Chapter 15: Excelsior

The Enterprise hurled itself at warp 7 past the remaining Gray flagship. Its bank of 6 phasers fired at the rear of the ship as went by. The rear of the ship exploded from the hits.

Bedlam broke out on the Gray's bridge. Their ship was now little more than a hunk of space garbage.

"Emergency power" cried out the captain. The dimly lit bridge was a chaos of disorder. So devastating had been the attack, the Grays were in fear for their lives.

"Oh, my," Jim said. "Jason, bring us around and drop us out of warp. Put us at oh-point-one AU from the Grays."

Jason replied, "Yes, Sir."

Jim said, "Now to try it again, Open the comm."

Annette said, "The channel is open, Dear."

Jim smiled a bit grimly as he said, "Now surrender, and prepare to be boarded."

Gray ship's AI, "Captain? The Centauri warship is hailing us."

The Captain, "What do they have to say?"

Gray AI, "Surrender."

The Gray captain frowned. Well as best as he could manage, given the lack of lips on his face.

"No, we will not be disgraced this way. Send a message to all ships, and fire at will."

The fifty-eight fighters opened up at the same time. It was a mixture of fire, ranging from lasers to anti-matter bullets fired from rail guns.

"Massive incoming fire from all ships," Leah announced excitedly.

The ship's shields were back up to 100 percent power, but Jim was not happy with the Gray's response.

"I don't get it, we just took out their ride home, and they still choose to fight?"

Rainer started to speak just as the laser hits started to strike the ship.

"They would rather die than be disgraced by surrendering."

Jason said, "Shields holding at 99.9 percent."

The antimatter bullets started hitting the ship. Small anti-matter explosions were littering the shields forward. They could all see the basketball-sized explosions.

Jason reported, "I don't know what they are using, but shields are draining fast. they're down to 70 percent."

"Anti-matter! They are using projectiles of anti-matter!" Lisa exclaimed.

Jim ordered, "Fire all weapons... continuous fire."

Both the disrupter banks and the phaser banks reached out, sweeping from fighter to fighter, wiping them out of existence. Some fell apart under the disrupter beams, others were converted to raw energy by the phasers.

Jason said, "Shields at 55 percent, drainage rate dropping."

The beams of the Enterprise lashed out, wiping out every one of the remaining fighters.

"Shield degradation has stopped at 46 percent, power is building back up."

"Cease fire," Jim said. "Target what remains of the front of that ship. Use a full spread of torpedoes. Fire now."

Six antimatter torpedoes left the Enterprise at the same time. They homed in on the hulk of the remaining ship. It didn't take long. Soon it was all over. The Gray's ship erupted in a plasma burst. What little remained, was a scrap heap of twisted metal.

Everyone stared at the carnage they had just inflicted on the Grays. Jim thought to himself that it was just too much like murder for him. True, they were under fire. True they had just won. But it didn't set well with him.

He felt Rainer's hand on his shoulder as he spoke, "It's hard, I know. But they are not people. You have to remember... they are not people."

Jim sighed. It was true... they were not people. Maybe he could live with it because of that.

"You are correct, but I still grieve at the senseless losses they took."

Annette wrapped her arms around him.

"Love, its always hard to take life. If you didn't feel for the loss, you would be less than human."

Jim sighed again.

Gray Home World

AI report, "We have lost contact with the flags."

Gray Leader, "Did they kill that traitorous son of mine?"

AI, "Unknown, last contact from the ships was that they were engaging the Centauri's ship. Since then, nothing."

The Gray leader's mood soured.

Gray leader, "Dispatch the Planet Destroyer. It's time to rid ourselves of the Centauris."

AI, "Specified target planet?"

Gray leader, "All off them."

AI, "It will take 40 years for the ship to arrive. However, the hyper-drive could be installed in 3 months. The ship would then arrive a few hours after the completed installation."

The Gray leader thought it over for a moment.

Gray leader, "Make the upgrades."

Two weeks had passed since the battle. The battle had been re-broadcasted on all the Federation's media, hundreds of times since then.

Jim stood by at the commissioning of the second complete battle ship. It was commissioned: the Excelsior. He had two more commissionings planned this week. The carrier UFP Constitution, and the third battle ship, the UFP Justice. The Centauris were fast builders, that was for sure. The spaceborn dockyards, prior to being switched over to building war ships, had been used to build gate ships. It had even built the Gate, itself. Compared to the Gate, the ships were but pin dots.