Twilight in Two Galaxies Second book of the Intergalactic Alliance Trilogy A crossover Star Wars - Star Trek fiction by Crayz9000 Star Trek © Paramount Star Wars © Lucasfilms LTD All Rights Reserved Timothy Jones is the sole property of the University of Washington primate research department. Flames and abusive comments may be directed towards the Professor of Psychology . The stunts performed in this book were done by specially trained ASCII characters. Do not attempt to repeat these at home. Voyager, the last time I checked, was leaving the Solar System. I'm not sure if it's run into that pesky wormhole yet, but ol' Gene should say something when it does. Gene? Acknowledgements My thanks and gratitude go to: Rob Dalton, for wasting space storing this. Rob Wilson, for his continued editing, feedback, and general support of my work. The denizens of ASVS for providing a captive audience. MKSheppard and Chuck Sonnenburg for providing inspirations for this series. Chris O'Farrell for setting my determination in writing a fanfic based on the Yuuzhan Vong. Nick AKA Nom Anor for creating the Essential Guide to the Yuuzhan Vong (http://www.unjoh.com) That cantakerous yet entertaining old scriptwriter who couldn't write for sour owl poop, Gene Roddenberry, for creating the starship Enterprise. May he rest in peace, and hopefully stop somersaulting in his grave in the near future... depending on the outcome of ST:Enterprise. And last but not least, I have to thank George Lucas, for his vision of 'a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...' Hacknowledgements My disrespect and general ill-wishes go to: Rick Berman for generally bastardizing the Star Trek franchise. That and ripping off Lost in Space. Brannon Bragga. Why didn't you sue your parents for giving you such a dumb name? However, I have to say it seems fitting, for someone who brags that much. Dramatis Personae Marsh Gatre; General, Imperial Army (human male) Kazuaki Shimazuki; Admiral, Federation Starfleet (human male) Mkrel'man'trelakana "Mantrel"; commodore, Imperial Navy (Chiss male) Ollic; captain, ISD Magistrate (human male) Avin; captain, Ny'lith Boro (human male) Gail Hancock; captain, USS Hercules (human female) Skravi Krel; commander (male Yuuzhan Vong) Derek; engineer (human male) Ryan Gordon; lieutenant, USS Hercules Dalhil Granglo; stormtrooper captain (human male) Robal Reytuc; stormtrooper corporal (human male) Ph'ngu Reco; slicer (human male) Dellen Morsa; Jedi Master (human male) Ryaspi Fernas; Jedi Master (human male) Hkalle; Jedi Master (Calamarian male) Jarus; Jedi Master (Gungan male) Jacen Solo; Jedi Knight (human male) Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight (human female) Anakin Solo; Jedi Knight (human male) Tenel Ka; Jedi Knight (human female) Alexander Munro; ensign, USS Dauntless (human male) Alesatt Brenton; ensign, USS Dauntless (human female) Timothy Jones; ensign, USS Dauntless (human male) Dorba Morchi; captain, Headwind (human female) Chro'far Poone; copilot, Headwind (human male) Chapter One "What the hell is that?" Captain Gail Hancock of the Excelsior-class USS /Hercules/ studied the viewscreen with the scrutiny of an officer who has not had much interesting happen for a few years. She wasn't the one who'd made the comment, as that had been the communications officer, Lieutenant Gordon. The viewscreen revealed a star system in turmoil. Alpha Ceti, the system had been called; that designation however held little importance now. Once, a century before, the famous Captain James T. Kirk had imprisoned many genetically engineered 'supermen' led by Khan Noonan Singh, on the planet Ceti Alpha V. He had done this after they had tried to take over his ship; ten years later, they had risen again this time hijacking a Miranda class vessel - the USS /Reliant/ - and subsequently using it to steal the Genesis device. As a result of this the system tended to be refered to by that planet rather than the system's name itself. The colony on Ceti Alpha V, though, had long since been destroyed. This left only the indigenous blood-sucking creatures on the dry, sandy surface. Now, as Captain Hancock stared at the viewscreen in disbelief, it appeared that the fifth planet had, to add insult to infamous injury, been destroyed. Shattered into three discrete segments, hidden among a cloud of rocky debris. What appeared to be more discrete clouds of small asteroids flew about it. Things that appeared to be larger asteroids slowly orbited the shattered world's remnants. If the sensor readings were correct, the remaining sections of the world were being eaten... _by giant snails?