“As your first act as the first officer, Number One, contact sick bay and tell them that there are two more bodies in the security room, the captain and the number one.” Olsen asked grimly. Jalon nodded once again. Two security men now stood at the back of the bridge, they had arrived whilst he had been away. They told him that another two men were in engineering with the remaining security men stationed throughout the ship at all strategic locations. It was a pity that they had not been placed there earlier, Olsen thought, but then the captain would not have wanted them getting in his way, would he?
From behind Olsen a crewman called out to him, it was midshipman Pallas. “Sir, I am receiving an open communication from one of the ship’s under Quasar` s command, it is not directed at us, it is just streaming out into space. It is the tactical display showing the positions of all of the starships in this planetary system.” Olsen looked across at the young junior officer who seemed to be holding up rather well, considering all that had happened over the last half hour or so.
“Put it up on the screen Midshipman Pallas.” Olsen ordered and managed a smile for his junior officer.
Olsen wondered whether this call was yet another example of someone fighting against the all-powerful mind of Quasar. What Olsen could not know was that the individual would now be dead for this act of bravery. No one had ever captured a starship controlled by Quasar, so no one knew just how the computers kept track of all the crew aboard them.
“Midshipman Pallas, as acting captain of the Intrepid I am promoting you to second lieutenant as of now, we can hardly have such a junior officer in charge of communications, can we?” Olsen said and he managed another small smile to try and raise the spirits of his crew. “Lieutenant Pallas, please contact the other two ships of the squadron and find out their current situation for me.” Olsen ordered his communications officer.
“Yes, Captain.” Pallas replied. He had hoped for advancement, but not like this.
They soon learned that on board the space cruisers Revenge and Sword that a similar fight had indeed occurred. Luckily, it had been won on those two starships as well, but at a dreadful cost, all of their officers had died except for a few junior officers who were now taking over the command of the other two powerful space cruisers. The events aboard these three ships were the first setback ever suffered by Quasar; his well-laid plans had fallen foul of the brave men and officers serving the Regan Empire.
Olsen was soon speaking to the two young lieutenants who were now in command of the other two starships of the squadron. Olsen could only just take in the fact that the Regan space fleet was in such a crisis. For he was in charge of a squadron of starships! He was the senior officer, a mere lieutenant commander.
“Lieutenant Pallas patch what I am about to say through to the rest of the ship, our crew deserves to listen in, for I will be risking their lives as well as those aboard the Sword and the Revenge.” Olsen said to his communications officer.
“Lieutenant Greisen, Lieutenant Bartok, Rahul, Petro.” Olsen said now using the two young officers’ first names. “Fate has seen fit to thrust the command of these three space cruisers upon us, unready as we may think we are to take on such a task. Our comrades in the space fleet of Rega need us to come to their aid, and so unfitted as we may feel we are, we must answer their call.” Olsen said to the crews of the Intrepid and her two consorts.
“Do you both have enough men to man your ship`s Phasers, along with engineering and damage control?” Olsen asked the two new commanding officers who both nodded grimly to him from the view screen.
“We are ready here on the Sword, Mikel.” Lieutenant Greisen acknowledged with a weak smile.
“As are we on the Revenge, Mikel.” Lieutenant Bartok replied grimly.
“If you have to deplete any of your other departments to cover these three areas then so be it. They will just have to cope the best they can with whatever walking wounded they can find to assist them.” Greisen and Bartok both nodded their agreement to these orders, for this time, attack was all that was important, any other concerns would just have to wait until after the battle, if they survived it.
Olsen looked at the two young officers looking back at him from the view screen over the front section of the bridge and smiled. He then took a deep breath before committing them all to an impossible battle that had to be fought for their loved ones back on Rega.
“Then we go in two minutes, which is all the time we have. Any longer and we will not be able to prevent the utter destruction of our fleet, and then we will have even more dead comrades to haunt our dreams. So be ready to move out in two minutes time my friends. Follow my lead and good luck.” Olsen signalled Pallas to cut the transmission, he could not trust himself to continue speaking to those brave young officers who he may just have sent to their deaths. Instead, he got the Intrepid ready for action.
