UFP Revival - Closed.

After a lengthy meeting, Commodore Finn returned to his vessell and his fleets. The Orion fleet then "disappeared" into the surrounding systems to await "the signal"

Stonesmith prepared his report on the deal he had just made with the Syndicate. The Covenant fleet will be drawn in close to the Federation fleets near Rura Penthe. Remote controlled vessells will provide easy victories for the covenant fleet, who will continue on to their doom.

Once well into the system, and fully engaged with the Federation, the Covenant fleets will be flanked by Finn and his people as well as some Federation fleets. The added firepower will definately split the Covenants attention and allow the Federation to pay special attention to the coming Deathstar.

Finn's asking price -- 24 hours to salvage any and ALL destroyed vessels. Stone would not allow them to salvage any debris from Federation vessels, but said they could salvage debris from Orion and Convenant vessels only.

A small price to pay for their assistance. He knew the men and women of the Federation would pay a much higher price before this battle was over.

--------------------

Helix walked across the long Boarding tube leading to the newest ship in his fleet the HMS Swordsman a Titan Class heavy assault ship specially modified for prolonged combat sorties and now fitted with the new shield matrix. He had been pleased with the final testing phase and had decided to use the ship as his personal vessel during the up coming battle the Confederation, It was going to be difficult to bring them down and with the covenant sending ships into the fray as well it was going to go from bad to worse very fast, Helix wanted to be able to stay in the fight for as long as he could and this ship was going to help him do it.

"Welcome aboard sir"said a young looking Commander "I am acting Captain James Harper if there is anything I can do sir just ask"he added as he vacated the Command chair. Helix smiled and nodded as he moved over to sit down "are we ready to fly" said Helix "Yes sir the ship is at your command" Said Commander Harper as he took the chair next to Helix "Ok lets get going then. Helm take us out ahead 1/4 impulse" Helix said as he sat down "aye sir 1/4 impulse"

The Titan move forward and soon cleared the Orbital Shipyard "All systems green" said Harper "Good, Helm set a course for Rura Penthe best possible speed" said Helix.

The Swordsman jumped to warp...

--------------------

Stonesmith was restless on the Reckoning. He paced in his quarters. Helix would be back soon and hopefully they had enough firepower in system to take down the Covenant fleet and Death Star.

While nearly 50K fighters sat with the main fleet, between the approaching enemy and Rura Penthe, Stone and Thule held nearly 500K fighters in reserve on the far side of the planet.

While not nearly enough to cripple a Death Star, they would go a long way in the battle to weaken it. Stone's hope lay with the Orion Syndicate. IF they held up their end of the plan, the Covenant fleet would die here and now. Sending a message to stay away.


The reserve fleet reported by Stryder concerned Stone, but there was no word that fleet had moved. Hopefully they will never move.

Stone tapped his comm badge "Mr. Riahn, get me Capt. Stryder"

30 seconds later the comm popped to life.
"Stryder here."
"Captain, how are the repairs coming along. Have the engineering crews gotten the shield matrix updated on your ship?"
Stone waited for the answer....

--------------------

"Tell them to put our ship on their viewer." said Stryder. "We'll give them their answer."
"Aye sir." said McLeod. Stryder tapped his comm badge.
"Stryder to engineering. Are you ready, Mr Kenson?"
"Yes sir." came Kensons voice over the intercom.
"Ok then, start her up."

On Stonesmiths viewer, the image displayed was of a titan, dark and silent, docked inside the orbital shipyard. After a minute or two the ship started to show signs of life, running lights flicked on, portholes began to glow as lighting was restored and lastly the warp engines began to glow. The USS Hood eased it's way out of the ship yard using manoeuvring thrusters and then used impulse to move into a high orbit of Rura Penthe.

"Admiral Stonesmith, this is Captain Stryder. I am the commanding officer aboard the titan class vessel USS Hood." came Stryders voice. "I am officially requesting to join your fleet, sir. To aid in the defense of the Federation."

--------------------

"Believe me Mr. Stryder, it is my pleasure to have you aboard. We are still waiting for Helix to return with the rest of his fleet. Our preliminary plan, since you and Helix have the Titans, is for each of you and your fleets to take the sides of the battle field. I will have my my Heavies and Cruisers and their support fleets in the center."

"Please take up a general position to the left of battlezone. Fine tuning will happen later on, after Helix returns. We also have the Orions waiting out there, somewhere."

"Mr. Stryder, let me know if you need anything, I will remain on the Reckoning for the next few days" and with that Stonesmith turned to the tactical display and began going over battle plans with Mr. Yu.

Stryder had a look at the tactical plans he had been sent by Stonesmith on the main viewer. The USS Hood was to be stationed on the port side of the battlefield, a third of the way in from the edge of the fleets. The tactical map showed that the vessels supporting him were already on station, all he had to do was to move his ship into position and empty the hangers so the Hoods fighter wing could join the rest. He gave the orders.

