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        "...word is the Shivans got through to Terra," Ensign Jazz was saying.  For the moment, the GTD Intrepid was on full alert status, and if the situation got any more wrong than it was, the fighter compliment and crew of the Intrepid would be plunged neck-deep in enemy territory.  It was bad enough rumors had spread throughout the quadrant that Earth had fallen, even though no official reports had been filed.

        Lieutenant Jared Maxwell shook his head, "I haven't seen any footage or reports about it," he frowned, "how could they have gotten so far, already?  What about the Galatae?  It's been out there defending Terran positions the whole time, and it isn't destroyed."  The words hung in the air like an old, foul stench.  By now, even the GTA headquarters was under pressure; word had spread about the Vasudan homeworld, and outlook was grim.  Lieutenant-Commander Siltz burst into the barracks, her wild red hair burning under flourescent lighting.

        "Briefing in five minutes, boys!" she flared, and just as quickly left.

        As if on que, the Intrepid intercom blared orders to its crew, "All pilots, meet in the briefing room for new mission objectives and assignments--five minutes!"  Both Lt. Maxwell and Ensign Jazz exploded out of their seats.

        The breifing-room was busy with the sounds of chatter, creaking seats and the constant hum of the Intrepid under-foot.  The Captain of the Intrepid, Kelly Seam, strode into the mess unexpectedly.  Voices stopped mid-sentence, and the roar of 182 feet hitting the deck simultaneously in salute to her echoed loudly in everyone's ears.  Jared knew, as did all pilots assembled, that if the Captain was here, there was indeed news to be spread.  Jared tried to force his heart back into it's natural place.

        "Pilots," the Captain began, "be seated."  Cpt. Seam had a straightforward, insistant nature about her, and despite her stunning good-looks not a pilot doubted her ability for command.  But this time, her features seemed strained; pressed to a point of angered frustration.  There was a flush to her cheeks none of them had before this seen.

        "We have bad news, pilots," her voice cracked on 'pilots', and Jared stopped his efforts to remove his heart from his throat.  It was there to stay.  He could hear her comments being blared on the public-address system beyond the closed briefing-room doors...not standard operating procedure for the briefing of pilots.

        "At 0830 hours Wednesday morning, GTA Command was informed of the destruction of the Galatae," she attempted to clear her throat, but it only accentuated the pain of the moment.  From the look on her face, there was more, as a rustle of shock, and gasps for air floated about the otherwise-quiet room.  Jared rubbed his eyes, tried to think clearly,

        "We've also learned that rumors about Terra's fall are true," she added.  Her hands shook, despite her efforts, "According to GTA Command, Earth was attacked late yesterday afternoon by Shivan forces.  Thanks to our intelligence bureau, most of Terra has been evacuated, total casualties haven't been tallied, yet, as Terra remains a fiercely-contended area of space."  Jared hid his emotion as best as he was able...visions of family and friends flashed in his mind...

        In a matter of a few moments, the lives of the crew on the GTD Intrepid changed instantly.

        The noise of agonized sighs and barely-whispered questions of  'How..?' and 'I, I don't understand...' drifted listlessly again through the room.  The Captains' seldom-used gavel struck the plasticreet podium insistantly.

        "Silence!" She roared, "Pay attention, Pilots!  We have orders!"  Again, the briefing-room grew silent, and the Captain ran a slender hand through her hair, "We have orders," she repeated, a sigh at the end.  She looked up from the podium out onto the waiting, pulsing pain of humanity staring at her with glassy eyes.

        "We're to intercept the Shivan vessel 'Lucifer', and her sister ship, the 'Basilisk'.  The Intrepid, the recently-issued GTD Gallantry and several escorts of freighters, fighters, and assorted Terran and Vasudan ships will be accompanying us...this is a final effort, pilots.  See to it that these two goals are met:  all Shivan vessels are marked for destruction...do not disable, wound, or stall them.  They are to be wiped off the map!  Number two:  safeguard the Intrepid and Gallantry with everything you have; according to orders given to me this morning, we are to exchange a number of pilots with the Gallantry, and then assume co-ordinates in flanking positions around the Shivan fleet.  We make our exchange with the Gallantry in one hour, all pilots being re-assigned to the Gallantry will be handed papers immediately after the briefing!"

        Pilots began standing unsteadily, their minds and thoughts light-years from the Intrepid.  The Captain's voice rang hauntingly in the room as the silence became oppressive.

