Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/euridice.p0-2

Text File | 1995-08-20 | 47KB | 863 lines

This story is copyright to Drew Wagar ([e-mail]). Please feel free
to distribute, but keep this header attached and do not sell it. Enjoy.


E U R I D I C E

PROLOGUE

        Finally underway, Captain Mahl Triboner thought, hoping that the new
drive would give no further trouble now that the Nuten engineers had given
it the okay. Why couldn't they just stick with tried and tested systems
rather than invent new ones? Progress, Triboner reminded himself. Euridice
was faster, more powerful than any of the other federation starships, the
pride of the fleet, or at least she would be if the ship held together.
        The ship had been recently built at the Lauvita ship yards, the only
decent thing to have come out of that God forsaken planet in his opinion, and
had been rushed into service in order to make a surprise appearance at the
peace negotiations talking place with the Alliance. As such, much of the ship
was untested and unreliable. The idea to surprise the Alliance fleet with
the presence of this completely new battle cruiser appealed to Triboner,
but with the number of problems the ship was exhibiting, it seemed more likely
they would arrive with half the ship missing. Not a fitting introduction for
the new Omega class 4 prototype vessel, especially considering how much
the Erendian government had paid for it.
        Taran looked around from his instruments, "Estimating arrival
at Tian in two days, seven hours and fifteen minutes."
        Triboner nodded his approval, that was well before the peace
conference was due to finish, and Euridices new engines werent being
strained. Taran was a newly promoted lieutenant, transfered from Euridice's
sister ship the Orpheus, which was of the unremarkable and unloved Epsilon
class cruiser, 3B for short.
        "Maintain course." Triboner said,"Just keep a look out for anything
wrong please! We've got to be there within time."
        He looked up on the screen at the slowly changing display, Tian
was still a dim yellow star in the distance, more than two light years
away.
        "Apparently," Neil said, from his science console,"Santrigan has
sent the Revenge to the peace conference."
        Neil was the Euridice's second officer, a capable man who had served
on numerous federation vessels in many capacities, but had no great ambition.
He was quite happy to serve in a lesser job, which he was good at.
        Triboner nodded,"So I heard. I doubt that Lord Shanar has 'peace'
on his mind though."
        "A warrior of some ability I gather." Neil replied.
        Triboner smiled grimly,"Yes. I came across him once hijacking a
group of freighters, some very impressive tactics, fortunately I had the
Cassiopeia then and he had an old Nutopia class ship, but he gave us a
real tough time, before he escaped."
        "A man not to be trusted."
        Triboner shook his head,"Oh no, you can trust him alright, he's
completely dedicated to the Alliance, and desires conquest, thats why I'm
surprised to find him at this conference at all, and that worries me."
        Triboner had met Lord Shanar many times, though only once in battle,
where he had defeated him. But Shanar had been in an inferior ship.
        "He wont be able to do anything, with Euridice, the federation
fleet outnumbers the alliance."
        Triboner looked up at Neil,"Never underestimate Shanar, he's
devious, clever, intelligent and also very lucky."
        Neil shrugged and looked back at his instruments.
        Triboner lean't back in the centre seat and relaxed for a moment.
        A light flashed on Taran's console and he turned,"Sir, I'm getting
a proximity alert on the navigation system."
        Triboner grinned inwardly, see what you get if you relax?
        "Neil?" he asked without turning around.
        Neil was quickly typing in commands to the bridge computer,"Confirmed
sir, picking up a large mass ahead, course 003 mark 001, distance of 0.003
light years and closing."
        "What is it?" Triboner asked," Asteroid?"
        It was unlikely something this big would have gone uncharted for
so long, but it was possible that an errant rock might be floating about
out here. Objects much smaller than a large asteroid were difficult to track
when using the dimension drive since they gave off no easily detectable
emissions. Ships were much easier, their drive units giving off recognisable
eddy currents and trails.
        "Possibly sir," Neil replied," I'm focusing the scanners on it now."
        Triboner waited while Neil peered at the instruments.
        "Now reading 97 percent Duraline alloy, various hard plastics
and radioactive trace elements. It's a ship."
        "Is any ship authorised to be in this area?" Triboner queried.
        "Just us sir." Neil replied.
        Triboner frowned,"Yellow alert then. Prepare to raise shields and
arm weapons, fore and aft."
        The status panel above the viewscreen changed from green to yellow.
        "Shields ready to engage,"Kylia said excitedly,"Pulsars show ready."
        "Plot an intercept course and implement." Triboner ordered."
        "Aye sir."Taran replied, taciturn as always.
        "Neil, "Triboner said as an afterthought, "Can you get me an ID on
that ship?"
        Neil bent over his console once more,"I've got a beacon from the
ship, but it's scrambled, nothing intelligible."
        "Hail it."
        Peilo turned to her board, selected the apropriate frequency and
signalled,"This is the UFS Euridice to unidentified vessel, please identify
yourself."
        She waited for a response, but the input showed nothing but static,
not even a modulation.
        "They are not replying sir." she said.
        "Curious." Triboner muttered.
        "Intercept in one minute." Taran reported.
        "It appears to be drifting," Neil said,"I'm reading a standard
anti-matter reactor, but little power usage."
        "Damaged?" Triboner queried. An unpowered ship appeared just like
an asteroid to most scanners, a trick that had been used a lot in the wars.
A damaged one would give off some kind of radiation signature.
        "Doesn't appear to be. I'm receiving standard emissions from the
reactor, dimension drive is powered up but unused, weapons show as
unarmed, but no obvious damage found anywhere."
        Taran looked around,"Visual now available sir."
        Triboner nodded,"On screen."
        The view screen flickered and the stars appear to rush past
as the magnification increased, the screen centred on a small bright dot
that Triboner would have taken for a star. The dot swelled in size and
became a ship.
        Triboner heard the crew gasp, an automatic reaction to the ship on
the screen.
        "Red alert!" Triboner ordered immediately.
        "Shields up full," Kylia responded quickly,"Pulsars locking on
target."
        "It's the Merciless!" Taran managed to say,"Pillia Mar's ship!"
        The Merciless was an alliance vessel, identical to the one
Triboner had faced when fighting Shanar, but this one belonged to another
infamous Lord, Pillar Mar. He had been a great figure in the war, striking
fear into the heart of the best federation commanders. It was rumoured
he was indestructable, his ship likewise.
        "Still no response to our hails." Peilo said blandly, unaffected
by the emotions of the rest of the crew.
        "Pulsars charged and ready." Kylia said unable to keep the
excitement out of her voice.
        "Not yet lieutenant." Triboner replied calmly,"Neil, scan the ship for
lifeforms. Bring us on a parallel course and match speed, Taran."
        Euridice turned and came alongside the peculiarly silent Merciless.
        "They still havent raised their shields." Taran commented.
        Neil turned around with a strange look on his face.
        "I'm reading no lifeforms on the Merciless sir."
This story is copyright to Drew Wagar ([e-mail]). Please feel free
to distribute, but keep this header attached and do not sell it. Enjoy.