As he sat back in his chair he glanced over at his new XO, Linda Harrow. She looked a bit unwell.

"You ok?" he asked.
"Yes sir, never better." said Harrow, who looked like she would rather be anywhere else but where she was. She wasn't the only one. Most members of the crew had seen the Deathstar. Out on the rim. The size of it defied the mind, the brain unable to properly comprehend such a massive vessel. It was only when you looked closer and could see Leviathans in orbit, and realised that anything smaller, such as Titans, you couldn't make out because you were to far away. Harrow had seen the sensor logs. She also knew that the Federation had no real idea what sort of technology they had. They had to have a certain level just to start building the thing but as time went on better tech would have been researched and implemented into the building of the ship.

"It's gonna be a rough fight." Stryder observed. "At least this time the ship will be at one hundred percent."
"Yes sir." said Harrow, "I have every confidence in the ship and her crew."
"Uh huh. What about me?"
"Uh...yes sir, of course I have faith in you." Although she looked like she meant otherwise. 'Oh dear, she's gonna be one of those.' groaned Stryder inwardly.

-------------------------------------------

Stryder was walking through a meadow with long sweet smelling grass, with his arm round his childhood sweetheart's shoulders. For some reason he could hear a starship red alert klaxon. It seemed a bit out of place here, in the middle of nowhere. He tried to ignore it and carry on with their conversation but it got louder and louder. Soon he could hear someone calling his name. Calling him to the bridge.

Then he woke up.

-------------------------------------------

The red alert klaxon was still blaring when he strode onto the bridge.

"Report." he called. "And shut that bloody noise off"
Harrow looked up at him from the tactical console. "Sir, Stonesmith ordered a fleetwide general alert." Stryder looked at her. He wasn't going to ask why. He shouldn't have to. He knew if he looked at her for long enough she would volunteer the reason. She didn't.
He tried a different question.
"Has Falks arrived yet?"
"Yes sir. Helix Falks arrived about an hour ago."
"Ok. And the Covenant fleet...?"
"Thats why Stonesmith wanted a general alert. The enemy fleet is fifteen minutes from comms range."

Stonesmith sat in his chair on the bridge of USS Reckoning, the Flag ship of his fleet. The Reckoning is a Heavy Cruiser class that has served Stonesmith for nearly 20 years. "I'm gonna have to get a bigger ship" thought Stone to himself as he reviewed the latest update on the approaching Covenant fleet.

The turbolift doors whooshed opened and Commander Steven Trask bolted onto the bridge. "Admiral, I'm reporting for duty. Where would you like my squadron?"

Stone turned and stared at the Commander. "Mr. Trask, you have more than exceeded my expectations with your work on Rura Penthe. I think it would be best if you returned to the surface and monitored the shield matrix."

"Sir, with all due respect, I am a squadron commander. My squad has the best kill ratios in your entire fleet. The duty roster still lists me as the Squadron Commander. Sir, I need to be on my ship leading my squadron. Sir.....Admiral....." pleaded the Commander.

Stone hesitated, then asked "Are you sure; 100% sure the engineers on the ground can handle the shield matrix if any problems arise?"

Trask smiled and said "Yes sir. Both Hendricks and Young were with me every step of the way. They know the device as well as I do"

"Very well Mr. Trask. I do have an assignment that your squadron would be well suited for. I will send your orders to your corvette. OH, Lt. Parker's and Lt. Gerhing squadrons will support your mission. Please coordinate with them."

Stone returned to his seat and Commander Trask headed to the transporter room to take command of his squadron again.

Helix walked onto the bridge of the HMS Swordsman, He had just walked around the ship to check on everyone he found it lifted moral before a battle.

"Report" He said "the covenet Fleet will drop out of warp in 10 minuets and the Confederation will arrive in 4 hours all fleets stand ready sir" said the Opps Officer, Helix nodded "Very well all hands to battle stations open a channel to the Fleet" he said "aye sir... channel open"

"To all Ships soon we will be under seige in the biggest battle of our time, today we face not one but two enemy fleets i will not lie to you it looks grim... but we are the United Federation of Planets WE are the Sentinel of light in the dark WE are the Justice that never slumbers we WILL not fail we can not fail" He said...

Although they had been watching them on the active scanners, the first wave of Convenant fighters landed like full elevator falling 30 floors. The fighters did not seem to notice the lack of Federation fighter squadrons leading their capital ships.

The shield matrix was working perfectly, and much to the surprise of the Covenant fighter pilots, their ships began to come under heavy fire, but the Federation ships sat silent. As the initial fighter drop began to dwindle some of the sharper pilots began to realize everytime they fired a shot one of their fellow pilots took damage.

Within a mere few minutes, the fighter drop had dwindled to 30% of it's initial size. Suddenly all Federation capital ships opened fire on the stunned fighter corps, turning them all into rubble in just a few seconds.

"All fighter squadrons, point position take out the next drop. The matrix is holding, use the big ships for cover and keep moving" ordered Stonesmith.

