DarthOne
Well-known member
Well between the gasmasks and ‘spiked helmets’ part it was kind of hard for me not to picture something like this:
I get to conquer the Federation (SW and ST Crossover/SI)
- Thread starter Jaenera Targaryen
- Start date
Chapter 24
New
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
I sat at my desk in my ready room on the Courageous, reviewing the data recovered by my family's household troops from Memory Alpha. It was the key to the future, either the chance to finish what I had started, or death to maintain a monopoly on knowledge of its existence. Maybe even both, as impossible as that might sound.
Pushing thoughts of my potential demise aside, I sighed and sat back in my seat, turning my thoughts instead to other matters. "It won't be decided until I get back to Coruscant." I thought. "That is, Imperial Center…and that won't be until the Federation has surrendered, and the New Territories brought to heel."
Despite myself, I snorted at that. The New Territories, tentatively planned to be an Oversector or its equivalent, was fairly small by the standards thereof. Tiny, even, compared to Oversector Outer. That said, though, this was a different galaxy, connected only to our own via a convenient wormhole. The latter aside, given the technically-vast distance between this galaxy and our own, making it an Oversector seemed the right call.
I sighed, and briefly closed my eyes. In that instant, there was a flash of light, bright enough to get through my lowered eyelids, but not so much to really to be even a nuisance.
"Long day, my lady admiral?" Q asked nonchalantly, once again wearing an Imperial Grand Admiral's uniform.
"More like reflecting on the Federation's overinflated sense of importance." I dryly remarked. "Tell me, honestly, are they really the first to develop this piece of technology, or for that matter, to unlock and study in-depth the science behind it?"
Q snorted disdainfully. "Hardly." He said. "The science behind it is actually quite elementary, anyone who's watched stars be born, grow, and die, only to be born again would realize the basic principles…assuming they had the wit for it, of course."
"And the tech?"
Q smiled chidingly. "There's no reason to ask stupid questions, is there?" he asked in a reproving tone.
I snorted and shrugged. "True," I said. "Besides, I guess tech like this is like a child's toy to you, or people like you."
"Well…yes, and no." Q delicately replied. "Going into the details would fly over your head…that, and would get us both into a lot of trouble. Let's just say there are the Q, and there are other, transcendental life forms."
"…fair enough."
Q shrugged and smiled. "In any case," he continued. "I came to see how you were doing, and wow! You've really outdone yourself. Not only have you managed to push the Federation into a corner, you've even broken open those closets of theirs. You know, the ones filled brimming with old skeletons?"
"Yeah, and there's so much of them that the Empire's struggling to dig itself out, and the bones are still falling out." I snapped back, although there was no real heat to it. "On the bright side, though, this might actually be a good thing."
"Oh?" Q asked, tenting his fingers and looking and sounding genuinely interested. "Do tell."
"Having to fix the mess the Federation made of Humanity in this galaxy, and other species they've encountered should keep the Empire…well, smart." I reasoned. "We'll be too busy to drop the ball, at least in this galaxy. Back home, though…well, that's something else entirely."
Q beamed. "Very good!" he said. "I chose well with you. Although, I'm rather curious…are you really sure you want to hand that over to that pretender godling who likes to call himself your Emperor?"
"Not really, no." I admitted. "But, it's the kind of thing that would really get his interest, and giving it to him while bypassing the rest of the Court and the Imperial hierarchy might just be what I need to get the chance to finish what I started."
"You could have just asked, you know?" Q pointed out.
"I suspect that would just have disappointed you." I pointed back in turn, and Q laughed.
"True!" he said. "Besides, it's not as though the pretender would cause that much damage with it, at least in terms of the bigger picture. No one could possibly mess up your home galaxy as much as they have?"
"They?" I echoed.
Q made a hushing gesture. "Way over your head." He simply said, and I rolled my eyes while acquiescing.
"…you know," I pointed out after a moment. "This is technically my home galaxy…or at least it was in my previous life…or some other version of it, an alternate timeline or something. The Eugenics Wars certainly never happened in the world I came from."
