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The Homeworld Chronicles - Hardcore
:: Unknown ::
Chapter 1
The Beginning and the End
As the Kushan Fleet moved on the met new races.
Some were friendly like the Bentusi and some were not like the
two pirate races they've just defeated. Those were the Protectors
of the Gardens and the Turanic Raiders. Now the Kushan have just
stumbled upon a vast resource patch.
< 0800 Fleet Command Meeting, Gathering of all Generals and
Admirals >
"Sensors report a vast patch of resources. I've gathered all
of you here to
decide on how to best exploit these resources", said Fleet
Commander Brenner.
"Lets get started." Admiral Korjac, I hear the research
department has a few ideas."
"We do sir,"
"While the resource patch is great it cannot get us
completely home if you used all the resources exclusively for
that task. I suggest we put the resources to make an advanced
task force of ships led by new Dreadnought-class cruisers that
can take on 10 heavy cruisers at once. My R&D department is
already working on the design and other designs that could take
anything an enemy might throw at us.
"Interesting, continue with your designs," said
Brenner.
"I believe Admiral Fkol has a unique idea, Admiral
Fkol"
(Fkol commands the Liberty, an Avatar-class Heavy Cruiser)
"My idea is to harness the resources as weapons themselves.
At the battle of Skall(destruction of Turanic Raiders) you've
seen how damaging and ion blast into a dust cloud can be. Just
consider if we could harness asteroids as weapons. By fitting
them with engines they become a low cost weapon."
"Wouldn't that be a waste of resources", said General
Bjarin
(commands the Revelation, the first destroyer produced)
"We might as well kamikaze all of our scouts the next time
we run into trouble.
I suggest we gather all the resources we can and then use most of
them for a long hyperspace jump and then build a lot of the ships
we already can make so we can survive"
"I'll take both of your points into consideration",
said Brenner
"Lets take a vote on the issues raised"
"Who supports Admiral Korjac's idea?"
Six hands were raised.
"Who supports Admiral Fkol's idea?"
Five hands were raised.
"Who supports General Bjarin's idea?"
Seven hands were raised.
Since there was not a majority of 75% he could decide which plan
to enact.
"Who supports my idea that we spread our resources acroos
the board?"
Eighteen hands were raised.
"Excellent, meeting adjourned"
<1100 Avatar-Class Cruiser Liberty, Head of Task Force 3>
"How is the resource collection coming lieutenant?",
said Fkol
"Excellent sir, we're getting approximately 10000 RUs an
hour. We've also finished installing dust cloud shooters on all
ion ships in the fleet."
"Outstanding", said Fkol. "You're dismissed
lieutenant"
A couple minutes pass.
"Admiral, we have anomalous readings to our northwest"
said a young ensign.
"Confirm with fleet command, ensign", said Fkol.
"Confirmed, Admiral"
"Order the Carrier Reliant to launch an element(2) of scouts
to investigate"
"At once sir"
<1115 Carrier Reliant>
"This is General Rlin. Pilots of Blue Squadron, Element Two
get to your ships on the double. Thats an order!"
The Scout Element launched quickly. Within 5 minutes they were at
the point of the anomaly.
"Fleet Command we've f......"
The Scout pilots never had a chance to finish that thought. An
orange light surrounded them.
<1120 Carrier Reliant>
"Pilots come in, repeat come in!, damn!"
"This is General Rlin of the Reliant, our scouts have been
destroyed awaiting orders Fleet Command."
"This is Brenner, The order to engage has been given, Task
forces 1 and 3 engage, Two, Four, and Five take a defensive
postion around the Mothership. Launch lots(144 ships)
1(interceptors) , 2(cloaked fighters), and Corvette Lot 2(Heavy).
Standby on fighter lot 3(bombers).You have your orders,
engage!"
Task Forces 1 and 3 engaged the enemy with their fighters
trailing behind the cap ships in the charge. A squadron(12) of
defenders and a squadron of interceptors led the charge however.
<1130 Anomaly Point>
"This is Red Squadron Leader we report 2 destroyers, 7
frigates and 3 lots of strike craft, two are interceptor, one is
corvette presumably heavy"
"This is Fkol, corvette lot take the point, arrange
yourselves in wall foramtion and use the charged burst
attack."
