Chapter 19: USS Oregon

USS Oregon

Ted ran onto the bridge and dropped into his command chair as he was shouting his orders, "Full power to weapons. Cut speed by twenty percent. Bring shields to full power, double the energy to the stern shields."

"Yes, Sir, cutting speed and raising shields to full power," Lieutenant Joan Greenville at the helm station said as her fingers flew over the console in front of her.

Lieutenant Betty Jenson over at the port weapons station shouted, "Portside weapons online and tracking."

Lieutenant Cindy Wu at the starboard weapons station shouted, "Starboard weapons online and tracking."

The Oregon dropped in speed as the fleet started pulling ahead of her while her weapons stations started tracking the huge ship behind them. The two assault cruisers, the USS Badger and Wolverine slowed as well and they started turning when the Crytherian ship opened fire on the captured destroyer Ghazna. Energy smashed into the destroyer's rear shields and they started to flare from the hits.

Captured Crytherian Destroyer Ghazna

Commander Stephen Sandalwood felt the Ghazna lurch and he shouted, "Negative 60 azimuth. Drop us under the fleet. Full power to rear shields."

Leslie's fingers flew over the console and the ship lurched as a laser punched through the shields and slammed into the stern near one of the missile bays, and he replied, "Dropping us, weapons returning fire, Sir."

"Light damage to the stern, damage to missile launcher thirteen, sections ninety and ninety-one open to space," Ensign Sue Collins said as she ran her fingers over the damage control panel and started sending repair teams to the damaged compartments, as she continued reporting. "Sir we have twenty-one KIA in those compartments."

"Dispatch spiders to seal the breaches. Leslie, drop the mines," Stephen said as he watched the huge ship closing on their position.

"Dropping mines," Leslie said, as forty old fashioned contact mines were ejected from their launching bays. Each mine had been remade from nuclear warheads to antimatter.

Crytherian Battleship

"Captain, the Ghazna has deployed her type one mines," reported warrior Jali'ck.

Captain Hhask watched the mines drop from the ship as she went to evasive actions and he issued his orders. "Ignore them, they cannot punch through our shields, but reinforce the bow shields to 150% power, increase speed and target the Ghazna's engines."

"Yes Captain," Jali'ck said. Suddenly the Victory lurched, the first mine hit and the view screens polarized from the chain lighting that started crawling across the shields. Then fifteen more mines detonated, all at the same time. The shield generators continued to pump more power into the shields trying to keep up but it was a lost cause as they started exploding.

"Shields down!" Jali'ck shouted.

"Get them back up!" Hhask ordered as the ship lurched again.

"Direct hit on the bow, Sir," warrior Ghan shouted.

"Damage report!" yelled Captain Hhask.

"Sir, damage reports coming in now, thirty percent of the bow weapons are destroyed, assault tubes also destroyed... " Before he could continue, the screen changed and they could see that the bow was burning, open to space, as the strange lightning continued to dance across the hull.

"Sir, three of those big bastards are turning towards us. Estimate them to be battleship class," shouted Jali'ck.

"Turn us forty degrees to port, open fire with all weapons," Hhask swayed at his station as his ship lurched, the enemy weapons fire slamming into the portside shields.

USS Oregon

"Open fire, all batteries," Ted said as his ship shuddered under the bombardment, as he continued to give his orders, "Order those assault cruisers to stay with the fleet. We will deal with this bitch."

"Yes, Sir. Orders sent," Lieutenant Commander Shawn Edwards said as he contacted the two cruisers.

The cruisers whipped around and boosted back to full speed as the Oregon continued to drop behind the fleet. The white flanks of the Oregon still showed her battle damage as she came around and unleashed all her starboard weapons into the portside of the Victory. Explosions blossomed on each of their shields as they shrugged off the damage.

"Take us behind her, target her engines," Ted said.

"Yes Sir, moving into position on her flank," Lieutenant Kathy Jenson said her fingers flying over the console as the ship started turning.

"Weapons firing," Lieutenant Cindy Wu said as the ship shuddered once again.

"We just lost starboard shield generators thirty and thirty-two. Damage to decks nine and ten, sections forty and forty-one, machine shops sixteen and seventeen destroyed, as well as dining room and kitchen sixteen," Lisa reported.

