Star Trek: Sigils and Unions--The Thirteenth Order

[Thor Damar]

BrotherBenny wrote:

---

Nice name change, Nerys. Is it permanent or just for Halloween??

I'm loving this story. Your writing is top notch and far better than some professional drivel I've seen and read in recent years.

Keep it up.

I think that I can assure you that the name change is only temporary, given both our opinions of the late unlamented Gul Skrain Dukat.

Remember, Dukat is for Halloween not for life!

As for Tom Clancy I liked some of his earlier works in particular Red Storm Rising, but I found his latest works to be too much of an Authorial Tact with Clancy forcing his politics into the narrative at the expense of the story itself.

I can see the inspiration in your latest sequences but I also like the uniqueness of your writing style ND.

Has anyone read any Larry Bond? I'm rereading some of his earlier novels (Vortex, Cauldron and Red Phoenix) and they have given me some ideas for Checkmate when I finally get back to it...

Cardassian techo-thriller, a natural genre?

[Nerys Ghemor]

Glad you're enjoying!

BB--I'll be getting to your story either on my lunch break or when I get home today. Loooooooooooooong shift to work...

And trust me...the only Dukat I would give any honor to is his AU "good twin."

Oh, and Thor--I never had the "politics" problem with Tom Clancy. If anything, it was the technical stuff he'd go on too much about at times. But unlike Michael Crichton, though, he remained capable of creating characters you could empathize with.

[Deranged Nasat]

Thanks for informing me a new section was up! I don't really know what to say, beyond:

1) Great as always.
2) I'm very much enjoying it still.

That's more than enough, I suppose . Oh, and something I feel like adding, now I think about it: Rush is right, you're handling this extensive action sequence very well, and I appreciate in particular that you're keeping the focus on the characters. I think many writers get too caught up in describing the action and ensuring it "feels" convincing that they forget the purpose of the action is to further their character's story. It's good that that hasn't happened here- I'm seeing "the characters in the action scene", not "the action with the characters sidelined as characters and turned into moving pieces", if I phrased that okay .

[Nerys Ghemor]

Thanks! I was worried at first that people might not like it, that there's "thought stuff" in the middle of an action sequence, but I'm glad to know that's working out for you!

[Rush Limborg]

Oh, I prefer reading characters' thoughts during action. Makes it more personal--and therefore, more thrilling.

I mean, hey--"objective" action is okay on screen--but in print, I'd take personal, middle-of-the-action "he felt the ship rock around him" over dry-descriptive "the ship went left, than right, etc." ANY day.

Star Wars books have too much of that "objective" stuff, from what I hear....

[Nerys Ghemor]

Six soldiers—two Cardassian, two terhăn-çăs, one Vulcan, and one Bajoran—of them spilled out of the crowded turbolift and onto the bridge of the Dominion-enhanced Gălor-class ship. Even with all of the enhancements, the bridge had stayed almost completely the same; instinct tried to direct Gul Macet to the command platform, but instead he headed for the tactical station, gesturing for Spirodopoulos to join him. And though he’d never flown a vessel the size of this one, Zopreg aimed straight for the helm.

The Dominion ships showed no reaction to the boarding, for as soon as he’d found a place to sit, Iymender had hijacked the station’s communications array—which was one of the few areas still open to his influence—and sent out a signal comprising of a series of forged messages between Gul Verest and his forces insinuating that whatever boarding force had come aboard the three vessels had been subdued. Though the Dominion could neither send nor receive out-system messages thanks to the Thirteenth Order’s jamming field, certain in-system transmissions could still be read—and hopefully that had been one of them. Considering that so far, the Jem’Hadar had yet to fire on the Gălor and two La’aghour, Macet rather suspected that it had.

During the turbolift ride, the gul had reviewed each of the Federation soldiers’ qualifications and assigned them accordingly. Of the group, Ensign Folani had by far the best grasp on written Cardăsda; therefore he assigned her to the other side of the sensor table where the chief investigative officer usually stood. Wilkes and Subek he set to work monitoring the operations and engineering stations; these might not be their familiar functions, but they could at least read out any status messages for Macet, Zopreg, and Raxesh to interpret.

“Release full power to all systems,” Macet heard Raxesh order her people over the open comm line.

“You’re certain the power grid can withstand it when we raise shields?” Macet cut in. The key question was, just how cooperative would the Dominion-enhanced systems be with the traditional frame and power plant of a Gălor-class vessel?

“It should,” Raxesh replied, “but we have yet to test our systems in transit—let alone in battle.”

Macet nodded, unseen. This was the answer he had expected according to the timetables Iymender and his fellow rebel sympathizers had supplied, but the lack of prevarication spoke favorably of Raxesh. “Then prepare for launch,” he ordered as he raised the Gălor’s shields.

Sotto voce to Spirodopoulos he explained, “These are the firing controls. Moving your finger along outer edge of this circle moves you along the horizontal and vertical axes; these two buttons are controlled with the left hand, and move you along the depth axis. This button in the center—” He gestured with his index finger to the middle of the circular slider. “This fires whatever weapon is selected.” From there he traced out along three thin white lines that radiated out from the circle’s center to a point past its circumference, both labeled in Cardăsda. “These two,” he said, gesturing to the two clustered closer together at the thirty- and sixty-degree positions, “are the central disruptor cannon, and the phaser arrays. This one,” he finished, indicating another at the one hundred and twenty-degree position, “controls the torpedoes. I will monitor our systems and the condition of the other vessels and direct you accordingly.

“Ready engines for full impulse on my mark,” Macet ordered Zopreg. “Iymender!” he called. It was a long shot, but it had to be tried nonetheless. “Can you lower the station’s shields?”