E U R I D I C E

CHAPTER ONE

    Ensign Tenim Neseva looked out of the viewpoint of the Tian starship
Hawk, at the greatest moment in recent history...and yawned. The planet Tian,
although not allied to either the federation or the alliance, had
volenteered to host the peace talks, as a neutral planet. Negotiations between
the two sides were continuing planetside, whilst the three small Tian starships
stood on guard between the opposing fleets of the Alliance and the Federation.
    The federation fleet was composed of three ships, Orpheus, Cassiopeia
and Cepheus. Cassiopeia and Cepheus were delta 3a class cruisers, an elegant
and aesthetically pleasing design, which had been the mainstay of the
federation fleet for a number of years. Nuten engineers had been so impressed
with the design they had commissioned their own, the Cobra, to assist their
ancient Pike 1 class Anaconda. The other ship, Orpheus, had been designed
as the replacement for the 3a class, but apparently had not been much of
a success. Though bigger than the 3a class, it was bulkier and slower
and hadn't had a chance to prove itself in battle since it was commissioned
at the end of the war, just before the peace talk proposals. Only one had been
built, and it appeared that no more were on the drawing board.
    On the other side of the ship Tenim could see the Alliance fleet,
again composed of three ships. Revenge and Saber were two famous battleships,
that had caused much damage in the war. Tactically they were equivalent to
the Delta class vessels of the federation. Inbetween them was the new
Alliance ship, the Falchion. It looked deadly, larger, faster, more powerful.
The federation had nothing like it. It had been the answer to the federations
Orpheus, but the federation ship fell far short of the Alliances. It also had
yet to proved in battle.
    In contrast, although the Tian fleet had three starships, which
also happened to be the entire fleet, the fleet was completed outgunned
by the two factions. Tian was a single planet, with limited resources. It's
ships were developed by Tian engineers and rated about class 2 on the ranking
scale. On discovering that they were caught inbetween two much more powerful
forces, Tian had discontinued their efforts in ship building and merely
maintained their three ships, hence they were quite old. Only the Raven
had recently been given a refit, to improve the dimension drive power
output.
    The ship Tenim served on was the second to be built. It had been
used in anger only once, fourty years ago when Tian had been attacked
by Santrijan. The Erendians had come to their aid and fought off the
Santrijanians. A few years later the federation had been formed, in
response to the growing threat from the alliance and Tian had been
refused membership on the grounds of political instability. Tenim
suspected that their were other reasons though, because the moment
the first federation/alliance war took place six years later, Tian
was offered federation membership. Which was of course declined as it
appeared that Tian was only going to be used as a resource for the
duration of the war. Relations with the federation had been cool ever
since, Tian allowed the federation ships to pass through their system,
but only with a Tian escort. As for the alliance, Tian had had nothing
to do with them. The Alliance had attacked the federation without
entering Tian space and no alliance ship had been seen in Tian space
since then, until now. Santrijan had not been part of the alliance
when it attacked Tian, and no offensive action had been taken since.
    The Tian people valued peace above all, hence they were willing to
host these talks. They allowed the fleets in on one condition, that Tian
ships would fire on which ever side fired first. The Tian people would
also not tolerate foul play. The Tian fleet was of sufficient strength
that the guilty party would be unlikely to survive.
    Tenim was the second helm officer of the Hawk, on duty for
an eight hour shift. Three hours had passed uneventfully. For a helm
officer, orbiting a planet did not require a great deal of attention, the ship
was in a geostationary position above the capital city of Tian. He was bored.
    Idly, he plotted the degradation of the orbit the ship was in and
was quite pleased at the quality of the orbit he'd plotted, the ship would
crash in two hundred and fifteen years if it was unattended.
    The Captain, Yosie Farlynne, yawned from her position behind him,
obviously as bored him. The rest of the bridge crew appeared equally
fed up with the situation.
    "I'd welcome it if somebody did open fire." Shanat Yerkul, the
weapons officer commented,"Anything is better than just sitting around here."
    Tenim agreed with the sentiment, but he had no wish to fight the
two factions present.
    The peace negotiations were actually taking place on the planet
below, Tian did not have an orbiting space station. The capital city
had been chosen as the venue and all nine ships were currently directly
above it. The talks were supposed to continue for another seven days.
    Tenim hoped he could stay awake.

