RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [4th AASP] Shortstacked

Planet 6,

The world didn’t even have a name yet, but it had already gathered a large collection of star ships filled with Elysian and SMX soldiers who had died fighting above the cold ball of rock. Many of these burnt out hulls were stuck in orbit around the planet, others were falling into the gravity well, providing a constant stream of shooting stars for the NMX soldiers securing the various automated mining facilities on the surface, and still others had broken apart before reaching the planet which doomed them to an eternity of soaring into the void.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

In the silence of the void ships started to drop out of subspace as they exited FTL travel. First came the NMX Scouts which immediately fanned out as they scanned the surroundings. They were soon followed by a large flotilla of other ships as they appeared in droves for the gathering invasion. This was just a small part of what would soon be a much larger fleet, but even so it had 120 ships in total. However, half of those ships were carrying supplies for the entire fleet to use during the invasion and a quarter of the remainder were only Landing Transports. Obviously the NMX command was making sure that their troops would be well supplied before the coming strike at the foes of the NMX. And these ships were here to make sure that everyone had all that they needed before they set out.

"Well, I'm here and now I'm bored...."

Or maybe not.

<Commander, I don't understand why we had to rush to get here. The fleet won't be ready to leave for long yet. They aren't even expected to arrive for a while.> The loud telepathic sending of the ships rookie helmsman pierced into the brain of the pink skinned humanoid lounging in the Captain's seat of a Tivurthinth Class Ship. The humanoid turned Blood Red eyes to the sender and smiled softly.

"Well, the sooner everyone gets here, the sooner everyone can leave. And the sooner we leave, the sooner we get to our next target and start having fun. And after that, we'll get a whole bunch of new toys to play with before we have to leave and do it all over again." The Commander explained this very slowly for his helmsman, like how one would explain something to a small child.

<But we're a supply fleet, we probably won't even be a par...> The helmsman sagged as a bolt of energy drilled through it's brain, leaving the Mishhuvurthyar to collapse in a heap.

"I don't want to hear talk like that now. WE are GOING to have FUN... RIGHT EVERYONE?" The Commander's emphasized words echoed around the bridge for a moment in silence before the remaining crew there managed to rouse themselves to agree quite loudly and firmly. This brought a warm, wide smile to the Commander's face.

"NOW, I need a new Helmsman. Contact one of the other ships and tell them to get me one, I don't care how. And clean up this mess." The Commander reached over the arm of his chair and started gently petting the head of a young Elysian Plebeian girl who couldn't be much older then 18. She was chained to the Commander's chair and was his most recent... 'Pet'.

<Commander, I just received a message from the planet, they have managed to capture more refugees that had been hiding in the mining facilities. The commander giggled and clapped his hands together at the news.

"Yay, new toys. Tell them to send us some, I want the PLAY." He continued to giggle playfully as his pet whimpered softly by his chair.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

3

A single Junker Drone wobbled up to the bridge of the NSS Wasp, long mechanical tentacles pulling its spherical body along until it reached the command chair where it proceeded to buckle itself in, giving two solid tugs on the harness to ensure that it was firmly in place.

2

The mass of tendrils that had been used to hold it up previously now were snaking out onto the table in the center of the bridge, activating various buttons to bring up an image of the exterior of the ship, weapon status, location of repair drones, temperature and this was done in complete silence. Just like outside of the ship, here there was no atmosphere. The entirety of the NSS Wasp was being tele-operated using junker drones, the crew compartment was depressurized, the hull had been cooled down to a low temperature and the ship’s forward remass tank had been filled with a solid block of ice.

1

The drone’s claws would be illuminated by the displays infront of them as they hovered in place. A map of the Minyas system was being projected in the center of the table, the walls of the room dissolving away, being replaced by a flat black projection. Meanwhile the ship’s computer system, Drei, would be carefully watching.

0

The FTL drives of the NSS Wasp would take the ship back into real space. At the same time the ship’s FTL sensors would activate, sending out subspace signals to try and pick up where any enemy targets might by while its cameras, radiation detectors, and other gadgets started building a picture of the immediate surroundings. At the same time the NSS Odessa and NSS Primorsky would defold, 1 AU between them and 2 AU between that pair and the Wasp. It would take mere moments for the masses of the SMX fleet to be picked up and identified by sensors at which point the 3 ships would make a second short FTL hop, placing the NSS Wasp at exactly .6 AU from the enemy ships with the two supporting C2 cruisers remaining in formation.

