OOC: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, extraterrestrials and superplanaries all. We'll get back to Shek and Somm when thegreenfile and I work out some details. For now, we return to the story, as seen from Borb IX and Zathe ek Daal, the Empire's greatest Ship Commanders.
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The Legend of the Voronov
Part III
The V. I. S. Thorokovsky, Voinian-Emalgha Border
The Emalgha warship still had not changed position, noted Ship Commander First Rank Borb IX. Odd. Well, the warships captain didnt know about the shield generator. And he was probably counting on his reinforcements being more than a match for a regular Voinian frigate.
But the Thorokovsky was no regular frigate.
How long until the Emalgha vermin arrive?
Twelve minutes, sir. Isled says theyll come out right next to our friend.
Good. I want rockets launched as soon as they exit hyperspace. Well engage them and see whether or not VSD was right about our new shield power.
Aye sir. Itll help having two shield grids, though. They wont be expecting the switch. Borb grinned his agreement, and then activated the ship-wide communications system.
Attention: this is your Ship Commander speaking. In ten minutes, we shall singlehandedly annihilate an Emalghan battle group. Battle stations.
The crew was fully ready in two minutes. Voinian discipline was strong. After the minutes ticked away, four Emalgha fighters and a second warship emerged from hyperspace. They were immediately met by two Voinian rockets, and one of the fighters exploded instantly as it took one of the missiles head on.
Activate primary shield grid. Keep secondary grid on instant standby.
Main grid up. S-grid 2 standby aye.
Open fire with all weapons. Wipe out the warships first. Then well see whether these shields can stand up to massed fighter firepower.
A hail of weapons fire erupted from the Thorokovsky , slamming into the lead Emalgha warship. It returned fire with its armor-piercing rounds, but the new kinetic shield grid held most of them back. The warship was a burning husk in moments, and the frigates fire shifted from it to the second warship.
The fighters were now upon the Thorokovsky , their fire joining that of the warship. After perhaps fifteen seconds, the primary shield grid dropped to 10%.
Switch to secondary shield grid!
Aye sir! There was no hesitation. Everyone knew the cataclysm that would be released if the shield grids collapsed in on the hull. The shield coordinators immediately switched to the second grid.
The shields status instantly jumped to 100% as the primary shield grid relocated its influence to a position within a meter of the frigate hull to recharge, and the fully-charged, secondary shield grid relocated to take its place. The transition happened instantaneously, with no shells penetrating during the switch.
The Thorokovsky unloaded two rockets onto the second warship as its shields failed, sending it to join its dead-floating brother. Now only the three fighters remained.
Status of shields!
Shields are holding steady within range of 71 to 84 percent, sir. The Durachi generator appears to be working admirably.
Very well. Well give em another minute to try and dent our shield. Is the primary grid recharged yet?
Uh aye sir! The lieutenant seemed pleasantly surprised. The generator was exceeding expectations. The recharge rate was impressive. Extremely impressive. Three fighters could fire to their hearts content at a frigate, and not even scratch its shields. The same would probably be true of four or five fighters, when the secondary shield grids abilities were taken into account. Admiral Arakev would be most pleased.
Bring the main grid back online. We need not wait another minute to know the level of success of our mission. Borb turned to face the main viewscreen.
Finish the bastards off.
Vorik High Command, VSD Headquarters
(TRANSMISSION: SECURE S-THREAD COMM. S-SIG: F0790)
REPORT OF V. I. S. THOROKOVSKY
DURACHI S-GEN PERFORMED ADMIRABLY
DUAL SHIELD-GRID WEAPON DEEMED EFFECTIVE
RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE RETROFIT OF ENTIRE FLEET FRIGATE CORPS
REQUEST NEXT MISSION: TEST OF NEUTRON ROTOCANNONS
SHIPCOM V. BORB IX OUT
The V. I. S. Voronov, Some Distance From The Rock
"Sir, here is the report you asked for." Ship Engineer Second Rank Talor Ramm held out a single sheet of paper.
Ship Commander Zathe ek Daal took the form from him. He read it quickly.
"How much danger are they in?"
"I'd say a reasonable amount sir. They are swordmasters of the Sarpi War Academy, so I wouldn't worry too much; both saw action in the last major War of the Empire, and performed admirably at the Battle of Dogover. But then again, sir, this isn't space warfare. They'll be relying almost entirely on the Ell'achi battle training, and their Thanofire systems."
"But you still think they've got a fair shot at the mission."
"Absolutely, sir. And we need the weapon."
"Ain't that the truth. Very well, Talor. Thank you. I need to inform Vorik about this. They'll want to know about the telepaths."
"Aye sir." Talor took the implied dismissal and left.
Zathe turned back to his desk and began composing his own report to Vorik High Command.
Vorik High Command, VSD Headquarters
(TRANSMISSION: SECURE S-THREAD COMM. S-SIG: MVHF0001)
REPORT OF V. I. S. VORONOV
TELEPATH RPT TELEPATH ACTIVITY ABOARD THE ROCK
THANOFIRE SYSTEMS ACTIVE NO SIGN OF PSI-ATTACK AS YET
SEARCH CONTINUES SUCCESS EXPECTED
WILL REPORT AS SITUATION DEVELOPS
EXPECT EVERY SIX HOURS
SHIPCOM ZATHE EK DAAL OUT
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Hear the Myth, Feel the Glory
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