This fanfic uses Star Trek characters Property of Paramount, Star Wars characters property of Lucasfilm. I make no money from this, yadda yadda yadda, so please don't sue me; I really don't have the energy for a prolonged legal battle over something as trivial as this. The Lost, part 1. by Deimos Anomaly (samuel@jamieson-03.freeserve.co.uk) [Somewhere in subspace, or some kind of otherspace, between the alpha and gamma quadrants] As the bright light of the wormhole beings aura left him, Ben Sisko once again became aware of the sound of bridge computers, crew moving about, damage control teams cleaning up the bridge after the recent battle. On the viewscreen, several thousand Dominion vessels advanced, fast and menacing. Around him, his primary bridge crew, tense but professional, were preparing to make their ship last...as long as was possible. O'Brien's grating Irish lilt: "Phaser banks fully charged." Then young Nog, only just made a full ensign that day: "Forward shields at 100%." Miles again: "Torpedoes ready, targets locked." And, for the first time in a while, the voice of his own personal friend and mentor, Jadzia Dax: "Here they come." Sisko, the essence of calm assurance in the center of tension, spoke up then. "Fire on my command." To the sides of the viewscreen, he heard Nog and Garak conversing about how many Jem'Hadar ships had locked targets on them. They sounded somewhat unsettled, and just as he looked around and uttered a reassuring "steady", Dax attracted his attention to the viewscreen. Benjamin Sisko stared. Imperceptibly at first, starting at the edges of the dominion fleet, but swiftly moving in to the center, the huge warships were rippling, vanishing. Within seconds they were all gone. The crew gaped. "They've cloaked!" O'Brien exclaimed. "I'm not picking up any neutrino emissions," said Dax. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then, the Cardassian to the right of the viewscreen spoke hesitantly "Then...where did they go?" Sisko did not know. He only knew, with certainty and relief, that they were gone. And he knew who had done it. "Wherever they went," he said quietly, "I don't think they're coming back..." [Outer rim sector 193, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away] First Tenara'Klan got up off the bucking deck of the huge Dominion battleship. Slipping on the external viewer that had been knocked off him when he fell, he saw a sight that did not help him answer the question of what had happened one bit. What it did tell him was that they were no longer in the wormhole. And also, that they were neither at the alpha nor gamma quadrant ends of it, for with the photographic memory of Jem'Hadar he knew exactly what the star formations at either of those two points should look like. A human at this point might have frozen into inactivity as he tried to grasp how it had happened, that one moment, they were passing through the Bajoran wormhole, about to crush a single tiny Federation starship like an insect, and the next moment the entire fleet was...here. Wherever here was. However, Tenara'Klan was not human, and so he immediately decided that he and his crew should start acting on the present. He would therefore begin analyzing the surrounding space, to decide what should be done. After getting the assent of the ship's Vorta, of course. [14 days later] Captain Roku leaned on the sill of the huge bridge windows aboard the ship he commanded, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer _Murderous_, staring out into the blackness of space. He was in command of a small taskforce consisting of two ISD's, three Victories, and three Nebulon- B's, and they were on a routine search and destroy mission, hunting down isolated rebel bases in the outer rim. So far, they had destroyed five outposts in the week they had been on their mission. Their only losses had been severe damage to the sublight drive of one of the Nebulon-B's, caused when a rebel corvette had rammed the ship in desperation, and succeeded in causing the damage despite the frigates shields being near full strength. The damage had since been repaired. "Captain," a lieutenant in the crew pit called to him. "Yes?" he asked, turning. "We've picked up a faint signal, sir. It could be a rebel outpost." The lieutenant now had Roku's full attention. "Where is the source?" he asked. The lieutenant consulted his screen for a second. "Seven light-years away, at mark 23,34,67." The captain smiled, reveling in the anticipation of destroying yet more pathetic rebels. "By all means, then... set course, instruct the rest of the taskforce to do the same. And order all ships to make combat ready. Prep TIE's, ready the pilots." "Yes, Sir!" It had taken the Jem'Hadar barely an hour after their first arrival to ascertain beyond shadow of doubt that whatever had gone wrong with the wormhole, it had somehow dumped them in another galaxy. This had immediately brought up the problem of how to find a way to get home. There was a more pressing problem, though - there was no telling how long this would take, if it were even possible, and the whole fleet only had three and a half month's supply of ketracel white for the Jem'Hadar. When that was used up, if there was no more, then the Jem'Hadar would go crazy, killing everything in sight. So, the force had begun exploring to try to find a suitable planet where they could set up a white manufacturing facility, and to try to find inhabited planets from which they could source the raw chemicals required, either by trade, or taking them by force. So far they had come across nine planets, all of them inhabited. As was to be expected of a completely