Just as practiced all three ships would activate their interdiction fields which extended out just far enough to catch them in the edge of the field. The Wasp would then release all 382 of the combat drones holding onto the exterior of the craft which would then fire short bursts from their engines, flying out to a few hundred meters from the Wasp to form a protective sphere around it while behind them the two supporting cruisers would being launching N F/A01 fighters 2 at a time from their launch bays.

The Wasp would then transmit a message.

“GREETINGS!” The accompanying video would include a single large glowing red ball, part of a junker drone which would retreat from the screen just enough to show the smiley face painted under it by a long forgotten freespacer. “WOULD YOU PLEASE SURRENDER?”

With only a few brief moments of sensor use the 4th fleet knew that some starships were at this location, and logic dictated that they would be SMX, but acting with such speed they had not yet determined what type of ships were there or what they were doing.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

Time seemed to crawl along as the Fleets of the NMX slowly started to gather in system for the coming offensive. A sigh could be heard on the bridge of the Flag Ship of the 14th supply fleet. The commander, one Fukadennahed, lazily drummed his fingers as he waited for a transport from the planet that was supposedly carrying 30 prisoners for him to play with during the boring wait before the fleets moved out.

“What is taking them so long? I am BORED.” His words echoed through the bridge of his command shift and set some of his crew twitching nervously. When their commander was bored he needed something to play with. And if that transport didn’t come soon with the prisoners, he would start examining everything the crew did with a fine tooth comb. And if he found something he didn’t like….

More ships popped into existence around the system and the sensors officer watched carefully just so that if the commander’s attention fell on him he would be able to say that he was paying all due diligence to his duty. Three new blips appeared on the sensor screen and the crew member went to his task of getting their IFF code, only to have the ships make a short hop closer to the fleet. The sensors officer blinked and was about to bring this to his commander’s attention when the message came through on the comms.

Uso said:

The Wasp would then transmit a message.

“GREETINGS!” The accompanying video would include a single large glowing red ball, part of a junker drone which would retreat from the screen just enough to show the smiley face painted under it by a long forgotten freespacer. “WOULD YOU PLEASE SURRENDER?”

Click to expand...

For several seconds after the message rang through the bridge the entire room was silent. Then a burst of laughter came from the captain’s seat. Fukadennahed was laughing merrily and clapped his hands softly. “Oh man, thank you, thank you, a small diversion is just what we need at the moment. I just hope…” He stopped speaking as the comms flared to life again. It was fleet command and his fleet was the closest so this was his problem. He laughed again, so he would get to have a little fun then.

Sitting up in his seat strait, suddenly his face lost all mirth. “Designate the enemies Alpha, Beta and Charlie, lead ship alpha, starboard rear Beta, port rear Charlie. All transports and landing vessels are to fall back to the main fleet for cover."

"I want the carriers to move to a position between the main fleet and the intruders while deploying all compliments of Battlepods and Bomber Pods. Half will remain with the carriers to prevent enemy ships from slipping through to the main fleet while the other half will join our group."

" The 1st and 2nd Scout ships and Destroyers 1 through 4 will deploy all compliments of Battlepods and join our ship in assaulting the lead enemy."

"3rd and 4th Scouts will join Destroyers 5 through 8 and flank starboard around the lead ship to attack Beta."

"5th and 6th Scouts along with Destroyers 9 through 12 will flank port to do the same with enemy Charlie."

"The 7th and 8th scouts, along with Destroyers 13 through 16 will remain back to act as a reserve and in case another enemy appears.”

His crew scrambled to comply with their commanders wishes, relaying orders as the ships formed up as Fukadennahed had directed. A predatory smile crossed the commander’s face as he watched the beginning of the battle unfold. First blood was his to take in this offensive, oh how it made his blood sing.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

The NSS Wasp would be able to see the enemy fleet now, orbiting the planet and completely unaware of their presence. Meanwhile the Odessa and the Primorsky would be watching the enemy fleet jump in system. Because the cameras and telescopes on the ships were limited to light speed, they would only now be receiving light from events that had happened minutes in the past. Meanwhile the FTL sensors would be showing something else entirely. As Drei built a picture of the enemy fleet she would start seeing the larger ships deploying smaller craft, and some ships pulling back as well as the flanking maneuver they were attempting.


The N F/A fighters began to form up, using their FTL drives to quickly move up behind the NSS Wasp as its shell of protective combat drones continued to spread out, creating a large field of the drones spread out in front of the ship and leaving their piloted counterparts to handle defense of the Wasp.

The N F/A fighters began using their interdiction beams, firing them directly up, below, behind, and out to the sides of the 4th fleet’s formation instead of at the SMX ships. The F2 drones then turned on their small interdiction beams each one picking out one of the SMX ships so that they could saturate the enemy fleet with the anti-FTL fields.

