GateWar Interludes
17: A fine dish…
by Chaos_eternus
“You do realise, the last time one of these rigs got used, Liberty bent her main spar and ended up in the hands of the yard dogs for months?”
Carter shot the Captain a dry smile, “that's true but the raids on the supply lines to Edonia are picking up again, we can't ignore it.”
“Yes, maybe, and of course they are never going to expect us to pull the same trick twice.”
He got a tight smile in response, “not quite the same trick…”
“New missiles…” he shrugged, “well, we'll see. If they have any sense, after the Liberty incident, they are probably keeping their hyperdrives hot at all times.”
“Maybe,” Carter smiled, “but whilst Anubis knows something happened to the previous raiding squadron, we don't believe he knows exactly what. In fact, the indications are that he thinks Liberty was just the bait, that there was another ship involved as well.”
Fanelli considered this a moment, “well, that explains the escort. You do realize when they spot her she is going to get pounded?”
“ Yorktown 's Captain had been briefed. He knows what he is in for.”
“I hope your right, that's all I can say,” He replied grimacing, “but we will see shortly wont we?”
“Contact! Two Ha'taks coming in hard and fast!”
“Any sign they have spotted Yorktown ? ” Carter asked swiftly.
“Not yet,”
Nodding, she turned back to Fanelli, “your call.”
“We continue on plan. Engage with the gauss rifle and pulse lasers. Hold the Swords back and call in the Yorktown to engage.”
“Understood Captain,”
“Well General, this had better work,” he noted, his eyes dancing across the status displays, “still, they aren't here in quite the numbers I had expected.”
“Perhaps they held some back as a reserve?”
“I hope not,” Fanelli glanced up, “it would mean that bastard in charge over there has at least a basic idea of what he's doing. If he decides to take too close a look at us…”
The icons on his screen shifted abruptly and he smiled, “they've spotted our big brother.”
Then he frowned as the ship rocked and the icons shifted once more, two new red icons flashing up onto the display, “Bastard. He did have reserves.”
“Called them in very quickly though.”
The captain shook his head, “two Ha'taks is enough to keep Yorktown very busy, certainly busy enough not to be able to support us. In theory, two Ha'taks will finish us off very quickly and then they can go assist against our friend.”
Carter caught on quickly, “if he has anymore reserves, he doesn't think he needs to use them.”
“So, he gets to avoid displaying his full strength,” Fanelli finished, “if this guy does have more ships… then he is dangerous.”
Carter glanced at the Captain, considering. This may have been her plan with herself as part of the bait, deliberately leaked to the enemy, but Fanelli was still Captain. If he decided it was too hot, it was his word that was final not hers, despite her greater rank.
He shrugged, “have to deal with what we know and those bastards can kill us.”
As if to emphasise his words, the ship rocked, a groan of stressed metal filling the bridge for a moment.
“Open the tubes on pods one and two and prepare to fire,”
“Pod Three Captain?”
“Hold in reserve,” he acknowledged, then turned to Carter once more, “lets see how good these new missiles of yours are.”
The two Ha'taks approached the Sir Lancelot confidently, side by side. They knew the ship could damage them, but they also knew the ship didn't have enough firepower to cripple them, let alone destroy them unless it got really lucky.
They knew they had no reason to be afraid.
They knew wrong.
The portside of the Merchant class ship belched fire, missiles speeding towards the Ha'taks. The Ha'tak crew was surprised and it took them several dangerous seconds to react but react they did, the two ships opening fire with anti-missile weapons that not a decade ago would have been unheard of aboard a Goa'uld ship.
Computer controlled anti-missile batteries, batteries carefully programmed with the full capabilities of the modified Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles of the Tau'ri but not of the Swords.
That omission could be forgiven; the Swords had never been used in anger before, had never been seen by the Goa'uld. Failing to program the anti-missile system to adapt to unexpected capabilities and learn was however an unforgivable mistake, one that would reap its own kind of payment.