Q snorted. "As you mentioned earlier," he remarked. "The Federation has such an overinflated sense of importance."
There was a flash of light, and then Q and I both found ourselves in what looked like…Earth? Earth of the past, that is, a city in the tropics, possibly South Asia given the styles of the people on the streets. They were all dressed for mourning, with countless candles burning and just as many people openly weeping.
Petals fluttered through the air as they were tossed onto the road, stoic men and women in dress uniforms riding horses or marching in formation. All were quiet and grim, as befitted a funeral procession of some kind, and then I blinked as the bier came into view, and I recognized the old man lying within.
"Khan Noonien Singh." I said.
"Yes." Q said simply.
"This is a timeline where he won…a timeline that should never exist…would never exist, if the Federation had its way." I remarked.
"And yet it exists." Q said. "No matter how much the Federation meddles in time to keep their timeline the only one, it exists. Curious, isn't it?"
"More like hypocritical." I snorted. "The Temporal Prime Directive, right?"
"And the Temporal Accords, among other things." Q said, looking and sounding amused, as he and I again vanished in a flash of light, only to reappear in a theater. Many different species made up the audience, which laughed as the actors on the set exaggeratedly played out a time traveler trying to change the past, only to return to the future to find it unchanged.
"Changing the past doesn't change your future." I quickly reasoned. "The point being that time travel is not the same as…travelling, between timelines."
Q clicked his tongue, and patted me on the back. "And with that," he remarked. "You've proven yourself smarter than most time travelers I've met."
"At the risk of stroking my ego, there is a reason you chose me for my role."
Q beamed again. "I did." He said. "But yes, you're right. So, you change the past, congratulations. Except time is so much vaster and more complicated than the Federation thinks or like to think. All they've done is alter the variables, resulting in the creation of a new timeline, while the original timeline continues unchanged and unaffected."
"They're confusing time travel with…timeline travel," I said. "And don't realize they've been doing both, and just assume when they return to their original timeline, or a timeline where a bad end to their original timeline has been averted, that the…unwanted timeline, has ceased to be."
"Yes." Q said, and we returned to the Courageous in a flash of light. "You were saying about your past life?"
"My world probably won't end up with the Federation, what with the Eugenics Wars having been averted." I said. "That's a good thing, no matter how I look at it…well, no. Does the Majestic Twelve exist there as well?"
"Well…" Q began, and again we vanished in a flash of light, only to end up in a darkened room filled with old men, dressed in frock coats and fitted trousers, talking about world politics over brandy while sitting around a wooden table. "…I wouldn't be so cavalier about your original timeline's future."
"Damn the Majestic Twelve." I spat, and Q laughed as we returned to the Courageous again.
"Good." He said. "You are angry. Very good. Use that anger. Don't rest on your laurels. Finish what you started, and set things right, or as right as you can make it. I chose you for a reason, so, don't disappoint me."
"…a chosen one?" I asked after a moment. "Me? Great…just great…you just had to inflate my ego…"
Q laughed. "Whether or not that's a good thing is something we shall see in the future." He said. "Ciao!"
And with a flash of light, Q was gone.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The First Battlegroup dropped out of hyperspace in the Kharzh'ulla System, the other battlegroups of the Imperial Expeditionary Force already present. Half of them were within striking range of the eponymous planet, while the other half were arrayed in the outer system, as a reserve.
Interdictor cruisers had already formed up an overlapping mass gravity shadow around and over the planet, making FTL travel impossible within the area-of-effect. And as the First Battlegroup cruised in to the join the forces near the planet, distant explosions could be seen around the planet's orbital ring.
First things first, though.
"That won't be necessary." I responded to Daala's acceptance of full responsibility for her fleet's losses in the early part of the siege. "While you did lose half of your fleet in battle, you also managed to preserve your fleet's entire battleship core. Furthermore, you managed to destroy the enemy command fleet, while also inflicting heavy losses on three other enemy fleets. That is a reasonable rate of exchange, and we are at war. Losses are inevitable. What matters is that said losses have meaning. And your losses weren't for nothing. Carry on, Admiral Daala."