---

“This is Greenbean: There are a lot of enemy ships there. Does the computer know what she is doing?” One of the pilots asked.

“Shutup Greenbean. It knows which way to go.” One of the other pilots responded. “Follow the playbook and we’ll be fine. Greenthumb out.”

---

“Begin Combat Operations”

The junker drone on the bridge of the Wasp would begin waving its tentacles around wildly, pressing buttons, manipulating menus, and sorting data. This in turn would open up the protective coverings around the Wasp’s main laser emitters and extend the large radiator fins above and below the ship as the nose was pointed towards the SMX carriers.

The Wasp, Odessa, and Primosky would all target a single carrier, black panels on each ship focusing anti-interdiction beams on their chosen target to cut through any interdiction fields that they may have. The Odessa and the Primosky would then fire their main weapons, their barrels glowing red as thin streams of deep blue particle beams shot out, then disappeared as they were picked up by the projected FTL effects of the ship’s vogel drive.

The Wasp would repeat this process moments later, its lasers activating for just a brief moment to fire a high intensity burst before using the FTL system to convey that energy rapidly to the enemy fleet.

Drei had timed all three attacks so that they would arrive simultaneously, each attack only requiring fractions of a second to cover the few AU to the target.

“Run Basilisk”

The Junker drone on the bridge of the Wasp would continue to work with enthusiasm, extending two of the large arms on the rear of the Wasp so that the two attached communication devices could get a clear line of sight to the SMX fleet.

It would then use these device’s subspace radio to try and open communications with anything and everything, attempting to overwhelm the SMX’s communication systems with unnecessary garbage and at the same time attempting to gain access to any unprotected network devices such as data pads, alarm clocks, or exercise machines.

“Catalogue Targets”

Drei would also be making records of everything the enemy ships did. This was a prime opportunity to gather data about the specifics of enemy ships and it wasn’t going to be wasted. Pictures of the enemy ships would continue to be generated with outlines created by subspace radar showing up as volumetric projections on the wasp, with overlaid radiation patterns and visual images being added as they came in. The Wasp would also be listening to what enemy communications it could, calculating which ship was talking the most, making the command junker eager to find the best target to blow up.

Even the enemy’s engine thrust would be analyzed. Spectrometers focused in on engine trails, wanting to see what elements made up the thrust, how much thrust was being used, and how fast it was leaving the ship which, with a little math, would tell the sensors the exact mass of the enemy ship and possibly how much acceleration they were capable of.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

Fire bloomed as one of the carriers was laced repeatedly with highly accurate laser fire. It's shields and armor provided marvelous protection for the first few shots, but the sheer overwhelming firepower being poured into it soon outpaced what even the greatest warship could handle and the great ship cracked like an oversized egg under the three enemies' relentless fury. Fukadennahed let out an appreciative whistle at the awesome power that was unleashed on the ship under his command.

"Hate to be the target of that kind of power, that would really cut the fun I could have short."

<Sir, the enemy appears to be actively scanning the subspace communications channels.> Upon hearing this the NMX commander sighed.

"Cease using subspace communications at once and open a laser communication with Carrier 3, have them relay all commands from this point forth. If they are destroyed switch to Carrier 2, then 5, then 4. All Battlepods are to move forward and engage the enemy small craft. Bomber Pods are to move with the Battlepods and try to get close enough to the enemy ships to deploy their armaments and then break off to assist in destroying the enemy small craft. All capitol ships will target their respective enemies with energy weapons only until they are within .1 AU of their target and then they can start using their Missiles. Shredder class ships can seek out fighters as they see fit."

His commands were going to have a delay in them now thanks to his enemies movements. But Fukadennahed hadn't lived as long as he had by being stupid. A blood thirsty psychotic maybe, but not stupid.

"All ships in our group, open fire." He whispered just soft enough that his command staff would barely hear it. But once they did they brought the ships weapons to bear and moments later so did the rest of their attack group.

While not as precisely timed as their enemy, the two scouts, four destroyers, and one patrol class ship opened up almost as one on the lead enemy Wasp. It's drones might provide a small shield from their weapons, but those tiny craft would be overwhelmed much to quickly to be of much use to the larger ship.

The other two battle groups soon did the same with Enemies Beta and Charlie, spewing lethal energy toward their targets. So the battle had begun in earnest, and who knew who would come out alive.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

The subspace radar of the Wasp was carefully monitoring the targeted carrier.

