FanFic - DP/UF - Crossroads [20]
MegaZone
---------------------------------------------------------------TWENTY
"Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't
want to get any messages saying that we are `holding our position'.
We're not `holding' anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing
constantly and we're not interested in holding onto anything except
the enemy! We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're gonna
kick him in the ass!"
--General George S. Patton, Jr.
The battle continued to rage for several more minutes. Here
the smaller vessels dipped and twisted around each other, trying to
get their guns to bear, as fighters streaked across the skies. There
a wing of Broadsword bombers pasted an Ikazuchi all over the sky with
a concerted spread, only to be decimated by a vicious TIE fighter
counterattack. The Battlestar Centauri blazed away with all guns at a
star destroyer, firing back with equal vengeance. The SDF-23
unleashed her main gun only once more, destroying a small cluster of
basestars and Ikazuchis; the battle was getting too spread out for
efficient use of the weapon, and MegaZone seemed strangely reluctant
to destroy the AT&T.
The GENOM warworld, for its part, had been oddly silent, its
main gun not firing again since the attack interrupted by Iczer-1.
ReRob theorized that the weapon had been backsurged by the beam's
interruption; he couldn't estimate the damage, though. Depending on
the extent of the damage and the speed and skill of the GENOM repair
teams, the weapon could be back up at any time, or never. No one got
close enough for it to bring its lesser weapons into play, and it was
too slow to catch any of the WDF ships.
Within a couple of minutes, the GENOM fleet disengaged,
retreating at full speed to regroup a couple of AU's from the Dyson
Sphere, hiding, as it were, in the shadow of a rogue planetoid that
the Sphere had pulled into orbit. The AT&T, being slower, cruised
after the rest of its fleet, serene in its invulnerability. The WDF
let them go; they needed the respite just as much as their harried
adversaries.
On the bridge of the Concordia, Gryphon studied the latest
sensor readings of the AT&T and noticed a couple of things that
interested him. "Hmm..." He ordered a comm channel opened to the
Wandering Child, and, when he had Zoner on the screen, said only,
"Zoner, I think you should convene a council of war aboard the '23;
I've just discovered something that should interest you a great deal."
In the large conference room aft of the SDF-23's bridge,
Gryphon pointed his laser pointer at the viewer and said his piece.
"The AT&T is equipped with a large number of fighter bays," he
pointed out, indicating a couple of them. "Only logical, since a ship
that large and slow would need fighters of its own to deal with the
enemy. I've been studying the thing since it appeared, and frankly,
I'm astounded by it. As a starship engineer, I simply can't
conscience destroying it. It's a marvel of engineering and I'd give
my eyeteeth for a chance to study it in detail."
"Not destroy it?" Kei broke in. "Ben, are you mad? If we
leave that thing alone we're all dead! They're probably getting its
main gun operational as we speak! When they re-engage--and trust me,
they will--we're doomed unless we hit it first, hard, with everything
we've got."
"Not necessarily. Look, when they withdrew, they called back
all their fighters, correct? Well, that's the whole gist of my plan.
Lieutenant Finney, if you will?" Obligingly, Finney clicked to a view
of the AT&T, seen from its "front", the orientation it favored in
relative formation. The viewer zoomed in on one of the fighter bays.
"These bays are connected to the rest of the vessel's internal
corridor network--logically, they have to be. If we can get a
boarding party into one of the bays, we can make our way to the bridge
and take control of the entire battlestation. Capture it, instead of
destroying it."
"Capture it? That?" asked Kei. Then her bluster faded; a
smile crept onto her face. Storming an installation, running around
in corridors, blowing away anything that got in her way, until the
objective was won--that was her kind of operation. She could see,
with just a quick glance to her left, that her partner was warming to
the idea as well. "I'm in!"
"Me too," Yuri added.
"Question: how do we get them to open their fighter bays?"
ReRob inquired.
"Simple. We attack them with every fighter we have. They're
too far for their fleet to be able to help them--if we launch within
the next ten minutes, they'll be less than a third of the distance to
the rest of the GENOM fleet. Bad tactics on Largo's part--he's
banking too heavily on that monster's invulnerability, and not enough
on his own skill. Or maybe he still thinks we're stupid. Either way,
he's made a dumb error. Here's the distribution." The viewer changed
to a diagram of fighter-wing layouts.
"The Eight-Ball Squadron will lead the assault," he indicated,
"at the front of the formation. The rest of Concordia's fighters will
join in as well, except the Blue Devil Squadron; they'll remain to
defend the ship, although I doubt it will be necessary. Kei, Yuri,
you'll be here, in your Valkyrie; the Lovely Angel would draw far too
much fire for this mission. All fighter groups from all vessels,
except one preselected defense group, will form up like so, and sweep
out like this--" he indicated another diagram, this one showing
fighter distribution around the AT&T's wireframe spectre-- "forcing
their defense net into action. They'll have patrol fighters out, but
nothing that can handle this. They'll launch fighters--at which point
Eight-Ball will engage the fighter group coming from this secondary
fighter bay and secure the bay.
"Task Force Alpha, comprised of units Meta, Eta, Zeta, and
Omega, as well as the Eight-Balls and the Angels, will then enter the
bay. Infantry will disembark and spread out in several directions,
relying on inertial guidance systems to reach the north pole of the
battlestation, where sensor scans indicate the bridge is located."
The viewer shifted back to the original fighter layout.
"With only one fighter squadron apiece to defend each of our
carriers, though, and no cover at all for the cruisers and
battleships...if they mount some kind of counteroffensive, the fleet
will be vulnerable," MegaZone pointed out.
"That's where you come in, Iczer-1; I want you to remain
behind and guard the fleet."
