As the first Warbird hit the minefield it decloaked and raised shields.
When the second Romulan ship ran into a mine and decided to bring up her shields instead of staying cloaked, the fighters of the Blue Lions squadron powered up their vessels from silent-running mode. As soon as they were ready the small sublight fighters started a barrage of phaser and torpedo fire. To the surprise of the Romulan crews none of the attacks was aimed at the already decloaked ships.
Most of the phaser blasts and torpedo bursts didn’t hit anything, but a few struck a still invisible ship and suddenly the whole Romulan task force decloaked.
‘God damn!’ Lieutenant Stone was surprised the plan had worked, but now she had better things to worry about. Suddenly her small squadron found itself in the middle of nearly 40 Romulan ships. Diana Stone didn’t bother to give her Ops officer any instructions. She trusted him to signal the squadron with the pre-arranged retreat orders on his own decision while she hit the thrusters and forced her small craft on a course towards the fifth planet of the Vulcanis system.
As the fragile vessel Starfleet tentatively called a fighter accelerated towards the gas giant, Lieutenant Stone was glad her squadron was made up of volunteers only, but in a corner of her mind she already regretted that she had volunteered herself for this mission.
*
* * * *
“Commander Westmore, signal the Tian An Men and the Andover to move off position as planned.”
Tarin still wasn’t sure her strategy would work, but none of her uncertainty was apparent in her posture or her voice. To all on the bridge of the Valkyrie she seemed calm and confident, even if she was anything but that. The minefield and the fighter attack had certainly gained the Romulans’ attention, but now she had to make sure the invaders swallowed the bait.
As the two Miranda-class cruisers slowly drifted away from the gas giant’s magnetic pole and came into sensor range of the Romulan ships the invasion fleet turned around.
‘Good. They are afraid we have some ships hidden here and they don’t want to risk our forces taking them from behind once they start their attack on Vulcan. Let’s just hope they don’t expect our whole fleet here,’ Tarin thought while she watched the Blue Lions squadron scatter among the many moons of Kal-Ap-Ton and the Romulans moving in on the two cruisers she had just put in harm’s way. The strong EM-field of the gas giant made this the weakest point in the sensor network around Vulcan, but it made a perfect place to hide ships as well.
“All hands battle-stations. Raise shields. Power up phasers and arm quantum torpedoes.”
*
* * * *
Captain Veal briskly advanced up the ramp towards the science stations. She had been a science officer for over half her Starfleet career and she knew how to use the multiple displays at the aft stations to get a much better picture of the ongoing conflict than the small displays of her chair provided.
As
Tarin activated the monitors she saw that at least part of her strategy had
worked. The fleet had caught the Romulan ships in a carefully arranged net once
the Warbirds had taken the bait, cornering the Romulan ships close to the forth
moon of Kal-Ap-Ton. As both capital ships and fighters ducked behind moons and
asteroids and reappeared on different vectors the Romulans didn’t know where
to concentrate their fire, but so far the Starfleet ships had failed to inflict
serious damage on most of the huge Warbirds facing them.
Tarin studied the display closely. What she needed was an advantage – any advantage.
Around her the battle was going on, but Captain Veal trusted her officers to do what was best without her ordering them around constantly. Even Commander Westmore was doing well, coordinating the fleet’s movements from the Mission Ops station he had reconfigured for the tasks of communications and sensor scans.
‘If only we could take out some more of those D’deridex ships,’ Captain Veal thought while she looked at the display. Two of the huge vessels had fallen victim to the initial surprise attack by the Federation forces and some others had taken damage, but now torpedo supplies started to run low and phasers alone wouldn’t win the day against the heavily shielded Romulan battleships.
‘Wait! There could be a way!’
As her fingers flew over the keypad working the ship’s sensors she regretted that there was no time to confer with the Valkyrie’s science department, but her own skills would have to be enough.
*
* * * *
“Helm, slow down to one quarter impulse and bring us about, heading 040, mark 315.”
“Yes Captain.”
“Make this look as inconspicuous as you can, Rishana. We don’t want to draw any attention to us. Just drift out off formation slowly.”
“Commander Westmore, signal the Exeter. Tell Captain Tarkington that he has temporary command of the fleet, but have him and everyone else stand-by to receive new orders soon and tell him to stick to the current plan.”
“Dar, how many quantum torpedoes have we left?”
“Twelve”
“Good. Twelve should be enough.”
Commander Westmore had relayed the Captain’s orders to the fleet and turned his head to look at her. “So I take it we are not withdrawing?”
“No
Commander, we are not. We are just going for a different target.”
“And what would that be?”
Tarin’s lips twitched into what could have been a hint of a smile. She pointed at the display she had been studying.
”This is our new target.”
*
* * * *
“Ha!
I knew she had no stomach for a fight like this.” Captain Tarkington almost
rubbed his hands in glee, but stopped himself at the last second. Now he
had a battle to win.
“Order the Andover and the Paiute to form on our wing. We are going for the Romulan lead ship.”
“Captain, won’t that give the Romulans an opening to break through our lines?”
