Astrogation: "Starwarp successful. Sensors stabilizing... We have arrived in the Chroma system. Distance from the planet Chroma III is 3 million kilometers. Velocity at three percent lightspeed. Crossing orbit with the planet in 8 minutes at 50 million kilometer range."
The squadron starwarped directly from Penthiae after loading up on personnel and accelerating to the desired velocity. 'Starwarp' was the preferred method of faster-than-light (FTL) travel for interstellar vessels of the Terran Imperium. It was essentially a fancy term for an expanded teleportation spell, allowing ships to travel instantaneously from any one point in space to another within up to a range of roughly 15 to 20 light years (depending on the engine). Starwarp ships are specially constructed with magitech conductors spread throughout the hull of the ship, linking its various sections to the Starwarp Magitech Core like a huge spider web and allowing the high-powered teleportation spell to be channeled across, grabbing everything within the ship's hulls in a single electric-reinforced magic surge. Its advantages over conventional hyperdrives used by the Sacred Kingdom and Mantisir Republic were obvious, for it was not just FTL but instantaneous transportation. However it has one massive downside - the power consumption of a single jump were positively astronomical, to the point even Imperial military ships have to spend days charging up the power reserves spent by a Starwarp jump. This may still be a faster means of strategic movement. But for tacticians, or captains in this case, trying to figure out how to distribute their resources in a combat scenario, this becomes an absolute nightmare to handle.
Engineering: "Power reserves at forty-one percent, magic reserve at seventy percent. All systems stabilized and green."
Executive Officer (XO): "Rossbach and Hohenfried reports ready sir. Both with sixty-four percent power."
Liliane smiled broadly as she leaned back in the captain's chair onboard the Star-Cruiser Berezina. This is no simulation, no exercise. This is the real thing. Now, it's time to seen just how capable her opponents are this time...
Liliane: "The actors are poised, the curtains are rising, and the audience is given an unexpected performance. Liliane get ready~! You are about to make your debut~!"
Abruptly springing up from her chair, she raised her right hand up and swung it in a wide arc to pointed straight at the primary display of the monitor.
Liliane: "Everyone~! Today will be a day to be remembered, a day to be recorded. So make sure to give them something to write about, to give yourself something to brag about, and to let the descendants of centuries past understand the spirit of today! All ships! Adjust course heading to eleven-ten-two-zero. Launch Frigates and REDEIN wings one and two at vector twelve in Hexagon Pincer formation! Execute combined missile defense plan Delta and fire plan Avalanche!"
As the forward hull of each of the three star-cruisers began turning, the broadside launchers pumped out full volleys of Anti-Capital Cruise-Missiles (ACCMs). Unlike traditional broadsides of the ancient man-of-wars, Star-Cruise ACCM gravitic launchers were placed at a forty-five degree forward angle and performed at its optimum when firing at enemies in the 1-to-2 and 10-to-11'o clock range. The entire forward section was designed to rotate about the ship's central axis, allowing both broadsides to be brought to bear in consecutive volleys. Dozens of ACCMs soon raced out towards the planet from the three ships, and on their heels chased six Escort Frigates and 120 REDEINs, plus another 120 replacement REDEINs riding on the Escort Frigates' backs.
Flight time took a few minutes, during when the missiles left the frigates and strike craft far behind with their higher initial launch velocity. Of course, the intention was not to have the REDEINs directly assault the planet orbitals anyways. They are merely to station themselves at the halfway point, ready to intercept any missile launches from the planet.
Thirty seconds passed, then a minute, two... there were still no armed response from the orbitals, whom must be scrambling to pull their defenses online after the obvious sign of hostility. A communications request was received from the primary orbital defense platform almost immediately after launch, but was outright rejected. There is no room for bargaining right now. The plan has been set in motion, therefore the orbital defenses must be destroyed. Only after that may a compromise be acceptance, if it's favorable enough.
Liliane: "What incompetence..."