The corvettes complied with Fkol's order.
"Initiating charged burst attack, sir"
"Boy's lets give em hell"
The corvettes warmed up and released a very large beam of
orange-white energy completely vaporizing their first lot of
interceptors.
"Haha they're on the run now. Interceptors take em
down"
Quickly the interceptors engaged. The interceptors from both
sides were both in an intense dogfight. The battle started to
turn to the other side. Fkol realized that however.
"Cloaked Fighters come from under them and kill every last
enemy interceptor"
" Affirimative, sir. You heard the man people, Alpha Wing(4
squads) to my right, Delta Wing to my left. It's time for some
serious ass kicking."
The cloaked fighters came from under the intense dogfight like a
panther pouncing on its prey. The Kushan fighters mopped up the
remaning enemy interceptors quickly. The cost was high however as
80 interceptors and 20 cloaked fighters were lost.
The Kushan strike craft quickly turned their attention to the
enemy corvettes. They were no match for the vastly superior force
of more than 150 fighters and a full lot lof corvettes. Their
fight was superb however as the Kushan fleet only had 50 fighters
and 50 corvettes left.
"Fkol here. Excellent work pilots now destroy those
frigates. The Liberty will come to assist."
"General Malec of the Avatar this is Fkol, Take your fleet
and destroy those destroyers we will deal with the
frigates."
"As ordered, sir"
"This is Fkol. Task Force 3 take out those frigates and then
join Task Force 1."
Both Task Forces swooped in on the enemy. The enemy was in
retreat. However they all were headed for the exact same point.
When they reached it they just stopped. Fkol was confused but
pressed the attack.
"This is Commander Dlarit of Red Squadron, Corvettes and
fighter squadron heads prepare to attack"
A resounding affirimative echoed.
Green Corvette Squadron's leader felt something was amiss
however.
"Green Squadron turn around, Dlarit somethings wrong here
tell all the groups to trun tail now"
"Negative Green Leader get back in line"
Green Leader did not get back in line however he did not act
quick enough. Three ships faded into existence. The strike craft
slowed their speed abruptly. Before Dlarit could warn eveyone
they were engulfed in the glow of twenty-five ion beams.
"What the hell happened to our strike craft lieutenant, are
those what I think they are?"
"I'm afraid so Admiral. Those frigates apparently have 4 ion
beams."
Fkol could call in the bombers but with the gravwell generators
they would be useless."This is Fkol to all ships, retreat
back to the mothership the enemy is more powerful than us
here."
Both task forces combined 8 assualt frigates, 4 destroyers and 2
heavy cruisers could not win the battle without near total losses
so it was the wisest choice. However a blue square appeared into
their path. Twelve craft emerged from the square.
"Thats Impossible how can that be. Fkol here, men just give
it all you have we can beat them."
The combined task forces were quickly covered in ion blasts. When
1 destroyer went down a dust cloud appeared. An ion cannon struck
the cloud. Crackles of lightning appeared the cloud. Both sides
tried to escape the blazes of lightning but they were too close
to each other. All the frigates in the area had bluish-purple
energy lancing through their hulls destroying them outright. The
heavier destroyer classes survived with heavy damage. The
surviving heavy cruisers easily destoyed the enemy destroyers.
They had won. The three remaining Kushan ships made it back to
the Mothership. Ten kilometers away twenty-two ships appeared.
The Kushan now have only 30 minutes before total annihilation.
- Chapter 2
A New Light Appears
<1200 Kushan HQ>
"This is Brenner, Task Force commanders report"
"Admiral Plaek here. Task Force 2 running at full efficiency
of 1 heavy cruiser, 3 destroyers, and 10 frigates. Five are ion.
"Admiral Torse here. Task Force 4 has 2 heavy cruisers, 4
destroyers, and 5 assault frigates."
"General Njai here. Task Force 5 has 3 destroyers and 15 ion
frigates at your disposal"
"General Rlin of Carrier Task Force here. Running at 90%
capacity of strike craft on our 5 carriers. Have a full lot of
heavy corvettes, a full lot of bombers, and a full lot of
interceptors. We also have our two escort cruisers and five
escort destroyers at your disposal"
"This is Fkol of Task Forces 1 and 3. Our destroyer is
running at 64% and our cruisers are running at 86%."