alien galaxy, the inhabitants were as varied as imaginable, but some things were puzzling. After the universal translators had figured out the alien language (barely ahead of the Jem'Hadar, with their phenomenal language-learning ability), they had expected to have to learn a new one for each planet they encountered. However, the peoples of all the planets they had so far encountered spoke the one language, which they called "Basic". They also spoke of a great Empire that ruled the galaxy. However, since these planets all seemed fairly backwater, the Vorta commanders didn't put too much credence in these stories of a galaxy-wide government. In order to learn more... they had devised a trap, hoping to catch representatives of some more major power and elicit some information from them. Anything between four hundred and six hundred ships should assure them of an easy capture, whatever kind of scout vessel or scout force came to investigate them. The rest of the fleet would remain at the cluster of the main four of the inhabited worlds they had found, which had been easily taken over and which, for the time being at least, was their sole base from which to conduct operations. Avula, the commanding Vorta of the five hundred vessels that made up this portion of the Dominion fleet, smiled. The unknown aliens where walking straight into his trap. One of the inhabited worlds they had encountered was actually one of twelve moons of a gas giant, and it suited his purpose perfectly. The planet's governor had tried to contact him in panic when his first hundred ships arrived in system, but Avula had told him in no uncertain terms to shut up or else, and as the full five hundred ships entered the system, the planet's inhabitants had hastily realised that it was indeed in their best interests not to interfere with these unknown aliens. Avula had divided his fleet into three large sections. One hundred sixty seven ships were behind the inhabited world, the same number behind one of the other moons, and one hundred sixty six behind a third. The three sections of the fleet were arranged in a huge triangle almost half a light-hour wide. And a small ship they had captured from one of the worlds had been placed drifting in the center, putting out distress signals on a frequency that the planet's officials had assured them (at gunpoint) was an "Imperial" frequency. Half an hour before, sensors had detected several large vessels of unknown design appearing seven light-years away. And just over five minutes ago, they had oriented towards the Dominion fleet, shot forward and vanished. Avula addressed himself to the fleet via a scrambled, directed - signal channel. "All ships, be ready for the enemy at any time. Remain battle ready until the order to stand down is given". And then it happened. Just after Avula finished speaking, there was a strange flicker of pseudomotion. Eight ships winked into solidarity just under one planetary diameter away from the drifting bait. Captain Roku glanced out the windows as the blue-white whorl of hyperspace was replaced by the star-studded vista of realspace. Then he looked into the pit. "Report," he ordered. "Sir, the signal is coming from just ahead..." suddenly the young technician went tense "It...It's an Imperial distress signal sir!" "What is the source?" Asked the captain. The tech replied, "It's a civilian ship, sir. Just ahead." The captain looked at a nearby screen, which showed a small civilian transport. "Why would Imperial personnel be using a civilian transport?" he asked. "Are the planets in this area even garrisoned?" "No, sir," said an officer from behind him. "I see," he said. Then he ordered, "Close in and tractor that ship into the main hangar. I'm going to get to the bottom of this." With a flare of it's ion drive, the huge warship moved forward, and since the rest of the fleet had not been given any other orders, they moved with it. Avula waited for just the moment to signal the fleet. The enemy was moving directly into the central area. The Vorta keyed his channel open. "All ships. Initiate attack plan "capture." That was all that was needed, as that codename meant that the plan they had formulated now swung into action. Simultaneously, five hundred ships, divided into three groups, began rushing out from behind their planets and powering up their warp drives. "Sir! I have detected some kind of scrambled communication!" Captain Roku immediately, instinctively, knew that he must have been led into a trap. This "disabled" ship must have been left here by the rebels... However, he was reasonably confident that whatever they attacked him with, he would be able to fight them off. This was probably a last ditch action by rebels in this area. His confidence lasted all of ten seconds. From around three nearby moons a full-blown war fleet suddenly began pouring into view. The sensors showed five hundred warships - all of a design none of them had ever seen before. There were corvette sized vessels, frigate sized vessels, huge destroyer - class vessels almost as big as his own ship, and destroyers seven hundred meters long that seemed just like smaller copies of those larger ships. As one, the alien vessels suddenly lanced forward and vanished from sight, but the sensors could still detect them, racing in faster than light...in realspace! They dropped out of...whatever... just a planetary diameter away from Roku's force, and immediately opened fire, with weapons that were neither turbolasers nor ion cannons, but something...else. "All guns free! Fire at will! Launch all TIE's!" Roku roared, over the crash and shudder of shots hitting his ship, and the thud-thud-thud