"Yes, Admiral Targaryen." Daala said with a salute. "Thank you."
I nodded, and the other admiral's hologram cut out. "Status of Operation Catapult?" I asked the other hologram, that of General Cullan from the Imperial Military Corps of Engineers.
"Initial recon and survey have identified over a hundred asteroids suitable for our purposes." He replied. "We're narrowing down our final selection, after which we can begin weaponization."
"How long will it take?" I asked.
"Final selection should be finished within twenty-four hours." The general replied. "Weaponization should take about seventy-two hours, after which we need to move them into the inner system. And that might take some time."
"I see." I said with a nod. "Understandable, and besides, this is a siege. We expected something like this. Carry on, general. Expedite things as best you can, but no need to rush either. It's not as though we're on a clock."
"Yes, admiral." The general said with a salute, and I saluted back before the general's hologram cut out.
"We're settling in for a siege, then." Torrhen asked.
"Just as planned." I replied. "At least until Catapult is ready for its final stages. In the meantime, we'll keep the planet interdicted, and launch random bombing raids and assault boat attacks, as well as long-range torpedo bombardment. Just keep the enemy on their toes."
"Perhaps we should make propaganda broadcasts, admiral?" Sara proposed.
I blinked, and actually had to think it over. "That is an excellent idea, lieutenant." I finally said. "I wonder why we didn't think of that before…coordinate with the ISB and Imperial Intelligence, we could use this to soften the feddies up before Catapult is finally ready."
"Yes, admiral."
I nodded, and then turned back to the tactical display, dominated by the glowing orb of Kharzh'ulla.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ion engines hummed as a squadron of TIE Bombers soared through the void towards Kharzh'ulla, escorted by three squadrons of V-Wings. Elsewhere across the planet's orbital space, similar formations made their through the void, and in the distance, explosions could be seen as capital ship-grade proton torpedoes were either intercepted in space or made contact with the orbital wing.
"Incoming Federation fighters…engage!" the word came over the encrypted line.
The V-Wings scattered as the TIE Bombers accelerated. The Federation fighters attempted to zero-in on the latter, but were forced to break off as the V-Wings swarmed them. Laser blasts burned bright through space, followed by phaser rounds as the Starfleet pilots fought back, dogfights erupting in the void.
"I have a lock." Lieutenant Ort called out. "Missile away."
A concussion missile erupted from his V-Wing's prow missile launcher, curving into the distance as it followed a Federation fighter, and making impact, turned it into a fireball blazing brightly in space. Then alarms began to sound as photon torpedoes were launched at the lieutenant, who banked hard to evade.
Phaser beams burned through space as the Federation fighter stayed on his tail, only to be forced to disengage as one of the lieutenant's wingmen arrived, chasing it off with a volley of laser blasts. "Thanks." The lieutenant said. "Where are the bombers?"
"…looks like they're making their attack run now." His wingman replied.
Indeed, the space right next to the orbital ring was sparkling with fire, as hastily-installed point-defense guns threw up volley after volley at the fast-flying TIE Bombers. The bombers jinked and wove along their course, avoiding direct hits even as their armor was scarred and pitted by the close-proximity energy surges.
Then a TIE Bomber went up into a fireball at a direct hit, inertia keeping its debris going to arc down and crash into the orbital ring below.
"Heavy anti-aircraft fire!" the word went out.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader firmly replied.
"Enemy reinforcements inbound!" another pilot barked.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader repeated.
"More fire coming…!" a third pilot began only to be abruptly cut off as his bomber was shot down.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader repeated again, and then narrowed his eyes as the targeting computer flashed. "Bombs away!"
Flashing proton bombs fell and glided on inertia towards their targets on the orbital wing. Explosions fountained into space, debris flying fast and hot, a line of fire and wreckage following in the wake of the bombers. Then an even bigger explosion went up, as a proton bomb hit an antimatter tank, the escaping fuel violently reacting to the surrounding matter.
