The Cylovan Collective fleet was about to arrive at Draxus Nine. The facility had been out of contact for nearly four hours now, and the Collective was now considering its tactics. It only had a small fleet to engage an unknown number of enemy vessels. At least the Battleship in the fleet was one of the newer designs. Not intended to face species 11247, but the most advanced opponent it had ever faced. The ship in question, the Battleship 17 class, featured powerful supplementary deflectors, and a unique shield matrix that would allow it to last a few minutes against the weapons of species 11009. Not long, but long enough to fire a few shots. Combined with enough numbers for a good formation screen it could get the ship to survive nearly twice as long against them.

Those shields and deflectors were just about useless against species 11247, but would force them to close to medium range. That would give it a chance to use the special weapon system of the battleship 17. A system that along with the enhanced shields came at the cost of the battleship’s hangers. The seventeen unlike every other design in use had no hangers. The extra space taken from the hangers had however allowed it to mount a very powerful disruptor weapon. The seventeen was equipped with high-yield metaphase disruptors. A weapon it could not mount on most ships due to the power requirements and bulk of the weapon. Outfitting the battleship seventeen with the weapon had proven difficult, and it only managed to mount a single array. A weapon it was finally going to test in the field, but not against the opponent it originally intended to test it against.

How effective the weapon would prove against 11247 remained unknown. They have a habit of knocking the guns out before they attack in mass. As such the outposts and colonies protected by these weapons never fired them in defense. Well, there was one outpost that did manage to get off a shot, but it failed to score a hit. The targeted cruiser managed to evade the shot, and then knocked out the battery with a concentrated barrage. As such it still did not know how effective metaphasic weapons would be against their armor. From what little information it did have, it had made a few simulations. The weapons should be more effective than standard disruptors, but given the assumptions which had been made in the simulations, that improvement could be anywhere between marginal, and highly effective.

For its battle plan, those assumptions could be fatal. The Collective knew there were far too many variables here, but that facility was vital to its interests. As such, it was going to send the fleet in. The fact that it had a weapon with unknown effectiveness and was facing an enemy with an unknown number of ships. Unfortunately, this was a risk it had no choice but to take.

SFS Accentor SFR-09, Main Bridge 1050 hours, May Seventh 081 SDE:

The captain shifted slightly in his chair as he studied an engineering report. Nothing unusual was in the report. Power efficiency was up .4 percent(that was four points), weapons were functioning two points above spec, engines were running three points below spec. He didn’t find that a problem, but his chief engineer prided herself on everything being above spec. Even if fleet policy said that five points below was acceptable. Anything below five points would need correcting. These numbers were actually low for her, and she already had teams running over everything. As for hull armor, the plating according to the last diagnostic was functioning 14 points above spec that was roughly normal for her. Then again most engineers weren’t happy if any system was operating below spec. She just liked things running above spec.

His reading was suddenly interrupted when his first officer came up from below with a new report, “Sir, our sensors are picking up readings from the local conduit. Energy readings indicate a fleet is approaching. At least fifty ships and they should be here in about seven minutes.”

“Well, that was expected. Alert the rest of the fleet. I want them in formation, and ready to fight in five minutes. I also want our fighters in the void, asap.”

His first officer acknowledged the orders and went about carrying them out. Not that they would take long. The fighters had been on standby for hours, and while not all ships were in formation it would not take them long to get in formation. The ships not in formation had been patrolling the perimeter.

SFS Enterprise SFRX-01, Supreme Protector’s office 1052 Hours:

Ruri stepped in and glanced at the wall monitor to her left. She stopped, and stared at the corridor flooded with fur balls before commenting, “Rewatching old shows?”

Countryman chuckled, “More like background noise. Some people listen to music while they work. I watch reruns. Although it is interesting to rewatch scifi when you are actually living in the year it is set.”

She frowned, “We are?”