"Thank you Lisa, dispatch damage control teams to the compartments, get me a casualty report," Ted said.

"Ted, it will take a few minutes, the sensors in that area are down as well. The spiders are working to restore them as we speak," Lisa reported.

USS Badger

"Sir, we have a communication from the flag. We are ordered to turn around and rejoin the fleet to protect them," Lieutenant Mark Zane reported.

Captain Mike Bonnet of the USS Badger watched as the Oregon slipped past them as he issued his orders. "Very well Mark, Helm, turn the Badger and get us back to the fleet.

"Aye, aye, Captain, turning and rejoining the fleet," reported Ensign Barbra Howel.

The two-mile long assault cruiser turned around and headed back for the fleet, her sister ship right behind her. Five minutes after they turned around, they passed the Ghazna and slipped back into their covering positions while behind them the Oregon continued to fight.

Crytherian Battleship

The Victory whipped around, keeping her stern away from the Oregon, their weapons were tearing each other apart. Explosions blossomed from the hulls of both ships as shield generators overloaded and burned out. The Victory and the Oregon continued to circle each other like boxers in the ring. Pounding away at each other's defenses, they tried to get an opening to exploit. Explosions detonated from the hulls of the two ships, compartments were ripped open to space, weapons completely destroyed as they found the openings they needed.

"Hard to port, get us behind the bitch so we can take out their engines," Hhask said as he watched the enemy ship.

USS Oregon

Lisa continued to handle the energy requirements of the weapons and then she cried out as another hit smashed deeper into the hull, "Medical one has been hit. Heavy casualties on decks thirteen and fourteen, sealing breaches with the internal blast doors."

"Dispatch SAR units to those locations, roll the ship," Ted said as he thought of his friends that have just died in medical.

"Dispatching," Lisa reported.

"Rolling the ship, Sir, bringing portside weapons on ... OH MY GOD!" Lieutenant Jenson shouted.

Ted's head whipped around to the main screen and the blood drained from his face as he shouted, "Hard..."

On the screen, the Victory heaved around as the smaller ship tried to get out of the way, her bow smashing through the side of the Oregon. The engines of the Oregon went off line as the conduits to them were sliced in half and they dropped out of warp. Everywhere on the ship, the crew and passengers went flying as the ship slammed into the Oregon. Bones were broken when they slammed into the bulkheads and walls. In engineering, one engineer was hurled from the generator he was working on. He flew through the beam for the hyper engine that fed the power to the main engines. His body was sliced in half by the two-foot wide beam killing him instantly. Then an explosion occurred as the power was cut sending out a huge flare that lit up hyperspace.

USS Badger

"Sir, I just lost the Oregon's beacon," Lieutenant Wyatt Anderson shouted.

Mikes head whipped around to the sensor station. "Get me their last location, and turn this ship around," Captain Mike Bonnet said as he looked over at the sensor station.

"Coming in now, she went off line three parsecs behind us and it's growing every minute," Wyatt said as he read his scans.

"Captain, the flagship ordered us to stay with the convoy," Vick Marlow, the ships AI said.

"Vick, what if there are survivors? I won't ... I can't leave them behind. We could be their only hope," Mike said as the ship turned and headed back for the last location of the Oregon and the Crytherian ship.

USS Oregon

The Oregon and the Victory tumbled out of hyperspace. The Victory's engines continued to supply full power to the Crytherian ship and the tip of her bow snapped off as she flipped over the Oregon. Dropping into the small, unexplored system, the gravity of the second planet grabbed both ships and it pulled them plunging towards the planet's surface.

Lisa reappeared on the bridge of the Oregon and she quickly tried to take control as the ship spun towards the surface. Firing the starboard thrusters she tried to straighten the ship out, after a full two-minute burn she activated the port thrusters after having adjusted the angle on them, adding their power to save the ship. At the same time, she activated the internal tractor beams to aid the crew and other personnel, stopping them from tumbling around the rooms.

In the main hanger, a Lightning class fighter broke free from its mooring and flipped across the hanger. The huge fighter smashed into an Omega class passenger shuttle and exploded. The explosion turned the huge hanger into a burning inferno. The other twenty fighters, four bombers and ten remaining shuttles exploded as their hydrogen reactors went up in one massive fireball that blew the landing bay off the ship and out into space. With the main landing door gone, the ship's atmosphere rushed out into space while the plasma fires were quickly snuffed out, due to the lack of oxygen.