_ She slowly tore her eyes from the viewscreen, and gave her attention to the sensor operator, who was reading off his displays. "I'm picking up a lot of gravitational anomalies in this system. It's like looking at a miniature black hole cluster." He reported. "Understood, Lieutenant. Can you tell me what the large, pale object between the planetary remains is?" She asked, her eye's almost unconsciously being drawn back to the almost surreal events onscreen. "Unknown, Captain. From the looks of it, though, I would say that whoever destroyed the planet is building an asteroid." She nodded, still staring at the viewscreen. "Helm, move us in. We should get some detailed sensor information for Starfleet before we leave." She'd heard rumors from the USS /Dauntless/ about a mysterious race from another galaxy, one that had crippled and destroyed the Enterprise. They were, however, unsubstantiated rumors, and Starfleet had given no official briefings on the alleged aliens. As for the /Enterprise/, Starfleet's public story was that it had been destroyed by a black hole, and the survivors brought back by the /Dauntless/. _Some story,_ she thought. "Aye, Captain," the helm officer acknowledged. "Range to planet three million kilometers and closing." Since it would take a while to reach the planet, Gail leaned back in her chair to think. A few other things had been bothering her about Starfleet. Officially, the USS /Voyager/ had returned, accompanied by another lost Starfleet ship. Again, she hadn't heard much but rumors about it, but if the rumors were believable, then it was no Starfleet ship that had brought /Voyager/ home. A small sigh escaped her lips. The /Hercules/ was almost halfway through its five-year mission, patrolling the borders of the Federation. Out on the border, accurate info was fairly hard to come by, much less ship upgrades. She'd heard that, in addition to the deployment of quantum torpedoes and pulse-phaser cannons, Starfleet was deploying some type of new drive system on the top-of-the line ships. Quantum slipstream, she'd heard it called. It was supposed to be far faster than warp, somewhere around Warp 9.999997... whatever that was. Most just called it "Slipstream 1." From what she had heard, the slipstream drive system was only being deployed to new ship classes like the /Prometheus/, the /Defiant/, the /Intrepid/, the /Steamrunner/, and the /Sovereign/. Gail suspected that an eighty-year old /Excelsior/ was pretty far down on the upgrade lists. Hell, it didn't even have a holodeck! The closest it got to a decent rec facility was an exercise room, and a botanical garden - similar to the one carried by the Constitution-class ships like the original /Enterprise/. Slowly and deliberately, she cleared her mind of the thoughts. It would not be good to go into combat thinking about such things. Reaching down to the computer-armrest, she tapped a recording device. "Captain's Log, Stardate 53985.5." She forced herself to take a deep breath, and continued with the log entry. "We have entered the Alpha Ceti system, and apparently located the source of the trouble. The fifth planet, Ceti Alpha V, has been shattered by some unknown force. At the moment, we are moving closer to investigate. Our initial sensor readings reveal many gravimetric anomalies, in a semi-haphazard pattern. They appear to be tied to nearly a thousand small asteroid-like objects. So far, there has been no response from the unknown force, although we are hailing them across all known frequencies." Gail flicked the recording device off, and leaned back in the chair, allowing the electronic massagers to soothe her cramped back. * * * A large, dark ovoid shape floated on the other side of Ceti Alpha V, concealed from the USS /Hercules/. It was nearly two kilometers in length, and mostly composed of blackish coral. Its surface was evenly cratered with small pockmarks, which in turn concealed plasma boilers and projectile launchers. Larger, deeper crater-like depressions concealed dovin basals, the gravity- manipulating creatures that the Yuuzhan Vong employed as both propulsion and shielding. Multiple ribs ran the length of the ship, ranging in color from cobalt to a blood-red. Both fore and aft of the ship, the ribs extended for several hundred meters. Like barnacles on a marine ship, hundreds of asteroidlike coralskippers were attached to the ribs. Yet more small craft flitted about the giant warship, effecting repairs to damaged regions of coral and rejuvenating depleted weapons. Buried deep in a cavern on the warship, a humanoid form rested on a seat that would make an Indian Fakir's nail bed seem like a goosedown mattress. The humanoid was as deeply scarred, if not more so, than the ship that carried him. At first, one may have mistaken him for a human being minus the skin. That, however, was only the outward appearance. A deep, purple scar crossed his face from his left eye to his right cheek, evidence of a wound that the warrior had recieved years before. His teeth jutted out of his lipless mouth, giving his head the appearance of a grinning human skull. No cartilage existed on his nose, and black-and-red tattoos covered much of his face. The humanoid's eyeballs, deeply recessed in