History Lesson

It had been almost an hour since the Starbase had been contacted by the Karled and both Captain Mallory and Captain Taybar had been sitting in the briefing room discussing the situation. Both agreed that although the Karled appeared willing to negotiate, it was more than likely that unless they surrendered the Axeline ambassador and the crew of her vessel, the Karled would attack the base.

“The latest situation report I have is that we have about a dozen combat-ready vessel, including the Leviathan, Ronin and Iwo Jima. We’ve managed to contact about three more vessels which are enroute, but I doubt it will be enough to defend the station.” Captain Mallory stated, having just received an update from Commander K’Tag. “What we need is more time to allow re-enforcements to arrive.”

"I agree.” Captain Taybar. “Which means we only have one option, keep the Karled occupied until more help can arrive.”

Just then the doors to the briefing room opened and Ambassador Ur’eka came through.

“Ambassador.” Aki stated. “We have a big problem.”

“The Karled battle-frigate is on approach to this station.” The ambassador replied. “They want you to hand over myself and my crew. Captain’s I cannot allow that to happen, I will inform my ship that we will be departing in thirty minutes. I am not willing to put this station at risk for us.”

“We’re not prepared to just surrender to these aliens ambassador and we have never had any intention of handing over any of your crew.” Captain Mallory stated. “You and your vessel came to Starbase 901 in peace and you will leave the same way. All I need to know is how we can fight the Karled.”

“Captain Mallory, you don’t fight the Karled, you just get out of their way.” Ur’eka answered. “We thought we’d defeated them once and for all over a millennia ago, but somehow they survived and now they have just one goal, to destroy the Axeline race from existence.”

“Ambassador, just what and how did you end up at war with the Karled.” Captain Taybar asked. “We know that you offered the Karled a home when their own was destroyed. But over time they started to want more and more, leading to a war which you thought you’d won. After that we know nothing.”

“Captain, that period of history is not one which we are very proud of.” The Ambassador announced. “We fought the Karled expansionism for nearly a century, until eventually we came up with the ultimate solution. We deliberately left our defences weak in certain areas, creating a clear path back to their homeworld. As soon as we were sure that the Karled had retreated, we closed the door and sprung the trap.”

“You attacked them on their homeworld.” Captain Mallory suggested.

“Not exactly.” The Ambassador replied. “We detonated the planet.”

“Genocide.” Captain Taybar remarked. “You attempted to destroy the Karled race.”

“Exactly, it was the only way to ensure victory.” Ambassador Ur’eka. “We detonated over a dozen high-yield warheads which we had managed to smuggle through the Karled defences. The warheads caused the planet’s atmosphere to burn and created a wasteland in which nothing could survive, or so we thought. Once their homeworld was destroyed, it was easy for us to wipe out the remainder of their forces. We thought our problems with the Karled were at an end. In time, our people forgot what we had done, until about fifty years ago.”

“When the attacks started once more !.” Aki suggested. “Did a colony of Karled survive ?”

“At first that’s what we thought.” Ur’eka stated. “But then we managed to trace all the attacks back to the Karled homeworld. We sent a scout vessel to double-check, but it never returned. The long-range probes we made told us that the planet was still uninhabitable, the theta and delta radiation levels were as high as they had been when the planet was first destroyed.”

“Theta and delta radiation !” Aki remarked. “Just how big were these warheads you detonated ?”

“We planted the warheads close to the main power generators.” Ur’eka stated. “We’d built them for the Karled and we knew that the combine radiation levels would be lethal.”

“And you say the levels of radiation were constant ?” Captain Mallory asked. “Didn’t you find that strange… Surely the levels would have declined over the centuries ?”

“We have no explanation for the radiation levels.” Ur’eka admitted. “All we can presume is that somehow some of the reactors survived the initial blasts with just major damage to the shielding. The reactors could have continued to operate, pouring more radiation into the toxic atmosphere.”

“And somehow the Karled managed to survive all this radiation ?” Aki remarked.

“We have no idea how, but they must have survived and then spent the next thousand years preparing to strike back, with the intention of doing to the Axeline race what we attempted to do to them. We are not proud of our history, but the Karled are succeeding where we have failed.”

“When the Leviathan left space dock, they were attacked by unknown vessels.” Aki remarked. “The vessel’s pilots or what we perceived to the pilots were heavily irradiated and mutated with both theta and delta radiation, I very much doubt that this is a coincidence.”

“Maybe the Karled have evolved to actually live in such a lethal environment.” Captain Mallory suggested. “It would explain a lot of the data we’ve seen.”

“Did the vessels not appear on your ships sensors ?” Ur’eka enquired.

“They appeared to use a technology that we have encountered before.” Aki replied. “We believe that they may have had contact with a race known as the Romulans about two hundred years ago. We’ve been attempting to confirm this, but so far we have had no confirmation.”

“The first attacks started about two hundred years ago.” Ambassador Ur’eka stated. “We never saw the vessels coming, I have not heard of these Romulans of whom you speak, but all the evidence would point to a connection.”

“Then it is very likely that the Karled were behind the attack on the Leviathan.” Captain Taybar asked.

“From your description, I would guess that your vessel was attacked by a Karled swarm ship.” Ur’eka replied. “It’s a carrier vessel that has around a thousand fighter vessels. Their tactic is to use the fighters to overwhelm any vessel before moving in for the final kill. It would appear that our contact with the Federation has been passed to the Karled and they attempted to prevent the Leviathan from coming to this station.”

“What about this Battle frigate you spoke about ?” Captain Mallory enquired. “Just how powerful is it ?”

“The frigate is the flagship of the Karled and I doubt even the combine firepower of this station and the vessels you have at your disposal will be enough to defeat it.” Ur’eka suggested.

“You underestimate the firepower of this station.” Mallory replied.

“The Karled flagship is not just a warship, it is a mobile battle-station in its own right.” Ur’eka said. “It is over five kilometres long and about twice the mass of this station. Do you really think that you can defend this station against something with that amount of firepower ?”

“We’ll certainly have a go.” Mallory confirmed proudly.

“Then you will all die.” Ur’eka replied. “However, my vessel is at your disposal. If we must die then we will die defending something we believe in.”

“We do have one opportunity.” Captain Taybar suggested. “The Karled are coming here to negotiate, which gives us time to develop a battle plan. I have an idea, but there is no guarantees of success because it’s never been done before.”

“I’ll meet with the Karled and see if we can’t keep them talking.” Mallory announced. “The more time we have to prepare the better.”

“I will return to my ship and prepare to assist.” Ur’eka suggested.

“Actually I’d prefer it if you’d remain onboard the Leviathan for now.” Aki replied. “Captain Mallory, I’d like to evacuate all the non-essential crew to the station, I want to launch the Leviathan in an hour, but with only a skeleton crew. The fewer officers that are put at risk the better.”

“I’ll ensure that you have all the resources available.” Mallory stated. “I would like to know what you have in mind.”

“The fewer people who know the better.” Aki replied. “The Leviathan is full-armed and ready for battle, that’s all you need to know.”