From themuirs@interlog.com Mon Jun 22 23:44:43 1998 Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 20:56:03 -0600 From: David Muir To: Dante Expeditionary Force List Serve Subject: [DANTEXF] SB ALIGHIERI: Now We Have Met The Enemy DANTE Expeditionary Force Official E-mail BEGIN TRANSMISSION <<>> SD: 100602.0115 FMD 5.0700 Scene: USS BELLEROPHON, Bridge Captain Sylvia Sanders looked down and realized she couldn't move her hands. She had been gripping the arms of her command chair so tightly, for so long, that her muscles had seized. The formation she had called for when the four Dalriadan destroyers made their first hesitant move towards them had been holding for almost an hour. And she had been holding her chair for the same period of time. "They're not going to approach us," she muttered to herself. "But they are an invasion force... it doesn't make sense," the XO, Commander Reginald Farnsworth leaned over to say. Sylvia smiled. "I didn't think I said that out loud. But I have them figured out. They will rise to a challenge. But they are a cautious fleet. They go after an enemy who poses no challenge, but they will only fight back if threatened." "The reports from the other encounters with Dalriada seem to agree with you, sir. And they never seem to want to break up their fleet. These four destroyers have strayed farther than I thought they would." "And they're still over 500,000 km out. They could pelt us with missiles from here. And we could return fire." "We can't see the enemy. They can't see us. I prefer more of an up-close fight, sir. You know... the whites of their eyes and all that." "If only we had a couple of extra battle groups." Then Sylvia's eyes lit up and she cranked her stiffed hands off the command chair. "Bridge to engineering. CEO Travis to my Ready Room... on the double." FMD: 5.1430 Scene: SB ALIGHIERI, Command Center The command center was a bustle of activity as ALIGHIERI prepared to launch NC-17 and NC-34. YORKTOWN had departed moments earlier and was enroute to rendezvous with BATRON 2 just beyond Dante's belt. Tao stood at the center of the room with Greyclaw just off to his left, watching the stars fill the screen. "NC-17 and NC-34, you are cleared for launch. Good luck and Godspeed," announced Tao over the comm system. The fighters had been loaded with the special probes designed to provide some firepower against the Dalriada. "Acknowledged, ALIGHIERI. Keep the homefires burnin', " replied Cort O'Wood. All those in the Command Center watched in awe as the fighters of NC-17 and NC-34 began to depart from the station, streaking out into the vastness of space on their mission of defense. More than one soul present offered silent prayers for their success and safe trip home. After ten minutes had passed, all the fighters had been launched and were on their way to the front line. Tao turned to Greyclaw and announced, "All fighters have launched, sir. Estimated time to rendezvous with the fleet is twenty minutes." Yssar nodded his head. "Keep me informed of any developments, Commander," he said as he walked over to Mirtox and Ulfsson, who were monitoring the tactical displays. ******************************** FMD: 5.1510 Scene: Command center ******************************** The ensign at COM tapped a flashing green light on his console and turned to Tao. "Incoming message from the BELLEROPHON." "On screen," commanded Tao. Captain Sanders appeared on the viewscreen with a look of concern in her eyes. [ALIGHIERI, this is the BELLEROPHON. We have detected movement within the Dalriadan fleet. The five light cruisers have advanced toward our position. We have just finished transfer of probes from YORKTOWN. The DETROIT and SINGAPORE are moving alongside the BELLEROPHON for possible intercept. NC-17 and NC-34 will provide support.] Tao was met by Greyclaw, Mirtox and Garm Ulfsson as Captain Sanders relayed her report. "Understood, Captain," said Mirtox. "Engage the enemy at your discretion." ******************************** FMD: 5.1520 Scene: BELLEROPHON ******************************** Captain Sylvia Sanders watched as the four Dalriadan destroyers slowly approached their position. From behind, her tactical officer announced, "Captain, sensors indicate the destroyers are charging their weapons." Almost simultaneously the COM reported, "Incoming hail from the Dalriadan fleet." *Finally!* she thought and shouted, "Onscreen," as the viewer changed to reveal a middle-aged Dalriadan captain. [This is Captain Garr of the Dalriadan Royal Navy. You little trick has failed, Captain. You are instructed to recall your fighters and prepare to surrender, otherwise you will pay the consequences.] So the Dalriada discovered that her twelve cruisers on the Dalriada's long range sensors were nothing more than reconfigured probes. She glanced down at her chronograph. The ploy had lasted more than four hours. The Dalriadan technology wasn't such hot sh*t after all, she mused. Confidently, she clasped her hands behind her back and said, "Last time I checked, Captain Garr, this was still Federation space." *Okay Sylvia, that was iffy,* she thought, since the Kraggons had not been admitted into the Federation officially