his head, were rimmed with dark, saggy bags. The Yuuzhan Vong got up, and walked across the small room to where several head-sized, somewhat bloblike creatures sat in their respective cradles. He finally selected one, and brushed it along its ridged top to awaken the creature. Within several seconds, the flat and formless front of the villip reshaped itself, taking on the face of another Yuuzhan Vong located elsewhere within the fleet. The first Vong addressed the lieutenant commander watching the villip on the far end. "Has the enemy ship moved yet?" "Yes, Commander. We are tracking it per your orders." Skravi Krel nodded, and allowed a grim smile to cross his face. "Allow it to come close and take a good look. Then capture it so that we too may have a look." "Yes. We will do so." Krel did not move his steady gaze from the villip. "Be sure that the ship is not destroyed like the last one was. Also be wary, because it may try to ram you." "Yes, Commander," the lesser-ranking Vong acknowledged. "I will do as you say." * * * "Captain," Lieutenant Gordon started, "we seem to have caught their attention. We now have three tails." Gail nodded. "I was wondering how long it would take them to notice us. Still no acknowledgement to the hails?" "No, no acknowledgement yet." Lt. Gordon read, clearly disappointed. He had been expecting an exciting First Contact situation, but the other side was being rather uncooperative. That, quite naturally, dampened the young lieutenant's spirits. "Very well. Helm, as soon as we are within one hundred thousand kilometers of Ceti Alpha V, I want a quick orbital pass so we can scan the surface. Take us around at full impulse, and then we'll warp back to Starbase 37." "Yes, Captain. Inputting course changes now." The situation on the bridge was rather serious by this point. Finally, the tactical station officer broke the silence. "Incoming! Multiple plasma signatures rapidly closing from the rear contacts." "Evasive action!" Gail ordered. The ship shuddered from the first impacts as the words left her lips. "Looks like they decided to answer our hails after all." Lt. Gordon said sarcastically. "Haven't they heard of subspace radio?" For its 522 meter length, the Excelsior-class vessel was one of the most maneuverable in Starfleet, only surpassed by the vessels that were built nearly a hundred years later. Plus, it was one of the most heavily armed vessels for its age, which was probably the reason Starfleet hadn't retired them yet. The once mighty Starfleet ship now twisted and corkscrewed in its flight, in a desperate attempt to evade the hailstorm of plasma blasts that erupted from the Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers. But despite its manuevering, the ship was still a very large target, and most of the plasma blasts struck home on its shields. "Shields draining rapidly! They're down to thirty percent!" an ensign at tactical reported, his strained voice nearly a shout. "Return Fire!" Gail ordered. Golden-red phaser beams lanced out, playing across the voids created by the dovin basals on the Vong coralskippers. Finally, the continuous beams found a gap in the defenses of the tiny starfighter, and in seconds it erupted into a far larger cloud of plasma, taking two others with it. Still, three starfighters out of several hundred was like a drop in the bucket. The phaser beams continued to lance out, striking more coralskippers and reducing them to their component atoms after a few seconds. The ensign at Tactical tried to shout over the din of alarms and klaxons. "Shields are down!" he reported. More of the plasma bursts struck home, opening gashes in the relatively weak armor of the Excelsior-class vessel. The Bussard collector of the starboard nacelle was blown clear off, disintegrating in a brilliant explosion. Yet another plasma orb impacted, this time blowing through the port photon torpedo launcher. On the Bridge, Captain Hancock stared at the shattered remains of Ceti Alpha V, finally realizing something as a dark ovoid shape slowly emerged over the horizon. Almost as soon as the massive warship emerged, the /Hercules/ shuddered as if from a tractor beam locking on, while the coralskippers immediately broke off their attack. "It was a trap," she observed. "They herded us in this direction." Gail looked nervously on at the rapidly approaching asteroid. "Can we break free from their tractor beam?" The ensign at Tactical responded. "We don't have enough power, Captain. We lost nearly half of our plasma when they blasted off one of the nacelles. Engineering has just shut down the warp core to keep it from going critical." Captain Gail Hancock shook her head, and let it fall into her hands in a dejected expression. "I should have never done this, never endangered my crew." She withdrew her head, and turned to the security officer. "We will have to self-destruct." The security officer bit his lip at the order. "Yes, Captain." He