The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Mon Jun 16, 2014 8:57 pm

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

"Grand Admiral; sensors are detecting massive active scanning and explosive residue in sectors Twenty Seven B through Ninety Four R."

"Did they pick us up?"

"Negative, Grand Admiral. Stealth system Tier-2 has activated our distorted panels.. To them, we look just like rocks."

That was probably the only good news in this situation. When the Grand Admiral ordered the activation of the fleets advanced tier stealth systems, it activated distorted panel systems, which adjusted the outer panels and kinetic shielding on the fleet in order to absorb incoming signals. It effectively rendered them invisible or unmentionable on sensors, although they'd need to deactivate it to enter a combat-ready stance. Even then, this sudden display by their opposing fleet was questionable. Both fleets were in the same boat; no radar contacts and no easy ability to track hostile forces in this irradiated, asteroid ridden space. Passive scanning systems had been activated immediately upon arrival to the asteroid belt, but it simply couldn't break through this interference; not to mention the asteroids making it even more difficult to tell rock from starcraft. In this situation, the humans wouldn't be so foolish as to give their position away so easily. It had to be a trick of some sort, or possibly the use of...

Grand Admiral Dask'Re suddenly snaps his gaze away from his command console and turns to the Operations Officer sitting beside him.

"Operations, did scans detect any fast movers in the near vicinity?"

The Operations Officer pauses a moment; quickly searching through his holo-console for the constantly updating scan reports, until he replies with a loud hoot.

"Aye, Grand Admiral. OI First managed to detect over two dozen fast movers that did not classify as asteroids due to movement and size. Scanning places them at the explosions in surrounding space."

Nuclear Wave Scans. It was quite an interesting move on the humans part, and it would have worked if not for the distorted plating installed on the fleet. The Grand Admiral could not help but to allow a large, sharp-tooth'd smile to form at his lips, as the Humans display of ingenuity graced him with a perfect idea. The Alliance used buoys to detect and tag pirates along constantly traveled trade routes between the colonies and into foreign space, and they would work perfectly here.

"Operations, alert Fleet Navigations to keep the Fleet at current heading except for the 'Aurora'. Alert First to initiate link-contact with the frigate, and initiate RCS burst to..."

He paused, glancing down at his three-dimensional display of the battlefield before him. The nineteen blue cylindrical shapes before him were in a tight line at the edge of the asteroid field, while a large red circle in the distance represented the origin of the radar contacts they had picked up before. He had selected one of the frigates at the front of the formation, and had begun tracing a travel route for it that stayed tightly between the asteroids surrounding the signal area.

"...Point five-five-niner-seven. She has full authority on ship movements in order to attempt to locate and survey enemy craft. Initiate Threat Response Zero Zero Seven if spotted."

"Aye, Grand Admiral. Transmitting orders now," Replies the Operations Officer, whom begins to send out these orders to the fleet.

The Grand Admiral then taps in a new set of orders onto his spherical input module; his fingers tapping a few of the central keys. They had twelve enemy craft in the local area, not counting multiple enemy asteroid bases and mining installations. If they could manage to spot any enemy forces, they could initiate multiple quick assault patterns to attack the enemy from close quarters, and rush their fleet for a final victory. He had to do his best to keep the remaining Alliance asteroid bases out of the battle, but if it came to it, he needed every asset at his disposal to obtain victory over the human fleet. Finishing his report to the OI First, he glances down over the balcony of the upper command sector of the bridge, and calls out to the crew.

"Tracking Officer, record markings on the system map to your console and prepare to fire off buoys. We might be able to catch a bit of fault of their accord.."

"Aye Grand Admiral. Buoys are firing in five."

Directly to the rear of the 'Triumphant' was the powerhouse of the Alliance Fleet; the Assault Dreadnaught 'Kal'Bavakor'. Carrying the best in combat weaponry, shielding, and long-range deployment technology; it carried everything from plasma cannons to multiple spinal mounted Magnetic Accelerator Rail Guns, or MARG's for short. It also carried a large supply of OI-operated Patrol Buoys, which it was in the process of firing. Cycling out its multiple bow-mounted Bio-Cannon weapon batteries for buoy launchers, they rotate into position before firing ten magnetically accelerated buoys into space.

The ten buoys fire out towards human controlled space, but not into it, before the OI units onboard these buoys lock onto multiple viable asteroids. Using RCS thrusters to adjust their trajectory before slowing down, they slowly approach before eventually latching onto these asteroids. Within' seconds of attaching, they immediate prepare a single burst charge before firing an invisible 'wave' of electromagnetic energy into space; emitting a powerful scan wave. This wave, within' seconds of firing, returns to the buoys to create a three dimensional map of the entire local asteroid field, as well as any non-stealthed ships. The map is immediately fired back to the 'Kal'Bavakor' after being bounced off multiple asteroids in order to hide the location of the Alliance Fleet, and transmitted to the entire fleet.

Just as the Avengers computer does, the Alliance's Organic Intelligence Hive-Mind begins reviewing the asteroid field's map; examining and charting asteroids and non-asteroids into specific categories in order to determine what is a hostile enemy spacecraft, and what isn't.

At the same time, the Alliance Frigate 'Aurora' has received new orders: Investigate enemy space. With its stealth systems still active, and its thrusters and kinetic armor reinforcement systems still on full power, the Frigate slowly begins making its way away from the Alliance Fleet. It dodges in and out of asteroids, making sure to take a route through Teuffel that brings the 'Aurora' on a path towards human space that does not coincide with the direction of the Alliance Fleet. It continues passive scanning of space as it does this; watching and waiting for contact with an enemy force. The 'Aurora', upon entering the brunt of human space, stops firing its thrusters and instead relies fully on RCS; hoping to mask its signature the best it can.

It is ready to make a quick escape, if need be.

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

((SONAR doesn't work in space, just a note.))

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Tue Jun 17, 2014 5:34 am

(( I've heard it does, but if not just assume it's scanning ))

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-01-12

Alien wrote:: ((SONAR doesn't work in space, just a note.))

(( My balls, on the other hand, might just work in your mouth. Wanna give it a try???))

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

((SONAR works with sound waves, which don't travel in a vacuum!))

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Tue Jun 17, 2014 5:59 am

(( SPACE SONAR! RIDE THE RADIATION BABY! ))

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

((SOund Navigation And Ranging...))

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:15 am

(( Space Navigation and Ranging... SPANAR > Very Happy

))

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

It hadn't worked.

Although the Avenger's computers crunched and gnawed at the gargantuan amount of data, and despite the best efforts of the best analysts the United Systems had to offer, all of the contacts appeared to be simple asteroids; either the aliens had managed to avoid the high-power pulse completely, or they had somehow masked their ships to appear like rocks. There were millions, if not billions of new contacts, most of which were certainly asteroids, and it would take the Avenger's multiple optical telescopes days to find any abnormalities. Clearly that plan was a bust.

The Avenger was the most advanced warship in the entire United Systems fleet. It outgunned even the dreadnoughts, and carried more fighters (in the form of drones) than the supercarriers. Its sensor arrays were not just upgrades, they were revolutionary advances in technology acquired through the rigorous study of Alarei artefacts and the creation of scientific fields that had not existed before. The computing power aboard rivalled that of ETEK or the National Antimatter Research Centre. And yet it seemed unable to find a few puny ships in close proximity.

Tapping furiously on the keyboard mounted to the command table, the General brought up the levels of background radiation. Several minutes had passed, but the levels were still too high to get an accurate fix on any contacts at all without wasting more nuclear pulse generators. But as most of the alpha and beta particles decayed or were absorbed into the asteroids, the General was given a unique opportunity: to launch drones. Preliminary data from the previous battle did not give him reason to suspect the aliens used unmanned combat drones, and that meant that until the radiation dissipated further, the human drones could run a monopoly in aerospace control.

"LSO, launch drone wings one through eight and commence a combat air patrol, full stealth ingress." ordered the tall officer, earning an 'aye' from the Major in charge of aerospace control. "And somebody get me a line to ExpOps, now."

They were going to need far more than drone fighters to win the battle. With most United Systems bombers grounded due to the radiation, since only a single model could ensure the pilots' survival in such conditions, more extreme measures were required. Connecting to the Experimental Operations division of the Avenger, he brought the handset to his mouth and spoke in a very, very demanding tone. "Doctor, I hope you have something for me."

"Sir... came the reluctant reply, with the scientist on the other end clearly not satisfied with the answer he was about to give. "...the Icarus project is not ready for full scale deployment, the prototypes haven't even gone through proper field trials yet. We have not even tried the disruptor warheads outside the laboratory yet, they could-"

"Then refit them with regular nukes, how hard can that be? Consider this the opportunity to field test the bombers! Even if we lose them all, you will gain valuable data with which to improve on the prototypes at Pearl!"

That seemed to satisfy the scientist, who replied with a request for twenty minutes to refit the bombers with regular torpedoes and reconfigure them for remote control. With that the General hung up, mere seconds before the short-range sensors picked up the one hundred drones that had just been launched from the Avenger's tubes. Immediately they split into groups of five, heading off into different directions to establish a perimeter around the capital ship. He barely had time to replace the handset on its slot before a loud ping echoed inside CIC.

Before he could ask for a report, the executive officer did it for him: "STEALTH REPORT!" she screamed out, watching as the origin of the sensor pulses was triangulated and pinpointed to the surface of several asteroids.

"Hull coating has absorbed the pulse, we should look like either empty space or small debris depending on the sensitivity of their sensors. Drones report no compromise to stealth systems." reported the stealth systems operator, and both the executive officer and the General himself seemed to relax somewhat at the news. "...but if they do pick us up as debris, then given enough time they could realise that we are under powered flight and not adrift, especially if they have the processing power for it. I recommend taking these buoys down."

"...no. Keep them online for the moment, establish active locks but do not fire. I have another idea. Deactivate the RADAR countermeasure system and simulate a return signal to their ping." In an unusual order, the XO had for all intents and purposes ordered that the Avenger give away its position; the stealth systems officer looked at him in confusion while the General seemed thoughtful, as if considering the validity of the plan.

"You clever son of a bitch... You heard the XO, Lieutenant. Disable the RADAR countermeasures, give them a hint as to where we are. Helm, restore power to plasma RCS and stand by for emergency heading shift."

The Kal'bavakorian scan's results would suddenly give them much more than just the locations of asteroids in the field: buried within the data, the signature of what could undoubtedly be characterised as an enlarged dreadnought was sent back, matching the data the escaping frigates had gathered on the Avenger before they had jumped to safety. Perhaps the radiation was interfering with the ship's ability to jam the sensors, or the stealth system had proved ineffective to the alien technology, or maybe the Avenger had sustained damage to its stealth plating.

Some of the Avenger's missile batteries appeared to be establishing active locks against the buoys, apparently trying to get rid of the intrusion as soon as possible.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:23 pm

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

"ADMIRAL, ENEMY SHIP DETECTED IN SECTOR TWENTY SEVEN," Shrieked the Tracking Officer who sat just below the Grand Admiral's command stage. Before he could even reply, a second, yet calmer, cry came from the Operations Officer just beside him.

"Admiral, enemy ship has initiated targeting locks on our buoys. All forces are requesting orders."

The Grand Admiral quickly followed up with a harsh bellow of his own; initiating a reply to all whom demanded his immediate attention,"Tracking, divert scans to my combat screen immediately. Operations, delay for a moment; I must inspect our given circumstances."

Within' seconds, the scan report flowed through his three-dimensional display of the mining field. The Aurora was still closing in on the enemy fleet; represented by a small blue triangle every so slowly making its way towards enemy space, and the large red cylinder that sat in the middle of it. The Grand Admiral, with a loud snarl, placed a hand upon his armored chin in a thoughtful manner while his eyes scanned over the display. This didn't make any sense; not a single bit. Just a moment before, the scans had showed no enemy contacts, yet suddenly the largest enemy craft in the entire human fleet appeared directly on the Fleets scopes. He paused to glance over at his command console; quickly skimming through the initial combat report on the alien craft..

Indeed, it was the humans supposed 'mothership'. From what the initial combat appraisal noted about the humans, this craft was apparently their main operations center and combat powerhouse. Not to mention the fact that the entirety of the human fleet was still missing..

"A foolish move," The Grand Admiral finally spoke as realization came over him; his sharp teeth glaring as he smiled as largely as ever,"And one more fatal than they could realize." They had attempted a trap, and it was a good one, he could not deny. But they made a fatal mistake in their attempt... And the plan was already forming in his head. He could not spare a single moment!

Snapping his gaze away from the display, he turns to his command console and begins to rapidly input commands into the spherical input device. At the same time, he begins barking orders..

"Operations Officer; triangulate the enemy lock signatures on our buoys, and align them to the general area in which the enemy ship had appeared on our scopes." By this point, the Avenger had vanished from the fleets scopes. It did not matter, though; they had the Humans this time. The Kal'Bavakor and the Triumphant represented the pinnacle of Alliance combat and spacefaring technology, with the most advanced sensor technology from the Yu'Olva's brightest to the most powerful turbolaser batteries and mass driver cannons the Turran Military could afford. This did not even mention the advanced OI capacitors, kinetic shielding, communication, and refitting technology oboard. It was because of these advances, and the intelligent OI and crew onboard, that this sudden and brazen plan would work.

