I get to conquer the Federation (SW and ST Crossover/SI)
- Thread starter Jaenera Targaryen
- Start date
Chapter 8
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
“More enemy ships dropping out of quantum slipstream, admiral.” Matsuda replied. “Approximately forty thousand kilometers from the planet. I can’t get precise numbers, not with all the jamming and battle debris, but I’d say they number at most a few hundred.”
“…how many ships do we have left?” Shanthi asked after a moment.
“Out of an estimated one thousand ships at the start of the battle, we’re down to about five hundred, give or take a few dozen plus or minus.” Matsuda replied. “And half of those are in no condition to continue battle.”
“…bring up tactical.” Shanthi ordered after another moment. She then spent several more moments studying the tactical display, and then shook her head. “The Imperial Fleet is englobing us. Unless reinforcements arrive soon, we’ll either be surrounded, or forced to withdraw to low orbit.”
“The Second and Third Fleets should be arriving within the next five hours, admiral.” Matsuda replied.
“By then we’d be dead and the enemy either gone or bombarding Earth to slag.” Shanthi said.
“Admiral…maybe…maybe we should withdraw to low orbit then?” Matsuda asked, before holding up his hands to urge the admiral to hear him out. “Yes, I know if we do that, we’d be all but literally fighting with our backs against the wall. Damaged ships would have little chance to withdraw from the battlefield, and at heavy risk of being dragged in by the planet’s gravity well and into the atmosphere. But those restrictions apply to the enemy as well, even more so given the larger size of their capital ships. And we’ll have the orbital defenses to back us up as well.”
“Maybe enough to hold out until reinforcements arrive?” Shanthi asked.
“Yes.” Matsuda said with a nod.
Shanthi briefly regarded the tactical display in silence, struggling the urge to lash out as she saw ships winking out with every passing minute as they were destroyed or forced to retreat. “It’s not a bad idea.” She said. “But I’m still concerned about the prospect of stray fire hitting the planet behind us.”
“I agree that’s a major concern,” Matsuda began. “But if we stay and fight here in high orbit, we’ll be wiped out in less than an hour. And then the enemy will be able to bombard Earth with impunity. I…I apologize, if this comes out as unworthy of a Starfleet officer, but…”
“…we need to pick our poisons, huh?” Shanthi interrupted. “Yes…I hate to admit it, but if it’s to keep Earth from getting bombarded, letting a few stray shots hit the planet is a small price to pay.”
Matsuda said nothing, and after a moment, Shanthi gave him a measuring gaze. After a moment, she nodded. “No matter the reasoning we use though,” she said, while working on her console. “It’s a line of thinking inappropriate for Starfleet officers. What is this war doing to us?”
Again, Matsuda stayed silent, while Shanthi began giving new orders. “This withdrawal will have to be conducted properly,” she firmly said. “Or those Star Destroyers will tear us to pieces.”
Tapping her console, she highlighted a portion of the Imperial Fleet’s right wing. “The enemy is withdrawing this formation from the battle.” She said. “That formation was their vanguard, and continued to fight as part of their battle line after the rest of fleet jumped in. Most likely, as an obvious weakness to draw us in and catch us in a crossfire between their center and the rest of their right wing.”
“And now the reinforcements are replacing them on the field.” Matsuda said with a nod. “But like our planned withdrawal, replacing formations on the field has to be done carefully.”
“And we’ll throw their care to hell and back.” Shanthi said. “We’ll concentrate fire on that section of the line, and tear it open. And while the enemy is trying to patch it, we’ll fall back.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Matsuda said, hurrying to relay her orders.
Shanthi settled back in her seat, grimly watching the battle continue. And then she noticed something, something that had her sitting up in alarm. “Lieutenant Anderson,” she began. “What are those outlying Imperial ships deliberately moving around the battlefield doing?”
The sensor officer immediately looked into the matter. “…I’m not sure, admiral.” He began almost a minute later. “Most of them are ships we’ve seen before: Vindicators along with CR90s and Nebulon-Bs. But the ships they’re escorting…we’ve never seen them before. However, based on computer simulations, they’re moving across the battlefield as though to cover all vectors of approach.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Matsuda immediately said.
“Neither do I.” Shanthi said. “Get me Picard.”
Immediately, Picard’s face appeared on the screen, the image shot through with static. “Jean-Luc,” Shanthi began. “I don’t know what the Empire is planning with those new arrivals, and I don’t know what to find out. Take out the squadron the furthest away, and work your way through. Just disrupting their formation is enough for starters, as they do seem to be trying to cover the battlefield’s approach vectors.”
“Under…admiral…handle it. Picard out.”
As Picard’s image winked out, Shanthi could only hope she was doing the right thing. Targaryen was proving to be a very dangerous enemy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Ensign Perim,” Picard ordered his helm officer. “Bring us to the rear of the enemy squadron furthest from the orbital battle. Take us in at Warp One. Mister Worf, standby on phasers and quantum torpedoes.”
“Yes, sir.” Lieutenant-Commander Worf said at the tactical station.
“Engage.” Picard said with a gesture.
From their position in interplanetary space, the USS Enterprise-E made a pinpoint warp jump to the rear of an Imperial squadron furthest from the orbital battle. And it wasn’t alone. Two Nebula Class Starships served as the Enterprise-E’s vanguards, while screening its flanks and rear were four Akira Class Starships. Another ten Excelsior Class Starships added depth to the formation.
Despite being caught by surprise, the Imperial escorts moved quickly in response to the unexpected arrival of the Enterprise-E and her small flotilla. The Nebulon-Bs were the first to respond, the quartet of frigates bringing their turbolasers to bear and launching suppressing shots to buy time for the rest of the escort force to redeploy.
The Federation vessels rolled and wove around the frigates’ fire, and returned fire with phasers and photon torpedoes. Two of the frigates went down quickly, their shields collapsing before photon torpedoes blew them apart.
A third frigate was literally blown in half as a well-placed quantum torpedo from the Enterprise-E shattered the bridge linking the ship’s forward hull with the engine section to the rear. Precise fire from an Akira’s phasers destroyed the bridge and crippled the engines of the fourth frigate, and then the Starfleet vessels were flying past.
By now CR90s were in position to attack, and opened fire with turbolasers. Sheer weight of fire sent an Excelsior reeling, plasma venting from multiple hull breaches. Quantum torpedoes flashed from the Enterprise-E, and destroyed three CR90s, evening the score.
The two Vindicators present rolled along their x-axes, allowing them to bring all their dorsal turbolasers to bear. At the same time, they launched all their fighters, which flew away a good distance before coming around to attack from above and below, in a classic Marg Sabl maneuver.
On the bridge of the Enterprise-E though, all attention was on Lieutenant-Commander Data, as he noticed and ran scans on a series of spheres bulging out from the hull of the two Imperial vessels being escorted by the ships they were fighting. “…I am uncertain of the exact mechanics of their operation,” the android was saying. “But I believe when active those ships are able to generate a simulated gravity field.”
“A simulated gravity field?” Commander William Riker echoed in confusion. “Why would they want to deploy a simulated gravity field?”
Data worked at his station with a frown on his face. “Based on rough estimates,” he began after a few moments. “I suspect the simulated gravity field’s gravimetric flux shear would inhibit the formation of a warp field...or agitating the quantum barrier, prevent travel by warp or quantum slipstream respectively.”
“That doesn’t really answer the question though.” Counsellor Dianna Troi said. “Why would they want to do that?”
Alarmed beeping from the station drew their attention, the alarmed note of Data’s voice even more so. “The Imperial Fleet has deployed their simulated gravity field.” He said.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Daala stared out through the transparisteel windows on the command deck of her flagship, the Victory Class Star Destroyer Revenge. Through the windows, hyperspace swirled in an azure vortex, hypnotic and strangely-soothing, for all the tales told about so-called hyperspace madness.
Then blinking, she turned to her adjutant, Lieutenant Svent Krandor, who was visibly-fidgeting while also staring through the command deck’s windows. “Don’t be so anxious, lieutenant.” Daala said. “Admiral Targaryen’s a sharp commander, someone who doesn’t take risks without reason or a fair chance of success. Besides, you saw the simulations the same way I did. This will work.”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Krandor began. “Simulations are one thing. Reality is something else entirely. At the very least, we should have done at least one live test.”
Daala hummed as she gave her adjutant’s word fair consideration. His concerns might seem alarmist, defeatist even, but part of a good staff officer’s duty was to play the role of a devil’s advocate when given difficult or dangerous missions and orders. And he did have a point. Simulations and reality were completely different things.
“…if it fails, then we die.” Daala finally said. “But in that case, take comfort in knowing that Admiral Targaryen will face a court-martial for the loss of our ships and crews. And if she succeeds…well, we’ll be remembered as being the first to actually perform what may be called the Targaryen Gambit.”
“…as you say, ma’am.”
Daala nodded, and then turned back out to the swirls of hyperspace beyond the command deck’s windows. The minutes ticked by, the young woman letting herself be carried away by the hypnotic patterns of hyperspace…
…and it was with a faint hint of regret that she saw starlines stretch out to infinity before them, as they reverted back into real space.