stopped as faint clanging echoes reached the bridge. "What was that?" the Captain asked. "Intruders. We're being boarded." Came the reply from Tactical. Gail jumped out of her chair, and ran out of the pit to one of the control consoles, brushing aside a startled ensign. "Computer, commence self-destruction sequence, authorization Gail Four-Zero-Seven Beta Kappa Nine." The computer gave a sharp buzz. "Self-destruct mechanism inactive." She gritted her teeth, as things were getting worse and worse. "Status of the intruders?" In response, the computer flashed up a diagram on the LCARS display. The Captain nearly fainted, but somehow found a way to hang on to consciousness. "Engineering... no response... monitors destroyed." Gail thought about the situation. "They're making their way up here." She turned around, ignoring the shocked looks of her bridge crew, and finally addressed the security officer. "Lieutenant, get everyone armed. We're not going down without a fight." "Aye, Captain." He popped open a concealed weapons locker, took out several compression rifles and Type-10 phasers, then began distributing them. Chapter Two "Ladies and gentlemen," the Federation President began, "as your Commander-in-Chief, and on the behest of Admiral Shimazuki, I have called a meeting to discuss the destruction of the USS /Enterprise/, and any solutions you may have thought of." He took his seat at the head of the long conference table, and expectantly looked at Admiral Shimazuki. Somewhat hesitantly, Shimazuki came to his feet. Instantly, all the eyes of over a dozen Admirals and Commodores were trained on him. Some knew what he was here to propose, and the gaze of those particular Admirals and Commodores made him feel as though he was one centimeter tall... figuratively speaking, anyway. He nervously shuffled the papers and a PADD that lay scattered in front of him, and finally cleared his throat. "Fellow Admirals and Commodores of Starfleet," he began haltingly, slowly picking up momentum. "As many of you know, the USS /Enterprise/, flagship of our fleet, was lost in the Delta Quadrant to a previously unknown race." One of the Commodores cleared his throat, diverting the attention from Shimazuki. After everybody had determined that the Commodore had nothing to say, they all turned back to Shimazuki, who continued his speech as if nothing had happened. "We do not yet know the full scope of this enemy, or how much of a threat they present to the Federation. Captain Picard apparently kept that data to himself, and we will not risk sending another ship out there." He paused for anyone to question him, but when none did, Shimazuki continued. "But for the sake of simplicity, I will give you the premise for my proposal. The /Enterprise/ was destroyed simply because it could not handle the enemy forces even with the assistance of the USS /Dauntless/." Murmurs broke out from the assembled commanders. The Commodore that had cleared his throat chose that moment to speak up. "So are you suggesting that we increase production of starships, along with the associated increases in manpower, in response to this phantom threat?" More murmuring erupted from the assembled commanders. Shimazuki held up his hand, and responded to the Commodore's question. "No," he said. "Although an increase in production would likely serve the same purpose as my proposal, that is not what I am advocating." The silence was deafening. "My proposal is that we create a class of dedicated warships to supplement - and defend - the scientific capabilities of Starfleet." During the silent period that followed, one could figuratively hear a pin drop. Eventually, Admiral Hayes raised his hand. "Do we not have the /Defiant/ as a dedicated warship?" he questioned. Admiral Shimazuki grimaced, knowing Hayes' character and the likelihood of his bringing up this argument. "I believe you should do some research on the navies of the 20th century. The /Defiant/ would be classed as a Corvette or Gunship, Admiral Hayes." Hayes remained unconvinced. "Gunship or Corvette, the Defiant-class has proven its mettle in the battle against the Dominion. The Dominion War ended two years ago. You are a hero of the Dominion War, and as history has proven, war heroes often find it difficult to adapt to peacetime. Are you then, perhaps... _creating_ a war for your own ends?" Shimazuki tensed slightly at Hayes' attack. He ground his teeth quietly, and, after much thought, responded. "I only serve the Federation Starfleet," he admitted. "And I believe it to be in the best interests of Starfleet to at least design a battleship unrivalled in this Quadrant, even if we do not produce it." One of the older Admirals nodded, speaking in a slow Texan drawl. "So you want a modern Constitution-class, don't you. You feel that it is necessary to bring back the glory days of the /Enterprise/, when Klingons and Romulans alike envied us and our