"People we should be able to defeat this enemy easily.
However the enemy might have forces held in reserve. Carriers be
careful of grav well generators. We'll need all the help we can
get. Also start building ion cannon frigates. We need as many
ships as possible. Brenner out"
The carriers complied with the order. Seven ion frigates were
built in 15 minutes. Task Forces 1 and 3 merged with Task Force
5. Task Force 4 took the defense lead. The enemy is nearing the
defense perimeter.
<1215 Kushan Defense Perimeter 5 km from the MS>
"Brenner here Blue and Green Defender Squadrons launch
immediately"
In 3 minutes Twenty-four defenders met the enemy fleet.
"Blue Leader here we report 15 heavy cruisers and 5
multi-beam frigates inbound. "Requesting bomber assistance
HQ."
"Granted Blue Leader, but take out some frigates"
"As ordered, sir"
" This is Rlin. Red and White bomber squads launch
NOW!"
A few seconds later a multi-beam frigate blew from Defender fire.
As the bombers fired their plasma bombs the cruisers fired their
guns in vain. a novice pilot strayed into a beam and was
vaporized. However the constant battering of plasma bombs pierced
the cruiser's armor and it erupted in flame. In the middle of the
group two objects revealed themselves. The fighters tried to get
away but they were quickly shredded by over 100 guns. They didn't
survive for more than a couple seconds.
"Incoming transmission from the lead cruiser, admiral."
"Put it through ensign."
"We are the T-Mat. You will surrender your ships to us now.
You will comply or we kill every last of your kind here. If you
do comply we will only kill a few of your commanders."
"This is Fleet Commander Brenner of the Kushan fleet. We
will not back down. It is you who will surrender to us. Brenner
out."
"As you wish, we will enjoy your deaths immensely."
As quickly as the T-mat said that another 20 ships decloaked
behind the current fleet.
"Lieutenant what class of ships are those?", Brenner
asked.
"Destroyer Class, sir"
"Damn", said Brenner. "Options lieutenant?"
"Well Sir, we do have 7 cruisers, 16 destroyers, 20 ion
frigates, and 10 assault frigates as well as lots of assault
craft. If we can take out the grav generator we should be able to
stand a chance."
"Thank you lieutenant. This is Brenner to all Task Forces.
We must take out that grav generator NOW! Use the dust cloud to
your advantage. Assualt frigates stay back. We'll need you if
this doesn't work."
The 43 Kushan ships engaged the 36 T-mat ships. The Kushan fired
first. Their combined 20 ion attack instantly took out a enemy
heavy cruiser and then took out another. The 12 remaning enemy
heavy cruisers quickly took down 12 ion cannon frigates with
their quad ion cannon attack. The 8 Kushan Ion frigates quickly
employed their dust clouds which struck the heavy cruiser,
destroyer, and frigate groups respectively. One shot fired into
the frigates dust cloud was enough to take down the four
multi-beam frigates. Three Ion beams fired into the destroyers
dust cloud took down half their armor. The 4 ion beams into the
cruiser's dust cloud took only a quarter of their armor. The
T-mat cruisers opened fire on the Kushan ion cannon frigates
leaving only space dust. Thanks to the Ion friagtes sacrifices
the Kushan destroyers overpowered the T-mat destroyers but only 7
kushan destroyers remained.
"This is Fkol, we must take out these last 12 cruisers even
if it means our death."
"Fleet prepare the eng..... What the HELL!"
From the starboard side of Fkol's Liberty came a bright blue wave
that washed over the battle field. The wave first struck the
Liberty but barely a scratch registered. The wave continued
toward the t-mat and the 10 assualt frigates defending the
mothership. Just 1 km away from the assualt frigates the wave hit
something very large. A huge wing first appeared with a quad ion
cannon battery at its end. Three heavy gun batteries appeared as
the wing was revealed. The main fuselage of the behemoth of the
ship was soon revealed. It much resembled a normal heavy cruiser
except ten times larger. The dual ion cannon turrets were
relpaced with quad turrets and the 3 gun batteries of the heavy
cruiser were now ten. Port and starboard quad ion cannon turrets
were added to the head of the ship. A carrier-like section
connected the wings to the fuselage. On each corner of the hangar
was a missle launcher designed to take out enemy fighters. Two
Grav-well generators escorted the dreadnaught. Genuine shock and
fear was felt by every Kushan that witnessed the site.
