Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/euridice.p3

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From: [e-mail] (Scooby Doo)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: EURIDICE : CHAPTER 3
Date: 14 Feb 1994 09:14:17 GMT
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This story is copyright to Drew Wagar (drew@@bnr.co.uk). 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 3

    Half a day after the battle, Triboner was once again on the bridge
of the Euridice, looking at the now quiet viewscreen, displaying the wreck
of the Tian starship Hawk.
    The Tian ship had been hit by exploding debris from the alliance
ship Blood Feud as it was destroyed. The Hawk was badly hit. The damage had
caused an airleak in the central area of the ship which had evacuated the
air from all but the upper decks. They had only managed to save one of
the crew members who happened to be on the bridge at the time. The rest
of the crew had died in the vacuum of space.
    Triboners intercom buzzed for attention.
    "Engineering to bridge."
    "Triboner here."
    "We've restored full auxilary power." Nathan reported,"Pulsars
and shields are online, though the shields are weak. All other secondary
systems working, including sublight drive."
    "What about main drive?"
    "That dimension jolt we took blew the main energiser completely,
it's just molten slag now. The standby one looks like it might be repairable,
but unless we fix that we can't use any power from the main reactor."
    "Sounds like you have your work cut out, we're still sitting ducks
for any alliance ship that turns up."
    "Is it war then?" Nathans voice sound resigned.
    "There's been no word from the peace conference, we can only assume
that with the presence of this wrecked Tian ship that our fleet has been
destroyed. Hopefully we'll find out more when the survivor from that
ship can talk to us. It doesn't look good."
    "We'll get to work." Nathan concluded and closed the channel.
    Triboner turned back to Taran,"Set course for Nuten, full sublight
speed without noticeable relativity effects, I don't need the alliance to
attack us without us realising!"
    "Aye sir." Taran replied and began to plot the course,"It`ll take
us weeks at sublight."
    "All the more reason to get started." Triboner said, standing up. He
left the bridge.

    Natanya Mel had been a registered doctor for eight years, she knew
a fair amount about the damage the human body suffered on a starship in
war time. She'd seen it before. She looked up as Triboner entered the medibay.
    "I was about to summon you." she said,"It was going to make
a change from all this."
    She indicated the computer screen with it's long list of
fatalities.
    "Well!" Triboner said, managing a smile,"I'm summoned, what is it?"
    "The Tian crew member has regained consciousness, he was only
lightly injured, but refuses to speak with anyone but the captain of the
ship.
    Triboner nodded,"Then lets talk to him."
    Natanya waved in the general direction of the observation area.
    "He's in there."
    "Thanks."
    Triboner entered the observation room and caught sight of a young man,
probably in his mid twenties. Too damn young! He thought to himself, what
are kids doing on a starship in a war?
    "You're the Captain?" the youth asked immediately.
    "Mahl Triboner, Captain of the federation starship Euridice, at your
service. Yourself?"
    "Ensign Tenim Neseva, third helm officer of the Tian ship Hawk.
Where are the rest of my crew?"
    "I'm afraid you were the only one who survived."
    Tenim nodded,obviously struggling to cope with the deaths.
    Triboner sat down on a chair next to the bed. Tenim hadn't been
hurt too badly, a medipad pressed against his forehead and an arm in a
sling appear to be the limit of his injuries.
    "I had thought that all Tian ships were at the peace conference."
Triboner inquired lightly, to start the conversation again.
    "Peace conference?" Tenim replied, his voice quiet and controlled,
yet filled with anger,"The Alliance attacked almost without warning, we
picked up a faint transmission and were fortunate to have our shields
and weapons ready to go when the alliance fired on us."
    "That would have been us." Triboner said.
    "All the federation ships were destroyed," Tenim continued,"Along
with the other two Tian vessels, we only damaged one alliance ship. Most
of our ships didn't even see what hit them." Tenim sounded bitter.
    "How did you escape?" Triboner asked, softly.
    "We overheard the attack order and got out of the fleet formation
before the firing started, we had our shields up in time. Your last ship,
the Cassiopeia, bought us enough time to escape with our dimension drive
and we weren't followed. Then we encountered you and the alliance vessel
and decided we'd have a better chance of survival if we aided you."
    "It was a brave thing to do."
    "Mostly motivated by self interest though."