And there before them, hanging in the void and dominating their point of view, was the blue orb of the Federation capital planet. Their flotilla had emerged from hyperspace exactly as the simulations predicted they would, in low orbit, and in a perfect position to conduct a precision orbital strike.
“…I don’t believe it.” Krandor softly said, eyes wide and voice filled with awe.
“Believe it.” Daala said with a nod and a smile. “Congratulations, Admiral Targaryen: The Targaryen Gambit has succeeded.”
Then turning to face the bridge, Daala raised her voice, and gave the order. “PREPARE TO BROADSIDE!” she roared.
Immediately the crew sprang into action, turbolaser batteries and concussion missile banks across the Revenge and her sister ship, the Terror, turning and opening as they prepared to fire. Capacitors hummed as energy was funneled from battery generators and the Star Destroyers’ main reactors alike, while metal clinked and hissed as concussion missiles were loaded into launch tubes.
“Target locked: Earth, United Federation of Planets’ capital, San Francisco.” The gunnery officer on the Revenge said. “All turbolaser batteries and missile banks standing by.”
“Enemy fighters and corvettes inbound.” Another officer warned.
“Have our escorts hold them off, and launch fighters.” Daala responded. “Aren’t there already Imperial fighter wings in this area of space?”
“…confirmed.” an officer replied after a moment. “Skull, Angel, and Solar Squadrons already moving to intercept.”
“Are we ready to commence bombardment?” Daala asked the bridge gunnery officer.
“Standing by, admiral.” The man replied.
“Then fire.”
“Acknowledged: commence bombardment.”
Within moments, Revenge and Terror unleashed a planet-scouring onslaught of turbolaser blasts and concussion missiles. What would normally have been reserved for a continental-scale bombardment as part of a Base Delta Zero operation was instead focused on a single city-sized target.
San Francisco was far from defenseless, featuring powerful deflector shields meant to protect against orbital bombardment. They covered not just the city and its suburbs, but even part of the surrounding countryside. There were environmentally-sealed bunkers for the civilians, loaded with enough food and emergency equipment to let them hold out for months if needed. And there were also torpedo launchers and phaser batteries, with enough range to strike into low orbit and beyond if needed.
But between the heavy jamming, the debris of the orbital battle, the battle itself, and the artificial mass shadow caused by the interdictors, targeting sensors and computers alike were left blind. Attempts to fire manually failed, the Starfleet gunners unable to override the safeties built into their systems. As the Imperial Fleet began its bombardment, the defense operators rerouted power from the weapon systems to the shields in a desperate effort to protect the city.
Turbolaser blasts tore through the upper atmosphere, accompanied by concussion missiles. Already, the former’s interactions with atmospheric molecules left trace amounts of heavy and radioactive byproducts in their wake. And then they struck against the deflector shield, sending waves of energy and radiation splattering across the atmosphere and the surrounding countryside.
Then they struck again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Every impact pumped energy and radiation into the atmosphere and surrounding land, the heat bloom alone throwing the regional if not the whole planetary weather system into chaos. But the waves of energy and radiation caused by the impacts were like those found in particle colliders, atmospheric molecules and atoms colliding, splitting, and fusing in micro-nuclear reactions that produced more heat, more radiation, and radioactive byproducts that were scattered in increasing amounts and distances.
And then the shield failed.
Turbolaser blasts and concussion missiles slammed into the heart of San Fransisco. Glass, stone, and metal melted and flowed like water, or simply turned into vapor. The force of repeated impacts tore kilometers deep into the planet’s crust, evacuees screaming as their shelters collapsed around them, the lucky ones incinerated in an instant by direct hits from the turbolasers.
And still the bombardment continued, for over four minutes straight, turning nearly two hundred square kilometers of ground and water into a smoke and vapor-clouded hellscape of blackened and molten earth. Starfleet Headquarters was completely-obliterated, Admiral Paris and a large number of other senior and flag officers killed inside.
The Federation Council and various embassies were also killed, their hidden bunkers in outlying areas destroyed in the bombardment, unable to transport out as San Francisco’s own shields interfered with their signal. Of the high officials of the Federation, only the president was left alive, his office being half a world away, and indeed conferring with the leaders of United Earth in a secure location even as battle was joined in the skies above.
Not that that mattered to the Empire. Operation Yellow had achieved its end regardless.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Bombardment complete!” Sara said. “Starfleet Headquarters and the Federation capital have been destroyed!”
“Admiral Daala’s status?” I asked.
“Admiral Daala’s Special Attack Force is breaking orbit, and preparing to jump.” Sara replied.
“Have the interdictors drop the interdiction field, and disengage as well.” I said. “Reorganize the fleet, all Star Destroyers are to form into three spearheads, and advance at maximum battle speed. We’ll break through the enemy’s left wing, and jump into hyperspace on the far side of the planet. The rest of the fleet will fall back, and escape hyperspace while we draw the enemy’s fire. Divert power from weapons to shields. Our batteries have their built-in power sources anyway. Recall our attack craft. It’s all on our metal from here on out, and we’ve got plenty!”
“Yes, ma’am!” Sara said before rushing off to relay my orders. As for myself, I focused on the blue globe of the Earth, and though obscured by the battle, I could see the spreading darkness that was the fallout of San Francisco’s destruction spreading across the East Pacific and the western part of North America.
“War’s such a dirty business.” I thought. “And we’re still only just getting started…”
I broke out of my thoughts as alarms sounded from the tactical display. “What’s happened?” I demanded.
“An enemy cruiser conducted a pinpoint light-speed jump and attacked Terror and Revenge.” Torrhen replied.
“Status?” I demanded.
“It launched high-speed torpedo volleys, and inflicted moderate damage on Revenge.” Torrhen replied. “The Federation cruiser however has taken several hits from turbolasers and concussion missiles. It’s dead in the water.”
“Leave it.” I said, idly noting said cruiser was actually the Enterprise-E. “We have no time to deal with stragglers. Operation Yellow is complete, and I see no need to waste any time. In fact…admiral, send the order. Commence Operation Typhoon immediately.”
“Yes, admiral.” Torrhen said before hurrying off to relay my orders. Meanwhile, I stared at the icon that represented the Enterprise-E, and realized I was essentially leaving them for dead. Or, to look at it from another perspective, they weren’t worth killing.
And man, if anything could make Worf especially angry, it’s probably that notion.
Picard was also probably furious at the damage dealt to his beloved ship, probably as furious as he was when the Borg boarded his ship. It took a lot of effort not to start cracking up at the faint memory of a 21st Century woman comparing him to Captain Ahab, followed by Picard throwing things around while screaming his head off about not losing his ship to the Borg.
…here’s to hoping that the jolly old man didn’t get a stroke after his ship got left dead in the water this time around.
Though I’m sure that…uh, whatever his name, the chief engineer, Louis or something, could get the Enterprise-E back up and running in a few hours. Especially with that droid friend of his, Lore or Data or Logic or something, helping him out.
And then I blinked as Sara stepped up next to me. “The orders have been given, ma’am.” She said.
I nodded. “I can see that.” I said, gesturing at the tactical display, where the fleet’s Star Destroyers were forming up into a trio of wedges than then partially-overlapped into a single spearhead. All the while, the fleet’s lighter vessels were falling back, jumping to hyperspace in squadrons just as the Special Attack Force and the interdictors had already done so.
And then Torrhen was arriving as well. “The word is given.” He said. “Typhoon.”
“Excellent,” I said, adjusting the tactical display to focus on the Moon, and the Lacus Somniorum in particular, where the biggest antimatter production and storage facility in the Sol System was located at.
That’ll make for one, very big explosion.
“…how many ships do we have left?” Shanthi asked after a moment.
“Out of an estimated one thousand ships at the start of the battle, we’re down to about five hundred, give or take a few dozen plus or minus.” Matsuda replied. “And half of those are in no condition to continue battle.”
“…bring up tactical.” Shanthi ordered after another moment. She then spent several more moments studying the tactical display, and then shook her head. “The Imperial Fleet is englobing us. Unless reinforcements arrive soon, we’ll either be surrounded, or forced to withdraw to low orbit.”
“The Second and Third Fleets should be arriving within the next five hours, admiral.” Matsuda replied.
“By then we’d be dead and the enemy either gone or bombarding Earth to slag.” Shanthi said.
“Admiral…maybe…maybe we should withdraw to low orbit then?” Matsuda asked, before holding up his hands to urge the admiral to hear him out. “Yes, I know if we do that, we’d be all but literally fighting with our backs against the wall. Damaged ships would have little chance to withdraw from the battlefield, and at heavy risk of being dragged in by the planet’s gravity well and into the atmosphere. But those restrictions apply to the enemy as well, even more so given the larger size of their capital ships. And we’ll have the orbital defenses to back us up as well.”
“Maybe enough to hold out until reinforcements arrive?” Shanthi asked.