The readout on the bridge would display “Damage confirmed, kill probability 60%” under the red point that represented the targeted carrier on the ship’s bridge. Drei knew that the ship’s of the 4th could hit hard. High energy lasers from the Wasp could easily tear into virtually any armor and the particle beams from the Odessa and Primosky, even if they didn’t deal heavy damage to the target, would bathe the interior of the ship in deadly radiation created by the particle beams impacting the hull.

Drei would think about this for a moment, before deciding that 60% was sufficient for the goals of this operation. A new target would be selected. The junker drone on the bridge of the wasp would busy itself with monitoring the charge building up in the ship’s lasers.

The enemy fleet had started out at 0.6AU away and were closing, combat had only gone on for about 30 seconds and 0.4c they would take nearly 9 minutes for the battle pods to reach the screen of protective drones and 10 minutes for those battle pods to reach the Wasp. So long as the 4th fleet could continue to keep their interdiction dominate of this space going, they had the advantage and their plan would continue to be executed precisely as intended.

---

“GreenHorn, Dropping Interdiction Mine.”

“GreenThumb, Dropping Interdiction Mine.”

“GreenBean, Dropping Interdiction Mine….”

The pilots of the N F/A fighters just behind the wasp began to chime in, informing their motherships of their actions, creating a dense overlapping interdiction field directly around the Wasp and the F2 drones infront.

---

“New Target.”

The 3 cruisers of the 4th fleet would then pick a new target, communicating amongst themselves to select another ship with the same size as their previous target. Their weapons would be charged within 11 seconds, and Drei had set all ships to launch an attack every 15 seconds, enough time to select a new target, gather data on the last attack, and ensure that the weapon fire would all reach the target at the same time. Once those 15 seconds were up the three ships would fire again just like they had before, timing their shots so they would all arrive at the target at the same time. Unlike the SMX, the 4th fleet’s FTL weaponry moved fast enough to cover the distance between targets in less than a tenth of a second.

“Evade Incoming,”

While the enemy ships were limited to closing at .4c according to the ship’s sensors, their energy weapons would travel a lot quicker, and worse yet the energy beams wouldn’t be detectable until after they had hit the ship. With the main lasers of the Wasp recharging again, the engine pylons were free to move the ship, both rotated upward and fired a short burst from their engines before returning to face forward, pointing the laser emitters on the top of the engine pylons back at the SMX fleet. Moving every 15 seconds would make it very difficult to hit the ship with energy weapons at distances beyond 30 light seconds or 0.06AU which would give the Wasp plenty of time to try and thin out enemy numbers. Of course Drei had no way of knowing for certain which ship they were targeting or even if they had fired yet, but logic dictated that the Wasp would be first as it was out in front and packed the most firepower.

“Open Extension Bay Doors”

It was nearly time for the next strike, and to prepare numerous triangle shaped hatches would start opening up just behind the midsection of the Wasp’s hull. Inside more F2 drones were waiting for their go orders.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

"Can't we get moving any faster?" Fukadennahed asked, during the time he waited those three ships managed to fire off another volley and Carrier 3 was turned into a smoking pile of rubble. At this rate he was never going to get close enough to effectively trade blows with the enemy.

<We can't do it sir, there are a large number of interdiction fields compared to the number of ships. I'm reading 72 additional fields besides the three main ships and almost 400 beams targeting our vessel.> Fukadennahed blinked at the large numbers being quoted him and then looked to his subordinate.

"And are they all moving?" He asked, looking at his sensor's officer. The officer shook his head.

<No sir, most of the fields are relitively stationary.>

"Then new plan, All ships label the relatively stationary fields from port to starboard 1 through 72, divide them evenly into 1 through 24, 25 through 58, and 59 through 72. Port group takes 1 through 24, starboard 59 through 72 and we take 25 through 58. All Battlepods and Bomber Pods get away from the capitol ships and out of the beams. Once those fields are gone they should be able to go FTL with our greater ship numbers. They will do so and take out anything that has an Interdiction Beam."

Well now they just had to see if this worked. He hoped so, dying before you could even reach the enemy was such a boring death.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

“Here it comes!” The junker drone on the Wasp shouted excitedly.

The N F/A fighters would approach the fighter and bomber wings at speed, release their second interdiction mines, and then immediately turn around and move at maximum FTL back to their motherships. The thrown Interdiction mines would likely last only a minute as it would take only about that long for weapons fire to reach them from the battlepods. The smaller interdiction field the generated, however, would help keep those pods in place while the Wasp made its move.

