The commander lazily walked among the consoles on her bridge. They had been at warp for several days and were now approaching the unassuming system of E-227. It was a modest red dwarf system with four planets and a debris field. No major resources of note, none of the worlds were habitable. The two closest to the sun were barren scorched worlds with no air. The one furthest from the sun was a frozen ball of ice, and as for the last planet? It was a toxic volcanic world that would kill anyone who set foot on it in mere seconds. Even robots would not last long on the surface. Sadly that world also happened to have the only mineral deposits worth anything, which sadly meant they were beyond reach.
The system was also out of the way, very out of the way. Which made it a prime spot for people not wanting to be found to be hiding. She figured the Refuge would prefer out-of-the-way systems given the lack of reported sightings involving their ships. Which is why after her task force had been launched several weeks ago, she had marked this system as one to search. It was in fact the twelfth system on her list and the other eleven had all proved empty. Some other commander had found a destroyed planet while searching for the escaped Voskar ship. Which while interesting meant little in regards to the search. Besides that system and its neighbors were a little out of her way.
A moment later the engine whine calmed and she was informed, “All ships report secure from warp speed.”
“Excellent.” she turned, “Full sensor sweep, scan the system.”
At first there was nothing, until someone looked up from his console, “Long range sensors just detected an energy burst on the far side of the system.”
She approached, “Where?”
The officer brought up a star chart. “Here at three four four mark two one nine mark seven. Its a starship debris field on the far edge of the system and not far off from the Tek-Marne trade route. Sensors have detected a number of downed merchantman ships and escort vessels.
She blinked. Someone had hit the Tek-Marne? Damn, she knew piracy was getting bad, but it seemed to be really bad out here. If a major route like that with regular patrols and escorts could be hit by pirates, any route could. That was worrying, but she was more interested in the burst. “What kind of...”
Another one showed up right on the screen as she was speaking. Quickly followed by another and then a series of smaller rapid bursts. She didn’t need an analysis to know what she was looking at; weapons fire. Someone was being shot at.
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Countryman took a look out at the screens. Construction had proceeded smoothly and they were now conducting shakedown tests for the new bombers. Well actually the pilots were really just having fun with the new ships, but as long as they got a good feel for them it would be great when it came time to use them in actual battle. So far he noticed that they were a little clumsy compared to the 1204, even if their engines were quite a bit more powerful. They just lacked the agility of the 1204. In part due to their higher mass and heavier construction. While pulse wave engines did partially nullify the mass of a ship, that wasn’t complete nullification. Mass still mattered, just not as much as it would otherwise. Regardless the 1208 was still quite agile, and it could get up to a fairly impressive speed. Even if the lighter 1204 outperformed it there, it didn’t need to match or exceed the 1204 in that area. Its real value was its firepower, it lacked the missiles of the 1208 but it wasn’t meant to engage other fighters.
He watched an old cruiser be torn apart by a barrage of heavy cannon. Underscoring his thoughts and point on what it was meant for. Engaging ships much bigger than it. Which the ship was shaping up to excel at. Especially considering how that cruiser was ripped apart by the high penetration cannons they had fitted on the 1208. It was quite the sight, on that he watched as he began recording his log for the day. Starting with the date like he always did, August 23rd, 002 SDE.
He had only made it through the first paragraph of what he had to say, when he received a perimeter report.
“Sir, long-range sensors have detected several ships on approach vector. The signatures are Valorian.”
He blinked and checked the plots, they were far closer than he would have liked. Countryman however knew why, the debris field interfered with long range scans and limited sight. To compensate he had set patrols, but with only two ships and a handful of fighters there was only so much he could do about that. Right now it was the Umikaze, who had detected and relayed the ships approaching.
“Recall the fighters, sound general quarters.”
Misaki responded promptly, “Aye sir, recalling all fighters, sounding the alert.”
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The lights turned yellow, as weapons were brought to standby. While he would prefer not to need them, the Valorians were a hit-or-miss group. Some of them could be rather trigger-happy, while others were more amenable. Sali, Reia, Niera and Vera were actually quite friendly and they seemed to be doing well with life on the Enterprise. That outpost commander he saved had been friendly, if perhaps a bit wary. The Valorians at Cantra had been a rather prickly bag, although the ones they rescued had been more grateful. He figured this meeting was going to go south like pretty much every other meeting.