“Yes.” Matsuda said with a nod.
Shanthi briefly regarded the tactical display in silence, struggling the urge to lash out as she saw ships winking out with every passing minute as they were destroyed or forced to retreat. “It’s not a bad idea.” She said. “But I’m still concerned about the prospect of stray fire hitting the planet behind us.”
“I agree that’s a major concern,” Matsuda began. “But if we stay and fight here in high orbit, we’ll be wiped out in less than an hour. And then the enemy will be able to bombard Earth with impunity. I…I apologize, if this comes out as unworthy of a Starfleet officer, but…”
“…we need to pick our poisons, huh?” Shanthi interrupted. “Yes…I hate to admit it, but if it’s to keep Earth from getting bombarded, letting a few stray shots hit the planet is a small price to pay.”
Matsuda said nothing, and after a moment, Shanthi gave him a measuring gaze. After a moment, she nodded. “No matter the reasoning we use though,” she said, while working on her console. “It’s a line of thinking inappropriate for Starfleet officers. What is this war doing to us?”
Again, Matsuda stayed silent, while Shanthi began giving new orders. “This withdrawal will have to be conducted properly,” she firmly said. “Or those Star Destroyers will tear us to pieces.”
Tapping her console, she highlighted a portion of the Imperial Fleet’s right wing. “The enemy is withdrawing this formation from the battle.” She said. “That formation was their vanguard, and continued to fight as part of their battle line after the rest of fleet jumped in. Most likely, as an obvious weakness to draw us in and catch us in a crossfire between their center and the rest of their right wing.”
“And now the reinforcements are replacing them on the field.” Matsuda said with a nod. “But like our planned withdrawal, replacing formations on the field has to be done carefully.”
“And we’ll throw their care to hell and back.” Shanthi said. “We’ll concentrate fire on that section of the line, and tear it open. And while the enemy is trying to patch it, we’ll fall back.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Matsuda said, hurrying to relay her orders.
Shanthi settled back in her seat, grimly watching the battle continue. And then she noticed something, something that had her sitting up in alarm. “Lieutenant Anderson,” she began. “What are those outlying Imperial ships deliberately moving around the battlefield doing?”
The sensor officer immediately looked into the matter. “…I’m not sure, admiral.” He began almost a minute later. “Most of them are ships we’ve seen before: Vindicators along with CR90s and Nebulon-Bs. But the ships they’re escorting…we’ve never seen them before. However, based on computer simulations, they’re moving across the battlefield as though to cover all vectors of approach.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Matsuda immediately said.
“Neither do I.” Shanthi said. “Get me Picard.”
Immediately, Picard’s face appeared on the screen, the image shot through with static. “Jean-Luc,” Shanthi began. “I don’t know what the Empire is planning with those new arrivals, and I don’t know what to find out. Take out the squadron the furthest away, and work your way through. Just disrupting their formation is enough for starters, as they do seem to be trying to cover the battlefield’s approach vectors.”
“Under…admiral…handle it. Picard out.”
As Picard’s image winked out, Shanthi could only hope she was doing the right thing. Targaryen was proving to be a very dangerous enemy.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Ensign Perim,” Picard ordered his helm officer. “Bring us to the rear of the enemy squadron furthest from the orbital battle. Take us in at Warp One. Mister Worf, standby on phasers and quantum torpedoes.”
“Yes, sir.” Lieutenant-Commander Worf said at the tactical station.
“Engage.” Picard said with a gesture.
From their position in interplanetary space, the USS Enterprise-E made a pinpoint warp jump to the rear of an Imperial squadron furthest from the orbital battle. And it wasn’t alone. Two Nebula Class Starships served as the Enterprise-E’s vanguards, while screening its flanks and rear were four Akira Class Starships. Another ten Excelsior Class Starships added depth to the formation.
Despite being caught by surprise, the Imperial escorts moved quickly in response to the unexpected arrival of the Enterprise-E and her small flotilla. The Nebulon-Bs were the first to respond, the quartet of frigates bringing their turbolasers to bear and launching suppressing shots to buy time for the rest of the escort force to redeploy.
The Federation vessels rolled and wove around the frigates’ fire, and returned fire with phasers and photon torpedoes. Two of the frigates went down quickly, their shields collapsing before photon torpedoes blew them apart.
A third frigate was literally blown in half as a well-placed quantum torpedo from the Enterprise-E shattered the bridge linking the ship’s forward hull with the engine section to the rear. Precise fire from an Akira’s phasers destroyed the bridge and crippled the engines of the fourth frigate, and then the Starfleet vessels were flying past.
By now CR90s were in position to attack, and opened fire with turbolasers. Sheer weight of fire sent an Excelsior reeling, plasma venting from multiple hull breaches. Quantum torpedoes flashed from the Enterprise-E, and destroyed three CR90s, evening the score.
The two Vindicators present rolled along their x-axes, allowing them to bring all their dorsal turbolasers to bear. At the same time, they launched all their fighters, which flew away a good distance before coming around to attack from above and below, in a classic Marg Sabl maneuver.
On the bridge of the Enterprise-E though, all attention was on Lieutenant-Commander Data, as he noticed and ran scans on a series of spheres bulging out from the hull of the two Imperial vessels being escorted by the ships they were fighting. “…I am uncertain of the exact mechanics of their operation,” the android was saying. “But I believe when active those ships are able to generate a simulated gravity field.”
“A simulated gravity field?” Commander William Riker echoed in confusion. “Why would they want to deploy a simulated gravity field?”
Data worked at his station with a frown on his face. “Based on rough estimates,” he began after a few moments. “I suspect the simulated gravity field’s gravimetric flux shear would inhibit the formation of a warp field...or agitating the quantum barrier, prevent travel by warp or quantum slipstream respectively.”
“That doesn’t really answer the question though.” Counsellor Dianna Troi said. “Why would they want to do that?”
Alarmed beeping from the station drew their attention, the alarmed note of Data’s voice even more so. “The Imperial Fleet has deployed their simulated gravity field.” He said.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Daala stared out through the transparisteel windows on the command deck of her flagship, the Victory Class Star Destroyer Revenge. Through the windows, hyperspace swirled in an azure vortex, hypnotic and strangely-soothing, for all the tales told about so-called hyperspace madness.
Then blinking, she turned to her adjutant, Lieutenant Svent Krandor, who was visibly-fidgeting while also staring through the command deck’s windows. “Don’t be so anxious, lieutenant.” Daala said. “Admiral Targaryen’s a sharp commander, someone who doesn’t take risks without reason or a fair chance of success. Besides, you saw the simulations the same way I did. This will work.”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Krandor began. “Simulations are one thing. Reality is something else entirely. At the very least, we should have done at least one live test.”
Daala hummed as she gave her adjutant’s word fair consideration. His concerns might seem alarmist, defeatist even, but part of a good staff officer’s duty was to play the role of a devil’s advocate when given difficult or dangerous missions and orders. And he did have a point. Simulations and reality were completely different things.
“…if it fails, then we die.” Daala finally said. “But in that case, take comfort in knowing that Admiral Targaryen will face a court-martial for the loss of our ships and crews. And if she succeeds…well, we’ll be remembered as being the first to actually perform what may be called the Targaryen Gambit.”
“…as you say, ma’am.”
Daala nodded, and then turned back out to the swirls of hyperspace beyond the command deck’s windows. The minutes ticked by, the young woman letting herself be carried away by the hypnotic patterns of hyperspace…
…and it was with a faint hint of regret that she saw starlines stretch out to infinity before them, as they reverted back into real space.
And there before them, hanging in the void and dominating their point of view, was the blue orb of the Federation capital planet. Their flotilla had emerged from hyperspace exactly as the simulations predicted they would, in low orbit, and in a perfect position to conduct a precision orbital strike.
“…I don’t believe it.” Krandor softly said, eyes wide and voice filled with awe.
“Believe it.” Daala said with a nod and a smile. “Congratulations, Admiral Targaryen: The Targaryen Gambit has succeeded.”
Then turning to face the bridge, Daala raised her voice, and gave the order. “PREPARE TO BROADSIDE!” she roared.
Immediately the crew sprang into action, turbolaser batteries and concussion missile banks across the Revenge and her sister ship, the Terror, turning and opening as they prepared to fire. Capacitors hummed as energy was funneled from battery generators and the Star Destroyers’ main reactors alike, while metal clinked and hissed as concussion missiles were loaded into launch tubes.
“Target locked: Earth, United Federation of Planets’ capital, San Francisco.” The gunnery officer on the Revenge said. “All turbolaser batteries and missile banks standing by.”
“Enemy fighters and corvettes inbound.” Another officer warned.
“Have our escorts hold them off, and launch fighters.” Daala responded. “Aren’t there already Imperial fighter wings in this area of space?”
“…confirmed.” an officer replied after a moment. “Skull, Angel, and Solar Squadrons already moving to intercept.”
“Are we ready to commence bombardment?” Daala asked the bridge gunnery officer.
“Standing by, admiral.” The man replied.
“Then fire.”