    "Nevertheless," Triboner replied,"We would not have survived
without your intervention."
    Tenim looked around,"What is this ship? We were led to believe
the three most powerful federation vessels were at the conference. Yet this
one looked bigger from outside."
    "It's a new prototype."Triboner explained,"The alliance didn't know,
or Tian, nor most of the federation. The Blood Feud was most surprised
to discover us I believe."
    "As were we." Tenim said,"But why did the Blood Feud damage your
ship so badly, if what you say about the ship is true, you should have
defeated it easily."
    "It's not, shall we say,"Triboner said pausing,"Completely bug free."
    "And now what?" Tenim said,"Your ship is damaged? Whats your plan?"
    Triboner sighed,"We cannot repair our dimension drive without
the assistance of a dockyard. The closest one is at Nuten. Until then we
must hope we are not discovered by an alliance ship."
    Natanya entered the medical bay and made for Triboner and Tenim.
    "Thats enough,"she said, sounding irritated,"I won't have you
exhausting patients, Captain!"
    She grinned to take the sting out of her words.
    Triboner nodded to Tenim,"I will have to take my leave for now, we
will talk again soon."

    Taran was peering at Peilo's console as Triboner returned to the
bridge, both of them seemed to be busy monitoring something, both were
wearing concentrated frowns. Taran straightened at Triboners approach.
    "We're underway at full sublight speed." Taran reported,
"Relativistic time distortion held at point zero five percent."
    Triboner nodded,"Good. So whats up?"
    "We've been maintaining radio silence."Taran replied slowly,"But
we've been picking up alliance transmissions. Evidently they havent been
being to careful."
    "They've no reason to." Triboner affirmed,"What did you pick up?"
    "Numerous references to a 'cargo', a 'refinery', the planet
Santrijan and 'phase two'."
    "Santrijan?" Triboner echoed in surprise.
    "My thoughts exactly."Taran said,"The Hades zone."
    Santrijan had been been the victim of a nuclear war several
centuries ago. The planet had been largely devastated, it's climate and
temperament altered. No one knew now what the war had been about, it
was long before any of the other planets had become industrialised. Federation
archaeologists would give anything to look at the place, which contained
the ruins of cities atleast a thousand years old. They wanted to know
how that planet had achieved nuclear technology, (and probably spaceflight)
whilst the rest of the local planets were still debating whether
their worlds were flat or not. They also wanted to know what had
started the war. However, it was unlikely that they would ever find out
as the planet had imposed a quarantine zone around it. The only federation
ship to ever approach the planet had not been heard from again. Leaving
the federation with the view that some advanced power had somehow survived
the war and continued developing, and that the place was best left alone. It
was surrounded by an area of space that had been nicknamed 'The Hades Zone.'
    Tian had once been attacked by Santrijan ships, and Erendian forces
had come to the rescue, but it appeared to have been only a test of strength
as the Santrijan ships quickly retreated at a speed that could not be
matched by any federation ships. Nothing had been heard from the planet
until now.
    "Maybe the alliance has made a treaty with Santrijan." Taran
volunteered,"Somehow."
    "But why?" Peilo said.
    "The alliance isn't stupid,"Triboner said,"They know that even with
most of the federation fleet destroyed, they will have
difficulty attacking the homeworlds because of the ground defenses. They have
two choices. Embargo the planets and stop freighters coming in and out, slowly
starve us out, or find a method of wiping out the planet some other way."
    "So what is phase two?"Peilo asked.
    "The second part of their attack strategy." Taran replied,"Obviously.
But what does that entail?"
    Triboner frowned,"If I were the alliance in this situation, I would
consolidate my gains by removing any possible ways the federation could
regain it's strength. Now that the Tian and federation fleets have been
destroyed, I would attack..."
    Taran was ahead of him,"Nuten. They will attack Nuten!"
    Triboner turned to Peilo.
    "Prepare a tight beam transmission, as finely focused as you can
get it, warn Nuten to prepare for alliance attack!"
    Peilo turned to her board and quickly began to produce the message.
    "Meanwhile, we can only continue on course and hope we get to
Nuten before the alliance does."

    Lord Yoel Shanar of the Revenge glared angrily at Lord Kominsar
Steele of the Falchion.