technology." "Perhaps, if you want to look at it that way." The Chinese admiral admitted, his face twisted in a thoughtful expression. "But the analogy is somewhat outdated, as we have peace treaties enacted with both the Romulans and the Klingons." The old Admiral smiled. "Of course. It was only an example. Where would we find another James T. Kirk?" Shimazuki never had a chance to respond before Hayes interrupted again. "May I ask what this... reminiscing has to do with the current debate? This is a time of peace. We do not need anything that could possibly spark hostilities." The debate was getting more heated by now. At the far end of the conference table, another man came to his feet. "Admiral Hayes." Hayes turned to stare into the face of the Admiral who had spoken. "As the President mentioned, this meeting was to discuss the destruction of the /Enterprise/, not the competency or credibility of Admiral Shimazuki. I personally back the Admiral's proposal to create a new class of warship to defend ourselves, having seen the results of the /Defiant/ in combat as compared to the Galaxy-class explorer." He stopped, noticing the look on Hayes' face. Eventually, Jellico mentally shrugged it off and continued. "Besides, we still have the Borg to contend with." Admiral Hayes raised his hand in a gesture to stop. "That is understood, Admiral Jellico. I suggested that we increase production of the Defiant-class instead of wasting money on an entirely new project that may or may not work. Look how long the Sovereign project took, and all the resources we poured into it!" Jellico was quick in his rebuttal. "You did not suggest that, Admiral. Commodore Kramer did. However, look how the Sovereign-class performed against this new enemy. Admiral Shimazuki has a valid point, Admiral Hayes." Hayes was certainly steamed by this point. And eventually, the inevitable hit. He blew his top. "I DEMAND," Hayes shouted, "to know why you and Admiral Shimazuki are so concerned about the Borg - who we haven't heard a peep from in over a year - or this phantom enemy, which you have shown no concrete proof of aside from the /Dauntless'/ questionable logs?" "Admiral," Jellico softly reminded him, "you are in charge of the domestic affairs of Starfleet. Admiral Shimazuki was one of the most celebrated commanders in the Dominion War, notably for his brilliant tactics. During the re-taking of Deep Space Nine, he commanded the USS /Greenville/ and its associated taskforce. He was able to hold off several entire squadrons of Jem'Hadar attack ships while the main assault proceeded. I might even go so far as to say that the thrust would have failed had he not been there." Before Hayes could make an attempt to rebut Admiral Jellico, the President brought his gavel down. "That will be enough, gentlemen. I have better things to do than supervise petty arguments and listen to war histories. We can discuss this matter later, unless you wish to revert to the original topic." Hayes quietly muttered under his breath a simple phrase. "Stupid flyboys." If the President heard, he did not acknowledge. "Does anyone have any questions?" he inquired of the assembled admirals. Most shook their heads in response. "Then this meeting is adjourned." He slammed his gavel down a final time, stood up, and walked out of the room. * * * Admiral Jellico caught up with Shimazuki in one of the long corridors in Starfleet Headquarters. He clamped a slightly scarred hand down on Jellico's shoulder, and decreased his long stride to match the Chinese admiral's gait. "Don't worry," he finally said in a reassuring tone. "They're stubborn, and it just takes time to get any new proposals through." "That's what worries me," Shimazuki admitted. "Time is a precious commodity, and I fear that it's running out. Every week they delay, we could have a new attack launched on us. It took all my clout... well, with you helping me at any rate... just to get newer ships equipped with slipstream drive, PPCs, and Type Thirteens." He slowly shook his head. "Don't they seem to realize that they're hamstringing themselves? The galaxy's a hostile place, not a city park. At least /Voyager/ showed that, if nothing else!" Jellico raised an eyebrow at that. "I wouldn't attack Captain Janeway that much if I were you. Sure, she made a lot of mistakes, but if it wasn't for her you wouldn't have slipstream. And we wouldn't know about the Republic, either." "Damnit," Shimazuki unintentionally swore, "I _know_ that! But was it really worth alienating a few dozen species just for those two things?" He paused to reflect on what he had just said. "And now the Outbound Flight Project has gone back from whence they came, leaving us wondering if they'll follow up on the alliance." His voice rose dramatically. "*Then* we lose the best ship in the fleet, and our best captain along with it, all to something which came from *their* galaxy!" Jellico decided that it would likely