"Is that thing real, admiral?"
"I'm afraid so lieutenant. It's going to kill us all"
Just a few seconds after the wave hit the dreadnaught-class
craft, blue squares appeared near the three grav-well generators
and the three of the heavy cruisers. Explosions soon rippled
through the gravity generators and two heavy cruisers after the
blue squares dissapeared. One blue square was still there. The
T-mat commander ordered his ships to move away from the blue
square. Five destroyer-class ships soon emerged from the square
in X formation. The four outside ships started to transfer their
energy to the middle one. the transfer made the formation
literally look like a green X because the energy the transfered
was green colored. The middle destroyer emitted a circle of green
light. The circle caught three of the heavy cruisers and
propelled them into three of their own heavy cruisers destroying
six heavy cruisers. The new ships worked together with the Kushan
to quickly destroy the final four cruisers.
"To all friendly ships we are the Halen. We have come to
help you defeat our mutual enemy. They have destroyed a great
many of our ships as well. We must defeat the dreadnaught while
it's grav-well generators are down. Use all your capital ships
and we will aid you with our bombers."
"To Halen vessels, this is Kushan Fleet Commander Jhat
Brenner accepting your aid. We will ensure the dreadnaught will
not leave here alive even if it means our deaths."
"Thank you for your assistance Kushan fleet. You do not know
the magnitude of what you have accepted."
With that a blue square emerged behind the Halen destroyers and
six squadrons of Halen bombers escorted by their escort of three
scout squadrons. The Kushan cruisers and destroyers moved into
position to attack. They alone could hold their own against the
dreadnaught but would eventually be destroyed without help. As
the Halen bombers came within 1km of the dreadnaught, fighters
erupted from within the belly of the beast. Two interceptor
squadrons prepared to take down the Halen fighters. Brenner
considered ordering interceptors to that area but the battle
changed his mind. Although the interceptors contained four times
the firepower of the Halen scouts, the Halen were much more
resourceful than they appeared. As the T-mat interceptors started
to fire. The scouts fired a port side thurster and were rocketed
sideways well away from the blast. They continued to impressively
dodge nearly all of the interceptors fire. After the interceptors
made their first pass the scouts with their unusually high
maueverability quickly chewed the interceptors' six. Even though
the armor on the interceptors was twice as good as a scouts they
were quickly defeated. The Halen only lost two scouts. Brenner
was most impressed. That however turned sour as six squadrons of
light corvettes came out of dreadnaught's hangar. The position
they took made the dreadnaught's four missle launchers look
dangerously close. The Halen scout/bomber combo however continued
on determined to destroy the enemy dreadnaught. Brenner could not
let the corvettes maul the Halen fighters. "Docking Bay 1
launch corvette lot 1(light) now!"
They launched quickly. Within a minute they were engaged with a
far smaller enemy corvette force. However it wasn't without a
heavy cost. Five squadrons of Kushan corvettes were lost to the
combined combo of t-mat corvettes and enemy missles. The
remaining Kushan corvettes wisely turned back. They joined the
rest of the capital ships in preperation to attack.
"This is Rlin. Red, White, Yellow, and Rainbow scout
squadrons launch." Rainbow is the designation of the top
squadron of that class in the entire fleet. They are only called
on in extreme danger. "Defend the Halen fighters. They are
our only hope." The four Kushan scout squadrons joined the
Halen fighters as the went inside 500 meters. As that happened
the Kushan fleet prepared the necessary diversion. Twenty-one
pairs of ion cannons struck the dreadnaught. The attack took down
the armor of the dreadnaught to 79%. The dreadnaught retaliated
by punching 16 ion cannons and 10 heavy guns through two heavy
cruisers and by launching the last of its fighters which were
three squadrons of defenders. Not dissuaded by the destruction of
two of its heavy cruisers. The Kushan fleet fired again. This
time seventeen-pairs struck the dreadnaught taking it down to 62%
armor. Just as the defenders reached firing range the five Halen
destroyers worked as one. They accelerated the defenders to the
speed of a scout with their hyper-magnet turret. As the defenders
were about to hit the destroyers the destroyers move leading them
in a half circle turn. Soon the defenders were accelerated
towards the dreadnaught at speeds of 1km per second. Acting
quickly the destroyers fired a gravity pulse as the defenders
shot passed them. This doubled their speed. Going this fast the
defenders could not avoid ramming the dreadnaught. Each t-mat
defender acted as a plasma bomb as they pierced a few layers of
the dreadnaught's armor with their initial hit and a couple
seconds later their plasma exploded doing massive damage to the
dreadnaught. The dreadnaught now had only 26% of its armor
remaining. It quickly destroyed four Kushan destroyers in a
violent rage of metal and energy. Twenty-one pairs of ion beams
lanced out from both the Kushan and Halen vessles. Plasma bombs
from all six squadrons of Halen bombers soon were launched. The
first twenty struck armor, but the next fifty-two bombs struck
the core of the dreadnaught exploding it. Fires could be seen
around the dreadnaught. They along with the dreadnaughts bulk
collapsed the dreadnaught into a ball. The ball soon exploded in
a giant ball of bright bluish-purple light.