recoils of turbolasers that had already begun to fire, although it would not save them for long against such odds. Crossing the heaving bridge to look at a tactical display, Roku tried to put a brave face on, but with a deep inner dread, he was completely certain that this was the day that fate had selected for his death to fall on. The Lost, Part 2 On the bridge of the Victory - Class Star Destroyer _Despoiler_, It's captain, Xone Tenrin stared with helpless fury as the _Murderous_ was engulfed in fire from the enemy vessels. Despite having such a vast numerical advantage that they could easily have taken out the whole attack group, the unkown aliens seemed to be concentrating most of their attack on the two ISD's, presumably because they realised that, as the largest vessels in the formation, it was most likely one of them which was the command ship. A console behind her beeped frantically, and she turned to see the information, simultaneous to a bridge pit crewer shouting out the same: "The _Murderous_'s shields are about to fail!". Tenrin didn't waste any more time. She began to shout orders: "Allright. Go straight into the middle of their formation. Hit anything you can, and prepare to commence broadsides on my command!" However, the Aliens seemed to have provided for the contingency of the other ships attempting to protect their command ship. As the _Despoiler_ raced forward, two of the seven hundred meter plus warships, broke formation and raced towards the VSD, ripping at it with their phased polaron weapons. "Incoming" somone roared, a split second before the deck shuddered as the polaron beams struck the shields. Glancing out the windows, Tenrin saw a bright glinting speck soaring fast above their porside, heading aft. A look at a sensor screen showed the speck to be one of the sinister-looking scorpion like destroyers which had fired on her ship, probably hoping to get behind them for a better shot. "Rotate the ship" she yelled. "Full broadside on that destroyer". The decking leaped beneath her with the recoil of every turbolaser on the portside, and a considerable number of those from starboard, firing at the one point. The enemy ship was knocked completely off course, reeling away as would a boxer after recieving a powerful uppercut. A sensor showed a serious depletion in it's shields. "Again!" A second broadside rushed out, pounding the alien ship again. "Keep firing until it's destroyed" Two broadsides later, the alien's shields were on the verge of collapse, and a fifth finished them off completely and did severe damage to the hull. The sixth and seventh impacted fore and aft the battlevruiser, respectively, plowing through hull alloys and decks, exploding magazines and equipment, venting much of the ship to space, Jem'Hadar being sucked out to face an agonising blood-boiling vacumm death. The next broadside punched through to the engineering area, completely devastating it, and the heavy warship was consumed in a bright antimatter immolation. The ship had barely quieted from the last broadside when the bridge lurched again, phased polaron beams and a stream of photon torpedoes from the second Dominion battlecruiser crashing against the shields aft, seriously damaging them, the point defence betteries doing their best to hit as many incoming torpedoes as possible. "Re-align shields, double aft" Tenrin ordered. The nine-hundred meter ship began to shove itself about to get a better firing arc at the Dominion battlecruiser, bow rising, stern dropping, head-over-heels to try to present their dorsal surface which had the heaviest weapons. And then it happened. From the center of the formation around the ISD's, three more battlecruisers broke off, and engaged their warp drives, covering the hundred thousand kilometers to the _Despoiler_ in a fraction of a second. They came in at the worst possible angle, from the Imperial standpoint:- forward, where there was little or no shielding, the shields having been set aft, and, since the Star destroyer had been rolling, their ventral forward surface, with relatively light armament, was towards the Dominion attackers. Huge craters and gashes burned into the ship as polaron weaponry and torpedoes struck, fiery blasts bursting through the ship's interior and incinerating men and equipment, destroying power routings, obliterating computers, exploding torpedo magazines. The three battlecruisers angled up and swept over the bow and as they cleared the ship they raked the dorsal surface with polaron fire, launching torpedoes as well. Explosions began randomly in various parts of the ship. The crew knew they were dead. Looking forward, Tenrin saw the tightly packed mass of the main part of the alien fleet swarming the enemy situated dead ahead, and at the same time saw that somehow, the hyperdrive was still functional. Reaching for the levers, she gritted her teeth and spat out words in rage. "You ain't getting me you sons of bitches!!!" Then, she pulled the levers. The hulk of the _Despoiler_ shot forward, and then plowed straight into the Dominion formation at a signifigant fraction of lightspeed. It's momentum carried it through at least thirty ships before it went up in a ball of fire that glowed brightly for a second, then quickly died as the oxygen from the _Despoiler_ expended the flames starving into nonexistance. Six hours later: For captain Roku, it was a living nightmare. His ships shields had failed, and he had waited helplessly for death. But the reaper was not forthcoming, for as soon as the shields were gone the enemy fleet had quit firing. Then had begun something that astonished him more than anything he had ever