With the assistance of his ever so faithful OI 'First', who was still managing to assist the 'Aurora' at the same time, the triangulation reports came barreling back to his console. Using the buoy's triangulation software used to mark enemy spacecraft as hostile or friendly, the Operations Officer and his team had managed to trace the lock back to the signal emitted by the Avenger. A red dot suddenly appeared on his three-dimensional display, marking the Avenger for all Alliance ships to see. As long as Alliance buoys remained active, the Avenger was like a third horn on a Kals chin.

A short series of cheers filled the Triumphant's bridge as the Grand Admiral released a empowered, excited shout.

"Fleet Navigations; all Combat Frigates are to regroup on the 'Aurora'; engage stealth drives and prepare for long-range engagement! NSRRC's shall pull back from the fleet, gain range, and engage the enemy fleet.. Tell them to focus on that massive cannon the report mentions. All other forces, prepare for attack. If we're as lucky as we have been, they'll come right towards us, and it'll be like fishing for Corral Skippers on a sunny Kal'Bavakor morning!"

A quick series of 'Yes Admirals' resounded throughout the bridge as the Alliance Grand Assault Fleet prepared for combat actions.

With stealth systems still engaged, the five other Alliance NMRF-'Elena'-Class Multi-Role Combat Frigates lightly ignite their engines and begin to make their way off from the fleet. They move to regroup with the 'Aurora'; attempting a loose, single-file formation in order to mask themselves from the human fleet. They, just as the Aurora had done previously, resort to moving in between the asteroids that would hide their smaller build from the human sensors, and resort to simple RCS thrusts upon entering the brunt of human controlled space. Upon reaching the 'Aurora', they organize into a loose V-Formation behind a series of stationary asteroids, and take cover until the signal has been given..

At the Alliance Fleet, other actions are being taken. The two Alliance NSRRC-'Marksman'-Class High Velocity Magnetic Accelerator Rail Systems of the Cruiser Designation slowly break away from the Alliance Fleet. Within' a few moments or so, they begin to move a great distance away from the Alliance Fleet; a distance that, if the Cruisers were found and attacked, would not give away the bulk of Alliance forces unless extensive searches were done. These cruisers are different from most craft.. They are basically massive MARGs (Magnetic Acceleration Rail Guns). Carrying only light anti-fighter defense systems, they are barely worth a piece of slag in space, and would be destroyed in under a minute if kept under constant barrage.

From a distance, though, these craft are deadly; lethal devices meant for extremely long range combat. The Captains of these craft quickly link their targeting algorithms as they focus their batteries upon the target their batteries were ordered upon..

The Human Avenger.

Massive nuclear acceleration rounds are packed into the MARGs of each cruiser; the loading mechanisms sliding the round into the ship-long, spinal mounted cannon. A quick series of calculations marked their targets and, after a quick few checks were done by onboard OI systems, they were ready to fire.

Which is exactly what they did.

From across the belt, these 'sniper cruisers' fired the first shots of a heated conflict; their extremely high velocity, high mass, and highly explosive rounds crossing the boundaries of the two fleets merely minutes after the Avenger had been designated a target. Using RCS thrusters to compensate for the extreme distance, they would center in on the Avenger...

If they were to make contact, they would cause heavy damage to the respective points of impact. Of course, because of the Avengers size, it would take many, many more shots to actually destroy the craft. Of course, these first shots were mere tests to investigate the damage they could cause to the human command ship; something the Alliance Captains on their NSRRC's were eager to find out. The reloading process had already begun for the next salvo, which would take under thirty seconds.

Posts : 57 Join date : 2014-04-29

A small, cube-like 'vessel' enters the minefield's perimeter-- although it stays out of range in order to avoid danger. Either it's an obscure mining vessel who just entered the system at the wrong time for mining, or it's just here to enjoy the show. Whatever the case may be, it sits idle and doesn't seem to hold any means of harm nor much defense.

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"Stealth systems have been deactivated, we are visible to RADAR!"

The General stood expressionless, staring at the holographic display. No contacts yet; the aliens hadn't taken the bait. Or at least, they were still considering it. Obviously, the Avenger's sudden appearance would confuse them and give them a moment of pause, a delay to decide if it was a trap or just a lucky find. No matter what they concluded, the plan would work. Attacking the Avenger was probably the only shot they had at destroying it before it found them: a pre-emptive strike would most certainly be attempted, he believed. With the stealth system being decentralized, the aliens would have to target one of three locations: the reactor core, the engines, or the main battery.

Also known as the most heavily armoured sections of the Avenger.

He stared at the chronometer he held, having removed the chain from around his neck a moment prior: a gift from his mentor and first commanding officer. "It's all about time." he had said; the outcome of battles was not determined by the size or power of the opposing forces, but on the specific sequence of events that unfolded, and the timing of each separate event. In this case, time was of the essence. Five seconds passed. Ten. Fifteen.

Twenty.

"Commence FTL, local displacement!" yelled the General, his attention shifting to the officer in charge of faster than light navigation. A whole section of the Combat Information Centre was devoted to managing the ship's quad jump drive array (a miracle of engineering by itself: the Avenger was the only ship in the fleet with quad drives instead of dual), and dozens of engineers and military scientists assisted in the calculations necessary to jump.

"Aye!" exclaimed the officer in response, tapping the side of his headset to link to the engineering compartment. "Spin up jump drives one through four, repeat, spin up drives one through four for local jump, full power to energy banks. Stand by for coordinates." Almost immediately, a loud hum begun to echo inside the CIC, attributed to the gigantic gyroscope-like devices that formed the heart of the jump drive. "Drives are spinning up, ETA thirty seconds!"

There was no time to spare: the General had pressed on the chronometer's reset button as soon as the report came in, and then shifted his attention to the RADAR display. And just as he hoped, two contacts appeared: cruiser sized, as far as he could tell through the interference, and the computer soon enough confirmed his suspicions.

ALPHA - ENEMY CRUISER / BR-018-063 / DIS-060-019 (WEAPON ACTIVATION)
BRAVO - ENEMY CRUISER / BR-021-067 / DIS-059-173 (WEAPON ACTIVATION)

"Set relative jump coordinates to bearing zero two zero mark zero six five, distance sixty thousand kilometers! Helm, seventy degrees down bubble, cavitate, cavitate!" came the next order, and the operators in the command centre followed it almost in unison: a series of powerful plasma jet thrusters on the hull of the Avenger, acting as a form of RCS capable of rapidly turning the gargantuan structure around, fired in different directions to make the craft point downwards in the relative plane defined by its gravity field. This presented the dreadnought's heavily armoured topside to the two cruisers, along with the bulk of the railguns and missile launchers.

And then the main engines activated, pushing the Avenger forward and leaving a massive plasma jet behind as the capital ship accelerated. The turn had barely finished when the two cruisers opened fire, and more than half of the rounds missed due to the sudden change in orientation the Avenger had performed. But the ones that didn't were on a clear attack course: a high-precision point defence laser, with a millisecond to spare, targeted the first round and zapped it, melting through the casing and thus crippling its penetrative capacity. The round exploded almost harmlessly against the hull, its damaging potential spread.

Another round was intercepted by the electric reactive armour: in the fraction of the second it took for it to actually make contact with the armour plating, it closed the circuit and caused a bolt of electricity in lightning strike proportions to flow through it, frying any electronics that controlled the explosive mechanisms and at the same time melting through the casing as if it was icecream on a hot summer.

The third hit, and it hit hard. The electric reactive system activated a few fractions of the second late, frying the electronics but without melting the casing itself. The heavy projectile collided against the armour plating and smashed right through the reactive layer, getting as far as the outer composite layer before its kinetic energy was dispersed. The reactive plate deactivated, its circuits having been shorted out.

"DIRECT IMPACT! No detonation, but dorsal plate one one two is out of action!" yelled the damage control officer, and the General let out a disappointed sigh. The plate could be repaired if the damage control drones were deployed, but with jump prep underway, it would have to wait. Any more railgun hits against the specific plate would cause severe damage to the armour section.

Thankfully, that wouldn't happen.

The jump drive came online at the same time as the reloading cycle for the alien ships finished, and the General gave the order without hesitation: "JUMP!" The massive warship disappeared in a bright flash of light...

...only to reappear right in the middle of the formation the two sniper cruisers had entered, maintaining its orientation in space, which included exposing them to the full power of its dorsal batteries. In a single moment, the Avenger had closed the distance between itself and its first victims, entering knife-fighting range. At such close quarters, even the point defence lasers could acquire locks.

"Targeting locks established, batteries are ready to fire!"

The slaughter could begin.

The port and starboard batteries fired first in a full broadside, sending several thousand tons of depleted uranium and titanium composite flying at almost relativistic velocities towards the two cruisers, perhaps using the element of surprise. Several non-nuclear missiles followed, launching in swarms from the many bays on the Avenger's hull and curving towards both targets: apparently the humans did not wish to use nuclear weapons at such close ranges.

Strangely enough, no drones were launched: perhaps the USC was holding them out for the larger ships, or maybe it was afraid of the anti-fighter weapons aboard the sniper cruisers. The hundred or so that had launched earlier continued to run sweeps around the area, searching for any intruders in human territory but standing by to regroup for an attack at any moment. The rest of the USC fleet, hidden, had begun 'ascending', moving above the plane the battle was taking place in to acquire a better vantage point.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:42 pm

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
Alliance NSRRC - "Cascading Ruin"

Captain War To'Sha had expected this to happen. Her cruisers, as per orders, would fire a volley upon the human warfleet, and have them follow. Upon completing the volley, she ordered the reactivation of the stealth system and had engines pushed to full; blasting the "Cascading Ruin" and its sister ship away from their original firing position to find a new one. They had targeted a position in the asteroid belt a good few thousand kilometers away at mark one-seven-nine; a good, hidden firing position.. Possibly even one that would decimate the Avenger at close range before it could engage a second time.

She did not expect the enemy flagship to stream right into their previous position. While they were a good ways off from their original targeting position, the Avenger was still close enough to engage them. With a heavy heart, she realized there was only one thing to do in this situation...

Engage the superior foe.

"Helm, bring is to mark one-niner-niner-five; bring batteries to bear. Fire all shots, and RCS to new firing position. Comms; alert the 'Aurora' we will be needing assistance.. The aliens took the bait, but much too quickly."

The worried reply of the Navigations Officer soon followed. The officer was just beside Captain To'Sha in the "Ruins" bridge, as the bridge complex's on the NSRRC-Class Cruisers were much smaller than most craft. The smaller than normal bridge crew was smashed into a small, half court-sized space; done to make room for the advanced weaponry systems and the rail cannon itself in the ship. Her officers were right beside or in front of her at all times, making commanding easier, and relations with her officers all the closer.

"Aye, Lady Captain. Helm is preparing to turn, and weapons are hot. Ready to fire upon target lock."

Emergency klaxxons begin to wail as the "Cascading Ruin" prepares for an immediate emergency turn. Due to the high g-forces brought about by inertia, the Kal'Bavakorians must snap into their seats and prepare their g-harnesses. While Kal'Bavakorians are much more resilient physically than humans, especially in high-g environments.. No one is immune to being slammed into a bulkhead at a hundred meters per second. While the pilots and crew were locked down in their seats throughout the ship, the OI's would handle advanced functions..

The Comms Officer was next. Having noted that the Avenger had opened fire as soon as it exited warp, they had a good view on its weapon systems and placements; something the Aurora would need. He quickly input this data into an encrypted quantum packaged message to Sub-Fleet One; the frigates gathered at their ambush position. It simply stated...

[++-REQUIRE ASSISTANCE. ENEMY CAPITAL SHIP HAS ENGAGED US AT CLOSE RANGE. LIGHT STREAM USED. ENEMY HAS PRESENTED MAIN WEAPONS ON SIDES; STRAFE TOP AND BOTTOM SECTIONS-++]

Of course, the Aurora had detected the warp signature, but it was always good to ensure the situation was noted. The intel on enemy weapon placements would be even more helpful. Now, they simply had to hope the hull would hold out until the frigates arrived..

The Avenger, upon exiting warp, was met with... Nothing. They would be firing into empty space, while their original targets were long gone at this point. In fact, they were a little over a thousand kilometers directly below the stern of the Avenger. A mere few seconds after the Avenger warped in, the Alliance Railgun Cruisers would turn their craft to take aim upon the Avenger. Bringing batteries to bear, they would fire their second volley of violently powerful shots upon the belly of this beast. The shots would cause the craft to accelerate away from the Avenger, with assistance from RCS and thrusters, due to the most basic laws of physics; carrying them away backwards from the hostile flagship..

At the same time, Sub-Fleet One receives the transmission from the cruisers. With a green light from 'First', the OI assisting the frigates from aboard the Kal'Bavakor, the six craft engage their thrusters and begin making their way towards the Avenger. Their stealth systems remain engaged, for the moment. Their intention is to reach the Avenger as soon as possible, regardless of stealth.

The rest of the Alliance Assault Fleet remains unheard from..

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"Targets have shifted position, gun batteries are reacquiring! Enemy vessels are turning around for another volley!"

The General pressed the reset button on the chronometer again, watching intently as the holographic display refreshed to show the two alien craft at their new positions. The firing arcs, calculated from the crude data the Avenger's AI had gathered during the first volley, were slowly making a half circle turn to bear on the gargantuan warship again; a few quick calculations later, the AI displayed timers above each sniper cruiser indicative of the time they needed to gain a fix.

It was more time than the General needed, though. "Commence FTL prep, stand by for coordinates! Missile batteries, launch Harpoon volley, both targets!"

