From jeffj@baudelaire.princeton.edu Mon May 25 07:11:42 1998 Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 05:40:58 -0600 From: "Jeffrey J. Jenkins" To: INDIGO FLEET List Serve Subject: [INDIGO] And so it begins. Part 2 ---OFFICIAL INDIGO FLEET TRANSMISSION--- Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 07:40:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "Jeffrey J. Jenkins" Subject: [INDIGO] And so it begins. Part 2 Part 2 of 2 ----------- If you get this first, please wait to read it. It will make much more sense after having read Part 1. --- FMD 6.1615 Location: Bridge, USS NOVA Once more clad in the space black uniform of a Star Fleet officer, John Brooks leaned over the consoles of what was once again his command chair. The Dalriadan ships were now a mere 12 light-minutes behind him and both NOVA and the pursuing fleet were holding at 0.8 c. This meant that the Dalriada were no longer closing on him, but it also meant that should he need to make the transition down the hyperspace ladder to normal space, it would be exceptionally hard on both ship and crew. --- FMD 6.1630 Location: Bridge, USS PROMETHEUS "Well, Sovak, what did you want?" asked the chief engineer in a rather demanding tone. The day's testing had wrapped up over two hours ago and Walker had finally been able to sit down to dinner when the executive officer had demanded his presence on the bridge. "It is the first bloody dog watch and the only time that I've had in the last week to eat anywhere close to dinner time." "If you are quite through, commander, we have business to discuss," stated Sovak blandly. The statement seemed innocent enough, but the tone bore a sharp edge that one might use when scolding a child. The engineering officer reacted immediately with a scowl. Only a few days ago, he would have reprimanded the snooty lieutenant and chief science officer. However, Sovak was now the executive officer of the ship and his senior because of his rank of full commander, even if it was presently a brevet rank forced by the emergency situation in INDIGO Fleet. Yet, there was no contradicting the logic that the captain had used in making his decision. Walker was irreplacable in engineering. He had worked on the AGAMEMNON design team and had even helped build PROMETHEUS. No one in the fleet, no one in Star Fleet, could be quickly brought up to his level of expertise with the design and the ship in particular. When, the engineering officer no longer though in terms of if, they fought the Dalriada again, his skills could very well mean the difference between success and failure. "I am concerned about your report regarding the Silent Wave/Wild Weasel system and its adaptation for use against the Dalriada. According to your own analysis, the devices are now thirty point one six (30.16) percent effective against Dalriadan missile simulations." "Sovak, ye need t' gi' oot of yer lab more oft and see some old movies. Didya na ken Han Solo?" The Vulcan looked at the Scottsman quizically. Normally, he could figure out the words that Walker intended to use despite the often unintelligible brogue. This time, he could not determine what the engineer intended to say. "What possible relevence does a single hand have to this situation." "I dinnae say, 'Solo Han,' I said, 'Han Solo,'" stated the Scott with annoyance clear in his voice as if the Vulcan had somehow said something irreverant bordering on blasphemy. "Didya ne'er see STAR WARS?" "I believe that the point of this discussion is to protect ourselves when one particular stellar war comes to the point of involving this vessel, commander. I fail to see the point in you are attempting to make." "Ne'er ye mind, Sovak. Jus' listen. Han Solo said, 'Good again' remotes i' one tin. Good again' the livin' i' somethin' else.' Diya nae see my point noo?" asked Walker. While the engineering officer seemed convinced that he was making a profound statement, the executive officer of PROMETHEUS could not understand what it might be. Finally it dawned on him, "Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living is something else." "Thae be wha' I just said," insisted the chief engineer shaking his head in frustration. He wondered why Star Fleet didn't insist that its alien officers learned to speak better English. Even many of the ship's human officers spoke a barely civilized dialect. Walker though both situations disgraceful. "Thae dinnae matter, noo. Whae diya thin'? Do our drone mae th' grade or noo? E'en though I built them, I dinnae thin tha' they can act like the real thin'. We dinnae really ken whae the bloody thin' will doo when we face the real missile." "I see your point, commander, but what possible test can we arrange? It is not as if we have a supply of real Dalriadan missiles to use in our