    In the instella void between Nuten and Tian, two starships floated
side by side, motionless with respect to one another. One was a hive of
activity, the other silent as a tomb.
    Janu had been ordered to report for the transport team and arrived
at transporter number 4. The other members of the team had already arrived.
Captain Triboner was heading the mission to the silent Alliance vessel, along
with Neil and his assigned trainee, an ensign called Meren Per, who Janu
detested vehemently.
    "Hurry it up Tinevel," Triboner ordered,"I want this cleared
up as soon as possible."
    All four took their positions on the beam pad and the transporter
operator took the controls
    "Ready sir."
    "Go ahead."
    Janu felt the strange energy of the beaming process take her and
sweep her away, onto the bridge of the alliance ship. At first glance
everything seemed normal, there was no apparent damage, as Euridices
scanner had shown.
    It was only after a moment they noticed the crew.
    Everyone was slumped across consoles, or lying on the floor. Each
crew member had their hands clenched about their throats as if they'd
strangled themselves.
    Neil had his portascan out and was taking readings.
    "What killed them?" Triboner asked.
    "Reading indicate their blood is badly de-oxygenated, they
appear to have suffocated." Neil said in surprise,"But the air in here
is a perfectly normal nitrogen oxygen mix."
    "Anything else? Poison? Trace elements?"
    "Nothing except this." Neil said, indicating one of the nearby
consoles. It was covered in a thin green film, sticky to the touch. The
bodies were covered with it too.
    "What is it?"
    "Some kind of plant growth I think, don't ask me where it came from."
    Meren frowned,"So we have a ship were everyone suffocated where
the air is fine. And a plant has sprung up from nowhere! Thats impossible!"
    "It's happened." Janu said, irritated.
    "Fan out and check other areas. Neil, head for the engineering
section, see if you can figure out how to get the reactor back on line.
I want to take this ship back to the federation. Meren go with him."
    Neil and Meren left, through the door at the back of the bridge.
    "Meanwhile, ensign." Triboner said," You claim to be good
at computers, I want to figure out what this ship was doing this
close to federation space."

    Taran had been left in command of Euridice whilst Triboner was
away on the Merciless. He enjoyed the opportunity to command, he was
ambitious enough to hope for his own command one day.
    Peilo looked up from her communication console with a frown,
most unusual for her.
    "Sir?" she asked, with a hint of curiousity in her voice.
    Taran turned," What is it?"
    Peilo returned his attention,"I am having difficulty with
communications. There seems to be an unusual impedance increasing slowly
on all ether and standard frequencies."
    Taran got up out of the command chair and walked over to
look at her readouts.
    "I've not encountered this before." Peilo said.
    Taran frowned, pressed a couple of commands into the
computer and then straightened.
    "No, you wont have," he said," This hasn't been seen since the
war, it's a jamming signal. Get me the captain."

    Triboner and Janu had managed to hack into the bridge computer
on the Merciless and were sifting through the ships logs, trying to find
out about the ships mission. So far, they had had little luck. There had
been numerous references to 'the orders' but no information on what
the orders were. Neither was their information on what had happened
to the crew, the last log entry was completely normal.
    "Perhaps the orders were just by word of mouth for the captains
ears only." Janu commented.
    "It would seem so."Triboner agreed,"Keep looking."
    He flipped open his personal communicator.
    "Triboner to Neil."
    "Neil here." came the voice from the tiny speaker.
    "Found anything?"
    "Engineering is undamaged." Neil replied," But I can't break the
password controls on the main reactor circuits. It appears to have
timed out since there was no one around to operate it and then automatically
shutdown. However, we found something interesting in the cargo bay."
    "What?"
    "A lot more of that green gunk, gallons of it. Almost as if it
started in the bay, we were ankle deep in the stuff. There appear to be
a large number of canisters in there too, and evidence of an explosion which
seems to have ruptured some of them."
    "Were they containers for this green stuff?"
    "Maybe, but how did this slime get all over the ship?"
    Triboner acknowledged the point,"And get so evenly distributed
around, almost as if it was deposited. Get back up here, we'll get
Euridice to tow the ship back."
    Janu meanwhile was looking at the ships visual log, she'd
found something. Something she didn't like.
    ".....to rendezvous with attack fleet after operation grasp is
complete at planet Tian. Then proceed directly to Erendia to start bombing
run."
    "Captain!" she cried.
    Triboner hurried over.
    "Something about an attack fleet!"
    Triboner listened to the fragmented report again.
    "When was it recorded?" he demanded.
    Janu checked,"Two days ago."
    "Then there may still be time." Triboner said. Neil and Meren walked
into the bridge.
    "Whats up?" Neil asked, seeing the expression on Triboners face.
    "The federation has been led into a trap, the fleet at Tian
is in danger and unless we warn them, the federation too."
    Triboner started to signal the Euridice but the communicator
beeped before he got there. It was Taran.
    "Report." Triboner asked.
    "Sir, we're picking up an ether field distortion. Some one is
jamming us."
    "Where from?"
    "We've been trying to localise it, no luck so far, but it isn't
the Merciless, there must be another ship around."
    "Try and punch a message through to Tian, coded frequency,
priority one. Tell them the alliance is preparing to attack!"