yet, and they were the official controllers of the area. But she had no time to mince words with the Dalriada. "You are the trespassers and we advise you to leave at once." With that she motioned her COM to cut audio, which he did at once. The officer at TAC stated, "Sir, one of the destroyers is beginning to rotate on its axis. She's bringing her weapons into position." "Battle stations! Shields at maximum!" shouted Sanders. "If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get. Order NC-17 and NC-34 to launch missiles at the destroyers." The BELLEROPHON shook as the first volley of weapons fire erupted from the Dalriadan ship. "Shields down to 94%, sir," cried the TAC. "Open fire on that ship before she completes her roll, " yelled Sanders. The BELLEROPHON blazed into action as her phasers lanced out at the attacking ship. The VENICE and the MOBILE, from their flanking positions, rained phaser fire down too. The MOBILE even managed to lower its azimuth as one of the Dalriadan destroyers rolled and track its vulnerable areas. "We are making direct hits, sir. Their shields are down to 80%. The ship's underside is now in at point." Sanders looked about her bridge. "Lock phasers and fire as soon as the ship completes her turn," she commanded. On screen she could see that two of the four destroyers were engaging the DETROIT and SINGAPORE. The fighters were darting through the ships, preparing to launch their missiles at the destroyers but taking risky potshots at them in the meantime. Meanwhile the remaining Dalriadan ships moved closer to the front lines but careful to stay out of range of BATRON 2. They began to launch missiles toward BATRON 2 and the YORKTOWN. "Incoming missiles!" shouted the lieutenant at TAC. "Order the CONSTANTINOPLE, VENICE, and MARATHON to launch torpedoes to detonate within the missile volley. Have the YORKTOWN assist against these destroyers. And inform ALIGHIERI of the situation," commanded Sanders as the BELLEROPHON shook from the next volley. ********************************** FMD: 5.1525 Scene: ALIGHIERI Ops ********************************** ALIGHIERI was already aware of the raging battle when Sanders' report arrived. Mirtox pounded the console in front of him as they watched the scene unfold in front of their eyes. They watched as the blips representing three hundred missiles appeared on the tactical display. A quick calculation from Tao brought a startling discovery. "Commodore Mirtox, those missiles aren't meant for BATRON 2. Their trajectory will take them past BATRON 2 toward ALIGHIERI!" "Damn!" exclaimed Mirtox. "Notify BATRON 2 and have them intercept as many as they can. Also activate that particle field of yours, Commander. Maybe it will do some good." Tao relayed the message to the fleet and gave the command to activate the probes in Dante's belt. He also activated the metaphasic shields around ALIGHIERI for added protection. ***************************** FMD: 5.1530 Scene: Front Line ***************************** The MARATHON, CONSTANTINOPLE, and VENICE launched their torpedoes at the oncoming missiles. Meanwhile the fighters streaked past the destroyers attacking the other members of BATRON 2 as if they were headed toward the ships farther out. At the last moment, they turned and approached the destroyers from behind, launching their probes at the least shielded area of the Dalriadan ships. At the same time, the YORKTOWN launched some of her probes at the bow of two attacking destroyers. The torpedoes from BATRON 2 exploded within the oncoming missiles, destroying about one-third of them. The remaining missiles streaked past into Dante's belt. Once in the asteroid field, the missiles encountered the unusually strong solar winds from Dante's sun enhanced by the emissions from the modified probes, sending their guidance systems into turmoil. Many of the missiles went off course, impacting on nearby asteroids. Some detonated prematurely, releasing their deadly xray lasers into the asteroid field, destroying some of the probes. Approximately one hundred missiles from the initial two hundred launched miraculously made it through the belt and continued on toward ALIGHIERI. Meanwhile the weapons fired against three destroyers found their marks. The EM pulse on several of the probes successfully punched holes in the weaker part of the Dalriadan shields, delivering their payloads to an unprotected hull. One of the destroyers went up in an expanding fireball, to the shouts of the crews of BATRON 2, the YORKTOWN and the fighters. Two other destroyers suffered severe damage. Captain Sanders ordered her ships to concentrate their fire on the remaining three destroyers, especially the relatively unscathed one, even as their own shields continued to take a pounding. The two damaged destroyers eventually submitted to the pounding from phaser fire and exploded. The final destroyer was caught in the open and would fall prey to the YORKTOWN. Simultaneously, the remaining Dalriadan ships launched a second volley of missiles, three hundred in number. This time their trajectory would take them right at the Starfleet vessels. All the Starfleet vessels launched torpedoes at the oncoming