seen. With a odd whine and a column of light, teams of heavily armed, reptilian, alien soldiers had begun... simply appearing out of thin air, on his ship. They all had some kind of strange intravenous tube running to their necks. Not only that, but they all seemed to be one hundred percent alike - he had realised with a sudden wave of revulsion, that they must be clones. Fiece fighting between them and the _Murderous_'s stormtroopers had ensued. At first, when there were relatively few invaders, the stormtroopers had been winning. As more alien soldiers appeared, it had become stalemate, and as continuing waves arrived, the ship had inevitably fallen into the alien's hands. Now, Holnukk Roku sat alone in a prison cell aboard the alien command ship. Hearing a noise, he looked up. Two clone-soldiers and another alien, a more human-like being, but with long ribbed ears, stood there. The human-like alien took on a wicked grin. "You are to come with us, for...interrogation!" The alien sneered, emphasizing the word "interrogation". The clone-soldiers moved towards him, and Roku felt deep dread within him. The inflection in the alien's tone left him with no doubt in his mind, that this "interrogation" was going to be simply a shameless torture session... The Lost, part 3 Aiao sat in his private quarters, reflecting on the situation. Well, sat wasn't really the right word, as the commanding Founder of the Dominion fleet was presently in the form of a large dining table in the center of the room. Practical ideas for a way to return to their own galaxy were not forthcoming, and all proposals that had showed hope so far had met with dismal failure as the Vorta and Jem'Hadar tried to take them further. I was two weeks since the fleet had been mysteriously ushered to this place. That meant three months of white was left. Although they had acquired all the minerals necessary to construct a manufacturing plant, the raw chemicals necessary for the production of the drug were still missing. After capturing an alien ship, they had interrogated the crew and discovered that, not only were the tales of a great, galaxy-spanning empire true, but the crew of the ship and the ship itself were part of this empire. The extensiveness of such a government also meant, (and this was more important, from the founder's point of view) that it would certainly have many, many scientific facilities, chemical storage depot's, factory facilities etc, among which there would surely be the chemicals required for ketracel white. The dominion forces needed to get their hands on such resources. Survival was at stake. With a quiet squishing sound, Aiao reformed into humanoid shape, and called his second in command to him. The vast fleets of the Galactic Empire were numbered in millions of ships. Among them, the loss of eight vessels was like the loss of eight grains of sand from a dumptruck full of sand. It was something that one might think would never be noticed, even in the lowest eschlons of the Imperial Navy. But, each and every one of those millions had it's own operating number, name, callsign and report-in schedule. The 8 ships of Captain Roku's force had missed two report-ins in a row, and that was enough to set automated alarms off deep within an Imperial command ship, the Executor class Star Destroyer Legacy of Kun, which was the designated command center for over 1000 ships in various parts of the outer galaxy - including the ships of the luckless Roku. It happened that, just as the alarms went off, the ship's commander, Admiral Holos, was nearby. He had been conducting a ships inspection over the course of the previous week (due to the size of the ship, an inspection could take up to two weeks), and had gotten as far as the fleet command area when the alarm sounded. "What's that?" He asked a young officer. Turning round, the crewman saw his admiral looking at him, and hoped the admiral didn't notice his instinctive start of nervousness. "Sir, it's an automated alert. Eight ships on patrol in the outer rim have lost contact." Among the higher crew, Holos was known for his pushy attitude. If anything, even seemingly minor, caught his attention, he was likely to stick his nose in and demand full explanation. He might even take personal interest. While the young crewman in fleet command didn't know that, he and his other crewmates in that area soon found out. After asking many questions, the admiral demanded all data on the disappearance be sent to his quarters immediately, and proceeded on his way. Later that evening, in his private quarters, having reviewed the data and considering it serious enough, he took a deep breath, and requested comms to attempt to contact Coruscant directly. Soon, his screen flickered on with the image of Lord Vader himself, Sith lord and right hand man to Palpatine, Emperor of the galaxy. Holos bowed. "My Lord..." he began: "I have received unfortunate news of a battlegroup in the outer rim..." Three days later: Admiral Holos sat in his command chair aboard the bridge of the Legacy of Kun, waiting for the moment to order the ship and it's accompanying ISD's to move out. Since the disappearance of the eight ships, six ISD's had been sent to investigate near the last known location of Roku's force. Not one had come back. In fact, the first the Empire knew of their findings was when a heavily damaged TIE Advanced had dropped out of hyperspace close to Holos's ship, it's dehydrated pilot was brought aboard and spoke of how the investigative battlegroup had been attacked a day and a half before, by ships whose design no-one recognised. The assault had been an ambush in an asteroid field, and 600 