Chapter 1: The Trap

The sleek delta winged shuttle slowly maneuvered, towards the H.M.S. Swiftshire. Colour Sergeant Elizabeth Journal grabbed the armrest as the shuttle banked suddenly. As she sat back up, her eyes were drawn to the only passenger of any notice. He was a tall dark haired individual, who stood while staring out the window at the ships of His Majesties Royal Navy. He was wearing the white uniform of a naval officer, his cuffs adorned with four silver bands, which proclaim that he was a captain in His Majesties Royal Navy. She had heard he was the new captain of the heavy cruiser H.M.S. Swiftshire, and that would make him her new commanding officer as well. On his chest, several medals gleamed in the light, but only one stood out amongst all of them. It was the gold star with clusters for gallantry, which could only be won on the field of battle. She hoped she could be as brave as he must have been when he earned his medals.

Captain Steven Tallfeather looked out the window at his new command, and slowly studied the twenty-one-hundred-meter, six-hundred-thousand-ton heavy cruiser that would be his home for the next several years. The sunlight gleamed off her sleek black hull, which bristling with gun ports, phased radar arrays, and missile batteries. Ships of miscellaneous classes were moored next to, and around her, while waiting for that sudden call to duty, in His Majesties Royal Navy. Sitting just past the stern of the great ship, a barge crane sat working on another ship.

The shuttle slowly banked to come around to the stern of the H.M.S. Swiftshire, and begin the final approach to the stern of the ship.

Steven was watching the shuttle approach towards the ships landing bay, when a burst of sparks suddenly caught his eye up near the aft gun-deck. 'What the hell!' Steven wondered what they were welding near the stern missile launchers. Why are they removing the missile turrets? For at this new angle, Steven could now see that the barge was moored next to his new command, and on the barge sat a complete missile turret. Steven studied the activity around the stern, and took notice of the new welds along the hull. He was making a mental note to had the area re-painted, when he noticed that two of the heavy laser turrets had far larger cannons then what should had been on this class of ship. From what he could tell, they looked like mark thirty-three laser cannons. However, Steven knew that was impossible. For that type of cannon, they only used aboard space stations, or super dreadnoughts.

"Sir, we will be docking in five minutes. Would you please take your seat?"

Steven turned and looked at the midshipman pressed into acting as a porter, as he moved down the aisle. With a nod of his head, Steven sat down in his seat, where something caught his eye in the mirror mounted to the bulkhead. Looking at the image of himself, his eyes were drawn to the gold star pinned to the left side of his chest. He started thinking of how he became the new commanding officer of the H.M.S. Swiftshire.

"Thank you, Sir." replied the midshipman as he moved up into the flight deck.

The main units of the Alderian fleet were running for their lives after thirty hours of combat. While the flagship, the H.M.S. Defiant dropped farther behind to cover their escape. The starlight gleamed off her shields as missiles were launched against the pursuing Gormarian fleet units. In the distance, the planet of New Dublin floated in the deep void of space.

"Captain we are receiving a communication from the flagship, they report they are under heavy fire from six Gormarian super dreadnoughts, and are requesting we fire our missiles from long range, while the rest of her battle wing escapes," reported Lieutenant Commander Coyne.

Steven turned back to his view screen, which showed the H.M.S. Defiant taking several more hits, which made her shields, flared for a second.

Commodore Wrineheart took a quick looked at the tactical screen and then started issuing orders to the crew.

"Notify the Defiant that the second battle-wing is turning to offer all assistance possible. Orders to all units of the second battle fleet. Turn and form a battle wall, and engage the enemy fleet. May God had mercy on our souls, and may the King forgive us."

"Tallfeather, bring missile bay four, five and six on line, and target the third Gormarian dreadnought. Then target missile bays seven, eight and nine against the fourth Gormarian dreadnought that's attacking the flagship, all other missile bays independent fire on enemy escort vessels."

"Aye, aye, Sir." Even as Lieutenant Commander Coyne was answering Commodore Wrineheart, Steven had turned to his missile pad, his military training taking over, and he started typing commands into his targeting computer as fast as he could. He had to get this right. His father was depending on him.