However, everyone on board the three space cruisers had completed Olsen`s unspoken thoughts, to glory, and maybe death, but certainly not dishonour.
Exactly two minutes later the three space cruisers of the Regan space fleet moved out from behind the gas giant just as the fleet commanded by Quasar had passed it by. Bolts of pure energy sprang from the Phasers aboard the Intrepid; these were closely followed by those fired by the starships Sword and the Revenge. The three starships had, of course, chosen to attack the nearest enemy starship, eight bolts of energy had impacted against the defence shields of the enemy cruiser and the defences fell away leaving the enemy ship defenceless. The four bolts of energy from the Revenge struck the starship’s engineering department and it exploded in a ball of fire. The small squadron followed up this attack with attacks against two more of Quasar`s vessels and soon they too were left floating lifeless in space.
Now it was the turn of the enemy to hit back as a bolt of energy struck the Intrepid amidships, almost knocking Olsen out of his seat. One of the computer terminals exploded into flames, and one of the bridge crew lay unconscious on the floor.
“Hard to port David.” Olsen ordered his helmsman desperately as another member of the crew rushed to extinguish the fire while his first officer called for a medic. Olsen though had no time for either emergency; he had enough of his own to cope with as four energy bolts narrowly missed the bridge of the Intrepid, added to all this the lights now began to flicker so much that Olsen thought they were about to go out altogether.
“Ryun, target the lead ship as she comes into our sights.” Olsen ordered the crewman at the weapons console.
Appearing behind the Intrepid, the Sword fired a full bank of Phasers at a second enemy space cruiser that was targeting the Intrepid and thankfully causing the enemy ship to break off its planned attack and veer away. As the Sword dashed by their prey, Greisen looked back at his victim on the aft view screen, its engines appeared to be failing but he showed no sign of mercy for the enemy cruiser as he ordered his ship about and fired another full spread of energy bolts against the stricken enemy cruiser. Scanning the enemy ship as he rushed by it this time he saw very little sign of power coming from its engineering section to warrant a third attack. Instead the Sword swung sharply about and moved ever closer to the Andromeda, Quasar’s flagship.
The Revenge was even nearer to the Andromeda and attracting the attention of Quasar, who ordered his remaining two consorts to go to meet her. The Revenge had seemed to be indestructible up until now, it fired a fully volley of energy bolts at the nearest of the two space cruisers, unfortunately her indestructibility was fleeting, for the second enemy ship raked the side of the Revenge with her Phasers, damaging her defence shields badly. As Lieutenant Bartok attempted to move the Revenge away, the two enemy cruisers attacked, this time taking out two decks and damaging the engines of the Revenge, which lost almost all of its power. For their defences to be breached so easily meant that the saboteurs aboard his ship had managed to complete some of their work.
Starboard thruster now helmsman.” Bartok screamed out in panic. Their ship moved agonisingly
slowly round but before it could line up its weapons on the attacking enemy cruisers, she was hit again, this time the bridge was destroyed in an explosion of flames and destructive energy.
Olsen almost cried as he saw the Revenge hit, but he ordered full speed ahead and launched the Intrepid against the enemy cruisers.
“Ryun target the nearest of the cruisers on our starboard side, prepare to fire a full volley on my order.” Olsen ordered the young petty officer sitting at the weapons console. Their prey were lining up to finish off the Revenge and they never even saw the Intrepid approaching nearer and nearer to their exposed sterns.
“Now, Ryun let them have it.” Olsen ordered grimly.
Four beams of energy flew from the Intrepid to explode against the enemy cruiser, which had already been damaged by the Revenge. The resulting bright flash temporarily blinded Olsen.
“We took out the cruiser`s Phaser weapons and bridge Sir.” Jalon called across from the ship’s sensor console.