capital ships had attacked them. When Vader had heard of this, he quickly agreed with Holos that a fleet should be formed up to discover who was doing this. And to crush them, of course. The admiral saw that it was time. Standing, he gave a single order across his open channel to the fleet. "Leave" The massive Executor class command ship, 17 kilometers from stem to stern, moved forward flanked by 100 ISD's, and 300 Victories. Then, Holos gave another order. "Jump". As one, the 401 ships shot into hyperspace. The empire would surely be glorified in the upcoming confrontation, the fleet heading to battle being one so large and powerful that it would strike fear into the heart of any foe. Especially with the city sized supership executor in it's center. All over the ships, there was an air of tension, but also excitement and anticipation. The great Galactic Empire was going to war! The Lost, part 4 In the Outer Rim territories, there was a sudden flicker of pseudomotion. Space which had been completely empty seconds before was now occupied by a powerful battlefleet with a huge city-sized starship in its center. On board that ship, Admiral Holos heard reports from scanner operators. They had exited hyperspace near the last reported position of the investigative ISD group sent to discover the whereabouts of Roku. In fact, they could see the asteroid belt the TIE pilot had reported the ambush to have taken place in. They also detected much debris and evidence of a space battle. "Launch TIE Advanced fighters to scout the area. Watch out" The fighters began pouring from the Legacy of Kun's main hangar, and from several of the escort ships. Among the fastest fighters in the Imperial navy the TIE advanceds also had shields and hyperdrive, and these attributes made them Ideal for this mission. One and a quarter hours later: "MU-1 to Legacy" "Go ahead MU" "We have discovered a drifting star destroyer. It is relatively intact, and is broadcasting a wideband distress signal, which identifies it as the ISD Murderous" "The Murderous! Roku's ship!" Exclaimed Admiral Holos. "Yes sir" said the officer who had arrived with the news. Immediately, Admiral Holos gave orders to the crew and the rest of the fleet. "Set course for that area. Thirty Imperator class Star destroyers and ten victories will accompany this ship to the Murderous's location. The rest of the fleet, stay where you are. Holos out" "This is Admiral Holos of the Executor class Star Destroyer Legacy of Kun. Is anyone alive on board? Do you require assistance?" There was no response for a while. A technician in the pit had been trying to scan for life-signs, but could not get definite readings due to interference, probably due to leaking substances on board the Murderous. Suddenly an officer informed the captain that the Murderous was transmitting, an audio-visual hail. "Let me have it" ordered Holos. A screen nearby came on with the image of a haggard looking Roku, with several nasty looking gashes on his forehead. Thick smoke and steam could be seen drifting in the background, preventing Holos from seeing if there were any other crewmembers on the bridge. When Roku spoke, it was in a strained, weak voice. "This... is captain Roku of the ISD... Murderous... I have injured, wounded crew... we need help immediately... my crew are dying... many have radiation and plasma poisoning...fzzzt" The transmission abruptly cut off, presumably due to the Murderous's transmitter failing. Admiral Holos pondered what to do. Finally he decided to take a risk. "Order the ISD's Poison Rain and Golden Rancor to lower their shields and launch rescue craft... Roku and his crew deserve to be rescued from that hell of a ship" "They have been completely taken in, your great holiness. Two of them, behind the main command ship, have lowered their shields." The speaker was a Jem'Hadar crewman, looking at a sensor display on the Imperial bridge. A display whose functions and operation procedures had been forced out of the ISD's original crew. With a mirthless grin, 'Roku' turned from the screen he had recently been speaking to Holos on. Then he changed, flowing, liquidising... and reforming... into the form that the Jem'Hadar of the fleet knew well as their commander and god, Aiao. A heavy presence of Jem'Hadar warriors stood guard on the bridge, with more outside. He (Aiao) gave his orders with satisfaction. "Order the attack ships hidden in this ship's main hangar to begin the transportation of their troops. Once they have transported, restore power from the main reactor and power up all this ship's systems. And have my personal command ship ready to come in at any moment." "The transports from the Poison Rain and Golden Rancor are launching now sir." Holos looked at the officer who said that, and then back out the bridge windows. "Excellent. Keep me informed of their prog..." Holos was cut off as lieutenant in the bridge pit suddenly shouted out. "Sir! There are multiple energy spikes appearing all over the Poison and the Rancor! There are extra lifesign readings. I can't..." That crewer was in turn cut off by another. "The Murderous's reactor has just powered up to full power! All their systems are coming back on line... their shields are up... power to their turbolasers... their engines!" The moment captain Gainor of the Golden Rancor realised something was amiss with the Poison Rain, he ordered the shields raised. But he was too late, for even as the hands of the officer in control of the shields seized the controls to raise them, several dozen columns of shimmering light appeared on his bridge, and quickly coalesced into armed warriors. Immediately they began