        "Pilots," she began, "this news is the worst we've heard.  Assume, for the moment, that families and friends made it off Earth before the attack; go into battle, knowing you are the reason we've come this far...you are the best, and it has been my pleasure to be your Captain."  All eyes rested on her, and despite the pressure of ill news and the combat awaiting each one of them, Captain Kelly Seam met their gazes with triumph shining in her eyes.

        "Dismissed!" she bellowed.  Pilots flooded for the door, randomly being handed re-assignments to the Gallantry as they passed.

        Jared was to stay with the Intrepid.

ORDERS

        One hour and fifteen minutes later, Jared was flying escort for a transport-full of fighter pilots, one of which was Ensign Jazz.  Jared hadn't even thought to ask Jazz' first name...he'd be sure to ask after all this was over and done with.  As the main Shivan fleet was still several jump nodes ahead, the transfer went as stipulated, and the patrol/escorts made their way safely back into the docking bays of the Intrepid and Gallantry.  GTA Command had they're literal hands full defending the GTCA Hammer and an outpost fitting the newly-designed assault capital ship.  

        They'd won...but the Hammer wouldn't be ready for another week. 

        Jared wondered if they'd really gained anything...the Shivan's offense was concentrated with the ever-advancing Lucifer and Basilisk; the attack on the installation was to slow down operations.  And they succeeded.  How could they call that a 'victory', when the Hammer was a week from being ready?

        Jared snapped back to the present as Captain Seam bellowed orders to patrol the second watch for Jared and his wing of six.  The Intrepid had come into a flanking position of the Shivan forces, as ordered, and was awaiting the go-ahead to launch an offensive.  Cpt. Seam dismissed them, waving offhandedly to Jared.  Sometimes, Jared didn't know what to think of the Captain.

        Sirens blared instantly all over the ship, and Jared raced to the docking bay with the rest of his wing in close step, thinking to himself, 'Contact already?...they're not wasting any time!'.  He reached his GTF Hercules first, plopping into the pilots' seat and strapping in with a deft over-the-chest motion.  He gave those in his wing a quick glance as they scrambled for their fighters, and headed for the docking bay port.  Sirens continued to blair, and the muffled sound of a voice over the P.A.--Captain Seams--gurgled nonsense in the din.

        Jared's fighter approached the port, and noticed it growing smaller...

        His eyes grew big as saucers in his head, and he instinctively punched the afterburner controls on his console, screaming through the port as the blast-doors of the docking bay closed behind him.  He was on the comm immediately.

        "Hey, what's going!?" he barked. "Why'd you close the bay?!"

        A crackling, distorted video and voice-print filled his HUD.

        "We'-e not s--e Alpha one...s--mething shorted --e system!"

        Cpt. Seam was in a decided state of boil-over, speaking into an intercom mic.

        "Number Two!" she bellowed, "Why the hell did the blast-doors close on docking bay one!?"  As soon as she had asked the question, a sickening realization came over her, and turning to her deck officers she began relying orders.

        "That Shivan transport we spotted," she began, "What did it fire at us!?!  I saw it fire something at my ship, damnit!  Find out what it was!!"  Technicians and Officers alike scrambled through the hallways, taking command of every available computer console on the bridge.

        "Got it!" a technician called from starboard, "Some sort of proximity bomb...it shot shrapnel at us, but shields and hull are still one-hundred percent!"  The Captain approached the tech in two swift leaps of her long legs.

        "I want a visual, boy!" she demanded, "Make it happen!  We got one fighter out there for our 'fighter screen', people!  See to it we get those doors open two minutes ago!!"  The tech brought up a visual of the exchange, showing the tightly-curved flight path of a single ST Azrael, firing a missile towards the Intrepid.  The Captain traced the arc of the missile as it raced towards her ship, and an external camera view showed the missile explode several hundred meters from the hull, spraying small, undiscernable objects into the shielding...

        And through!

        The Captain turned to the hapless tech, "Play that back--no, not all of it, the explosion!  Image enhance, factor eight magnification!"  The tech's fingers wizzed over the controls, showing the explosion and very small pods flung away and into the hull of the Intrepid.  Alarms began blaring yet again, and the Navigations' Officer bellowed over the claxons, "The Lucifer AND the Basilisk have jumped in, Captain, and on an approach pattern!"  Cpt. Seam cursed loudly, and turned to the tech monitoring the playback, pointing to him.

        "You!  Get those things off my ship!"  He merely nodded, and raced to the lift.

        "Deck five," she heard him say, as the lift doors closed around him.

        She turned to see the Lucifer and the Basilisk ubruptly change course, making corrections for the presence of the Intrepid as fighters poured from the belly of the Basilisk, and then jumped into sub-space.  The Lucifer stayed, released a smaller number of fighters, and jumped out, as well.  Captain Seam wanted to scream her frustration, but maintained her vigor.