Up on the bridge, sweat broke out on Lisa's brow as she concentrated on saving the ship. The ship slowly straightened and with a small sigh of relief, she activated the anti-gravity plates on the keel as she sent the command for the bow thrusters to fire.

The ship's nose slowly climbed, but it was not enough. The keel sliced through the top of the ten thousand foot tall mountain, neatly shearing it off. Explosions detonated from the keel as she was punctured by the barren rock. The ship continued sliding into the valley, heading down towards the surface again.

"Main screen on, bow view," the screen came on and changed to the bow cameras. Lisa watched the ground closing and she closed her eyes and said, "Fire damn it."

The giant doors slid open, and the giant bow thrusters fired and the ship quickly began to slow. The sudden deceleration made the stern drop as the remaining gravity plates came online. When the hull slammed into the ground, explosions of dirt, rock and metal flew everywhere as the huge ship slid across the planet's surface.

Spiders dropped out of their storage bays, scurrying across the ship's hull, sealing breaches and trying to save the crew before they died from lack of oxygen as the atmosphere was being vented from the damaged ship. Inside the Oregon, the larger spiders were at the same time, dragging the unconscious people out of rooms that were being protected by the ships internal force fields.

Ted shook his head as he sat up and pain flared from the back of his head. Reaching back he touched the egg sized knot and slowly climbed to his feet. Squinting his eyes from the pain, he looked around the bridge. Sparks were shooting out of the starboard wall near one of the conduit cable junction boxes and out of several other destroyed consoles. The crew slowly was coming around, getting back up on their feet.

"Lisa, what happened?" Ted asked as he sat down in his command chair.

"We have crashed on an uninhabitable world. I am sealing all hull breaches as we speak. The casualty count is seventy dead; ninety-eight wounded, so far, Sir. We have hull breaches on decks ninety through ninety-five, force shields are holding in some areas. We also have extensive damage to portside engine room, environmental room sixty, atrium three, and medical one. Crew quarters on decks thirty-one and thirty-two, section ninety destroyed. There is also damage to hydrogen reactors nine and ten, weapon mounts..."

"Okay, it's bad. Let's get the repairs done, so we can get out of here. What's the environment like outside and where is the Crytherian battleship?"

"Ted, you didn't understand me, this planet is uninhabitable, no atmosphere, no water, no life whatsoever. As to the Crytherian battleship, I lost track of it as I was trying to save the ship, and your ass," Lisa said as her image shimmered and sparkled.

"Lisa, what's wrong with your hologram? It's breaking up." Ted asked with concern.

"That's because there is a fucking plassteel bulkhead is lying on my damaged capsule."

"What?" Ted said as he started going to his office.

"Ted stop! You open that door and you will kill everyone on the bridge. Now let me handle the repairs, you see to the wounded and dead."

Ted whirled looking in horror at Lisa. "Augusta is..."

"Augusta is fine. She is in medical two with her daughter. She took Angel down to have the scars on her back removed just before the attack." Lisa said with a smile.

"Thank God! Okay, I will deal with the crew. You deal with the damage. I wish we could launch some fighters for a cap or a combat air patrol. Do we have any weapons?"

"I have the light pulse cannons on line. The main power conduit was severed, that means no power to the heavy pulse weapons. We are running on batteries for right now, Sir. Some of the railguns are on local power and they are manned and ready. I have started moving all uninjured crew to the internal sections of the ship while the hull is being repaired."

"Good, now if a medic is available, please send one up here." Ted said as he turned to his crew and started tending to the wounded.

Lisa flickered out and reappeared on medical one looking at the damage. Everyone who wasn't in a bed was killed when the atmosphere was vented. Walking down the rows of beds, she checked each one, any that were due to wake up in the next ten minutes she gassed again to keep them out so as not cause a problem. Going to the ten-foot hole in the side of the ship, she looked at the damage and then turned around to look once more at where the beam had traveled through the ship. The beam had slammed into an internal force field dissipating it on impact. Tears started running down her face as she thought of the fifty men and women in the medical bay, all of them, who were her friends. The ship's doctors and nurses that were killed when the depressurization had hit, had no time to get to safety because the force field had failed.