First, another focused attack on another one of the SMX carrier ships. While the weapons recharged the Wasp’s own interdiction field would turn off. While the other ships would continue to keep their interdiction going, pinning down the SMX fleet the Wasp would use its CDD drive and the support of the N F/A’s anti-interdiction fields to quickly fly to the side of the SMX formation.

The Wasp would exit FTL just outside of 0.1 AU from the 5th and 6th scouts and their accompanying Destroyers, ensuring that the entire SMX fleet would have to shoot through their formation in order to threaten the NSS Wasp. With the Extension Module Doors already open a full 120 F2 drones were already ready to deploy and would quickly fly up and out of their holding areas, turn, and being a full thrust burn for the SMX destroyer group. The drones would split themselves evenly between the 10 ships in front of them forming into 2 waves of 60 drones, 10 per ship, as they rapidly closed the distance, firing their small railguns in the process.

At the same time the Wasp would bring its own interdiction field back online to make sure it didn’t get swarmed.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

More of those blasted mines, Fukadennahed was beginning to loath those things. He sighed as his enemy disappeared from sight and the messages began screaming in that the enemy was off the port side. Really now was that so necessary?

"3rd group, switch from enemy Charlie to enemy Alpha. Reserve group, go help 3rd. Our group will now target Charlie."

This was getting him nowhere, he needed another plan. He was already down Three carriers and the forth was probably coming up soon. Then the idea struck him. He quickly brought up his freighter ships on his monitor and selected three that was almost out of supplies that had been distributed among the arriving fleet. He also selected 9 with non-essentials or easily replaceable supplies. But he would start with just one.

"Get transport 18 on the line." Fukadennahed commanded, then waited for acknowledgment. "Captain, your not in the interdiction effect, correct good. I want you to use your FTL to get as close to enemy Alpha as you can and then drop to STL and ram them." Fukadennahed's mouth twitched into a small smile at the captain's sputtering protest.

"Oh, and if you don't do it, I'm going to order every ship around you at the moment to destroy your ship and blow up every life pod or shuttle that manages to get off it before it is reduced to ashes. transports 34, 47, and 52 will accompany you so that you can overcome the interdiction field of the ship. But they will not be ramming the enemy, they will instead be tasked with destroying any life pods or shuttles coming off your ship in case you miss. If you hit though, well then I'll make sure you get a metal... If you survive."

Fukadennahed did this same routine with the other eight ships he had selected and then pondered what he could do for a distraction.

"Communications, have our proxy broadcast this message unencrypted over every channel they can. Make sure the enemy can hear and see it." He again waited for his commands to be followed. He then had them focus on him, so this communication would have a visual component as well as the voice.

"First off let me congratulate you all on your success so far. You've managed to destroy three of my ships and even now others are screaming and dying as they desperately fight off those fighters you unleashed on them. Oh, there goes one of the Destroyers now." Fukadennahed started stroking the head of his 'Pet' as he spoke. "Hope you don't mind if i have a little bite to eat, thinking up strategy on the fly always leaves me a bit peckish."

Fukadennahed then grabbed the Elysian girl by the shoulder and the wrist and started pulling with his enhanced strength. The girl screamed in pain as muscles ripped and tendons snapped. Eventually the arm ripped clean off and Fukadennahed took a big bite out of the Bicep as he looked to the camera. The girl lay screaming in a growing puddle of her own blood.

"Now, all stratagy aside, your going to loose." He took another bite out of the arm, then frowned. He looked down at his now one armed pet. "You know you haven't been eating right, your a little tough and stringy. And quite screaming, I'm having a conversation here."

Fukadennahed looked back to where his audience would be sitting. "Now where was I... Oh yes. You know your going to loose, right? Why you ask. Because as clever as you are, you just don't have the right stuff to win this war. Now watch this next move carefully, and do try to survive it."

Fukadennahed leaned close to the recorder, blood dribbling down his chin. "Because I want us to meet face." He motioned to the camera as to indicate his audience's face. "to face." his hand motioned to his own face.

It would be about then that the transports dropped out of FTL almost right on top of their respective targets.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

Warning lights would instantly flicker on with the words “LEAPFROG ATTACK” in bold red letters circling on various panels of the Wasp’s bridge. It had been determined that this was the most likely strategy for the SMX to employ against an interdiction dominance doctrine. Sensors would detect the attack and activate the NAM Buoy’s that the Wasp had onboard, quickly launching them away from the ship to help build a larger, stronger, more protective interdiction bubble. However the brief moments that NMX ships operated at near full CDD speeds were enough to put them almost inside of the Wasp and in moments the first freighter would impact, sheering off the first 70 meters of the ship and sending shrapnel that would tear through the rest of the ship including its still open radiator fins and highground emitters.

