[spartan303]

Chapter 2: A matter of Conscience.

Space warped and blurred past him in a multitude of blue and white not unlike a trip through the stargate tumbling end over end or so it felt. Unlike a stargate trip instead of the bone chilling cold running through him Colonel Caldwell felt a searing heat pass through him, as if Daedalus had parked itself right next to a sun. During stargate travel you had no sense or your surroundings, no sensation in your body, just the faint hint of stars flying by at unheard of speeds. Colonel Caldwell had once asked LtCol. Carter about it after one such trip through the stargate after a lengthy ten minute explanation about dematerialization and other things that left him more confused than before he asked the question, Colonel Caldwell decided then and there to never EVER let a scientist ramble if he could help it. For reasons unknown to him all this and more passed through his mind as it tried to find something to relate this experience with and came up empty, Then just as quickly as it began it was over. Utter silence greeted Col. Caldwell as reality set in, for the longest moment the only sounds he could hear were his ragged breathing and the beating of his heart. Then realizing he needed to get a grip on the situation his instincts kicked in.
"What the Hell was that?" Caldwell asked a bit shaken as he slowly released the death grip around the armrests of his chair. Realizing his crew was a bit slow in recovering from their ordeal he shouted to get his crew back to the here and now.
"Status Report?" Like a jolt lighting it had the desired effect the crew came to their senses and focused their energies with renewed vigor to their stations. After several moments reports started coming in.
"Scope is clear no enemy contacts." Lt. Miguel responded after double checking his display. "I'm barely able to read the object, its power levels are dropping rapidly, within a few moments I won't be able to read it with our Radar or Lidar. Then after double checking his display again "sir weapons are fully operational." Lt. Miguel reported.
"Helm control and Navigation appear unaffected Colonel." Major Foster reported.” I’m receiving status reports from all decks, no damage and no casualties reported.
"Colonel this is Novak in engineering thrusters and hyperdrive are fully operational." Novak reported over the loudspeaker.
"Very well doctor, do you and Hermiod have any idea of what just happened?" Col. Caldwell asked.
"Hermiod is still pouring over the data gathered from the Asgard sensor pallets." Novak reported. "He says it will take him some time to fully analyze it and formulate any theories as to what might have happened."
"Get it done quickly doctor I want answers, Caldwell out." he ordered killing the mike. Then shifting his attention to Major Foster “Foster get me Stargate Command." Col.Caldwell orded.
"Sir we'll have to clear the asteroid belt." Major Foster countered.
"Very well Major plots a course take us out of the asteroid field best possible speed." Caldwell ordered.
"Yes sir." was her terse reply.
In space Daedalus's engines flared to life as she shot forward heading for the nearest opening in the Asteroid field after about four minutes of dodging asteroids Daedalus cleared the asteroid belt.
"We've cleared the asteroid belt." Major Foster reported. "Contacting Stargate Command." after several moments of trying to contact Stargate Command she switched to one of the frequencies used by Nellis Air force base. When that failed she attempted to Raise AFSATCOM which also failed Finally she tried her last option at Vandenberg which also failed. Failing to raise a single station on Earth she reported the bad news.
"Sir I'm not getting any response from the SGC. Nor am I getting anything from Space Command or Vandenberg sir." Foster reported.
"Nothing?" Caldwell asked.
"No beacon signals and no acknowledgment of our hails sir." Major Foster reported. 'I am however reading abnormally large concentrations of tachyons surges in system."
""Tachyons?" Colonel Caldwell asked.
"Particles that travel faster than light sir." Major Foster said.
"I'm aware of that Major." Col. Caldwell said. "But how are they abnormally high?" the Colonel asked.
"I don't know sir." Foster responded.
"Colonel I may have an answer for that." Novak responded over the loudspeaker.
Engineering.
In Engineering Novak had been monitoring the abnormally large concentrations of tachyon particles shortly after she reported the ships status to the bridge. Ever the scientist she had initially been very excited by what she thought was a naturally occurring phenomenon, though something about it seemed vaguely familiar. After serval moments of study she began to notice patterns in the tachyon surges, activating a waterfall display she tried to isolate the various surges and was startled by what she found. Imbedded within each tachyon surge were radio signals, highly complex radio signals, next she tried to tally the number of tachyon surges to begin cataloguing them only to find the number ran into the hundreds.
"This is amazing!" Novak said excitedly to herself. Turning her attention to Hermiod she asked "Have you ever seen anything like this before?"
"I have not." Hermiod responded. "However the Tachyon surges are artificial in nature. They are being used to boost encrypted radio signals faster than light."