“The
fighters can close the gap in our formation. Right now we have the Romulans
backed against those moons, but we need to start inflicting some real damage on
them before they begin their next counter-attack.”
In
a few minutes the ships they had sent away in what appeared to be a search for
missing freighters would return and then he would have enough ships to close his
ranks and show the Romulans his mettle.
“Captain!” his helmsman called out. “Look at the Valkyrie!”
Captain Tarkington couldn’t believe what he saw. The Valkyrie had cautiously moved behind one of the many moons of Kal-Ap-Ton but now she made a sudden course-change and went to full impulse. He had expected Veal to make a run for it sooner or later, but now she was running in the wrong direction.
*
* * * *
“Helm, new heading 118 mark 305. Go to full impulse.”
“Ops, energy reserves to the structural integrity field.”
“Reconfigure
shield geometry for atmospheric entry. We are going to use the gas giant to hide
our approach.”
As the blue swirls of Kal-Ap-Ton’s exosphere loomed larger and larger on the viewscreen Tarin walked down the ramp and took the Captain’s chair again.
Before she could turn to the small monitor in her armrest the Valkyrie shook under a heavy impact that almost threw her off the seat. “Report!”
“Two Romulan frigates just decloaked sixhundred kilometers aft. They are pursuing us.”
“Fire aft torpedoes.”
Commander Enikal shook his head as he studied the tactical read-outs. “They have raised their shields in time. Minimal damage to the lead ship.”
“Continue firing. Target at your discretion. Helm, start evasive maneuvers.”
Phaser blasts stabbed at the Romulan ships and another salvo of photon torpedoes raced towards the Valkyrie’s pursuers, but now the Romulans fired their own torpedoes.
The science station erupted in a shower of glass and plastic fragments as the impact of two plasma torpedoes send a shockwave through the Valkyrie’s EPS grid. Commander Westmore was hit by several large shards that embedded themselves deep in his chest. Even before his body hit the floor he had lost consciousness.
“Medical team to the bridge!” As two crewmen hurried to put out the fire at the aft stations Tarin had no time to wonder about the luck that had lead her away from the science station only seconds ago.
“Dar, status?”
“We have a hull breach on deck thirtyfour, section sixteen. Emergency force fields have activated. The aft torpedo launcher is down and that last attack overloaded our shield regeneration matrix. Aft shields are at 30 percent and holding, but the next attack could finish them off.”
“Casualties?”
“Reports are still coming in. So far two dead and a dozen wounded.”
“And the Romulans?”
“The lead ship is withdrawing, but the second one is still in pursuit.”
As
the starship dived into the swirling atmosphere of the giant planet Tarin
activated the comm. “Bridge to Engineering.”
“Tucker here,” the engineer’s voice answered.
“Ben, we need the shields back at full power as soon as possible.”
The sound of frantic voices was quite audible in the background as he answered her. “We are working on it, but it will take a few minutes to re-route power around the damaged systems.”
“I don’t care what engineering protocols you have to break, but work as fast as you can. Veal out.”
Commander Tucker turned towards his engineering team. “You heard the lady, so let’s get to work.”
*
* * * *
“Targeting scanners are off-line.” The interference of the gas giant’s strong magnetic field had rendered most of the Valkyrie’s sensors inoperable, but at least the atmosphere would disperse the Romulan’s plasma torpedoes to the point of becoming harmless, leaving them with disruptors only.
“Target manually. We don’t have time to waste on this frigate.” Tarin turned halfway around towards the tactical station while she spoke.
The turbolift opened and two paramedics entered the bridge, immediately leaning over Commander Westmore. “How is he?”
One of the paramedics put away his tricorder and turned towards the Captain while his colleague contacted the transporter room to have Commander Westmore beamed to sickbay.
“He has lost a lot of blood and his right lung is punctured, but the Doctors should be able to stabilize him.”
Tarin turned around and faced the forward stations.
“Helm, bring us down into the atmosphere another fifehundred kilometers. Ops, divert all available power to shields and the structural integrity field. Use energy from life support if you have to. One way or another we are not going to stay down here for long.”
*
* * * *
The shockwave of the Andover’s explosion heavily rocked the Exeter. While his crew started to take their positions again Captain Tarkington seemed to be glued to his seat.
The Exeter’s bridge was a mess of broken metal and wounded people but his ship was still capable of fighting and right on time the reinforcements he had expected had dropped out off warp.
The loss of the Andover was certainly a setback, but in war sacrifices had to be made. Now he had three more undamaged ships at his disposal and that was more then enough to take out the Romulan flagship.
“CAPTAIN”
‘Why can’t anyone on this ship stay calm?’ Tarkington asked himself as he snarled: “What is it?”
“We are receiving a Priority One transmission from the Valkyrie. Captain Veal is ordering the fleet to withdraw immediately!”
Captain Tarkington jumped off his seat and stepped over the lifeless body of his Executive Officer as he spun around. “To hell with Veal and the Valkyrie! Tactical, continue firing on that Warbird!”
His Helm Officer looked over his shoulder at the Captain. “The rest of the fleet is withdrawing as ordered, Captain.”