It would take time to recover the fighters and based on the plots the alien vessels would already be in range by then. As he considered things, he listened to the identification reports. Three Protector Class Heavy Cruisers, forty Ophera class light carriers/cruisers, and two hundred escort vessels, a mix of frigates and corvettes. He wasn’t familiar with the corvette type he saw here, but the Patroller Frigate was known to him. So he had Misaki summon Reia to the bridge.
She arrived soon enough and glanced at the plots under his direction. He figured she would be a better source than searching the database, she said, “Those are V-22s, the merchant fleet loves them. They are primarily an escort vessel, armed with light pulse cannons, and minimal shielding; they aren’t particularly threatening, but they are fast and have superior sensors.”
“Sounds like a scout ship to me. Any torpedoes?”
“No, they don’t have the power plant to support plasma torpedo launchers.”
Countryman noted that down. “Thank you for the input. Any idea what such a large formation is doing in the middle of nowhere?”
Reia shook her head, “No, but that is a full military formation and usually you don’t see that many heavy cruisers in a group outside of the core.”
“I figured, a fleet that size is large enough to attack most of the smaller outposts and colonies in this sector. My scans also show they are carrying a full load of heavy torpedoes and strike craft.”
Before they could say more, Misaki interjected, “All deployed craft have been recovered, sir. Also we are being hailed by the Valorian flag.”
He settled into his chair and said, “Put them through.”
A moment later, a Valorian woman appeared on the forward screen. Along with her vibrant and rather over-decorated bridge. It was also far too brightly lit. He was not impressed.
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The commander shifted a bit. So far things seemed to be going alright. With that in mind, she had made the proposal she was looking for. The clan needed the technology these aliens had for their ascendency.
The man Countryman frowned and then replied, “While interesting we are not in the business of selling vital defense technologies at any cost. Now we have plenty of other things we are willing to sell. I recall some interesting pieces of scrap we picked up recently. Interested in some old field generators, or would you be more interested in a Chi’ran Railgun with shield penetrating shells?”
She blinked, that was a perfectly reasonable offer and they were countering with junk? What kind of insult was this? The commander cut the channel rather than continue this farce. If they weren’t going to take a lucrative trade offer, she was going to have to acquire those technologies by force. She turned to tactical, “Battlestations, forward tubes fire!”
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The ship shuddered and Countryman sighed, “Sometimes I hate dealing with your people. Always so quick to use their triggers.”
He turned to Kaori at tactical as the lights turned red, “Light them up, all batteries.”
Reia shrunk a little, and then shook her head. As the battle began. The Umikaze sweeping in beam arrays firing. Several corvettes took hits, their shields flaring before the beams ripped into their unarmored hulls. Two of them exploded into fireballs a moment later. While the others broke off. In the same vein, the Enterprise scored several hits on the flag, her shields flaring brightly before she pulled back. Just not without a parting shot of several more torpedoes, which were harmlessly absorbed by the Enterprise’s energy webs.
Countryman barked out new orders as he analyzed his options. The enemy had deployed FTL jammers which was going to hamper any retreat. In order to go to warp they would have to either escape their range or destroy the source. Going for the second would require destroying those heavy cruisers, which were heavily shielded. Not enough to be immune to his particle cannons, but the commander was smart. She pulled back before her shields could be strained too much. That was going to be annoying.
He gave his next order, “Standby, forward tubes.”
“Forward tubes, ready to fire sir.”
Countryman was about to give the order to fire, when Reia commented, “This is stupid.”
He sighed, “Sadly some people are idiots. Our new friend has decent combat instincts, but she miscalculated. Numbers alone mean nothing.”
Then he gave the order to fire. A distinctive sound reverberated through the ship as every forward tube discharged a burst of torpedoes. Three hundred torpedoes slipped into space seeking targets across the Valorian fleet, who responded with numerous pulse cannon shots firing on every warhead. Something that proved only somewhat useful, as they didn’t even destroy a hundred of them. Downing only about 20% of the warheads fired. The rest slammed into the shields of various cruisers and frigates. Most of the warheads detonated on the shields but some went through them to hit the hull. Multiple fireballs erupted in the Valorian formation.