A Cloud of Flame

[Telan Desaria]

Rear Admiral Zinovy Osipovich Aster looked down one hall, then another. Just behind the bridge, he was at a cross-roads. Closing his eyes and imaging a burdening career, the Admiral was at a cross roads.


C'est la vie, Zin. The Admiral had to remind himself that his current state of affairs, his peetered career, his command for that matter, was his own doing. Life as he knew it, life as Rear Admiral Aster lived it, was his own fault.


This is what happens when you try to court the much younger daughter of the Chief of the General Staff.


Growling, Aster lumbered forward onto the bridge. The lights of the aft control corridor reflected off his pale skin as he passed numerous duty stations before the ceiling gave way to the expansive bridge-proper itself. There was the nerve center of the Suvorov: crewmen in the pits, the dity ring above, and the corridor behind.


The Admiral mounted his chair and looked forward into the Tiberian Nebula.


" Are we actually going in there, sir?" asked Commander Xarel, presenting a report to his admiral as he coyly craned a youthful head to the swirling mass of blues, purples, and oranges arrayed before the warship's prow. " I mean, won't our sensors be useless? We'll have to rely on visual renderings for everything."


Aster smiled, and after a cursory examination, handed the updated bridge roster back to the acting commander of the Imperial V-class Star Destroyer Suvorov. " Yes, they will, but so will guidance systems."


" Thank the Gods for line-of-sight weapons, then."


" Indeed. Take us in when the Captive and Orel repprt ready."


Xarel smiled and shook his own head. Such was the life of a border patrol command.

[Maal Lah]

"Helm, rotate around 90 degrees. Present our starboard batteries for optimal firing. " Commodore Maal Lah instructed the lead pilot, basing his actions more on thought rather than his voice. Still, I'll never get used to not using my voice to command The Chimaera, Maal's flagship, and only ship, complied with the orders issued, increasing its destructive power towards the Praetor class cruiser floating off its starboard side. The cruiser was commanded by Lieutenant Lorrani, a relatively new officer of the Federacy. Supposedly a combat champion, he seemed almost a novice in fleet combat. Of course, if he wasn't that way, we wouldnt be here practicing maneuvers.

The area in which they were was chosen for its remote location and its almost imperviousness to outside sensors or monitors. Here they could blast on each to their heart's content.

Maal returned his attention to the "battle" in front of him. The 4 Inferno cannons on the port of Impregnable battered his shields on starboard. "Damage reports!" Maal commanded.The results were better than expected. The Impregnable was at too far a range for its truly destructive capacity.

The same could not be said of Captain Snake's cruiser as it knifed into Chimaera's port and bow flank. The dual hit shook the very durasteel floor of the bridge. Maal was not fazed. "Gunnery, you have your targets. Make them count!"

On his ship's starboard side, Ion torpedoes shot out at the Impregnable accompanied by half of the complement of Occult ion lasers on his ship. On the other half, Ocult ion as well as turbo lasers joined together in a stream of light strobing at the smaller Praetor cruiser.

Unfortunately, Captain Snake's ship only presented its bow section to Maal's destroyer. A cascade of blue ion ripples swam over the ship, accompanied by several explosions, but the ship remained capable of combat. However, lieutenant Lorrani's ship hung unmoving in space. Sensors showed that shields were gone, as well as engine thrust signatures. Similarly, fusion activity in the lasers were gone.

Grr.... Maal opened a direct link to Lorrani. "Lieutenant, i would like to know the reason as to why you presented your entire frontal section to my gunners? i'd like you to take a moment and-"

A warning klaxon blared in the his bridge. Maal turned his irritated gaze to the nearest officer. "Turn that off, you fool! I know we're in a 'battle'!" He emphasized the remark with finger gestures.

"But sir-" Maal cut off the officer's reply as he figured out the source of the interruption. This was supposed to be an unoccupied area. Bit it wasn't. The Federacy destroyer's particle sensor system was picking up...

... "What?!!!" the word spat out of his mouth. Ships, with Sovereignty markings! what in sithspawn is going on?