Working in perfect harmony, the officers on the bridge sent the firing order to the missile control centre, which then calculated the attack vectors within seconds and sent them to each missile station. Confirmation was then sent to the Combat Information Centre that the tubes were firing, and the weapons officer announced it instantly: "RVLS tubes one through fifty are firing electrically, rapid launch mode!"

The RADAR screen was flooded with hundreds of tiny contacts as each of the fifty Rapid Vertical Launch System tubes selected to fire jettisoned four missiles at directions seemingly unrelated to the two alien ships; some of the missiles were even fired towards the top, a direction completely opposite to their targets. For a second they drifted, just enough for all of them to clear the hull, and then powerful RCS thrusters turned them around in an instant before the main chemical rockets activated.

Each AGM-184C 'Harpoon' ship-to-ship missile was a five meter active RADAR homing missile capable of achieving accelerations of several dozen gs without any damage to its systems, and carried almost a full metric ton of conventional explosives behind an armour-piercing shell. But it was far more than just an explosive missile: functioning like the RPGs of the 20th century, the missiles, upon detonation, created a highly pressurised jet of molten copper that could cut through several feet of armour before cooling down. The missiles were directed explosive weapons, which meant they could focus their blast towards one direction without wasting energy to the void. The AGM-184N 'Scythe' was an exception, using the Harpoon chassis to house a tactical nuclear weapon.

And one hundred of the Harpoons accelerated towards each of the two railgun cruisers, making insane turns and using active RADAR jamming to prevent point defences from shooting down the swarm. Surprisingly, the USC hadn't launched any of the Scythe variants, perhaps conserving the nuclear armaments for a bigger target. Or maybe it wanted the ships alive.

Back in the CIC, the chronometer ticked as thirty seconds passed. There was no time to waste: each move had to be carefully executed at precise intervals, lest the battle be lost. "Switch to active infrared scan, commence sensor sweep!" he ordered, and this time his command was rewarded by another refresh on the holographic display. Six new heat contacts appeared on the map, approaching rapidly: frigate sized warships that could barely register on the RADAR through all the interference. "Flak batteries, stand by to engage enemy targets!"

Several of the batteries that weren't turning to take aim at the two sniper cruisers due to their location swivelled around, locking on to the approaching frigates. According to their speed and size, attempting to use anti-capital weapons against them would be futile: instead the Avenger's commander intended to treat them as big fighters or bombers.

"Batteries have fixed target bearing on enemy cruisers!" exclaimed the gunnery chief, earning a smile from the General. The Avenger's turrets had the advantage of not fighting against the entire momentum of the ship, which the two cruisers were doing in order to align their spinal guns, and could turn around much faster than the two ships could.

"Fire."

The Avenger went all out: several dozen nuclear shells were fired at the cruisers, with perhaps most of them missing due to the poor target tracking at such close distances; but with each of them carrying such a destructive payload, not many hits were required to make a very strong statement. The targets: the ships' engines.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:02 pm

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
Alliance NSRRC - "Cascading Ruin"

Klaxxons were wailing, and the bridge lights had dimmed. Sweat rolled down the bridge crew's foreheads as they checked their screens. It didn't take long for the news to arrive, and the 'Cascading Ruin's Battery Officer screeched as soon as his sensors relayed the warning.

"CAPTAIN! ENEMY HAS OPENED FIRE!"

No time to waste. The Captain screamed,"EMERGENCY THRUST BURST NOW! FIRE ALL COUNTERMEASURES!"

The Navigations Officer input the command into her holo-console.. And the both the 'Ruin' and her sister ship entered a hellish world that only inertia could bring upon someone. The objective changed from returning fire to merely surviving at this point; something the Alliance put a lot of time into for their craft. Immediately upon activating the emergency thrust command, both sniper cruisers initiate a violent burn on their starboard RCS thrusters; sending both sniper cruisers tumbling into a maneuver that would have made the humans in the Avenger's CIC lose their lunches. Mixed with the quick turn to re-orient their main guns, this burn sent both cruisers into a sickening, slow tumble, and caused them to move several hundred kilometers to their right. While this definitely saved both cruisers from the majority of incoming fire, including the Avengers missile systems, it put serious hurt on both crafts internal hardware, as well as their crew..

At the same time, both cruisers lit up with dozens of countermeasures and point defense systems. Several compartments on the starboard and port spinal columns of each craft would jettison a light show, ranging from high energy chaffs to point defense buoys that attract enemy missiles, and engage with high energy point defense laser systems. Both craft would also initiate a missile jamming field. These craft had effectively used up their entire countermeasure inventory to evade this initial assault..

And while it was extremely effective, it did not work perfectly. Multiple AGMs made it through the countermeasure field, impacting the light armor of the cruisers with effective results. While no hull breaches could be made due to the light kinetic barriers on the craft, the explosions and hull damage were evident; leaving black char and exposed internal structure visible. A single nuclear round impacted the 'Cascading Ruin', tearing off a small section of the crafts rear superstructure in a violent explosion that sends the cruiser tumbling once more..

Smoke and ejected super structure orbit the two free-falling cruisers.

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
NMRF-Frigate 'Aurora'

While the sniper cruisers, for now, have been effectively removed from the fight, the 'Aurora' and her five sister frigates are far from such a point. Made for close combat engagements with larger, hostile forces; these frigates blast past their downed comrades with intense speed. To the possible surprise of the Avenger's CIC, these frigates easily weave in and out of the incoming flak fire, and those shots that do come relatively close to impacting the outer hull of these craft are ineffective.

The Alliance Frigates initiate an interesting combat maneuver. The six craft, many times smaller than the force they are engaging, use their speed and insane maneuverability to attempt to 'orbit' the Avenger at relatively extreme close ranges. Avoiding the starboard and port shell batteries, the Frigates, if able to come close to engage, attempt to remain 'above' and 'below' the Avenger; using RCS thrusters to remain out of the main kill zones they present. They focus on exposed hardpoints, especially focusing on the recently fired missile batteries and nuclear shelling systems used upon their cruiser brethren. With targeting systems engaged, the Alliance Frigates begin a 'campaign' to knock them out of commission; using their central, spinal mounted MARG (Magnetic Accelerator Rail Gun), followed by extensive mass driver and railgun fire. The main fields of fire of these Frigates seem to come from their frontal batteries, although they do have multiple rail cannons and missile launchers on their starboard and port sides.

With the assault of these Frigates, the Alliance has effectively 'leveled' the playing field. These Frigates can easily whittle away exposed batteries of the Avenger, for now.

Interestingly enough, the Frigates also seem to be 'depositing' odd devices near the Avenger; small spherical units that are effectively hidden to the inhibited sensors of the Avenger. They are ejected from the rear of the Frigates as they perform their runs; the devices using small, precise RCS thrusters to move into place, and stay a pre-determined distance from the Avengers hull..

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

The Grand Admiral was constantly checking the damage reports, sent to him every minute or so by 'First', who was assisting Sub-Fleet One in their engagement with the enemy.. And he was not at all happy. He was not displeased with his men, not at all. It was the unfortunate fact that the Alliance Grand Fleet, Alliance Svu'Kavsi Intelligence, and the Alliance Military Command had effectively underestimated their enemy, that made him so angry. This enemy ship, a size the Grand Admiral had never even taken into consideration as a possibility in combat, had already heavily damaged his only long range combat units.

And while he was sure the frigates could whittle away at the massive craft, it wouldn't be long until the rest of the human fleet moved to engage them. The previous Lord Admiral of Sub-Fleet One had resigned her post after her retreat from Teuffel, and the new Lord Admiral of the 'Aurora', a very good commander indeed, was at the helm of this attack. Even then, with this Shala Va'Helm leading the charge, there was no way they could withstand an all-out assault from the remaining human fleet.

No, the time had come. He had to bring in his command ship, as well as the Kal'Bavakor. Three of the six battleships would support this intense close quarters assault, and he would call the rest of the fleet in to support once the enemy had initiated full fleet combat. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was a plan. This was going to become extremely ugly before it got any better, and the Grand Admiral had to make the hard choice..

Which he did.

"All helms, prepare for full fleet contact! Alert Navigations Officers on the Kal'Bavakor, the Fearless, the Bombardier, and the Limitless Fury to link jump drives with the Triumphant.. We are going to jump into close quarters engagement."

Silence was the answer for a moment or so. There was fear, the Grand Admiral could almost feel it in the air; thick like the oils from a freshly cooked baka patty. Nonetheless, these men and women had duties to perform, and there was no one they trusted to lead them in said duties like the Grand Admiral of the Alliance Fleet. The silence of these soldiers was quickly replaced by a variety of confirmations, and a series of quick questions.

"Grand Admiral, what of the remaining fleet?"

"They will remain here until the remains of the human fleet arrive. We will route them as they come."

"Yes, Grand Admiral; by your orders!"

The orders were set. The turbo-laser batteries were powered up, the Light Accelerator Cannon was prepared, and the many missile, MARG, and rail batteries upon each and every craft was activated; swirling of out their enclosed armor positions and ready to open fire. They were ready for the grandest battle of their lives.

"Fleet reports Light Stream Generators are charged! Jump on your orders, my Lord," Cried the Navigations Officer. The worry, yet hope, was evident in his voice.

Rising from his chair, the Grand Admiral jammed his hand forward; finger extended towards the bridge's view screen, and towards the battle that was taking place thousands upon thousands of kilometers away. With great strength, he bellows..

"Engage Light Stream! Bring us into the void, and may the Goddess bring us out the other side!"

The five warships consisting of two dreadnaughts and six battleships dissipated suddenly into a nothingness, leaving behind a blast of powerful violet energy. In less than a second, less time than any organic being could possibly conceive, they would appear beside their enemy with furious vengeance..

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"The enemy has deployed missile countermeasures and is attempting evasive action! Wait... direct hits with multiple Harpoons, no hull damage!" exclaimed one of the petty officers, only to reconsider his statement a few seconds later as new telemetry came in. "Shell impact on enemy target, critical damage to aft superstructure! Enemy ship is tumbling out of control!"

The executive officer stared at the General expectantly: he was doing nothing but staring at the chronometer and throwing quick glances at the holographic map with absolutely no regard for the multiple reports that were coming in about damaging the enemy ships. He even ignored the offer by the tactical systems officer to launch another AGM salvo, which would be an excellent idea: the enemy ships had seemingly launched most of their countermeasures in repelling the initial attack, and a few nuclear blasts here and there would seal the deal without too big of a waste of ammunition.

But instead, the General gave her /that/ look, the one he gave her whenever he was about to do something crazy. General Ostberg was not a conventional by-the-books officer, which was precisely why SpecCom had appointed him to command the Avenger: they didn't need a bookworm, they needed a seasoned soldier who could think outside the box to deal with situations that man hadn't even known existed. And when he nodded briefly, she understood. She had missed something, having focused exclusively on the enemy cruisers: the frigates. Six of them approaching rapidly, navigating through the complex flak barrier with heretic disregard for the planning that went into making 9it impenetrable to even the fastest interceptor. "Brace ship for impact!" she screamed out, and the chief of the boat responded by firing up the collision alarm.

<"All hands, all hands, brace for impact!">

The warning came a few seconds before the first shots from the frigates impacted against the hull, or more specifically against the shielded blastdoors that protected the recently-fired launch tubes. The multi-meter thick armor plates seemed to hold for the moment, having been designed to withstand non-impact nuclear blasts at close range: the first barrage from the frigates were ineffective. The turrets that were targeted next were relatively less protected in their active configuration, but nevertheless seemed to withstand several direct shots before a few of them retracted hurriedly into the hull armor to protect their crew.

"Three dorsal railgun turrets have taken severe damage and have been disabled manually, enemy frigates have begun extremely close range attack! Batteries are attempting to track, but without results!" yelled the tactical systems officer, but the General seemed oddly unworried. The frigates could bite the Avenger all they wanted, but they couldn't withstand a prolonged engagement, no: if the Avenger launched fighters, which to the aliens it had no reason not to, the frigates would suffer a rapid death. They weren't an attack force: they were vanguards, a prelude to the arrival of the enemy fleet. The executive officer suggested launching fighters to intercept, but the General held up his free hand.

He spoke calmly, his eyes locked on the red digits on the chronometer. "Negative, keep all fighters in the tubes. FTL, status report."

"FTL status report, aye! FTL drives one through four have spun up, capacitor charge at ninety-two percent and rising, ship will be jump capable in twenty seconds!" came the reply from the FTL Navigation officer, and the General nodded in response.

"Set local jump bearing to zero mark zero, distance fifty thousand kilometers. Secure all stations for jump."

"Aye, coordinates and distance set, ship will be jump capable in fifteen seconds!"

It was time. The chronometer started ticking and the General's eyes finally left the tiny device, staring at the console mounted directly above him, which was conveniently displaying the status of the ship's nuclear arsenal. Every tube that could be loaded with nuclear missiles had been depressurized and the missile doors were on stand-by. "Mister Kivistö, load target packages zero six zero mark zero five five alpha, zero five seven mark zero six two bravo to Scythes one through five and twenty through twenty-four. Set ground zero for the enemy cruisers. XO, confirm."

In unison, the executive officer and the tactical system's officer followed their orders. The Colonel nodded briefly before she repeated the order: "Load target packages zero six zero mark zero five five alpha, zero five seven mark zero six two bravo to Scythes one through five and twenty through twenty-four. Set ground zero for the enemy cruisers." she stated while the TSO typed on his keyboard, distributing the targeting orders to the ten nuclear warheads. "Load target packages, aye!"

