RP: 4th Fleet Aftermath and Consequences

[Nashoba]

Location: Bard Cluster
Aboard: Katsuko no Iori
YE 32
One month after the Battle of the South Gate.

Shimizu Akina Taisho for the 4SF sat at the head of the polished wooden conference table was in the Situation Room aboard the Nadare. Outside the ship the repair facilities of the Katsuko worked to repair the flag ship. Around the table sat the commanders of her various battlegroups. They were replaying the tactical data for each of the recent engagements, trying to glean some insight as to the objectives of the NMX.

After viewing the ship losses that the 4SF was suffering she turned to her new Chujo. "Shinja Rika, what can you say about our situation."

Rika stood, bowed briefly to the Taisho and moved to stand near the volumetric display. "Ma'am, at present it appears that the NMX are testing our defenses, and our resolve. After the battle at the South Gate our fleet strength was down by three hundred ships. Another one hundred in need of major repairs. Since then our operations groups working in harmony with our gunship squadrons have repelled two more incursions. While we were successful, it was at a cost of yet another 200 ships."

She activated the control unit for the display and pulled up the map of the Bard Cluster. "As we all know the Bard Cluster contains fourteen star systems each with a colony established back in YE 30. They are strung out over a 40 light year region of space, along with our Star Fortresses. To make matters worse, the United Outer Colonies have gone dark. All communications with that nation of been severed. Given the complete lack of communications, equipment failure has been ruled out. Which leaves us only one logical conclusion, the NMX have blockaded the UOC in preparation for an attack. Should they succeed in conquering the UOC they will have bases to strike at leading edge."

Rika paused, she put a new display on the screen, with a number of stars circled. "It is our recommendation ma'am that we consolidate out forces to the eastern portion of the cluster. In addition to moving our forces, that we abandon the indicated colonies. This reorganization will allow our star fortresses to give us warning of any advancing NMX force, and we can distribute the bulk of our fleet among those three locations."

Akina looked at the display, three of the indicated worlds were those named after her daughters. She stood up, and glared at the officers of her staff. "Unacceptable. Do you hear me. We will not cede one parsec of space to the NMX. Not while the 4th is under my command. Instruct the Star Fortresses to step up repair and production. Whatever it takes to hold the line, but we will as long as their is blood in my veins, and air in my lungs stand were we are." She then turned and stormed out of the room, leaving her staff to look back and forth among themselves.

That went as I expected, she is too proud by far to see the nonviable nature our position. Rika thought, she then broke the silence, "You are all dismissed, we'll reconvene tomorrow same time."

 

[Nashoba]

Location: Akiko, Bard Cluster
Two Weeks later

Shimizu Akina Taisho stepped out of her command shuttle onto the landing platform for the newest colonial settlement Niigata Prime. She stopped to survey the scene. From her vantage she could see number of the buildings that were still engulfed in flames. From dozens of other structures thick, black smoke rose into the sky. We were too late, by the time we got word something was happening, we were already too late to save these people. she thought.

Akina strode forward wanting to see for herself what had happened here. She left the platform and made her way down what remained of the main road. It was pock marked with impact craters, and wrecked vehicles. Ahead of her she could see soldiers spreading out looking for survivors.

Around her she could see wreckage and debris from Star Army and NMX equipment. The colonial garrison did not go down with out a fight, but it was insufficient to the task. She was monitoring the search and rescue team reports on her communicator. So far none of the teams had reported finding any survivors or bodies.

She approached the bombed out wreckage of a home. Personal effects were strewn about, half burned photos and other items representing the hopes and dreams of the people who lived there. Akina stepped onto the porch, and looked in. She spotted a small bit of pink from under a board. She stepped into the room and to get a closer look. At first she thought it was a child's doll. But as she got closer she saw it was the small still form of a Neko youngling. She looked to be about one month old. Akina could not help but to think about her own three children, safely away from the front. She found a piece of fabric, probably one of the curtains; with it she covered the body in the cloth and placed it on the porch.