This, in turn, set off a chain reaction that turned several square kilometers of the orbital ring into a radioactive wreck, held together only by the ancient construction beneath all the modern additions above. "Did you see that?" a pilot asked in shock and awe.
"Looks like we hit something important." Another pilot replied.
"That we did." The squadron leader replied. "Head back to base, loser buys drinks."
Laughter echoed across the encrypted line as the TIE Bombers flew back to their carrier.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Metal exploded in molten chunks as a latched-on assault boat blew their way into a corridor with demolition charges. The first Stormtrooper through was gunned down with precise shots to the face, overloading his shields and burning through his helmet to kill him. The second Stormtrooper met the same fate, but the ones behind them had wised up, some of them opening up with suppression fire while others pressed forward.
"…clankers!" the shout went up. "We've got clankers!"
"Ion grenades, now!" the order came.
Ion grenades whined as they were armed, and then waiting for a couple of seconds, the Stormtroopers tossed them at angle at the walls. They bounced and landed close to the androids, the slight delay before the toss giving the androids no time to pick up much less toss the grenades back.
Blue flashes lit up the corridor as the ion grenades went off, and the androids collapsed twitching. The Stormtroopers advanced, finishing off the androids before they could recover with point-blank blaster shots.
Then continuing to advance, they reached a local terminal, the platoon slicer quickly plugging in to pull up a map of the local area. "Incoming reinforcements." He warned, just in time for heavy gunners to position themselves at the nearby turbolifts.
They opened to reveal a mix of men and machines, the latter the first out of the turbolifts…
…and the first to die as heavy gunners opened up with E-Webs. This gave time for Starfleet Security to get into cover, only for themselves to die and the turbolifts to be disabled by the Stormtroopers simply tossing thermal detonators inside.
"…I have the plans." The slicer said after a few minutes. "Uploading data…now."
"Acknowledged." The platoon leader barked. "All squads, move out!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
While the command squad and two others held the landing area and with it a line of retreat, three other squads spread out towards their target. As they went, they deployed gas charges, filling the corridors with nerve gas, killing any lurking Starfleet personnel in the surrounding rooms.
Naturally, this didn't work against androids, but the Empire had plenty of experience with battle droids. "Please lower your weapons…please lower your weapons…please lower your weapons…" an android kept repeating as it twitched on the floor, disabled by an ion grenade.
A single shot to the head took care of that, and then the Stormtroopers reached their destination. Using laser cutters, they tore open a secured Jeffries tube, then clambering through and around a pair of corners, entered a shaft. One Stormtrooper then stowed his blaster carbine while another readied an anti-armor missile.
"…clear!" the second Stormtrooper said after loading the missile, which the first Stormtrooper fired straight up. If not for their armor, the resulting explosion would have deafened them both, as it was, they still had to take cover from the falling debris.
"Prepare second shot!" the first Stormtrooper said, looking up afterward and seeing the now-exposed EPS main.
"…clear!" the second Stormtrooper said after loading another missile. Again, the first Stormtrooper fired, and this time both men were thrown off their feet as the EPS relay exploded. Lights went out as power failed in the entire section, as did artificial gravity. Thankfully, all Stormtroopers had zero-g training, meaning it was only really an inconvenience.
The plasma surge that made their suits very hot was more troubling, but they were alive, and made it back safely to the rendezvous point. "Mission accomplished." The platoon leader said over the encrypted line as they retreated to their assault boat. "Don't forget your anti-radiation pills once we're clear."
"Yes, sir." The two men who'd blown the EPS main replied, and then the hatch was closing, as the assault boat pulled away to head back to the fleet. Other assault boats as well, over a hundred kilometers of orbital ring left lightless and contaminated by nerve gas in their wake, along with hundreds of dead Starfleet personnel and just as many wrecked androids.
And still the Siege of Kharzh'ulla continued.
Pushing thoughts of my potential demise aside, I sighed and sat back in my seat, turning my thoughts instead to other matters. "It won't be decided until I get back to Coruscant." I thought. "That is, Imperial Center…and that won't be until the Federation has surrendered, and the New Territories brought to heel."