Several tense seconds elapsed. “Negative, Gul,” came the young riyăk’s voice, increasingly tremulous, from one of the aft stations where Chedrigan and Nedav had set him down. Now that he was still, the pain of his injuries had undoubtedly intensified in his mind—and they had no doctor or medic on this ship to treat him. Possibly the Vulcan, T’Ruveh, faced the same situation if she had made it aboard one of the Hide’eki. “It must be Riyăk Kopal—the station’s other programmer. She’s got me almost completely locked out of their systems now!”

“So be it,” Macet darkly murmured. His next technique was one that according to Speros, and confirmed by Folani, the Bajoran Resistance had frequently applied against Cardassian ships. Now it was time to use this same skill against Cardassia’s oppressors. “Commander! Target the station’s shield perimeter with disruptors—continuous fire until they fall!”



“Gul!” announced Dalin Rota. “The Gălor and La’aghour have powered their engines! And the Gălor has just locked weapons on the station’s shields! They’re firing!”

Berat could readily see all of this unfold on the tactical display on the main viewer—but the man was following proper protocol to ensure common understanding in a crisis. “Bring us into position! Notify the Hide’eki of my orders: disengage from their current targets—they have to hold the Jem’Hadar off while we break the other ships free!” They were tiny in comparison to the Jem’Hadar cruisers, yes, and their weapons still the same as the other Cardassian vessels had—but thanks to their enhanced shields and spaceframes, they could withstand the full brunt of the assault longer than the four larger ships could.

But the four founding Gă’ălour of the Thirteenth Order were all battle-damaged. “Gul!” cut in Cronath, “The Trager and the Romac—”

“Must hold for now,” Berat declared in a firm voice: he might, in times of calm and even crises of a less urgent nature, solicit opinions, ask questions, bring a bit of levity onto the bridge…but this was the time for obedience. Cronath responded according to both training and instinct, went silent, and busied himself complying with his gul’s orders. Berat needed not add anything else. He knew just as well as Cronath that those two ships had suffered more damage than the Sherouk and Ghiletz—and that despite what repairs the Dominion-controlled forces had deigned to provide, they were still the more vulnerable of the four. And this deeply concerned him…but they needed focus: the synchronicity among crew as guided by the deepest Cardassian hierarchical instincts.

“Target locked,” Rota called. “Disruptor trained on a point just adjacent to the Gălor’s firing area—angle set to pass just beyond its shield perimeter.”

If the Sherouk were to fire on exactly the same spot as the new vessel, the convergence of beams could have fed back to both vessels, severely damaging if not destroying them. Berat eyed the tactical display: they were now in position to exploit a critical flaw in Cardassian shield design—one with even more immediate effects than the Bajorans had ever suspected. Granted, they were thinking in the right direction. Or maybe they even knew, Berat amended, disliking the arrogance their allies would likely have ascribed to his initial thought, as coming from a Cardassian gul--no matter how unlike him that was. But how often would they have been in a position to use it? Under the stress of being assaulted from two different directions, one from within its perimeter and one from without, the shield, unable to alter its shape to respond to one attack or the other, would overload. And where they currently sat, neither ship’s beam would strike the opposite ship.

“Begin fire!” Berat ordered.

And as the gold-hued disruptor beam speared forth from the nose of the Sherouk and drilled furiously into the base’s shields, everyone on the bridge held their silence, counting the seconds. Winced—Berat especially—as one of the Hide’eki vanished from the display, fallen victim to Jem’Hadar polaron cannons while defending them. The shockwave impact rocked the Sherouk, albeit not enough to disrupt its assault.

But without warning, the base rocked with a concussive force far greater than whatever stray energy from the Hidekiy’s demise might have reached its shields. Small explosions dotted its skeletal frame as one shield generator after another overloaded. The entire process, from start to finish, had taken about twelve seconds.

The Gălor and two La’aghour darted eagerly forward, immediately lunging for the Jem’Hadar.

And in that glorious moment, three new starships were born.

[Marie1]

Great continuation! Poor Iymender tho! Ouch...

[Nerys Ghemor]

Marie1 wrote:

---

Great continuation! Poor Iymender tho! Ouch...

Thanks for reading! And yeah, Iymender's in a lot of pain...he's probably going to end up having a lot of the bones in that area replaced.

[BrotherBenny]

The Thirteenth Order rules!!!!

Damn the Dominion!!!!

[Thor Damar]

BrotherBenny wrote:

---

The Thirteenth Order rules!!!!

Damn the Dominion!!!!

For Cardassia!

love the latest efforts of the CLF and it's noble federation allies. (will they end up working with the romulans or even the Klingons before the war is over I wonder?)

[Deranged Nasat]

BrotherBenny wrote:

---

The Thirteenth Order rules!!!!

Damn the Dominion!!!!

BrotherBenny preaches truth! Amen!

Great as always, Nerys Dukat.

[Nerys Ghemor]

LOL, I LOVE your enthusiasm, guys!!

Thanks for reading!!!

[Rush Limborg]

Nice info on Cardassian shield design!

Interesting....

[Nerys Ghemor]

The funny thing about that bit of info was this. I came up with it on my own...or thought I had...but discovered when viewing "The Passenger" recently that the first part (the part I edited it to say that the Bajorans had realized) was indeed canon!!!

That was awesome.

And thanks for reading!

[Marie1]

Nerys Dukat wrote:

---

Thanks for reading! And yeah, Iymender's in a lot of pain...he's probably going to end up having a lot of the bones in that area replaced.

Bones? Replaced? Lots?? Yikes!!


Dominion FTW!!!