“Acknowledged: commence bombardment.”
Within moments, Revenge and Terror unleashed a planet-scouring onslaught of turbolaser blasts and concussion missiles. What would normally have been reserved for a continental-scale bombardment as part of a Base Delta Zero operation was instead focused on a single city-sized target.
San Francisco was far from defenseless, featuring powerful deflector shields meant to protect against orbital bombardment. They covered not just the city and its suburbs, but even part of the surrounding countryside. There were environmentally-sealed bunkers for the civilians, loaded with enough food and emergency equipment to let them hold out for months if needed. And there were also torpedo launchers and phaser batteries, with enough range to strike into low orbit and beyond if needed.
But between the heavy jamming, the debris of the orbital battle, the battle itself, and the artificial mass shadow caused by the interdictors, targeting sensors and computers alike were left blind. Attempts to fire manually failed, the Starfleet gunners unable to override the safeties built into their systems. As the Imperial Fleet began its bombardment, the defense operators rerouted power from the weapon systems to the shields in a desperate effort to protect the city.
Turbolaser blasts tore through the upper atmosphere, accompanied by concussion missiles. Already, the former’s interactions with atmospheric molecules left trace amounts of heavy and radioactive byproducts in their wake. And then they struck against the deflector shield, sending waves of energy and radiation splattering across the atmosphere and the surrounding countryside.
Then they struck again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Every impact pumped energy and radiation into the atmosphere and surrounding land, the heat bloom alone throwing the regional if not the whole planetary weather system into chaos. But the waves of energy and radiation caused by the impacts were like those found in particle colliders, atmospheric molecules and atoms colliding, splitting, and fusing in micro-nuclear reactions that produced more heat, more radiation, and radioactive byproducts that were scattered in increasing amounts and distances.
And then the shield failed.
Turbolaser blasts and concussion missiles slammed into the heart of San Fransisco. Glass, stone, and metal melted and flowed like water, or simply turned into vapor. The force of repeated impacts tore kilometers deep into the planet’s crust, evacuees screaming as their shelters collapsed around them, the lucky ones incinerated in an instant by direct hits from the turbolasers.
And still the bombardment continued, for over four minutes straight, turning nearly two hundred square kilometers of ground and water into a smoke and vapor-clouded hellscape of blackened and molten earth. Starfleet Headquarters was completely-obliterated, Admiral Paris and a large number of other senior and flag officers killed inside.
The Federation Council and various embassies were also killed, their hidden bunkers in outlying areas destroyed in the bombardment, unable to transport out as San Francisco’s own shields interfered with their signal. Of the high officials of the Federation, only the president was left alive, his office being half a world away, and indeed conferring with the leaders of United Earth in a secure location even as battle was joined in the skies above.
Not that that mattered to the Empire. Operation Yellow had achieved its end regardless.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Bombardment complete!” Sara said. “Starfleet Headquarters and the Federation capital have been destroyed!”
“Admiral Daala’s status?” I asked.
“Admiral Daala’s Special Attack Force is breaking orbit, and preparing to jump.” Sara replied.
“Have the interdictors drop the interdiction field, and disengage as well.” I said. “Reorganize the fleet, all Star Destroyers are to form into three spearheads, and advance at maximum battle speed. We’ll break through the enemy’s left wing, and jump into hyperspace on the far side of the planet. The rest of the fleet will fall back, and escape hyperspace while we draw the enemy’s fire. Divert power from weapons to shields. Our batteries have their built-in power sources anyway. Recall our attack craft. It’s all on our metal from here on out, and we’ve got plenty!”
“Yes, ma’am!” Sara said before rushing off to relay my orders. As for myself, I focused on the blue globe of the Earth, and though obscured by the battle, I could see the spreading darkness that was the fallout of San Francisco’s destruction spreading across the East Pacific and the western part of North America.
“War’s such a dirty business.” I thought. “And we’re still only just getting started…”
I broke out of my thoughts as alarms sounded from the tactical display. “What’s happened?” I demanded.
“An enemy cruiser conducted a pinpoint light-speed jump and attacked Terror and Revenge.” Torrhen replied.
“Status?” I demanded.
“It launched high-speed torpedo volleys, and inflicted moderate damage on Revenge.” Torrhen replied. “The Federation cruiser however has taken several hits from turbolasers and concussion missiles. It’s dead in the water.”
“Leave it.” I said, idly noting said cruiser was actually the Enterprise-E. “We have no time to deal with stragglers. Operation Yellow is complete, and I see no need to waste any time. In fact…admiral, send the order. Commence Operation Typhoon immediately.”
“Yes, admiral.” Torrhen said before hurrying off to relay my orders. Meanwhile, I stared at the icon that represented the Enterprise-E, and realized I was essentially leaving them for dead. Or, to look at it from another perspective, they weren’t worth killing.
And man, if anything could make Worf especially angry, it’s probably that notion.
Picard was also probably furious at the damage dealt to his beloved ship, probably as furious as he was when the Borg boarded his ship. It took a lot of effort not to start cracking up at the faint memory of a 21st Century woman comparing him to Captain Ahab, followed by Picard throwing things around while screaming his head off about not losing his ship to the Borg.
…here’s to hoping that the jolly old man didn’t get a stroke after his ship got left dead in the water this time around.
Though I’m sure that…uh, whatever his name, the chief engineer, Louis or something, could get the Enterprise-E back up and running in a few hours. Especially with that droid friend of his, Lore or Data or Logic or something, helping him out.
And then I blinked as Sara stepped up next to me. “The orders have been given, ma’am.” She said.
I nodded. “I can see that.” I said, gesturing at the tactical display, where the fleet’s Star Destroyers were forming up into a trio of wedges than then partially-overlapped into a single spearhead. All the while, the fleet’s lighter vessels were falling back, jumping to hyperspace in squadrons just as the Special Attack Force and the interdictors had already done so.
And then Torrhen was arriving as well. “The word is given.” He said. “Typhoon.”
“Excellent,” I said, adjusting the tactical display to focus on the Moon, and the Lacus Somniorum in particular, where the biggest antimatter production and storage facility in the Sol System was located at.
That’ll make for one, very big explosion.
Yinko
Well-known member
So, if I'm understanding this right, normally a ship has to drop out of hyperspace pretty far from the gravity-well of a planet and flow-boat it the rest of the way, but with an interdictor you can create a sharp well that forces them out of hyperspace at an exact point of your choosing. The only downside being that you need to have interdictors in system already, which only makes sense as they were designed for making blockades, not doing pinpoint maneuvers.
PeliusAnar
Well-known member
Hyperspace jumps are great for long distance, but are terrible at small or pin point jumps. It takes warp drive a century to cross the galaxy, hyperdrive can do it in a week for known lanes to a few years if charting a new course. Thrawn was the one to originally come up with the idea. The thought behind the tactic was to allow pinpoint long range jumps into precise positions to achieve a massive tactical advantage.
ConfusedCanadian
Well-known member
Ah a successful operation by the Empire well down I'm sure Naval Academy's in the Empire will be using this Battle as a learning tool for students in the years to come. Can't help but wonder how the Federation will counterattack after all they have to at least try to regain the initiative.
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
I'm sure COMPNOR would rather that not happen, since their party line is that women should just shut up and do what they're told. Too bad for them, the SI is a woman who has the Emperor's backing
A lesson, no doubt, from Darth Sidious to Crueya Vandron, not to be so full of himself
D
Deleted member 88
Guest
I sort of get the impression Human High Culture places a high value on a sort of refined masculine ideal. Wilhuff Tarkin being both highly cultured and of course the ideal of the intrepid human ruler and conqueror.
This to play head canon is something that goes back to ancient human culture and was paradoxically reinforced by the Pius Dea.
This to play head canon is something that goes back to ancient human culture and was paradoxically reinforced by the Pius Dea.
Excellent,” I said, adjusting the tactical display to focus on the Moon, and the Lacus Somniorum in particular, where the biggest antimatter production and storage facility in the Sol System was located at.
That’ll make for one, very big explosion.
Damn...taking a shot straight to the strategic nuts.
The psychological damage from such an attack will be huge.
Upside for the Federation is that the glacially slow bureaucracy was just heavily trimmed back.
That’ll make for one, very big explosion.
Damn...taking a shot straight to the strategic nuts.
The psychological damage from such an attack will be huge.
Upside for the Federation is that the glacially slow bureaucracy was just heavily trimmed back.
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
As mentioned in a previous chapter's staff meeting, Operation Typhoon's goal is to smash the Federation's logistics and military infrastructure.
On another note, my fingers are still crossed that someone will eventually realize the other historical joke I've inserted into the story
On another note, my fingers are still crossed that someone will eventually realize the other historical joke I've inserted into the story
Hyperdrive is highly affected by gravity and a course needs to be calculated before one enters hyperdrive as there is no real way to navigate while in Hyperspace.
That means that before you activate the Hyperdrive you need to calculate the gravity fields between your current location and your destination and then use that information to decide course and how long you will remain in hyper.
