Sigma
Inactive Member
Mwigflukbajik, 4th AASP Fleet
The Nepleslian warships dropped out of FTL with characteristic speed, rapidly decelerating at the outskirts of the small star system. 78 warships in a large diamond formation. The Kouken and Sword escorts were positioned along the perimeter while the cruisers intermingled in the center. At the rear, six Hray gunships trailed, waiting for the next formation change. Admiral Valken had chosen this formation for the initial arrival because it presented a dense, multilayered defense in case they were attacked the moment they dropped out of FTL.
No such thing happened. The NMX forces were arrayed into two formations. One was on the far side of the system, with the star and planet between them and the Nepleslian fleet. The Nepleslian sensors showed that large group heading away at considerable speed. The other, however, was stationed between them and the planet. It was less than half of the size of the last reported NMX force and, like the farther group, faced away from the Nepleslians. Valken considered what this meant. Either the bulk of the NMX had moved on or it was in the big glob on the other side of the system, facing Rok'Veru.
Four battleships, ten cruisers, twelve light cruisers and twenty escorts made up the smaller group. Sizeable but numerically inferior to his force. But they were slightly superior in terms of firepower with the four battleships and their battlepod contingents.
Regardless, the enemy's rear had been presented to him and it would be rude to decline the invitation. "Captain Ironside, the fleet will adopt a wedge formation and accelerate at .2c towards the nearest enemy. Deploy the fighters and have them make their attack runs. Drei, I hope your analysis is almost done."
"Admiral, there is a 60% probability that the flagship is this battle," Drei announced, highlighting one of the four battleships. "There is an additional twenty percent for these two other battleships." Highlights appeared on the second two. So Valken would have to split his boarding parties between the three ships.
On his display, he watched the gap close between his forces and the NMX, who were desperately trying to decelerate and turn to face him. Yes, this was the best shot they would have. "Fire torpedoes at the three possible NMX flagships and continue to close. I want those three ships disabled. Drei, coordinate fire between the warships and the fighters. Prioritize the battleships, then the cruisers, then escorts."
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NSS Dauntless, Hangar
The Cavaliers scrambled onto the shuttle just as klaxons warned that the large area was about to be depressurized. Air was vacuumed into the vents and the hangar doors began to open.
"Good afternoon, boys and girls. This your captain, Sam Fletcher and my co-pilot is Bonnie Heinz. We'd like to welcome you to NSN Airways and remind you that this is a non-smoking flight. Please remember to strap in and to keep your hands and feet within the ride at all times. If at any moment you feel like hurling, please do so to your right, away from the cockpit. Thank you for signing away your lives to us; we'll try to get you to your destination in one piece. Now, please sit and wait patiently while the Navy does its job."
Outside the shuttle, the two dozen FA4 attack craft glided out of the hangar using their maneuvering thrusters and, once clear, formed into a large formation circling the First Cruiser Squadron. The hundreds of attack craft leapt forward at .3c and would reach the NMX in ten minutes.
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Mwigflukbajik, NMX Fleet
Izmarhk'resh looked at the display of coordination between his ships as compared to those of the Nepleslians. Pitiful and disorderly. And again his enemies had brought new warships. Why was it always his luck to encounter relatively unknown enemy designs? First it was the Gartagen warships, now it was new Nepleslian ones. But had the NMX produced anything of quality in recent years? Expendable heavy and light cruisers to protect the better battleships and carriers.
Nepleslian fighters were closing and the hastily scrambled battlepods were rushing to meet them. But it was too late. The accursed Nepleslians had launched their payloads and were already turning. The same drones which had been his fleet's death at Ether. "Battlepods, intercept and destroy those missiles!" he growled. There would not be a repeat of Ether.
"Recall the rest of the fleet, I want those battlepods here now!" Other Mishhu growled and got to work while nude Nekos scrambled around to prepare the ship for battle. Hundreds of F2 drones, originally prepared for anti-battlepod combat, had been launched at .9c towards his fleet. Instead of minutes to react, the NMX had seconds. A few dozen were shot down by the battlepods while others collided with suicidal battlepods. More were shot down by automated CIWS but too many managed to hit the NMX line battleships.
The Momoranth shook as it took hit after hit on its shields, while continuing to turn. Izmarhk'resh felt like he had been check-mated in the opening stage. The turning prevented him from focusing his shields on any one side. His shields were down, his ship's armor in multiple locations was gone, exposing parts of the ship to space. It was intact, though, and still capable of fighting. Four of his cruisers and the Klivarghfyx were dead. The battleship to his left had been gutted badly, with most of its critical systems overloaded and engines destroyed. But following that hideous barrage were Nepleslian anti-ship torpedoes and the damaged, disoriented NMX CIWS were less effective, destroying only a few dozen of the two hundred-odd torpedoes launched at them. More of the escorts died, two cruisers, six light cruisers and the Hyuderflyux were dead in space. And Izmarhk'resh had not even fired back.