Iczer-1 nodded, then said, "I'll do my best--but what are
units Meta, Eta, Zeta, and Omega, and why is there an Eight-Ball
Zero?"
"Observant," Gryphon said with a grin. Unit Eta is a PT-4A
Assault Shuttle equipped with a Mark II cloaking device. It will
carry the Shadow Security Squad and be covered by Red Squadron, from
the Battlestar Galactica. Unit Zeta is a Salusian Model 15 attack
craft, carrying Colonel Perry Aldzinjal and his 101st FTL Cavalry
elite Marine platoon; it will be covered by the WDF Tiger's Claw's
Screaming Blue Electric Death Squadron. Unit Omega is another PT-4,
and will carry Lt. Finney's security team from the Concordia. Blue
Fire Squadron will cover them. Eight-Ball Zero will be myself; I
intend to lead this operation." He ignored the gasps of surprise and
protest to continue, "And Unit Meta...well, I can't see Zoner missing
out on an op like this--can you, Zoner?"
"Of course not," Zoner replied with a grin as wide as UP's
Gate Four. "But you've forgotten something," he added.
"General Order Number Fifteen? `No flag officer shall enter a
hazardous situation without armed escort'? What the hell do you call
three squads of troops, a 3WA consultant team, and a platoon of Space
Marines?"
"No," Zoner said, "I was fully prepared to ignore all
regulations forbidding me from going, when did I ever care about
rules? No, I mean you don't need the vulnerability of that third
shuttle; I can carry Lt. Finney's security team in my Beta, and
they'll be a hell of a lot safer. The Angels too, for that matter."
"Right. So much for Unit Omega. Now, unless there are any
very pressing questions that can't be answered on the way over there,
I'll adjourn this meeting. Everyone get where you're supposed to be."
"One question," asked ReRob. "Actually, two. One: Why is
Zoner not leading this mission, as ranking officer; and two: why
aren't I on that list?"
"One: the mission was my idea, and once we get out of the
fighter phase and into the ship, there won't be much need for
leadership; and two, you are--you're assigned to Unit Meta." Rob
brightened. "Now then. Rendezvous with the Concordia in five
minutes. Time is short."
"Hold it," a voice Gryphon hadn't heard in almost forty years
called from the doorway. "Don't you even think of leaving your old
point man and first marksman behind." Gryphon turned, and standing in
the doorway were two very familiar people. One was enormous and
metallic, an eight-foot-four Hecatonchires combat cyborg; the other
was a slender, pretty blond woman of average height, wearing grey
CVR-5, her helmet under her arm. And he knew them.
Of course a few others recognized them too. Zoner just shot
an "of course" look at the ceiling.
"Deunan?!" he said. "Briareos? What the hell--how did you
get here?"
"Earth joined the Federation ten years ago, remember?" replied
the 'borg.
"Yeah, I know that--but how--"
"You can thank your friend with the cyberarm," Deunan replied
with a smile, pointing to ReRob. "We saw you at his concert and
chartered the next runabout we could get."
"But--"
"We're official representatives of the Terran government,"
Briareos went on. "Authorized to render any assistance possible to
the Wedge Defense Force in this battle. So what do you say? Could
you use another pair of good guns?"
Gryphon grinned. "Of course. You're with Unit Meta.
Departure stations, please--I'd love to catch up, but I'm afraid time
is not on our side here."
"We hear you, Captain," Deunan replied with a smile and a
salute. "Let's go, Bri."
Everyone scattered out of the ready room; Gryphon called for
ReRob to remain as everyone else left.
"What's up, Gryph?" he asked, walking around the table.
"Rob...sit down. I have bad news."
ReRob remained standing. "It's Deedlit, isn't it?"
Gryphon sighed, the pain and recentness of it all coming back
to him. "Yes, it is. The Phoenix got itself noticed by one of the
Ikazuchi's gunnery control officers, and took a serious pounding; she
lost helm and drifted into the crossfire between said Ikazuchi and a
WDF cruiser. Her warp core was on the way to breach, so I put the
Concordia between the Ikazuchi and Phoenix to perform a rescue
operation. One of their missiles got by and scored a hit just as we
did; Saavik's analysis review tells me it was a dirty nuke warhead,
designed to send out a big subspace pulse. They must have seen us
drop our shields in their fire and realize what we were up to."
"You were beaming them off?"
"Yes. Melissa O'Brien is the best transporter chief in the
fleet, Rob, but that missile did its job; she had locks on three out
of four when it hit, and she did her damnedest, but...she lost the
pattern." Gryphon sat down and put his head in his hands. "I'm
sorry, Rob. I tried, but I just wasn't good enough."
Rob was silent for a moment. Then he said, "The others?"
"Kevin will be all right; he had a broken arm and was in
severe shock. Cheryl was very badly hurt; lots of broken bones, a
hairline skull fracture, massive internal injuries and some signs of
brain trauma. My CMO is optimistic, but guarded, but then, she's a
Vulcan, so she's always guarded. Meph is dead, too; he was dead when
we beamed him over...damn it, Rob, I'm sorry. I saved a dead man's
corpse and lost your wife. I'm so sorry."
Rob put his hand--his real hand--on his friend's shoulder.
"What happened to the Ikazuchi?"
"What do you think?" Gryphon replied, standing. "Finney
locked the phase transit cannon on her and we blew her into next
week." He rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes, pushing his
glasses out of the way to do it. "Damn it...it was just a stupid,
stupid accident..."
"It's all right, Ben," Rob said softly. "Don't torture
yourself. This is war; we both knew what could happen when we started
out. I can fall apart later; right now we've got a job to do. Let's
go do it, so she won't have died in vain."
The two officers shook hands and marched resolutely out.