Despite myself, I snorted at that. The New Territories, tentatively planned to be an Oversector or its equivalent, was fairly small by the standards thereof. Tiny, even, compared to Oversector Outer. That said, though, this was a different galaxy, connected only to our own via a convenient wormhole. The latter aside, given the technically-vast distance between this galaxy and our own, making it an Oversector seemed the right call.
I sighed, and briefly closed my eyes. In that instant, there was a flash of light, bright enough to get through my lowered eyelids, but not so much to really to be even a nuisance.
"Long day, my lady admiral?" Q asked nonchalantly, once again wearing an Imperial Grand Admiral's uniform.
"More like reflecting on the Federation's overinflated sense of importance." I dryly remarked. "Tell me, honestly, are they really the first to develop this piece of technology, or for that matter, to unlock and study in-depth the science behind it?"
Q snorted disdainfully. "Hardly." He said. "The science behind it is actually quite elementary, anyone who's watched stars be born, grow, and die, only to be born again would realize the basic principles…assuming they had the wit for it, of course."
"And the tech?"
Q smiled chidingly. "There's no reason to ask stupid questions, is there?" he asked in a reproving tone.
I snorted and shrugged. "True," I said. "Besides, I guess tech like this is like a child's toy to you, or people like you."
"Well…yes, and no." Q delicately replied. "Going into the details would fly over your head…that, and would get us both into a lot of trouble. Let's just say there are the Q, and there are other, transcendental life forms."
"…fair enough."
Q shrugged and smiled. "In any case," he continued. "I came to see how you were doing, and wow! You've really outdone yourself. Not only have you managed to push the Federation into a corner, you've even broken open those closets of theirs. You know, the ones filled brimming with old skeletons?"
"Yeah, and there's so much of them that the Empire's struggling to dig itself out, and the bones are still falling out." I snapped back, although there was no real heat to it. "On the bright side, though, this might actually be a good thing."
"Oh?" Q asked, tenting his fingers and looking and sounding genuinely interested. "Do tell."
"Having to fix the mess the Federation made of Humanity in this galaxy, and other species they've encountered should keep the Empire…well, smart." I reasoned. "We'll be too busy to drop the ball, at least in this galaxy. Back home, though…well, that's something else entirely."
Q beamed. "Very good!" he said. "I chose well with you. Although, I'm rather curious…are you really sure you want to hand that over to that pretender godling who likes to call himself your Emperor?"
"Not really, no." I admitted. "But, it's the kind of thing that would really get his interest, and giving it to him while bypassing the rest of the Court and the Imperial hierarchy might just be what I need to get the chance to finish what I started."
"You could have just asked, you know?" Q pointed out.
"I suspect that would just have disappointed you." I pointed back in turn, and Q laughed.
"True!" he said. "Besides, it's not as though the pretender would cause that much damage with it, at least in terms of the bigger picture. No one could possibly mess up your home galaxy as much as they have?"
"They?" I echoed.
Q made a hushing gesture. "Way over your head." He simply said, and I rolled my eyes while acquiescing.
"…you know," I pointed out after a moment. "This is technically my home galaxy…or at least it was in my previous life…or some other version of it, an alternate timeline or something. The Eugenics Wars certainly never happened in the world I came from."
Q snorted. "As you mentioned earlier," he remarked. "The Federation has such an overinflated sense of importance."
There was a flash of light, and then Q and I both found ourselves in what looked like…Earth? Earth of the past, that is, a city in the tropics, possibly South Asia given the styles of the people on the streets. They were all dressed for mourning, with countless candles burning and just as many people openly weeping.
Petals fluttered through the air as they were tossed onto the road, stoic men and women in dress uniforms riding horses or marching in formation. All were quiet and grim, as befitted a funeral procession of some kind, and then I blinked as the bier came into view, and I recognized the old man lying within.
"Khan Noonien Singh." I said.
"Yes." Q said simply.
"This is a timeline where he won…a timeline that should never exist…would never exist, if the Federation had its way." I remarked.