"Battlepods, attack the Nepleslians and do not come back until you've killed them all! I want the light cruisers and destroyers to charge the Nepleslians, ram their ships if you cannot slow them down!" Izmarhk'resh knew he was losing his usual calculating cool. But with his broadsides facing the Nepleslians, he needed time to make a run for the rest of his fleet. Time which would be bought with the expendable remote-controlled battlepods and the smaller ships.
The ship rocked as its weaponry began trading fire with the Nepleslian warships. Now it was a matter of time and accuracy, neither of which seemed to be on his side at the moment.
"Why are you turning away from the enemy!" the familiar screech of the Nightmare, Helszepont, echoed on his bridge. "I do not intend to die futilely charging an enemy who has stripped me of half of my battleships in a single barrage. You will note that they have numerical and local superiority until we reach the rest of my fleet. I have no intention of giving them the satisfaction of destroying my force piecemeal."
The Nightmare ground her teeth. Izmarhk'resh noted how Gahze seemed less energetic than normal but worked at her console nearby with concentration.
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Mwigflukbajik, 4th AASP Fleet
Valken watched with pleasure as his warships shrugged off the pitifully disorganized NMX return fire. The battleships and cruisers were making a run for the rest of the Fleet while the light escorts made suicide runs at him. It was a smart, though callous move. The NMX commander was sacrificing pawns to ensure that the 4th Fleet could not chase him. But that wouldn't matter as much if Valken's warships could disable the NMX engines before they were out of range.
"I want the Hrays and the 4th Squadron to break off and stop those battleships. Everyone else, destroy those NMX ships heading towards us. I will court-martial anyone whose ship gets rammed! Have the FA4s configured for escorting the shuttles. The boarding parties aboard the Minotaur and Levant are to launch once the path to that battleship is clear."
So far so good. But things would only get interesting once the bulk of the NMX force reached him. Launching any of the boarding parties now would only result in their demise. Too many battlepods and too many warships.
In a few minutes, 4th "Death Squadron" should have the NMX flagship in the bag. Already the Avenger and Executor were pummeling the most probable NMX flagship's engines. Then it would be the Marines' turn.
The Nepleslian warships dropped out of FTL with characteristic speed, rapidly decelerating at the outskirts of the small star system. 78 warships in a large diamond formation. The Kouken and Sword escorts were positioned along the perimeter while the cruisers intermingled in the center. At the rear, six Hray gunships trailed, waiting for the next formation change. Admiral Valken had chosen this formation for the initial arrival because it presented a dense, multilayered defense in case they were attacked the moment they dropped out of FTL.
No such thing happened. The NMX forces were arrayed into two formations. One was on the far side of the system, with the star and planet between them and the Nepleslian fleet. The Nepleslian sensors showed that large group heading away at considerable speed. The other, however, was stationed between them and the planet. It was less than half of the size of the last reported NMX force and, like the farther group, faced away from the Nepleslians. Valken considered what this meant. Either the bulk of the NMX had moved on or it was in the big glob on the other side of the system, facing Rok'Veru.
Four battleships, ten cruisers, twelve light cruisers and twenty escorts made up the smaller group. Sizeable but numerically inferior to his force. But they were slightly superior in terms of firepower with the four battleships and their battlepod contingents.
Regardless, the enemy's rear had been presented to him and it would be rude to decline the invitation. "Captain Ironside, the fleet will adopt a wedge formation and accelerate at .2c towards the nearest enemy. Deploy the fighters and have them make their attack runs. Drei, I hope your analysis is almost done."
"Admiral, there is a 60% probability that the flagship is this battle," Drei announced, highlighting one of the four battleships. "There is an additional twenty percent for these two other battleships." Highlights appeared on the second two. So Valken would have to split his boarding parties between the three ships.
On his display, he watched the gap close between his forces and the NMX, who were desperately trying to decelerate and turn to face him. Yes, this was the best shot they would have. "Fire torpedoes at the three possible NMX flagships and continue to close. I want those three ships disabled. Drei, coordinate fire between the warships and the fighters. Prioritize the battleships, then the cruisers, then escorts."
------------------
NSS Dauntless, Hangar
The Cavaliers scrambled onto the shuttle just as klaxons warned that the large area was about to be depressurized. Air was vacuumed into the vents and the hangar doors began to open.