____ ______ ______

Meanwhile....

Commander Trask had flanked the Orion Syndicate fleet. The Orions were supposed to attacking the Covenant fleets from the rear, opening a second front and causing havoc. So why were they just sitting here. Trask nodded to his officers, who maneuvered his corvette directly behind Finn ship and opened a comm channel to Finn.

"Commodore Finn, our agreement was for the Orion Syndicate to engage the Covenent, opening a second front. Why have you not engaged?"

Finn regarded the man on the viewscreen. "You are who?" Trask bristled. "I am Commander Trask, now why have you not engaged the enemy"

Finn smiled and said "Commander, don't think that I did not know you were there. You should really try to be more subtle when sneaking up on another. As such, I know your task fleet is sorely outnumbered. Since we both know you couldn't possibly win a skirmish, why don't you run along now"

"I don't have to win a skirmish Commordore, I just have to blow up one ship.......your ship to complete my mission" said Trask as the weapons officer brought all weapons to bear on Finn small command vessel.

The men stared at each other via viewscreen. Who would be the first to blink in this game of Space Chicken?

(don't know. Space Chicken sounded funny when I wrote it)

Stryder stared at the viewscreen in disbelief. What he had just seen shouldn't have happened. His command crew had just seen a federation corvette explode. But that shouldn't have happened, not with the shield matrix.
"What was the registry number of that ship?" he asked. Harrow looked up from her station.
"NCC-87458." she reported. "An old ship, 32 years in service. Due to be decommissioned three weeks ago but that was delayed."
"Was she fitted with a shield matrix generator or getting shield cover from the rest of us?"
"She had her own shield matrix generator. She shouldn't have been killed like that."
"No, she shouldn't." Stryder looked over at the science station. "I want the sensor logs analysed. Find out why she blew."
"Aye sir" replied the science officer.
"And let Stonesmith know."

"SIR!" called McLeod, "we got incoming. Leviathan class and a full complement of fighters. Firing range ... twenty seconds."
"Twenty seconds? How did she sneak up on you, Mr McLeod?" asked Harrow.
"I'm sorry sirs." said McLeod. Stryder stood up and stood center bridge.
"Helm, lay in a course for a fly by. Close as you can." He turned to McLeod. "I want you to ignore the fighters. Throw everything you have at the Leviathan." Then he looked at Harrow. "Get orders to our fighters. Tell them to concentrate on the fighters and we'll deal with the Levi." Harrow stood up.
"I don't think that's a good idea. You saw what happened to the corvette. We'll be incinerated by that Levi." she said.
"Carry out my orders, Commander."
"But..."
"Don't make me confine you to your quarters."
"Aye sir." She issued the orders.

The USS Hoods engines flared as she banked to intercept the Leviathan. Some fighters flew on ahead to engage the enemy fighters. As they drew closer the Covenant capital ship opened fire. The Hood was obliged to wait as her firing range was shorter. As the firepower raked the shields the Covenant fighters began to explode by themselves, and then the Hood opened fire.

"All stop." ordered Stryder.
"Answering all stop, aye." said the helmsman.

The USS Hood stopped with less than five hundred meters between the two ships. Both capital vessels pounded on each other, the exchange of fire seeming to last forever. At last the Leviathans shields began to buckle.

"We're winning." said Harrow.
"Did you doubt us?" asked Stryder.
"Sir, primary weapons are approaching failsafe thermal limit." said McLeod.
"Our guns are overheating?"
"Yes sir. Thermal cutout in ninety seconds. If you over-ride the fail safe we can get another 120 seconds before catastrophic failure."
"Damn. Keep firing, Mr Mcleod."

The Swordsman was one of the first ships to engage the enemy forces it was right in the thick of it and loving every second as was its crew. Ship after ship fell to its awesome prowess "This is the ship of the future" said Helix. As soon as he had said that the sickening sight of one of the death stars came into view but it wasn't doing anything it was just sat there with an escort of 5 Leviathans and an assortment of smaller vessels "What are they doing" he said "Unknown sir" called the Tactical officer as he franticly took aim at another ship destine for the butchers bill.

"Right Helm plot a course for that Death Star full impulse" He ordered "aye Sir" replied the Helm and the Swordsman drove on. As they approached the Death Star 3 of its escort Levi's Broke off and attacked, there weapons doing little damage to the Swordsman.

Commodore Finn regarded Commander Trask with keen interest for several minutes. Trask stood very firm, like he had ice running in his veins.

"Commander, what good will come from killing me? The Orion Syndicate will just go away after killing you and your Federation will be in the same boat they are now, except you will be dead." said Finn.

"Commodore, that would be just the start of trouble for the Orion Syndicate. If Admiral Stonesmith does not hear from me, a communique will be sent to every sentient being in our quadrant of the galaxy explaining your treachery." replied Trask

"Commander, the Orion Syndicate is well know for "dishonest" ways. Surely that can not be your best threat!" laughed Finn.

