Demeter: Pride cometh...

Bridge: Strike Cruiser Omen

"Action Stations!" Jo'tok checked the sensor readings. Sensors showed two hyperspace vortexes opening up just at the edge of their jammers. The Centauri had cut it close. To attempt a crossover into real space inside the range of a gravitic jammer was certain destruction.

Once they had transited to real space the ships turned toward Demeter and made full burn. Sure enough, the Centauri were making a run for it. They shrewdly avoided the bulk of her fleet by racing toward her left flank.

The sudden appearance of the ships meant that the Centauri had a few precious seconds before the Dilgar could properly react. They used this time to full advantage, pushing their engines to the limit. But this wasn't some League fleet they were facing. It was Dilgar, the most professional military in the galaxy. As one, the blockading forces fell into formation and began to move.

Checking the tactical display, Jo'tok saw that pentacon lead by the light cruiser Flawless, would be right in the path of the Centauri. Scout pentacon #2, lead by the command destroyer Dogma was already coming about and bringing ELINT systems online.

The most fortunate turn was that hers was the closest Strike Cruiser to the closing enemy. Slayer was too far away to participate, as was pentacon Dogma.

"All ships, move to engage." Jo'tok ordered in a level voice. She turned to her XO, "Order the fighters to begin making missile runs. Let the scouts designate the targets."

ELENT showed four ships approaching: two Sulust class destroyers and two Maximus class escorts. Four full wings of the excellent Sentri fighter were flying close support.

As was typical for a Dilgar engagement, the first weapons to fire were missiles. A cloud of them flew from pentacon Flawless. Centauri defensive systems and escort fighters put up a massive wall of counter-fire stopping nearly every missile inbound, but at the cost of a score of fighters.

Jo'tok toggled the inter-ship channel, "Flawless, this is Omen Actual. Avoid the forward arc of the Sulust destroyers. They are armed with battle lasers and..." her words trailed off as she watched one of the ships in battle pentacon Flawless explode under the battle laser of a Sulust.

"Damn. They are going to get in trouble over there." She checked her ship's position. Still too far away to help. "XO, get down to the engine room and use your override codes to bypass the safeties. I want more speed!"

"Sir!", Dar'shal jumped up from his station and left the bridge. Running for the engine room.

Soon thereafter Omen shuddered as her engines were pushed beyond the red line.

"Well done, XO." Jo'tok spoke aloud. She made sure that her crew knew when she was pleased with their performance. In her opinion, positive reinforcement was so much more effective than the more harsh training methods prevalent throughout the Dilgar fleet. Many captains even executed officers who failed to perform to their standards. Let the home fleet and stormtroopers keep those fanatics. A professional force needed to learn from mistakes and grow. Dead officers learned nothing.

The space around the speeding Centauri vessels was alight with fire. Dozens of Thorun Torpedofighters were pouring fire into the nearest two ships, Samno and Courageous. Flawless had realized the error in positioning of her pentacon and maneuvered behind the Centauri, but not before another frigate was lost to Ion Cannon fire from the same Sulust.

But now pentacon Flawless was in bolter range and a hail of accurate fire fell upon the Cenauri task force, backed up by torpedo fire from fighters. The Sulust began to break apart and even the sturdy Maximus was showing signs of damage.

On the bridge of Omen, Jo'tok was counting the seconds. "How long till we are in range to engage?" she asked the ELINT officer.

"Coming into range now," came the smart reply.

"Excellent. Spool up missile batteries and prepare for time on target attack with bolters." She would show these 'advanced' Centauri what Dilgar weapons technology could achieve.

"Conn, ELINT! Lock from enemy Maximus! Incoming fire!" the ELINT officer reported.

The Maximus firing at Omen was damaged and leaking atmosphere. Its weapon array was severely damaged. Jo'tok wasn't too worried about the incoming fire. "Prepare to return fire."

Then the Maximus fired. Jo'tok was right about the reduced effectiveness of the weapons on the Centauri escort. However, Omen's engines had been overtaxed trying to reach the battle on time. One of the plasma conduits had been severely weakened by the stress. This is precisely where the blow from the Maximus landed.

Hot plasma was diverted by the damage and burned like a blowtorch into the fuel lines, causing a catastrophic secondary explosion that rippled down the entire length of the ship. Bulkheads buckled and airtight seals failed throughout Omen as automated damage control systems struggled to contain the cascading disaster.

Just below the bridge there was another explosion as the jump engine capacitor suffered from a massive feedback through the disrupted power systems. The breakers and field dampeners kicked in quickly, stopping a full rupture. But the bridge was wrecked. Lighting and gravity failed throughout the ship.

