Ambush at Transfer Point Baker

Bridge: Dilgar flag cruiser Reaper

"Scout pentacon reporting in," the communications officer whispered. "They are reading two battleships, two dreadnoughts, nine cruisers, four missile ships, a fleet carrier, and various support ships."

"All ships to action stations. Prepare to execute attack when the bulk of the human fleet has passed the ambush point." Warleader Jo'tok spoke softly into the command interface, her orders relayed to every ship in the fleet. While it wasn't truly necessary to be silent on a spacecraft to avoid detection the hunter's intstinct was strong in the Dilgar. Every crewman in the fleet could feel their blood rise as the moment of the attack grew near. Each felt the electric thrill of an impending kill.

Despite this, Jo'tok was worried. This ambush had been initially planned as an easy excercise. They were to raid Earther shippping and await the task force sent in response. What responded was nothing short of a full battle fleet. Hiding in the dust cloud had played havoc with sensors and the true scale of the human fleet wasn't apparent until moments before they reached the ambush point. Even with surprise on their side Jo'tok doubted that her force could completely destroy the enemy.

Still...not attacking was out of the question. Dilgar did not cower before the enemy. Never. The plan now was to inflict maximum damage and disengage before the enemy could mount an effective response. With some luck they might be able to eliminate key vessels and put the humans on the back foot.

She had an impressive battle force under her command.

Pentacon Reaper: Lead by her own ship, consisted of the heavy cruisers Reaper and Raveger, the light cruisers Flawless and Vigilant, with the command destroyer Dogma providing coordination. There was more firepower in this single pentacon than Jo'tok had ever led in an entire fleet. This was to be the hammer.

Pentacon Omen was led by Dar'shal commanding strike cruiser Omen. In support were strike cruiser Slayer, torpdeo ships Pistol and Rifle, and the command destroyer Certainty. This was a swift pentacon, capable of out manuvering anything in the earthforce fleet. If possible it would swing to the far side of the enemy formation and perform a pincer manuver.

Scout pentacon consisted of the scout ships Hunter, Searcher, Finder, and Quester lead by the command destroyer Doctrine. They would initially provide sensors support. Their job then was to close with the enemy at point blank range and cover the retreat of the more important ships.

Finally, was the heavy carrier Venom. It was to remain in the dust cloud and provide tactical support for all fighter wings. Instructions were to evade and disengage if needed.

Jo'tok gave one last glance at the tactical readout. It appeared that the humans had anchored each end of their fleet with a battleship and a dreadnought. The center held cruisers, missile ships, and the carrier. An excellent formation for a closing engagement. But a poor one when attacked from a flank.

"All ships, attack!" The command was now loud and clear. The time for stealth was done.

---

Space

Two heavy pentacons emerged from the dust clouds at high speed, bearing down on the surprised earthforce ships. Most of the vessels were slow to respond to this new threat, lumbering forward into the fields of pre-vectored fire. A few ships were more alert. The Hyperion Savannah made an emergency turn toward the approaching dilgar, bringing its forward plasma batteries to bear. A swarm of Dilgar attack fighters moved to intercept the cruiser. Its interceptor network swatted down their attacks, but the effort depleted them and left Savannah vulnerable.

The opening volley from the Dilgar was devastating. Pentacon Reaper was the first to reach optimal range. The heavy cruisers Reaper and Ravager fired full into the Earthforce carrier Mitchell, a massive spread of missiles followed closely by a hail of bolter fire. Starfury flights responded to this by hurling themselves between the incoming storm and their charge, but weight of fire brushed them aside like leaves in a storm as the proud carrier was reduced to a drifting grave. The light cruisers Flawless and Vigalent, with support from the command destroyer Dogma, unloaded into the missile cruiser Barker causing it to explode when a bolter volley ruptures the ammo magazines. The ensuing conflagaration damaged nearby ships and blasted dozens of Starfurys from the sky.

Pentacon Omen followed suit destroying another missile cruiser, the Morgan, and damaging the only earthforce cruiser with the temerity to turn into their attack, the Savannah. Though suffering a hail of fire which would wreck lesser ships, the proud cruiser refused to be bowed and brought all forward plasma batteries to bear on Reaper. Superheated plasma lept across the void and struck Reaper amidships, ploweing through the armor plating of the massive ship like it wasn't there. The engines of Reaper sputtered as they struggled to compensate for the loss of all starboard fuel feeds.

One ship, the Marakesh, which had appeared to be a standard Hyperion cruiser suddenly became the source of a cloud of misiles which all angled toward the Dilgar heavy carrier Venom. These missiles were joined by scores more from the remaining missile cruisers Franklin and Mercury. Too late, Dilgar sensors showed that the human missiles were a new variety of high-yeild warheads never seen before. Venom is pushed violently to the starboard as a dozen new suns are born in close proximity. Though she survived the assault her flight decks are wrecked and all sensors have been vaporized from her hull.

