:: 00-12-31 ::
Chapter 5: The Great Wastelands: The Taidin Carrier Fleet
Fleet Intelligence Personal Log
The Taidin Fleet responsible for the burning of Kharak is no more.
We emerged from Hyperspace in orbit of a red dwarf star system. There was only one major planet, a gas giant, as well as a debris field held in one of that planet's LaGrange points. Coordinates received from the captured Frigates indicated the Taidin fleet went here to undergo repairs.
Fleet Intelligence had a probe built and ordered it sent to where the enemy fleet was believed to be hiding, a little over 100 km, past where two lines of dust clouds converged. The probe stopped 49 km from the Mothership. After a brief investigation, it was learned that Lieutenant Jaana Somtaaw, who had overseen the probe, had designated its flight path.
She claimed she had a vision, that the Taidin Fleet was too powerful for us, and she claimed that if we harvested resources up to the 49 km line that the probe had marked out, that the Taidin sensors would not pick us up. She also said that a diversion would be needed, or our forces would be overwhelmed.
This is not the first instance of insubordinance from Jaana. She was also in command of the Light Corvette that touched down on Kharak's tallest northern mountain after the Burning, claiming she had picked up a radio distress signal. I have removed her from command and placed her in the crew of the Resource Controller Sand Vortex. We launched the Sand Vortex and the mining ships and sent them to start harvesting the dust clouds.
Even there, Jaana managed to convince the Captain of the Sand Vortex to listen to her. They stopped resource gathering before the probe and moved to the other arm. I swear, I'm going to kill her... sigh the thing is? She was right. She was right.
We built two more Ion Frigates, the Firestorm and the Deathlance, and send them with the Ion Array (now renamed the Star Blossum), the other four Ion Frigates and the two Assault Frigates to support the resource gathering crews. This reinforced assault fleet has been dubbed Hellfire fleet. Three Support Frigates and a pair of Repair corvettes also were built and added to our forces. We also built another squadron of 9 Interceptors, and 4 new Scout fighters. Interceptor Squadrons Wasp and Scorpion along with 9 Scouts in Squadron Echo joined Hellfire fleet.
Despite her insubordination, some of what Lieutenant Jaana said was true. A diversionary force would be needed. Five Scout fighters (which had not been updated with the new ejection system) were designated Wraith Squadron. These fighters would be piloted by volunteers who had lost all their family when Kharak had burned. Two of the Scouts were piloted by Soban mercenaries. To these would go the task of leading as many Taidin on a pointless chase as possible, in case the others became too engulfed in their quest for vengence and death.
During this time, our scientists managed to modify the plasma torpedos found in the Taidin Assault Frigates. While it is impossible to increase the rate of fire (apparently there is an increasing difficulty in timing the plasma venting, and a decrease in the efficiency of the systems that chamber the bomb containment spheres. The resulting explosion hurt a half dozen scientists, though fortunately there were no fatalities), it is possible to launch a smaller "bomb", and the entire system can be placed in a fighter craft. Significant structural changes were made to the Interceptor frame, and armor was increased. Due to the increased weight of the Bomber, these ships are slower and less maneuverable than Interceptors. We suspect they will be susceptable to other fighters and should only be flown with fighter cover.
A dozen Bombers were built and designated Hammer Squadron. Six heavy corvettes were also built; the existing three heavy corvettes were assigned to them and they were designated Anvil Squadron. Together, the two squadrons, along with the Turanic missile covette, moved out to reinforce Hellfire Fleet.
Three days after hyperspacing to this star system, we were ready to avenge ourselves against the Taidin butchers who had destroyed Kharak. We were unable to gather more resources; Lieutenant Jaana had convinced everyone on the mining ships that if they ventured across the 49 km parallel first, then they would be targetted by the Taidin warships.
The honors went to Wraith Squadron. All power was diverted to the engines and afterburners were engaged. Wraith Squadron went in dark; no radios and minimal radar. Within three kilometers, radio signals were detected. It was the Taidin fleet, having detected Wraith Squadron. They broke radio silence to report what they found.
The Taidin fleet was larger than our own. It consisted of mostly Frigates and fighters, along with three larger ships. Two were heavily armored behemoths, possibly twice as large as our existing Frigates. These we've designated Destroyer-class warships. The last ship was even larger, and was launching fighters as Wraith Squadron approached. We have designated this a Taidin Carrier. From the recordings received from the captured Frigates, we also know this Carrier was responsible for launching the device that destroyed Kharak.
Two groups of 4 Assault-class Frigates, a group of 3 Ion Frigates, two mining ships and two flights of fighter craft filled out their fleet. Fortunately, Wraith Squadron distracted the Destroyers after strafing them as they passed. The Destroyers, Assault Frigates and Fighters all turned to pursue. This is the only reason I believe we survived this battle.
The Ion Frigates, mining ships and Carrier continued on. Either the Carrier was building (or repairing) an additional Assault Frigate or Wraith Squadron did not detect it, for we encountered a ninth Assault Frigate as well, supported by a new fighter craft.
I cannot give the members of Wasp, Scorpion, Retribution and Echo Squadrons enough praise. Even before we realized what the mining craft were, they were busy attacking the first of the pair. They destroyed it as we realized that these two craft were there to strip the region clean of resources. The second mining ship died in under two minutes of sustained fire.
The fighter squadrons proceeded toward the Ion Frigates, and then withdrew after one pass when the enemy fighter wings approached. Their fighters are remarkably similar in speed and armorment to our own, with one squadron of their version of the Interceptor, and the second squadron of Scout-class fighters. It is unknown if their Scouts have afterburners or not, but it is likely that the Taidin will modify their own Scouts now that they know the effectiveness of the afterburners. Anvil Squadron moved up, along with the missile corvette, and together destroyed the attacking fighters after a couple minutes of intense combat. While the heavy covette is more effective against fighters than are other fighters, the twin turrets are not fast enough to easily track fast Scouts, and have problems with Interceptors. The chaff launchers also tend to miss fighter squadrons, though against slower-moving fighters they should prove fairly nasty.