firing, and soon they had killed all stormtroopers on the bridge, simply because they had appeared in a quantity outnumbering the troops on duty on the bridge at that time. Two of them seized the captain and held a weapon to his head. Others had quickly removed the rest of the bridge crew from their posts and sealed the bridge, closing several heavy blast doors. Then they began re-routing control of the heavy turbolasers directly to the bridge. The crew didn't know about the takeover yet, but they would certainly find out if gunnery crews were ordered to do what the Jem'Hadar wanted them to do. "This is a trap! Target the Murderous and destroy it" Holos roared. Suddenly, before they could get off a shot, the Legacy of Kun was rocked from behind. A sensor technician gaped in amazement. "Sir, it's the Poison Rain and the Golden Rancor! They're firing AT US!!! They're using broadsides." Holos raged. "Agh! Turn us around and engage them!" Suddenly, the Murderous also opened up on the Legacy. To make matters worse, the other Imperial ships, which normally would have fallen on any attacker-of-their-command ship with unbridled fury, held back, unwilling to fire on other Imperial ships. Even the gunners on the Legacy of Kun were unwilling to shoot their own ships, although sporadic fire did start coming from some batteries. "Excellent. Those attack ships have done their duty as to transportation. Order them to power up all systems, leave the hangar and join the assault on the enemy command ship. They will probably all be destroyed after a while, but they can do their part." The Jem'Hadar warrior to whom Aiao was speaking bowed slightly, acknowledging the orders of his god. Aiao wasn't finished, however. "You are also to signal Avula on my command ship. Tell him, on authority from me, that it and it's escort of Battleships and Battlecruisers are to warp in and attack. The Cruisers can disrupt the Enemy formation while the Battleships can add their firepower to that already being directed at the enemy command ship. We must take it out!" Inside huge, phasered-out canyons carved into the small asteroid- sized moons of a nearby planet, fifty Dominion Battlecruisers and twenty Battleships powered up their systems (which had been shut down, because even with the mass of rock enclosing them, there was still a possibility of detection if systems were kept powered up) and moved out. Along with another, bigger ship. A huge command vessel whose 4.8KM hull looked simply like a scaled up Battleship. As one, they warped towards the troubled Imperial ships that were ten light-hours distant, covering the distance in around 35 seconds at 1000 times the speed of light. Then, they fell on the Imperial vessels, the Battlecruisers rushing ahead to engage and distract the ISD's, the other ships waiting until the Imperials were thoroughly engaged in battle with the Battlecruisers before rushing in twenty Battleships pounding the Legacy of Kun with all they had, raining polaron beams and pulses on the shields, firing photon torpedoes as fast as they could from every tube. And in the center of them, Aiao's own personal command ship, almost 5KM long, with the strongest weapons and shields the Dominion had in this galaxy, pulses, beams and torpedoes rushing out of it to strike the enemy. The Lost, part 5 "Captain! Our shields are depleting much faster than we can recharge them. At this rate, they will be gone in just over six minutes!" Holos was almost blind with indignant fury. "I want ALL, I mean ALL weapons on this ship to fire at that 5-klick kriffer. Hold... FIRE!" Crewmen and stormtroopers grabbed for support, as the floors and decks of the Legacy leapt with the sudden concussion as every heavy and medium turbolaser that had a clear firing arc, and all the available light anti starfighter cannons, spat a broadside of death on the Dominion command ship. Avula hardly knew what happened. One moment, they were pressing the attack, the next, the viewscreen seemed to become a sea of green bolts, and then... it must have been the biggest combat deck-jolt he'd ever felt. All he knew was that suddenly his head was smacking the cieling, then he fell to the floor with blood beginning to pour from his head. Alarms were blaring. A Jem'Hadar soldier at a console was roaring over the din: "The forward shields are at ten percent!" Avula realised immediately that he must remove the precious command ship from the danger area. It might not survive another couple of body blows like that! "Full warp towards clear space!" The great warship shot forward and angled down as it did so, clearing the battle area. Avula gave another order: "Tell ten of the Battlecruisers to swing off their attacks on the ISDs and attack the enemy command ship! "Well, we seem to have sent them with their tail between their legs for the time being." Said Holos. A crewman in the bridge pit was less optimistic though. "Our shields are continuing to be worn down sir, although more slowly. At this rate, we should be..... Oh Kriff!" exclaimed the man, suddenly more agitated. "What?" Holos demanded. "Ten more of those 700 meter destroyers are attacking us. The rate of shield depletion is accelerating again!" "Helm, I want a full burn of the ion engines to move us under that Executor class ship as quickly as possbile. Aim all dorsal weaponry at their main hangar bay." Ordered Aiao. "Yes, your holiness!" The ISD Murderous moved forward, getting under the Legacy. "Your worship, they are launching TIE fighters. They are heading towards the hangar entrance." Aiao himself was watching the sensor display. "Prepare to fire...... NOW!" Dozens of heavy and medium turbolaser