The red lights in CIC turned an ominous blue as the ship was put to nuclear launch mode, and radiation signatures spiked from within the ship's torpedo bays: it was preparing to nuke the two cruisers, perhaps in a last attempt to cause enough loss of life that the aliens would consider a retreat. "Target packages loaded to Scythes one through five and twenty through twenty-four, warhead guidance and decoy systems are online!"

"Release launch and warhead safeties and open torpedo tube doors. Stand by for launch." With the order given, fifty blast doors opened on the exterior hull of the Avenger, located on the starboard side (and protected by the same point defenses and fast-tracking batteries that the frigates wanted to avoid), and almost instantly, the radiation that couldn't be precisely pinpointed was pinned down to the 'orifices' in the ship's hull. Most of them housed decoys with a radiation signature identical to the warheads themselves, but the ten that were real posed a very real, very serious threat to even the most powerful of capital ships. "Launch."

Fifty missiles were fired from the tubes before the frigates had a chance to perform any passes, accelerating faster than any of them could follow towards the two cruisers: with the electronic countermeasures aboard the Avenger jamming sensors and point defense systems, the missiles seemed almost destined to destroy the two cruisers and thus cripple the Kal'bavakorian morale..

...only for several jump signatures to appear at knife-fighting range from the Avenger, with one unlucky Kal'bavakorian battleship jumping directly in the path of the nuclear warheads and their decoy protectors. The computers on the warheads tried to compensate and evade the impact, but the first of the decoys begun to slam against the kinetic barrier of the battleship a mere moment after the jump. A fraction of a second later, a /real/ nuke hit the shields and detonated: the resulting ten megaton nuclear explosion, coupled with the electromagnetic pulse, was enough to set of two of the closest warheads, with most of the energy being absorbed by the alien shields.

Before anyone could react, and with the (assumed) collapse of the kinetic barriers, the remaining warheads and decoys continued on a collision course with the battleship's hull. Adding insult to injury for the USC's plan, the electromagnetic pulse was followed by a complete system reboot of the Avenger's jump drives: the capacitors were purged to prevent a catastrophic overload, and the ship was left without the means to rapidly escape, as it hoped to.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Tue Jul 08, 2014 1:55 am

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet

Upon exiting the Light Stream, the Grand Alliance Assault Fleet appears in full formation, with the Triumphant at the very front. Directly behind this mighty beast lies an even more savage fore; the Dreadnaught 'Kal'Bavakor'. In between these dangerous, massive beasts of war lies a formation of three Alliance Battleships. While the battleships and the dreadnaught are bristling with weaponry, ranging from rail cannons to mass drivers and other unknown systems, the Super Carrier seems unarmed for the most part. Its only defenses appear to be an odd energy signature pulsing from its massive forward 'cap', as well as an insane amount of advanced point defense and missile jamming systems.

Unfortunately for the Alliance, the nuclear missiles move straight on, but instead of impacting their original target, they instead head straight on towards the visible battleship to the starboard side of the 'Triumphant'; the Bombardier. The kinetic shields do in fact withstand the first nuclear impact, but are soon shut down from the second and third nearby explosions, and their EMP field. A fourth and fifth missile, in the midst of decoy buoys, easily make their way through the formation and impact the un-shielded battleship, resulting in two bright, massive explosions...

As the blasts quickly subside in the vacuum of space, the damage is apparent: multiple internal sections of the large battleship are exposed on its port side to the vacuum of space, and many main weapon systems are destroyed; reduced to radioactive carbon and floating debris. The only thing stopping the entire ship from being exposed to space are multiple hull-breach bulkheads sliding into place, as well as light kinetic barriers activating over exposed sections. Still, the damage is catastrophic, and the ship appears to be out of the fight for now.

Before the remaining five missiles can make their way through the formation, the main purpose of the Shield-Class Super Carrier 'Triumphant' is realized. A massive energy signature suddenly bursts to life upon the carriers massive 'mushroom cap'; creating an extremely powerful 'Kinetic Wall', a more powerful version of the kinetic shield, that is projected half a kilometer or so around the cap. A powerful magnetic field of odd variety also emanates from the cap. Its effects are soon apparent.

The missiles launched from the Avenger seem to 'slow down'; repelled by the powerful magnetic field that acts upon them. With the Alliance Fleet only partially active after the nuclear firestorm that earlier took them, the 'Triumphant' takes lead; firing its dozens upon dozens of forward point defense cannons upon the missiles. Those that do not impact the shield, and are therefore repelled or destroyed in a nuclear firestorm, are exploded far enough away that they do not impact the Alliance Fleet gravely. Quite a few still make it through to the 'Wall', but a large portion are decimated before they even come close..

With the active threat dealt with, there are still two massive dreadnaught-class craft, and two more active battleships filled with a vicious fury at the loss of their comrades to nuclear warfare...

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

By the Goddess, the Alliance Grand Assault Fleet was just taking one unlucky hit after another at this point. Grand Admiral Dask'Re, upon his ships re-entry into realspace from the Light Stream, was dumbfounded when only a massive explosion filled the Triumphants forward port screens; even going as far as to disable a few, with static taking the place of the battle before them. Radiological alarms had begun to ring throughout the Triumphants bridge only seconds later; alerting the crew to what had just taken place..

The enemy had launched nuclear weaponry upon the Alliance Fleet, and it had hit something very, very important.

Before he could figure out exactly what, though, he needed a status report of the situation. Slamming his clenched hand upon the arm rest of his command chair, Grand Admiral Dask'Re cries.

"All ships, open fire upon the human warship! Melt their armor, and open their hearts to the void of space!"

As the Communications Officer begins inputting this message for relay to the combat group, the Grand Admiral speaks again; his voice calmer, but still hasty.

"All stations, I require a status report on our systems, and the fleet."

He did not wait very long. His Operations Officer was quick to fill him in.

"Grand Admiral, the Kal'Bavakor is rebooting multiple weapon systems, including the Light Accelerator Cannon. This should take them about a minute or so, and the downed batteries will be re-activated. They are still at sixty seven percent combat capable, and are firing their opening salvo in a moment. The Fearless and Limitless Fury are showing full combat readiness, although they are reporting a required Light Stream Drive shut down, and are rebooting their cores.

The Triumphant itself has not been heavily influenced by the nuclear attack. An LS-Drive reboot is processing. Radiological alarms are down after the radiation was deflected or absorbed, and our Kinetic Wall System is operating at a hundred and nine percent efficiency using 'First's algorithms."

The Grand Admiral simply nodded in reply, and was quick to check his command console; viewing quick and detailed reports that were going straight to his console after the sensors came back online. The three-dimensional display noted the status of the two damaged cruisers, as well as six frigates, and the assault group itself. Without a moment to think, the Grand Admiral began slicing the force up rapidly; dragging the units to the respective positions he desired. The damaged battleship would report to the rear of the formation. Although it remained combat effective, he could only guess the gruesome radiation sickness the crew was facing; a fact mostly present since the Bombardiers Captain didn't seem to be responding to direct communication.

At the same time, his console began flashing a bright red color; denoting the opening salvos coming from the 'Kal'Bavakor' and the two battleships at its side. Time for revenge...

The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. - Page 4 Space_Battle___02_by_Aikurisu

The Alliance Fleet immediately begins to move. Still in perfect formation, the Alliance Fleet moves, with the Triumphant still in front, using RCS thrusters in an attempt to move in front of their damaged cruisers; acting as a shield to defend their defenseless allies. At the same time, the fleet performs a mid-maneuver position change. The Bombardier, still spewing smoke, ice crystals, and debris from its blackened, cracked, irradiated hull, slowly moves to the rear of the Kal'Bavakor; at the very rear of the fleet. While this happens, the Alliance Dreadnaught 'Kal'Bavakor' slowly 'rises'; allowing its main cannons and armaments to show above the 'mushroom cap' of the Triumphant. The Battleships 'Limitless Fury' and 'Fearless' move to the starboard and port sides of the 'Triumhpant', respectively, as well. Forming an upside down 'T' formation from the view of the Avenger, the Alliance Fleet finally initiates its opening salvo...

And the Avengers stranded crew would be most surprised. While dozens of spinal-mounted MARGs, energized railguns, a few hundred mass drivers, and a barrage of over eighty ASM missiles would spew towards the Avenger, a new series of weapons would show as well. Beam weapons blast from the 'Kal'Bavakor', with each beam firing for five second long interval. Dozens of these violet-color beams are fired; slicing along the Avengers hull like a scalpel. Even more worrisome are the barrage of turbo-laser and close range plasma cannons fired upon the Avenger from all ships, excluding the 'Triumhpant', in a constant lightshow of destruction. Immense damage is caused to any material that is not well protected.

The Alliance Fleet seems to be targeting hardpoints of the Avenger; focusing especially on visible RCS thrusters, missile bays, and other weapon emplacements. Eager to support, the Alliance Frigates continue to orbit the Avenger; causing a huge disturbance around the outer hull. They lie in wait as they continue their attack; hoping the Avenger will be so foolish as to expose their batteries to fire, only for them to be destroyed in the process.

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"NEW CONTACTS, BEARING ZERO SIX TWO MARK ZERO FIVE ONE, DISTANCE... FUCK, THEY ARE RIGHT ONTOP OF US SIR!"

Within a single second, the entire battlefield had shifted. Five new contacts had appeared on the holographic screen and the computer was quick to assign them new callsigns, displaying them as 'ENEMY DREADNOUGHT', 'ENEMY SUPERCARRIER' and 'ENEMY BATTLESHIPS' along with their relative bearings and distances. One of the battleships had, unluckily for both it and the Avenger, appeared right on the curved line that indicated the flight path of the nuclear missile salvo and dangerously close to the Avenger itself. At such distance, the nuclear blast would not majorly affect the Avenger's armor because it could absorb the heat and radiation, but it would mess with electronic systems. Most of them were shielded against electromagnetic pulses, but some, like the FTL drive, had to be unshielded when spooling for a jump.

"TARGET OBSTRUCTION, THE SCYTHES ARE ABOUT TO HIT THE ENEMY BATTLESHIP!" came the next piece of information barely a moment later from a different officer, and the bridge crew didn't even bother waiting for the order: they buckled down in their seats, the General included, using the emergency straps and braced for impact. The General, having secured himself on the commander's seat in front of the command table, grabbed the handset and pressed its microphone against his lips.

"ALL HANDS, ALL HANDS, RIG SHIP FOR CLOSE PROXIMITY DETONATION!" he yelled, his voice echoing through every nook and cranny on the Avenger moments after the automatic collision readiness system had activated. When immediate threat to the ship was presented, the AI was authorized to assume control of ship functions to protect the ship and crew and ensure the success of the mission, provided it could later justify its actions to an engineer and military board using cold, calculated logic. Triggering the collision alarm before human reflexes could kick in was a no-brainer.

A few seconds after that, the alien battleship was hit by the nuclear warheads, creating an unremarkable shake inside the Avenger but also causing several consoles in CIC to lose connection to the stations they monitored: FTL, Local Communications and Sensors went online, even for a few moments, before they rebooted from emergency backup systems. When the dust settled, the enemy battleship seemed to have been crippled enough to retreat to the back of the formation, posing no further threat. But the news for the Avenger were not good: "Direct hit with two warheads, enemy ship has taken critical damage! FTL drives one through four shut down during the EMP, they are rebooting now, ETA to jump capability five minutes!" Five minutes was an eternity for a battle at such close range: the General's plan involved firing the nukes, 'sinking' the cruisers, and then jumping to long distance in the hopes that the enemy's long-range capability had been destroyed. Obviously that wouldn't work.

It took the Avenger's crew almost a full minute to work through the sensor interference and compensate for the deadly radiation levels outside, and when they did, they barely had time to see the alien ships assume formation and prepare their main weapons. The order was distributed to retract all turrets into the armor in order to protect them from the initial barrage, and most of them managed to seal themselves under the thick plating before the first railgun shots impacted against the electric-reactive armor. Most of them were detonated before actually hitting it, or were melted by the electric discharges and splashed harmlessly against the plates, but some managed to get through the prototype's armor and begun to damage the armor plates protecting the hardpoints. "ENEMY FLEET HAS OPENED FIRE, AFT STARBOARD ARMOR SECTION IS UNDER HEAVY BOMBARDMENT!"

"MISSILES IN THE WATER, BEARING ZERO FIVE TWO MARK ZERO SEVEN THREE, CLOSING FAST! COUNTERMEASURES DEPLOYING!"

Several CIWS weapons, too small to be targeted by the enemy frigates with any degree of precision, almost instantly achieved locks on the approaching anti-ship missiles and begun unleashing a cloud of flak and bullets against them. If there was one thing the United Systems had learnt from the prolonged with the Zeleniyans, it was to shield their ships against missiles: without kinetic barriers, the only two ways to defend against incoming missiles were to shoot them down prematurely or detonate them using lasers and electricity. Any missiles that made it through the flak field were fired at by some of the Avenger's laser point defense weapons, overheating the casings and causing fuel and explosives to detonate harmlessly in space. The last barrier of defense, the electric-reactive plating, took care of any stragglers. Of the eighty missiles, only three made it to their target, exploding violently against the hull armor.

The real threat, however, seemed to be the energy weapons: the ablative coating on the Avenger's armor appeared to be very, very effective with preventing the hull and reactive plates from being damaged, but with each beam that hit it became thinner and thinner to the point of uselessness. Within a minute, scorch marks begun to appear against the Avenger's plates as the ablative coating lost its effectiveness and allowed more and more heat to be delivered to the ship.