"You misunderstand Commodore. This is not business. The Orion Syndicate is well known for their backstabbing and treachery in any and all business transactions. The Admiral will make sure that everyone knows that this treachery, this act of cowardice is so much more. If the covenant gain a foothold here by destroying the Federation, who will hold them at bay? Who will stand against the covenant? Everyone will know you turned your back on all of them. YOU, Commodore, and the Orion Syndicate allowed it.

Finn, considered his words. He knew deep down that his words were true. The Orion Syndicate would be ostracized; effectively crippled. He turned to his tactical officer.

"Mr. Tracel, send word to all vessels to begin flanking attacks on Covenant vessels, per our agreement with the Federation" sighed Finn.

"Satisfied Commander" asked Finn as he turned back to the viewscreen.

"I'll let you know if we live through the battle" said Trask.

___________

Stonesmith directed his fleets to take up supporting positions behind Stryder and Helix's fleets. He also set a small number of ships protecting the shield generator. Stone saw the Death Star come into view and hold it's position. He also saw the leviathans move in to strike as the Swordsman.

"Attack Group 2, coordinate tactical operations with the Swordsman. Be prepared to engage that Leviatan"

"Attack Group 1, target the unsheilded units with the protective shield area.

A junior officer handed Stonesmith a PADD. He glanced at the message from Trask. Good. "Forward this news onto Falks and Stryder.

"Picking up massive internal explosions, sir. Their structural integrity fields are failing." reported McLeod.
"Helm, move us to a safer distance." ordered Harrow. They watched on the main viewer as the struggling Leviathan shrank away from the Hood.
"Weapons have ceased firing sir, thermal cutout." said McLeod
"How long until we can fire again?" asked Stryder.
"Four and a half minutes. We've opened the hull plates around the guns. Hopefully being exposed to space will cool them down quicker."
"Ok. Linda, what's going on in the rest of the battle?"
"The fleet's fully engaged sir. The Swordsman is approaching the deathstar and is currently engaged with the defensive leviathans. The Reckoning and her flotilla are engaged with twelve titans and their fighters. Make that eleven titans."
"Ok, that's nothing Stonesmith can't handle. What say we go and play with the Swordsman?"
"Sounds like a plan, sir." said Harrow with a very brief smile. She gave the orders to the helm. "Seven minutes to intercept." she said after consulting her screen.
"Ok." replied Stryder. "Oh, by the way. This ship has got another entry in the history books." Harrow looked at him.
"It's the first time in history that a Titan class vessel has taken on a Leviathan in single combat and won." He smiled. "That makes me happy."

They sat in silence for a minute. Then,
"Sir." came the call from a sensor station. "Leviathan class ship just dropped from high warp right next to us."
"Who are they?" said Stryder, standing up.
"It's one of ours, sir. Registry ... N, C, C, dash, one, seven, zero, one, dash, h."
"The Enterprise? She's here? Bloody hell." said Stryder. "Send a message to the commander, give him our target coordinates and let him know that we got his back."

======================================

The scanner console in the arm of Stonesmiths chair bleeped. He glanced down at it, looked up and then straight back down again as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He tapped a button and the forward viewscreen changed. Moving in formation were two of the most legendary ships currently serving the federation. The Leviathan class USS Enterprise, with a pedigree that stretched back nearly a thousand years, was cruising towards the deathstar. To her port side was the USS Hood, a vessel which had survived every major engagement in the last one hundred years and whose name stretched back into antiquity. In the background the enemy Leviathan the Hood had pounded on finally broke up and exploded in a ball of antimatter energy and light.

As he watched, another legendary vessel joined the formation. The HMS Cavalier closed up on the Enterprise's starboard side and they flew on towards the Swordsman, and the Deathstar.

"I hope that Deathstar's got insurance," he said to no one in particular. "'cos it's gonna get owned."

"SHIELDS HOLDING SIR!" shouted the tactical officer as two of the Leviathans opened up on the smaller vessel which in turn shorted several minor power junctions.

"Focus on the closest Levi and give her a volley of the green stuff" ordered Helix as he steadied himself using the hand rail.

The three Levis and the Advanced Titan Class had been engaged in combat for almost five minuets and so far they had done little damage to each other however Helix had drawn the Levis away and toward the gas Giant "send the pulse" said Helix, At his command a wave of sonic energy burst forth from the Swordsman with an audible blummme two of the Levis hit the wave side on and rolled over while the third took it head on and was not effected Helix could picture the smirk on her captain's face but Helix would have the last laugh the wave while good as a defensive weapon was also a signal.

Moments later the wave touched the edge of the Gas Giant,

"Captain the signal has been sent"said the Sentinel's science Officer, Leanne Zain smiled "Helm take us out maximum speed" she said

The Sentinel in all its majestic beauty burst forth from the Gas Giant carrying with it gasses of all colours which ignited on its thrust creating a low bitched raw Its weapons firing from all ports it was a sight to behold. Helix looked on in awe Commander Harper turned to the tactical officer and said "now is not the time for cinematics Keep firing.