        "Ship PA, on!" she demanded, "Ship Technicians: we have intruders on decks five, seven, and--" she shot a quick look to another tech, who turned and flashed the number three to her, "--three...I want them off my ship!  See to it you get those blast-doors open, and get our one-man fighter screen some cover!!"

        If Jared had had time, his jaw alone would have jumped into sub-space without him.

        "Alp-a one," came another distorted call, "the Shi-an --ansport we picked up --ot some sort of --ectrical charge unit into the hull of -he Intrepid...see if you can't get a vis-al on one!"

        "Roger that," he replied.  He brought his fighter to bare, swinging in close to the Intrepid.  His slow pass of the hull on his Port side showed no signs of damage, and couldn't even locate the area affected.  He reported in his failure to find any signs at all of the intruding technology, and then caught a glimpse of the blue-then-red radar image of Shivan vessels jumping in...

        The Basilisk and the Lucifer.

        "Alpha one...we have six, n- eigh- wi-gs of Shivan --ghters moving in!  Stall them as lo-g -s you can!"  Jared saw them, too...eight wings, each one a Dragon-class fighter.  'They're not messing around,' he thought to himself, 'they know we're on the run.'  He gave his engines full throttle and advanced, cycling through his targets...

        Bombers.  Six of them.

        "Intrepid," he called, "commencing attack on the Shivan bombers..."

        "Under-to--," crackled a voice.  The first wave managed to whittle him down to 98% hull integrity, and he knew with seven wings of fighters and bombers to go, he'd have to do better than that.  The first two bombers exploded in a spectacle of bright orange light and the scream of tearing metal, and then had to break attack and avoid the cannons of three Dragon fighters tailing him.  Another set of blue-then-red blips on his radar belied the return of the Lucifer and the Baslisk, each one perilously close to the Intrepid.  Fighters careened about him, his hull integrity holding at 88%.

        "I could use some cover, Intrepid!" he bellowed into his comlink.  He again repeated his attack, taking another set of bombers before having to break again.  Meanwhile, the Lucifer released from the maw of its docking bays two more wings of bombers and Dragon fighters.

        Jared shook his head, and didn't bother to call in to the Intrepid for help.  He was it...he was the Intrepid's fighter screen, and all that stood between still eight wings of the enemy and his last remaining stronghold. 

        Captain Seam was livid, "Send a transmission to the Gallantry," she commanded, "and advise them of our position!"  She stormed over to yet another console, to breath fire-and-brimstone down the neck of another nervous tech, "Can we get anything outside the Intrepid?  Anything at all?!"  The tech shook his head.

        "No, Captain.  None of the blast-doors are responding to any commands from the bridge, and our crews are having trouble forcing them."  Cpt. Seam frowned, slammed a fist into the console.

        "Cut'em open!" she roared, "Cut the damned doors open!"

        The tech relayed her orders, and crews below acknowleged.

        "They're on it!" he reported.

        The Captain fumed in place, her thoughts faster than light.  Communications' Officer Tommy Hill stood up.

        "Captain!  The Gallantry is currently in sub-space...all transmissions are suspended until they resume normal space!"  Seam frowned, and turned to the main view-screen, watching her lone fighter do his all, and more.  Her helplessness consumed her thoughts, suddenly, and she forced it down...she had to help him, they'd already asked too much of Alpha One.  She turned to her Weapons and Navigation personel.

        "Move in and help him," she bellowed, pointing to the view screen, "we can't release any fighters?  Fine!  We'll step in!  Keep us at a distance from the Lucifer and the Basilisk--and step on it!"  The bridge once again came alive, and they brought the ship about straight for Alpha Ones' position.

        "Captain!" another officer called, "weapons are out!  The systems' shut down!"  Captain Seam turned on him.

        "What!?  Now?!"  She looked to all the techs on the bridge, "Every single one of you," she pointed, her tone dangerously low. "Get down there and open those blast-doors!  And you!" She pointed to her Navigations Officer, "Keep us moving, every trick that is and isn't in the book...don't ask me for confirmation, just get it done.  We have precious minutes!" 

        Jared's shields had become wafer-thin, and his constant attention to them yielded fewer and fewer opportunities to keep and hold his position.  All the fighters were concentrated on him, the bombers destroyed, but the Dragon's were more manueverable than his Hercules, and time continued to dwindle.

        "C'mon, c'mon," he voiced aloud, as another Dragon exploded brilliantly in the vacuum of space.