Wraith squadron reported in that the ships pursuing them had reversed course and were headed toward Hellfire fleet. They had suffered only one loss, when a Destroyer's cannon disabled the fighter's engines, and then turned its Ion Cannons on the poor lad. He did not die in vain. Not only did his actions (and those of Wraith Squadron) draw off the enemy, but we also had an idea of the armament of the enemy Destroyers now. With enemy concentration focused on our capital ships, I ordered the mining ships and the Sand Vortex to the dust belt furthest away from action. The Somtaaw miners went off without any complaints. They must have gagged the Lieutenant. Probably got as tired of her opinions as I am.
The enemy Assault Frigates arrived within 10 minutes of Wraith Squadron's report. That was when a lone Assault Frigate, supported by 20 of the new fighter craft I mentioned above. We have dubbed these fighters Defender-class fighter craft. They are actually slower than a light corvette, and while they have three mass drivers on gimbal-mounted turrets, these are not powerful guns.
However, they proved to be extremely accurate. After a light brush, four Bombers in Retribution Squadron were suffering significant armor depletion. Fighter squadrons retreated, but we were unable to move the heavy corvettes in without risking them to the nine Assault Frigates. Wraith Squadron, which was banking in to refuel at the Support Frigate Farstar, reported that the two Destroyers were just eight kilometers away.
All fighter squadrons were launched toward the Destroyers, skirting around the Defender fighters. While several Interceptors strayed too close and suffered some damage from stray Defender fire, only a half dozen Defenders gave chase. The rest stayed by the Assault Frigate. Interceptors and a long-range missile salvo from the missile corvette managed to destroy the pursuing Defenders, though at the loss of an Interceptor. The pilot, M'lar Soban, survived with minor injuries.
Hellfire fleet ignored the lone Assault Frigate and started focusing firepower on a single Frigate. While they did not fall as quickly as when the fighter squadrons assisted, within two minutes the first Frigate had fallen, and a second was starting to burn. The enemy squadrons ignored Hellfire fleet and started to pursue Anvil Squadron and the pair of Repair corvettes assisting them. Stitches succumbed to enemy fire and was consumed when its fusion drive detonated. Quiltwork II also sustained major damage, but managed to flee.
It took Anvil squadron reversing course and running right through the enemy Frigates for Hellfire to catch up. While the corvettes suffered moderate damage, the confusion when the Frigates started turning to pursue allowed Hellfire to pick off most of their number. Finally, after two hours of intense fighting, the last enemy Frigate was consumed by flames as its fusion drive was destroyed.
Likewise, the enemy Destroyers were both destroyed. Only one Interceptor was struck by a stray Ion Cannon shot, though that was sufficient to melt the ship around the pilot. Despite the ejection system, there was no survivor.
During this time, the enemy Carrier snuck through the middle. They did moderate damage to the probe that Lieutenant Jaana had "misplaced" but did not finish it off. Instead, they continued to the Mothership, with a fresh batch of Interceptors and Defenders ready to do battle.
Our last line of defense was the three light corvettes we had built over a week ago. They started attacking the enemy fighters as Echo Squadron came in fast and hard... but the Defenders proved devastating against our fighters. Seven scouts were quickly shot down. The three light corvettes soon followed. Casualties among the Scouts and light corvettes was 43%, and Fatalities was a shocking 57%. The Taidin not only destroyed the fighters, but continued firing at the pilots after the ejection systems had thrown them clear.
By this time we had built two extra Salvage corvettes, and sent the four corvettes in to grab the Carrier. Unfortunately, it proved insufficient to capture the Carrier. The fleet arrived and started destroying the enemy fighters and targetting the Carrier as well. We launched a fifth Salvage corvette before it was finished - drive systems were working at 32% efficiency, and life support was not on-line. The pilots literally had to go in with space suits to pilot the ship. Luckily, the viral encryption codes and directed EMP pulses was adequate to disable the enemy Carrier and it was towed to the larger docking port.
The enemy Support frigate was captured as well. However, both ships had taken significant damage and were torn apart for resources. The Carrier was gassed to eliminate the crew.
No one wanted to be crew in the ship that had destroyed our home. Kharak. In addition, damage to the Carrier was extensive. We were unable to salvage many new technologies. We did get some modifications on existing technologies, such as their ship-building systems. The Taidin Carrier had the ability to build new fighters, corvettes, and frigate class warships. We were unable to salvage much information on the drive system or the chassis.
Due to the decimation of Echo squadron, the remaining two ships has been merged with Wraith squadron. Retribution squadron has been reinforced with 8 more bombers, and Anvil squadron was reinforced with 3 more heavy corvettes. In addition, scientists were able to replicate the Defender design. While our Defenders have the same basic characteristics in terms of speed, firepower and accuracy, when the turrets are docked, the ships look fairly inoffensive. This can be useful in terms of diplomatic relations, or if we need to surprise an enemy.
Finally, 2 extra mining ships were built (I refuse to call them Resource Collectors, as I'm sure that Lieutenant Jaana is responsible for that term) and sent to assist the mining fleet currently harvesting the LaGrange point. Most of the resources were depleted at this time, and fearing that the enemy Carrier might have sent word of our presence, we prepared to hyperspace out rather than harvest the other LaGrange point.
The hyperspace coordinates is near the tail end of an enormous comet that was in the Taidin database. We hope that by emerging there, our presence will be masked until our hyperdrive engines are charged enough to enter the Nebula. ETA is in 6 days, 8 hours.