    Tenim looked up at the still motionless fleets hanging in orbit
with them. Nothing had changed.
    Tamia Longlee, the communications officer, appeared to be having
fun with her console however, lights were flashing, indicating
a reception problem.
    Yosie noticed.
    "What is it lieutenant?"
    Tamia frowned,"I don't know sir, I'm getting a lot of static and
bits of a transmission from outside of the solar system."
    "What are you doing with the antennas pointed that
way?" Yosie asked," You should be monitoring the fleet."
    Catriana Jones, the science officer, turned around,"I had number
four re-aligned due to a guidance problem, it's currently stuck in the
general direction of Nuten."
    Yosie frowned,"What did you pick up?"
    Tamia replayed the message over the ships speakers.
    ".......Euri....trol....fleet....ation.....pond!" said the speaker,
the few intelligible words were laced with static.
    "It's very weak," Tamia said,"I was lucky to pick it up at all,
if the antenna hadn't been looking that way..."
    Yosie turned to Catriana,"Aim all antennas towards the source
of the signal. Go to yellow alert."
    Catriana typed in the commands, as the rest of the bridge crew
prepared the ship for action. Tenim ploted an evasive course to get
them out of orbit quickly.
    "Getting something." Tamia said," On speakers."
    ".....ship Euridice to central control at federation fleet. Alliance
is preparing to attack the federation, please respond!"
    Yosie stared at Catriana.
    "Message repeats." The speaker said,"Star ship Euridice to central
control at federation fleet. Alliance is pre......"
    The message stopped in a blast of static.
    "Another signal!" Tamia said,"Much stronger."
    The speakers voice had changed,"IMPLEMENT OPERATION GRASP NOW. I
REPEAT! IMPLEMENT OPERATION GRASP NOW!"
    Catriana saw a change on her monitors,"Alliance ships powering
up drives, shields and weapons!"
    Yosie spun around,"Tenim! Get us out of here! Red alert, full
power to shields!"

This story is copyright to Drew Wagar ([e-mail]). Please feel free
to distribute, but keep this header attached and do not sell it. Enjoy.