A sufficiently strong bit of gravity can pull a ship out of hyper, and potentially do so destructively as it pulls parts of the ship out of hyper before other parts.
Microjumps have the advantage of the ships sensors actually being able to detect all of the relevant gravity sources in the system and figure out a course but they have the disadvantage that the area covered is so short that you basically need to stutter the hyperdrive. Imagine going from Earth to Mars at a million c, you would need to enter and leave hyperspace in less than a second (actually under 200 micro-seconds).
Interdictors work by creating a gravity source in a given area strong enough to pull a ship out of hyper but not strong enough to destroy the ship.
In this story, what was probably done was to create the gravity well where it was desired and then just have the ships go to hyper along a route that insured they would intersect with that point. This negates the need to cycle the hyperdrive at all (the interdictor takes care of the exiting hyperspace bit).
Question regarding the antimatter production facility on the moon. If it goes boom...will Earth begin to see the formation of rings?
Will it be big enough to shatter the moon, break it into pieces, or just act like a shaped charges that alters the moon's orbit?
Will it be big enough to shatter the moon, break it into pieces, or just act like a shaped charges that alters the moon's orbit?
Chapter 9
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
Turbolaser blasts shattered an Akira’s shields, before another volley tore the ship apart. Moments later and it exploded in a blinding flash of light, as containment failed and antimatter freely reacted with the ship’s hull and other components.
The Imperial Fleet surged forward at maximum battle speed, easily clearing high orbit. Well, at this point it was just the Star Destroyers left, the smaller and lighter vessels having since jumped into hyperspace on my orders. We held the rearguard, and once the rest of the fleet had retreated, we broke through the enemy left wing and advanced towards open, interplanetary space.
Not without interference, of course. Most of what was left of Starfleet’s Home Fleet had disengaged and rushed towards low orbit, aiming to provide assistance and conduct rescue operations for the planet below, as a radioactive cloud spread over most of North America.
…
…
…
…
…
A part of me, rooted in the fading memories of my past life, felt regret and horror at that. Millions of people would have been killed by the bombardment alone, and millions, if not tens of millions more would follow as radioactive fallout spread across North America. This would leave a scar on the Human, or at least Terran psyche, for generations to come. Earth itself had been attacked, and in a way that would leave a physical scar that would last for thousands of years – assuming they didn’t perform geological engineering to fix it – in the form of the radioactive crater that had once been San Francisco and its environs.
It wouldn’t be the only scar either. Soon stories would be circulating of plants and animals, whether crops and livestock or flora and fauna in the wild, mutating and fatally falling ill from radiation sickness, followed by people soon after. And while the Federation’s medical technology was incredibly-advanced, at least on par with the Empire’s own, it would certainly struggle if not more so with the scale of the disaster I’d unleashed on the Earth.
Then the numbers would come, of the dead, injured, and missing, opening the psychological wound even wider, and darkening the resulting scar. Whether they liked it or not, the result of such physical and psychological scars could only be inevitable: Humanity…the Federation, must change.
…
…
…
…
…
Or not. The Eugenics Wars…World War III and the post-atomic horror…the Xindi and Romulan Wars…the Cold War between the Federation and the Klingon Empire…the Borg Invasions and then the Dominion War…
…through it all, they still refused to change. The nobility of their ideals aside, the Federation – Humanity – still stubbornly insisted on looking at the world and people around them, to say nothing of the stars above, with rose-colored glasses. I doubt Q wanted them to replace those glasses with jade-colored ones instead, but I was almost certain he wanted them to take those glasses off and just see.
See and live…
…I’m still not sure what he meant by the latter, but I was fairly certain about the former. And from the look and sound of things, it needed the Federation being passed through the crucible that was conquest by the Empire.
At the thought, a memory stirred from my past life, just a series of words from a novel whose name and characters I could no longer remember. What a shame…the words…struck a chord…
We’re about to pass through the crucible, but we’ll come out on the other side…rising from our own ashes…changed…
I closed my eyes, and sighing, pinched the bridge of my nose. I’m still a long way away from conquering the Federation, and this was only the first taste of the crucible’s fire, a fire that would forge a new, stronger Humanity.
Green lances burned through space, dozens of Star Destroyers of various classes raining fire at distances nearly a hundred thousand kilometers out. Explosions blossomed above the Earth’s atmosphere, as multiple defense stations exploded nearly at the same times. They might be able to stand up against Y-Wings, but against Star Destroyers?
Not a chance.
Then there was a blinding flash, enough to make me and Sara turn away, shielding our eyes. “What the hell was that?” I demanded.
Sara immediately checked the tactical display. “…it appears that the low orbit docks have been destroyed.” She said. “The light was most likely the result of a runaway antimatter reaction.”
“…I see…how much longer until the strike force arrives?”
“Estimated time is forty standard seconds.”
I nodded, and narrowed my eyes. Already, those elements of the Home Fleet which had foolishly pursued us were breaking off, rushing back to orbit to assist crippled vessels which had retreated earlier in battle, to evacuate burning orbitals and drifting hulks, and of course, to pick up escape pods.
As for my core destroyer force, well, a number of ships had suffered serious damage, mostly Venators and some Victories, but no Imperials. I’d also lost only one Star Destroyer, the Venator Class Black Prince, which had been unlucky enough to take salvoes of quantum torpedoes in its hangar. The halves of said Star Destroyer were still hanging in orbit, and a potential treasure throve of intelligence and engineering data…
…except the Federation and United Earth would soon have bigger problems on their hands to go rooting about a wreck. A wreck that was about to become radioactive scrap too. Good thing my commanders and I had taken the trouble of picking up as many escape pods from our ships as we could.
I would not want to be in one of them when Typhoon struck as fast and fierce as its name.
“All ships have cleared the Earth’s gravitational influence.” Sara said.
I nodded, and silently looked through the bridge windows as I faintly heard the captain give the order. Then the starlines were stretching out to infinity, and the fleet jumped into hyperspace.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“The enemy fleet has jumped into the quantum slipstream.” Anderson said, and Shanthi slumped into her seat with a weary sigh.
“How many?” she asked.
Matsuda worked away at his console for several seconds. “Out of one thousand and eighty-two ships at the start of the battle,” he began. “Only two hundred and sixteen ships are left space-worthy. And thinking hopefully, only half of those are either combat-worthy or can be restored to combat readiness.”
“And realistically-thinking?”
“…only a third, ma’am.”
Shanthi shook her head. “Damn it…” she said, and then grit her teeth as she saw the radioactive cloud blotting out most of North America. “…damn it…GOD DAMN IT!”
With the battle over, Shanthi finally allowed her control to slip, and slammed a fist against her seat’s armrest. “We’re all but annihilated!” she spat. “The Home Fleet’s gone, and we barely managed to scratch the enemy’s battleship core! We…!”
Anything more was interrupted as alarms began to sound. “What’s happening?” Matsuda demanded.
“Imperial warships have jumped into the Earth-Moon System.” Anderson replied. “Reading…four Vindicator Class Heavy Cruisers, six Carrack Class Light Cruisers, and sixteen CR90 Corvettes. They dropped out of quantum slipstream approximately eighty thousand kilometers from Earth, and proceeding through the system at fifteen thousand kilometers per second.”
“What are they up to now?” Shanthi softly asked before erupting in rage. “What is that damn Targaryen plotting?”
“Enemy fire detected…!” Anderson warned.
“What…?” Shanthi began to say, but was unable to finish as blinding light filled the viewscreen.
Unknown to the Starfleet Fleet Admiral, on dropping out of hyperspace, the fast attack force had immediately began spinning its drives up for an emergency hyperspace jump. Its course had been plotted and followed at maximum speed, carefully set to avoid being caught in the gravitational influence of either the Earth or the Moon.
And its weapons had sought out and locked onto the Lacus Somniorum, a volcanic plain located on the side of the Moon facing the Earth. The plain was an industrial region, home to over three hundred thousand people. Most of them worked in various heavy industries, ranging from metallurgy, to manufacturing, and precision engineering. Others worked in the service industries, such as medical and entertainment fields. Others more worked in the civil service, either as part of the local United Earth government, or providing oversight for the Federation.
It was a natural place to develop an industrial zone, though this was a given for the whole of the Lunar surface. The Moon was rich in metals and other minerals, vital as raw materials for heavy industry. Much of it was processed on the Moon itself, before being fed into local factories or exported to other places in the system. These included the even greater industrial districts and facilities on Mars, and the massive civilian and military shipyards over Earth, the Moon, and Mars.
Another major industry on the Moon was fuel production. Billions of years of exposure to the solar wind had deposited vast amounts of fusible elements into the Lunar regolith, and despite centuries of extraction, enough was left for centuries more at current rates of extraction, before the gas giants became the primary source of fuel for the fusion reactors that were the backbone of planetary energy infrastructures. To be sure, Earth’s oceans, and those of some moons such as in the Jovian system could produce fusible elements as well, but environmental interests stood as massive and unyielding obstacles to such exploitation.