“Forget
those orders! I will not stand back, while Captain Veal hands this system to the
Romulans!”
“Press
the attack! We will finish this fight whatever that little coward says!”
he roared.
*
* * * *
As
the creaking sound of strained metal lessened Tarin relaxed a little bit.
‘Good thing we evacuated all personnel from the damaged sections,’ she
thought.
Emergency force fields had failed when the pressure of the gas giant’s atmosphere had become too strong, but the strain on the Romulan frigate’s shields had been just as heavy.
She would have suggested Commander Enikal for a commendation, but she knew he would never accept it. Just as the Romulan’s shields had started to fail he had managed to hit their engine system with a well-aimed phaser burst and the frigate had fallen into Kal-Ap-Ton’s gravity well to find their end under the increasing pressure.
As she watched the sudden burst of light on the viewscreen that signaled the demise of the Romulan ship, Ben Tucker’s voice sounded from the comm-system.
“Bridge,
this is engineering. Aft shields are back on line and holding at 65 percent. I
am afraid that’s the best I can offer you right now.”
Tarin pressed a button on her console. “Thanks Ben, that should be sufficient.” The smile that showed on her face was quite sincere as she added: “One of these days you will have to tell me how you did this.”
She deactivated the comm before Ben had a chance to answer her.
“Helm, new heading 112, mark Zero Eight Zero.”
As the Valkyrie started to climb out off the planet’s atmosphere Captain Veal concentrated on the last stage of the plan, but her thoughts were interrupted before she could give her final orders.
“Captain!”
It was Lieutenant O’Shea who addressed her. Since Commander Westmore had been transported to sickbay she had taken over the job of monitoring comm traffic.
“Most of the fleet is withdrawing as ordered, but the Exeter is still engaging the Romulans!”
Tarin wished she had had the opportunity to explain her tactic to the Federation fleet, but the risk of the Romulans intercepting the transmission had been too high. Now she had to choose between the safety of Vulcan and the Exeter. But, as Commander Enikal would have pointed out, Captain Tarkington had made that choice for her.
“Contact the Exeter and repeat the order to withdraw.” Now that the rest of the fleet was moving off she had no time to wait. Any second the Romulans would recognize that the fleet wasn’t merely regrouping and then they would move off their current position. It was now or never.
“Helm, accelerate to full impulse.”
“Commander Enikal, acquire the target and stand ready to fire phasers and torpedoes on my mark.”
*
* * * *
Captain Tarkington shoved several crewmembers out off his way as he raced for the lifeboat.
He jumped into the small vessel that was his only hope for survival and hit the emergency jettison button.
‘We will see each other again,’ he thought as the small capsule shot away from his doomed ship, ‘and when that happens I will be ready for you Captain Veal!’
*
* * * *
The Valkyrie burst from the gas giant’s atmosphere, trailing a tail of blue-white gas behind her as she raced towards the forth moon of Kal-Ap-Ton.
“Fire phasers!”
The bright orange beams dug into the shafts left by Vulcan miners over a century ago and a deep cleft appeared in the small moon’s crust.
“Quantum torpedoes… Now!”
Twelve bright specks of light shot away from the Valkyrie as the ship turned on a new heading.
Each
torpedo exploded deeper and deeper inside the moon and suddenly the cold,
lifeless ball of rock ceased to exist as it turned into a rapidly expanding
cloud of asteroids.
A tremendous blow shook the Valkyrie, as fragments of the shattered moon caught up with the still accelerating ship and hit her aft shields, but as Tarin picked herself off the floor she knew they would survive. The shields had protected them from the worst and now the Valkyrie accelerated further and further away from the spreading cloud of rocks.
The
Romulan ships weren’t so lucky. Before they could get away most of the
invasion fleet was engulfed in the cataclysm the Valkyrie had triggered.
Shields failed under the constant bombardment and armored hulls were torn open like tinfoil by giant shards of rock.
In a matter of seconds the fleet of warships vanished from the Valkyrie’s sensors, as the face of the Vulcanis system was changed forever.
“We have won!” Dar Enikal exclaimed, as he watched the few surviving Warbirds set a course for the Romulan border and go to warp.
“Yes, I guess we did,” Tarin softly replied.
As the Valkyrie swung around she watched the viewscreen. Already the gas giant’s gravity started to force the dust and debris into an orbit around Vulcanis V.
“Moira, tell the fleet to start looking for survivors.”
“Rishana, program a standard search pattern, one-quarter impulse. Engage when ready.”
Lieutenant
Hagen complied with the Captain’s orders and then looked over her shoulder.
“You know what they will be calling this?” She pointed at the asteroids on the viewscreen. “The Valkyrie belt.”
“Let’s hope someone can come up with a more solemn name for this graveyard,” Captain Veal replied.
Rishana Hagen turned towards the helm control again. For the first time since the Chaos War she was content.
Maybe Captain Veal would be right about the name. Since coming aboard, Rishana’s premonitions had become less dark and less reliable and she had started to think that the Valkyrie wasn’t part of any kind of pre-ordained fate.
‘On this ship we make our own destiny.’
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5