E U R I D I C E

CHAPTER 2

    Taran stood over Peilo's console on the bridge, looking
anxiously at the now quickly degrading communications bandwidth.
    "Did it get through?" he demanded.
    "Impossible to tell."Peilo answered,"If it didn't, it
most certainly wont now. Transmission bandwidth is now zero."
    Triboner, Neil and Janu walked hurriedly onto the bridge.
    "Report." Triboner asked, sliding into his chair.
    "Shields and weapons powered up, dimension drive standing by.
Communications is dead and main sensors are clouded by 62 percent. We
haven't been able to locate the other ship either." Taran said quickly.
    "Re-route extra power to the sensors." Triboner ordered,"Find me that
ship. Prepare a course for Tian, maximum speed."
    Taran moved back to his console and rapidly began to plot the
course.
    "Sir!"Neil said urgently from Triboners right,"I'm picking up
an energy surge from aft, point blank range!"
    Triboner turned back to Taran,"Evasive manouvres! They're trying
to come out of drive on top of us!"
    Euridices sublight engines glared brightly for a moment and the ship
spiralled away from the Merciless. Space flickered behind them and another
ship suddenly appear, coasting up to the position they had occupied
a moment before, guns blazing.
    But not at their position. The guns fired at the Merciless.
    The Merciless was unshielded and powered down, it did not move as
four plasma torpedos and two rounds of pulsar fire slammed into it's
unprotected hull.
    There was a huge explosion, making the screen inside the
Euridice bridge clamp down it's darkening filters. When it cleared
the wreck of the Merciless, ablaze from stem to stern could be seen
spiralling away from the point of impact.
    "What the hell is going on?" Triboner demanded of no one inparticular.
    "They're scanning us!" Neil said from his console," I've identified
the ship as Alliance vessel Blood Feud."
    "Get me a comms channel." Triboner ordered.
    "Not available sir!" Peilo replied.
    On screen the Blood feud was turning.
    "They're starting an attack run!" Neil warned.
    Triboner nodded," Thirty degrees to starboard, ten degrees
negative pitch, Lock all upper and port side pulsar banks on target."
    Kylia worked at her console,"Ready sir!"
    "Incoming torpedoes!" Neil warned.
    Euridice shuddered underneath them, but the shields held easily,
deflecting the impact of the Blood Feuds fire.
    "Incredible ship." Triboner murmured," Return fire!"
    Four pulsar guns, two on top, two on the left side, opened up
and spat vicious fire at the approaching alliance ship. The Blood Feud
shields glowed orange as they deflected the blast.
    "Shields holding at 94 percent power." Neil said,"No damage. We
hit them a little harder, they have damage to number four shield."
    Triboner smiled grimly, Euridice was outdoing her reputation.
    "Bring forward torpedo tubes to bear, lock and load!"
    "Incoming pulsar fire!" Neil said, just before the floor
shuddered beneath them again,"Shields holding at 86 percent."
    "Torpedoes ready!" Kylia reported.
    "Fire!"
    The bridge crew saw the Blood feud climb away from their ship, one
torpedo hit a glance blow and failed to detonate, the other hit straight
amidships, partly penetrating the other ships shields.
    "They have damage to their dimension drive, one torpedo tube
destroyed." Neil reported,"And they are moving away."
    "Good." Triboner said," Taran, lay in that course for Tian,
maximum speed."
    "We're not going to finish them off?" Neil said,"After what
they are planning to do?"
    "It's more important we get to Tian and try and warn the fleet,"
Triboner replied,"We may still have time."
    "Course ready!" Taran replied.
    "Implement!"
    Janu walked across to the engineers console and watched the
dimension drive power build up. Nathan Marc, the chief engineer, would
no doubt be fretting at this emergency maximum acceleration and the
strain on the ship.
    Euridice turned towards the distant plant Tian and suddenly
accelerated into dimension drive.
    Triboner breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Peilo,"
    "Keep signalling as we approach, we might get a signall...."
    Euridice shuddered violently and then lurched, throwing everyone to
the floor. Triboner saw Neil collapse in a heap nearby. The whole structure
of the ship seemed to be groaning loudly. Sparks exploded out of a nearby
console and the artificial gravity fluctuated.
    The ship righted itself slowly.
    "Damage report!" Triboner yelled through the smoke from the
burning instrumentation.
    Neil slowly got to his feet, but Janu was already there.
    "Dimension drive burnout sir! The field generators cut out!"
    Triboner turned around angrily,"Damn it! I thought they had
that thing fixed!"
    The intercom whistled for attention.
    "Nathan to Triboner."
    Triboner acknowledged it.
    "We've blown the main energisers for the dimension drive coils
again. But the resulting stress from the high acceleration
has damaged the reactor, we've got to shut it down!"
    "Do what you've got to do!" Triboner replied,"Neil! Situation?"
    "Weapons not operative. Main computer is down, we're
running on auxilary power. Shields at minimal strength sir!"
    Sparks flew from another console.
    "Casualities reported sporadically, medical teams are responding."
    Triboner turned to a shaken Taran,"Can you get me sublight drive?"
    "Trying sir." Taran said, finding his commands being rejected
by the frazzled computer interface.
    Kylia had scrambled back to her console to find it dead. She looked up
at the screen, which had focused in on the only object of interest.
    "Look!"
    Janu look at the screen. The Blood Feud was coming back.
    Triboner turned to the intercom.
    "Nathan! I need full shields now or we're all dead!"
    "Not a chance sir! We've no power!"
    "Incoming fire sir!" Neil shouted.
    "Divert all power to shields!"
    The blast hit, flames broke out of the roof and a heavy conduit
smashed down behind Taran. The ship rotated sickeningly.
    "Shields collapsed under the strain!" Neil reported, breathlessly,"
Auxilary power holding at 42 percent. Shields reforming now, but they
won't take another blast like that."
    "Can you get me torpedoes?" Triboner demanded.
    "Targetting computer is out." Kylia said,"I'm trying to target
manually."
    On the screen the Blood Feud was moved past and was turning back to
face them again. Taran managed to power up the sublight drive and Euridice
limped away, turning her rearward torpedo tubes towards the incoming
alliance vessel.
    "Best I can do." Kylia said.
    Triboner nodded,"Fire all tubes!"
    Four flaming torpedoes burst from Euridices stern. One missed, one
stricking a glancing impact and detonating harmlessly away. Two hit.
    "Direct hit." Neil said, needlessly. The Blood Feud shields had
not been able to withstand the force of the impact and they could see
damage on the forward section.
    "Not enough." Triboner said.
    Blood Feud fired.
    Euridice bucked, throwing the bridge crew around. Flames burst out
of one console behind Triboner, he could tell from the deck tremors that they
had been hit badly.
    "Sublight drive out!" Taran said,"Hull breach on deck eight through
ten!"
    Triboner picked himself up from where the blast had flung him.
    "I've lost manual torpedo control!" Kylia shouted.
    "Neil!" Triboner called,"Prepare for evacuation!"
    Neil did not respond.
    Triboner turned at the lack of response. Neil was lying under
his console, his body half crushed beneath it.
    "Damn." Triboner muttered, pushing away the disbelief and
pain. Would this war never truly end?
    Another explosion rocked the ship, sparks erupted from Kylias
console.
    "Auxilary power has failed!" Taran said, fighting his controls even
as some of them spat sparks at him. Kylia was slumped at his side.
    Janu ducked as another conduit burst into flame and the ship
shuddered again, throwing her to the floor. She saw Triboner fall backwards to
lie behind his chair. Sparks showered her and she screamed in fear. She
tried to climb back to the engineering console she'd been attending, but
failed.
    She felt pain and then knew no more, the last vision she had was of the
Blood Feud closing in for the kill.