The first wave of missile had entered their terminal maneuvers, and the orbital platforms finally responded in kind by opening up point-defense fire. One fact was obvious - the defenders had been caught with their pants down. The lack of retaliatory fire and even worse, lack of counter-missile fire, could only mean one thing: those defenses had been mostly or wholly deactivated just a few minutes ago, and their controllers were currently scrambling to bring up their primary generators.
...then, seventy-two miniature arrows on the display representing ACCMs of the first wave vanished. They were comprised of the first two volleys, with the first volley's acceleration reduced just enough to allow the second volley to catch up before reaching target. Unlike Sacred Kingdom ships which also relied on EMS, Chromians utilized Incarnum Shields which rendered the resonance generators onboard Imperial ACCMs useless. But that did not stop the brute strength of nuclear fusion as the warheads detonated against the shield bubble one after another. A second later, the red dot that represented the largest orbital defense platform around the planet vanished.
Tactical Officer (TO): "First wave contact. Primary target destroyed. Lighter debris than expected from target."
Liliane: "Overkill~?"
TO: "Intel may be overestimating the strength of the enemy's incarnum shield bubbles."
Liliane: "Better over than under. Spread targeting out by twenty percent, the enemy's CM and PD are yet at full strength. But really! I expected at least a competent challenge worthy of the occasion, not a pushover!"
True to the words, the second wave of missiles encountered a much better layered defense from the smaller platforms. EW and decoys were soon drawing missiles away from the real target. Counter-missiles raced out to intercept the heavy ACCMs, while last-effort laser point-defense clusters went into full power rapid fire. Imperials ACCMs were relatively slow as far as space-going missiles go. But these missiles were also shielded, with a particularly high EMS coverage of the front specially designed to absorb the punishment of counter-missiles and point-defense. They were weak against strike craft that could hit them from the sides and rear, but the Chromians didn't have that to protect their platforms. A few ACCMs died, but most of them soaked up the limited defensive fire such small platforms could put out and rammed straight in.
TO: "Targets beta-one through beta-three destroyed. Beta-four through beta-six returning fire! Launch detected from six planetary defense bases, locations... they're in the D&F territory, presumably fortified on the mountains! More launches from D&F territory... they're too slow to be space missiles... huh... these readings... eighty-seven incarnum juggernauts inbound from the planet!"
Liliane: "The ground-side response time isn't bad at all. Maybe they're not a complete disappointment after all. Still, to be sending planetary units against our cruisers, the opponent certainly has guts."
TO: "Or they may simply be more space capable than we originally thoughts."
Liliane: "That's very much likely. All Frigates, maintain hexagon formation, spread out from the enemy force's central axis of advance. Forward REDEINs focus on missile defense. Launch REDEIN wing three and four to rendezvous with the frigates. Hold missile fire, switch tubes to laser heads."
The third wave of missiles soon reached their targets, and the last three remaining orbital platforms this side of the planet were silenced by fusion reactions. At the same time, sixty more REDEINs raced out from the ships. Unlike the earlier REDEIN squadrons, these were loaded with attack missiles designed to target light starships rather than the swarmer missile pods designed to counter hostile missile volleys.
Then, for several minutes, the planetary bases sent several volley of heavy missiles from ground-based launchers. However, the missile waves did little to impress as the forward REDEIN screen slashed each one apart. Proximity losses from fusion detonations cost a few REDEINs that got too close, but there were another 120 awaiting onboard the Escort Frigate that acted as forward supply depots. Only around a third of their numbers would pass through the missile defense screen, and then the heavy defenses of the Imperial cruisers lay waiting for them. EW jammed their sensors, decoys lured them off the real target, proximity hits from chaff-missiles detonated them, counter-missiles slashed their apart, and laser point-defense picked off any lucky survivors. With local space superiority and defensive tech advantage, it was only the planetary bases' sheer volume of fire that allowed them to even make two hits on the Imperial cruisers. The Rossbach and Berezina's electromagnetic shields flared under the fusion explosions, but they held without a hitch.
But other than defending, the Imperials did nothing. They were collecting data from the missile launches, waiting...
TO: "Target gamma-six pinpointed! Twenty-six point four nine latitude by forty-eight point sixteen longitude!"