Before she could do the conversions in her head, Countryman told her, “This episode was set in the year 2266 on the calendar in use then. I find it interesting to compare our century with their vision of it.”

She nodded, “I think you are right, and yes it can be fun to compare. Like the ships are so small in their version. As I recall even in the sequel where ships were bigger most vessels are still small.”

He chuckled, “Oh yes, It can be comical to compare a Galaxy-class starship with a Saber-class destroyer. The Galaxy-class is actually smaller than the Saber, visibly smaller. Speaking of the sequels did you know that we beat their prediction on reaching the far side of the galaxy?”

She nodded, “That one is fairly obvious. I think on their star chart, we are currently somewhere in the... Delta Quadrant?”

Countryman smiled, and replied, “We entered the Delta Quadrant last year. The storm dumped us in the Gamma Quadrant. I know their chart is a little weird since it places Earth on the border of the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Our version makes a little more sense. Placing the homeworld more centrally in Galactic Quadrant I.”

She nodded, “I know that is weird. Anyway, I know you didn’t call me here to discuss old shows.”

He shook his head, and pulled out a data chip, “No, I have a project for you. I have been working on something in my spare time, but I am at the point where I could use a second set of eyes and a lab.”

She held the chip and glanced at it, then looked towards Countryman questionably. “What is this?”

Countryman shifted, and answered, “I have been working on a new weapon. It is based on Photon Torpedo technology, but I was trying to get rid of the torpedo. My design seems to work in simulations, although it is lacking in range and power.”

Her posture shifted, and she answered “Interesting. I’ll have a few people look into it. See if they can’t solve the problems.”

SFS Accentor SFR-09, Main Bridge 1057 hours:

The captain leaned forward as the first ships emerged from the conduit. He knew they would momentarily be vulnerable. Cylovan ships could not raise their shields while inside a conduit, and it took about ninety seconds for them to raise shields. That window was brief, and if they fired now it would be too late. That is why the first torpedoes had been fired before a single ship had emerged. They had calculated exactly when and where they would emerge from the conduit. Launching warheads to intercept as they arrived. He figured they would splash a few targets this way.

Proving him right mere moments later when a torpedo struck the side of a destroyer. The high yield photon penetrated the hull and detonated. A massive flash of light temporarily obscured the vessel. After a moment, the resulting damage could be seen. Half the destroyer’s hull was nothing more than space dust. The other half a charred and melted husk. The torpedo alone could not account for that kind of damage. It must have hit something critical.

An instant later a second ship was struck in a brilliant flash of light. Her side ruptured, as her hull was left melted and charred. Despite the damage, she was still functional, albeit barely.

That set the tone for the next few seconds. Ship after ship was hit with variable effect. Some vessels were outright destroyed, while larger ships were often left intact. The attack might have done more damage if they fired a few AMF torpedoes and not just photons. However photons were cheaper, more easily replaced, and most importantly they had more of them. Not to mention he doubted that the Cylovan capital ships would be first out, and he was right. Other than two cruisers, most of the first ships to emerge from the conduit were destroyers.

The most intact of which began shielding those that followed. Almost as soon as their shields were up. Allowing the rest of the fleet to emerge mostly unscathed. In total, of the seventy-one ships to emerge from the conduit twenty-seven were struck by torpedoes. Of that twenty-seven, half were sunk and the rest took heavy damage.

That initial volley marked the beginning of the battle. The Refuge, even with the first volley evening things up, were outnumbered. With only two carriers, a half dozen heavy cruisers, and eighteen destroyers. They didn’t have any frigates or light cruisers in this task force. The available frigates and light cruisers had been assigned to other task forces. Battlegroups whose missions needed the abilities of those classes more than this group.

As the Cylovans were deploying fighters and organizing their formation, the Refuge ships opened fire. A second volley of photons along with long-range beam weapons fire. This attack was not meant to inflict heavy damage. At this range, Cylovan shields were a strong protection, but the volley would weaken them nonetheless.