The drones from the extension bay attacking the destroyer group were already committed. At full thrust they had already used up enough of their remass to make a return trip an impossibility, each one having already dedicated itself to slamming into a target at considerable speed.

The Odessa and The Primosky also couldn’t help. Although they could fire at the transports they could only destroy the ships that were already heading right at the wasp. The expanding cloud of debris would only flood the Wasp’s flight path with shrapnel. Instead these ships would take aim at another carrier and open fire.


---

“I appreciate your congratulations,” Came the response from the 4th fleet, this time from someone much closer to human. The female that showed her face on screen looked to be in her early to mid 20s, with fair skin, black hair, and a muted gray nepleslian uniform.
“Though we are currently engaged in combat please do not consider this personal. If you do wish to meet face to face we are interested in a diplomatic solution. I would also consider it a personal favor if you were to inform Dr. Shinichiro Nobumoto that I would very much like to speak with him.”

“Green Squadron, you are clear for missile attack.”

Shortly after Drei gave the order, the N F/A fighters would be passed targets by their mother ships and unleash their FTL cruise missiles that they had been holding onto. A total of 144 of the weapons would streak forward and follow the anti-interdiction beams 30 of the missiles alone would be devoted to carrier that had yet to be fired upon. 7 groups of 15 missiles would each selected a NMX destroyer starting from the far left of the formation towards the center and a single group of 9 would target a single NMX scout.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

Most of the 3rd attack group could not overcome the wave of drones coming at them without the support of their own Battlepods. Drone after drone slammed into the ships, heavily damaging two of the destroyers and killing a third. One of the scout ships died as well as one of the drones managed to pierce the bridge on its suicide run. The other scout managed to get off with only moderate damage and the last remaining destroyer was only lightly harmed.

The Wasp however, was hit for the second and third time by the suicidal transports. Fukadennahed grinned menacingly as he watched the ship crumble under the impact of forces that could destroy planets if used right. The ships bent and warped, and even though space was cold and silent Fukadennahed would have sworn he could hear the tortured screams of metal against metal. It was a beautiful sound, one he wanted so desperately to hear.

And without the Wasp, the two remaining ships didn't quite destroy the carrier that they unleashed their barrage upon, but it was so heavily damaged it was out of the fight for sure. Fukadennahed hoped command would replace those vessels for him, he would prefer to have them then not. They made useful tools.

As the comms flared to life, a woman appeared on the screen. The Mishhuvurthyar commander smiled warmly, blood still drying on his face. "Ah, finally someone to talk too." He paused, his pet was still screaming on the floor of his ship. "One second please."

Reaching down, Fukadennahed seized the girl by her neck. Casually his hands went to her upper and lower jaw as he started to pull. Flesh tore messily and the screaming didn't end till the girl's body and the lower part of her head fell to the ground while the upper part of her skull was now in the Mishhuvurthyar's hands.

"Now where were we?" He asked, cracking the skull against his counsel as one might do with an egg to crack the shell. The skull split and he started pulling small gobs of brain matter out to eat. "Ah yes, well now, I'm afraid that while that was originally the purpose for which I was born, my talents lie in... other directions. For example..." The commander paused, looking the woman in the eyes for a moment.

"You know, I think you would be a wonderful pet yourself. I think I'm going to take you for my own. As you can see, I need a replacement as my old one..." He trailed off, motioning with the skull.

<Commander, the last of the Interdiction Mines have been destroyed.> The voice rang loud and clear over the bridge. Fukadennahed merely nodded then looked at the woman commander. "All craft, Swarm and Destroy."

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

With the robotic heavy hitter of the fleet gone, destroying the enemy fleet would fall to the older C2s which were both still protected by the interdiction fields produced by themselves and their fighters. Their older Highground systems could only project a .3 AU interdiction field and their fighter’s interdiction was just less than that. This left a mere 5 minute lag time between where the NXM fleet would be stopped by their interdiction and only 2 minutes lag time for energy weapons.

The C2s would fire off their own anti-starship missiles, four crawling out of each side of each of the cruisers, jettisoning their legs and firing up their miniature FTL systems. Each cruiser would pick a destroyer as their target, leaving 8 missiles per target. Their main guns would pick an additional destroyer and both ships would focus fire on that target. With 15 seconds between shots, each ship could only get in 5 rounds of firing before they would need to begin evasive maneuvers.