"And yet it exists." Q said. "No matter how much the Federation meddles in time to keep their timeline the only one, it exists. Curious, isn't it?"
"More like hypocritical." I snorted. "The Temporal Prime Directive, right?"
"And the Temporal Accords, among other things." Q said, looking and sounding amused, as he and I again vanished in a flash of light, only to reappear in a theater. Many different species made up the audience, which laughed as the actors on the set exaggeratedly played out a time traveler trying to change the past, only to return to the future to find it unchanged.
"Changing the past doesn't change your future." I quickly reasoned. "The point being that time travel is not the same as…travelling, between timelines."
Q clicked his tongue, and patted me on the back. "And with that," he remarked. "You've proven yourself smarter than most time travelers I've met."
"At the risk of stroking my ego, there is a reason you chose me for my role."
Q beamed again. "I did." He said. "But yes, you're right. So, you change the past, congratulations. Except time is so much vaster and more complicated than the Federation thinks or like to think. All they've done is alter the variables, resulting in the creation of a new timeline, while the original timeline continues unchanged and unaffected."
"They're confusing time travel with…timeline travel," I said. "And don't realize they've been doing both, and just assume when they return to their original timeline, or a timeline where a bad end to their original timeline has been averted, that the…unwanted timeline, has ceased to be."
"Yes." Q said, and we returned to the Courageous in a flash of light. "You were saying about your past life?"
"My world probably won't end up with the Federation, what with the Eugenics Wars having been averted." I said. "That's a good thing, no matter how I look at it…well, no. Does the Majestic Twelve exist there as well?"
"Well…" Q began, and again we vanished in a flash of light, only to end up in a darkened room filled with old men, dressed in frock coats and fitted trousers, talking about world politics over brandy while sitting around a wooden table. "…I wouldn't be so cavalier about your original timeline's future."
"Damn the Majestic Twelve." I spat, and Q laughed as we returned to the Courageous again.
"Good." He said. "You are angry. Very good. Use that anger. Don't rest on your laurels. Finish what you started, and set things right, or as right as you can make it. I chose you for a reason, so, don't disappoint me."
"…a chosen one?" I asked after a moment. "Me? Great…just great…you just had to inflate my ego…"
Q laughed. "Whether or not that's a good thing is something we shall see in the future." He said. "Ciao!"
And with a flash of light, Q was gone.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The First Battlegroup dropped out of hyperspace in the Kharzh'ulla System, the other battlegroups of the Imperial Expeditionary Force already present. Half of them were within striking range of the eponymous planet, while the other half were arrayed in the outer system, as a reserve.
Interdictor cruisers had already formed up an overlapping mass gravity shadow around and over the planet, making FTL travel impossible within the area-of-effect. And as the First Battlegroup cruised in to the join the forces near the planet, distant explosions could be seen around the planet's orbital ring.
First things first, though.
"That won't be necessary." I responded to Daala's acceptance of full responsibility for her fleet's losses in the early part of the siege. "While you did lose half of your fleet in battle, you also managed to preserve your fleet's entire battleship core. Furthermore, you managed to destroy the enemy command fleet, while also inflicting heavy losses on three other enemy fleets. That is a reasonable rate of exchange, and we are at war. Losses are inevitable. What matters is that said losses have meaning. And your losses weren't for nothing. Carry on, Admiral Daala."
"Yes, Admiral Targaryen." Daala said with a salute. "Thank you."
I nodded, and the other admiral's hologram cut out. "Status of Operation Catapult?" I asked the other hologram, that of General Cullan from the Imperial Military Corps of Engineers.
"Initial recon and survey have identified over a hundred asteroids suitable for our purposes." He replied. "We're narrowing down our final selection, after which we can begin weaponization."
"How long will it take?" I asked.
"Final selection should be finished within twenty-four hours." The general replied. "Weaponization should take about seventy-two hours, after which we need to move them into the inner system. And that might take some time."
"I see." I said with a nod. "Understandable, and besides, this is a siege. We expected something like this. Carry on, general. Expedite things as best you can, but no need to rush either. It's not as though we're on a clock."