The Sentinel and Swordsman soon archived their little Victory and began to head toward the Death Star...

_______Aboard the Death Star__________

Intelligence Specialist Deklan Swift finished his analysis of the enemy fleet movements, firepower and shielding. The results were as amazing as they were unbelievable. All of the Federation ships were shielding in an unfamiliar honeycomb pattern shield matrix. Deklan had never seen anything like it before. He also noted the Federation ships were staying fairly close to Rura Pente. While all this was interesting, it was not enough to take to his superior.

Deklan decided to run a full spectrum analysis of the space close to Rura Penthe for any odd or unusual energy readings. This should only take about 10 minutes he thought to himself.

****Meanwhile - on the Bridge of the Death Star****

Sir, we have sizeable fleet attacking our flank --- Analysis shows nearly 1100 vessels -- nothing bigger than a frigate though - reported the nameless tactical analyst.

"Redirect HC's Sorrow and Unforgiven, along with their support craft to the flank" ordered the OOD. (Officer of the Day).

"Aye sir"

*****Back in Intel Section*****

Deklan just finished review the results of his scan. 'Unbelieveable' he muttered. He hurridly grabbed all his reports and rushed to find his supieror -- he did not even bother to write up his analysis - there wasn't time. If the Convenant continued it's assault on Rura Penthe, they would all be dead in less than one hour. Deklan had to warn somebody and call off the assault.......

Five if the most well known ships in the Federation were advancing on a Covenant Death Star in orbit of Rura Penthe. In a classic arrowhead formation, The Swordsman was leading the charge. Behind her were the leviathan class Enterprise and Sentinal and the third row consisted of the Hood and the Cavalier.

The view from the bridge of the Hood was a very sombre one. The Deathstar filled the entire viewer and they were still forty-five seconds from firing range.

"It's gonna take a whole lot of fire power to bring that down." noted Stryder.
"We don't have enough." said Harrow. Stryder looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I ran the numbers. If we had every ship here, including the Orions, firing at that thing from their optimal range we may just kill it." She looked down and then swivelled her screen so that Stryder could see her numbers. "The problem is that we can't get all our fleet here doing that. We now know that the shield matrix is fallible and it can fail under extended duress. I added the data we got from the corvette before it blew, which gave me an idea how long the shields would last under fire. Even with three leviathans and two titans fully kitted out we don't last long enough to kill the Deathstar in any of the simulations. Add the fact that the Enterprise doesn't have matrix generators and she's taking cover from us, well. Sir."

Stryder sat looking at Harrows screen. The results supported themselves. He had to admit that Harrow had done a very thorough job in the short space of time she'd had to run the analysis. He looked back up at the viewer.

"Shit. Have you told anyone else?" he asked.
"No sir. I have had an idea on how to disable the enemy. I wanted to run it by you before I notified Admiral Stonesmith or Mr Falks."
"We are within firing range. Beginning pre-programmed heavy assault pattern fenix three." said McLeod. The inertial dampers screamed in protest as the Hood began her attack run.

The Swordsman pulled up, the Enterprise broke to starboard and up, the Sentinal broke to port and down, the Hood to starboard and down, and the Cavalier to port and up. All five ships were firing everything they had a targets that looked sensitive. The fighters left the hangers and flew to meet the Deathstars own fighters.

"Whats your idea?" asked Stryder.
"It involves a warp core breach." answered Harrow. Stryder opened his mouth. "But not theirs. Ours." said Harrow quickly.
"This had better be good."
"Get as many ships as we can firing at the Deathstars biggest hangar bay. We've seen one that is 4 kilometers wide, 2 klicks high and several deep. We begin another attack run, and as the shield begins to fail, we pull up hard and eject our core. As it enters the hangar we detonate it." She was sitting on the edge of her seat and looking intently at Stryder.
"What are the chances of us getting out of range of the explosion?" he asked.
"Slim." she answered, abruptly. "The shields will afford us some protection, but it'll be touch and go,"

Stryder thought about his XO's plan. It had it's benefits, the destruction of the Deathstar. The downside, the destruction of the Hood with all hands. He'd only been in charge for a week. He stood up and moved over to the comms officer.

"Open a channel to the Swordsman. I want to speak to Falks."

It took Deklan Swift 25 minutes to find his Commander. He hurried up to the man and blurt out "Sir, we must call off our assault on Rura Penthe"

The Commander, and the other officers in the room, looked at Lt. Deklan Swift as if he had an octopus coming out of his nose.

"What do you mean Lt? Our analysis shows that the remaining fleet will be no match for our Death Star. Victory is ours. You are very close to speaking treason!" replied the Commander.

"Sir, I ran an indepth analysis of the Federation ships shielding. It appears to be an experiemental shield matrix that is getting it's main power source from Rura Penthe itself. The shield matrix reflects any and ALL phased energy weapons, including disruptors, back to it's source or other nearby vessels - which is the reason for our forces high fatality rate so far. Sir, this shield matrix will kill us unless we find a way to destroy it!" plead Swift.