---

Bridge: Dilgar flag cruiser Reaper

"I'm geting tired of these human suprises." Jo'tok growled as she helplessly watched the Venom wither under fire. It seemed that Earthforce had a weapon system custom tailored for every fight. "Order Venom to retire before we loose her entirely."

Assessing the tactical situaion, Jo'tok quickly decided what to do next. They'd picked off the outer fringes of the fleet. But to inflict real damage they would now need to close range and get in a knife fight with the humans. This meant getting dangerously close to the Nova Dreadnought and Orestes Battleship at the rear. She may never again be offered this many human ships in so vulnerable a position. There was little choice. One high-speed battle pass and out the other side.

Her orders were relayed quickly and the Dilgar pressed their advantage. She smiled a predator's grin as she watched the entire front half of the human column struggling vainly to come about in time help their fleet mates.

---

Space

Pentacon Reaper dived into the heart of the human fleet bringing all guns to bear on the massive form of the Nova Dreadnought Medusa. Two full wings of Thorun attack fighters launched their torpedoes at the dreadnought, overtaxing its inadequate interceptor grid. In a perfect display of Dilgar precision, the bolter fire from all five ships in the pentacon raked the Medusa. Under the concentrated firepower of four cruisers the mighty dreadnought is transformed into a flaming wreck.

To accomplish this the Ravager had to move within weapons range of the battleship Alexander Suvorov - which now opened a full broadsides. The Dilgar had learned to rightly fear a broadside fusillade from a Nova dreadnought, but few had any experience fighting the Orestes Battleship. They were generally too slow and lumbering to ever reach the cruicial points in a battle before it was over. But if one can be in the right place at the right time...

A veritable wall of plasma belched from the starboard side of the Suvorov as every gun was brought to bear on the Dilgar heavy cruiser. Armor plating boiled off of the hull of Ravager as if it were water, exposing the innards of the ship to vaccuum. Secondary explosions and fires rolled out of control along her length, reducing power to all weapons and defense systems. In an instant, Ravager was reduced from a ship in prime fighting trim to a barely spaceworthy hull, limping away at reduced power.

Pentacon Omen targeted the auxiliary ships, concentrating fire on the missile cruiser Franklin and her escort frigate Norden. Again, the vulnerability of the Sagittarius missile cruisers is exposed as ammo magazines alight and explode, gravely crippling the ship. The Norden didn't fare so well, the tiny ship overwhelmed and destroyed by bolter and pulsar fire. In return the hyperion assault cruisers Guan Yu and Vostok moved within range and raked Flawless with their plasma batteries, disabling her damage control systems.

One squadron of trhee Hyperion cruisers realized that they will not be able to turn around in time to join the fight. Instead, they all turned directly away from the skirmish and aligned their rear heavy lasers on the Dilgar flaghsip. The Reaper is momentarily pinned in place by three massive lances of light, like a butterfly in a display case. She is struck just forward of engineering, completely cutting power to all aft weapons and reducing her speed as the engine struggles to compensate.

---

Bridge: Dilgar flag cruiser Reaper

Jo'tok picked herself up from the floor and took her station. She was amazed that Reaper was still in one piece. Any other Dilgar ship short of a dreadnought would have been destroyed by such a blow. Still, she knew the ship would not survive another like that. She also saw the wounded status of her sister ship Ravager. It was time to leave before they suffered more extreme losses.

"Pentacon Reaper, plot escape vector and make best speed!" She needed to occupy the human forces while the more valuable ships disengaged. "Scout pentacon, close range and engage the core of the enemy fleet. Concentrate on long range missile ships."

---

Space

The ships of the scout pentacon raced out of the dust cloud, quickly coming to point blank range with Savannah. Though designed for scouting and electronic warfare they are still heavily armed. Every Dilgar ship is a fighting vessel first and formost. The weapons batteries of the five ships at such close range devastate the wounded Savannah, finally striking the fusion reactor. A chain reaction quickly follows and the Savannah dissappears in an expanding cloud of debris.

The forward half of the human fleet had performed about half of the needed turn to fully come about. There was only one target available to them and that was the carrier Venom, vainly attempting to disengage on wounded engines. Three Oracle scout cruisers, three Hyperions cruisers, and the battleship Winfield Scott all line up Venom with their heavy laser batteries. The ship simply ceased to exist as seven massive lasers carve her into pieces.

As the command pentacon with wounded Reaper and Ravager attempted to escape, the other Dilgar ships furiously pressed home the attack.

Buying time with their lives; scout frigates Finder and Searcher race toward the missile cruiser Franklin attempting to ram it. The Searcher just misses as Franklin performs a desperate evasion manuver. But Finder slams into the side of the ship, burying itself several meters into the hull before exploding. Franklin is gravely wounded and has lost all starboard missile tubes. Searcher is carried by its inertia straight into the waiting guns of the Nova dreadnought Chronos, where it is reduced to component parts in seconds.