"Get me Snake and Lorrani. Immediately!" He ordered.

[Wes Lorrani]

Officer Lorrani was furious. It was his mistake to expose the ship to Lah's, and he was now paying for it.

Lorrani took his chewing out with an impassive face, but frowned when he saw Lah turn away. What's going on? Lorrani thought. He soon had an answer to his question.

"Sir!" cried an officer. "Enemy ships on our sensors!"

Lorrani strode towards the sensor station and shook his head. "Activate filters," he ordered, "this nebula is distorting everything."

The officer complied, and sure enough, Sovereignty ships appeared on the sensors. Lorrani grabbed a comm, and spoke to the entire ship.

"Attention all personel! We have enemy ships in the area! All crew to their battle stations, and standby for orders," he said.

If our sensors are distorting here, then they must be totally blind, thought Lorrani.

"Keep on monitoring the situation, officer," he said, "and inform me of any changes."

"Sir, Commodore Lah is hailing us again," said the Comm officer.

Lorrani sighed. "Put him on screen," he said.

[Telan Desaria]

" Did you see that?"


Rear Admiral Aster had been on watch for seven hours, an unusually long length of time for a man of his age and rank, even one as unofficially outcast as he. He had drifted to sleep twice - it was, after all, the middle of the Thyferran night. It was such that he squinted heavily, and remained doing so when he turned
to Commander Xarel.


" Sorry sir, no."


" Looked like a...weapons flash, pretty low on the brightness end."


" I didn't see a thing, sir. I've been revising the duty roster."


Aster chuckled, the man he called his flag captain being the most conscientious in regards to the mundane duties of command he had ever known. Even he, an Admiral and would-be shining example of the Empire, relegated paperworks to aides.


" Sensors, do we have any operational scanners other than visual?"


A young female lieutenant turned to her superior and gave a precise click of her heels. " Partial only sir, out to ten kilometers at best. The nebula is nullifying our equipment."


" Search" - the Admiral imposed a grid and coordinates on the flash he had seen - " 16 Alpha."


She replied a moment later. " Nothing, sir. If there is, we would see it before the sensors picked it up. That is a cloud of ionized tetrion gas and impregnable to our equipment even if it was working properly."


" Very well. Commander!"


Xarel stood, tucking the report under one arm. " Sir?"


" Let's raise shields, just to be on the safe side. Continue our run, I want to be home by supper."

[Jake Snake]

Captain Snake watched the war game in his mind, with closed eyes. The computer recorded mock hits and probably damage. That damage was than simulated on the ship. He watched as the Praetor accelerated at the Chimera and opened fired, only to have the Chimera respond in kind. The bigger ship out gunned him, but he was much faster.

Jake studied the battle and than gave orders through his mind. Instantly the cruisers engines sparked to life, even as the lights came on and off from the ion hits, and pushed the cruiser toward the Chimera. As it closed in to with 200 meters, its enimity cannons and inferno batteries opened fired. This was followed by two Quantum torpedo launches. As the torps departed their launchers, the Praetors engines fired in reverse, slowing the large ship down, as manuevering thusters engaged, and lowed the ship in space. They spun it around as well and quickly pushed it under the slower Chimera.

Jake watched as the ventral side of the Chimera came into view and his fore section tilted up at the Chimera's Engine bays. AS they came into view, all weapons on board the Praetor opened fire.

"Get the Mass cannons on those engines."

Right after that order the mass cannons opened up at the engine bays of the Chimera.

"Sir, scanners are picking something up."

Right than Lah's voice broke through, hailing them. Jake ordered his ship to disegage, "Commodore, this Captain Snake, reading you loud and clear."

[Maal Lah]

"Snake, Lorrani, from the way you have brought your shields up, i'd say you have already noticed the 'intrusion.' it appears our exercis will be delayed." Maal began optimistically. Even with his group's superior firepower, this would still be a furball. And hopefully not a slugfest.