Stepping off the porch she sent a message to the commander of the search groups to let them know about body. As she finished that message, she heard one of the teams report that they had found a group of survivors. Akina set out to get to that team ASAP.

By the time she got on the site, several of the teams had converged and several shuttles were offloading medical supplies and personnel. She stopped at the edge of the scene so as to not disrupt the activities. The rescuers had wrapped each of the survivors, all of the females in emergency blankets. Each of the survivors had a shocked almost vacant expression, and allowed themselves to be led to the shuttles.

"Taisho?" a male voice interrupted Akina's observation, she turned to see who was addressing her. She recognized him as Komura-Ittô Juni, one of the medical staff from the Nadare. He bowed deeply as she turned to him. She gave the slightest bow, "Report Ittô Juni."

"We found twenty-five women, all Yamataian. They've been beaten, and raped. We are taking them up to the ship to remove the impregnation. Some of the more lucid reported that the Mishhu gathered several hundred of the survivors. They loaded them into two transports. According to the survivors, the heard them going through a selection process. Marking each of the prisoners with various marks. Some of the survivors heard them refer to some as slaves, others as laboratory animals." Komura paused briefly. "Ma'am we confirmed from several of the survivors that the majority of them were designated as food."

 

[Nashoba]

Aboard the Nadare
02:00 hrs

Akina awoke from a disturbing dream in her quarters. The image still vivid in her mind, she was back on Akiko, and in the house where she found the dead youngling. Everything was the same until she exited the house. In her dream the youngling started moving in the cloth, and when she opened it instead of the unknown child it was her daughter Miu, who looked up at her with dead eyes and spoke, "Why didn't you save me mommy? Please don't let the monsters eat me." and then it went limp.

Akina got up and went to her bathroom, and washed her face with a cold washcloth. She returned to the cabin and went over to her bar. She poured herself a glass of wine and sat looking out the window of her cabin. "It was just a dream. Just a silly damn dream." she said softly to herself. She downed the glass and in frustration tossed it against the window. "No more, not while I'm in command. Some how, some way I will find a way to stop them. For my children, and the children of all people in the Bard Cluster." she swore.

08:00 hrs
Akina entered the conference room where her staff was waiting for her. She had spent the evening since she woke up in her office going over the intelligence reports, fleet deployment data, everything scrap of information she could get a hold of to try and figure out a solution. She was determined to not give up any of the worlds under her charge. But the numbers did not look promising. Then she picked up a report from a gunship squadron. The squadron commander reported seeing activity near Bizankro. NMX ships frequently passing through that system. Sensor scans of the area showed that it was relatively unguarded at the moment. This was what she needed. If she could strike the NMX in that system, a surgical strike at the supply point of the ships attacking the bard cluster. Then they would not have to give up any of the colonies that the 5XF had paid for in the past, and her people were dying to protect now.

With a new plan for victory she started crunching the numbers. She realized it was a calculated risk, but it was worth it in her opinion. She was going to take the majority of the fleet with her. Give the NMX a taste of the concentrated might of the Star Army of Yamatai. When her staff walked in they found the Taisho smiling and looking confident.

An hour later Shinja Rika-Chujo strode out of the conference room, Insanity, the Taisho's plan is pure insanity. She's taking more than two thirds of our forces on this crusade. She is convinced that this is the right move, and if she is correct it might be. But at what risk? If she's wrong, we won't have enough ships to hold the Bard Cluster. And I'm to stay here and engage any NMX forces that encroach to make them believe the full fleet is still here. Insanity. She thought as she walked back to her cabin, and packed her bags. Twenty minutes later she was on a shuttle heading to Spirit City.

 

[Nashoba]

Shinja Rika-Chujo stood on the bridge of the YSS Hokku a Plumeria-Class Gunship. It had been more than a week since the Taisho had announced her plan, and Rika and the crews of her group of ships was getting tired. The NMX were making strikes on planets with no apparent reason. This was the second time that they Skadi in three days. The NMX departed once her battle group dropped out of fold. When they spoke with the planetary defenders the situation grew murkier. According to them, the Mishhu merely took up orbit and launched a few planetary attacks, but nothing serious.