But fusible elements were only one kind of fuel. Fusion reactors provided auxiliary power for starships, yes, but they simply didn’t have the output needed to make warp travel possible. And so like most known spacefaring species and organizations (the Romulans being an exception due to their mastery of artificial quantum singularities as energy sources), the Federation used antimatter to provide main power for starships, enough to sustain comfortable life in space and to achieve warp travel.
And so the Moon boasted the largest antimatter production and storage facilities in the entire Sol System, easily producing half the system’s output. Sheer proximity to the great shipyard complexes and naval facilities both on Luna and the Earth overrode safety concerns, with both the Federation and United Earth within it addressing said concerns with multiple-redundancy safety and security measures, ensuring that there was virtually no chance of an accident occurring with such a volatile form of fuel.
There was also the risk of attack from the outside, but the Federation believed that was unlikely, given the presence of the Home Fleet. And certainly, it didn’t seem there was any reason to worry. Subspace sensors around and surrounding the Sol System meant the Home Fleet could detect any incoming attack in advance and intercept before they could threaten the antimatter farms, and more importantly, no enemy had ever attempted to attack the antimatter farms or shown any indication of planning to do so.
Indeed, even in Starfleet Intelligence’s worst-case scenarios, the antimatter farms, while a target, were not for destruction, but for capture. Capture and use the antimatter kept inside the farms as fuel for the occupation forces.
And most Starfleet officers believed no one would be so…savage, to attack the antimatter farms and potentially trigger so great a catastrophe as to make the Third World War’s nuclear exchange look like a mere bar brawl.
That didn’t take the Galactic Empire into account.
Interrogation of captured Starfleet officers had not only revealed to the Empire the existence of the antimatter farms, but also their precise location. This information had been further confirmed through under-the table deals between the Orion Syndicate and Imperial Intelligence, and again in the recent battle by reconnaissance flights by ARC-170 Starfighters.
And ultimately, it wasn’t as though the location of the farms were state secrets. They serviced both military and civilian shipping, after all.
It took only few volleys from four Vindicator Class Heavy Cruisers to rupture the farms, and compromise the particle accelerators that made up the antimatter production lines. And then the Imperial Fleet was jumping to hyperspace, even as the escaping antimatter violently reacted with all the surrounding matter.
The resulting explosion shattered just over twenty-five per cent of the Moon into space-borne debris, much of it sent flying at significant fractions of the speed of light. The Moon was irradiated, guaranteeing a slow and painful death to anyone who stepped on its surface for more than an hour (if even that), though mercifully most of its population of approximately fifty million had been killed by the geological shock of what would be known as the Lacus Somniorum Catastrophe.
The radiation surge blinded the sensors across most of the Sol System, and destroyed what was left of Earth’s orbital defense satellites, at least those not shielded by the Earth’s mass. The people of Earth themselves were shielded by the magnetic field and the atmosphere of the planet, though anyone unfortunate enough to be looking to the Moon or to the sky was left blinded. Even then, aurorae would dance and swirl over Earth’s atmosphere for years to come, as radiation from the Moon’s corpse and high-energy particles left over from the catastrophe struck Earth’s ionosphere.
As for what was left of Starfleet’s Home Fleet, as well as the remaining orbital defense platforms…
…those on the ships and stations were safe, so long as their shields held, and with multiphasic shielding, even heavily-damaged ships did better than feared.
All their sensors and in some case, communication systems were fried though, and in cases where shields failed or had no shielding at all (like in hulks or escape pods)…
…rescue teams sent in months later reported finding boiled flesh fused into warped metal…
It would be weeks before the radiation settled down enough for anything more than short-range sensors could work in the Earth-Moon System, and all non-subspace communications beyond courier ships would be unusable for months, and unreliable for decades to come. It would also be months before anything unshielded could travel through the Earth-Moon System safely, necessitating the towing of damaged ships to Mars, for repairs and more.
Worse than that though, was that the Lacus Somniorum Catastrophe was not the only antimatter production and storage facility attacked. Two others in the asteroid battle, both producing between them the remaining half of the Sol System’s antimatter, were also attacked and destroyed by the Empire. In their cases, their distance from the rest of the planet’s inhabited worlds reduced the damage, but the radiation surges still further damaged the Sol System’s already battered sensor infrastructure.
And this was only the opening blow of Operation Typhoon.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“What the hell happened here?”
The defenses of the Belsavis Gateway were battered, but holding. One of the Golan-IIs was gone, and another was on fire, escape pods and shuttles streaming away, the battle to contain its main reactor clearly having ended in defeat.
A third Golan-II had sustained moderate damage…
…and that was it, really. Well, there were less escorts around, and on a closer look, it seems that one of the assigned Victory Class Star Destroyers had been destroyed.
Kriff…
…a Star Destroyer destroyed…
…how…?
I sighed, as the redundancy of my first question was made clear by the sight of wrecked and burning Klingon Birds-of-Prey drifting across the battlefield. Then the nearby holoprojector was lighting up, and Vice Admiral Valaras Broxin was there, and sporting a bloody bandage around his forehead.
“Welcome back, admiral.” He said.
“Admiral Broxin, you are injured.” I noted.
“Just a minor injury, ma’am.” He said. “A Klingon cruiser rammed my flagship, and I knocked my head on a railing. No concussion according to the doctor, though it did give me a fairly-bloody wound.”
“…head wounds tend to bleed heavily.” I admitted. “Now, report. And keep it short, I’m sure the details can wait for a written version.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Broxin said, and drawing himself up. “Approximately five standard hours after Operation Yellow’s commencement, our CGTs detected large numbers of cloaked vessels approaching from multiple directions. Assuming they were hostiles, we opened fire, forcing them to decloak and engage in battle.”
“And then what happened?” I asked.
“We held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive,” Broxin said. “The Eighth and Ninth Battlegroups arriving in about fifteen standard minutes.”
“And…?” I prompted.
“It took us just over an hour,” Broxin continued, “But we managed to rout the enemy. About five hundred ships in all, mostly heavy cruisers, but also a number of corvettes. We managed to capture one heavy cruiser in fact, though the crew put up quite the fight. We lost three Spacetroopers, who I would put forward for posthumous promotions and commendations.”
“Consider them granted, admiral.” I said, feeling slightly-cheered by the news. Slightly – I should have expected the Klingons to join in…
…now, what about the Romulans? Or the Cardassians, for that matter?
Romulans were no friends of the Federation, even their cooperation against the Dominion required…manipulation, by Starfleet Intelligence to achieve. They were also notoriously-opportunistic. Hmm…that could prove problematic, and I’m not entirely sure if we could make an arrangement…
…the Cardassians…okay, probably no worries there. They were spent after the Dominion War, though they might go for Bajor. And…
…oh kriff…Bajor…and their space gods…
…one thing at a time, Jaenera. One thing at a time. Hopefully, I can figure out a way to get around that problem…hopefully…
…kriff…
“…intelligence and engineering are already poring over the captured vessel,” Broxin was saying. “We should have preliminary reports ready by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“Very good, admiral.” I said. “I’ll expect a detailed report about the battle by this evening. In the meantime, focus on repairing damaged ships, picking up survivors, and repairing battle damage.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Broxin said with a salute. I saluted back, and then the hologram faded away.
“What do we do, admiral?” Torrhen asked.
“The lost Golan-IIs need to be replaced.” I immediately said. “Reassign a battlegroup to assist in gateway defense until they are. We also need to adjust our long-term strategy, given this early appearance by the Klingons. I’d expected them to sit this one out for a bit longer, see how things were going before picking a side…well, now that they have, we’re going to have to deal with it.”
“As you say, ma’am.” Torrhen said with a nod.
“For now though,” I said. “Operations White and Typhoon will continue as planned. Similarly, all fleet units which fought as part of Operation Yellow will proceed on rotation to Sluis Van for full repairs. While at Sluis Van, personnel will have seventy-two standard hours of shore leave. Reinforcement and transfers will also proceed as planned therein.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I nodded at him, and then took a deep breath. “Seeing as we’ll be taking a breather,” I began. “I suppose I should pay a courtesy visit to Grand Moff Tarkin at Eriadu as well. Sara, make the arrangements.”
“Yes, admiral.”
The Imperial Fleet surged forward at maximum battle speed, easily clearing high orbit. Well, at this point it was just the Star Destroyers left, the smaller and lighter vessels having since jumped into hyperspace on my orders. We held the rearguard, and once the rest of the fleet had retreated, we broke through the enemy left wing and advanced towards open, interplanetary space.
Not without interference, of course. Most of what was left of Starfleet’s Home Fleet had disengaged and rushed towards low orbit, aiming to provide assistance and conduct rescue operations for the planet below, as a radioactive cloud spread over most of North America.
…
…
…
…
…
A part of me, rooted in the fading memories of my past life, felt regret and horror at that. Millions of people would have been killed by the bombardment alone, and millions, if not tens of millions more would follow as radioactive fallout spread across North America. This would leave a scar on the Human, or at least Terran psyche, for generations to come. Earth itself had been attacked, and in a way that would leave a physical scar that would last for thousands of years – assuming they didn’t perform geological engineering to fix it – in the form of the radioactive crater that had once been San Francisco and its environs.