“You are quite fortunate that the Elysians never took us up on our offer of an alliance.” Drei said replied over the communications channel. Part of the plan was to remain engaged with the enemy commander, then again part of the plan involved not letting the Nss Wasp be sunk. “Though do give serious consideration to our offer of diplomacy. I assure you we are serious about it even if our actions may indicate otherwise at the moment.”

--

“Uh, This is GreenBean again, Those squids are getting really close again…”

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

One annoying fact about fighting an Enemy, you had to be able to reach them in order to attack them. And currently this enemy was staying just out of reach. This truly frustrating event would have most commanders banging their skull against the nearest solid object. But Fukadennahed just lazed in his seat as he looked at the woman commander of his enemy. It was then that the comms blared to life.

Message from NMX Command: Less losing ships, more destroying enemy ships!

Click to expand...

Fukadennahed rolled his eyes and gave an apologetic shrug to his opposing number. "My command can't see the tactical brilliance that you pulled. Really I must apologize." As he spoke, the FTL torpedos that the Cruisers had launched slammed into two more of his destroyers as deadly energy bathed a third.

"Send this reply to command, 'OK, I will try to eliminate more ships while losing less.'' He told his comms officer as one of his destroyers literally exploded apart. "Now I'm sorry, where were we?"

As they spoke the Hordes of Battle Pods and Bomber Pods would come to within just .2 AU of the battle group of Neps. The literal hundreds of pods began to lace energy all around the fighters of the enemy fleet. They had been commanded to concentrate fire so no less then 50 pods would target one fighter at that extended range where it took light minutes to cross. But with that number of Pods, then they would probably kill something. And when they did, they would move on to their next target in like fashion.

"Ah yes, you asked me about Dr. Shinichiro Nobumoto. I could take you to where he is... Once your my pet. I'm sure he would love to meet you." Fukadennahed had a surprisingly warm smile on his face, all things considering where they were.

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

“We could arrange a meeting after this engagement to discuss that.” Drei replied. Wazu had set Dr. Shinichiro as a high level directive, one that might end up costing an arm and a leg to fulfill. “Continuing this engagement will only result in further depletion of your resources. I strongly suggest you withdraw and regroup.”

---

Both C2 Cruiers would continue to fire upon the NMX destroyers as their fighter escorts dropped off their anti-mecha missile packs, unleashing a swarm of smaller missiles at the incoming fighters backed up by larger anti-fighter torpedoes launched from the cruisers themselves. The swarm of smaller missiles launched from the fighters would detonate thousands of meters away from their targets, showering their formations with shrapnel while the anti-fighter missiles from the cruisers would break apart into smaller independently tracking warheads which would each pop like a flashbulb, directing the intense radiation of a nuclear weapon towards the incoming battlepods.

The fighter swarm would begin to pull back, heading away from the swarm of battlepods while the two cruisers did the same, trying to delay their arrival as much as possible while continuing to hammer away at the NMX escorts that were preventing their FTL escape from the incoming swarm.

With the swarm of battlepods closing in the fighters would have to more and more be aware of what fire was coming at them as they tried to duck and weave around the unguided projectiles. Eventually someone’s luck would run out, resulting in a blast that tore through the rear wing of the fighter, causing the pilot to eject and try to navigate back to the Odessa in his power armor.

---

“This is GreenBean again, Those pods are taking long range shots at me!”

“GreenHorn here, Shutup GreenBean and keep watch over your cruiser!”

“GreenDay here, GreenEye just got hit!”

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

Fukadennahed simply grinned at the woman's banter. "I'm afraid that retreat is not an option for either of us my dear." He gave the Nepleslian woman an apologetic grin. "For me, there is only victory or death."

And then the cruisers started to retreat back and Fukadennahed sat up ramrod strait. "You stepped back." His voice came out as barely a whisper as he pushed himself to his feet. The screams came over the radio as another Destroyer was laced with lethal energies that punctured the ship. "Why did you stepped back? You pushed yourselves into a fleet of the enemy against insurmountable odds, a move worthy of any Mishhuvurthyar. Why the HELL did you step back?" Clear disappointment and a hint of anger was on Fukadennahed's face now.

"Tell all ships, Blitz" He commanded harshly to his communications officer before turning back to his screen. "I didn't want to use this tactic. Is uncouth, refined, and quite frankly it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But the beauty you showed in the face of no hope has vanished my dear. I'm not sure your even worthy of being a pet now." Fukadennahed raised his hand slowly, then dropped it. "Execute."