Caught in command of the largest battle the Coalition had so far participated in, the General's attitude seemed to have changed. From carefully orchestrating the destruction of the 'puny' Kal'bavakorian fleet, he had gone to desperately giving damage control orders and managing the missile batteries, the only weapons of the Avenger that could fire without risk of reprisal from the aliens due to their location deep beneath the armor. Another Harpoon barrage was fired, at one hundred missiles, but most of them fell victim to the powerful electromagnets of the Triumphant. They were faster than the nuclear-tipped Scythes, but lacked their extreme firepower that could guarantee a few hits would cripple a ship. "MAJOR KIVISTO, RELOAD TORPEDO TUBES ONE THROUGH FIVE AND TWENTY THROUGH TWENTY FOUR WITH SCYTHES! XO, SEAL ALL RCS PORTS, NOW!" ordered the General, sweat sliding across his forehead.

The XO, before giving the order to seal the RCS ports, was quick to note that doing so would prevent the Avenger from aligning its spinal battery with the enemy fleet, perhaps the weapon that could take down the Triumphant's shield and let the Avenger have a fighting chance. The odds were 4 to 1, and even though the Avenger was much larger than the alien capital ships, they had the advantage of numbers and range, or at least lack thereof. But the General was adamant: they had to 'turtle in' and preserve the Avenger long enough for the FTL drive to recharge. With four jump drives available, the Avenger could jump even if three of them were destroyed: not bad odds.

"We've got to launch drones, sir! They can't launch their own due to the radiation, it's the only advantage we'll get!" claimed the XO, and at last, the General relented. Turning to the Chief of the Watch, he nodded in defeat.

"Chief of the Watch, launch all remaining drone squadrons. And get me a status on the prototype bombers!"

Three hundred fighter drones were shot out of the Avenger's launch tubes at almost ballistic velocities, using their engines to navigate away from the shield of the Triumphant: equipped with their own fighter-sized versions of the Scythe, the BGM-188N 'Tornado', the drones could cause severe damage against capital ships and smaller ships alike if they managed to get through the defenses and detonate their payload. The drones seemed to be heading towards the Triumphant, hoping to disable its shield cap.

USS Missouri, SSN-68
Valiant-class Dreadnought
Status: Ultraquiet
Mission: Await Orders

Chewing down on another cracker offered to him by the Chief of the Boat, Commander Foster glanced at the command table again: the Avenger had engaged the enemy fleet for good, and judging by the nuclear explosions, its FTL drive had been disabled. The fighter launch was a nice touch, considering the circumstances, but no single capital ship could take on two capitals and two battleships at the same time, even if its name was Avenger and it had an overzealous, arrogant asshole for a captain. The Missouri's orders had been specific: avoid detection and await further instructions, and it had done just that with two of the Avenger strike group's battleships as escorts. The rest of the fleet was following the Hastings, navigating into position to deploy the carrier's enormous fighter wing against the enemy fleet at a moment of weakness.

For several minutes, the Missouri had picked out a spot above the battlefield, overlooking the clash between the Avenger and the two fleets. With the spinal battery aligned at the precise direction of the enemy ships, it would be easy to open fire and catch them with their pants down: the enemy supercarrier had deployed some kind of energy shield that prevented the Avenger from directly attacking the four ships, and damaging it would give the human monstrosity a significant advantage, perhaps buy it enough time to jump into artillery range and finish the battle once and for all. Hell, if the two mini-dreadnoughts that the Special Operations Command called battleships joined in, the enemy fleet would be in for quite a surprise.

Of course, doing so against the orders of the commanding authority would put the burden of responsibility on him if something went wrong, depending on the mood of the General and the military tribunal that would follow. It was either sacrifice a career or risk the deaths of the Avenger's crew. Sure, nobody really liked SpecCom, but they were humans, they were citizens of the Coalition, they were patriots: they loved their country enough to risk their lives in the front lines. The decision took him a few seconds, but he finally let a deep sigh, swallowed the cracker and straightened his posture.

"Chief of the Watch, release firing safeties on ERAS, stand by for target bearing. XO, secure all stations for artillery barrage." he stated, and both officers seemed to hesitate: they looked at him in disbelief, reluctant to carry out orders that would under any other circumstances be considered illegal, not to mention treacherous. The punishment for treason was death, after all. "You heard me, release firing safeties, secure stations for artillery barrage. Yes, I take full responsibility for my orders, follow them now."

After a few more seconds of hesitation, the executive officer spoke to the surprised officers in CIC: "You heard the man, release firing safeties on extremely long range artillery system, set condition one alpha charlie for artillery strike. Coordinates pending." he announced, and everyone got to work. A klaxon activated and the lights dimmed to red once more, bulkheads were sealed and all crew strapped down to their recoil dampening seats in a barely orderly fashion. "Weps, open main battery barrel doors, commence pre-firing sequence."

In the meantime, the Commander examined the four targets presented before him: on one hand, he could finish off the battleship and perhaps force the aliens into considering a retreat due to the loss of life. How often was it that a battleship was lost, after all? On the other hand, it would be far more tactically sound to give the Avenger a hand and take down the Triumphant, or at least force it to drop its kinetic barriers and get the Avenger back in action. "Weps, set target bearing to zero zero two mark zero zero one, use coldjet RCS to compensate. Full barrage, armor-piercing nuclear one to one.

The tactical systems officer grabbed the handset from his console in that very moment, pressing it almost excessively against his mouth and ear to speak. "This is a firing mission order, set target bearing to zero zero two mark zero zero one, release of nuclear shells authorized, armor piercing nuclear one to one. Helm is compensating bearing now." he yelled, and the Commander nodded. "Guns check, munitions check, targeting check. Rangegaining commencing."

The only warning the Triumphant would receive followed: several low-power laser pulses intended to measure the precise distance to the target, perhaps dismissed as a fighter or the Avenger itself, were it not for the fact that the laser was aimed at the very heart of the supercarrier: her reactor compartment. "Rangegaining check, two hundred thousand kilometers and change, munition guidance check. Battery ready to commence fire."

After a full second's delay, the Commander's lips formed a smug smile as he looked down to the command console. "Commence fire."

Eight car-sized projectiles were accelerated to a meaningful fraction of the speed of light inside the multi-kilometer long barrel of the USS Missouri, traveling across the entire length of the ship before exiting. Their ferrous sabot was jettisoned, allowing them to maintain precision without being affected by electromagnetic fields (originally a feature designed for planetary bombardment) thanks to the almost complete lack of ferromagnetic materials, and the rounds used their RCS thrusters to adjust their final trajectory. With a travel time of five seconds, the Triumphant would be in for a surprise, perhaps of the bad variety.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Sun Jul 13, 2014 3:36 am

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

"Grand Admiral; enemy ship has suffered heavy damage to visible armor points. Weapons are beginning to penetrate."

"Alert the Kal'Bavakor to fire full salvo as soon as its weapons are reactivated. I require an immediate status report on the enemy spacecraft's warp abilities."

"The nuclear weapons deactivated their FTL recharge.. They are dead in space for an estimated five minutes. Frigates have deposited multiple nukes by their aft and starboard armor systems. This gives us an additional thirty minutes of holding them in space, should we detonate each consecutively."

"Very well. Continue with operations."

Grand Admiral Dask'Re had lost his unhappy demeanor, as had most of the 'Triumphant's command crew. The battle was finally turning towards their favor, and although it had come at a cost, the damage to his three warships would be nothing compared to what his forces were unleashing upon the human 'super ship'. Even better, the heavy weapons of the 'Kal'Bavakor' were, from his command console's readings, only seconds from reactivation from the EMP blast. The enemy command ship was already practically out of commission; unable to move or even fire the majority of their weaponry back at the Alliance Fleet.

All the while, a continued conflict may bring about more deaths and destruction, and while he and his crew were angered by so many lost lives today, more deaths would bring no consolidation to the crushed families of the dead back home. It would bring about even more diplomatic punishment in the future; something the Political Officer aboard the 'Triumphant' had starkly reminded him about before... His forces were not here to utterly destroy the human fleet. They were better than that. Therefore, a quick end to this battle would be best, and once the 'Kal'Bavakors' Light Accelerator Cannon was back online, such resolution would be very simple.

Unfortunately, a warning signature appeared upon his command display. As he leaned in to investigate, his Tracking Officer answered his unasked question.

"Grand Admiral! Enemy ship has launched drone fighters! Point Defense is tracking!"

A second voice rose above the Tracking Officer; this one the shrill cry of the Bay Launch Officer just below his command precipice. Her voice was uneasy at this special request, for some reason.

"Grand Admiral, all available Launch Bays are requesting permission to launch OI-Linked Interceptors!"

Yes, the OI-Linked MRF-01A Interceptors. Five hundred MRF-01A's had been fitted with an OI uplink upon the Triumphant and multiple more on a few of the other carrier-capable battleships. The Grand Admiral, and much of the Military Command in Turra, didn't agree with the use of drones; considering it a dishonorable tactic to let simple mechanisms and Organic Intelligence units to fight a battle they were capable of. The High Lord made it clear that such a move was necessary, though, in case of unforeseen circumstances..

This was one of those circumstances; praise the wisdom of the High Lord. While it made him almost furious to do so, he had no other choice. No wonder the Bay Officer was made so uneasy by the order.

"Bay Officer, alert all decks on the 'Triumphant' to launch all OI-Uplinked Interceptors. All other launch-capable craft are ordered to stay all fighters."

"Yes, Grand Admiral," Was her stark reply before she began inputting the order. The Grand Admiral shook his head for a moment; he could almost imagine the Flight Leaders going crazy on the lower launch decks...

His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle shudder that was felt throughout the ship.

"Status report!" He bellowed, shifting his gaze to eye the Operations Officer sitting beside him, a few meters away.

The Operations Officer beside him responded quickly,"Enemy missile barrage, Grand Admiral. Majority of missiles were destroyed; three impacted forward mushroom cap armor with little hull damage."

The Grand Admiral was about to reply when the Tracking Officer, out of the blue, suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.

"INCOMING ENEMY PROJECTILE! REQUESTING IMMEDIATE EVASIVE MANU-..."

A series of violent shudders were felt throughout the ship; each caused by the shells of the USS Missouri slamming against the Triumphant's aft hull. The kinetic shielding, much weaker on the rest of the ship compared to the mushroom cap's kinetic wall defense, managed only to withstand two direct shots before it utterly collapsed; allowing the metallic armor of the 'Triumphant' to face the full devastation of impact from the shells.

The bridge was suddenly filled with screeches of pain, sparks from overloaded console systems, dimmed bridge lights, and klaxxons that warned of a sudden evasive maneuver being prepared. Those who could immediately threw on their inertia webbing, while those who could not would be faced with the sudden pain that one receives when being thrown violently against a bulkhead wall. This is because, as the 'Triumphant' is suddenly impacted by these first few shots, the ship OI immediately responds. The craft performs a sudden axis rotation, RCS thrusters firing full power, which causes the shots to impact multiple points around the cylinder-like hull of the ship; distributing damage over a wider area.

This event takes only half a minute to take place, but already it seems to have caused serious damage. Grand Admiral Dask'Re, only sporting a minor head wound after slamming it against the interior of his helmet, remains belted to his seat because of his inertia webbing. Casting a somewhat dazed gaze over the bridge, the Grand Admiral is dismayed to see orderlies from the ‘Triumphants’ medbay rushing into the bridge; grabbing wounded crewmembers who had either been dislodged from their seats inertia webbing, or couldn’t get it on in time. They had been slammed against their consoles or thrown clear away from their seats. The only consolation for such a sight was that if ‘First’ hadn’t performed that maneuver, it was possible they’d all be in a lot worse position..

He wasted no more time. Ignoring his head wound, the Grand Admiral cries.

“STATUS UPDATE!”

The Systems Officer replies from below, barking as he quickly inspects the ships systems through his console.

“The ‘Triumphant’ has taken multiple attempted penetrations to the reactor. No direct contact, but Fusion Cores Five and Three have been shut down and quarantined to prevent radiation leakage. Fusion Core Seven is shaky, but is holding for now. We are re-routing power to secondary reactors, but we'll be facing power shortages in non-essential compartments.

Atmosphere leaks in Deck Seven A through Eight F, and Deck Nineteen R. Kinetic shielding is active, and bulkheads have shut in all damaged sectors, but casualties are noted, Grand Admiral. Damage Control is reacting as we speak.”

At first, he managed a soft sigh of relief. The secondary reactors would prevent the mushroom cap from collapsing, even though they'd be facing a shaky trip home. They could withstand another salvo or two before requiring to shut down the reactor, which the humans would never get a change at. The second comment diminished his relief somewhat, though. It wasn’t the Avenger that engaged them; only another ship could have done so. To prevent more deaths, immediate action had to be taken! Grand Admiral Dask’Re barked quickly to the bridge crew..

“Communications! Direct the withheld fleet to warp into the vicinity of whatever engaged us! Take the pressure off!”

The Communications Officer quickly nodded, and began distributing these orders.

The Alliance Grand Assault Fleet, seemingly ignoring the damage done to their super carrier, continue their relentless assault. The battleships continue pouring barrages of plasma, beam cannons, and oceans of railgun and mass driver fire upon the starboard section of the Avenger; destroying any visible weakness possible. At the same time, the dreadnaught ‘Kal’Bavakor’ seems to revitalize, and unleashes more firepower than the two battleships combined; firing heavy beam cannons, turbo-laser batteries, plasma cannons, and multiple spinal-mounted MARG cannons. The attack upon their super-carrier only seems to empower them moreso, with the Kal’Bavakor finally unleashing its main battery upon the Avenger..