While firing two groups of destroyers split off from the fleet. Four ships each, and began moving into an orbit around the Cylovan fleet. One group orbiting clockwise the other counter. At the same time, the main battlegroup began to close to medium range, while the carriers, two cruisers and four destroyers hung back. That meant ten ships were attacking the Cylovan fleet directly and naturally the Accentor was in that group. Her captain preferred to be in the thick of the fighting.

The Cylovan ships opened fire, concentrating on the ten ships closing to medium range. Most of their beams missed the ships entirely, but a few struck. Those beams that hit were simply absorbed by the heavy armor common to Refuge ships. Inflicting no damage at all to the Refuge ships. As for the Refuge weapons, they were stopped by Cylovan shields inflicting no hull damage in the exchange. Neither side expected to inflict any meaningful damage in the first exchange.

A second exchange began immediately, as Refuge fighters began to close on the Cylovan fleet. The orbiting destroyer groups firing another volley of torpedoes at range. Nothing more than photons, but the fleet had plenty of those to spare. AMFs not so much. They had a limited supply and would rather hold them in reserve until they needed them. Besides a high-yield photon still packed a punch, and enough of them could saturate an energy shield to the point of failure. Although with the strength of Cylovan shields you were going to need a lot of them. The fleet certainly had a large reserve of them.

The battle was going the way a typical Collective-Refuge battle did in the opening phases now. At long range neither side had weapons that were particularly effective against each other, but they fired on the other anyway. Sometimes they got lucky and inflicted meaningful damage. Several more exchanges of fire were made before the main group entered medium range.

The Refuge ships opened fire on the lead vessels. Lightning like discharges struck the forward shields in brilliant flashes of blue light. Triggering a second bright flash of light as their shields collapsed. Then a third flash as photons fired from the destroyers maintaining their distance tore into their hulls. None of the struck ships survived, reducing the Cylovan fleet by a further eight ships. The Cylovans returned fire, and started evasive maneuvers. Their fighters surging forward to engage only to be intercepted by Refuge squadrons. The chaotic part of the battle had begun.

The sound of the phase lances firing could be heard, as an officer reported, “Hull plating at 79%, sir.”

He ignored the report. There was no reason to be worried. The hull plating was holding for now. Instead he focused on the tactical plot, and barked an order to tactical at the same time. A cruiser in weapons range had just lost forward shields, and he was going to take advantage of it. He ordered tactical to fire on the ship with a concentrated barrage at full power. That meant superchargers.

From the port side his beam arrays opened fire. A series of powerful vibrant violet energy streams ripped across space, and slammed into the cruiser one after the other. Each one punched through the reinforced plate, and tore deep into the ship. Gouts of plasma erupted into space, as plates buckled, and hull melted under the barrage. Each hit doing serious damage to anything it passed through. The ship attempted to change her facing, to turn her port shields to the barrage rather than her forward shields, but she failed. One of the beams passed through a secondary reactor, the sudden breach of containment caused the antimatter in the reactor to interact with the environment violently. The explosion dealt quite a bit of damage to secondary systems, and several local power nodes. Several engines lost power for a few brief seconds, but those proved critical.

A follow up beam hit the ship, passing through a breach in the hanger plating before tearing into the internal hull. It tore through dozens of bulkheads, and deck plates. Penetrating deep into the core of the ship to strike something critical. One of its primary power distribution nodes failed from the strike causing power to fail briefly across half the ship. Without power, the rest of the barrage shredded the vessel. Her integrity fields no longer reinforcing the hull against the deadly phase lance strikes. The ship went dark as her power signature flattened on all scanners. A once impressive sphere shaped cruiser it now resembled a large ball of swiss cheese.

For good measure they fired a short burst of torpedoes into the hull of the disabled cruiser. They detonated with impressive force and ripped the hull apart. Leaving behind a cloud of mangled metal.

Suddenly someone reported, “Sir, the Raven has just lost hull plating and is taking heavy damage!”