    "There had to be another ship unaccounted for." Shanar said,
seething,"Pillar may have been a fool in not taking care of his cargo,
but the damn stuff is so volatile! But where is the Blood Feud now? I
tell you, something destroyed it! Why else order the implementation of
the plan so far ahead of schedule, there has to be another ship!"
    "The emperor has his own agenda,"Steele replied, equally
furious,"And you would be wize to obey it. You know your place!"
    "I say there is more to this agenda than meets the eye!" Shanar
flared angrily.
    "And I say you will be silent!"Steele roared. He continued more
calmly,"If the Blood Feud was destroyed, it is a casualty of war. We have
the advantage. We destroyed six ships without loss to ourselves Shanar!
We cannot be stopped now. What can one rogue ship do? Come, we will
soon be able to celebrate victory. Nuten will soon fall, with our new
friends help. Then falls the federation. Victory!"
    "Victory!" Shanar echoed, somewhat obsequiously.
    The audience was at a close. Shanar returned to his ship with
serious misgivings. Returning to his suite on his ship he signalled for
the captured Tian slaves to attend him.
    Steele was a fool. Blood Feud was a powerful ship, all the federations
main starships had been destroyed at Tian. The only two remaining ships
should have been back near the federation homeworlds and even if they had
intercepted the Blood Feud they could not have destroyed it. They were
older vessels, overdue for retirement. Some key was missing, there was
a wild card in the game. A card that could disrupt all the outcomes if
it wasn't accounted for. Was it the Santrijans? A traitorous and backstabbing
group if ever there was one. Could they be sabotaging the alliances
attack for their own ends?
    Let us see whether or not Nuten falls, he mused, and test the honour
of the Santrijans promise of aid. Then they could attack the federation.
If the rogue ship did not appear, it was of no consequence. If it did, they
would chase it down and destroy it. He would see to it personally.
    He strode to the window of his suite and looked out. Falchion floated
nearby, motionless, but slightly ahead of his ship. Further away was the
Saber, the damage to its engine nacelle received during
the attack at Tian was almost repaired. When that was done and
the Dagger arrived from Santrijan with the cargo....
    The attack on Nuten could begin.

    Euridice had been on course for a week and a half, and they were
approaching the outer limits of the Nuten solar system. Euridices damage
had been largely repaired, internally by the crew, and externally by
automotive hull repair robots. The main reactor was still unusable without
the energisers.
    They had received no response from Nuten on any channel, no indication
that their warning had been received. Triboner hadn't dared transmit more than
once for fear of attracting attention from any alliance vessels that
might be in the area.
    Tenim, having nothing else to do had volunteered to join the crew.
Since his commanding officer was dead and he had nothing else to do.
    Triboner had accepted willingly. Tenim took the
helm, freeing Taran to take over the duties of science officer. Janu
now took the weapons and defense console. Triboner wasn't happy having
such young officers as his main crew, with two ensigns maning the
two of the most important consoles on the bridge, but he needed Taran
as second in command.
    As the dark barren twelth planet of the Nuten system moved past,
Triboner turned to Taran.
    "Can you pick anything up without using an active scan, I don't want
to let anyone know we are here."
    Taran looked at the sensors,"A few ships in orbit judging from the
docking communications, usual air to ground calls, nothing unusual, looks
quiet. Doesn't mean that the alliances ships aren't there though, not
if they're rigged for silent running."
    "Time to planet?" Triboner asked.
    Tenim typed in the commands to his console. Triboner was conscious of
the delay,"Fourty three minutes sir."
    Triboner nodded.
    Janu lean't over slightly,"Try to anticipate needs." she whispered to
Tenim,"He appreciates that."
    Tenim nodded curtly, but didn't say anything.
    Janu had been trying to find an excuse to talk to Tenim, she'd
never met anyone from outside of the federation before and wanted to find
out more about Tian. So far all she had found out was that the Tianese didn't
appear to be very talkative.
    She turned back to her controls, dissapointed.
    Euridice proceeded on course towards the inner part of the solar
system. The Nuten sun was beginning to swell in size on the viewscreen.
    Taran turned around,"Nuten control should be picking us up about
five minutes from now."
    "Looks like we made it." Janu said, relieved.
    Triboner nodded slowly,"Peilo, transmit to Nuten control..."
    "Wait!" Taran called suddenly,"I'm getting something."
    Triboner looked around.