60 NMX Freighters and 30 NMX Landing Craft had left the field at the start of the battle, leaving only Ships of War to face Ships of War. Then three of the Freighters were lost in the successful suicide run on the Wasp, leaving the total ships under his command and away from the field to total 87. These ships, each with their own Interdiction Field, were not being targeted by the beams the Fighters and the Capitol ships of the Nepleslian fleet. And these 87 ships would use their FTL Drives to speed into position, surrounding the two cruisers and their fighters.

The NMX Freighters didn't have any weapons that could truly harm the Cruisers, but their limited point defense weapons could target the fighters that were now within spitting range. As for the landing ships, they only had one weapon that could really damage the Cruisers, but there were 30 of them and so 30 weapons that could chip away at the armor of those Nepleslian ships were now at the point were there would be less then a second before they impacted as they fired. And on top of that, with those 87 ships now in the midst of the enemy, the Anti-Interdiction field would be strong enough that the Battlepods and Bomber Pods could use their FTL to speed into the enemy formation. The small craft had been dropped to about 2/3rds their original numbers, but that still left hundreds to swarm over the enemy ships.

"Destroy the fighters, but only disable the Cruisers. After that Board and capture everyone you can." Fukadennahed whispered to his command as he looked his enemy counterpart in the eyes. "As soon as your fighters are destroyed, I will be there my dear. Please show me that that step back was merely a momentary laps of judgment. Fight, show me your desire for victory. Make yourself beautiful again."

Re: [Minyas Offensive] Shortstacked

The N F/A fighters would pull in close to their motherships while the remaining F2 drones would target them with their anti-interdiction beams.

“You’ve pushed us off for now,” Drei replied, after all it was not her duty to throw away the Nepleslians aboard her two cruisers for a squid’s idea of a fair fight, “But we’ll be back in 30 minutes to finish off whatever SMX ships remain in this area. I suggest you use this time to gather up your injured ships and move on.” Simultaneously all of the 4th fleet ships would drop their interdiction fields and switch over to full anti-interdiction, using their CDD drives to exit the combat area and head for the system’s ort cloud, stopping at a preselected asteroid and releasing junker drones to bring aboard raw materials as their manufacturing systems began pumping out fresh ammunition for their fighters that were beginning landing operations. Naturally their interdiction fields went back up the moment they arrived, Drei’s FTL sensors keeping a close watch for signals that someone else had followed them.

---

Though the NSS Wasp had been sunk, the small force of the 4th fleet had managed to sink or heavily damage 5 carriers, and numerous freighters, scout ships, and escorts. With a fresh supply of ammunition they were bound to be able to push the remainder of the NMX forces from the system soon. Though not total, the fleet could consider this a victory.

---

For the NMX, many ships had been sunk and many more damaged beyond repair. They had paid a high cost in manpower and equipment but had learned a valuable lesson, sometimes, literally, logistics wins wars. The Escort group had successful defended their freighters and the attack on Keren wouldn’t be deprived of their supplies. They had sunk one of the 4th fleets best ships. These things could very well be considered a victory as well.

Fukadennahed snarled as the enemy ships retreated from the field, his eyes burning into the spot of space that they had occupied. He wanted to give chase now, wipe them from the face of the galaxy. He had no time for enemies that ran from him.

"Report, did you track their location." He snapped to his sensor's officer.

<Yes sir, but... we have received orders to resupply one of our fleets sir. And they want us to deploy immediately.> At those words from his Comms officer Fukadennahed snarled like a Rabid beast and slammed his fist down hard enough to warp the arm of his command chair. <It's from High Command.> The officer continued.

"Fine." Fukadennahed spat, then took a deep breath. "I want as many of those drones that they have left behind disabled and brought aboard our remaining ships and that fighter that they lost recovered as well. Those miniature Interdiction systems they had were interesting. I want at least 100 of those drones and to be ready to leave in 20 minutes. Then I want my engineers working on figuring out how to copy and place that system in my Battle and Bomber Pods while my fleet is repaired and resupplied. Next time we meet with my dear future pet I WILL have a great surprise for her. She thinks she can run from me? I WILL hunt her down if I have to chase her to the edges of the Galaxy."

Fukadennahed stood and turned to leave the bridge. "Any survivors from our wounded ships will have to make their own way to ships that can still travel using FTL. I do not have time for those that do not have the will to survive. At the end of 20 minutes, destroy the remains of our ships that will not be making the journey and bring us to the coordinates Command has given us."

As he left the bridge, the NMX commander muttered to himself. "I am not running my dear, I just have orders to be elsewhere. Wait for me, I want to see the look on your face when there is no hope left. Will that look be one of beauty, or food?" He sighed and headed to his quarters. He knew his orders would be carried out, all of his fleet knew the penalty of disobedience.