Within’ the Kal’Bavakor, a massive energy signature, comparable to that of when firing the Avengers main gun, is immediately detected. Mere seconds later, and without further warning, a flash of blinding light is emitted from the forward barrel of the Kal’Bavakor, releasing a massive beam of high-intensity energy that suddenly springs out to hit the Avenger. The beam is a hundred times more powerful than the simple beam cannons being fired upon the Avengers hull; immediately melting through any hull unprotected by the electrical armor defenses, and vaporizing any living creature even meters behind protected armor deeper into the craft with intense heat. After ten seconds of continuous, unrelenting assault upon the outer hull, the Kal’Bavakors main cannon suddenly shuts down; its main cannon retracting back into place behind the ships forward hull.

The arrival of three hundred drone craft from the Avenger only seems to make matters worse for the human ship. The ports from which the drones are launched are immediately targeted, if visible, to a barrage of heavy plasma and turbo-laser fire. The drones are in a much worse position, as the ‘Triumphant’s still active point defenses and interceptor missile batteries immediately target the ships; engaging them at will. Even more surprising are the sudden arrivals from the ‘Triumphant’s starfighter bays: the Kal’Bavakorian Fleet has their own OI-fitted drone craft, and they are five hundred ships strong. Without hesitation, they move to engage their somewhat duller AI foe, although they stay within’ the defensive packet created by the Alliance Fleet.

The USS Missouri is also placed under sudden fire. The eight shots fired by the Missouri are responded to by the sudden appearance of seven warships suddenly exiting warp-space just below their formation. The three Kal’Bavakorian NMRB‘Violent’-Class Battleships, as well as four NMSRCC ‘Turra’-Class Combat Cruisers that have suddenly appeared below the ship and whatever escorts it may have, immediately open fire with plasma, beam cannon, missile, and turbo-laser batteries; their main weapons exposed to the weapon-lacking underbellies of these beasts. This attack force immediately attempts to target the Missouri’s main cannon systems, as well as engine and weapon compartments that are currently exposed.

Should any other escorts be in the space around the Missouri, the three battleships would immediately move to engage, while the four combat cruisers focus their devastating firepower upon the Missouri. Should the Missouri attempt to escape, multiple low-yield nuclear weapon systems can easily be detected on the cruisers; weapons that are more than ready to fire upon the Missouri. The power signatures detected from these nuclear systems seem only powerful enough to cause a strong enough EMP wave, but not enough to cause massive damage.

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-01-12

Space near Tefeull
Type 86B CVL-21 'Hélèn Lémieux', I. Command Squadron, 1st Fleet
Action Information Center

The arrival of the Admiral was received with little fanfare, the Captain and a small group of Bridge officers was all that awaited him as his shuttle docked and he preferred it that way. Pavel Kiselyov was extraordinarily humble for a flag officer and he took care to keep his men comfortable and content but not so much so that they would lose effectiveness in battle which earned him a degree of respect. Nicknamed 'Razor' during his time at the Academy he developed a reputation for skillful and practical use of military assets during combat simulations and as a result he rose quickly. He subscribed to his self-proclaimed 'Decisive Jump Battle Doctrine' which called for ships and crews drilled in extensive use of FTL equipment to support a battle tactic hinged on rapid FTL use to gain a definitive tactical advantage in combat with which to decisively defeat a hostile force through either attrition or direct engagement.

"Have fun with the politicians?" his Captain said, holding a salute.

"Didn't see too many of those, It looks like Talbot controls the playing field now, I've never seen so many uniforms dictating policy in one room before." he returned the salute.

The Captain smiled, he had known Admiral Kiselyov for years and served under him for even longer. As a result their mutual trust allowed them to confide in one another, regardless if the Bridge Staff overheard them or not. Shortly thereafter they went their separate ways, the Captain to his Bridge and the Admiral to his Command Center both equally nervous of the upcoming battle as the other.

When he reached the Command Center he found his staff waiting, they watched collectively as he stepped up to his station.

"Gentlemen, I have news." he began, all attention was on him.

"I have been given orders to intervene in the Tefeull Mining Zone. This is an event we have both trained and prepared for, but we won't be adhering to our initial plan. Our mission is to put a stop to hostilities between the Alien Alliance and the United Systems, we are supported legally by Armistice and by diplomatic precedent. I know that you won't let me down and I hope you will give me your trust. For the events that are about to unfold will dictate the future, both of the Galaxy and of our Homeland." He looked around the room, seeing the dedication of his officers and understanding that the rest of the fleet he had broadcast to felt the same.

"Begin FTL prep, jump when ready." he said after a pause.

After an energy spike a massive force reading would ping away on the Kal'Bavakorian and USC sensors as 171 ships jumped into the system arranged in a standard New Terran tactical battle formation.

Moments later a powerful voice rang out over open comms,

"Attention USC and Kal'Bavakorian flotillas, in the spirit of the neutrality presented by Armistice Regulations regarding the Tefeull Mining Field we have been hereby elected to put an end to all open hostilities within the officially designated zone, we demand the immediate cessation of hostilities by both forces and a pullback to established territorial zones. In plain words, gentlemen, you can fight all you want but you won't do it here."

Meanwhile a heavily coded message bounced off several transmission areas both within and outside Tefeull made it's way to the Kal'Bavakorian Flagship during the ultimatum, compared to the speech it was short and simple,

Code:: To the Command Staff of the Alliance of Kal'Bavakorian Nations:

We offer greetings to our Kal'Bavakorian comrades!
In the spirit of our established kinship we've come to provide support!
Onwards! Continue with your attack and rout the enemy!
Long live our friendship!

The 1st Fleet consists of 5 light carriers, 15 destroyers, 33 frigates, 10 corvettes, 32 missile ships, 50 gunships, 10 mine countermeasure & deployment ships and over 16 more auxiliary vessels divided up into almost twenty squadrons.

(( I've been instructed to remind all involved that New Terran ships are of a completely different classification system than other nations due to technological inferiority in comparison with other powers, when it comes to size they're usually smaller and more compact than what others have specified which is made up for with speed and overall greater versatility with a tactical focus on long range combat, mines and elastic defense. For most intents and purposes I'm the PRC to Alien's USA at this point.))

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"Our drones are commencing attack, enemy point defense is attempting to shoot them down... Drones taking casualties!"

The General watched as several of the drone signatures disappeared during the opening engagement: it was to be expected. But in either case, it was a win-win scenario for the Avenger. If the enemy devoted all of their point defenses to shooting down the nuclear-armed fighter drones, then the Avenger's torpedoes could have a chance to get through the enemy defenses and then... boom. Nuclear detonation. If the enemy did NOT attempt to shoot down the fighter drones, then they could deploy their own weapons and cause enough damage to perhaps put the message across. While the situation in CIC had become no less dire, the command staff had a new aura of optimism: they could win this.

"ENEMY SHIPS ARE LAUNCHING FIGHTERS!" The statement was enough to shatter both the General's hopes of a swift victory and cause him to doubt the sanity of the aliens: were they seriously going to launch their pilots to die in the radiation field? Were they insane enough to kill five hundred of their people for nothing? His attention shifted to the several hundred RADAR contacts that had appeared in the battlefield, and that's when he realized the mistake he had made: he had underestimated the aliens. They too had drones, or at least some form of remote control. Nevertheless, if the drones could stall the enemy point defenses long enough for the torpedo tubes to finish their arming sequence...

"NEW CONTACT, BEARING..." The petty officer that was about to announce the sudden appearance of a new ship suddenly let out a loud laugh, unable to contain his joy, at the sight of a signature that brought relief to the entire CIC crew:

USC DREADNOUGHT
USS MISSOURI // SSN-68

"IT'S THE MISSOURI, SIR, IT'S OPENING FIRE!" The petty officer screamed out in joy as several blue lines connected between the new contact and the alien supercarrier, indicative of a dreadnought's artillery strike. The General, clearly surprised, fixed his eyes on the new contact. The Missouri's commander just didn't know to follow orders... He'd have to chew him out for that later, after handing him a medal of course. The supercarrier had been forced to shift its position slightly to prevent a catastrophic reactor breach, and such a rapid turn would have caused chaos. But most importantly, the tilt was enough for the Avenger to act.

The General yelled at the top of his lungs to be heard over the sound of cheering and klaxons, his hands almost slamming down to the keyboard to enter the launch authorization. "Full missile and torpedo barrage, go! Take out that supercarrier!"

"Missile and torpedo barrage, aye! Weps, launch all missiles!"

"Missile Control, CIC, target locked, commence fire! Stand by to reload tubes from the reload pool!"

"EWAR, CIC, commence point defense RADAR jamming, I don't care how you do it!"

"This is a nuclear mission order, launch all available torpedoes, repeat, launch all available torpedoes at target bearing zero six one mark zero five five, this is NOT a drill!"

Within seconds, the hundreds of torpedo and missile launch tubes on the Avenger, concealed beneath practically more armor than the rest of the ship, became alight with activity as each launched a full salvo of non-nuclear weapons, nuclear torpedoes and nuclear-tipped decoys against the Triumphant. With the alien ships' point defense and interceptors occupied shooting down the drones, the missiles seemed to be targeting the very reactor compartment the Missouri had attacked earlier in an attempt to overwhelm any remaining defenses and disable the enemy ship.

The Kal'bavakorian fleet may have attacked the drone launch tubes, but it was of no use: the tubes were just tiny holes in the hull, large enough for a fighter to get through, with several blast doors that could rival the ship's actual armor in strength and durability. By the time the enemy fleet could actually target the holes, they had been sealed again.

It was the alien dreadnought, however, that caused the most damage. With most of the ablative armor coating gone after several minutes of battle, the laser beams begun to finally reach the electric-reactive plates: each one of them shut down in a bright flash of light as the circuits melted, allowing the remaining plasma and railgun shots to punch through the reactive system and impact directly against the composite armor layer, a layer of armor designed as a 'failsafe' to allow the ship to escape should its primary defenses be breached. But without the jump drive, the Avenger wasn't going anywhere.

As opposed to the attack of the USS Missouri, the Kal'bavakorian dreadnought's main battery caused no shaking on the Avenger due to the fact that it was a laser weapon. The damage, however, was no less catastrophic: without maneuvering capability, the weapon unleashed its full ten second burst upon the targeted sections, cutting through the composite armor like a hot knife through butter and reaching the hull superstructure. Orange alarm lights begun to flash in the Avenger's CIC as damage reports came in:

"STARBOARD ARMOR HAS BEEN BREACHED AT DECKS TEN... ELEVEN... TWELVE... THIRTEEN... FOURTEEN... FIFTEEN... SIXTEEN... SEVENTEEN AND EIGHTEEN!"

"HULL BREACHES AT DECKS TEN THROUGH FIFTEEN, WE ARE VENTING ATMOSPHERE! AUTOMATED BULKHEADS ARE SEALING!"

"HEAT EXCHANGER FIVE IS OUT OF ACTION!"

"TORPEDO TUBES SEVEN THROUGH TEN ARE BENT, RELOADING SEQUENCE ABORTED!"

"FIRE IN DECK SEVENTEEN! ALL HANDS, ALL HANDS, EVACUATE DECK SEVENTEEN!"

The General and the Colonel shared a knowing look, and the XO shook her head once. It was a call that had to be made, but obviously she didn't want to be the one to make it: if the fire reached the main battery magazines, then it could destroy the entire ship. Sealing off the deck would ensure that the magazines were safe, but practically doom anyone without fire resistant gear to death because of the inability to evacuate the deck. "General, please, give the men two more minutes, two..."

"We don't have two minutes, Colonel! That fire gets past section eleven, and we could lose the entire ship!"

"Ten deploy fire suppression systems preemptively, there's almost a hundred people down there!"

Normally, the General would have made the call without any hesitation: he wasn't willing to risk the entire ship for a hundred people, a fraction of the crew. But the Colonel's idea had merit, and she was right: a hundred people were too many, a single person was too many. "Deploy fire suppression systems in the entire deck, give the crew two minutes to clear the area and then vent it. Have search and rescue teams in EVA gear stand by."

And it was time for another terrible idea: turtling down obviously hadn't worked for the Avenger, and a change in tactics had to be made. "Is the main battery ready?" he asked, but he already knew the answer: the gigantic gauss cannon had never been powered down. The positive reply from one of the petty officers gave him some much-needed confirmation of that. "Emergency RCS turn, go. Bring main battery to bear with that dreadnought and fire at will!"

Risking the loss of the RCS system was a bold move, but hopefully the EMP from the nuclear blasts that would soon occur with the missile impacts would cause enough chaos in the enemy fleet for the Avenger to align its main battery with the target: taking out the capital ships could at least buy it some time, and with jump prep still underway, escaping to a safe distance was still a very real possibility.

The gigantic warship, despite the heavy damage it had sustained, seemed to still be in action: the armored RCS ports that had been sealed to protect them from the barrage opened, and powerful jets of plasma were fired from within to allow the gargantuan craft to turn. Its purpose seemed obvious: to aim its main battery at the 'Kal'Bavakor'.

USS Missouri, SSN-68
Valiant-class Dreadnought

"Direct hit, all shots! The enemy ship turned when we fired, but we caused some damage, sir!"

"Autoloader reports good start of sequence, main batteru will be ready to fire in sixty seconds!"