It wouldn’t be the only scar either. Soon stories would be circulating of plants and animals, whether crops and livestock or flora and fauna in the wild, mutating and fatally falling ill from radiation sickness, followed by people soon after. And while the Federation’s medical technology was incredibly-advanced, at least on par with the Empire’s own, it would certainly struggle if not more so with the scale of the disaster I’d unleashed on the Earth.
Then the numbers would come, of the dead, injured, and missing, opening the psychological wound even wider, and darkening the resulting scar. Whether they liked it or not, the result of such physical and psychological scars could only be inevitable: Humanity…the Federation, must change.
…
…
…
…
…
Or not. The Eugenics Wars…World War III and the post-atomic horror…the Xindi and Romulan Wars…the Cold War between the Federation and the Klingon Empire…the Borg Invasions and then the Dominion War…
…through it all, they still refused to change. The nobility of their ideals aside, the Federation – Humanity – still stubbornly insisted on looking at the world and people around them, to say nothing of the stars above, with rose-colored glasses. I doubt Q wanted them to replace those glasses with jade-colored ones instead, but I was almost certain he wanted them to take those glasses off and just see.
See and live…
…I’m still not sure what he meant by the latter, but I was fairly certain about the former. And from the look and sound of things, it needed the Federation being passed through the crucible that was conquest by the Empire.
At the thought, a memory stirred from my past life, just a series of words from a novel whose name and characters I could no longer remember. What a shame…the words…struck a chord…
We’re about to pass through the crucible, but we’ll come out on the other side…rising from our own ashes…changed…
I closed my eyes, and sighing, pinched the bridge of my nose. I’m still a long way away from conquering the Federation, and this was only the first taste of the crucible’s fire, a fire that would forge a new, stronger Humanity.
Green lances burned through space, dozens of Star Destroyers of various classes raining fire at distances nearly a hundred thousand kilometers out. Explosions blossomed above the Earth’s atmosphere, as multiple defense stations exploded nearly at the same times. They might be able to stand up against Y-Wings, but against Star Destroyers?
Not a chance.
Then there was a blinding flash, enough to make me and Sara turn away, shielding our eyes. “What the hell was that?” I demanded.
Sara immediately checked the tactical display. “…it appears that the low orbit docks have been destroyed.” She said. “The light was most likely the result of a runaway antimatter reaction.”
“…I see…how much longer until the strike force arrives?”
“Estimated time is forty standard seconds.”
I nodded, and narrowed my eyes. Already, those elements of the Home Fleet which had foolishly pursued us were breaking off, rushing back to orbit to assist crippled vessels which had retreated earlier in battle, to evacuate burning orbitals and drifting hulks, and of course, to pick up escape pods.
As for my core destroyer force, well, a number of ships had suffered serious damage, mostly Venators and some Victories, but no Imperials. I’d also lost only one Star Destroyer, the Venator Class Black Prince, which had been unlucky enough to take salvoes of quantum torpedoes in its hangar. The halves of said Star Destroyer were still hanging in orbit, and a potential treasure throve of intelligence and engineering data…
…except the Federation and United Earth would soon have bigger problems on their hands to go rooting about a wreck. A wreck that was about to become radioactive scrap too. Good thing my commanders and I had taken the trouble of picking up as many escape pods from our ships as we could.
I would not want to be in one of them when Typhoon struck as fast and fierce as its name.
“All ships have cleared the Earth’s gravitational influence.” Sara said.
I nodded, and silently looked through the bridge windows as I faintly heard the captain give the order. Then the starlines were stretching out to infinity, and the fleet jumped into hyperspace.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“The enemy fleet has jumped into the quantum slipstream.” Anderson said, and Shanthi slumped into her seat with a weary sigh.
“How many?” she asked.
Matsuda worked away at his console for several seconds. “Out of one thousand and eighty-two ships at the start of the battle,” he began. “Only two hundred and sixteen ships are left space-worthy. And thinking hopefully, only half of those are either combat-worthy or can be restored to combat readiness.”
“And realistically-thinking?”
“…only a third, ma’am.”
Shanthi shook her head. “Damn it…” she said, and then grit her teeth as she saw the radioactive cloud blotting out most of North America. “…damn it…GOD DAMN IT!”
With the battle over, Shanthi finally allowed her control to slip, and slammed a fist against her seat’s armrest. “We’re all but annihilated!” she spat. “The Home Fleet’s gone, and we barely managed to scratch the enemy’s battleship core! We…!”
Anything more was interrupted as alarms began to sound. “What’s happening?” Matsuda demanded.
“Imperial warships have jumped into the Earth-Moon System.” Anderson replied. “Reading…four Vindicator Class Heavy Cruisers, six Carrack Class Light Cruisers, and sixteen CR90 Corvettes. They dropped out of quantum slipstream approximately eighty thousand kilometers from Earth, and proceeding through the system at fifteen thousand kilometers per second.”
“What are they up to now?” Shanthi softly asked before erupting in rage. “What is that damn Targaryen plotting?”
“Enemy fire detected…!” Anderson warned.
“What…?” Shanthi began to say, but was unable to finish as blinding light filled the viewscreen.
Unknown to the Starfleet Fleet Admiral, on dropping out of hyperspace, the fast attack force had immediately began spinning its drives up for an emergency hyperspace jump. Its course had been plotted and followed at maximum speed, carefully set to avoid being caught in the gravitational influence of either the Earth or the Moon.
And its weapons had sought out and locked onto the Lacus Somniorum, a volcanic plain located on the side of the Moon facing the Earth. The plain was an industrial region, home to over three hundred thousand people. Most of them worked in various heavy industries, ranging from metallurgy, to manufacturing, and precision engineering. Others worked in the service industries, such as medical and entertainment fields. Others more worked in the civil service, either as part of the local United Earth government, or providing oversight for the Federation.
It was a natural place to develop an industrial zone, though this was a given for the whole of the Lunar surface. The Moon was rich in metals and other minerals, vital as raw materials for heavy industry. Much of it was processed on the Moon itself, before being fed into local factories or exported to other places in the system. These included the even greater industrial districts and facilities on Mars, and the massive civilian and military shipyards over Earth, the Moon, and Mars.
Another major industry on the Moon was fuel production. Billions of years of exposure to the solar wind had deposited vast amounts of fusible elements into the Lunar regolith, and despite centuries of extraction, enough was left for centuries more at current rates of extraction, before the gas giants became the primary source of fuel for the fusion reactors that were the backbone of planetary energy infrastructures. To be sure, Earth’s oceans, and those of some moons such as in the Jovian system could produce fusible elements as well, but environmental interests stood as massive and unyielding obstacles to such exploitation.
But fusible elements were only one kind of fuel. Fusion reactors provided auxiliary power for starships, yes, but they simply didn’t have the output needed to make warp travel possible. And so like most known spacefaring species and organizations (the Romulans being an exception due to their mastery of artificial quantum singularities as energy sources), the Federation used antimatter to provide main power for starships, enough to sustain comfortable life in space and to achieve warp travel.
And so the Moon boasted the largest antimatter production and storage facilities in the entire Sol System, easily producing half the system’s output. Sheer proximity to the great shipyard complexes and naval facilities both on Luna and the Earth overrode safety concerns, with both the Federation and United Earth within it addressing said concerns with multiple-redundancy safety and security measures, ensuring that there was virtually no chance of an accident occurring with such a volatile form of fuel.
There was also the risk of attack from the outside, but the Federation believed that was unlikely, given the presence of the Home Fleet. And certainly, it didn’t seem there was any reason to worry. Subspace sensors around and surrounding the Sol System meant the Home Fleet could detect any incoming attack in advance and intercept before they could threaten the antimatter farms, and more importantly, no enemy had ever attempted to attack the antimatter farms or shown any indication of planning to do so.
Indeed, even in Starfleet Intelligence’s worst-case scenarios, the antimatter farms, while a target, were not for destruction, but for capture. Capture and use the antimatter kept inside the farms as fuel for the occupation forces.
And most Starfleet officers believed no one would be so…savage, to attack the antimatter farms and potentially trigger so great a catastrophe as to make the Third World War’s nuclear exchange look like a mere bar brawl.
That didn’t take the Galactic Empire into account.
Interrogation of captured Starfleet officers had not only revealed to the Empire the existence of the antimatter farms, but also their precise location. This information had been further confirmed through under-the table deals between the Orion Syndicate and Imperial Intelligence, and again in the recent battle by reconnaissance flights by ARC-170 Starfighters.
And ultimately, it wasn’t as though the location of the farms were state secrets. They serviced both military and civilian shipping, after all.
It took only few volleys from four Vindicator Class Heavy Cruisers to rupture the farms, and compromise the particle accelerators that made up the antimatter production lines. And then the Imperial Fleet was jumping to hyperspace, even as the escaping antimatter violently reacted with all the surrounding matter.