Liliane: "The next act has come! Simultaneously target all six planetary defense bases with the Berezina, Rossbach, and Hohenfried's starshift launchers! Load tactical fusion heads."
CO: "All launchers report loaded."
Liliane: "FIRE!"
Magic energy surged across the hulls of the three Star Cruisers, concentrated mostly around the three bumps that were the armored 'Starshift Launchers'. Utilizing the same concept as Starwarp, Starshift launchers prepares a small teleportation field and launches a warhead into the field the instant it transitioned. Effectively, they allowed warheads to be sent directly into the structure of enemy units and installations, unless they were locked from extra-dimensional disturbances. It was an immensely powerful weapon with unlimited tactical firing range. However it suffered the same weakness as the Starwarp Drive - it was energy consumptive and could only be used sparingly.
Six energy flare readings suddenly marked the mountain ranges on the smaller continent as six different mountaintops were blown apart by tactical nuclear warheads.
Liliane: "Status of enemy Juggernauts?"
TO: "They are continuing on route for a zero-zero intercept with us. Estimated time five minutes. Current distance from planet 300 thousand kilometers. Long range scanners report ion engine streams, likely externals as its unlikely for planetary units to utilize ion engines. As a matter of fact, difference in size between our sensor reading and Intelligence would suggest they're carrying particularly heavy external ordinances and modules."
Liliane: "Decelerate and restart missile volleys. Send out the reserve REDEIN wings against them, then launch two more wings on automation after them."
Laser heads were different from fusion heads in that instead of a high energy proximity or contact explosion, laser heads contained bomb-pumped cores that sent out a burst of high powered x-ray laser beams. Because of their concentrated energy in individual vectors, laser heads were far more effective at penetrating energy-deflecting shields and armor than nuclear heads. However because it was impossible to exactly control where the x-rays would go, using laser heads too close to a planet is likely to cause far more collateral damage than nuclear heads where an exact area-of-effect radius is known.
The fire exchange switched as Imperial ACCMs hurled itself against the Juggernaut formation while the Chromians stayed only on the defensive. However it soon became obvious that the Chromian invested far more money per tonnage on these Juggernauts than the orbital platforms. All of their defenses were proportionally better, and their shield strength were positively astounding for their small size, which seemed to absorb lasers that sought them out with limitless persistence. Making it all worse was the fact ACCMs were designed to destroy starships, not hunt down such small and maneuverable targets. Here and there a few unlucky juggernauts would find themselves hit by too many x-rays at once, and as soon as their shield bubble collapsed their armor lasted mere seconds against warheads designed to destroy capital starships. But for the most the juggernauts continued their charge.
The starshift launchers soon joined in on the fight, but found their effectiveness limited. They were designed to destroy starships, not waste their massive power loads on individual small vessels. It was unknown whether the enemy had any form of extra-dimensional guard or not, but if they did it did not cover all of the shield bubble's volume, and any fusion head that found itself inside the shields blew the Juggernaut apart.
The juggernaut force, still roughly seventy strong, soon found itself nearing the Imperials' outer defensive screen. The frigates and REDEINs had already spread out into a hexagonal ring tens of thousands of kilometers in radius, leaving a large hole in the center of the formation. The Chromian pilots could either choose to pass through and target the mothership directly, where all the fire was coming from, but find itself pinned between the screen and the cruisers; or they could change vectors and assault the screen while the cruises continued to bombard them from afar.
TO: "Enemy force course unchanged, they're heading straight for us. Wait... they're launching missiles... but only passing shots against the defensive screen."
XO: "Not surprising. We're obviously the bigger threat, especially since all they've seen is the screen being passive and going only after missiles."
TO: "But this missile density. They have to be flushing their external racks to get this density! What are they planning to engage us with?"
Liliane was looking almost bored in the captain's seat, then suddenly sat upright as she realized something.
Liliane: "All ships to maximum deceleration. Order REDEIN wings one and two to focus on defending the frigates. Three, four, and five are to converge on the enemy force once they pass point Y. Get the frigates to reload their spare REDEINs with attack missile payloads! Weapons, calculate acceleration for a simultaneous attack wave via next four volleys."