"Any idea where they're coming from?" Novak asked resuming her study of the various tachyon frequencies on her display.
"They appear to be originating near the vicinity of Earth." Hermiod answered.
It was then that Novak remembered what had seemed so familiar to her earlier, just before she had been recruited by the SGC she had read a paper published by Doctor Svetlana Markov. Doctor Markov believed that it was possible to boost radio signals by piggybacking them onto tachyon particles. Unfortunately her work never got passed anything more than abstract theory. If it hadn’t been for the subspace radio’s the Asgard provided to the SGC Its quite possible her work would have generated more interest into a new field of communication, but sadly the Russian Government didn’t have the resources to continue research into that particular field.
Tapping into net that linked her to the bridge she had caught Fosters explanation of Tachyons and the Colonels awkward response.
“Colonel I may have an answer for that.” Novak responded.
“Go ahead doctor.” Col. Caldwell announced through her earpiece.
“Colonel, Hermiod and I have been monitoring the tachyon surges and we believe they are being used to boost encrypted radio transmissions to FTL speeds.” She informed him. “And Colonel the transmissions are emanating from the vicinity of Earth.” She added.
“No one on Earth has this kind of technology doctor.” Col. Caldwell noted.
“I’m aware of that sir.” Dr. Novak quickly replied.
“Can you break the encryption?” Caldwell asked.
“The coding is quite crude; cracking it will not be a problem.” Hermiod responded from his station.
“Colonel Hermiod and I think we can break the code but it’ll take a few minutes.”
“Do what you can doctor, Caldwell out.” The Colonel Said cutting the Mike.
“I absolutely hate it when they do that!” Novak said to herself before turning her attention to Hermiod. “So any bright ideas on how to break this code?” Novak asked with a smile on her face.
“I have been cycling through the Tachyon code since you first brought it to my attention.” Hemiod admitted. “I have nearly broken it.”
Hermiod’s hands moved the various stones and crystals from one section of his console to another. “The Code is broken. “ He finally announced after several seconds.
“You know you and me need to have a little talk about teamwork.” A very annoyed Novak said.
Bridge.
“Colonel the Code is broken.” Novak reported over the loudspeaker.
“Thank you doctor, and well done.” Caldwell praised. “Keep an open channel to the Bridge, and monitor all sensor information as it comes in.” Caldwell ordered.
“Yes Colonel.” Novak reported.
Ok Foster lets hear it.” Caldwell said to his XO.
“Yes sir.” She responded. Her hands moved across her console as she matched the radio frequency and latched onto the net.” Any second sir.” She reported.
zzzz…I have a target lock!...zzzzz Alph……zzzzzzzzz….Alpha 4 break away, break away!...Distance to Target!...zzzzzz..Hull firing! White Star 13 break and engage rear targets, get them off the Warlocks!...zzzz… We just lost the Hecate! She’s drifting! Protect the Victory and the Excalibur they’re the only ones who can stop em. Nemesis and Juno are gone, Nimrod and Heracles take their place in formation!...zzz where the Hell’s our support! Were being swept aside! They’ll be able to position the Planet Killer once that’s done!
“Holly ****! Did I just hear the words planet killer! Lt. Miguel barked out.
He like everyone on the Bridge had been listing in with rapt attention hoping to gain some insight from the monitored radio transmissions before deciding a course of action. But the words “Planet Killer” had sent a feeling of utter dread through the entire crew.
“My God, if it’s true…” Foster whispered not knowing she’d spoken aloud.”
“Hermiod, Novak are you monitoring?”
“Yes Colonel we are.” Novak responded.
Caldwell could just make out a hint of a tremor in her voice apparently what she heard had deeply affected her, along with a good portion of the crew by the looks of it.
“What do you make of this?” the Colonel asked.
“I am reading several hundred ships within the Vicinity of Earth exchanging weapons fire, and one object I can not identify. It is however large enough to encompass a planet.” Hermiod reported.
“It may very well be the Planet killer we heard about.” Foster reasoned.
“One more thing Colonel.” Hermiod said to get the Colonels attention.
“Go ahead Hermiod.” Caldwell responded.
“I have done a sensor sweep of the system and have determined that none of the planet are in their proper orbit.” Hermiod began.
Oh god please don’t go where I think your going with this, Caldwell thought to himself.
“Based on your plants rate of cylcle around its sun as well as those of the other plantets in the system I have determined that we are not at our correct space time coordinates.” Hermiod reported matter of factly.
“When are we then?” Caldwell asked trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.