"There hasn't been a shield matrix made that can withstand the power of the Deathstar. Your concerns are noted, but unnecessary. Give me your data and I will have a more experienced officer review your scans! Now return to your station before I have you shot for derelection of duty." intoned the Commander.

Deklan could not believe it. This man was going to get them all killed. He dropped his data on the table and wandered back towards his duty station in a daze. The command structure of the officer core were so dependant on the power of the Death Star they could not fathom that anything might destroy the massive vessel.

Deklan decided there was only one thing he could do, and moved quickly to act or he would die as well. Deklan did not want to die.

Helix viewed the Data sent over by the Hood the plan was dangerous and fool hardy at best but it could have been worse ejection of the Warp core into a death Star would bring an explosion of catastrophic proportions and after reviewing the data once more he came to the conclusion that the Hood would more than likely be destroyed for its part.

So Helix was faced with three options the first allow the Hood to go down in a blaze of glory, second use the Swordsman instead or third come up with a new plan.

There was no contest really he knew what must be done "Hail all ships in our formation" He said "Captain Stryder your plan is a go but we will use the Swordsman, it has a better chance of surviving the blast at the proximity we are talking about. All hands prepare to transport to the other ships this will only take 5 of us volunteers?" he said

Several of the crew jumped forward and Helix picked 4 people and sent the rest away the evacuation went quickly and they set the plan in motion.

After a few passes the shielding around the hanger went down "this was it" he thought "The other ships are breaking off Sir" said the helmsman "good take us in maximum speed"

The Swordsman flew strait and true ejecting its warp core into the monstrosity before breaking off itself, Moments later an almighty thunderous bang sounded from the depths of the death Star which resorted in its total and final destruction and emanating at its very centre came a shockwave to rival that of a supernova.

The Swordsman was thrown about like a pebble in a raging torrent consoles exploded showering Helix with sparks the beams fell from the walls and something fell on him with a thud...

...When he came too he checked the two others that were with him on the bridge they both looked dead from where he was laying. With great pain he stumbled to his feet "Damage report" he said "Weapons destroyed, Shields destroyed, Engines Destroyed, secondary Engines down to 12% Hull Integrity down to 5% life support Failing, Warp Engines off line" En toned the computer, the last part coursed him to chuckle involuntary.

Through the cracked view screen he could see the battle raging the covenant forces were trying to withdraw but the federation made them pay dearly for every ship that escaped but Helix knew that this was just the tip of the spear in a weeks time the real threat would be here the Confederation were coming...

Helix looked on as the computer counted down the seconds until life support failed "perhaps now is my time" he said "my life and soul for yours"

From across the gulf of space the Swordsman's lights went out for the last time...

Stryder was standing next to the bed in sickbay when Falks materialised on it.
"I bet you were giving it full-martyr when the lights went out." he said with a smile. "Well you listen to me, mate. You swan up in your fancy new ship and steal my XO's plan and my ships thunder. Did you really think you'd be left to die?" Stryder smiled. "The Swordsman's being towed by the Enterprise and Sentinal. She'll need a few weeks in your shipyards but she'll be okay."
"What about the battle?" asked Falks.
"It's over. We killed ninety percent of their forces, the rest of them have retreated out of sensor range. We've got scouts tailing them. Stonesmith has got his people looking over the shield matrix. Apart from that nothing else to report. The fleet has resumed defensive formation and repair crews are working, although there's not that much to do, to be honest."
"How much did we loose?"
"Two corvettes, one destroyer and a cruiser. 280 credits worth. Acceptable loses."

Falks groaned and sat up. "I need to get to the Sentinal."
"As soon as my doctor give you the all clear, you can go."
"Who's your doctor?"
"T'Parn. I always have a vulcan doctor. No room for error."
Falks groaned. "It'll be ages before I get off this ship."

Deklan Swift watched the Death Star explode and break apart. He had downloaded all data, all his analysis and snuck away to an escape pod. He watched at the Federation ship made the run and jetissoned some sort of explosive toward the DS. And then he saw the DS explode.

The ensuing blast wave had knocked his lifepod around, but luckily he was far enough way to take any lasting heavy damage. Or so he thought. Alarms began to ring inside the pod. The minimal shielding, intended to protect the pod from the ever present "space dust" had buckled riding out the blast wave. Deklan was now passing through a dust cloud and the outer hull of the pod was taking damage.

Deklan figured he had only 20 minutes until outer hull was breeched completely and only 5 more after that until the interior of the pod was exposed to open space.

Deklan was going to die after all. He silenced the alarms and sat back in his chair, resigned to his impending death. He composed a short message and sent it out on all confederate subspace channels. Then he waited to die.

