D'argo, Crichton, and Tralk sat around the map in the briefing room. A
large purple blob signifying a Nebula took up most of the maps area.
"What's the effect of nebulas on a ship?" asked Crichton. "D.S. are
ineffective, sensors are only good for a few 100 metras", said Tralk.
"Great, no shields means no cloak", said Crichton. "That means that what's
left of Scorpious' fleet could be hiding in the nebula", said D'argo.
"Probably is", said Crichton. "My people are sending another squadron",
said Tralk. "Yeah, but without cloaks, Scorpious would spot them and have
Aeryn killed", said Crichton. "We will approach from the nebula and wait
for your signal", said Tralk assuringly. "Ka D'argo said that you had the
possession of frigate for a short time, do you know the D.S. frequency?" he
asked. "Why" asked D'argo. "If you have the frequency of a D.S., you can
put it into all your weapons, which makes the screen useless", said Tralk.
"I know someone who has the frequency", said Crichton.
The 2 techs looked defiantly at Chrichton. "What's the D.S. frequency for
Peace Keeper ship?!" he screamed. "Don't tell him Linoge!" said the male
tech. With that, Crichton motioned to Tralk who shot the tech with his
rifle. Linoge looked horrified. "Now, tell me the frequency!" he said
pointing his gun at her head. "357.859, for all Peace Keeper ships, but why
would you want that, its useless", she said quickly and timidly. "None of
your concern", he said leaving. "Oh, and you better sit your friends head
up, he's only stunned".
The 4 ships flew together away from Servec. "See you their, and remember
keep a low profile until I signal", Crichton said to Tralk over the comm.
The two birds of prey cloaked as the 2 Urvidians pulled off.
The Lone Peace Keeper battle cruiser floated in front of the purple haze of
the nebula. It stayed in the empty void. Scorpious looked with nervous
anticipation. Braca flanked him and matched his stare. "Lieutenant, do you
have any idea what Commodore Ryken will do to me when he arrives?" asked
Scorpious. "Or worse yet Tavek", he added. He received no response. "He
will kill me you idiot!" he finally said. "Well sir, if we have Crichton,
Tain should pardon you," said Scorpious "Are all the ships concealed in the
nebula?" asked Scorpious. "Yes sir, and all this ships troops are ready to
board their marauders", said Braca "After his ship is disabled, I will
board the ship as well, prepare my marauder", ordered Scorpious.
"We have arrived at the coordinates", said Chiana turning to Crichton.
"Tak, full scan, see if you can find any other Peace Keepers", ordered
Crichton. Tak processed the orders and reported. "No additional Peace
Keeper ships detected but we only have the ability to scan 138 metras in
the nebula". "Any word from Tralk?" asked Crichton. "He reports that they
are 1000 metras away, but are taking it slow for lack of scanning range",
reported Tralk. "Open a channel to the Golden Eagle," ordered Crichton.
"D'argo, stay cloaked until the Peace Keepers begin sending
reinforcements". "Red alert, Chiana, try to get me above and behind them".
He jumped to the weapons console as the alert klaxons went off. The
invisible ship quickly took position. "Decloaking".
The Freedom faded into view and began to launch disrupter bolts. The green
blasts of pure energy hit the massive frag cannons of the cruiser.
Explosions rocked the entire ship as the cannons exploded into clouds of
energy and metal. The disrupters fired simultaneously several more times,
destroying the cruisers entire weapons array. The Nebari particle weapon
fired, striking the engines, turning them to scrap. The D.S. began to rise,
but a second Nebari blast went strait through the shields and destroyed the
shield generator. The red screens collapsed.
Frag cannon blasts hit around the Freedom as 5 battle cruisers exited the
nebula. The Freedom launched 2 ion torpedoes. The purple torps flew strait
through the screens of a battle cruiser and hit the core. The blasts
quickly consumed the massive ship into a ball of flame. 6 frigates were
flanking the cruisers. "D'argo, Tralk make your move", ordered Crichton.
The Golden Eagle decloaked and fired a single low yield torpedo at the core
of a Cruiser. The explosion blew off a good section of the black armor,
leaving the core partially exposed. The pair of disrupters fired several
more times hitting the core, detonating it. It took much longer to totally
destroy the Cruiser. Several escape pods managed to escape like rats from a
sinking ship. The cruisers focused their cannonade on the Freedom. 2 blasts
made direct hits simultaneously. The D.S. began to fail. "D.S. failing!"
reported Crichton. 2 ion torpedoes flew at separated cruisers. One hit the
core of a cruiser, detonating it. The other missed the core but did
significant damage to the hull. A frigate fired of the Freedom, which
responded with disrupters. The green blasts blew a chunk of metal off of
the Peace Keepers right side. The ships turned on its side and exploded
into scrap. The Golden Eagle hit a frigates core with a torpedo. The now
unshielded Freedom was being flanked by 2 frigates that were targeting the
engines. "D'argo, get these bastards off our asses!" he ordered. The Golden
Eagle was under heavy assault. The Freedom cloaked as it climbed. "Chi, get
me behind them" ordered Crichton. The cloaked ship made a turn and got
behind the two smaller ships. It appeared firing disrupters, which
detonated ones core. An ion torpedo destroyed the other. Suddenly a
cruisers cannon hit the engines of the Freedom. "Engines are gone!" said
Chiana trying to control the ship. Another blast rocked the ship nearly
causing a hull breach. "Targeting systems are gone too", said Crichton
punching the weapons console. The crew looked up as marauders began to
leave Scorpious' ship.