"Good afternoon, boys and girls. This your captain, Sam Fletcher and my co-pilot is Bonnie Heinz. We'd like to welcome you to NSN Airways and remind you that this is a non-smoking flight. Please remember to strap in and to keep your hands and feet within the ride at all times. If at any moment you feel like hurling, please do so to your right, away from the cockpit. Thank you for signing away your lives to us; we'll try to get you to your destination in one piece. Now, please sit and wait patiently while the Navy does its job."
Outside the shuttle, the two dozen FA4 attack craft glided out of the hangar using their maneuvering thrusters and, once clear, formed into a large formation circling the First Cruiser Squadron. The hundreds of attack craft leapt forward at .3c and would reach the NMX in ten minutes.
--------------------
Mwigflukbajik, NMX Fleet
Izmarhk'resh looked at the display of coordination between his ships as compared to those of the Nepleslians. Pitiful and disorderly. And again his enemies had brought new warships. Why was it always his luck to encounter relatively unknown enemy designs? First it was the Gartagen warships, now it was new Nepleslian ones. But had the NMX produced anything of quality in recent years? Expendable heavy and light cruisers to protect the better battleships and carriers.
Nepleslian fighters were closing and the hastily scrambled battlepods were rushing to meet them. But it was too late. The accursed Nepleslians had launched their payloads and were already turning. The same drones which had been his fleet's death at Ether. "Battlepods, intercept and destroy those missiles!" he growled. There would not be a repeat of Ether.
"Recall the rest of the fleet, I want those battlepods here now!" Other Mishhu growled and got to work while nude Nekos scrambled around to prepare the ship for battle. Hundreds of F2 drones, originally prepared for anti-battlepod combat, had been launched at .9c towards his fleet. Instead of minutes to react, the NMX had seconds. A few dozen were shot down by the battlepods while others collided with suicidal battlepods. More were shot down by automated CIWS but too many managed to hit the NMX line battleships.
The Momoranth shook as it took hit after hit on its shields, while continuing to turn. Izmarhk'resh felt like he had been check-mated in the opening stage. The turning prevented him from focusing his shields on any one side. His shields were down, his ship's armor in multiple locations was gone, exposing parts of the ship to space. It was intact, though, and still capable of fighting. Four of his cruisers and the Klivarghfyx were dead. The battleship to his left had been gutted badly, with most of its critical systems overloaded and engines destroyed. But following that hideous barrage were Nepleslian anti-ship torpedoes and the damaged, disoriented NMX CIWS were less effective, destroying only a few dozen of the two hundred-odd torpedoes launched at them. More of the escorts died, two cruisers, six light cruisers and the Hyuderflyux were dead in space. And Izmarhk'resh had not even fired back.
"Battlepods, attack the Nepleslians and do not come back until you've killed them all! I want the light cruisers and destroyers to charge the Nepleslians, ram their ships if you cannot slow them down!" Izmarhk'resh knew he was losing his usual calculating cool. But with his broadsides facing the Nepleslians, he needed time to make a run for the rest of his fleet. Time which would be bought with the expendable remote-controlled battlepods and the smaller ships.
The ship rocked as its weaponry began trading fire with the Nepleslian warships. Now it was a matter of time and accuracy, neither of which seemed to be on his side at the moment.
"Why are you turning away from the enemy!" the familiar screech of the Nightmare, Helszepont, echoed on his bridge. "I do not intend to die futilely charging an enemy who has stripped me of half of my battleships in a single barrage. You will note that they have numerical and local superiority until we reach the rest of my fleet. I have no intention of giving them the satisfaction of destroying my force piecemeal."
The Nightmare ground her teeth. Izmarhk'resh noted how Gahze seemed less energetic than normal but worked at her console nearby with concentration.
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Mwigflukbajik, 4th AASP Fleet
Valken watched with pleasure as his warships shrugged off the pitifully disorganized NMX return fire. The battleships and cruisers were making a run for the rest of the Fleet while the light escorts made suicide runs at him. It was a smart, though callous move. The NMX commander was sacrificing pawns to ensure that the 4th Fleet could not chase him. But that wouldn't matter as much if Valken's warships could disable the NMX engines before they were out of range.
"I want the Hrays and the 4th Squadron to break off and stop those battleships. Everyone else, destroy those NMX ships heading towards us. I will court-martial anyone whose ship gets rammed! Have the FA4s configured for escorting the shuttles. The boarding parties aboard the Minotaur and Levant are to launch once the path to that battleship is clear."
So far so good. But things would only get interesting once the bulk of the NMX force reached him. Launching any of the boarding parties now would only result in their demise. Too many battlepods and too many warships.
In a few minutes, 4th "Death Squadron" should have the NMX flagship in the bag. Already the Avenger and Executor were pummeling the most probable NMX flagship's engines. Then it would be the Marines' turn.