High Admiral Jumper worked the controls of his personal corvette and began to move out of the Rura Penthe system. His new cloaking technology had worked flawlessly he had not been detected once by those rather annoying morons of the Federation. He had even been able to gather some valuable sensor data about their technology levels, and that new shield they had developed.

The loss of the Death Star was a pity its commander had been a fool anyways small loss for the Confederacy.

Suddenly Jumper remembered that several minutes before the Doomed Star (Snicker snicker) had exploded an escape pod had jettisoned with a lone life sign aboard, if he had survived the blast someone smart enough to realize he should leave might be worth keeping.

Jumper began scanning and soon found what he wanted among the debris a signal, the last desperate attempt of a dying man to impose himself on the history books, well not today. Jumper swept in and extended the range of the cloak to cover the escape pod, also jamming the signal to prevent detection by those "victorious" buffoons if they hadn't already. He brought the escape pod into the small cargo bay he had had added to his corvette in place of a second crew quarters. Also removing the third crew quarters had allowed him to install a small, warp drive, not the fastest but it was adequate.

Now to attend to his new assistant. Jumper found a very scared, yet noticeably relieved young man in the tattered escape pod.
"Who are you?" Jumper asked.
The man replied "Swift, Deklan Swift."
"Rank?"
"Intelligence Specialist"
"And why Mr. Swift did you abandon your post?"
"Wha-- The Death Star was going to be destroyed and no one bothered to even consider it was possible, the only reasonable thing to do was take my chances!"
"Well, lucky for you i happen to agree, did you manage to salvage any thing before those idiots lost my Death Star?"
"Yes sir its all right here"

Swift held out a pad he had downloaded all the information too.

"Thank you Mr. Swift, now go get some rest my quarters are through that door and down the hall to the left."

Deklan Swift left as quickly as possible, he wasn't sure who had just saved him but he had a feeling this was not a man you disobeyed. He arrived at the quarters, and collapsed into the bed, he looked at the bedside table and found a small plaque that made the blood in his veins turn to ice. The plaque read : High Admiral W. K. Jumper.

Swift thought: Oh my God! I just made a fool of myself in front of the most powerful man in the Confederate Navy. Shortly thereafter he fainted.

Jumper returned to the pilots chair and began incorporating Swift's data into his own. He set a course for home and jettisoned the escape pod right before jumping to warp.

The situation did not look promising indeed, at least having someone else aboard would make the trip home less tedious

"Admiral....." said Mr. Riahn. Stonesmith looked over at his comm officer. "Yes Mr. Riahn, what is it?" he asked.

"It's gone. Sir, I picked what appeared to be the beginning of a subspace message but then it disappeared. Just blinked out of existance." explained Riahn.

"Were you able to pinpoint the origin?" asked the admiral

"Just from the debris field. I suppose it could have been an echo, or a Covenant transmitter from the Death Star." said Riahn absently.

"Could it have been an escape pod?" proded Stone.

"Admiral, I also picked up the message and did another scan on the debris area and there are no life signs or habitable lifepods in the area" intoned Mr. Yu, from the tactical station.

"Well, note it, and any concerns you may have, and then continue with normal duties." ordered Stonesmith.

Dead in space, the Swordsman hung between the Hood and the Cavalier waiting its turn in the orbital shipyard. As he watched on his monitor in his ready room, Stryder could see bright flashes as his engineering team started to weld the hull closed. He had decided to start repairs on the stricken ship because he had seen the look on Helix's face when he had seen her battered carcass before he left. Stryder also felt a bit responsible for the shape the ship was in, as it was his crews idea for the use of the warpcore in the destruction of the deathstar.

No, that wasn't right. It was his XO's idea. Linda Harrow. She was off duty now, getting some sleep. Stryder had to admit that, beside questioning orders once, she handled herself and her duties extremely well during the battle. He decided he'd have to build some bridges before long.

Some of the running lights flickered on along the Swordsmans belly, faded a bit and then came on bright and stayed that way.

"Stryder to Kenson." he said into his comm.
"Kenson. Go ahead sir."
"You've got another five hours, Kyle. Do what you can and then get your team back onboard. We'll be leaving about then."
"Aye sir."

Stryder tapped his comm badge again.
"Stryder to Stonesmith."
"Stonesmith here. How can I help, Captain?"
"Admiral Stonesmith. How effective is the shield matrix when a ship is not around Rura Penthe?"

He waited for Stonesmiths answer...

"Captain, have you ever heard of the Daily Briefing Report? Command staff's write them up for distribution throughout the command." chuckled Stonesmith.

"But, to give you the short answer - it depends. If the vessel is warp capable, and you route the new matrix through the warp core, it results in a stronger shield, but if the shield is ever breached, the feedback on the warp core would be...er...devastating. It also depends on the power of the attacking ship."

"We had a corvette fitted with the matrix, and it took a full battery assault from a heavy cruiser and was heavily damaged, but not destroyed."

"I would imagine a captial vessel, such as the USS Hood, with a wily captain and unconventional engineering crew could probably be near indestructable with the matirx."

