The Rise of Atlantis Pt. 02

The next morning Sue was woken by a soft kiss on her cheek and a pat on her luscious ass. "Come on sleepyhead, wake up. It's zero seven hundred. Kendra's due here in half an hour. You have just enough time for a quick shower. I'm ordering blueberry waffles and sausage for breakfast. Come on, move your butt girl," Lyssa said as she walked away.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm moving, I'm moving," Sue grumbled as she grabbed a fresh uniform and headed for the shower.

Lyssa's COMS bracelet vibrated. She sat at her console and said, "I thought I told you I didn't want a preliminary report Lain."

"My analysis didn't take anywhere near as long as I expected Lyssa. The entire battle only took twenty seven minutes and there were only a few key events. I realized I didn't need to examine every battle recorder. I analyzed ten recorders at random. The viewing angle was different on each but the events were exactly the same. I can give you a complete report whenever you're ready."

"Hmm, okay Lain. We'll take care of that after breakfast then." Lyssa tapped a button on her console and ordered breakfast for three. She sat there running her options over in her mind and decided that Sue and Kendra should be there when she received Lain's report. Lyssa sat back at the table. The door chimed and Sue came strolling out of the bedroom at exactly the same time.

"I'll get it," Sue said as she headed for the door. She opened the door to a smiling Kendra holding on to a food cart once again.

"Morning Sue, looks like I'm just in time again," Kendra giggled.

"Yup, bring that thing in here I'm starving," Sue replied.

"Morning Lyssa," Kendra said, as she pushed the food cart into the room.

"Good morning Kendra," Lyssa replied as Sue passed around the plates of food and Kendra passed around the cups of coffee. "I've been so busy planning ahead that I haven't really taken any time to look behind us. Have either of you wondered why we lost so many ships and lives in a battle we should've won easily? Well I have. I had a little time to think about it yesterday and it's been bugging the shit out of me. I've asked Lain to access the battle computers onboard our ships and to compile a complete analysis of the battle for me. She told me a bit ago that her report is ready. I haven't gone over any of it yet because I've got a feeling that the two of you should be with me when I do."

"It sounds like you're expecting to find something you think none of us is gonna like, Lyssa," Sue replied.

"I don't know, Sue. I've just got the feeling that something happened during that battle that cost us a lot of lives that we wouldn't have lost otherwise. My instincts tell me it's something that we need to know and that it's too important to overlook. So after we have breakfast, the three of us are gonna review Lain's report together."

After the food cart was rolled into the passageway, the three women sat behind Lyssa and Sue's console with Lyssa in the middle. Then Lyssa said, "All right, Lain. Re-route your video to the tactical screen and begin your report. Video only for right now."

They watched as the Vengeance appeared on the screen. She was immediately fired upon by four of the Groms gunboats. Her weapons officer had a quick trigger finger and was able to fire three antimatter torpedoes at three different gunboats before the tachyon pulses shut her down. All three torpedoes hit and destroyed their intended targets just as the rest of the fleet dropped out of warp, completely surrounding the Groms fleet. When the Destructor appeared, her portside warp nacelle was so close to the starboard nacelle of the Vengeance that you could stand with one foot comfortably on each. There was only one of the Groms gunboats in a position to fire on the Destructor and it was promptly dispatched but not before it fired a quick tachyon pulse at her. The energy pulse hit the Destructor at the same time as a Groms missile fired from a nearby destroyer causing what appeared to be relatively light damage to the forward part of her control deck. At about that same time thirty six Groms gunboats and fourteen destroyers fired guided antimatter torpedoes at fifty of the Atlantian battlecruisers. The three women watched in horror as the torpedoes were expertly guided through the gap in the forward and lateral shields taking out the life support systems of the battlecruisers and killing everyone aboard.

After that, it became a slugfest with the Groms only firing conventional torpedoes and missiles along with tachyon pulses from the gunboats. The Atlantians, realizing where the true danger was, concentrated their fire on the small gunboats, destroying all but ten of them in the next few minutes.

Suddenly, a strange raven haired woman with a dark black psionic aura appeared standing on the warp nacelle of one of the Groms battleships. As she began hurling some kind of energy balls at the Atlantian fleet, Sue gasped and said, "It can't be...it's impossible...that's...that's..."

TO BE CONTINUED...