What are they up to? First they are attacking, rampaging, raping, and looting. Now its like they are playing cat and mouse with us. And I for one am getting tired of playing. she thought. She walked over to the systems status screen and entered her authorization code. The standard gunship overlay was replaced with a star map, and three clusters of dots were moving.

Shimizu-Taisho was on her way. The attack force was broken into three groups, each consisting of 225 warships. The plan was for the first group to drop out and engage the enemy. It was intended to draw the NMX defense force out. Once they engaged the forces, the other two groups were to drop out on either side of the enemy and catch them in a pincer move. The surveillance on the Bizankro system, indicated that it was only lightly defended. Obviously with the NMX forces busy harassing the Bard Cluster and whatever was going on in the UOC, they thought that the SAoY did not have the means to launch a serious assault. Or at least that is what the Taisho's advisors told her.

Rika turned to the Hokku's captain, "Leave half of the group here for another hour, set a course back to Spirit City. I will be in the Wardroom if you require my presence." she said, and then walked out.

Onboard the Nadare there was a palpable feeling of excitement. Crew members moved around the ship, checking and double checking things. Damage control teams were being set up and were suiting up in their AMES. On the flight deck the Power Armor wings were suiting up and getting their armor configured for the upcoming battle. Every where you looked the crews were excited and optimistic. The men and women of the 4SF were about to take the battle to the NMX.

 

[Nashoba]

Akina was on the Fleet Command Deck of the Nadare around her manning their stations, were the soldiers that she had hand chosen for their positions. From her station she could monitor all the vital information regarding the entire attack group. Today we make you pay you tentacled bastards. We drew the line before and stopped you. Now we are going to hurt you and drive you back. she thought. The display showed the relative position of the three separate forces, with a flick of her wrist she changed the display to focus on her specific attack group. The display showed the ships approaching a red line.

"Taisho we are passing the periphery of the Bizankro star system. FTL speed dropping as expected Taisho." Santô Hei Valdia Shiratori called out as the warship shuddered as its speed was reduced by entering the star system. Perhaps I should lay off the Taisho's but I am one of the lowest ranking on the bridge, best to play is safe. she thought.

"Notify all ships to prepare to return to normal space on my command. All ships should assume battle stations stance." she said as sent the command for the Nadare to go to Battlestations. Klaxons and warning lights activated, and those crew members not already at the battle stations were now scrambling to get to them.

A moment later two soldiers clad in Mindy 2A power armor and carrying LAS-rifles entered the bridge and activated the blast shutter to the deck. "Security Detail Reporting Taisho, an additional two more soldiers are manning the other side of the door." Nitô Hei Victory Nakajima from her Special Combat Detachment called out as he took his place by the door.

On the screen before Akina the indicators for the Nadare started changing. The crew of the veteran warship were at their stations and across the ship blast shutters were lowering compartmentalizing the vessel. "Taisho, all sections report battle ready, Damage Control teams have been staged and standing by for deployment. Power Armor wings are ready to deploy on your command." Valdia called out.

The first attack group of the 4SF continued to press into the system, the plan was to emerge just out of optimum firing range, close and fire before the enemy could deploy their forces. On the main screen of the Command Deck, the ships progress was displayed along with a countdown. All crew members were making furtive glances to keep track of their progress.

When the counter hit 00 the lights on the command area dimmed briefly as the ship dropped out of FTL. "Attention all ships, this is Shimizu-Taisho, launch all power armors. Attack groups in front of the ships, defensive screen to take up position around their ships. Close on objective at attack speed." Akina called out.

"Shimizu-Taisho, I can not get a reading on the NMX depot." Valdia said as she entered several sets of commands into her console. "Sensor systems are operational, but I can only get a reading on our own ships." An indicator on the console started flashing, "Ma'am we are being jammed and I'm detecting an anti-FTL field going up, as well as subspace jamming."

 

[Nashoba]

"Engage Countermeasures. Warn the other attack groups." Akina ordered. Damn, it how did they know we were coming. Someone is going to pay when I get back. she thought, unwilling to even entertain the idea of her not returning.

