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Introduction
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Matar System, 867,000 Miles from Hodgons World
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Sir. Captain Harmond Raiken snapped back to reality. Two Confederation frigates sixty-thousand meters and closing.
The Captain sighed. It looks like they finally figured us out.
Your orders, sir? It was the first mate, Jana Lise.
Prepare to launch the patrol ships. All available hands to battle stations. Captain Raiken ordered. Almost immediately the alert sirens began to sound.
"Where did they come from?" Raiken asked, looking down at one of the helmsmen.
"They jumped in from hyperspace a few moments ago. I think they had been tailing us."
"Or waiting for the right moment to strike." Raiken replied, and strapped on his safety harness on his Captain's seat.
Frigates fifty-five thousand meters and closing.
Raiken looked up at the forward view screen and saw for the first time the two incoming frigates. They were small from that distance, like small specks of dust in the night sky, but he could see the lights on the tips of the weapons pylons, and could make out the distinct tint of their hulls. He didnt want to fight. He didnt want to take human life. But it was war. And he had to end it.
Launch the patrol ships. ordered Raiken, still gazing out into space at the frigates.
Frigates fifty-thousand meters and closing.
Were in range, sir. said Jana.
Alright. Fire torpedoes one and two. There was a momentary pause. To the captain it seemed like and eternity. He wondered what it would be like when they
Torpedoes one and two away. said Jana, interrupting his thought. Anyway, it didnt matter now. All that mattered was destroying the two frigates and getting out alive. Raiken saw the two torpedoes on the forward view screen. They were like glowing yellow stars, moving swiftly and gracefully through space to their targets. They seemed to calm him, to ease his mind with their brilliant light. They seemed almost too beautiful to be weapons of destruction.
Frigates forty-five thousand meters and closing.
Bring the patrol ships around behind the frigates and box them in. said Raiken with a commanding tone, looking down at the flight controller from his seat.
Jana, who was standing beside him, leaning over and talking to one of the crew, suddenly turned to Raiken. Sir, weve been targeted. She said with an almost frighteningly stern and relaxed face.
Two torpedoes incoming! Forty-five seconds until impact! yelled one of the crew.
Launch the countermeasures. Adjust course to 3527 degrees. ordered Captain Raiken to one of the helmsmen.
The C.S.S. Liberation lurched as it began to change direction. It was a CR-1095 heavy cruiser. At 250 meters long, and with a crew compliment of 1043, it was one of the prides of the Confederation Navy. The captain watched as the image on the forward view screen shifted and he was forced to look at the starboard view screen to see the two incoming frigates and the light show made by the flares and torpedoes. They would not be able to use torpedoes again until the flares exhausted their energy supply or were destroyed. Captain Raiken had to try something else.
Lock on and fire two missiles at the left frigate. Order the patrol ships to engage the same frigate. Well have to take them down one at a time. Raiken ordered.
Frigates thirty-thousand meters and closing.
Raiken could now see little specks of light blinking and flashing by one of the frigates. It was the patrol ships attacking their target. The frigate was firing proton bolts at them almost like anti-aircraft fire. One patrol ship managed to fire a few lucky shots just before being blown apart by a heavy rocket. The remaining patrol ships had no trouble at all after that. They dodged in and out of the fire coming from the frigates two proton turrets and cannons. When they were close enough, and if they had a clear shot, they would make a sweep of the frigate, showering it with proton bolts from the cannons mounted just below the cockpit. The distraction worked perfectly. Raiken thought to himself, gazing out into space at the frigate. The patrol ships had done their job by giving the missiles enough time to reach the frigate without the frigate launching countermeasures. Before the crew had time to react, the two missiles had reached the frigate. The first missile nearly missed the frigate but managed to blow off one of the weapons pylons. The explosion caused the frigate to tilt downwards in a slow roll of smoke and flame. The second missile hit the bridge head-on. With the destruction of the bridge, the frigate became dormant in a disabled state. However, in a few milliseconds, the explosion had reached the torpedo bays, traveling down the corridors and passageways in a wall of flame. The torpedoes exploded, and the blast broke off the entire front end of the frigate. The disabled frigate drifted a thousand meters before completely exploding, breaking into smaller pieces, leaving nothing but bits and pieces of what had been a mighty vessel. The whole area soon became a junkyard of debris from the wreckage of the downed frigate. In the bridge of the Liberation, some of the crew was relieved when they saw one of the frigates go down.
Everyone. Weve still got a job to do. Order the patrol ships to dock with mother ship. said Raiken, trying to keep his crew on task.
Frigate five-thousand meters and closing.
Raiken looked up and saw the incoming frigate very clearly now. He could see the weapons pylons and the Confederate insignia on the gray hull. He could make out the bridge, and could see the lights of the vessel blinking and flashing. It was as if he was staring at himself. He knew what they had to do.
"Adjust course to 1965 degrees. We're going to hit them head on."
Again they could feel the ship as it turned. The view of the frigate shifted back to the forward view screen. Soon it would be all over. Then they could get back to the real mission. The frigate was closing in on them extremely quickly. Raiken could see on the view screen the target distance was now three thousand meters and closing. He knew his crew would overcome this. He could depend on his crew to get him through this. They were totally loyal, obeyed his orders and did not question his decisions. "This is it," he thought.
"Patrol ships have docked, sir."
"Direct all fire on the bridge and stabilizers. Ready the neutron cannon," ordered Raiken.
Suddenly, a hail of proton fire lit up the space between the cruiser and the frigate. The frigate too, began to fire its weapons. Proton bolts made odd explosions as they hit the shields of each vessel. By that time, the two ships were nearly on top of each other.
"Neutron cannon ready to fire, sir."
"Alright. Aim... and fire!" yelled Raiken.
A red light began to grow inside the barrel of the neutron cannon. It grew quickly into a glowing red ball. Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light. The neutron laser flew straight toward the frigate. The laser hit the shields and began to put an enormous pressure on them. Finally, the shields gave way to the blast and popped like a balloon that had been stabbed by a pin. The laser continued on its way but was absorbed by the frigate's thick durasteel armor walls. Even so, the shot achieved its purpose.
"Let's hit them where it hurts, men!" exclaimed Raiken, sensing victory and raising his crews morale.
Every proton turret and gun directed itself towards the shieldless frigate. A rain of proton bolts raked the frigate end to end. They pierced through the ships armor, killing a navigator outright and explosively disintegrating an engineer through the punctured hull. One millisecond after that, stress fractures shattered the FF-4237 frigate like it was a glass bottle. A super-dense explosion boiled out from the power core, vaporizing the ship and everyone in it. The corona spread over a six-hundred meter diameter, leaving nothing of the frigate behind to show that it even existed. The C.S.S. Liberation shook from the shockwave of the blast and had lost all its shields. They had won, but it was not the victory Raiken had hoped for. It was not the same as it used to be. "Not the same at all." Raiken thought.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 11-25-2002).)
(This message has been edited by Spaceiscold (edited 03-30-2003).)
Ok, I know I probably got some splainin to do, so here goes.