. Janus was his name. The file was entirely too thin for his liking. He would have to remedy that. Far too quickly, he was summoned to the bridge. The game was now afoot.
'Red alert. Ssssenssors to maxxximum range. Engage jamming computer. One quarter ssspeed.'
'Ssssir! Federation vesssel off port quarter. Sssshe'ss sspotted uss, ssir!'
Of course they spotted us. Federation sensors were the best in the galaxy. He would have to rein in the ensign's scared enthusiasm.
'Sssslow to 1/8 impulssse. All available power to forward ssshield. Downgrade torpedoesss to 'F' classss. Ready tractor beam. Ssstrength 4. Boarding partiess to the transsportersss. Bring usss head on to the enemy. Ready point defenssse. BATTLE SSSTATTIONSSS!'
He had only to lure the ship into the trap. As expected, the ship launched a small spread of missiles, and at maximum range, launched photon torpedoes. The torpedoes hit with alarming accuracy for the distance, and his reinforced shield quavered, but held. The missiles were obliterated by his phasers. The range closed quickly.
'Helm! Hard to ssstarboard. On my mark, HET to target.'
Again, as expected, the Federation captain found the Gorn rear shields too inviting a target. He closed quickly, launching another spread of missiles and more photons. Thankfully most of the torpedoes missed and the missiles were incinerated by the phaser banks.
'Helm! Hard over!'
The HET caught the Fedration captain offguard, and soon the small vessel was caught in the grip of a Gorn tractor beam. As if on cue, S'Cipio's cruiser appeared off of the port quarter, maximum speed. This engagement was over, only the humanoid didn't realized it yet.
'Fire all torpedoesss! Sssingle volleyss!'
One by one, the torpedoes tore into the smaller ships shields. With S'Cipio's arrival, the vessel would soon be destroyed. The light cruiser had taken heavy simulated damage, and was without shields. Crippled, still locked in the tractor, it was as good as dead. He couldn'y help but teach the Federation captain a painful lesson.
'Ensign, open channel. Advissse the enemy ssshe will be boarded.'
Just then, the ship rocked. The control panel was blinking a cascade of light. What had happened?
'Report.'
'Sssir, the enemy hass ssimulated a sself desstruct. Heavy damage to all forward compartmentsss, tubess 1 and 3 desstroyed, all phasserss inoperative, hull breach on level 5, and power at 50%.'
He had to smile. The enemy had, how did the humans say.....stones. He got careless, and now his ship had paid a dear price. Maybe, with humans like this about, he would be able to learn something after all.
'Offer my congratulationsss to the enemy. We sshall discusss this over dinner in my officersss messs. I ssshould like to meet thisss Januss in persson.'