Olsen decided to stop the attack against this starship, which would not be taking any further part in this battle, and he now ordered Ryun to target the second cruiser. The cruiser in question veered sharply to port in an effort to shake the Intrepid off. Unfortunately, the space cruiser was met by four more beams of energy coming from the Sword, the Phaser bolts exploded against her defence shields and Olsen from his position on the bridge of the Intrepid could see the shields flickering as the engineers on the enemy cruiser sort to find the power to bring them back on line.
“Hard to port David and take us towards that starship.” Olsen ordered. “Ryun take her down before they get their defences up and running.”
Moments later a full spread of four energy bolts stuck the engineering section of the enemy cruiser and took out most of her power. The badly damaged starship turned away slowly and limped way at its best speed towards the safety offered by her flagship.
Quasar standing on the bridge of the Andromeda was beginning to feel afraid, for he was not indestructible, simply a homicidal maniac. There was also the fact that the bulk of his fleet was away chasing after Admiral Amundsen and the rapidly retreating Regan fleet, there were no space cruisers between him and the two remaining rampaging Regan space cruisers.
“Captain, head for the gas giant Helium, and have the fleet return immediately to cover our retreat.” He ordered hurriedly as the first signs of sweat appeared and slowly trickled down his face.
Quasar`s fleet gave up their chase after the remaining starships of the Regan fleet and began to head en masse towards the Andromeda at maximum speed, soon the Intrepid and the Sword were subjected to attacks on all sides. A Phaser bolt exploded against the bow of the Intrepid, knocking Jalon painfully to the floor, Pallas crashed into the computers on the port side and blanked out for a moment, Ryun wrenched his shoulder while saving himself from a much more painful injury as he flew towards the starboard wall. Olsen was knocked out when a part of the ceiling collapsed onto him. He lay sprawled out upon the deck as a support beam swung violently across the command chair, had Olsen still been sitting in the chair his skull would have been caved in. It was now up to David, for he was the only man on the bridge still conscious, as two energy bolts streaked towards them, and with no officer to direct him, he turned the Intrepid sharply to port and watched as the two energy bolts crossed their bows, and only inches away. Thankfully, Olsen now recovered consciousness and stopping the swinging beam, he climbed painfully back into his chair and he took back his command. Behind him, he saw two electrical fires, however, two more of his crew who had just recovered from the blast looked to be getting on top of them, and both of whom looked to be totally exhausted after enduring such a terrible day. The remaining members of his bridge crew were slowly regaining their feet amid a bridge filled with smoke from the two fires that was now beginning to hurt his eyes and making him choke. However, he did not have the time to worry about any of this, not with so many enemy ships bearing down on them. The intercom on his command chair squawked out at him demanding his attention.
“Captain, we really need to getaway from here, the ship can not take much more of this.” Seibert in engineering exclaimed over the ship’s intercom. Olsen smiled grimly.
“I will see what we can do Chief.” He replied though he knew that this was easier said than done.
“Bring us around thirty degrees to port David.” Olsen ordered. This course would take them back towards the fleet, but that was not to be their destination for a few moments later he gave the helmsman a new order.
“Now, Davis, swing us around that dead starship ahead of us, Ryun target the leading enemy cruiser and fire all of our Phasers as soon as it comes into range.” Olsen thought that death was nearby whatever course of action he took, so he decided to take some of Quasar’s fleet down with them.
Death though would have to wait for another day, for the timely intervention of Admiral Amundsen and the remnants of his badly mauled fleet saved the Intrepid from total destruction, they had returned to the aid of the three space cruisers and the badly mauled fleet somehow routed the enemy cruisers that were pursuing the Intrepid and the Sword.
