Sovereign chapter 3 (standard:science fiction, 1721 words) [3/3] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 13 2003	Views/Reads: 2572/1942	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Chapter 3

Adams stood tall in the centre of the bridge, a camera relayed her image
throughout the ship. She was about to make an address. In but a few 
short hours Royal Sovereign, the rest of the first fleet and a sizable 
Anduril contingent would intercept the Megaeran armada, and fight for 
Earth's survival. 

“The enemy have set their sights on Earth. That thing, that thing which
we have feared since we first looked at the stars and wondered if we 
were alone, is finally happening, the aliens are coming. If they want 
Earth then they're going to have to come through us first. Many people, 
I'm told, are using these last few hours before the battle to record 
and transmit messages for friends and family. I am not. I am of the 
considered opinion that, should such messages be our final ones, then 
there is little I could say which would be a more effective statement 
than my death, defending my home.” 

The battle was both quick and terrible. After two hours of fighting, the
Megaerans, or what was left of them, blinked first, retreating as best 
they could into hyperspace. Only twenty-four Solarian ships survived, 
four of which were the Phantom class ships and these set out to pursue 
the fleeing enemy. Twenty-four out of a fleet of over a hundred ships, 
the Megaerans had suffered similar losses. Both sides had lost their 
flagship, both sides had lost a major part of their navies. 

“Mr, Lott, what is the state of my ship?” Adams demanded, once the last
foe had vanished from epdar. “I think ‘shot to hell' would just about 
cover it Captain,” came the reply, “Primary turret two is immobile, and 
tertiary turrets two and three are destroyed. The port shield generator 
is offline and we've got over a dozen hull breaches. Section one and 
four ion vents are buckled and running at 70% and I estimate about two 
hours till number two reactor containment goes bellow minimum safe 
levels.” “What's wrong with the reactor?” “We're overloading it to run 
the damaged ion drive, it's weakening the mag-shell and a weak 
mag-shell allows stray positrons to hit the field-shell.” 
“Acknowledged, shutdown the starboard shield array, charge navigational 
shields only. Try to run number two as long as possible. Helm, set 
course for Mars, signal the fleet for all Solarian ships who can to 
follow and signal Neo-Mir to send in the tugs.” 

Neo-mir tugs moved in and retrieved those Alliance ships who could not
move off under their own power and they also gathered the numerous 
lifepods which were floating in the debris field. 

‘Sovereign limped into Mars-space accompanied by the ragged remains of
the Solarian fleet. Her port side was pocked with craters from blaster 
and EP canon fire, and near the stern was a larger wound where the hull 
had not been blasted away but forced in to make an ugly depression. 
This was the sign of an impact from a Megaeran torpedo, it was this 
which had done away with numbers two and three tertiary turrets and 
which had also caved in the ion vents. 

As soon as she dropped into real space ‘Sovereign received an automated
transmission from Gia (the navy's primary computer). The message 
revealed that unbeknownst to the admiralty the Andurils had kept back a 
sizable fleet, secreted from their allies, which was now advancing on 
Megaeran space. The transmission was sent to all arriving ships and 
almost to a man the crews were apoplectic. A mere 24 navy ships had 
survived the onslaught, the Alliance fleet had been outnumbered by the 
armada and almost destroyed. Now that their human pawns had helped 
destroy the Megaeran's navy the fresh and un-fought Anduril fleet could 
move in and claim their territory. They had been used and everyone knew 
it. The whole of the navy and Neo-Mir too, was ready to go nova and, as 
if to cement the deal, the Anduril ambassador and his staff were 
nowhere to be found in their embassy on Mars. 

‘Sovereign was resting in the same shipyard in which she had been built,
her systems repaired and her hull healed of its hard won scars, but 
anger still seethed within the crew. Not anger against the ones who had 
caused the scars, but against those that set it up. It all made sense 
now. The technologically superior Andurils had the more powerful navy 
but the Megaerans had more territory and a greater number of 
mineral-rich systems with which to feed a larger navy. The only way the 
Andurils could crush the Megaerans would be if they could force them to 
gather their fleets in one place, and for that they needed bait. It 
must have seemed like a miracle when, out of the blue, humanity stood 


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