The resulting explosion shattered just over twenty-five per cent of the Moon into space-borne debris, much of it sent flying at significant fractions of the speed of light. The Moon was irradiated, guaranteeing a slow and painful death to anyone who stepped on its surface for more than an hour (if even that), though mercifully most of its population of approximately fifty million had been killed by the geological shock of what would be known as the Lacus Somniorum Catastrophe.
The radiation surge blinded the sensors across most of the Sol System, and destroyed what was left of Earth’s orbital defense satellites, at least those not shielded by the Earth’s mass. The people of Earth themselves were shielded by the magnetic field and the atmosphere of the planet, though anyone unfortunate enough to be looking to the Moon or to the sky was left blinded. Even then, aurorae would dance and swirl over Earth’s atmosphere for years to come, as radiation from the Moon’s corpse and high-energy particles left over from the catastrophe struck Earth’s ionosphere.
As for what was left of Starfleet’s Home Fleet, as well as the remaining orbital defense platforms…
…those on the ships and stations were safe, so long as their shields held, and with multiphasic shielding, even heavily-damaged ships did better than feared.
All their sensors and in some case, communication systems were fried though, and in cases where shields failed or had no shielding at all (like in hulks or escape pods)…
…rescue teams sent in months later reported finding boiled flesh fused into warped metal…
It would be weeks before the radiation settled down enough for anything more than short-range sensors could work in the Earth-Moon System, and all non-subspace communications beyond courier ships would be unusable for months, and unreliable for decades to come. It would also be months before anything unshielded could travel through the Earth-Moon System safely, necessitating the towing of damaged ships to Mars, for repairs and more.
Worse than that though, was that the Lacus Somniorum Catastrophe was not the only antimatter production and storage facility attacked. Two others in the asteroid battle, both producing between them the remaining half of the Sol System’s antimatter, were also attacked and destroyed by the Empire. In their cases, their distance from the rest of the planet’s inhabited worlds reduced the damage, but the radiation surges still further damaged the Sol System’s already battered sensor infrastructure.
And this was only the opening blow of Operation Typhoon.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“What the hell happened here?”
The defenses of the Belsavis Gateway were battered, but holding. One of the Golan-IIs was gone, and another was on fire, escape pods and shuttles streaming away, the battle to contain its main reactor clearly having ended in defeat.
A third Golan-II had sustained moderate damage…
…and that was it, really. Well, there were less escorts around, and on a closer look, it seems that one of the assigned Victory Class Star Destroyers had been destroyed.
Kriff…
…a Star Destroyer destroyed…
…how…?
I sighed, as the redundancy of my first question was made clear by the sight of wrecked and burning Klingon Birds-of-Prey drifting across the battlefield. Then the nearby holoprojector was lighting up, and Vice Admiral Valaras Broxin was there, and sporting a bloody bandage around his forehead.
“Welcome back, admiral.” He said.
“Admiral Broxin, you are injured.” I noted.
“Just a minor injury, ma’am.” He said. “A Klingon cruiser rammed my flagship, and I knocked my head on a railing. No concussion according to the doctor, though it did give me a fairly-bloody wound.”
“…head wounds tend to bleed heavily.” I admitted. “Now, report. And keep it short, I’m sure the details can wait for a written version.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Broxin said, and drawing himself up. “Approximately five standard hours after Operation Yellow’s commencement, our CGTs detected large numbers of cloaked vessels approaching from multiple directions. Assuming they were hostiles, we opened fire, forcing them to decloak and engage in battle.”
“And then what happened?” I asked.
“We held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive,” Broxin said. “The Eighth and Ninth Battlegroups arriving in about fifteen standard minutes.”
“And…?” I prompted.
“It took us just over an hour,” Broxin continued, “But we managed to rout the enemy. About five hundred ships in all, mostly heavy cruisers, but also a number of corvettes. We managed to capture one heavy cruiser in fact, though the crew put up quite the fight. We lost three Spacetroopers, who I would put forward for posthumous promotions and commendations.”
“Consider them granted, admiral.” I said, feeling slightly-cheered by the news. Slightly – I should have expected the Klingons to join in…
…now, what about the Romulans? Or the Cardassians, for that matter?
Romulans were no friends of the Federation, even their cooperation against the Dominion required…manipulation, by Starfleet Intelligence to achieve. They were also notoriously-opportunistic. Hmm…that could prove problematic, and I’m not entirely sure if we could make an arrangement…
…the Cardassians…okay, probably no worries there. They were spent after the Dominion War, though they might go for Bajor. And…
…oh kriff…Bajor…and their space gods…
…one thing at a time, Jaenera. One thing at a time. Hopefully, I can figure out a way to get around that problem…hopefully…
…kriff…
“…intelligence and engineering are already poring over the captured vessel,” Broxin was saying. “We should have preliminary reports ready by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“Very good, admiral.” I said. “I’ll expect a detailed report about the battle by this evening. In the meantime, focus on repairing damaged ships, picking up survivors, and repairing battle damage.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Broxin said with a salute. I saluted back, and then the hologram faded away.
“What do we do, admiral?” Torrhen asked.
“The lost Golan-IIs need to be replaced.” I immediately said. “Reassign a battlegroup to assist in gateway defense until they are. We also need to adjust our long-term strategy, given this early appearance by the Klingons. I’d expected them to sit this one out for a bit longer, see how things were going before picking a side…well, now that they have, we’re going to have to deal with it.”
“As you say, ma’am.” Torrhen said with a nod.
“For now though,” I said. “Operations White and Typhoon will continue as planned. Similarly, all fleet units which fought as part of Operation Yellow will proceed on rotation to Sluis Van for full repairs. While at Sluis Van, personnel will have seventy-two standard hours of shore leave. Reinforcement and transfers will also proceed as planned therein.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I nodded at him, and then took a deep breath. “Seeing as we’ll be taking a breather,” I began. “I suppose I should pay a courtesy visit to Grand Moff Tarkin at Eriadu as well. Sara, make the arrangements.”
“Yes, admiral.”
ConfusedCanadian
Well-known member
Oh Federation you pacifistic fools of course any competent military force will try to hit one of your primary fuel production/storage facilitates to cripple your ability to move. It's not at all Savage but simple sense really it also gives the nice side benefit of crippling large sections of the sol system and making them extremely hostile to move and work in. Also the Klingon's coming in with more sense then the Federation by trying to launch a sneak attack at the Empires one way into their Galaxy!
just realized something...Geordi better have gotten some shielding up or the whole Enterprise crew just got dead.
As for the rest of the Federation in Sol space...life is just gonna suck. Typhoon is really gonna wreck shop for the Federation's warmaking capability.
I think the Klingons just found a new, favorite playmate in the Empire. A truly worthy enemy of their fullest efforts.
As for the Romulans...I think they just shat a brick.
As for the rest of the Federation in Sol space...life is just gonna suck. Typhoon is really gonna wreck shop for the Federation's warmaking capability.
I think the Klingons just found a new, favorite playmate in the Empire. A truly worthy enemy of their fullest efforts.
As for the Romulans...I think they just shat a brick.
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
Which is, in fact, the whole point. For all intents and purposes, Operation Typhoon is a strategic bombing campaign, meant to smash enemy industry and break morale.
You could even compare this latest development to the Burning of Dresden, or the Tokyo Firebombing.
Yeah, Martok's going to have to go all-in now, or the Great Houses will cry foul. After so long - not since Kirk was still around - a worthy opponent.
Eh...you will see.
The UFP have lost or are losing more of their subspace communication buoys, A major (or multiple) Anti-matter farms\Storage in their territory, a large number of combat capable ships, and their HQ\academy\where Wesley Crusher attended (<-Justified bombing for this alone) is nothing more than a radioactive crater in the ground.
It reduces the number of starships the empire has to deal with, shorten the range of their star fleet due to fuel shortages, Cut their trained manpower\officer corps down to size, and removes the memory of wesley crusher ever stepping on earth.
What about the trading vessels filled with materials that can't be replicated. Are those being attacked or captured?
It reduces the number of starships the empire has to deal with, shorten the range of their star fleet due to fuel shortages, Cut their trained manpower\officer corps down to size, and removes the memory of wesley crusher ever stepping on earth.
What about the trading vessels filled with materials that can't be replicated. Are those being attacked or captured?
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
It doesn't help that Starfleet has been strangely officer-heavy for most of the 24th Century.
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
after much consulting of the list of OP spacecraft in science fiction I cast 100 fully operational Mantle's Approach class ships to go ruin you and your genocidal fleet's day @Jaenera Targaryen. Have fun dealing with ships larger than the Death Star and armed with some 26742 Forerunner weapons. somehow I don't think @Zachowon will be able to find a counter in Star Wars
Abeloth
Knowledgeispower
Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
the composer should be able to take care of her, if not there's always the solution of putting her in a pocket slipspace dimension and collapsing it, which a Forerunner ship the size of the Mantle's approach could totally do if they have their full list of equipment