“With the way you humans measure time, approximately 262 Earth Standard years.” Hermiod reported.
“Time Travel?” Lt. Miguel blurted out.
“It would appear so.” Major Foster answered.
“Speculation can wait till later.” Caldwell snapped as much to get them focused on their duties as to calm his racing heart, so far it wasn’t working.
“Hermiod what’s the Status of that planet killer?” Col. Caldwell asked.
“It is drawing closer to Earth; I speculate it will be able to hit the planet within a few minutes.” Hermiod reported.
Colonel Caldwell took in everything within a matter of moments. Earth was in danger of being destroyed and her fleet was taking a pounding and would soon be swept aside. Though the Colonel had a choice whether or not to intervene His conscience only allowed him one alternative.
“Weps Arm all rail guns! Load tubes 1-4 with mark 8 tacticals 5-10 with Mark 7s. 8 – 16 with standard anti-ship ordinance. Caldwell barked coming to life.
“Yes sir!” was Lt. Miguel’s enthusiastic reply.
“Raise Shields to Maximum, All hands man battle stations!” Caldwell calmly stated over the ships loudspeaker for all to hear.
The crew of the Daedalus having heard much of the Radio chatter intercepted from the Battle over Earth had taken it upon themselves to head towards their battle stations thinking (correctly) they would soon be needed. Once the Call to battle stations rang out over the ships loudspeaker Caldwell found to his delight the crew already manning it.
“Foster plot a small hyperspace jump between us and the Planet Killer.”
“Course plotted waiting on your orders sir.” she responded immeadiately.
“Take us into the Fight.”

The Excalibur had moved to the very front of the fleet replacing the heavily damaged Sorceress and supporting Ivanova’s right side. The Titans had taken damage and one of its Particle cannons and overloaded and suffered a meltdown due to over use, but overall the ship was still fighting and Ivanova wasn’t going to surrender her place at the head of the attack. A pair of Omega’s sent laser beams streaming past a few hundred metres beside her adding their power to the attack. The wedge formation had worked and although losses in the leading elements were heavy they had managed to deliver Sheridans new battleships into the heart of the enemy defences. The Warlocks had received the most attention during the attack, the Drakh clearly recognizing their abilities and directing as much force as they could against them, forces which would have been better used against the Victory and Excalibur. With the Sorceress falling back it left just the Titans and the Hecate operational and fighting, with Minbari cruisers staying close by and the rest of the Earth units just behind.
“Captain, General Denisov is sending new orders.” Commander Morton checked his earpiece. “We are to break formation and provide cover for the two prototype destroyers.”
“Confirm those orders.” She replied, it was standard procedure to make sure combat orders came from an authentic source.
“Subchannel I.D confirmed.” Lieutenant Patel spoke from the main comms station.
“Acknowledge, Helm move us in behind Excalibur and let the Hecate watch the Victory.”
Ivanova’s decision was sound, the Excalibur was the closest ship to her, but she knew that if she analysed the decision she would find that she was deploying her ship based on her desire to watch her old Captains back. Captain Krauss of the Hecate was a good officer but frankly the only person Ivanova trusted to watch Sheridan’s back was herself, and as the Excalibur pulled away she made damn sure she was right behind it.
The head of the fleet had punched through to the planet killer and now crossed inside the massive structure, firing on all sides as the Drakh ships closed the range and intensified the attack desperate to stop them driving further forward.
“Drakh ships on all sides Captain!” Rossdale yelled from the weapons station.
“Target anything heading for the Excalibur as a priority!” Ivanova stated. “Don’t let them damage the flagship.”
Three Thunderbolts were destroyed by a sweeping beam from a Drakh raider, a second later that same ship was cut down by a Whitestar. Inside the Deathcloud the combat ranges decreased dramatically with Drakh ships engaging at very short ranges. The Titans interceptor grid was firing constantly, knocking down incoming pulse fire and enemy ships that got too close. Its main guns continued engaging bigger threats, a strike from four of its turrets converging on a Cruiser moving on the Excalibur while its remaining particle cannon claimed another victim.
The two advanced warships were fighting furiously, their weapons in near constant use and a long trail of broken ships marking their line of advance. Earthforce had lost over a hundred destroyers so far and countless fighters, with allied forces taking equally heavy losses. The Drakh were a formidable opponent, while not quite as powerful as the Minbari they were far more advanced than humanity and it was only through skilled tactics and unwavering determination that the older Earth warships were still fighting, even the newer ships had taken a beating but continued to advance. If anything Drakh losses were even more staggering, the sudden concentration of force had smashed their battle line and now threatened their most valuable possession, their old masters weapon of ultimate terror. They redoubled their efforts, driving the older Earth Destroyers back and leaving the prototypes dangerously exposed and all but alone.