blasts rushed out, and even as they left their barrels, the hangars shields dropped, to allow the TIE fighters out. The bolts of destruction slammed through into the interior of the hangar, causing utter devastation. Almost all TIE craft in the hangar were destroyed instantly, and all but seven hangar personell killed. To make matters worse, the generators for the shield that protected the hanger's mouth were destroyed, enabling those blasts to be followed up by a continuing shower which bit deep through the ship's structure, killing hundreds in their path, burning, vaporising, shredding, smashing and tearing decks, bulkheads, people, droids, machines, and equipment. Some of the blasts reached a large torpedo magazine which exploded with a fiery eruption, which in turn blasted into several large bays containing huge pressurised cylinders of tibanna gas for the turbolasers. On the bridge, Admiral Holos couldn't see the carnage because it was on the ventral surface. But he could feel it through the deck, and hear the sudden flurry of damage reports. "WHAT THE KRIFF IS GOING ON?!?" He bellowed. "We're being attacked from below by the Murderous. They have destroyed the main hangar." At that point, some of the detruction and turbolaser bolts came right through to the dorsal surface, and pierced out leaving the Legacy of Kun holed from top to bottom at the point of the main hangar. Holos saw the gout of hot plasma erupting from the surface of the ship. Then, as the Murderous continued to accellerate forward, it's angle of fire at the hangar changed, so that the bolts were raking and plunging backwards through the hull of the Legacy. Then, as the ISD cleared the executor class ship, Aiao gave another order. An order that in the Federation would be thought shocking, brutal and inhumane, but which among the Dominion, was simply accepted by the Jem'Hadar as a reasonable demand from their god:- one of the battlecruisers was ordered to rush into the hangar bay area at full speed, and ram. "Ok, we will have to get out of here, people." Said Holos, realising that his ship might be in serious danger. "Take engines to..." "LOOK OUT" somebody screamed, moments before there was a primal roar from deep within the ship's structure, and everyone was hurled off their feet. The ball of antimatter-fed energy which had engulfed the Legacy of Kun at the point of the hangar area began to contract. In it's wake, it left a scene of unparalelled destruction. The great vessel had been blown completely in two. A good kilometer of ship in the vicinity of the hangar had simply ceased to exist, the area forward of this was drifting away from the aft section, amazingly with some lights still burning and a few guns still firing. The aft section still moved forward under it's own power, though the forwards section was slightly out-accellarating it due to extra impulsion from the force of the explosion. On the Bridge, Holos jumped to his feet. "What the Kriff happend?!?" Somebody got to a console: "We were rammed, sir. A suicide run into the main hangar, which had lost it's shields. It seems whatever kind of reactor or power source thy use, it releases practically all it's energy when destroyed." Holos strode to the front of the bridge, and his mouth dropped open. From the main hanger forward, the ships hull was gone! "Can we move?" He demanded "Hyperdrive and sublight propulsion still fully..." "Right then, get us the hell out of here! We're in no state to fight a battle." The Legacy of Kun, or rather, that of it which remained, aimed down to a clear area of space, and leapt into hyperspace for a quick hyperjump which got it clear of the battle. Then Holos heard more bad news. "Sir, our formation is falling apart. We're being routed!" Holos cursed in anger. "Call a general withdrwal back to the main section of the fleet. I will be back, and make these kriffers PAY!" The Legacy and the remaining ISD's and Victories disengaged themselves and shot into hyperspace. With the exception, of course, of the Poison Rain and Golden Rancor. The Lost Deimos Anomoly Part 6 *Thud* The body of Admiral Holos crashed to the floor, mouth agape, eyes staring blankly, hand at his throat. He would never be able to make good his promise to"make them pay". That would fall to another man now. "Apology accepted, Admiral Holos." The black-armoured form of Lord Vader turned and strode away. A medic waited at the door, but Vader signalled for him to leave as he walked out; He was not neccessary. Behind the departing Sith Lord, two crewmen picked up their late but unlamented admiral and moved off towards the ship's morgue. Outside the windows of the ship, the ISD 'Coruscant', the battered form of the 'Legacy of Kun' lay in space. All hull breaches had been sealed, and damage repaired as much as possible. The forward hull was still missing of course, nothing could be done about that without a major shipyard facility. In all probability the SSD would have to be returned to Kuat itself to recieve a new forward hull section. In the meantime however, Vader's underlings informed him that they believed it could still serve as a warship, although at greatly reduced capacity. It still had slightly over half it's light CIWS cannons functional, and around half of the medium and heavy turbolasers. The main docking bay was of course gone, however there were numerous minor bays, as well as another large bay in the fantail aft, and these had been crowded with many more fighters than normal, with many TIE's parked on the floors of hangars, there being insufficient overhead rack space. Vader returned to his meditation chamber. Reaching out with his mind, through the