RE: Turned Tables...... (Fiction, long) Part 2!!

Outside in Space, the destroyer Ardent arrowed in on the Leviathan's 
port side. Following a twisting, evasive path, she pulled her bow in 
line with the Battlecruiser for a brief instant and shuddered as she 
let loose a flurry of short ranged hunter-class Armor Piercing 
Submunitions. The short range sprint missiles corkscrewed in to the 
Juggernaut's side even as a massive Pulse Laser turret swiveled 
ponderously around to target the Destroyer. The Black Prince fired 
even as the missiles fireballed into her portside armor. The impact 
from the missiles rolled the Black Prince 15 degrees off vertical 
aspect as the Heavy Beams lashed at point blank range into the 
Ardent. The Pulse Lasers were designed to defeat screens carried by 
ships far larger than a mere destroyer and as the beams lanced in to 
her lower engine assembly, they seared upward in a line induced by the 
Battlecruiser's unexpected roll. On board Northampton, Smythe watched 
in horror as Ardent was sliced in two by the beams, both halves of 
wreckage tumbling away on different vectors spewing atmosphere and 
hydrogen fuel. Even as Ardent died, Northampton reached optimum 
attack range. Designed to support the wall of battle, the Furious 
class Light Cruisers carried a very heavy armament with 
correspondingly light defenses. Studying the plot for a moment, 
Smythe raised a hand and dropped it with a short chopping motion 
"FIRE!!" the bow of Northampton lit up with several flares of bright 
red as the two Phased Plasma Cannon in the bow spat out their loads 
of hellish cargo. The two 5 meter spheroids of Superheated Plasma 
accelerated to .7 cee, crossed the distance between the two ships at 
impossible speed. One ball of energy grazed the ship just aft of her 
sensor array, buckling the hull across a 25 meter length as the heat 
energy distorted the plating.The other round struck the bow dead on 
in the spinal particle array.
"DAMAGE REPORT!!" Kanov bellowed above the roar of ruptured pressure 
conduit on the bridge. He had been spared when spall from the missile 
attack had whipsawed a three foot section of molten bulkhead across 
the bridge- decapitating his exec and wrecking the tac pit. Back up 
sensors were on-line, but just barely. " Sir, the Spinal Array is 
GONE!! We have heavy casualties in all sections!! Needle one is Gone, 
but Turret Able is intact! Maneuver is on Manual only!" the harried 
ensign yelled from damage control. " Cut all power to engines!! Let 
us roll!!" Kanov yelled to the helm. Smiling grimly, he studied his 
display...
On the bridge of Northampton, the bridge crew whooped in triumph as 
the enemy vessel tumbled slowly out of control. Red light burned 
fitfully on the hull as internal fires slowly depleted oxygen in 
different hull sections. "Come around for another pass. This time 
we'll finish her. No quarter." Smythe smiled in satisfaction. No more 
convoys for your teeth...
"Range 30,000 Kays. 25,000 Kays. 20,000 Kays." The weapons officer 
read off her tac plot as the enemy cruiser closed for the kill. 
"Wait. Just another moment..." Kanov muttered to himself. " 5,000 
Kays!!" The WO looked up from her display, pale. "ROLL SHIP!! EXECUTE 
FIRE LANCE!!" Kanov bellowed.
 Smythe started as the Battlecruiser momentary aligned itself in it's 
tumble with his vessel "FIRE AT WILL!! SHE"S NOT DEAD!!" He yelled 
frantically at his weapon officer. From a heavily armored bay under 
her bows, a Heavy Strike missile accelerated at point blank range 
directly into the bows of Northampton. Her Point defense lasers 
firing frantically, but inaccurately as  she tried to evade. To no
avail. 
The Missile detonated 25 meters from the bow of the light cruiser and 
the fireball literally ATE the first 40 meters of hull in a plasma 
fireball. The remaining ship detonated in a series of massive 
explosions as her Fusion torus failed and the magnetic bottle vented 
plasma into space. The debris, however was still travelling at 
substantial velocity directly at Black Prince. "COLLISION 
STATIONS!!!" Kanov yelled. 

Then the sky fell on him.

Groggily opening his eyes, Kanov looked up at Ensign Miranda Owens, 
his acting Weapon Officer. He noticed the narrow confines of an escape 
pod behind her shoulder and grimaced. "Take it easy sir, you have a 
concussion and twenty three stitches in you forehead." she smiled 
gently at him. Lifting himself up to a sitting posture, he inquired 
(after the pod interior stopped orbiting his throbbing head) "What 
happened?" " Sir, the debris from the Rep Cruiser impacted us and 
ruptured our fuel tankage and life support section. We were forced to 
abandon ship." she said. "Damn, I though we had them beat." he 
muttered. "Survivors?" She indicated her display " I have seventeen 
pods checked in with sixty -two survivors." One hundred seventy six 
dead, he thought. My God......
" Well, signal all hands that we are triggering general distress 
beacons. Looks like we'll be sitting out the rest of the war. Tell 
them they have served well and it has been an honor." Kanov lowered 
himself back down to the floor. As sleep engulfed him again, he had 
one last thought of his Grandmother saying "Be careful Boris, if you 
play too often in other people's yards you will end up in trouble! 
Smiling gently as darkness washed over him he whispered "Right as 
always Natya....."
Mike Wikan
Game Design\Conceptual Art
n-Space, Inc.
A Producer of 3D Entertainment Software