        59% hull integrity...and falling.

        He focused his thoughts, pushed his visor back...'concentrate', he told himself, 'don't let one through!'  Some fighters had advanced to the Intrepid, and had even managed to fire a few shots at her, but then had turned back after the last bomber had been destroyed.  All their energies were concentrated upon him, and his destruction, and one by one they continued to fall, taking a piece of him a little at a time.

        Another blue-then--green! A green blip on his rardar announced the arrival of the Gallantry.

        Several more fighters, from where Jared had not noticed, had joined the fight, all Shivan Dragons.  He continued his resistance, managing to get the fighters farther and farther away from the Intrepid.  More than once, Jared found himself confused as to why the Shivans became so adamant about his demise...surely he couldn't keep them all occupied.  What drove them?  His thoughts blanked again, as his situation demanded his entire being.

        "Keep it up, Alpha One!" came a call on his comlink, "just hold them off a little longer...we're on our way!"  The Gallantry began launching its compliment of fighters into the frey...just a bit longer, now.  Many of the Dragons began kamikaze flight-patterns towards him, forcing him to collide with one ship or another.  Hull integrity dropped to 30%, and his targeting computer suddenly shut down.

        "Targetings' dead," he called to the Intrepid, "but I'm here until they're dead, or I am...Lt. Maxwell out!"

        Captain Seam began bellowing orders to her communications officers, demanding assistance from the newly-arrived Gallantry, "Tell 'em I want everything...transports, fighters, shuttles, cargo carriers, frieghters...all of it over there at Alpha One's position!"

        One of the techs burst through the lift, running to stand beside the Captain.

        "Captain...the blast-doors have been cut open, and we're sending fighters out, now!"  

        She smiled, and turned to her weapons division, "Do I have weapons, people?  I want a reply!"  Officer Gram looked up, shook his head.

        "The whole sub-system is fried," he explained, "but we've got torpedo control through a secondary, and can fire SunFires.  Shall we use it?"  The Captain flared to Life again.

        "Yes, yes, we use it!!" she gave him an incredulous stare, "Let's go, let's go, people!  Fire every single torpedo we have at the Lucifer!"  Officer Gram looked to his Captain.

        "We'll have to be at least 1700km from the Lucifer...SunFires are special-issue heavy bombs, I'm not sure what kind of performance we'll get from our torpedo launchers."  The Captain nodded, turning to navigation.

        "You heard Mr. Gram," she shouted, "1700km.  Let's go!"

        Support came none too soon from the four wings off the Gallantry, and Jared smiled relief as the first wave of Apollo gunships and Valkyries made they're way into the fight.

        "Greetings, Alpha One!" came a call over the link, "You've deserved a rest from your patrol!"

        "I'm in it too deep, Gamma One," Jared replied, "I'm out here to help keep those Shivans off the Intrepid...when they're gone, I'll retire!"  Another voice interrupted him, blaring over his comlink.

        "Alpha One, this is your Captain speaking...you are ordered to return to the Intrepid immediately!"  Jared frowned, opened a channel.

        "But, Captain...we haven't rounded them up, yet!  Just a few more--"  The Captain lost patience.

        "I gave you a direct order, Alpha One," she countered. "One good pilot is too large a loss, at this point!  Get back to my ship right now!"  He nodded.

        "Roger that," he replied, "Alpha One returning."  Hull integrity was down, now, to 27%...but his shields had grown a bit thicker, and fewer and fewer Dragons assaulted him.

        "Gamma wing," he heard over his comlink, "provide escort for Alpha One to the Intrepid."

        "Things aren't looking good, Captain," Officer Gram replied, pointing to a console, "the Lucifer and the Basilisk are on the move towards the Gallantry.  Shall we assist?"  Captain Seam nodded her head.

        "Yes, absolutely!  Navigations!  Bring us about, point 237 mark 5!  Target the Lucifer...she's closer!"

        "Compliance...SunFires ready and armed, Captain!"

        "Fire!"

        Two of the SunFires drifted slowly from the torpedo bays of the Intrepid, two slow-moving stars of destructive energy floating calmly in the blackness.  Their own impulse drives kicked in, and rocketed away towards the unsuspecting Lucifer, lost in the miasma of vessels littering the battle.  The first one struck, drilling through the Lucifer's previously-impervious shielding and smashing a hole the size of a small moon in her flank.  A bright blue-red flash lit the scene as the second Sunfire reached its target, smashing through the Lucifer's protective layers and into the fragile interior.

        The tide of battle turned.

---

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