His gaze snapped to the Raven, a Battlehawk class cruiser like his. It was engaging the battleship, and that engagement had just started. Her plating should not have failed yet. Onscreen he watched it fighting the battleship.

A vibrant green disruptor beam tore into the port side of the saucer section. The plating disintegrated with the strike, as the Ravan came about. Her forward launchers flashed several times as she unleashed a full volley on the battleship emptying the tubes. Putting hundreds of torpedoes in the void in a matter of seconds. An ability they rarely used nowadays. The glowing blue bolts of photons and AMFs struck the shields of the battleship one after the other. Her shields held at first, but buckled under the barrage. Dozens of torpedoes struck the hull of the battleship. Her reinforced neutronium armor, however, held under the barrage, but not completely.

As the Raven passed over the ship, he noted a few dozen hull breaches, several dozen more where the plating had buckled. The battleship returned fire scoring several damaging hits to the Raven’s Secondary hull, nacelles and aft saucer section. Each hit disintegrating sections of the hull. Emergency bulkheads engaging to prevent atmospheric loss. It was clear to him that the Cylovan’s didn’t know where to hit the Raven as none of the damage was serious.

The Raven returned fire with her aft launchers and beam arrays. Scoring several light to moderate hits on the battleship. As he watched he asked his sensor officer, how the battleship had gotten past the plating.

“Sir, that battleship is equipped with Metaphase Disruptors.”

He sighed, of course it was. It was only a matter of time before the Collective found a way to mount those on ships, and now they knew the weapons were effective against their hull plating. That was a headache, but he had more pressing concerns. Namely keeping the Raven alive against that battleship. She was inflicting a lot of damage, but she would not last long against that battleship. He reached out with his mind to his crew, and they in turn reached out to the other ships.

In moments, their collective mind worked on the problem even as his ship changed course to cover the Raven. In moments they had a solution, a partial adaptation to counter the metaphase weapons the battleship was employing. They implemented the change by reconfiguring both the radiation shields and the hull plating to absorb the blasts. In the distance the Raven raised its shields. Something they did not often do in a battle, normally there were better uses of the power. Not to mention the shields were more of a navigational tool, not a defensive device.

The Collective observed the battle. A beam lanced out and tore into the side of the cruiser fighting its battleship. Again it did not seem to inflict significant damage, but the weapon was proving more effective than standard disruptors. Suddenly it noted something odd. All of 11247’s ships began deploying energy screens. An anomaly, in all past engagements even when their plating was failing they never deployed shields. This was its first good look at their shields, and it now knew why they didn’t use them.

Its scans revealed them to be incredibly weak, clearly not designed for the rigours of combat. The matrix however was highly unusual. Its subroutines determined the shields would not have a significant impact on its weapons reducing beam power by a mere .00273 percent.

The Collective fired again, but the result wasn’t what it expected. The disruptor beam struck the side of the ship as she fired her particle beams, and took a chunk of the hull. The damage was not as large as it predicted. Species 11247 had somehow reconfigured both the shields and plating to partially absorb its metaphase disruptors reducing their effectiveness by 17.8934%. They were adapting their defenses with a rapidity it had never encountered before. Even its greatest enemy, Species 11009 never adapted to changes in its weapons and tactics so quickly. It needed to deal with this fleet before 11247 figured out how to fully defend against its metaphase disruptors.

In the meantime, it remodulated the weapon and chose a new target coordinate. With a single thought it fired, while simultaneously directing drones to repair damage to a minor secondary system that was damaged by the last volley. This time it aimed the beam at the primary connection between the primary and secondary hulls of the cruiser

The remodulated disruptor beam struck true, and a major chunk of the hull there disintegrated. The modulation had improved beam effectiveness mostly nullifying their adaptation. Its sensors picked up several power disruptions in 11247’s cruiser, but before it could take advantage of that a second cruiser attacked with a full barrage of heavy torpedoes.