experiments." The chief engineer was about to respond when a beeping from the computer interrupted the conversation. "Commander Sovak, I have a proximity alert on long range sensors. It looks like a ship coming out of hyperspace. No Federation ships are scheduled for arrival and she's already violated the perimeter of the testing range." Sovak might not have liked Lieutenant A'vanya's attitude towards her duties and found her lack of self discipline unprofessional, but he could not fault her report this time. "Probably identification, unknown Dalridan warship." Walker looked at the readings over the Vulcan executive officer's shoulder. "Thae's noo Dalridan. Thae's the power signature o' a SOLAR-class ship. Thae muss be NOVA," stated the engineering officer as Sovak looked at him with his classic look of disdain. He didn't need to Scott leaning over his shoulder to tell him something that was fully evident to the former science officer, or at least something that Sovak would have never admitted needing confirmation on. He would have had to cross reference Federation hyperspace signatures to be as certain as the chief engineer was, but the Vulcan trusted the Scottsman's judgement in this regard as he had helped to design the dimensional warp system on PROMETHEUS and should know the signatures of similar drives in other ships quite well. "That does not explain why she has arrived off her anticipated schedule nor why she is in the middle of the test range," stated the executive officer dryly." Turning towards the tactical station, he ordered, "Mister A'vanya, open a channel to the AGA...." "Sir, incoming signal from NOVA," interrupted the tactical officer. "Attempting to compensate for disruption from n-space transition." "...say again my last. This is Captain Robert Brooks commanding the battlecruiser NOVA. We are under attack by Dalriadan warships. They have dimensional warp drives and transition to normal space of their fleet is immenant. Data on pursuing vessels is encoded on a subcarrier of this frequency." The identity of NOVA's captain was a surprise to all. Robert Brooks was the fleet commander's son, but he had also been relieved more than a year before after what rumors had it was a nervous breakdown. Those that knew Rob Brooks, like Captain Iki-may Dieje, commanding officer of Starbase OMEGA, had discounted this and stated that the rumor mill must have been badly broken to come up with something like that; however, no details had been available from Fleet Command or other high Star Fleet sources to clarify the situation. What was known was that one Captain Sir George Villiers had relieved Captain Brooks in or about the area of the Izar system, half-a-Federation away. Now, for whatever reason, and by unknown means, the former master of NOVA was back and apparently in command. Those matters could be discussed at length later, however, with an invasion fleet on the way. "Message repeats, sir," stated A'vanya. "Red Alert, shields up," stated Sovak. "Sovak, the captain...," said the engineering officer, alarm evident in his voice. Whether it was concern for the captain or simply unwillingness to have the Vulcan lead the ship into combat would soon become a moot point. "The captain is aboard AGAMEMNON, Mister Walker," interrupted the first officer. "Their shields are up as are ours. He will have to remain their through the duration. We do not know the capabilities of the Dalriada and if we break formation to rendezvous with the trailing ship in this formation, then we may be out of position to react when the Dalriada arrive." "Now Mister Walker, please return to engineering and insure that this ship is ready for combat." "Sovak to Mister Talon. Report to the battle bridge." Standard procedure insisted that the commanding officer of a ship and the next in command not be in the same location on the vessel in case that area was it. In this situation, it was even more important, should the bridge be hit with both Rand Talon and Sovak on it, the ship could be under the command of the third officer, Commander Walker. And, while John Walker knew the engineering systems of the PROMETHEUS better than most of the Star Fleet, his abilities would be very much needed in engineering. If he needed to take command of the ship, it would cause chaos which could ill be afforded in the middle of a battle. --- FMD 6.1640 Only a few minutes had ellapsed as Walker looked up at the chronometer on the wall of engineering, but it seemed as if an eternity had gone by. He watched the monitor intensely as the gravitational sensors registered one spike after another, all of previosly unrecorded profiles: Dalriadan n-space transitions from hyperspace. If they had been within visual range, the sight would have been magnificent, though ominous since the Dalriada