The Commander smiled smugly at the dreadnought's apparent victory over the aliens: they clearly hadn't expected a dreadnought to pop out of nowhere. So far, the commanding officers of the two battleships escorting the dreadnought had insisted to remain at ultraquiet and avoid enemy contact: the commander of the 'Vengeance' had gone as far as to call him an 'incompetent, trigger-happy fool'. The 'Charon's commander hadn't been as rude, but she had made her displeasure known nevertheless. With the battleships spaced apart somewhat, they could remain at stealth even when the nearby dreadnought engaged. The one thing that nobody seemed to know was where the hell the rest of the USC fleet had ran off to: the cruisers, the destroyers, the rest of the battleships and the damn supercarrier had vanished. Hell, they could have jumped out for all everybody knew.

Thirty seconds into the reloading sequence and everything seemed to be going like a textbook. As soon as the battery reloaded, the Missouri could either finish off the Triumphant, which was under nuclear attack by the Avenger anyway, or fire upon the enemy dreadnought and perhaps lure it away from the Avenger: hell, there was a possibility that the captains of the Charon and Vengeance would join in for the next barrage, because according to the quantum data uplink they were silently charging weapons. Several more crackers were consumed by the Commander as the details on the reloading sequence were sent to CIC from the main battery: the magazine had been loaded and was currently running a systems check to ensure that no jams would occur.

"NEW CONTACTS, BEARING ZERO ZERO FIVE MARK TWO SEVEN SEVEN! THEY ARE RIGHT BELOW US, SIR!" screamed out the officer manning the RADAR system, and the Commander dropped the cracker on the command table in shock. The aliens had been bold enough to jump what seemed to be most of their reserve force in, and soon enough, the dreadnought was under attack. The Vengeance and the Charon were nowhere to be found, which made the odds seven to one: not a battle Foster was interested in fighting.

"COMMENCE EMERGENCY ROLL BUT KEEP THE MAIN BATTERY ON THE ENEMY CAPITAL SHIPS!"

The Dreadnought, after a few seconds of inaction during which the crew strapped down to their shock dampening seats, begun an impressive roll around its horizontal axis to bring the topside weapons to bear: a dreadnought's top was the most heavily armed section of the ship, followed by the front and sides, with the bottom being marginally better armed than the aft. As soon as the turn begun the few batteries that could fire at the enemy did so, focusing fire on one of the smaller cruisers. Increasing radiation signatures from all sides of the dreadnought would indicate the obvious: it was getting ready to launch torpedoes.

Abandoning all sense of stealth, the Missouri seemed to be broadcasting an encrypted transmission over Tachyon Communications, a much faster means of getting a message out without using the quantum uplink (which was occupied transmitting data between ships in the battlefield).

<"Mayday mayday mayday, this is the USS Missouri on FleetCom One, requesting immediate assistance, repeat, requesting immediate assistance, under attack by seven enemy ships, USS Avenger under attack by two capitals and two battleships, we need assistance!">

The response they received, however, was not what they expected: the arrival of the New Terran ships was the last thing the USC needed at the moment, and the Commander of the Missouri stared in disbelief at the massive fleet that had assembled nearby. Sure, the Missouri could probably take on fifteen of those ships and come out on top, but at such huge numbers, and with most of the USC fleet hiding or gone, there was no room for error.

"Give me a channel to those ships!" he ordered, and soon a channel was opened to the New Terran flagship.

<"Unidentified New Terran warship, this is the USS Missouri. We are currently fighting over territory unclaimed by any recognized Armistice power, therefore we demand that you do not interfere with our mission. As soon as the enemy fleet, which I remind you is alien in origin and opposed to human interests, is either destroyed or-" there was a brief pause as a small orange light above the Commander's console blinked, indicating the arrival of an Emergency Action Message over Tachyon; unusual, but not unheard of. The printed excerpt was passed over to him momentarily and he begun to read.

"...retreats, we can talk about enforcing zone borders." he continued, passing the paper to the executive officer. "Furthermore, beyond the letter of the law, I would like to remind you of your duty to your own species. That is all."

The XO, confirming that the message was valid, handed it over to the Commander with a smug smile. "Message is authentic." The later eyed it again, taking it all in: salvation.

Quote :: FROM: USS SARATOGA, CVN-76 - CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 01
TO:
--- USS MISSOURI, SSN-68 - CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 02
--- USS HASTINGS, CVN-88 - CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 02
--- USS AVENGER, SSXN-01 - SPECIAL OPERATIONS STRIKE GROUP 'ECHO'
SUBJECT: REINFORCEMENT ESTIMATED TIME ARRIVAL

DISTRESS CALL RECEIVED. CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 01 CURRENTLY AT GRID LOCATION 04-G AT HIGH COMBAT ALERT. JUMP DRIVES SPOOLING. ETA TO REINFORCEMENT ARRIVAL TEN (10) MINUTES.

COMBATANT SHIP MANIFEST:

--- USS SARATOGA, CVN-76 (SUPERCARRIER, COMMAND SHIP)
--- USS VALIANT, SSN-65 (DREADNOUGHT)
--- USS IOWA, SSGN-187 (BATTLESHIP)
--- USS GEORGE W. BUSH, SSGN-189 (BATTLESHIP)
--- USS VANGUARD, SSBN-12 (BALLISTIC MISSILE CRUISER)
--- USS CARENTAN, SSBN-13 (BALLISTIC MISSILE CRUISER)
--- USS JOHN F. KENNEDY, DDG-97 (DESTROYER)
--- USS SHIMON PERES, DDG-99

HAVE HOPE. WE ARE COMING FOR YOU.

Subject: Re: The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. Sun Jul 27, 2014 11:04 pm

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
'Shield'-Class Defense Super Carrier; 'Triumphant' Command Bridge

"The 'Kal'Bavakor's main cannon has made direct contact with the enemy command ship. It is now venting atmosphere!"

A series of high-pitched hoots, followed by clapping, filled the bridge of the 'Triumphant' for a few moments as spirits tower. The fleets first damaging strike against their enemy had been realized! The humans had to be scared by this point, and the Kal'Bavakorian morale had skyrocketed; even with the damage done to their super carrier. The wounded had already been carted out of the bridge, and the Grand Admiral had ordered the wounded reports be kept hidden by the ship until the battle was over. Even then, he had been forced to skim it over... The med bays were filled with the wounded and dead.

Indeed, the Grand Admiral was not ready for celebration. He remained glued to his command console; watching new events unfold before his very eyes..

The OI Drones, while a move that was getting the Grand Admiral serious heat from his starfighter bays, were holding the line perfectly. He was watching the three-dimensional combat display; stroking the metallic mouth-plate of his mask as he watched the five hundred drones move to engage the human drone craft with ease. A sharp call from his Shield Officer failed to remove his gaze from the display, although he listened intently.

"Grand Admiral, the enemy command ship is attempting a turn to bring forward batteries to bear! Missile barrage inbound!"

The bridge returned to a more tense tone. He merely acknowledged the reply; he didn't need to give an order regarding such an event. The 'Triumphant's OI had immediately responded to the sudden attack by the 'Avenger' by ordering a hundred and fifty of the five hundred launched OI drones to assist the 'Triumphants' point defense in eliminating the missile barrage. The enemy drones remained outnumbered, and the missiles would be dealt with before they even got close to the 'Triumhpant's forward shield wall.. He sighed a soft bit of relief as the many, many dots representing human missiles began to disappear from his display. He quickly began to interact with the console; dragging the 'attack' command from his frigates to the exposed RCS ports on the Avenger.

"Alert all frigates to attack the human command ship's RCS ports... Freeze them in place!"

"Yes, my lord. Transmitting orders now.." Replied his weapons officer, who began inputting the commands into his console. His communications officer suddenly barked; catching the Grand Admiral by surprise.

"My Lord, multiple new contacts have appeared on sensors... Incoming transmissions from them. Two, to be precise."

"Transmit them to my console," Barked the Grand Admiral, and within' seconds they arrived. The two messages quickly appeared before him on his display, and he quickly reviewed them as they were translated from Human English to Kal'Bavakorian Hieroglyphics. He released a light, hooting chuckle..

It seemed the negotiations on New Terra had gone perfectly.

All the while, it was time for this battle to end. Regardless of his orders to end it with the least amount of bloodshed as possible, he had realized how little was being gained from the conflict. And with this in mind, he quickly begins to type up his own response.

"Communications Officer, I am transmitting two messages to your console. Send message KX-01 to our 'allies', and display message KX-02 to all parties."

"Yes Grand Admiral," Replies the Communications Officer as he sets to work. The Grand Admiral then turns to his console again, and begins to transmit new orders; ones that could change history. If the Humans would listen to one last attempt at reason, then this would be the final minute of the battle.

But if not.. This may develop into the bloodiest naval engagement in Kal'Bavakorian history.

The Tefeull Mining Field
Alliance First Grand Assault Fleet
NMRB‘Violent’-Class Battleship 'Foreign Torment'

"Captain, enemy ship is attempting full combat roll!"

"Deploy nuclear salvo, and continue barrage. Watch surrounding sector for enemy ships."

The 'Foreign Torment's Captain clasped his fingers together as he watched the combat display. His small sub-fleet, consisting of the three battleships and four cruisers now under his sudden command, had warped into direct confrontation with the enemy dreadnought. While cautious, knowing there was a large enemy force remaining hidden in the field, the threat this long range combat ship created was too large to ignore. His orders had been simple: Disable the dreadnoughts main cannon, and remove it from the conflict.

His display showed him the situation down to the minuet detail. The seven warships rained firepower of many varieties, from mass drivers and rail cannons to beam and plasma batteries, upon the human dreadnought's main cannon. Several nuclear missiles, after allowing the firing sequence to begin via bio-metric scans, were launched from the 'Foreign Torment's forward torpedo bays followed by a few dozen decoy missiles. Evading the firepower brought about by the Alliance Fleet, these missiles would quickly approach the enemy ship. They would explode before ever making contact, though; their intent to bring down the enemy ship via electromagnetic pulses.

Under this considerable fire from his seven warships, this enemy ship would last less than a minute. With a smile upon his hybrid mouth of lip and mandible, the Captain paused to grasp a cryo-cigarette from the armrest of his seat. Picking it up gingerly, he snapped the freeze component off the end, and gently placed it into the slot of his helmet. Air, cooled and made hyper-dense with a special water substance, quickly filled his lungs. He released a heavy sigh before removing the cryo-cigarette from the helmet slot; letting it dangle between his fingers.

His attempt at ease would be overpowered by the situation at hand very soon..

A transmission is suddenly sent from the Kal'Bavakorian Super Carrier 'Triumphant' to all parties engaged in the combat: The Coalition and New Terran fleets. It is only in English text, but the words depicted by the Alliance craft are astounding.. At least, to the xenophobic Coalition.

[COMMENCE TEXT-TRANSMISSION:]

[[This is the Alliance Shield Carrier 'Triumphant', and I am Grand Admiral Dask'Re of her Imperial Highness' Grand Navy. This territory is under Alliance control, not under the control of any other Armistice-protected nation, and we have been tasked with defending our peoples residing in it. Even with our mission, we see that enough blood has been shed today, regardless of color. If our adversaries, the Human Coalition, agree to a cease-fire, we will honor it with the Goddess' blessing. Upon a cease-fire, I will personally meet the Human-Coalition's commander in this space, and discuss terms.]]

[:END TRANSMISSION-TEXT]

A return transmission is sent back to the New Terran fleet through direct, encrypted, quantum transmission. It is a much more simple transmission, although it also remains text.

[[: Indeed, long live our friendship. We will attempt a cease-fire with the Coalition-Humans. Enough have died today, and continued hostilities will enhance diplomatic issues in the future. If Coalition-Humans do not agree, then we will 'rout' them. :]]

Posts : 159 Join date : 2014-01-12

Space near Tefeull
Type 86B CVL-21 'Hélèn Lémieux', I. Command Squadron, 1st Fleet
Action Information Center

"Furthermore, beyond the letter of the law, I would like to remind you of your duty to your own species. That is all."

The statement elicited a laugh from Admiral Kiselyov, New Terrans understood well that they were often seen as the lesser elements of Humanity. The Alpha Quadrant hadn't recalled their duties to their own species when they plundered and destabilized the old Empire and as a result the Commonwealth felt little obligation to do well by the USC's interests.

A final message was broadcast to the USC,

"USS Missouri, the vessels you remain in combat with hold allegiance with the nation calling itself the 'Alliance of Kal'Bavakorian Nations' and they are currently undergoing the legal process of integration with Armistice Station, politically that means they are under Candidate Status and as a result they hold the basic diplomatic privileges awarded to the rest of us.

If you continue with this reckless aggression you put the entire Tefeull Agreement into quagmire and you also endanger the interests of every other nation in this zone, already your actions have caused the destruction of large amounts of helium-3 and have resulted in the disruption and damaging of the signal devices and broadcasting mediums of many nations, in some cases irreparably.

If your aggressive course of action continues we feel there to be no other choice than to immediately continue along a course of action we feel will ensure peace and stability in the Tefeull Area. Return to your mutually claimed areas and begin diplomatic contact on Armistice Station or we will do everything within our power to defend the neutrality of this area of space."

Pavel nodded to one of his operations specialists who started to broadcast his own orders to the rest of his fleet.

