Lest we forget... – Old Frontiers
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Eredh Hay'legh & Sogh HoS Matlh & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Ne' Leah Vien

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Title   Old Frontiers
Mission   Lest we forget...
Author(s)   HoD Ro' Matlh & Eredh Hay'legh & Sogh HoS Matlh & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Sogh Marla Varquis & Soghla' Jared & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Ne' Leah Vien
Posted   Wed Jul 28, 2010 @ 10:24am
Location   Miletus Sector- Rom/Fed Neutral Zone
The ship had been travelling cloaked for two days to get to Miletus. They were now deep within the 'No Go' area known by the Federation as the Neutral Zone. Technically the Klingons and Romulans had no such boundary but being found here would cause all sorts of complications. Ro' had no intention of testing his diplomatic skills again.

Helm reported arrival on the outskirts of the Miletus Sector.

"On screen!" Ro' growled.

The main view screen showed a dim red star moving towards the final stages of it's life. In the foreground a number of energy signals could be seen spread out almost like a giant net about 200,000 Kellicam... er, 400,000 km around a lone planet.

"Jared, what are we looking at?"

"It's the Miletus defence grid. This place used to be the heart of a small empire. Eventually it became a last bastion. Layers of defence satellites, mines, and orbital weapons platforms, all preventing anyone making planetfall other than their own ships."

"We should be save approaching, though."

He zoomed the view-screen in on the nearest blip. It was roughly spherical, rather spiky, and very aggressive-looking - as if a Klingon and a Cardassian had collaborated in making a hanging Christmas decoration. It was also larger than the F'Hew, and seemed to be mostly made of weapons.

They all watched as some of the central bands on the object rotated, bringing several of the weapon-like protrusions to point in the direction of the F'Hew.

"Jared," Ro's voice rose in alarm.

"Yes... nothing to worry about. It can... technically detect us though the cloak. But it won't register us as a threat unless we try locking weapons on it. It'll still be in war-mode, reserving it's firepower for bigger, more obvious targets."

Ro' Looked to HoS, "Take weapons Off Line for now."

"This place was quite the impenetrable fortress at the time. Didn't hold though."

He zoomed the scope in on a cluster of signals further distant. There was a distinct hole punched in the defence grid, where a cluster of twelve vessels floated, showing various amounts of battle damage.

Two appeared to be of similar design to the defence grid satellites. The other ten were of distinctly different design. Some had the look of battleships and heavy cruisers. Others appeared to be transports and escort ships.

The scene had the appearance of being mid battle - with weapons targeting opposing vessels - but nothing was moving. Many of the vessels weren't even showing power signatures.

Something about the ten attacking ships was slightly reminiscent of Romulan design.

"We should be able to safely move through the outer grid without setting anything off. But if you're worried, that corridor there where the attacking fleet punched through the line should be mostly clear of defences."

Leah glanced over her navigation console for what seemed like the third time.

"Captain I would suggest a slightly alternate route, a back door if you will. We can position ourselves close to the ships and pointed out, leave that corridor for a quick escape route if needed. If those things out there do start up I would prefer not having to plot a course through them on the spot. We could also use those ships as a buffer to absorb fire damage for now.

"As you like," Jared commented, "but please don't forget we're on the clock, captain. We don't want to still be here where the next group arrives. I'm scanning for Lepton displacement and bringing the results up on the navigation station. Any red blotches you start to see will be where the mines are. Keep a couple of kilometres from them and we should be fine."

Ro' Looked to Hay'legh, "Helm, take us in but keep a clear flight path out. Tell lock us down. I don't want anything setting off some trigger happy satellite."

The ships in the attack corridor were certainly big enough to be used as cover. The largest were bigger than a galaxy class starship - although probably not as advanced, judging by the tactical readouts.

Ro' breathed out slowly, "These are the ships we have come to collect? How old are they? Why are they abandoned? There is enough here to wage a full planetary assault."

"That's what this was," Jared said quietly. "This is the last remnants of a very old war. These ships have been sitting here since before your empire formed. The defence grid is strong enough to keep casual explorers away. Unless you have someone aboard who knows what their targeting systems key on, of course!"

"Take us closer to the first ship. We might as well see if we can get it to fly. Even one of these will be a significant gain for House Matlh."

"You could try," Jared conceded. "Only two issues with that. First is that most of the attacking ships use standard deuterium/antimatter power, meaning their fuel cells will be long dry by now. Second is that THOSE" - he indicated one of the defence grids - "are largely solar powered, meaning their power-cells are still fully charged. And if you bring one of the capital ships back online, they might just register the threat and open fire."

"If we get down to the planet, we might just be able to disable the defence grid. Even if we can't, the defender's ships use Transplanar Kinetic Inductors as a secondary power source. Not very powerful, but very long-lived. They should still have enough power in the system to fly."

Ro' nodded. "All right, take us through to the planet surface."