The orders went out and three hundred warships turn, and started to engage the enemy fleet at extreme range. The fleet quickly started to form a wall. Covering an area of a thousand miles vertically and horizontally, missiles started to fly from the heavier ships as the range between the two fleets slowly dropped.

The enemy ships continued to pound the Defiant, while the H.M.S. Nelson turned her massive broadside to the enemy ships. He soon got a target lock with his missile computer systems, as the other bays started launching missiles.

"Sir, missiles locked on target. I am ready to fire on your command, Sir," Steven said.

"Then fire, Mister Tallfeather!"

"Sir, launching missiles now," Steven said as he watched the indicators showed the missiles slide down the rails.

Within a minute, over four hundred missiles were flying towards the enemy ships. The missile bays went to rapid fire while the Defiant continued to take hit after hit. Missiles flew from and started detonating against the enemy ships, picking off the escorts as they tried to stop the incoming missiles. The escorts were sacrificing their own lives, to save their comrades in arms. While the Defiant continued to run for her life, she picked off any lighter units that had gotten to close with secondary weapons.

On the main screen of the H.M.S. Nelson, the Defiant turned, and unleashed all the fury of an exploding star out through her main laser batteries. Her targets were the two nearest enemy dreadnoughts. The beams lanced out, striking the damaged shields of the enemy ships. The shields flared and died. Then the Defiant fired again and more beams struck the bare hull of the Gormarian ships. Plas-steel bubbled and melted blowing glowing globs of debris out into space as the beams punched through the sides of the ships.

Explosive decompression started killing the crew, as the beams sliced deeper into the hulls of the ships. Then more lasers hit, ripped the engine rooms open caused the fusion reactors to explode, the plasma destroyed that was released quicly destroyed critical machinery. One-second two Star Fury class super-dreadnoughts were firing into the Defiant as fast as they could, and within the next second, both ships started to disintegrate under the deadly fire of the Defiant's main weapons.

Steven's screen suddenly went dark, as a massive flare of light suddenly appeared where his father's ship was fighting for her life, and Steven shouted, "Captain, I had a massive energy flared where the Defiant was positioned. Someone just blew up, but I am not sure who."

Before Commodore Wrineheart could respond, Commander Coyne interrupted him.

"Captain we are being hailed from the battleship Ranger, she is the flagship of battleship division number three, she said she will swing around and engage the furthest pair of Gormarian super dreadnoughts if we take the two nearer ones."

"What!" Commodore Wrineheart said, and then continued, "Commander Coyne, order her away. She cannot survive against that type of firepower. Tallfeather get me some sensor data. Is the Defiant still there?" Commodore Wrineheart asked.

"Sir! The Ranger reports she has taken engine damage, and cannot escape, so Captain Vickerman is willing to sacrifice her ship and crew to save the Defiant. We are also receiving a communication from the light cruiser Mountbatten. They report their oxygenic reactor has been destroyed, and they are losing air fast. So they are abandoning ship, and heading for the nearest friendly vessels."

"Scanning now, Sir," Steven said as he started a sensor sweep of the battle area.

Very quickly, they pick up the battle beacons of the Defiant. With a surge of relief, he turned and started issuing his report, "Sir, I had the Defiant's battle beacons on sensors. She's still alive and fighting."

"Very well, have the escort destroyer Jacob pick up the Mountbatten survivors, and to the Ranger, tell them good luck, and God bless, they will not be forgotten for their sacrifice. Praise the maker she is still there. Bring the Ranger up on a secondary screen." Commodore Wrineheart said as he took a deep breath.

Commodore Wrineheart was just about to start issuing more orders to the crew, when the main screen cleared and a battered Defiant appeared. Her flanks were shredded by damage, spewed air and water from the battered holes in her side trailed behind her for over three miles, but her main weapons continued to fire into the enemy.

Commodore Wrineheart looked at the screen, and said, "Orders to the fleet start closing with the Gormarian's and orders to the first battle-wing to join up with us."

On a secondary screen, the H.M.S. Ranger turned and started closing with the Gormarian dreadnoughts.

"Aye, aye, Sir." replied Lieutenant Commander Coyne as he turned to his communications screen, where he started sending Commander Wrineheart new orders.