"Excellent job, Kushan fleet. Will you assist us against
them in the future. We will need your help against them as you
will need ours."
"Very well, we will make sure you will get back what you
have given us. Brenner out."
As Brenner said that he thought: What am I getting us into?
Chapter 3
The Race for a Solution
<0800 the next day, Strategy Session with
Halen>
"Welcome Halen representatives I am Jhat Brenner of the
Kushan Fleet"
"And I am Vid Tckeel of the Halen Defense Force, thank you
for meeting with us."
The Halen took their seats. Brenner had many questions to ask
these Halen.
"I have some questions for you Vid. Please answer these
truthfully." Brenner paused.
"How did you take out the three grav-well generators and how
did you initiate that great pulse of blue energy? Also, why are
you at war with the T-mat?" Tckeel grinned. "We took
out the grav well generators with our cap-ship missiles. They can
destroy any frigate class vessel. But they are expensive. They
cost 750 RUs plus hyperspace costs. Our five destroyers created
the blue wave by de-concentrating the beam. That's why it did no
damage to your ships. As for the T-mat we can only guess why we
are at war. All we know is that we were attacked much like
yourselves. They came in and destroyed over half our fleet in the
first battle. We have only survived by making new technology.
Over a period we've learned more about them. What we do know is
that each of those dreadnaughts has the same capabilities of your
mothership and ours but is as you've seen very well defended. We
must destroy all these dreadnaughts to reveal the mothership. The
mothership is constantly cloaked and it only reveals itself when
building. And when we destroy all the dreadnaughts it will
attempt to make another. We have already destroyed four including
the one you have just destroyed. Do you have any technologies
that you have not shown us Brenner?"
Brenner was most intrigued by their response. Why did they need
their help? Their question however was sound so he answered
truthfully.
"Just a few. We have cloaked fighters, drone frigates that
can direct their firepower in any direction, missile destroyers,
and we have cloak and grav-well generators. Besides that you've
seen everything."
"Good Brenner. However I suggest you take a look at the
dreadnaught wreckage you'll need all the help you can get.
"OK Tckeel we will but right now how should be seek out and
destroy these dreadnaughts.
"We will use twelve of your support frigates supported by
twelve of our destroyers."
"And twelve of our missile destroyers. You'll need
anti-fighter support"
"Good idea Brenner we move out at 1800. Good day"
"Good day"
<1100 Kushan HQ>
"Patch me through to Resorce Collector 1, lieutenant."
"Link established sir."
"Collector 1 what is your stasis on the dreadnaught
recovery"
"We've completed the dreadnaught recovery. We're now
collecting from other resource patches."
"Good work Collector Lead, carry on."
Brenner wondered how the T-mat built such a ship. It took almost
the whole Kushan fleet to destroy. That reminded him of
something. "Lieutenant, what is the stasis on those missile
destroyers and the Task Force rebuilding."
We've built 8 of the missile destroyers. Five hours till that
order is filled. Task Forces 1-6 are at full strength. The 7th is
at half strength and is on hold for now."
"Thank you, lieutenant."
Brenner did not like the fact that he did not have ten task
forces by now as he had hoped or the entire missile destroyer
force for that matter.