be prudent to keep his mouth shut, even though Shimazuki was his protégé. Shimazuki had served under Jellico since graduating Starfleet Academy until his promotion to Commodore, when he was given his own command. As an officer who expected 100% unquestioning loyalty from those who served under him, he reciprocated that loyalty whenever necessary by backing his men to the hilt when the occasion called for it. Shimazuki comtinued, in a slightly calmer manner. "OK, OK, maybe I can't blame them for all hell breaking loose. It's just mighty convenient that as soon as they show up, we lose the flagship and our borders start going silent." Admiral Jellico slapped the turbolift control switch, and stopped. "I know what you mean," he said plainly. * * * "Hey! Wake up!" Dorba Morchi, pilot and owner of the YT-2400 light freighter /Headwind/, spun her chair around and shook a snoring person in the copilot's seat, to no avail. "Chro'far, we're coming up on Napali III. Come on, wake up!" "Huh?" he moaned, obviously still asleep. She simply shook him harder. "Wake up, will you?" His black eyes snapped open in confusion. After rubbing them, he glanced at the displays, observing the continual beeping of the navicomp. "Oh," he commented. "That." Chro'far shook his head to clear it, and reached for the manual controls in case the navicomp failed to bring them out of hyperspace. Exactly on time, the mottled sky of hyperspace dissolved into a star-speckled vista, the only things nearby several average planets and a hotly glowing star. But a bluish wedge shape quickly caught Chro'far's eye. "Hey," he exclaimed, "this system isn't supposed to be under the Remnant!" "Oh, shit," she slowly said, looking at the data from the sensor displays. "Allegiance-class Star Destroyer, a little over two klicks long. No hangar bays or tractor beams, thank goodness." She caught her breath, remembering the specifications she'd forced herself to memorize when she had begun smuggling. "Not like it needs them, at any rate, considering its firepower." Several more spacecraft decelerated into the system at a rate that made them look like streaks of light, causing the already startled demeanor in the cockpit of the /Headwind/ to become quite plainly upset. "There goes our delivery window." Dorba scanned the displays again, trying to determine the new intruders. "One Imperator, two Victories, three Dreadnoughts, one Interdictor... and three Loronar Strike Cruisers." She turned to the copilot. "I don't care how much those people want arms, because we aren't going through an Imperial blockade." Chro'far Poone, a refugee-turned-smuggler from Tatooine, glared back at her. "Dorba, we've got nearly a hundred thousand's worth in BlasTech rifles and power cells back there. They wanted 'em because this system is supposed to be ear-marked by the Vong for invasion." "Yeah, well looks like the Remnant is here to take care of the Vong, if they ever come. Look, I already told you that I'm not planning on running contra through an Imperial blockade." The sensor alarm went off again, drawing her eye back to it. "OK, more ships. There's some old battleship that the computer can't ID, and a few... uh, I guess they're Imperial pickets." The other smuggler tapped her on the arm. "Shouldn't we be getting out of here, then?" he quietly suggested. "Not yet!" Dorba objected. "I might not be planning on running through the blockade, but they haven't shown any interest in us yet. I want to see just what they're doing. Hey, information *is* money, after all." She breathed a sigh, looking at the assembled fleet. "We can stay here for a day, anyway, and not break any deadlines." "I sure hope you know what you're doing," Chro'far muttered under his breath. * * * The Imperial taskforce moved into standard fleet formation, with the Allegiance-class "destroyer-killer" at its center. Immediately surrounding it were the Imperator-class Star Destroyer, two Victory-class ships, and an old circular warship, left over from the days of the Trade Federation. The Interdictor was standing slightly off to the side with its gravity-well generator powered up, apparently waiting for something, and a cloud of starfighters and pickets surrounded it. Within two hours, it became obvious exactly why the Imperial taskforce was in the Napali system. Almost precisely in front of the task force, two dark ovoid shapes, one large and one small, appeared without any warning. But before the Imperial ships could open fire, it suddenly seemed as though the Yuuzhan Vong assault cruiser disintegrated, with literally hundreds of small asteroid-size particles detaching. On the heavily armored battle bridge of the /Blue Fire/, Commodore Mantrel surveyed the unfolding battle with the air of one who knows exactly what his enemy will do. Although he was unsure of who the commander of the Vong assault force was, he was certain that he could win, given his numerical superiority. Without