"They have their shields up and are remaining alert, but I'd say that is just a precaution. Their sensor systems are no match for ours. But they remain a problem..."

The young officer Lorrani began fidgeting. "i have an idea, Commodore. One to destroy them"

And i thought we were going to give them flowers.... "Then spit it out" Maal prompted.

"We could use a flanking maneuver with our two smaller ships, and then drive in with the firepower or your Nihilist. Sir," came the reply.

Maal mused over the possible scenarios from that strategy, then decided on a course of action. Efficient, and quick. I'll need to make a note of it in my memoirs "Okay, here is our plan. Take their present trajectory, which is bearing..." Maal pored over his sensor data, "...60 degrees off our starboard axis. Mark its estimated position in three standard minutes as position zero-zero-zero. That will be our base point. "

"Captain, Officer, you have the fastest ships. Drop down present to base point. In 2 minutes, 43 seconds, you should be at zero-niner-xero, that is in klicks from the base point. That should be well within the range of your mass cannons. From there you will be visible to the enemy,although you may want to activate your stealth package. your targets are - Gunship 1, marked target 1, and Gunship 2, marked target 2. Eliminate them. Support each other, and use your fighters to your advantage. All clear?"

Captain Snake piped in. "What will you be doing, sir?"

"Well, while you are hopefulyl bombarding our enemy, I will be taking my ship well clear of your initial engagement zone. The Nihilist class has advanced stealth systems, as you may recall. While you distract them, I hope to take the Imperial-class, the main threat, unawares. When we meet together again, we will have won. Remember, you are from the Federacy, not these Sovereignty dogs. You have 2 minutes, 12 seconds, officers. Good luck. I will be silent form now on." Maal closed off the line. I'm not much of a pep talker, but they'l do alright. Now I have to concentrate on my task.

He turned to his aide, a Major Avrin, relatively new, and barked out orders in a true captain's way. "Inform our main pilot that we are going in the back door. Put all that expensive stealth armor to use. Only vital sensors going until we are in firing range. At 45 seconds til engagement, initiate communications inhibitor." What a fancy name for jamming... 1 minute 56 seconds to go....

"Let's move!!"

[Wes Lorrani]

"You heard the Commodore, helm," said Lorrani.

"Yes sir."

The ship's engine engaged, and the Praetor class ship started on the course Lah set.

"People, we have under three minutes until we engage the enemy, get ready," Lorrani announced in a calm voice. The crew nodded their heads, and immediately prepared for battle. Crew began running to their stations. Consoles lighted up as controllers activated them. THere was no talking. The only sound came from the engines, and the shuffling of chairs. Lorrani smiled at their focus to their duty. I must now focus on mine, thought Lorrani.

"Sensors, any activity in the nebula?" asked Lorrani.

"Nothing strange, sir. They haven't detected us yet."

"Good. Helm, time until arrival at zero-niner-zero?"

"One minute, thirty seconds," came the reply.

"Weapons, are you ready?" asked Lorrani.

"Yes sir."

"Begin calculating firing trajectories. Control, engage stealth package. Everyone else, standby for orders."

A chorus of acknowledgements answered him.

"Comodore Lah's ship has engaged their stealth package, sir."

"Thank you," said Lorrani. He smiled. So he actually agreed to my idea. Stings, doesn't it, Commodore?

"Ten seconds until point zero-niner-zero is reached!" came a voice.

"Trajectories found! The enemy is in range. Standing by for firing command," said another.

Lorrani took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. He slowly opened them and let out the breath.

"Open fire!"

[Jake Snake]

Jake nodded to himself, "Orders acknowledged sir."

He turned to the helm and issued orders over the nueral link. The deck under him vibrated and the bridge was filled with a deep hum as the cruisers engines light up. It quickly accelerated away from their training area.

"Wes, this is Jake, just wanted to wish you good luck and good hunting. Lets kick some sov butt."

Jake smiled and watched the other Cruiser speed off toward its own staging area. "XO, lets get our stealth gear operational and take the ship to Four-six, two-eight, seven-nine. I want to come up under them."