The Swords were not modified atmospheric missiles, whilst they were capable of being used in atmosphere; they were designed from the start to be used in space. Just slightly larger then an old Pheonix , they had greater acceleration and a larger warhead then the missiles previously used but perhaps most importantly, more efficient manoeuvring thrusters and more of them. Combine that with a larger sump tank for the thrusters, operating under higher pressure and the missiles could manoeuvre and evade the entire way to the target.
Given their larger size, the Sir Lancelot actually carried just half the missiles the Liberty had during the previous Q-Ship run. More missiles would however have been unnecessary, before the first salvo even arrived; the Sir Lancelot had rolled, firing off the portside tubes in the first and second pods.
The first Ha'tak died, the missiles of the first salvo having simply destroyed it's the nearest shield segment then it simply fell apart under a rapid barrage from the Sir Lancelots gauss rifle. The second Ha'tak had more warning, its commander, cannier then most put the ship into a rapid spin and then threw all its available power into the shields even as its partner died beside it.
The second missile salvo arrived moments later, but the rapid spin meant that the missiles spread themselves against three of the four major shield segments of the ship. The shields held, but were severely weakened and the Ha'tak moved back, content for the moment to watch the fight from a distance.
“Close on him! Let's see if we can't keep the bastard busy,” Fanelli ordered, glaring at the blinking icon on the screen.
“Status on the Yorktown ? ” he heard Carter ask beside him.
“Busy,” he noted, his eyes glancing across his displays, “these guys are good. One solid kill may be all we get before we have to leave.”
Grimacing, she nodded her acknowledgement, “I would rather that didn't happen, but…”
She left the rest unspoken; they both knew the only certainty in combat was that Murphy would make an appearance at some point.
“New Contacts! One Ha'tak, two destroyers!”
Paling, he watched the icons flare up on his screen. The bastard did have more reserves.
“Fall back! Ready pod three for firing! Charge the hyperdrive, we are leaving. ”
“Negative on that last!” Fanelli twisted around aghast as Carter continued, “transmit on frequency twelve, single phrase… Evening Star.”
“Evening Star?” he asked startled and then frowning, turned back to his console, noting with relief that yes, helm had moved from away from the enemy and yes the hyperdrives were charging and pod three was even reporting as ready. He wasn't a stupid man; stupid people didn't get to be starship Captains even if the ship in question was only a freighter not a warship.
He hadn't been told the whole plan. If there was a later, he and the General would be having words.
“New contacts decloaking! Al-kesh… but I'm picking up IFF transmissions. Gunboat squadron six.”
Fanelli grimaced as he glanced at his displays, “they're going after the cripple… he mused, then grimaced, “still not going to be enough to win this one.”
Carter nodded, conceding the point, her eyes tracking over the Captains shoulder as she watched one of the destroyers move to assist the crippled Ha'tak even as its companions moved to bypass Sir Lancelot and engage the Yorktown .
Fanelli knew better then to think he could win against those two with two thirds of his missiles gone, but helping the Al-kesh…
Sir Lancelot moved towards the furball of the six Al-kesh, the damaged Ha'tak and the Anubis destroyer even as Yorktown began to extract itself from its own fight with the two Ha'taks, knowing that survival would become very unlikely as soon as the reinforcements arrived and it became four against one.
Yorktown wasn't quite quick enough and found it self surrounded even as Sir Lancelot opened fire, the last of its missiles speeding towards the Anubis destroyer. The Ha'tak finally died, taking two of the Al-kesh with it mere moments before the missiles started to impact, shattering one section of the shields.
Then, the battle shifted again.
“New contacts! Receiving IFF beacons… Seeker, Gettysburg , Watcher… and Atlantis! ”
Fanelli found his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline and then with a sigh, he turned towards Carter, “you know I would have appreciated knowing that the battlegroup was involved.”
“I tell you, you tell your XO…” her eyes turned hard as she removed her zat from its holster, “your XO tells the Goa'uld.”
He considered this for a moment and then sighed, “We have got to work on our communication. For the moment, let's make like a chicken and get the flock out of here!”
He turned back to his displays in time to catch both destroyers flicker off into oblivion, “it's not as if they need our help anymore after all.”