He had reservations about this entire area. The resource patch
itself was a double-edged sword and a hard one to avoid. The
patch was vast enough to not be able to avoid yet held an enemy
that had many, many ships. As he looked out the window toward
Higara. Home. He wondered if facing the enemy even if they were
victorious would be worth the cost of lives in the end. Well we
just have to be victorious. The survival of our race depends on
us on winning the battle. On me.
<1745 Kushan HQ>
"Brenner here. Support Frigate Squadron are all ships at
full capacity?"
"Affirmative," replied the frigates in unison.
"Prepare to move out"
Brenner was very nervous about this first operation with the
Halen. They were capable but he knew that someone would die in
this operation. However he assigned Rainbow Defender and Rainbow
Interceptor squadrons to Support Frigates 1 and 5. This would
make sure the loss of life would be almost non-existent. However
Brenner was still uncomfortable with the idea with them searching
for the dreadnaughts. When they did Brenner knew losses would be
high…. for both sides.
"The ships are hyperspacing now sir."
Brenner knew one of those ships would not return.
<1800 Rendezvous w/ Halen>
"Captain Kaj Mizr of the Frigate Glaivepoint calling Halen
fighters to join us."
With that ten squadrons of interceptors and two of bombers
proceeded to join the Kushan fleet. Mizr thought that the Halen
were pretty sure that they would find a dreadnaught today and he
didn't like that thought one bit.
"Everyone fan out. The dreadnaught's somewhere in these
parts and we will kill it."
<1830 Middle of nowhere>
"Siren's Call (Frigate 5) calling Glaivepoint have you found
anything"
"Lemme check Siren. Initiate pulse destroyer Pride." A
hum was heard.
"Nothing yet call."
"I'll keep you posted lead."
After that Siren's Call told its accompanying destroyer to
initiate another pulse.
It complied with the order. As the pulse splashed across space
nothing out of the ordinary happened. However after the pulse hit
asteroids were visible where none had existed before.
"Halen Destroyer do you see those asteroids 10km off our
port bow."
"Yes, we see them."
"Eliminate them destroyer"
"Uh, ok Siren's Call whatever you say"
The Pride opened fire with its four ion beams. It de-concentrated
the beam just a little bit so it would take out all of the
asteroids. The asteroids were completed obliterated, as was
whatever matter was within the asteroid sphere.
"Full sensor sweep ensign." The Captain Timms ordered.
"We're picking up wreckage sir. Just 1m cubed in size at
most."
"We appear to have enemy activity here."
Must've been a support frigate and strike craft he thought.
"Get me Glaivepoint"
"This is Glaivepoint. Oh its you again Siren. We can't
exactly talk so often."
"Mizr we've found something, a enemy support frigate,
destroyed of course.
We need assistance now. "OK Siren we'll send you
support."
"Glaivepoint calling groups 11 and 12 (have bombers) report
to Frigate 5's position now!"
" HQ this is Glaivepoint we've detected enemy activity could
be a dreadnaught. Standby to send help."
"Glaivepoint this is HQ. We have twelve Halen and twelve
Kushan destroyers ready to hyper to your location upon discovery
of a dreadnaught."
"Glaivepoint copies"
<1900 Group 5's position>
"Groups 11 and 12 here ready to move out 5"
"Sure, said Timms."
Timms thought why he had to be the one to find the dreadnaught.
Well at least he had some people on his side.
<1905>
"Initiate Pulses" Captain Timms ordered.
With 3 pulses each could cover three times the distance. That
also meant it was three times more likely to find something. The
longer blue wave at the very end of it's travel hit an object
which then spread out into a cone like or pyramid configuration.
Unfortunately the one object was in reality eleven. And ten of
those surrounded a giant box-like vessel.
"Oh ----. They have a super-carrier and 10 destroyers."
"HQ this is Captain Timms of Siren's Call. We have
encountered a large group of enemies. We have a super-carrier and
ten destroyer escorts closing fast. Please help HQ"
"I'm sorry Timms we cannot allocate resources for hyperspace
at this time. You must fight them alone."
Brenner didn't like having to commit three of his support
frigates and pilots to probable death but he had to. He had to
save his resources for the eventual dreadnaught battle.
"I understand HQ," said Timms. However he did not
understand. Twenty-four destroyers could totally wipeout the
force they were facing. He had other matters to worry about
though.