Force, he could feel the alien presence of the unknown who had entered the galaxy. To his jaded perception, they seemed like a malignant tumour, an intolerable growth, which must be excised quickly. He did not know exactly how many of the enemy there were. Judging by the number of lifeforces he felt - several million - and taking into account the dimensions of vessels so far encountered, he concluded there must be over two thousand of their ships. Nothing dangerous to the Empire on the face of it... but there was still so little known about the threat. Really crushing them might require the pulling of a quantity of vessels that the Empire could not afford to spare, lest the Rebel alliance take the opportunity to strike at the heart of the Empire. It was then Vader felt something else. Another, more brash, intent of purpose from within the general alien presence. He had felt such before. It usually signified a large body of beings, when they were given some new plan, some change of agenda, that involved risk and some element of danger. Vader immediately knew he must be on his guard. Ready for anything. Keying the automatons around him to restore his mask and helmet, he disengaged the locks and the heavy lid of the meditation chamber opened. Then he stood, leaving the room. Coruscant. Huge, bustling Coruscant. The center of power in the galaxy. The hub of the great, cruel claw that raked the bones from planets and peoples everywhere. Over a trillion sentient beings living out their lives in the towering buildings that covered every inch of every continent and ocean. The strongest shields and defenses of any world in the galaxy protecting it's surface. In the space above the planet, the arrival from hyperspace, of a pair of Imperator-class Star Destroyers was utterly routine, and the planetary space traffic controllers paid them scant attention. Oh, they would have to give the neccessary code clearance ID in order to be cleared for passage, even the Imperial Navy was not exempt from that at such a location as Coruscant. But nothing was out of line with the code as it was transmitted, it checked out, and the two warships were cleared to enter a low 450 kilometer orbit above the planet. The ISD's Murderous and Golden Rancor slipped into their orbital slot. Once there however, they began operations that, had the Imperial authorities got any wind of them, would have resulted in a sudden security clampdown and lockout of all traffic with planetary shields raised. However, no-one suspected anything, as sensors began to scan the surface, and teams of Jem'Hadar assembled around the transporters which had been quickly installed on the Imperial ships. The Mission was simple. They were to capture a former senator, a man called Valorum. He had once been leader of the Republic which had given birth to this Empire. Many of the main facilities from that time were still in use by the Empire, and it was this information which the Dominion wanted. As Valorum had been the highest authority in the time of that Republic, he would have been briefed on the locations of all such secret facilities. "Captain. We have isolated Valorum's biometric signature." The Jem'Hadar warrior was adressing Drell, Vorta commanding the Golden Rancor. Two hours, forty-five minutes after they had begun scanning, they finally had results. Drell got on the intraship. "All units, stand by for transport of prisoner and immediate departure of the system." Former Chancellor of the late Galactic Republic, Valorum sat in his private quarters. As often these days, he was depressed. The tyrant Palpatine... Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as he felt a tingling throughout his body. His vision turned bright, sparkly. The last thing he heard was the female housekeeper in the room screaming in horror as he faded away. Then, the room disappeared altogether. Without warning, he found himself standing in a metal-walled room that looked like it was probably part of a starship. Around him, a large number of armed aliens stood, training their weapons on him. A human-like alien with ribbed ears moved forward. "You are not to resist. You must surrender." Said Drell. "Sir! Some kind of energy-spike just fired between the ISD Golden Rancor and a large condominium complex on the planet. It's Valorum, the former republic chancellor's area, sir." The young sensor officer in traffic control turned to his Superior. Instantly, there was action. "Raise the planetary shields! Lock out all traffic for the time being! Broadcast a system-wide exclusion order. Order those Star Destroyers to heave to for inspection." The Duty Offiser oredered promptly. "They aren't responding sir! They're leaving orbit." The Sensor operator reported. Indeed they were, the commanding officer in the control room could see the warships racing away from Coruscant at maximum velocity. "Attack! Order all bateries to fire on them!" Turbolaser bolts spat out from a number of orbital defense stations. However, turbolaser bolts also came back from the fleeing Star Destroyers. And a few moments later, they lanced into hyperspace. At an Imperial scientific facility in the D'Lahk system, a force crept up on the station unseen, cloaked. Ten 1.4km Dominion Battleships, fifteen 700 meter Battlecruisers. Their purpose was to overwhelm the three VSDs and six Carrack Cruisers guarding the facility quickly, and then hammer down the science base's shields and board it for supplies required for the manufacture of ketracel white. Captain Vontille of the VSD Lord Maul was taken completely by surprise, as the warships decloaked and began raining weapon fire on his ship... To be continued...