were currently at war with the Federation. The first ship to emerge from hyperspace, per Dalriadan Alliance practice, was an escort. In this case, the sleak hammer-ended needle of a destroyer flashed from the alternate dimension of hyperspace into normal space and immediately began a full active sensor probe of the area. The transition would have been seen clearly by any ship in the area, and the fleet was making no effort to appear on the far side of the star so that its gravity well would mask the spikes from observation. After all, this was the Terebellum system and sensor nets would not allow a stealthy approach without appearing far from the hyperspace limit of the system, something that the Dalriada, with warships lacking normal space warp propulsion, were not interested in doing. Close behind the destroyer followed two more destroyers and the first cruiser. Within minutes a fleet of twenty eight of the long, flattened and tapered cylinders with their hammer headed ends had appeared in the system. The ranges in size from a tiny frigate to a battleship as large as any of the battlecruisers in the range, but far more deadly. These largest of the Dalriadan warships seen to date packed as much firepower as a ZEUS class battleship, but were consumate warships with no other purpose. They could easily fly circles around their bulkier Federation counterparts. On final count, just as NOVA had predicted, there were three battleships, six light cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and a single frigate far astern, probably intended as a message courier. Walker recognized the fleet arrangement immediately. It was the same sort of fleet that had attacked SB ALIGHIERI only days before. If what NOVA's captain had gone on to clarify when two-way communications were finally established was true, then the attack on the DANTE system could only be a feint. According to the intelligence that he provided, there was a massive Dalriadan fleet of more than a hundred starships preparing to attack the Terebellum system with the goal of capturing of destroying Starbase OMEGA and driving INDIGO Fleet from the system. Worse, Captain Brooks carried word of a spy in the highest levels of Starbase OMEGA, one who had been providing information to the Dalriadan Star Navy for some time. This information had, apparently, led directly to the ambush of the USS LEXINGTON and to the overwhelming success of an attack on the Tabillin system. The fleet was only five million kilometers from the fleet when they emerged from hyperspace. Slowly, the three battleships formed a line abreast in the middle of the formation and yawed about their axis. The escorts cleared the field of fire for their larger cousins. As the ominous forms of the three battleships completed their maneuver, they launched their first barage of missiles at the battlecruiser formation. One hundred and twenty missiles, each carrying either an electronic counter-countermeasure warhead to interfere with the Federation ship sensors and jamming systems or a multiple warhead bomb-pumped x-ray laser assembly, capable of splitting into four separate beam generators once they closed range, shot from their tubes and accelerated under gravity wedge propulsion towards their intended targets. If there had been any remaining doubt about the intentions of the Dalriada, it vanished instantly as the second volley of missles blasted clear of their launch tubes. NRPG: Welcome to the big show, all. CONSTELLATION, PROMETHEUS, NOVA, and OMEGA are now on synchronized timelines and should begin posting to the mailing list. YAMATO, as soon as we are caught up to your current mission date, you can begin posting to the list. That should happen shortly. Expect the follow-up to this post from Jeff Trock in the near future. If you don't know where the title comes from, then you do not watch Babylon 5. It is one of the lines of Kosh, the Vorlon ambassador. MD 6.1200 NOVA on the run. Brooks arrives. JeffJ. 6.1230 Villiers and Brooks talk in the ready room. OSFI orders. JeffJ. 6.1235 Brooks assumes command. JeffJ. 6.1615 The chase continues. JeffJ. 6.1630 Sovak calls Walker to the Bridge. JeffJ. 6.1640 Dalriadan fleet arrives and attacks. JeffJ. /---------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Jeffrey J. Jenkins | "Fortune is not on the | | http://baudelaire.princeton.edu/jeffj/ | side of the faint-hearted. | | mailto:jeffj@baudelaire.princeton.edu | -Sophocles, Phaedra. | \---------------------------------------------------------------------/ | Copyright 1998, Jeffrey J. Jenkins, All rights reserved. | \-------------------------------------------------------------/ ***This message sent by an official member of Indigo Fleet*** Are you also posting your message to the newsgroup?!!! ---END TRANSMISSION---