With the battle largely
under way, the federation seemed to be doing fairly well for them selves. They
had only lost the *Delaware*, *Montana* and a few support craft to the 20 odd
ships the Bariens had lost. The Ronin seemed to be faring well for itself too,
they had so far not allowed a single decrum torpedo to reach its target....
"Captain! Three more Barien fighters coming towards us on the port side,
distance, 400km!" Cried Leiutenant Sular
"We can't break off this assault, signaled the *hellcat* to draw their attention"
"Sir, the hellcat is not responding. She appears to be adrift" shouted Benosk. The bridge shook violently and a few conduits exploded.
"Commander, break off the attack and head directly for that cruiser!"
"Captain....?" questioned Heim
"Trust me Commander. When I say so, come to a full stop"
"Aye sir" Heim tapped a few buttons and the Ronin quickly spun around and headed quickly towards a massive Barien ship that seemed to be concentrating all of its fire on the *USS Pembrokeshire*, a galaxy class ship. The Ronin flew closer and closer and Ryan watched the screen with great concentration.
"Now Commander!!" Heim pressed a few buttons and the Ronin came to a quick stop. "Pull away, maximum impulse"
"Aye sir" The Ronin pulled up within a couple of metres of the cruisers hull, as the other Barien fighters slammed into it creating a huge fireball to burst out of the side of the ship into space.
"I'll have to remember that one" said Sular.
"Captain Evans to *USS Pembrokeshire* Do you need assistance?"
[........................]
"*Pembrokeshire* do you need assistance?"
[.....................]
"The comm. links down Captain. Sensors show their life support to be non-operational."
"Damn it!" As Ryan spoke, the *Pembrokeshire* creaked open and split in two emitting a huge explosion where it cracked apart. The two halves of the ship slowly drifted off in different directions. As a wave of Barien fighter craft flew through the debris. "Commander set a course for those fighters, maximum impulse! Lieutenant Sular, what's the status of that cruiser we just passed?"
"Forward shields are down and their weapons array is off-line." He shouted over the noise of an exploding conduit.
"Steele! Signal the nearest federation ship to take it out before it can get back on its feet!"
"Aye sir. Captain, we are receiving a hail from the *Apollo*! They're under attack from decrum torpedoes!"
"Commander, forget those fighters! Set a new course for those torpedoes."
"Aye sir"
"Captain, we've lost four more runabouts!"
"Damn! Benosk, you and Ensign McCloud take the shuttle pod and get out there. We need the extra support." Benosk hesitated knowing that there wasn't much chance of survival
"Captain?"
"Just do it ensign! We'll all be dead if we can't stop these torpedoes."
"Aye sir"
"Commander, distance to those torpedoes?"
"4000km and closing"
"As soon as we enter weapons range take them out!"
"Yes Captain" Heim replied as a bulk head exploded above him and swung down, just missing him. "That was a close one..... Torpedoes destroyed sir"
"Good, set a course for the nearest group of fighters."
"Captain," called Steele "The *Knight* and the other ships attacking the flank have just entered range. There is a squadron of fifteen Barien fighters heading straight for them. These fighters are more advanced than the others captain, they seem to be equipped with torpedo launchers."
"Damn it! Commander, cloak the ship and head for those fighters. Prepare a full spread of quantum torpedoes" With that the *Ronin* disappeared from the battlefield and headed straight out towards the incoming federation ships.
"Distance Commander?"
"10000km..... 9000..... 8000...... 7000........ 6000...... 5000....."
"Decloak and fire at will!" The *Ronin* decloaked directly behind the squadron flying in a triangular format and launched ten torpedoes destroying nine of the ships. "Good shooting Mr. Sular, now take care of the rest of those ships"
"Aye sir.... All fighters destroyed"
"Head back into the battle, maximum impulse"
"Captain, we're receiving a hail from Captain Osagawa"
"On screen.... Yes Captain?"
[I wish to thank you for taking out those fighters. They could have taken out most of the fleet]
"No problem Captain, just doing our job" Ryan said with a smile
[If you need assistance, just call. Osagawa out]
"Captain we have a problem, 30 standard Barien fighters are converging on our position"
"What??? Any available craft to take off some of the heat?"
"None that can get here quick enough. We're to far out of the battle!"
"Looks like we'll have to do it ourselves. Commander, evasive pattern Delta four"
"I can't shake them sir"
"Shields at 42%" someone shouted above the noise of exploding conduits and bulkheads
"Four fighters down Captain, the rest are still closing"
"Shields at 22%.... 15%!"
"Captain, the *Knight* is heading this way. It's picking off some of the craft but the rest are still attacking!"
"Shields at 4%! Captain we can't take another hit!"
"Commander, get us out of here!" At that moment the shields dropped and the ship started violently shuddering as systems all over the ship started blowing out. Ryan pulled him self up off the floor as did all other bridge officers. "Lieutenant Solas report? Lieutenant....?" Ryan looked over to her station to see her slumped over her blown out console with parts of it impaled through her chest. "Medical team to the bridge! Commander what's going on out there?" Heim pulled himself up and checked his console.
"One fighter left sir.... *Knight* pursuing..... It's coming straight for us sir! Its targeting the bridge!"
"Everybody out!" Ryan shouted "Get to engineering, I'll transfer the bridge controls to you down there" The three remaining officers, Sular, Steele and Heim got up and ran for the door. "Computer transfer all bridge functions to main engineering authorization Evans 4-4-2 Beta"
Ryan got up and headed for the door but it was too late. The bridge exploded throwing him all the way back into the view screen along with Lieutenant Steele who hadn't made it to the door.
In engineering......
"What's going on Commander" asked McQueen as Heim climbed down the ladder to engineering.
"The bridge has been destroyed.... All command functions have been transferred here"
"The Captain?"
"Still on the bridge.... He's still alive.. I can sense it"
"Internal sensors show a hull breach on the bridge, but emergency forcefields are holding. Don't worry we'll get him out."
"Good... What's the.. ships status?"
"Are you all right Commander" asked McQueen looking at the large gash on the side of Heims head.
"I'm fine... Where's that status
report?!?"