Franklin is then beset by the remaining Thorun attack fighters. The nimble dart and weave along the hull of the ship, getting close enough to fire into the gaping wound left by Finder. The attacks finally hit their mark and Franklin's missiles detonate in an increasingly common pyrotechnics display - taking the cruiser along with all the attacking fighters.

Pentacon Omen closes with the squadron of Hyperion cruisers which damaged Reaper and performs a strafing run on the cruiser Jakarta. The timing in the attack is flawless, a testament to Dilgar discipline and training. Each ship in turn races by the Jakarta, unloading missiles and bolters as it then vectors away toward escape. By the time the last ship has finished its attack run the Jakarta is a flaming hulk. Its mission accomplished, pentacon Omen then breaks and disengages.

The battleship Alexander Suvorov pushes its engines to the limit and makes an impossibly tight turn, bringing its long range heavy laser to bear on the fleeing Dilgar flagship. Out of spite, if nothing else, it takes one last shot at the diminishing shilouette of Reaper. The shot strikes true, passing entirely through the ship and out the far side.

---

Bridge: Dilgar flag cruiser Reaper

"Damage report!" Jo'tok had to yell to be heard above the howling wind. She knew the ship had been gravely hurt. Gravity had failed, but she was still in her chair because the engines were locked at maximum acceleration. The wind told her of multiple severe hull breaches and the damage control display showed loss of atmosphere over 80% of the ship.

"Total casualties in all sections aft of section nine! Emergency engineering teams are working on the engines!" yelled the DamCon officer. Suddenly the wind stopped as airtight doors closed off the breaches. "Ships systems", she continued at a more level tone, "are largely intact. But crew casualties are nearly total."

One last time she was suprised by the humans as that cursed battleship fired a laser with a range they had never seen. It was believed that the Hyperions represented the extent of Earther beam capabilities. Apparently what they couldn't make up for with technology they would compensate with size. Her scans now clearly showed how the Orestes battleships were literally built around a massive spinal laser which could fire even further than Dilgar missiles.
Twice now she had nearly lost her ship to the unexpected. "That was the last time," she vowed, not entirely convincing herself.

---

Space

As pentacons Reaper and Omen receeded into the distance, the few scout ships remaining rammed and destroyed the last Sagittarius missile ship, Mercury. The command destroyer Doctrine attempted to escape, but were overtaken and hulled by multiple human ships. It was then boarded and taken a prize.

---

Commander's Office: Star Fortress Station Prime

"I've read your report, Warleader," War Captain Tor'han placed the reader on his desk. "You did considerable damage to the humans. A fleet carrier, two heavy cruisers, and four of those damnable missile ships. They will not soon recover, I think."

Jo'tok stood before the War Captain's desk. Behind him she could see the massive shipyards patching the damage to her ship Reaper. "They still have signifigant forces remaining, sir. Now that we've seen the Orestes battleships in action, I wish we had eliminated them as well."

"Yes. Those are troubling ships. But they are few and expensive, like your own ship. Thanks to your work, we have the humans on the back foot. If it wasn't for those damned Centauri we could have control of the system with a final push." Tor'han pressed a control on his desk and a graphic of the system appeared on its surface. On it were all the strategic points and known fleet dispositions in the system.

The War Captain waved at the display, "as you can see. The humans have been pushed back to their base in the asteroid belt. They still have siginificant resources there, but they are effetively bottled up." As he spoke, two locations on the map flashed. One at the mining station known as Slag, the other at the ship graveyard on the edge of the system.

"Our real worry now is the Centauri." At this the map flashed to emphasize three of the four planets in the system. "They have an iron grip on Krish Prime. That damn space station of theirs is a fortress. They also have gas mining facilities in orbit over Krish V. Most importantly, they hold Garden. That is going to be our new homeworld."

Jo'tok stared at the display for a long moment, taking in that fact. A new homeworld for the Dilgar. It was so close she could almost touch it. But it was nothing unless they took the system. "What of our colonists?" she asked.

"We've settled the first quarter million on this station. A few hundred thousand are even now establishing a colony on Demeter." Tor'han sighed, showing his fatigue for a moment before the mask of command returned. "But there are now over eight million queued up in stasis on refugee ships and more arriving every day."

"Eight million?" her shock clearly showing, "Is it going so bad at home?"

"This is our home now, Warleader," the old soldier looked Jo'tok directly in the eyes as he spoke. "Don't forget it." He wanted this to sink in. "But, yes...the war is all but lost. Omelos will hold out as long as possibe but we are the future of the Dilgar people. Either we win here or our peple will be nothing more than a glorious footnote in history."

For a long time the two soldiers stood in silence, gazing out the window at the stars.