XO: "Sir?"
Liliane: "Keep our distance from those Juggernauts, or its possible this battle may go downhill real fast. Those volleys have got to be their full external payload. But do you think Kayeten's Gespensters are the only space-capable design built against conventional space combat senses and optimized for extra close, virtually point-blank range combat?"
The Juggernaut force's three passing volleys fired over a three hundred heavy missiles (although nowhere anti-capital grade). At relatively close range (in space combat terms) they saturated the screening force's defenses. Despite the REDEINs' best efforts, enough warheads reached their targets to destroy two frigate and crippling another two. Wing one and two also lost about 50 REDEINs against the proximity detonations, as well as another 80 of the reserve REDEINs onboard the frigates.
But wings three and four detached itself early enough. They converged upon the enemy juggernaut force with wing five and a massive wave of ACCM missiles from the other side. The total force numbering 144 ACCMs followed by 180 REDEINs. They smashed into the Chromian Juggernaut formation one after another. A storm of x-ray bursts shattered several targets alongside a dozen friendly fighters, then immediately followed by several hundred attack missiles from the REDEIN groups. Then as soon as they launched, the pilots switched control to the 120 REDEINs following on autopilot and then slammed their missile loads into the meat-grinder as well. The Juggernauts' shields withstood truly impressive quantities of punishment, but the attack was simply too fierce, too concentrated, and one after another their shield bubbles began to drop. Dozens of juggernauts died under the storm of fire, and when the sensor readings stabilized again, only nineteen could be seen remaining. Yet they still continued their charge against the cruisers, be it drive by courage, desperation, or most likely, both.
After continuous starshift launcher fire, power reserves across all three cruisers were already in the critical levels. Their missiles weren't very effective. Their REDEINs were returning to reload, but the enemy survivors were closing in on the remaining distance.
Liliane showed no interest of testing if the enemy had any surprises for close combat. Not with this much on the line.
There was still one more card she could use by herself.
The Berezina may be old, but it was her ship, and in this case the Captain made all the difference.
Liliane: "Commander Remington, you have control of the bridge. Keep this ship's starshift launchers firing and prepare to Execute Oversurge."
And with that, Liliane hurried off the bridge via the shortcut to core engineering room, leaving her Executive Officer in charge. The bridge and the core were the two most critical compartments in the starship, and they were both located deep within the center of the hull and next to one another.
Security recognized her codes as the Captain, and two massive blast doors opened consecutively, granting access directly to the primary energy control node of the ship's fusion reactors.
Liliane found a few square meters of open floor and sat down with her legs folded beneath her, then took a few deep breaths and braced herself...
Liliane: "Weaponization program, initiate, mode 8 predefined, maximum output."
As the descendant of a Zanaikin, Liliane had some training in weaponization. But this... was simply not something anyone can get used to... or would they want to get used to. The story of weaponization and its destructive potential was known to virtually everyone in the Imperium military, but few understand how much of a last-resort it is...
If they had only seen it, seen a close up of the weaponization process, then they would understand...
After a few seconds, it was over, the Liliane found herself fully connected with the ship's central systems. She was converting her own energy reserves, not to mention stock encoded programs, to power usable by the ship at fast as possible, while at the same time projecting her consciousness over the network to the bridge to keep track of the battle. She always wondered what it would feel like for a bridge officer to suddenly see a miniature [chibi if you get the term] version of their captain walking around the display screen and giving orders, for they were certainly experiencing it now.
It only took another minute or two before the Berezina's Starshift launchers, alongside continued missile fire from all three ships, converted the last Juggernaut into space debris.
There were still a few orbital platforms on the other side of the planet, and possible a few more planetary bases. But those have already proven themselves to be pushovers... as long as D&F doesn't launch another massive wave of incarnum juggernauts at them. If they did, she would have to request the Field Brigade to help out... in an orbital battle.
Liliane: "But for now, we have the orbit."Statistics: Posted by Zanaikin — Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:55 pm
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