Quasar did not order his fleet to resume the attack against the badly damaged Regan fleet; he himself needed time to rest to recover from the dangers that had almost consumed him. The Phasers of the Rega shot forth their energy beams once again to harass the enemy ships, however, it was not all one sided for as the enemy cruisers turned to flee the battle, one stray bolt of energy got through the failing defences of the Rega. The Rega had been badly damaged during the long battle and this had been one hit too many. It had been the last shot fired that day but it had deprived Admiral Amundsen of most of his bridge crew including his most valuable officer, Captain Greaves. Amundsen had been lucky for he had been standing at the rear of the bridge and had escaped with only a broken arm and a nasty gash on his forehead. Seeing so many of his comrades dying before his eyes though, and especially after witnessing the death of his son, badly affected him.
Another starship had suffered even worse than the Rega; it was the Revenge. It finally got moving again but it was simply limping along. When the fleet was forced to retreat, as they would be forced to do quite soon, it would be either captured or destroyed. Olsen pulled alongside and called to her consort, it was now commanded by a petty officer, the most senior man left aboard.
“We have only a skeleton crew left Sir, enough to steer and to propel her, but I am afraid that this is the maximum speed we can get out of her, she is pretty beat up.” Petty Officer Olivine replied in response to Olsen`s initial question about the state of the ship.
“Ok, Olivine, set the detonation charges on the Revenge and then bring your crew across to the Intrepid, we are in dire need of you and your crew aboard the Intrepid.” Olsen ordered the weary petty officer.
Olivine’s face showed how sad he was to be leaving his ship, but he thought that at least he and the remaining members of his crew would live to fight another day. He had not seen the state of the Intrepid; it too had been hit hard in the latter stages of the battle.
Admiral Amundsen returned to the planet Rega with his battered fleet, and here he gave his report to President Thorson, he then spent the next forty-eight hours with his family who comforted him as he strove to rebuild his shattered nerve.
**********
Later, on the day of the battle, Quasar stood on the bridge of his ship in orbit around the planet Emanuel, the Regan fleet was nowhere in sight, for it had fled the field of battle in search of somewhere safer. The area around the planet was now filled with Quasar`s large fleet of space cruisers. Some were stationed much further out, on guard against a possible surprise attack; other starships needed repairs, having been badly mauled by the Regan fleet. He had been so near to victory, so near to wiping out what was left of the Regan space fleet, to have had victory snatched away by three cruisers was unbelievable. To make matters worse, his troopers had found few colonists on the planet`s surface, most
had been evacuated to Rega before his fleet had arrived to claim his latest prize, and none were worth torturing. Quasar swore loudly, and thought instead about the few prisoners belonging to the Regan space corps that had been ‘rescued’, they had been stranded on one the smaller moons that was in orbit around the third planet in the system. They were the only survivors to escape the destruction of a Regan space cruiser, now they began to feel that they had lucked out by not dying aboard the burning wreck. Those who were of the lower ranks he sent to his battered fleet to replace those killed in the battle, after invading their minds and turning them into his obedient slaves. One of the survivors was the first officer of the starship; Quasar took more time over him. His victim tried to show no fear, in reality he was terrified of what was about to happen, rumours were rife amongst the men of the fleet as to how prisoners were treated, but no one knew, although he did wonder what the devices were that he saw attached to the heads of the crew aboard the Andromeda. He had been a loyal member of the fleet, now was he too about to be forced to fight against it? Quasar`s eyes held his own, he could not turn them away from the large eyes glaring into his own. He felt his body lock rigid, he was no longer in control of it, except that is for the fear that attacked his brain and his stomach. Sweat seemed to come from every pore in his body, soaking his clothes and running down his face that even now showed bold defiance against a terrible unknown fate.
Quasar only used his mind to interrogate prisoners, he had no need for anything else, certainly not the crude chemicals that the Regan nation made use of. His mind began to delve into that of his latest victim, entering the mind of this poor officer, slowly exploring into the deepest recesses of the officer’s mind. He did not expect to find anything of value within this mind, he was simply bored and so he decided to relieve his boredom by torturing one who had been his enemy. As his mind delved deeper into the memories of his victim so the pain increased for the Regan, although the intrusion was not physical it still caused a great deal of agony that brought terrible screams from the mouth of the Regan officer.