Timms was thinking how to approach them. He had one idea.
"Halen Destroyers how big could you make a grav pulse."
"Ummm about 700m in diameter."
"Ok standby to target that pulse on the carrier or more
importantly the fighters we only have one chance to take out a
large number of their strike craft. Try to take out as many
corvettes as you can with that pulse. When that one is finished
do a combined ion blast, slightly de-concentrated to take out
some more craft. After that is done we hope the missile
destroyers and our fighters can do the rest."
The destroyers started to charge up the gravity pulse.
As the enemy group lurked closer to scout force the carrier
launched its strike craft.
Fifteen Squadrons of Interceptor class fighters and Twelve
Squadrons of Heavy Corvettes launched from the carrier.
"Fire grav-pulse now!" shouted Timms.
Already warmed up the destroyers released their green circle of
energy. However the distance and the size made it easy for most
of the strike craft to evade. Fortunately it hit a group of
corvettes. Unfortunately the blast only forced a squadron of
corvettes into the super-carrier's hull. That alone did massive
damage to the super-carrier knocking its armor down a quarter.
"Fire ion beam!" Timms yelled once more.
The beam was larger, faster, and longer, than the grav-pulse.
This time two squadrons of corvettes were destroyed. Now the
Destroyers had little power left for any immediate shots. They
wished the missile destroyers good luck.
The three missile destroyers each had four missile turrets. That
meant they could take out a squadron in each volley. When the
corvettes were nearing they came just within missile range. A
squadron of corvettes was quickly vanquished. However the
corvettes entered their firing range. Concentrating their
firepower on one destroyer, the heavy corvettes destroyed their
first missile destroyer in two volleys. That cost them two
corvette squadrons. They destroyed they other two carriers in six
volleys with just 2.5 corvette squadrons lost. Now
four-and-a-half squadrons of enemy corvettes turned to attack the
Halen destroyers. In response to that the support frigates
launched their fighters. Two squadrons and the one squadron of
corvettes launched from the Kushan frigates. The corvettes
enraged at losing their protecting corvettes charged their
weapons and delivered their charged burst attack. It destroyed a
squadron of corvettes. The interceptors also enraged however
realized there was only one way of stopping them. They vented
power to engines and went at the corvettes head-on. Some were
destroyed before impact but it was irrelevant. The bulk and speed
of the Kushan interceptors' kamikaze attack pierced the corvettes
armor. They were destroyed. The last squadron of enemy corvettes,
preparing for kamikaze runs were destroyed by Kushan corvettes
from behind.
"Good job strike craft but its not over yet. Take care of
the interceptors."
Four squadrons of interceptors and one of corvettes prepared to
take on fifteen squadrons of corvettes. The corvettes were
immediately swarmed. The corvettes quickly started firing. They
were shooting down fighters at a rapid pace. However the combined
firepower of 180 interceptors got to them. The corvettes shot
down three squadrons before they were set ablaze by enemy
gunfire. As the interceptors prepared to engage green and blue
beams of energy splashed on the four wings of enemy fighters.
Eight squadrons were blown clear and four were obliterated.
"Thanks Pride," said Lieutenant Klivian, leader of
Rainbow squadron.
Klivian now knew that the bombers could blow the carrier with
their superior maneuverability and deadly plasma bombs. As the
bombers approached they unusually slowed. The carrier then turned
and revealed almost mockingly to them a grav-well generator.
Actually the turn put them right in front of the missile
launchers. They had a chance to fire two volleys of bombs before
the carrier's missiles hit them. The bombs did great damage
however and the carrier was now at half armor.
"Damn, why didn't we see that before. Full Retreat."
The three destroyers and three frigates along with their fighter
escorts headed back to headquarters. Mysteriously they ran across
a vast patch of asteroids, which they couldn't outmaneuver. The
capital ships were destroyed on impact and the fighters were left
in the coldness of space and were never seen again.
"Come in Siren's Call, Come in." Silence.
Brenner was very distraught at how he could have let some of his
most elite pilots to their doom.
"Call every support frigate group back except the lead
group. Hyper the twenty-four destroyers to Glaivepoint's location
and double the pilot's training time." He ordered.
Damn, he thought. Why did we have to run across them, now?
They'll pay. They'll PAY!
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