"Yes, admiral." The general said with a salute, and I saluted back before the general's hologram cut out.
"We're settling in for a siege, then." Torrhen asked.
"Just as planned." I replied. "At least until Catapult is ready for its final stages. In the meantime, we'll keep the planet interdicted, and launch random bombing raids and assault boat attacks, as well as long-range torpedo bombardment. Just keep the enemy on their toes."
"Perhaps we should make propaganda broadcasts, admiral?" Sara proposed.
I blinked, and actually had to think it over. "That is an excellent idea, lieutenant." I finally said. "I wonder why we didn't think of that before…coordinate with the ISB and Imperial Intelligence, we could use this to soften the feddies up before Catapult is finally ready."
"Yes, admiral."
I nodded, and then turned back to the tactical display, dominated by the glowing orb of Kharzh'ulla.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ion engines hummed as a squadron of TIE Bombers soared through the void towards Kharzh'ulla, escorted by three squadrons of V-Wings. Elsewhere across the planet's orbital space, similar formations made their through the void, and in the distance, explosions could be seen as capital ship-grade proton torpedoes were either intercepted in space or made contact with the orbital wing.
"Incoming Federation fighters…engage!" the word came over the encrypted line.
The V-Wings scattered as the TIE Bombers accelerated. The Federation fighters attempted to zero-in on the latter, but were forced to break off as the V-Wings swarmed them. Laser blasts burned bright through space, followed by phaser rounds as the Starfleet pilots fought back, dogfights erupting in the void.
"I have a lock." Lieutenant Ort called out. "Missile away."
A concussion missile erupted from his V-Wing's prow missile launcher, curving into the distance as it followed a Federation fighter, and making impact, turned it into a fireball blazing brightly in space. Then alarms began to sound as photon torpedoes were launched at the lieutenant, who banked hard to evade.
Phaser beams burned through space as the Federation fighter stayed on his tail, only to be forced to disengage as one of the lieutenant's wingmen arrived, chasing it off with a volley of laser blasts. "Thanks." The lieutenant said. "Where are the bombers?"
"…looks like they're making their attack run now." His wingman replied.
Indeed, the space right next to the orbital ring was sparkling with fire, as hastily-installed point-defense guns threw up volley after volley at the fast-flying TIE Bombers. The bombers jinked and wove along their course, avoiding direct hits even as their armor was scarred and pitted by the close-proximity energy surges.
Then a TIE Bomber went up into a fireball at a direct hit, inertia keeping its debris going to arc down and crash into the orbital ring below.
"Heavy anti-aircraft fire!" the word went out.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader firmly replied.
"Enemy reinforcements inbound!" another pilot barked.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader repeated.
"More fire coming…!" a third pilot began only to be abruptly cut off as his bomber was shot down.
"Stay on target." The squadron leader repeated again, and then narrowed his eyes as the targeting computer flashed. "Bombs away!"
Flashing proton bombs fell and glided on inertia towards their targets on the orbital wing. Explosions fountained into space, debris flying fast and hot, a line of fire and wreckage following in the wake of the bombers. Then an even bigger explosion went up, as a proton bomb hit an antimatter tank, the escaping fuel violently reacting to the surrounding matter.
This, in turn, set off a chain reaction that turned several square kilometers of the orbital ring into a radioactive wreck, held together only by the ancient construction beneath all the modern additions above. "Did you see that?" a pilot asked in shock and awe.
"Looks like we hit something important." Another pilot replied.
"That we did." The squadron leader replied. "Head back to base, loser buys drinks."
Laughter echoed across the encrypted line as the TIE Bombers flew back to their carrier.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Metal exploded in molten chunks as a latched-on assault boat blew their way into a corridor with demolition charges. The first Stormtrooper through was gunned down with precise shots to the face, overloading his shields and burning through his helmet to kill him. The second Stormtrooper met the same fate, but the ones behind them had wised up, some of them opening up with suppression fire while others pressed forward.
"…clankers!" the shout went up. "We've got clankers!"
"Ion grenades, now!" the order came.