The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. - Page 4 Imperialfleet1

The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. - Page 4 Imperialfleet1

Within moments the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleet Squadrons disappeared from sensors before swiftly re-appearing just outside the Missouri's determined weapon range. New Terran ships were able to perform in-system jumps at a rapid pace due to their compact and efficient designs and whilst lacking in defensive capabilities outside of precision point defense systems they were easily capable of damaging the larger Missouri, provided they were able to get through it's point defense.

New Terran tactics revolved around the usage of mines which was one of the few military technologies they lead the Galaxy in, they utilized shielded mines capable of absorbing a large amount of damage before destruction which made their positioning especially dangerous to the Missouri as without warning they could 'shotgun' their mines before the Missouri could react and defend itself properly.

Pavel sat, staring at his virtual representation of the imminent battle flanked by his officers, his main force still remained in formation around his ship. Even if the USC's entire fleet occupied the system he could theoretically maintain his position whilst harassing the enemy forever, if they jumped to flank his force he could simply jump away before they had time to lock on, if they deployed fighters he could simply jump to easier positioning whilst isolating and picking off weaker formations and if they attempted an encirclement he could deploy mines, jump behind enemy vessels not suited to close-range engagement and deploy more mines whilst suppressing point defense with his missile frigates.

His only problem, however, would be managing to actually destroy the enemy vessels, he could easily evade their offensive capabilities but his own offensive maneuvering would require near-perfect execution for him to destroy enemy ships and escape unscathed.

It was up to the USC now, would they retreat and wait for reinforcements, continue the battle with immense risk to themselves or would they humor the New Terran demands?

Pavel was happy he wasn't in their shoes.

Admin Posts : 92 Join date : 2014-01-14

Tefeull Mining Field
2nd Imperial Offensive Fleet
'Poseidon'-Class Battleship, The Harbringer
Command Bridge

The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. - Page 4 Unsc_infinities_fleet_by_haseoyashimora-d5dhjmz

The Tefeull Mining Field, 05G. - Page 4 Unsc_infinities_fleet_by_haseoyashimora-d5dhjmz

Admiral Pierce observed the tablet in her palm as the battleship's speed slowly lurched from FTL travel. She was looking at the report transmitted to her concerning the current situation regarding Tefeull was. A mess. That is what she thought of it, and it was partially true. Officially, her fleet had been deployed to the mining sector in order to protect Imperial assets from any opportunistic foreign aggressors. But the Admiral wasn't stupid, and the people in charge of her weren't stupid either. This fleet was massive. 2 Battleships, escorted by 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 1 carrier and 5 frigates. The Imperium was showing the rest of the galaxy its teeth. This was the first time the rest of the galaxy would have actually seen an imperial fleet outside of their own space. It was clear the RSI was pounding its chest to show the rest of the galaxy that they were not going to be underestimated.

"Get me a secure channel to whoever is in charge of that Terran fleet, I want to speak with him or her personally."

Admiral Pierce commanded an aura of authority and obedience. Her hair was cut short, and her eyes glowed of an artificial blue hue, like the rest of her fellow officers.She was almost 98 years old, having lived almost half of her life already. 86 of those years were spent in service to the Imperium. Her life was dedicated to her duty, and she had spent all of her life in preparation for this moment. She trusted the commanders of the ships in her fleet, and they trusted and obeyed her. She knew how much was riding on this operation, and she would accept nothing less than perfection.

"This is Admiral Pierce of the 2nd Imperial Offensive Fleet. I'd like to request a status report regarding the current situation. We are here to help you defuse this situation and we'd like to protect the mining field from any further destruction."

The Imperial fleet sat just outside of any of the fleets targeting systems, biding its time and coming to a halt. Imperial strategy relied on long-range tactics. They would fire at the enemy while using high powered engines to keep them out of range of enemy weapons, so they knew to keep their distance from any potential threats.

(//made a minor mistake on the name of the ship, wasnt paying attention//)

Posts : 172 Join date : 2014-01-08

USS Avenger
Combat Information Center

"Yaw rotation underway, acceleration at max safe, time to alignment ninety seconds!"

Come on...

Every soul in CIC held its breath as the massive spacecraft slowly begun rotating about its yaw axis, with dozens of points in the hull flashing green on the main systems display: the Reaction Control System thrusters, the fusion rocket engines that were responsible for the craft's turns. In this case, sets of thrusters located diagonally across the craft had activated to ensure maximum rotational acceleration with practically negligible translation movement, thanks to their precise placement and thrust vectors. Unlike most USC warships, which utilized their main engines in conjunction with the RCS system in order to achieve maximum rotation, the Avenger's rotational thrust systems were advanced enough to require no additional power from the translation engines, thus conserving electricity that could go towards the defense systems.

And that was exactly what the Avenger did: RCS thruster ports were built much like the ship's launch tubes, allowing them to take extreme external damage before their actual components became exposed to the enemy attack. Nevertheless, the vicious assault on the RCS blocks was very effective for one simple reason: physics. Every time one RCS thruster took enough damage to automatically shut itself off, lest the entire deck suffer the effects of plasma exposure, its complementary on the other side of the ship had to be deactivated to maintain stability and prevent the ship from translating out of control (and crash against the enemy fleet).

The effect was made apparent almost immediately: "RCS groups eight three, eighty seven, ninety one, ninety six and one oh five are out of action, one of two and one oh three have lost heat exchanging capacity and are overheating!" screamed out one of the damage control officers, but the General did not reply. Group 103 shut off a moment later, with 102 following shortly after as a laser beam cut through the exposed hull section and tore into the RCS plasma conduit, releasing dozens of tons of superheated gas into the vacuum before the feed was shut off. Instead of ordering a Damage Control team to head down to the damaged thrusters and fix them, the General focused on his stopwatch again.

The ship was finishing its half-turn, and was about to begin decelerating: just fourty five seconds until the main battery was aligned, then maybe ten seconds as the computer compensated for any unexpected translational drift or remaining rotation: within the minute, the gun would be aligned, and hopefully the enemy dreadnought would get a taste of its own medicine. Unlike the slow-reloading main ERAS battery on the Coalition's dreadnoughts, the Avenger could continuously pump out rounds during extended engagements without requiring a magazine change, or fire them in rapid sequence to pierce the thickest of armor by repeated hits to the same spot. It was one of the benefits of extreme automation: machines did not get injured, they did not take breaks, they did not mishandle munitions and they did not damage their tools.

Due to the isolated location of the RCS blocks, and the fact that the Kal'bavakorians were focusing fire on them, the rest of the ship remained untouched by the enemy's weapons: RCS units were built to be ejected in an emergency, preventing their tiny nuclear reactors from endangering the ship, and so fires or explosions in those -unmanned- compartments did not endanger the rest of the ship or crew. But by the time the deceleration ended, over half of the thrusters used for yaw rotation were gone: that would seriously impair the Avenger's ability to turn around that axis until repairs could be performed. But that didn't matter. The battery was aligned, and the RCS ports had shut again to protect them from further harm.

"Main battery is aligned, rotation complete!"

"Fire control is calculating corrections to EM field strength, stand by!"

That's when the transmission was received: the General did not even bother listening to the alien voice speak, and instead was handed a copy of the message on paper, printed out in a haste by the communications officer. And he growled angrily, crushing it into a tiny ball with his hand. The Colonel read the text on her terminal directly, and she couldn't help but let out a depressed sigh.

"We lost, didn't we?" she asked, her eyes meeting the Generals. They both knew that even the entire USC fleet could not take on two nations' fleets and win without compromising its ability to defend against a counter-attack. Even if the Coalition won that battle, it would only leave it vulnerable to an alien invasion, and would at the very least destroy its ability to protect its interests. The Avenger's commanders were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"Yeah." the man answered simply, tossing the piece of paper away with no regard for its destination. "Weapons hold. Set condition 2SQ. Helm, alter your heading to two zero zero mark zero one five, two thirds standard. Recall fighters."

Almost as soon as the order was given, the speakers crackled to life: <"Weapons hold, weapons hold, safe all weapons, set battery relays to hot stand by. Deck crew, stand by to triple R inbound UCAVs. All hands, all hands, set condition 2SQ throughout the ship, pressurize all missile tubes. Damage control teams, stand by for DC assignments from CIC.">

Just as the warship had finished preparing its main battery to attack the Kal'bavakor, the ship took the completely opposite course of action: the gigantic gauss cannon never fired, and the radiation signatures of dozens of missiles being armed for launch faded as their tubes were sealed, secured and pressurized. As a last gesture of disarmament, the remaining drone squadrons made a sharp U-turn and ran off towards the hangar bays, but with one important directive being completed first: they towed off as many of their fallen brethren as they could, using some kind of specially designed electromagnet system that allowed them to drag the wrecks to the Avenger. The few wrecks that couldn't be towed due to either structural instability or a simple lack of numbers were literally torpedoed with the remaining nuclear missiles aboard the drone fighters, or had their reactor cores ruptured with gunfire to detonate in spectacular lightshows.

The drones were cleaning up after themselves.

USS Missouri, SSN-68
Valiant-class Dreadnought

"Reload sequence complete, targeting is correcting for target drift!"

The recoil alarm sounded as soon as the report had been made, informing the crew to brace for the violent recoil that the dreadnought's spinal battery produced with each salvo: the main engines had to be fired at the same time to prevent the ship from accelerating backwards, and the hull was strained enough by the violent shots that it groaned horribly every time the massive cannon fired. The forward sensor arrays were calculating a new optimal path for the shells to follow, allowing them to strike at the reactor they had previously missed: but then the Commander had a moment of inspiration. Dragging the red crosshair animation across the command table, he repositioned it above what seemed to be the most damaged asset in the enemy battlefield: the battleship 'Bombadier'. Having moved to the rear of the fleet formation after bearing the brunt of the initial nuclear salvo from the Avenger, it was located perfectly for a textbook artillery strike.

Was it an efficient use of the salvo? No. Was it going to be a brutal reminder that the Coalition was not joking? Sure.

The operators got right on it: "Weapons weapons weapons, emergency flash traffic, alter target bearing by six mark two degrees, lock on to enemy asset Golf, bearing zero zero eight mark zero zero three, rangegaining two fifty hundred klicks and change, one to one nuclear armor piercing, confirm target."

<"Confirmed target Golf, Bravo Romeo zero zero eight mark zero zero three, two fifty klicks to target, lock established and shell guidance reset, standing by for release order.">

Nodding in acknowledgement, the Commander begun to utter the destructive words: "Very well, fi-"

Thankfully for the Bombardier, the order was interrupted by another, more urgent statement that echoed in CIC. "FLASH RADIO TRAFFIC, AVENGER, PRIORITY CODE REAPER!" Priority Code 'REAPER' was a codename for the highest priority of emergency flash traffic that took precedence over all other transmissions, overrode all other standing mission orders, conflicting or otherwise, and removed situational authority from all but the field commander pending further instructions. The Commander snatched the printed out piece of paper, read it, read it again, and then passed it to his XO before grabbing the handset.

<"Weapons hold, repeat, weapons hold. Safe all guns and torpedoes, set condition 2SQ and move all weapons to hot stand-by status.">

With that unpleasant order given, and the beast's weapons being secured, the Commander picked up another handset: he had to find out what the hell that was all about. "Radio, CIC, get me the Avenger's CO. What do you mean he is busy?"

With the two USC ships disarming themselves, an obvious gesture of compliance with the demands of the two nations, an encrypted video feed was opened with the New Terran command ship (provided the latter accepted). Its origin: the Avenger itself, which had already begun moving out of position to withdraw towards Coalition territory. Upon accepting the uplink, an aging flag officer in a pitch black battle dress uniform would appear with the Avenger's CIC as background, complete with wailing klaxons and flashing alarm lights. The man's most noticeable, and unsettling, future were pulsating red eyes, much like those found on the new combat androids.

A gruff voice soon came out of the General's mouth, spitting out the words with a mix of spite and unsuppressed sarcasm.

<"Admiral Pavel Kiselyov. You are really enjoying this, aren't you? A chance to kick the Coalition where it hurts? That is so, so sad..."> claimed the voice, and the man on the other end shook his head in disappointment. But then his attitude changed: his voice sharpened, giving out a sense of unspoken fury awaiting to be unleashed.

<"Alright, you've won. We are retreating to our former borders, and will leave one destroyer behind to oversee the search and recovery efforts for our dead. But let me make this absolutely, undeniably clear: if a single ship attempts interfering with our search and recovery efforts, or breaches the ceasefire, I will not attack it. I will power up this ship's jump drives, I will jump to the homeworld of the race responsible and I will rain down nuclear FUCKING death on the cities, the villages and the orbital stations, and those of their allies. If the squids as much as APPROACH a dead USC citizen, or Coalition wreckage, I will kill a hundred million of their people for every dead man and woman on our side. We haven't even scratched the tip of the iceberg that is this ship's nuclear arsenal! I was not put in this position because I am a good tactician, or familiar with politics, but because according to my superiors I am an 'ultranationalist zealot' that will not even flinch at the idea of wiping out an entire race to protect a SINGLE of my compatriots, so do not push me. I have little care for politics, or the international community, or being condemned and executed as a terrorist to do what's right for my people. Can you say the same?"

By the end of the statement, it had turned into a full outburst of all the bottled up rage, which ended only with a blunt <"End of transmission."> before the New Terrans had a chance to reply. Nevertheless, the USC seemed to be following its stated intents: the Missouri restarted its engines and begun its journey back to the established territorial border with the (now emerging from stealth) fleet, while a lone destroyer launched dozens of search and rescue craft to scour the area for dead and survivors.