“We’re losing our escorts!” Morton warned as an Omega exploded spectacularly, its reactors feeding the forward guns even as it went into melt down.
Ivanova checked the displays, they were only covered by fighters and a pair of Whitestars now and those craft were being heavily engaged. The nearest heavy warships were a trio of Minbari warcruiser and a Destroyer group battling forward but making little ground against increased Drakh presence. She uttered a soft curse, they were going to be in serious trouble.
“Four enemy cruisers locking on!” Rossdale shouted across. “Sixty degrees off the port bow!”
“All batteries respond, concentrate interceptors!” Ivanova ordered, the odds did not look healthy. The point defence guns fired, as did the gatling interceptors on the nearby Excalibur, together they formed a dense enough screen to force the smaller ships to break away or risk destruction, but the four cruisers pressed through the fire with superficial damage.
“Brace for impact!”
The crew obeyed their Captain and took hold of the chairs and consoles, tightening seat belts and tautening their muscles. The tactical displays showed the enemy ships less than a hundred miles away, the Titans guns turning rapidly to engage and a flight of Thunderbolts moving in with anti ship missiles, but none of it was going to be quick enough to prevent them firing first.
A pair of blue beams lanced into side of the warship, punching it sideways and flinging any unfastened material into the left hand side wall. The Excalibur also took two hits, though its more advanced armour was better able to withstand the impact. In return Sheridans ship sliced though one of the cruisers with its turreted guns, the green beams carving it up with no apparent difficulty.
Ivanova’s Warlock also returned fire, rail gun rounds smashing through one of the attacking cruisers while the turreted dual purpose cannons fired on a second, a stuttering fire of pulse cannon blasts followed by a two second laser burst, followed again by pulses, a steady pattern designed to slice through armour and then blast open the damaged sections.
The Drakh still came on, suffering heavy damage but not retreating. A lance of blue energy caught the Titans on the join between its advanced armour and its more conventional materials, boring through and triggering an explosion in one of the fuel stores for the ships fighters. The fires engulfed the main hanger bay, requiring the forward doors to be opened and the atmosphere to be vented, extinguishing the fire.
One of the Drakh ships finally succumbed, a final volley of pulse fire ripping away its forward section. The Excalibur finished off a second while the third found itself entering the firing arc for Ivanova’s particle cannon, and with great satisfaction she ordered it destroyed.
“Damage?” she asked sharply.
“Hangar deck heavily damaged and venting.” Morton stated. “Heavy buckling across the hull, and it looks like our last particle cannon is offline.”
With a harsh snarl Ivanova noted the weapon had overloaded, installing such powerful weapons on a mobile platform had been expected to be problematic, the Warlock class didn’t have the dedicated power reserves and cooling systems of the GOD satellites, there just wasn’t enough space and the miniaturized systems were still experimental, and it would appear flawed.
“Divert power to secondary weapons.” She glanced at the tactical display, it seemed there was a sea of enemies closing on them and their reinforcements were still bogged down trying to fight through to them, perhaps a dozen Omegas had broken through and were heavily engaged behind them. Starfuries and a few Minbari fighters were keeping Drakh raiders from striking the two prototype destroyers, but they were still badly outnumbered if not out fought.
More Drakh attack ships raced by strafing the Titans. One fell to the defence grid but not before stripping away one of the gun turrets. The remaining weapons maintained a continuous fire, tearing down a Cruiser but not halting the swelling tide. They didn’t have enough firepower to break through the enemy lines to damage their target, a control centre for the entire Death cloud.
“More cruisers on our six!” Morton shouted. “Their moving in on the Excalibur.”
“You know what to do.” Ivanova ordered, the Excalibur was their best chance of winning, it had to survive. Sheridan had to survive.
The Titans altered course, swinging around to broadside the incoming Drakh ships with its maximum firepower and block their attack on Sheridans vessel. The Hecate followed suit, streams of flame gushing from its decks it was in just as bad a condition as the Titans but at least had one functional particle cannon. It turned fully around to target the Drakh forces with its primary weapon, energy mounting in its muzzle.
Once more the two Warlocks fired, and once more Drakh ships were shredded by the attacks but didn’t stop. Cruisers and raiders pressed forward firing on the two destroyers and punching holes through them both. The Hecate fired its particle cannon, destroying two cruisers which were moving too close to each other while its pulse cannons filled space with salvoes of high energy.