Ion grenades whined as they were armed, and then waiting for a couple of seconds, the Stormtroopers tossed them at angle at the walls. They bounced and landed close to the androids, the slight delay before the toss giving the androids no time to pick up much less toss the grenades back.
Blue flashes lit up the corridor as the ion grenades went off, and the androids collapsed twitching. The Stormtroopers advanced, finishing off the androids before they could recover with point-blank blaster shots.
Then continuing to advance, they reached a local terminal, the platoon slicer quickly plugging in to pull up a map of the local area. "Incoming reinforcements." He warned, just in time for heavy gunners to position themselves at the nearby turbolifts.
They opened to reveal a mix of men and machines, the latter the first out of the turbolifts…
…and the first to die as heavy gunners opened up with E-Webs. This gave time for Starfleet Security to get into cover, only for themselves to die and the turbolifts to be disabled by the Stormtroopers simply tossing thermal detonators inside.
"…I have the plans." The slicer said after a few minutes. "Uploading data…now."
"Acknowledged." The platoon leader barked. "All squads, move out!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
While the command squad and two others held the landing area and with it a line of retreat, three other squads spread out towards their target. As they went, they deployed gas charges, filling the corridors with nerve gas, killing any lurking Starfleet personnel in the surrounding rooms.
Naturally, this didn't work against androids, but the Empire had plenty of experience with battle droids. "Please lower your weapons…please lower your weapons…please lower your weapons…" an android kept repeating as it twitched on the floor, disabled by an ion grenade.
A single shot to the head took care of that, and then the Stormtroopers reached their destination. Using laser cutters, they tore open a secured Jeffries tube, then clambering through and around a pair of corners, entered a shaft. One Stormtrooper then stowed his blaster carbine while another readied an anti-armor missile.
"…clear!" the second Stormtrooper said after loading the missile, which the first Stormtrooper fired straight up. If not for their armor, the resulting explosion would have deafened them both, as it was, they still had to take cover from the falling debris.
"Prepare second shot!" the first Stormtrooper said, looking up afterward and seeing the now-exposed EPS main.
"…clear!" the second Stormtrooper said after loading another missile. Again, the first Stormtrooper fired, and this time both men were thrown off their feet as the EPS relay exploded. Lights went out as power failed in the entire section, as did artificial gravity. Thankfully, all Stormtroopers had zero-g training, meaning it was only really an inconvenience.
The plasma surge that made their suits very hot was more troubling, but they were alive, and made it back safely to the rendezvous point. "Mission accomplished." The platoon leader said over the encrypted line as they retreated to their assault boat. "Don't forget your anti-radiation pills once we're clear."
"Yes, sir." The two men who'd blown the EPS main replied, and then the hatch was closing, as the assault boat pulled away to head back to the fleet. Other assault boats as well, over a hundred kilometers of orbital ring left lightless and contaminated by nerve gas in their wake, along with hundreds of dead Starfleet personnel and just as many wrecked androids.
And still the Siege of Kharzh'ulla continued.
Yinko
Well-known member
Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
I coopted it as the pre-Federation/United Earth identity of Section 31. That is, a shadow conspiracy aimed at manipulating world and later interstellar affairs to impose an ideological vision on reality. The supposedly perfect society of pre-Wolf 359 Federation was their end goal, but it was only achieved through a colossal, centuries-long social engineering program that would make the Chinese Communist Party green with envy, and even then depends on more than a bit of smoke and mirrors to stay functional.This?
I'm really not aware of the significance.Majestic 12 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Borg, and then the Dominion shook it up, but Q finally lost his patience with the Federation still refusing to face reality resulting in this story.
Mind you, I did consider other potential names, like the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the Templar Order, even the Republican Party or even the Bank of England. The latter two were too politically-charged, the former three seemed a bit cliche (though I might come back to the Templars), and then I ran into a random reference to the Majestic Twelve, and decided it seemed a suitable name.
namar13766
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Jaenera Targaryen
Well-known member
Perhaps...or just any timeline where Khan won, lived to a ripe old age, and died peacefully to the mourning of his people.