"D'argo, cloak and dock with us at the under belly air lock", ordered
Crichton. "Were evacuating". "All of you get to the air lock and arm
yourselves", he ordered. He got under the weapons console and began to
fiddle with a panel. "What are you doing?" asked Chiana. "I am going to
activate the 10 minute self destruct sequence", he said popping the panel
off. He punched a code in and a touch button the shape of the Human Star
Empire's symbol appeared. He pressed the button. A deep male voice came on
over the comm. "The self destruct sequence has been activated, the process
cannot be aborted, this is the last warning", it said. A count down
appeared on the weapons screen. "Get to weapons storage", said Crichton.
The room had already been rifled through by the rest of the crew. Crichton
grabbed a few extra pistol clips and found the MAC-11 look alike still in a
weapons locker. He grabbed it and put a clip in it. He grabbed a few extra
and left. Just then the Braca's Marauder docked at the top air lock. The
group of Peace Keepers quickly dropped from the ceiling to the floor. Braca
divided the team, taking a group to the left, the other moving to the
right. Crichton, Chiana, and a Sykarian were running towards the lower
airlock. Suddenly a group of Peace Keepers came from around the corner.
Crichton quickly shot a Peace Keeper with his rapid firing weapon. One of
the Peace Keepers shot the Sykarian. Crichton and Chiana had a fighting
retreat through the halls. He closed a blast door, halting the Peace
Keepers temporarily. He opened an airshaft. "Pip, get in, and crawl to the
airlock, I will be there shortly", he said. She climbed in and he shut the
grill behind her.
He sprinted around through another hallway. Suddenly a rifle butt hit him
in the knee knocking him down. Braca and 3 troopers stood over him. Braca
kicked his gun away and removed his hidden pistol. Suddenly Tanga and her
last man opened fire. A trooper went down, the others took cover. Crichton
got up and forced the Lt. into the next room. Braca dropped his pistol.
Braca elbowed him in the chest and broke away. They faced each other as the
firefight continued outside. Crichton charged and tackled him. Then
Chrichton began to pummel him with punches to the face. The Braca. got in
an upper cut and threw him off. He then side kicked Crichton in the stomach
who responded with a round house to Braca's head. Braca wiped his mouth. "I
don't care what Scorpious says, I am going to kill you Crichton!" he said
pulling out a combat knife. Crichton pulled out his larger knife and opened
the 2 smaller blades. "Bring it on!" exclaimed Crichton. Braca charged.
Crichton grabbed him and fell on his back. As he did, he used momentum to
leg throw the Peace Keeper. He quickly stabbed back over his head, stabbing
the Braca in the chest. Tanga walked in flanked by the last Sykarian. "Lets
go Captain", she said. He retrieved his knife and his guns and ran to the
air lock. "Game over Lieutenant", said Crichton rushing out.
They all boarded the Bird Of Prey. Crichton checked his timepiece. "30
microts, go D'argo!" he yelled over the comm. The cloaked ship quickly
moved away as another marauder joined the 5 already docked.
At the same time, Scorpious and his guards entered the Freedom's bridge.
Sharran walked to Scorpious. "We have taken the ship sir, but no living
rebels", he reported. Scorpious' voice deepened and he began to talk in
alien. A sudden deep voice startled the group. It was a voice saying
numbers. "What's that?" asked Sharran. The voice had started at 10.
"6,5,4..." Scorpious looked at the weapons screen. It read 3 with smaller
numbers descending. "3,2,oooooonnnnnneeee", the last number dragged by in a
long wavering voice. Scorpious' eyes widened.
The explosions began at the rear of the Freedom. The consecutive blasts
burst along the spine of the beautiful ship. Finally the explosions reached
the bridge at the very front of the ship. The explosions went out in all
directions, exploding the head like bridge first. The whole ship was blown
to pieces, and then exploded again. Crichton watched his ship go up in
flames. "Set a course for Scorpy's ship", he said over the comm.
By this time the Urvidians had arrived and were slaughtering the
defenseless ships. The firing ceased when the last 2 frigates surrendered.
At the same time, the Bird of Prey stealth fully docked with the battle
cruiser. The rebels rushed into the ship like a wave. Crichton, D'argo, and
Tanga had the point. Most of the ships crew was aboard the Freedom.
Crichton opened fire with his MAC-11 giving a rebel yell. This was a battle
of vengeance. The Peace Keepers had destroyed his ship, killed his men, and
tortured the woman he loved. He fought like mad man, mowing down Peace
Keepers without thought. Tanga's eyes were filled with rage. The men that
volunteered t come with her had all died but 1. The group reached the
bridge and busted through the door. The armed guards fell dead in a fury of
red energy. The others raised the hands. Crichton ran to the weapons
officer and put his gun on his chin. "Where is Aeryn Sun?!" he exclaimed.
"Deck 2 section 3!" said the panicked Peace Keeper.
He ran through the halls and down a ladder with the doctor right behind. He
kicked his way through the door to the chair room. He saw the Peace Keeper
Barbie and didn't wait for a response. He just held down the trigger,
shooting her 10 times. She fell and the gun was empty. It sat there
clicking as Crichton held down the trigger. The doctor grabbed his arm. "I
think you got her", she said. He dropped the gun and went to the weary
Aeryn in the chair. She was drenched with sweat and had red bags under her
eyes. He un strapped her and helped her to her feet. "John you came for..."
he put his finger on her lips. He then proceeded to kiss her passionately.
Insurrection Part 12: The Die is Cast