    "Confirmed sir."Peilo added,"Urgent transmission between planet
and station."
    "Put it on speakers."
    The shipboard speakers crackled and then a strong voice spoke.
    "Nuten station five to planetside. We are picking up three
unidentified vessels approaching on an intercept vector at high
sublight speed. They are not answering hails. They are not transmitting
ident information. Request instructions."
    "Nuten station five. Starship Cobra has been despatched to intercept.
Please Standby."
    "Confirmed sir." Taran said,"The Cobra is leaving orbit, I can`t
pick up the other three vessels without active scanners at this range."
    "Dammit!" Triboner said, slamming down his fist,"The Cobra is
no match for those three alliance vessels! Hold position here Tenim."
    Janu turned in surprise,"We're not going to help them?"
    "Help them with what? Two direct hits and were dead in space."
Triboner replied curtly,"There is nothing we can do. If those alliance
ships see us, we'll be destroyed."
    "Alliance vessels in range for visual." Taran said,"Cobra will be
in pulsar range in twenty seconds. All three ships have raised shields."
    "Visual onscreen."
    Tenim tried to suppress a gasp at the three ships on screen.
    "Those are the ones that attacked Tian!"
    Triboner nodded,"Aye, Falchion, Revenge and Saber."
    Vicious pulsar fire crisscrossed between the four ships, counterpointed
by a few torpedo blasts. The three alliance vessels were hardly damaged
by the time Cobra was immobilised.
    "Cobra has lost main and auxilary power, life support is failing."
Taran reported stonily. Triboner sat silent, waiting.
    "There must be something we can do!" Janu cried.
    The three alliance vessels charged into orbit, firing on the
orbiting space stations. Quickly the stations were gone, replaced by tumbling
debris mixed with dust and gas.
    "All those lives..." Janu said, tears in her eyes.
    Taran frowned,"The alliance vessels have stopped. Nuten central
command is trying to surrender, but the communication is not being
accepted."
    "What now?" Tenim asked,"They can't do much to the planet itself,
all the major cities are shielded."
    Triboner remained silent. He remembered in the previous war, the
alliance never did anything without being able to complete the task.
    "I'm picking up a general long range transmission from Nuten,
audio only."
    Triboner nodded to Peilo.
    The speakers crackled again.
    "This is Nuten central control to anyone in range, we have been
attacked by alliance vessels, our starship and orbital facilities
have been destroyed. We request immediate assistance. Alliance vessels
are blockcading our planet. Alliance vessels will not accept
our surrender."
    Taran was peering at his instruments,"The alliance vessels have
moved into a trinary position, in the same orbit, equi-distant from
each other.
    "I repeat this is Nuten central control to anyone in range, we
have been attacked by alliance vessels.. What? Say again?"
    There was a long pause in transmission.
    "We're receiving reports of extreme meteor activity all
across the globe," the voice said, panic in its voice,"They're dropping
something into the atmosphere!"
    Triboner spun round,"Taran, whats happening?"
    "Unclear sir, I can't tell what the alliance ships are doing. But
if they are dropping something, from those orbits they can cover the
entire surface of the planet."
    "We can't identify what the meteors are, scanners indicate they are
deploying to spread equally around our planet, they are too small to hit
with ground based cannons! They....What? That can't be! We're loosing contact
with our cities all over the planet, what is happening to? My God! The
sun has turned green! Something in the sky is..."
    The voice stopped replace by a sudden choking sound which
was abruptly cut off.
    "What happened?" Triboner asked quickly,"Transmission jammed?"
    Peilo shook her head,"Transmission wavelength is still active
and normal sir, there's just no one saying anything at the other end."
    "Alliance ships are scanning the planet,"Taran said,
checking his instruments,"And are now breaking orbit. Heading back
the way they came. All Nuten cities are undamaged, no pulsar or torpedo
fire was detected. All planetside shields are up at full power still."
    Triboner frowned,"Then what the devil did they do? Tenim, set
course for Nuten, maximum possible speed."
    "Course already plotted and laid in, Captain." Tenim said
unnecessarily. Janu caught the intention and glared at Tenim, who
ignored her.
    "Alliance vessels have jumped to dimension speed." Taran reported,"
They are out of range."
    "Then lets find some answers." Triboner said,"Get us into orbit."

    Euridice smoothly entered orbit around the strangely quiet planet.