Dar'shal was moving back to the bridge from engineering when the blow struck. He was thrown against a bulkhead and very nearly broke his neck. He had just righted himself when the light on his wrist monitor went green. That light could mean only one thing. The Battlemaster was dead or incapacitated and he was now the senior officer on board.

Quickly regaining his bearings, Dar'shal made his way to auxiliary command. Gravity was out so he had to glide along the hallways. This wasn't a difficulty as Jo'tok regularly trained her crews in zero gee maneuvers.

As he arrived, he floated to the command chair and began to give orders rapid fire, "Damage control to the bridge! All stations report in. Weapons free to fire on any targets of opportunity."

Omen may have been crippled, but Dar'shal wasn't about to advertise it. Weapons fire showed that the ship was still able to fight and just might convince an enemy ship to keep its distance rather than finish them off.

As the reports came in it was clear that Omen, while not dead in space, was gravely damaged. They still had partial maneuverability from the port side engines and the power grid could support some weapons fire.

"Come about! All weapons lock onto the bastard that did this to us!"

Not far away, the battle was still raging. Though central command was momentarily disrupted when Omen was struck, Slayer soon took over the role and began to relay commands to the various pentacons.

The scout pentacon was now called upon to charge the enemy, discarding their support role for a more direct approach. This they did with relish, as all Dilgar ships are warships first and foremost.

Weight of fire from waves of fighters, pentacon Flawless, and the scout pentacon were finally taking their toll. Nearly all the defending fighters were killed trying to protect their charges. The Sulust, Courageous, was a burning hulk and the Maximus Samno was set upon by the scout pentacon. Fittingly, the final blow that finished Samno was from the heavy bolters of the Omen.

With all their fighters destroyed and one of the escort ships eliminated, the staunch defenses of the Centauri fleet began to fail. Repeated fire from the fighter wings set the other Sulust, Valiant, adrift. The fleet then concentrated all its firepower on the last remaining Maximus, Scutario, quickly overwhelming and destroying the lone vessel within a few kilometers of the safety of the Demeter defense satellites.

The Centauri were stopped. There would be no relief for Demeter and now it would fall to Dilgar guns.

----

Sick bay: Star Fortress Station Prime

Jo'tok awoke in pain. She could see that she was in a med lab. The last thing she remembered was the explosion on the bridge. As her vision cleared she saw her XO, Dar'shal, standing next to the bed.

"Report", she said reflexively though in a weak voice.

Dar'shal smiled, "I'm glad to see you are still with us. Omen is in drydock at Station Prime. We won the fight against the treacherous Centarui."

"You did well, Battle Captain." That was when Jo'tok noticed the new uniform Dar'shal was wearing. "Or should I say Battlemaster. It seems you were promoted in my absence."

"Indeed. The War Captain felt that I showed initiative and has seen fit to give me a new command."

Jo'tok chuckled, causing her to wince with the pain in her ribs. "So Omen is loosing you as XO? Some reward for saving her. But you have certainly earned it. You're a damn fine officer"

Taking a moment to absorb all this, Jo'tok nodded and considered the next step. "Has the ground assault commenced? Omen should be in orbit over Demeter to provide support for our troops."

"Ah. Well, there's been more developments while you were lazily sleeping away the hours. First, there will be no assault on Demeter."

This took Jo'tok by surprise. Hadn't that been the whole point of besieging the world?

"I can see this has you worried. It shouldn't. We took Demeter three days ago. I ordered a full planetary cleansing with virus bombs. All sentient life on Demeter was dead within the week. Our troops landed unopposed and the world is ours."

"What? Why would you do that? We needed the inhabitants of Demeter as labor to build our new home!" Jo'tok tried to get up, but she was in no shape to move. She lay back down and waited for an answer.

Dar'shal replied casually, "They obviously were collaborating with the impudent Centauri and had to be made an example of. The other inhabitants of this system will not be so quick to defy us."

Nodding slowly, Jo'tok simply let herself relax. There was little she could do to change what had happened. While she didn't flinch at genocide when it was necessary, she hated wasting resources. "You said there were developments? As in plural?"

"Yes, " he said enthusiastically. "Omen isn't loosing me, she is losing you. I'm her new captain. You have been promoted to War Leader and will have command of the Heavy Cruiser Reaper. Congratulations, War Leader!" He gave her a crisp salute.

Jo'tok returned the salute, but her mind was already working over this new situation. Omen had been a fine ship. She would miss it and her battle-hardened crew. But command of a Heavy Cruiser was quite an honor. The Tikrit class was the newest class of ship in the navy, more powerful than any cruiser before her. It would be interesting to learn exactly what Reaper could do.

And she had the perfect idea for a shakedown cruise.