Steven watched as his ninth wave of missiles left their launch tubes, traveling inbound towards the Gormarian ships. On the main screen, the Defiant continued to open the range between her and the Gormarian's. Soon the missiles streaked by the Defiant, and started detonating against the enemy ships. Suddenly everyone was shocked when the Defiant's engines faltered from a direct hit, one minute she was there. All twenty-five million tons of fighting spirit, and then she was gone, blown away with all the fury of an exploding star and twenty thousand men and women perished in the fiery hell she had briefly become.

Even as the Defiant disappeared into a ball of flames, inbound missiles started dying, but there were far too many targeted on the two forward Gormarian super dreadnoughts.

Steven watched his missiles streaked towards the enemy ship as the Defiant disappeared into a ball of molten metal and flames. A silent scream raced through his mind, as tears streamed down his face, for his father had been the commanding officer of the H.M.S. Defiant, and the Admiral of the Alderian fleet.

Steven jumps from the hand that touched his shoulder, he turned and looked up into Commodore Wrineheart's face.

"Steven. I am sorry for your loss." With a squeeze of Steven's shoulder, he walked back to his command chair talking the whole way, "We were betrayed, it's the only logical reason, space is huge and the Gormarian fleet was waiting for us. There is no way they could have known where we were going to hyper out for our attack on point Hope."

"Thank you, Sir. He will be avenged, and if there is a traitor, I swear I will find him or her, and kill them. I swear this over my father's grave."

Even as Steven replied to Commodore Wrineheart, twenty of his missiles from the ninth wave detonated.

The lasers hit the weakened the shields, causing them to flared and die. The generators overloaded and exploded as they tried to draw more power to them. Then more missiles started detonating, the laser beams penetrated deep into the hull of the enemy dreadnought.

The beams punched through the sides causing explosive decompression. Plasma fires flared up all along the damaged parts of the ship, killing crewmembers where they lay wounded in the rubble of the great ship.

More missiles detonated against the enemy ship, and the hull started to rupture, sending gasses and body parts into the cold void of space, even as the ships lasers and missile tubes fell silent, more lasers impact on the side of the ship ripping more holes into her flanks.

'Yes, I will have my revenge, burn you sorry pieces of shit. You wanted war! I will give you war!' Steven thought as he made his report, "Sir, I report thirty hits on the third enemy ship, I estimate she has taken heavy damage to her port side weapons and sustained heavy casualties."

The ship suddenly turned over onto her starboard side, bringing the undamaged shields against the incoming Alderian missiles. She then started to turn away from the incoming missiles that continued to streak in, as the missiles detonate, her stronger shields absorb the energy.

Steven was watching his missiles impact along the enemies flank, and said, "There she goes, Sir. She's turning and rolling her starboard side to us." While Steven was making his report, fifty-two missiles of the eleventh and twelfth waves detonated against the fourth enemy dreadnought. These missiles had a shorter flight time and were able to weave around to the other side of the ship, where the heavy laser warheads exploded. The lasers reached out and touched the Gormarian shields from all sides. The shields flickered and flared from the pounding, and then they started dropping, all over the great ship. Shield generators exploded, causing hull ruptures from the explosions. Then the shields went down, even as her missile tubes continued to pump out missiles as fast as her auto launchers could cycle, but with no shields, she was a doomed ship.

Suddenly one of the incoming beams touched one of the missiles as it was leaving the launch tube. The missile exploded into a ball of flames, and destroyed the anti-missile defense in that area. This allowed the last five missiles in the barrage to detonate unmolested. The powerful beams of death penetrated the plas-steel armor and continued into the missile storage bays striking stacked missile fuel cells. In a chain reaction, thirty-five hundred missiles exploded. The ship lurched to the side as plasma fire raced down the corridors smashing the blast doors into wreckage. Sudden decompression ripped through the ship and then the reactors let go, the ship exploded into a ball of flames and was quickly extinguished by the cold void of space.

"Sir, massive damage against the fourth enemy dreadnought," before he could continue the enemy ship disappeared in a sudden flash of flames, and he continued, "There she goes, Sir." 'Father here comes the first enemy ship, I swear to you I will lay more of them at your feet. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the main screen as the eighteen million ton ship exploded into a ball of fire, and fourteen thousand men and women perished.'