missiles. The torpedoes were successful in destroying about seventy missiles. The remaining missiles continued on their course. Sanders ordered the fighters to retreat to Dante's belt for protection, along with the CONSTANTINOPLE, MARATHON, VENICE, and YORKTOWN. The SINGAPORE, DETROIT, MOBILE, and BELLEROPHON would stay and protect the others as long as possible. Strangely the remaining Dalriadan ships were not following the retreating ships or advancing on the four remaining Starfleet vessels despite the destruction of three of the destroyers. The missiles detonated upon reaching 200,000 km, releasing their deadly xray lasers. The invisible beams pelted the four starships as well as the retreating starships, ripping through their already weakened shields. The metaphasic shields provided some protection from the radiation, eliminating what would have been fatal damage to the BELLEROPHON. Unfortunately, the DETROIT and SINGAPORE didn't fare as well. The DETROIT's shields had already been weakened by the destroyers and the xray lasers tore through her, igniting her warp core into a brilliant fireball in space. The SINGAPORE suffered heavy damage and was dead in space, most of her crew killed by the deadly radiation. The MOBILE, whose captain would be branded a coward in the short term but would later come back to greater glory, punched out to warp before the radiation wave hit. Even the BELLEROPHON felt the sting of the missiles as key plasma conduits were fried, shorting out the ship's weapons and long range scanners. The other members of BATRON 2, along with the YORKTOWN, suffered damage from the lasers, but their distance from the impact sight had saved them from serious damage. Still some of the radiation had penetrated their shields, disrupting systems and killing crew members. The fighters of NC-17 and NC-34 had managed to take cover behind the various asteroids within Dante's belt, only losing two ships to the fatal attack. The Dalriadan ships launched a third volley of missiles, half of which headed toward ALIGHIERI and the other half toward the remnants of BATRON 2. The retreating ships made it to Dante's belt in time to take cover from the newest wave of missiles while the BELLEROPHON also jumped into warp. But in a more orthodox exit than the MOBILE, Sanders was headed toward OMEGA on orders from CDOR Mirtox to report of the attack. The SINGAPORE exploded as the missiles released their deadly lasers, too crippled to defend herself. The remaining two hundred missiles entered Dante's belt, many suffering the same fate as the initial wave. About fifty exited the field and continued on toward ALIGHIERI. ********************************* FMD: 5.1545 Scene: ALIGHIERI Ops ********************************* As the battle raged on in space, the officers on ALIGHIERI watched as the remaining one hundred missiles exited Dante's belt toward the station. Yssar ordered battle stations as ALIGHIERI's defenses jumped to life. The station's phasers began targeting the incoming missiles as photon torpedoes were launched to intercept them. The phasers were able to destroy a few and the photon torpedoes that detonated within the group of missiles destroyed a few more, but about fifty-five made it through and detonated when they were 200,000 km from the station. The deadly, invisible xrays lanced out toward the station, impacting on her shields. "Shields down to twenty percent and holding!" shouted Ulfsson after the first wave of xray lasers hit. "The metaphasic shields worked, otherwise we would have lost shields altogether." Moments later another volley of missiles broke through the asteroid belt. This time about thirty-seven made it through ALIGHIERI's defenses and detonated. The station's shields were overwhelmed by this second attack and fell, allowing some of the deadly rays to pierce the station's hull and wreak havoc throughout the station. Systems went down and people died as the radiation tore through everything. SIF prevented breaches into space but couldn't prevent the lasers from doing their worst. Tao looked at the monitors with astonishment. The Dalriada were pulling back to their original position again. He sighed and quietly informed Yssar. <<>> This was a joint post. My thanks to Michael Natale for the bulk of the work and Kevin for writing the first draft and fleshing out the details. I just buffed it a little. Everyone feel free to add the HUMAN elements to this battle sequence. A bunch of folks lost their lives here and I'm sure there will be emotional repercussions. Wait for the following day, when the Dalriada surprise us even further. Timeline: FMD: 5.1430 NC-17 and NC-34 launched FMD: 5.1510 Dalriadan movement detected FMD: 5.1520 Dalriadan fleet attacks FMD: 5.1525 ALIGHIERI informed of attack FMD: 5.1530 Starfleet responds to attack FMD: 5.1545 ALIGHIERI damaged by missile fire Respectfully submitted, Michael Natale XO, SB ALIGHIERI, DS-230 voyager@massmed.org Kevin Richter CEO, SB ALIGHIERI, DS-230 keri@gmx.net David Muir CO, SB ALIGHIERI, DS-230 themuirs@interlog.com This message sent by an official member of the Dante Expeditionary Force Are you also posting your messages to the newsgroup?!!! END TRANSMISSION