    Tenim pushed the Hawk to maximum sublight acceleration and it tore
up out of the fleet formation.
    "Rear view on screen!" Yosie ordered.
    The screen flashed to show the alliance vessels opening fire on the
still stationary federation ships.
    Cepheus was the first to go. Six plasma torpedoes launched from
the three alliance vessels slammed into the undefended ship. One of the
main dimension drive nacelles took two of the torpedoes and exploded, the
rest of the ship detonated a scant moment later.
    The speakers crackled with the sudden wash of alarmed voices ringing
out on all the available frequencies.
    Saber moved past the obliterated remains of Cepheus and bore down
on the Tian ship Eagle, just as the latter ship was raising it's shields.
    Saber fired it's pulsar cannons at point blank range. Eagle's shields
failed under the load and the ship exploded moments later.
    "Oh my God." Yosie said,"Load all torpedoes!"
    The formation quickly broke up. Cassiopeia had managed to raise
her shields fully and was exchanging fire with Revenge, Orpheus had not been
so lucky. Her shields had only been partially raised when the Falchion
suddenly made it's presence felt.
    It tore up at a frightening acceleration for so massive a ship
from behind the Raven, which was frantically maneouvering out of the way.
Four torpedoes slammed into the Orpheus.
    The ship keeled over, the blast having damaged the inertial
navigation system.
    "Torpedoes locked on Falchion!" Shanat called out.
    "Full spread. Fire!" Yosie ordered.
    Hawk fired two torpedoes at the Falchion, but the bigger ship
shrugged off the attack without appearing to notice it.
    "Evasive." Yosie called,"Bring us to bear on the Revenge!"
    Hawk turned sharply away from the Falchion which had now been
hit by the return fire from Orpheus and was having second thoughts about
their relative proximetry.
    Then Tenim was almost flung from his console as their ship took a
hit.
    "Damage report!" Yosie ordered.
    "No damage, shields held with 70 percent power." Catriana replied,"
It's the Saber!"
    "Pulsars locked and ready!" Shanat called.
    Tenim completed his evasive maneouver as Yosie gave the order to fire.
    The twin pulsar cannons fired twice at Saber as it approached. The
alliance ship seemed unaffected.
    "Incoming pulsar fire!"
    Sabers return fire scored across Hawks primary shielding, overloading
the power generators. The ship shook hard.
    "Damage to generators!" Catriana called,"Shields can't take another
blast like that one."
    "Tenim!" Yosie called,"Extreme acceleration, dive us out!"
    Tenim complied with the dangerous manoeuver, the computer flashed
up warnings and the sirens blared.
    "HULL STRESS PARAMETERS VIOLATED, ABORT MANEOUVER."
    Hawk spiralled out of the path of Saber, just as the Raven barrelled
in, pulsars firing, scoring heavy hits on Saber.
    Sabers shields collapsed momentarily and one of its nacelles shattered
scattering flaming particles in all directions.
    "Yes!" Yosie said grimly,"Bring us about Tenim!"
    But the Saber hadn't lost it's sting. The explosion of its engine
had crippled it, but it's fire controls were undamaged. Two torpedoes hit the
Raven, sending it spinning out of control.
    "....Heavy damage!" came the Raven Captains voice on the speakers,"
Shields down, we can't stabilise the...."
    Saber fired it's pulsars and the Raven was no more.
    We're losing, Yosie suddenly thought, her mind found it impossible
to accept.
    "Fire pulsars on Saber!" was what she ordered.
    Meanwhile the Orpheus was losing it's battle with the Falchion. Both
ships had taken numerous hits and both were damaged, but Orpheus had a plasma
leak from it's reactor and it was becoming critical. On the Hawk's viewscreen
they could see the mangled ship, it's return fire growing weaker and weaker.
    "Their main reactors gone off line." Catriana said,"Their shields
will be gone soon."
    Yosie shook her head,"We can't help them now, set course for the
Cassiopeia."
    Tenim was typing in commands when the Orpheus blew, lighting up
space for thousands of miles around. Hawk vibrated slightly as small
pieces of debris flared against it's shields.
    "Full sublight speed Tenim!" Yosie called,"They'll be after us now!"
    Tenim knew they had no chance against the alliance battle ship. His
mind was awhirl. The alliance had obvious planned this deception, but
something had gone wrong. Judging by the message they'd received before
the attack, it had been premature, and the timing was not as planned. Did
that mean the alliance was doing something somewhere else and it had gone
wrong? What were they trying to do.
    One thing was certain, the federation was in trouble, its two
most powerful ships gone, the alliance could overrun them now.
    Falchion was pursuing them.
    "Falchion is gaining on us." Tenim said," Pulsar range in ten
seconds."
    "Divert power to rear shields." Yosie said.
    Hawk shuddered uder the barrage.
    "Shields held." Catriana said,"Holding at 36 percent."
    Cassiopeia was not far ahead, still valiently fighting with
the Revenge.
    "Lock torpedoes on Revenge." Yosie ordered," Fire when ready."
    Shanat typed in the commands. The two torpedoes smashed into
Revenge, jolting it hard. Cassiopeia took the  oppurtunity to fire a
round of pulsar fire into the weakened alliance ship.
    Falchion entered the battle.
    Hawk slammed sideways without warning, the ship resounding to
a high pitched squeal.
    "Graviton beam!" Catriana shouted above the din,"We're held tight!"
    Hawk was caught, unable to move. It was a favourite tactic of
the alliance when dealing with a less powerful vessel, hold it
immobile and then slice it up.
    Cassiopeia turned towards them as Falchions pulsar cannons opened
up. Hawk shuddered violently.
    "Shields draining!" Catriana shouted,"30 percent, 15 percent..."
    Sparks flew overhead as overload circuits burnt out.
    "Shields gone!"
    Something exploded. Tenim felt himself hurled over his console to lie
on the floor before the bridge viewer.
    Yosie was about to yell something when something short circuited
over her head. She slumped in her seat. Tenim managed to get back to his
feet and crawl to his console. One the screen Cassiopeia fired at the Falchion,
directly at the graviton beam emitter. It exploded.
    "We're free!" Tenim muttered to himself, as the trembling stopped.
Looking at his console, he was amazed to find the dimension drive was
still operating.
    "Tenim! you still there?" Catrianas voice shouted through the
dense smoke,"Get us out of the line of fire!"
    Tenim punched in commands to the damaged computer. The sublight engines
stuttered and pushed Hawk away from the Falchion. Falchion fired on the
Cassiopeia.
    With the damage inflicted by the Revenge and the four torpedo impacts
at point blank range, Cassiopeias shields finally surrendered. A torpedo
made it through the shields unscathed and impact against the hull, causing
a massive explosion.
    On Hawk, Tamia, still trying to co-ordinate the messages between
the starships, received the final word from Cassiopeia.
    "Tian starship, please send word to federation at all costs,
federation home worlds must be warned! I repeat! Please send..."
    Falchion fired again, a further four torpedoes.
    Cassiopeia disintegrated in a blaze of pyrotechnics.
    Tenim knew the Hawk was the last ship. Dimension drive! He punched in
the commands and pushed the ship up to it's maximum velocity.