Valdia checked the status of the Nadare's systems. "Taisho, Countermeasures are active, and we are jamming their sensors. FTL interdiction is at level 3, no one is going into FTL any time soon ma'am." she called out, and turned her attention to the display. Two groups of NMX warships began to move forward.

A pair of NMX Line Battleships with their attack groups took up a position just outside of firing range of the Yamatai fleet. The ships commenced deploying their Battlepods, a mixture of new and old, while the Battlepods streaked forward into the fray, the NMX battleships started firing salvos from their Heavy Mass Accelerators, with each salvo eight large chunks of asteroid were fired towards the Yamatai fleet. Normally such weapons would be of limited effectiveness, but between the number of ships in the first attack group, and the level of jamming present. The odds were fairly good that none of the Yamatai vessels would detect them, until too late.


Onboard the Nadare, Valdia called out. "Taisho, its hard to get a clear reading, but it appears that they have begun launching battlepods. Still no luck punching through the subspace interference."

"Very, well, Power armor wings prepare to engage the enemy. All ships form up into your attack groups. Escorts screen the Capital vessels." Akina ordered. "The other attack groups will be dropping out in two minutes at their designated positions, which should hopefully put them in a position to flank the enemy."

 

[Nashoba]

The attack groups of the 4SF were being beset upon by a vastly larger number of ships than they expected. Unknown to 4SF they fighting a group composed of ships from two different NMX fleets. The fleet was outnumbered, and taking heavy losses. On the bridge of the enemy command ships, the commanders were keeping track of the losses each caused the Star Army. A wager was in the works as to who could destroy more ships, and then there was the ultimate goal. Each was planning on trying to capture or kill the Taisho of the Star Army fleet.

From the battle bridge of the Nadare, Akina was doing her best to regroup her forces, at the moment though all she had managed to do was get her group into a defensive posture. Battlepods streaked around the Star Army vessels, as power armor soldiers valiantly fought to protect them. Around the beleaguered command ship, power armors died in bright flashes that made them seem like small stars.

The 1st and 2nd battlegroups were the ones taking the worst beating, while the 3rd group continued its assault on the Depot. Akina's battle group was down to less than half its strength, and most of the surviving ships had significant damage.

"Taisho, we're picking up a new group of targets. The KAMI reads them as some sort of breaching pods." Valdia called out to Akina, then across the comm system, "Attention all hands, prepare to repel boarders."

Nakajima then added, "Special Combat Detachments, prepare to coordinate your efforts, report to the Flag Bridge any boarding actions." he sent to them watching their positions on his status board. "Shiratori-Hei, please keep me informed of any breaching pods that attach so I can deploy my people as needed."

 

[SSharp]

Boarding Action +20 Minutes

How had this happened? She couldn’t remember – it was all a blur in her mind. She had rushed through the darkened halls, hid, fought, screamed, and watched her sisters fall all around her as the enemy proceeded forward. They had appeared as suddenly as lightning, and the thunder had naturally followed.

Hallways were set ablaze in frets and starts as resistance was pressed against the NMX attackers and swept aside as the macabre killers continued their advance. Unarmored crewmen were cut down where they stood, or run down by the vicious blades the Rippers carried.

The butchery had begun in the Kitchens, and quickly spilled into the halls. Hemosynthetic blood smeared the walls and floors where some had attempted to crawl from the carnage. They never went far – the NMX were too fast, too organized to allow survivors to retreat from them. The Rippers were upon the small technicians and kitchen-workers before any meaningful defense could be assembled.

Hiroshi Takana just wanted it to end. All she could see was the blood covering the floor. Covering her. She had long since curled up in a nice, dark corner where she could be overlooked.

I don’t want to die. She thought. I don’t want to die!

Tears came to Takana’s eyes, and she shut the world out preferring the artificial darkness. Her weapon dropped from her hands and she held her large, dark ears in a futile attempt to shut the noises out as well.