"That said, I would also caution, we have never tested the matrix outside of the Rura Penthe system, so further scrutiny is required. Commander Trask is organizing a small fleet to conduct those tests, and they will be carried out deep in Federation space" concluded Stonesmith.

Helix picked his way through the wreckage of the Swordsman his injury's were still giving him some pain but that was his own fault as soon as he was able he sneaked out of the sick bay and away from the Vulcan Doctor.

Helix didn't dislike Vulcan's he disliked doctors and sickbay's in general he was never one for laying about at the best of times and right now all he wanted was some peace. Which is why only the maintenance crew from the Hood knew he was here.

He was now climbing painfully over a felled beam on deck 40 toward 'the breach' He knew there was a force field holding it closed so he was not to worried and power in that area was running fine. After a short while he reached the bulk head seal and opened it and entered "the breach'.

The Hull Breach was caused when the ship was hit by the concussion wave and several large chunks of Death star had collided with the Swordsman if this had been the Hood no one would have survived Helix looked out of the gaping hole, Anico filled the view of the lower half and beyond he could just make out Rura Penthe and then Silliys the Gas Giant past that.

Helix climbed lower into the breach and sat down on a small cat walk which was at one time surrounded by a Jeffreys Tube. He looked up and then at the edges of the hole the ship had a double skin and braces running both vertically and horizontally along the ships length it was a marvellous bit of engineering after all was said and done and he was proud of what his people had conjured up from the dodgy sketches he had given them.

He reached into his inside coat pocket and retrieved his data pad and looked at the 5 names contained there on.

"John Corvan Ensign deceased died at point of impact, Samuel Jonas Lieutenant deceased died in coolant leak, Jasmine Stall Lieutenant deceased died at point of Impact, Justin Lazarus Commander deceased crushed to death under 14 tone beam and Amsillian Vask Ensign deceased died in console explosion. all good people" he said aloud

Helix was often frustrated by his life and the fact he still had one when by all rights he should be dead He had fallen 40 feet and more and gotten up with out a scratch he had been shot, stabbed, Slashed, electrocuted, Fried, burnt, blown up and ejected into space with out a spacesuit and still he continued to live there was always something or someone there to save him 'but what about these people the five on his list who was there for them?' he thought

"No one" He said

He thought back to his dream
'He was on board a Levi there were dead crewman all around him and he was badly hurt and he was sat at the helm laughing as he steered the mighty vessel toward a confederation Leviathan' would that dream come true? would that be his end of days? a small part of him hoped it would be but the rest of him knew it wouldn't, there were fields full of the graves of heroes but not his.

"I'm no Hero" he said "Not me, not Helix Falks" He shouted to the breach as he punched the catwalk that groaned under the sudden impact which caused him pain he began to laugh and cry at the same time which echoed around the cavern.

"Are you all right sir" came a familiar woman's voice from the entrance
He looked round and up. there making her way down from deck 40 was a young woman she looked about 19 years old or so.
Helix took a deep breath "Your not supposed to be in here" He said "I know but I heard someone and came to tell them the same thing" she replied which caused Helix to laugh "What's your name" He said as she approached him
"Petty Officer Shona Vayall sir" she answered
"Petty Officer" he mused "You know when I was a petty officer I was fighting on the battle field alongside Ensign Stonesmith" he chuckled she looked at him curiously "Yeah I know, its hard to believe Stonesmith was an Ensign" he said
She offered her hand to help him up "Come on sir this area will soon be a vacuum the ship is about to be dry-docked" She said
He took her hand and clambered to his feet "Sir you seem to have lost a pip" said Shona pointing to his collar he raised his hand and counted three pips "Ah no that's how many I have until I can get one replaced your Captain Stryder has the other"

Shona lead Helix back through the wreck...

OUT OF CHARACTER

Is this one done? We did have the Cour'Var incident on Epi server.

Shall we start a new one, or run with the two we have going?

OR - Keep this one plugging along?

OUT OF CHARACTER

Depends, there is a second fleet but :-

• It hasn't moved, and
  
• It'll take over a year to get to us...

So maybe we should leave it here.

OUT OF CHARACTER

The Confederation Fleet is only a week away and there are still some lose ends

Such as:

1) Jumpers Character.

2) Helix's Sister.

3) The meaning of Helix's Dream.

4) Stonesmith's plans involving the Asteroid belt.

I would rather continue the saga and fill in the blanks and once that is done we can close this part of the epic story.

Then maybe we can go back to the past or into the future past the Cour'Var incident into the next chapter or we could just close the book though im hesitant to do that as there is so much we can do with our Story

-- Out Of Character --

Um if you are going to keep this thread going thats fine with me, but i had intended my character to be in and out the thorn in your sides if you will, i can introduce other temporary characters to be antagonists as we go. I wasn't sure you all needed a fourth captain you seem to have it covered pretty well. for the sake of UFP threads I'll probably stick with that role. If you want to continue a thread against this guy i have thats fine too