turning away from the simulated viewport, he issued an order to the communications officer. "Lieutenant Ellimar, instruct Captain Witt to bring the gravity-well projectors to bear on the Vong craft." "Yes, sir," the lieutenant acknowledged, tapping his comm unit immediately. In the meantime, Mantrel had diverted his attention to the tactical officer. "Commander, on my orders I want full alternated ripple broadsides from all ships, with all available cannons. Target the first cruiser, and we'll see how long it can last." By now, the Vong had opened fire on the Imperial fleet, and hundreds of plasma blasts flew towards the Imperial Juggernaughts. The sheer scale of space in its infinity, the combat distances involved, and the fact that the battling warships were themselves kilometers long made the multi-hundred kilometer per second plasma orbs appear to be almost drifting in their flight. "Fire," Mantrel ordered, as if opening fire on an alien vessel was done every day. Almost immediately, local space became a blizzard of turbolaser fire, with nearly a thousand assorted cannons firing in delayed intervals. The instant hailstorm of fire simply evaporated the incoming plasma orbs in its immense firepower, and washed towards the leading Assault Cruiser. The assault cruiser put up as many voids as it possibly could to divert the barrage, but the alternating strong-and-weak turbolaser fire overwhelmed weak voids and bypassed strong ones. The gravitic interference from the Interdictor Cruiser made it even more difficult for the dovin basals to operate, and soon only a handful of dovin basals were left on the Vong assault cruiser. The yorik coral, now devoid of protection, began evaporating at an astonishing rate as the turbolasers dug into its surface. As if not satisfied with ruining the Vong craft, the turbolaser barrage continued to pummel the disabled ship, eventually turning it into so much space dust. Apparently the other Vong ship had enough, and tried to turn and flee, leaving the hordes of motherless coralskippers behind it. However, it appeared that the Imperials were not giving up the chase so easily. Now, every ship in the taskforce powered up, pursuing the smaller destroyer analogue. The coralskippers, deprived of command and all but ignored, now tried to inflict damage on the Imperial fleet like so many bees stinging a bear. Countless numbers of coralskippers flitted through the taskforce stinging with their plasma weapons, only to be swatted down by the hundreds of point-defense cannons that were actively searching for them. Several minutes elapsed while the Imperial taskforce continued its rampage, and finally it was all over. Commodore Mantrel glanced at a chronometer displayed prominently on the battle bridge. The entire battle had taken all of ten minutes, although it had felt like ten hours. He finally walked over to one of the crew pits. "How did we fare, Lieutenant Ellimar?" The lieutenant consulted his displays. "Negligible damage to this ship. Only the /Hellbringer/ sustained serious damage. After losing shields, half of the turrets were destroyed. Their conning tower took the brunt of the damage, and they estimate repairs will take a week back at base." Mantrel mentally took note of that fact. The Loronar Strike Cruiser was a sturdy ship, but at half the length of a Victory-class Star Destroyer, it was not the strongest ship that existed. In the meantime, Lt. Ellimar continued to scan his displays, and continued. "We also lost two combined squadrons of starfighters, several pickets, and one Corellian Corvette." "Very well," Mantrel solemnly acknowledged. "Open a channel to the planetary governor, two-way visual if possible." "Yes, Sir." The visage of the governor quickly appeared on the simulated viewport, or viewscreen as some would term it. He was clearly unhappy, likely stemming from the fact that there had just been a large battle in orbit of his planet. Of course, Mantrel couldn't blame the man. "Greetings, Governor. If I may introduce myself, Commodore Mantrel of the Imperial Navy." The governor's worried expression took on a look of curiosity, as he attempted to match the name with anything he knew. "You should be quite safe now," Mantrel began. "The Vong assault force has been destroyed completely." The human paled slightly at the mention of the brutal aliens. "Thank... thank you, Commodore." "It was trivial, a mere service for a civilized world." Mantrel understated, but continued speaking without a break. "I am aware that your planet produces far more foodstock than it consumes. I am interested in buying several shipments, if possible?" The governor was still quite nervous. "Yes, yes, we do." he hastily said. "Do you wish to talk to the heads of the corporations responsible for production?" "As a matter of fact, yes. Thank you, Governor." The governor's curious expression remained, but he returned the favor. "You are welcome, Sir."