Peilo had attempt to hail on several emergency frequencies as they had
approached, with no response.
    Triboner sighed,"OKay Taran, full active scan."
    Taran switched on the main sensor array and directed the energies
at the planet.
    "All cities intact,"he said, interpreting the information on his
screen,"All power production facilities active and running. All planetary
defensive shields are inplace at full power. No damage evident at all."
    "Life forms." Triboner said quietly, knowing the answer.
    Janu turned around with a horrified look on her face.
    Taran changed the parameters of his search,"No life signs detected
from any of the population centres."
    "Thats impossible," Janu cried,"You can't just make all those
people disappear!"
    "They havent gone anywhere,"Taran said, a slight tremble in his
voice,"Sensors indicate plenty of 'organic' material"
    The thought hit them hard, a whole planetary population, dead.
    Triboner broke the silence,"Can you figure out what happened?"
    Taran looked at the sensors results again,"There doesn't appear to
be any pollutant in the atmosphere, no recognisable virus detected that
could account for.."
    Taran frowned and straightened.
    "What is it?"
    "According to the sensors," Taran managed to say slowly,"There are
only residual levels of oxygen in the atmosphere, it's almost 70 percent
carbon dioxide."
    "Are you saying they suffocated?" Janu asked.
    Triboner rubbed his chin,"Whatever they dropped into the atmosphere
some how converted the oxygen, killing the people, leaving hardly a
trace of attack."
    Janu's eyes widened,"Just like on the Merciless!"
    Taran nodded,"Yes. Unexplained suffocation, with that green stuff
deposited everywhere on the ship... circulated by the life support system,
floating through the atmosphere, eating all the oxygen!"
    "Which killed off the crew."Triboner noticed,"And once that plant stuff
had finished, the life support restored the oxygen level aboard. The plant
must have a short lived potency."
    "We must stop them," Tenim said,"Or they will do the same to
your worlds and mine."
    Triboner nodded,"The only reason Tian was spared was because something
happened to the merciless and the cargo was lost."
    "But where is this stuff coming from?" Janu asked.
    "Where else?" Taran replied,"It's got to be Santrijan. There must
be a refinery there, as was mentioned in the intercepted message."

    Euridice orbited the dead planet. Further scans had revealed that
all animal life on the planet had been extinguished by the alliances
horrific weapon. Some of the life in Nuten's oceans survived, but without
oxygen to replenish the supply in the water, they had little time to live.
Some of the plants would survive, and the atmosphere would be re-oxygenated
within a few thousand years.
    "Main reactor and dimension drive on line." Nathan reported from
the intercom, two days later,"We have restored full power."
    Triboner nodded, pleased,"Excellent. Now we return to the federation."
    "What about Santrijan?" Taran demanded.
    "There is no way this ship can approach Santrijan without
being noticed." Triboner said, "We will need to find some harmless looking
ship to go into the Santrijan system and have a look."
    "Like a trader or freighter perhaps." Tenim volunteered.
    Triboner shook his head,"No, too slow. It needs to be fast and
armed, but not too big."
    Peilo turned around from her console again,"Captain, I'm picking
up another long range transmission."
    "From the planet?"
    Peilo shook her head,"No sir, it's from the general direction
of Killac."
    Triboner nodded,"The alliance then. On speakers."
    "........Worlds of the federation. This is Lord Kominsar Steele
speaking for the Killac central command. We have destroyed your fleet,
we possess the capability to destroy your planets. Therefore we demand the
inconditional surrender of your four worlds. If a reply is not received
within one solar week, we will destroy you. No negotiation for terms will
not be permitted. You have one week."
    Peilo switched off the speakers. Taran was frowning.
    "One week? Why one week?"
    "Theres no reason for it unless," Triboner rubbed his chin
thoughtfully,"They can't be ready to move for a week. Perhaps this green
plant stuff takes some time to manufacture, and then load aboard
the ships."
    "In which case,"Taran interrupted,"We have time to get to Santrijan
and destroy the production facility?"
    "My thoughts exactly." Triboner nodded, smiling grimly.
    "Thats crazy!" Janu cried. Triboner and Taran turned, and she
added contritely,"Sir. They'll attack us the moment we enter the
Santrijan system."
    "Ordinarily yes." Triboner agreed,"But they won't know we're
coming."