    Lord Yoel Shanar sat back with satisfaction as the Cassiopeia
exploded. True, he hadn't fired the final shot himself, but his ship
had been responsible for most of the damage. Now for that last small
Tian mosquito of a ship.
    "Lock torpedoes on the Hawk!" he cried," Fire when ready!"
    The weapons officer turned,"I can't sire, I can't find it
on my scanners!"
    "Fool!" Yoel yelled at him,"It's there on the screen..."
    Yoel looked. The Tian ship was gone.
    "Did the Falchion destroy it?" he inquired.
    "They say no sire." Prince T'yel, his first officer replied
obseqiously from behind him.
    "Then where the frarg is it?"
    "It appears to have entered dimension drive. It is not in
sensor range." T'yel replied.
    "Fools! If that ship warns the federation the whole plan could
be in jeopardy. Find the trail!"
    Falchion came alongside the battered Revenge. Four thousand miles
away the Saber was motionless, one of it's engines twisted and bent.
    Lord Kominsar Steele of the Falchion looked on the battle as
successful. The federation only had two ships now, against
the five of the alliance. Now was the time to alter plans slightly. Something
had happened to the Blood feud when it responded to the distress call
of the Merciless. Pillar Mer knew how volatile the plant he was carrying
was, but somehow it had escaped it's confinement, now another shipment
was required. Blood Feud was supposed to retrieve it. Kominsar was not
happy with the Blood Feuds last transmission, ordering the destruction
of the federation fleet ahead of schedule. Now Blood Feud was silent,
only a jamming signal coming from the area.
    Fortunately, time was no longer of the essence. The federation
was not a threat, though it would have been pleasant to finish
them off quickly. Tian was even less of a threat. It was gratifying to
realise that the entire plant was at his mercy. But there was no
reason to attack, the planet had nothing of value now. He would
wait for further news from the Blood Feud, even the rogue Tian ship
did not bother him. The federation could do nothing anymore.

    Out of the five original bridge crew of Hawk, only three had
survived the battle. Captain Yosie had died by electrocution when
the overloaded circuits had shorted around her. The weapons officer
Shanat Yerkul had broken his neck in a fall caused by the impacts. The
ship itself had fared little better. The fires were out now, but
most of the damage could not be repaired. The main systems were still
running, if somewhat erratically, but there was no question that
something major would fail before long.
    The ship was now deep into interstella space. Catriana had taken
command, being the senior officer. She had despatched a long range probe
to the federation with an encoded message describing what had happened
on the basis that the probe had a better chance of making it there
then they did. Catriana set the Hawk on course for Nuten, another
neutral planet, in the hope they could help and that the alliance vessels
wouldn't be looking for them there.
    "Dimension drive is holding at 46 percent power, stability
at 86 percent." Tenim said. Outside safety limits, but then again,
nothing was safe any more. The entire crew was shell shocked, partly from
the battle, partly from the fact that they would probably never
see their homeworld again, if they somehow managed to live at all.
The weight of responsibility weighed heavily on Catriana, she had
only recently been promoted to lieutenant commander and still felt
a lieutenant, not ready for this responsibilty. Now the tension was worse,
since nothing was happening. The ship was as sound as it could be and there
was nothing to do until they reached Nuten.
    Tamia was sobbing softly at her console. Tenim went to her and sat
adjacent to her.
    "Tamia?" he said, wondering what he could say, he felt on the
verge of despair himself. She'd been in his class at the space institute,
but they'd never really talked, now it seemed a little late.
    "All those people." she managed to say,"My friends on the Eagle.
They're all gone! How could they do it?"
    Tenim didn't know. It wasn't as if their deaths had had a great
meaning. Most would have died without a knowledge of what killed them. It
was a tragic waste. The alliance evidently was set on stella domination,
and despite the peace advances had now destroyed the greater part of
both the federation and Tians fleets. It was a disaster. Now Tian would
be overrun, the federation worlds too. Even Nuten could not hope to
stand against the alliance now. There was nowhere safe. And no hope.
    Tamia looked up,"There's got to be something we can do? Surely?"
    Tenim was spared the answer by the science console. It began
beeping loudly.
    Tenim joined Catriana in looking at it.
    "Probably just a glitch." Tenim commented.
    "Maybe not." Catriana replied,"The sensors are showing a an energy
reading ahead."
    Tenim had a look at the short range scanners. They were clouded with
static, but he could still make out two energy signatures. Catriana ran
them through the ident computer.
    "OBJECT ONE IDENTIFIED AS ALLIANCE VESSEL CLASS THREE-BETA KAREEL
BATTLE CRUISER. OBJECT TWO DOES NOT MATCH ANY KNOWN VESSEL CONFIGURATION."
    Tenim frowned,"An unknown ship? With an energy signature of
comparable size to a battle cruiser? Wheres it come from?"
    "READINGS FROM SURROUNDING AREA INDICATE WEAPONS FIRE." the
computer added, as if in afterthought.
    Catriana made a decision.
    "Get us in there Tenim," she said,"If it's a possible ally, with
only one alliance vessel, we might be able to help them, and more
importantly, them us!"
    Tenim swung back to his console and laid in an intercept course.