“Drakh ships accelerating, Captain they’re heading right for us!” Rossdale warned.
“Evasive action!” Ivanova yelled in horror. “Continue firing, brace yourselves!”
The Drakh ships held their collision course, both Warlocks finished off another cruiser each before they got too close, the Hecate’s Particle cannon recharging just a few seconds too slowly. A suicidal Drakh cruiser ploughed into the heavy destroyer crumpling its forward armour and sending twisted debris slamming through the insides of the Earth ship. The Titans meanwhile dropped down relative to the Drakh, its cannons pounding the Drakh ship as it approached. Ivanova breathed heavily as she watched the distance on the sensor readings cycling down, great chunks were being carved from the incoming ship but it wasn’t slowing down.
“Three hundred kilometres.” Morton reported. “Two hundred.”
She felt totally helpless, for all her experience in battle, for all the times she had trained on this ship and honed its crew, for all those years in Earthforce none of it counted for much right now, the only things that mattered were how fast the guns could fire without melting and how quickly the engines could get them out of the way.
“One hundred kilometres,” her XO kept reading, clouds of atmosphere and debris were falling away from the cruiser under the strikes. “Fifty, ten!” The cruisers forward hull ignited as a plasma pulse detonated its forward weapons capacitor, tearing a long rent in the enemy ships hull.
“Hold on!” shouted Ivanova.
A rail gun shot burst the Drakh cruisers reactor, enveloping it in a massive ball of destructive energy an instand before it would have hit the Titans. The explosion rocked the Earth force destroyer and showered it with debris from the Drakh ship like a shotgun blast, the inside of the ship rang like a bell in a hailstorm as countless impacts punched the side armour, some pierced it but thankfully most merely embedded themselves in the thick composites. When the energy dimmed the Titans was still there, its flank blackened and looking like a pin cushion, leaking white plumes of atmosphere but still holding the ship together.
Ivanova settled back in her chair, the lights of the bridge dimmer as power was redirected to combat systems. She noticed the artificial gravity felt far lighter and saw in the corner of her eye Lieutenant Patel extinguishing a fire burning through one of the rearmost consoles. The guns were still firing, the ship was still moving and they weren’t currently spaced, which was all she needed to know.
“Resume course!” she coughed a little on the acrid smoke, inhaling a lung full of the foul mixture of soot and burnt plastics. “keep us on the Excalibur!”
“Captain, we’ve lost the Hecate.” Commander Morton said in a heavy voice. The video images showed the sister ship a mangled wreck, its entire forward half a twisted mess of human and Drakh parts and with only its engine block recognisable as a component of a Warlock. It fell back on fire and out of control, its final fate unreadable.
“We’ve got our orders.” Ivanova said forcefully, she needed to keep the crew watching their jobs and not thinking about the loss of their comrades. “Look for targets, fire at will.”
A swarm of Drakh raiders swept down on the two prototypes, aiming to strike them from the back. The aft guns on the two heavy warships fired, cutting down scores of the light ships but there were plenty more following. The Titans added her guns, setting up a crossfire with the Excaliburs aft batteries and emptying the sky of attackers. The Victory was not so fortunate, with the Titans heavily engaged and the Hecate a burning wreck there was no one to help cover the ships back, and a few Drakh ships made it through the barrage to tear into the power linkages to the great ships main cannon, the barely noticeable jet of flame taking the allied fleets best weapon out of the battle, only the Excalibur now possessed a weapon which could hurt the planet killer, and for Captain Anderson onboard the Victory defeat seemed inevitable unless he took drastic action.
The battle was turning against the allies and they had just one chance left to try and secure victory, in a few minutes it would be too late. The opportunity would not come again, and with Drakh ships moving in once more on Sheridan and Anderson Captain Ivanova moved her wounded ship to block their path one final time, because if she failed to stop them there wouldn’t be enough time for the prototypes to recover and the planet killer would claim another victim. She’d seen it happen before, she knew the fate that awaited a world lost in this weapons embrace and she would not allow it. There was no one left for her back home, no mother or father, no brother, no kindred soul to grow old with, nothing. Her life was empty of everything except her duty to Earth, and her love for her friends, and it was that more than anything which set her resolve. Let the Drakh come, she wouldn’t give them another inch of Earth space while her heart still beat in her chess. The battered warship fired again from its blackened cannons, defiant even now, and the Drakh charged forward into their fire. The breaking point had been reached, all it needed was for one side to shatter first.