"Yes, sir. Setting course at once."

"Are them still proceeding as planed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, charge all batteries and locate our target."

"All batteries charging to maximum captain."

"Very good. We'll have to wait for them to come to us."

Jake watched the screen and saw their target, surrounded in a red circle, coming closer and closer. In thirty seconds it was within range of the mass Cannons.

"Gunnery, target enemy shield systems and weapons stations. Open fire with mass cannons, inferno batteries, and CEPPs."

At once fire errupted from ports around the ship. They spewed out death and destruction as fast as they could. All this flew at the unsuspecting SOV gunship.

Through quick mental commands, the cruiser started to move up in space and over to starboard in a long arc, that would bring it off the Gunship port side for a devistating broadside. It would still be hidding in clouds of nebula gas. With its stealth package, it should be undetectable.

"Release the fighters. Tell them to stay close until they recieve orders."

In moments the fighters started to launch and the group of six ships formed up behind the cruiser.

[Telan Desaria]

An hellstorm flared up in the span of only a few seconds. From the clouds of timpanic gas on the port side of the Suvorov. came a ship, but it was not just any ship. The ship bore the devious design of a hellish beast, all too common among warships, and indeed every ship, to come out of the Imperial Federacy.


The target of the withering maelstrom was the Hammer-class Light Cruiser Captive. Her commander was a young lad; most of her crew had barely shaken off their diapers befopre they found themselves embroiled in deadly combat.


Embroiled, however, they did not become. They had no chance. The fire that shot itself from the walls of the nearest cloud broke the back of the small, 285 meter craft. It had a central spar, thick like many Imperial cruisers, and that very object spilt in two, divulging its contents to a battle-torn vacuum.


Vengeance, however, would not be without its own voice.


" Triangulate that position and fire!"


There came barrage the like of which were ten times that fired previously - they had made the mistake of angering an Imperial-class Star Destroyer mark V. Five heavy quad-turbolasers let loose a hail in sync with fifty other turbolasers of varrying calibre - it would be a hot time in that cloud for whomever had dared spit and the Imperial ensign.

[Maal Lah]

At least I'm not tangled up in that firestorm. Maal thought as his ship drove to the opposing end of the sphere of combat. Maal had seen Officer Lorrani's Impregnable deliver the first hit, but after that the exchanging weaponry combined with the gaseous currents of the nebulae made visual sight impossible. There were other options thankfully. "Sensors, data feed on status, please." came the prompt, accompanied by the mental impulse.

"Our status?" The addressed officer, whose nametag read Turkin, sounded confused.

"NO. Of our cruisers getting fired upon." No use getting angry. It owuldn't help him in a fight. The data, however, pleased him. One gunship destroyed.... Very good, very good. However, sensors showed that the ISD was sending a barrage towards one of his cruisers. But, there was also no sign of a fighter launch. All the better, then I hope young Lorrani can hold his own. And Captain Snake as well.

The Chimaera slowed down as it reached a distance of several klicks from the embroilment. It began a rotating loop to point its bow back towards the engagement. The ship rotated and settled, preparing for a thrust into battle. Maal began issuing orders.

"Power up weapons. Activate communications inhibitor, and prepare for engagment. Stealth package keep operational."

"Yes Sir."

"Are our squadrons prepped? Good, then launch when we drop our stealth profile. Angle them in our normal trajectory for missiles."

"But sir! Our stealth package"?!The officer protested.

"This is an order, Officer. See it done." The officer nodded and transmitted the orders. The invisibility of his ship faded away.

The dagger shape of the Chimaera became visible in space, to friend and foe. And for better or worse A dozen specks separated from the dagger began a ponderous acceleration towards the speck. Then a dozen more jumped out. Followed by a third dozen. They sped towards the ISD.

"Fire our complement of ion missiles in the same trajectory."

This time the officer didnt protest. The order was followed. In the black of space, a wave of torpedoes followed the fighters, gaining on them remarkably.

And gaining on the Imperial Star Destroyer as well.