    Janu wasn't sure how long she'd been unconscious, but she managed
to get back to her feet with Taran helping her. Triboner was limping across
to look at the auxilary science station.
    "What happened?" she asked,"I thought we were dead?"
    "We almost were, and still will be if we're not very lucky."
Triboner answered her,"Blood Feud overran its sublight drive and can't
turn around to fire. We have a get some weapons on line!"
    Janu moved back to the engineering console and began trying to
find ways to reroute the remaining power to the weapons. Taran had crawled
under Kylia's console and was working with the exposed wiring and
circuitry. Kylia herself was laid out on the floor near Neil, she too
was dead.
    On the screen Blood Feuds exterior lights flashed and dimmed
irratically, the ship was having problems of it's own.
    "I have got partial power to the starboard pulsar banks." Janu said
after three minutes,"It's not much, but it should give us a few
shots."
    Triboner nodded,"Good. Taran?"
    "The computer can only talk to one torpedo tube, it's loaded
and ready, but it's only the one shot."
    "And I have 20 percent power to sublight." Triboner commented,"Taran,
turn us to port, bring starboard pulsars to bear. Aim the torpedo at the
Blood Feud."
    "We're out of pulsar range." Janu objected.
    "We're going to wait."Triboner answered,"When he starts his
next run."
    It wasn't long. Blood Feud slowly began to move, turning about to
face Euridice.
    "Range closing."Taran said,"Pulsar lock on in five seconds."
    "Steady."Triboner said quietly,"I want to fire at point
blank range, all available weapons."
    The Blood Feud was closing, it's weapons fired. Euridice shook, but
the Blood Feud had been able to put little power into it's own
weapons.
    "Auxilary power dropping!" Janu warned.
    "Steady." Triboner said, remaining calm. Blood Feud fire a torpedo
at them. Euridice shook again, but remained intact.
    "Range fourteen thousand, ten, six, two..." Taran called out.
    Blood Feud loomed large on the screen.
    "Now!" Triboner yelled,"Fire all weapons!"
    Euridices twin starboard pulsar banks blazed fire at the incoming
ship, striking its midsection. The torpedo hit just as Blood feud fired
again.
    Euridice pitched badly and sparks jumped out of Tarans jury rigged
console.
    Triboner picked himself up off the floor again,"Whats left?"
    "We lost the sublight drive again." Taran called through
the smoke, pulsars will recharge in two minutes."
    Too long, Triboner thought. Blood Feud was still mobile. They'd
hit it hard. Triboner could see parts of it's hull aflame from the
damage they'd inflicted. But the next torpedo salvo would tear Euridice
apart.
    Taran's computers rejected his commands,"I can't get any more
power sir."
    Triboner acknowledged the inevitable, if only that damned Nuten
drive hadn't failed!
    Blood Feud turned and began another run.
    "Here they come." Taran said needlessly.
    "I find myself unprepared to die." Peilo said, peculiarly.
    The screen suddenly flashed with cold blue light. Triboner frowned,
a dimension drive exit? There was another ship behind the Blood Feud, closing
on it.
    "What the hell..."
    The other ship spat pulsar fire at the Blood Feud, repeatedly. Blood
Feud broke off it's attack on the Euridice to deal with the new attacker.
    "Who is it?" Janu asked.
    Triboner couldn't tell,"Taran?"
    Taran squinted at the screen,"I think it's a Tian starship."
    Triboners brain raced. A Tian starship? All of them should have
been at the peace conference, what then had happened there?
    "Are those pulsars ready yet?" he demanded.
    "Thirty seconds." Janu called back.
    Blood Feud fired at the Tian vessel which bore the brunt of the
fire, but lost it's shields.
    It's been badly damaged, Triboner thought, before now.
    "Pulsars ready!"
    Triboner turned,"Peilo, send to that ship, tell them to bring
the Blood Feud back this way!"
    Peilo turned back to her console.
    On the screen the Tian vessel broke off the attack and headed
towards Euridice. Blood Feud followed.
    "Good." Triboner said,"Fire on the Blood Feud as it passes!"
    Taran pressed the firing command.
    Euridices remaing power blasted out at Blood Feud, scoring a hit
on one of it's sublight engines. The ship yawed slightly and rolled past,
narrowly missing the stationary Euridice.
    "We hit their drive!" Janu called out,"They've lost maneouverability!"
    The Tian ship had obviously detected it too. It soared over Euridice
and chased down the Blood Feud, firing weakened pulsar blasts at it.
    Blood Feuds remaining shields faded, crumbled and final
collapsed under the assault. Next moment it had joined the Merciless
in oblivion.