“Hiroshi-Hei! Get up! We need to run!” A familiar voice said.
“No!” Takana screamed at the voice.
“It’s me, Karen-Hei! We need to go now Hiroshi-Hei!”
“We’re all going to die!”
“No we’re not! We can make it out of this. Let’s go, Hiroshi-Hei!”

Takana slowly opened her eyes and lowered her hands. She stared wide-eyed at the woman who was trying to save her. Like Takana, blood had stuck to her hands and arms. Unlike Takana, the woman had a wound on her upper right shoulder that had luckily cauterized instead of bleeding her dry. Karen shared Takana’s long dark hair and dark ears, and their brown eyes were both wide and frightened.

“Let’s go, Hiroshi-Hei!”

“Hai!” Takana said, scrambling to her feet.

From there, the pair fled.

-----------
Boarding Action +30 Minutes

“MOVE!” Serinn Neda-Heisho roared, pulling a –Hei away from the barricade and out of the hail of fire scorching the floor.

His Daisy’s shield had long since been discarded to provide better support for the spontaneous barricade his defense team now held. ‘Team’ was relative, only half of the soldiers manning the defenses into the engine room were familiar to him, and only a quarter wore armor of any sort or had a weapon larger than an NSP. Too much had happened too quickly, and already the enemy was encroaching on one of the most important rooms aboard the Nadare.

Pushing the –Hei down behind cover, Neda leaned out and fired his forearm weapons down the corridor at the Shocktroopers who happily plugged away at the Engine Room’s defenders. Neda’s shots either went wide or simply spent themselves against the beasts’ armor. Soon, he felt that they would attempt to rush the barricade. They had been gathering strength for the last few minutes, and it told in the weight of their fire.

”This is Toshio-Juni of Alpha Team, is this Serinn-Heisho?”

Neda whipped back around into cover as Aether and Energy fire tore at the air where he had been.

“Yes, this is Serinn-Heisho. Good to hear your voice, Toshio-Juni.”

The radio crackled in Neda’s ear for a brief moment before Toshio’s next words came forth. ”We’re closing on your position. ETA is ten minutes. Can you hold?”

Neda dared a peek into the corridor where the SMX boarders gathered strength. He considered gallantly lying to Toshio, but thought better of it. Already, the Shocktroopers were surging down the corridor as one seething mass of tentacles and weapons. The truth was clear for all to see: this piece of the Nadare was going to fall. His barricade was too thin, his men were under-equipped and morally compromised. They would die – it was inevitable.

“Negative! Turn back, Alpha Team.” Neda said.

”Repeat that, Serinn-Heisho?”

“Negative, Toshio-Juni. Engineering is lost, you need to save someone else.”

The soldiers on the Barricade poured out every bit of firepower they had on the SMX. The corridor looked as if it were wreathed in blue fire, and several dark multi-limbed shapes could be seen collapsing. But every one that fell was replaced by two more, and the tentacle monstrosities were closing the distance down the corridor.

”We’ll be there soon – hold on!” Toshio’s anguished voice called.

“We’re done.”

The Shocktroopers leapt over the barricade, and flung themselves upon the broken defenders.

--------
Boarding Action +64 Minutes

The lights had gone out.

That had been their first clue to begin readying a defense in the command decks. Their second clue was the closing sounds of fighting – one of the internal communications Nekos had long since given up listening, traumatized by what she heard from the defense teams and the few survivors trapped in last-stands in the deeper decks of the Nadare. Their final clue was the Rippers appearing like demons from Hell, covered in blood and assaulting the bridge from the cover of darkness.

An unarmored Nekovalkyrja body was strong, capable of amazing feats of agility, strength, and endurance. But they were no match for Gauss Cannons meant to tear apart Power Armor. The Nekos and Yamataian bridge crewmen manning the ad-hoc barricade simply ceased to exist in the first few seconds of the assault. Within moments, the Rippers had broken through the barricade and sowed themselves amongst the rest of the bridge.

Once finished with a level of the command tower, the NMX Rippers moved to the next, and then the next, cutting through the unarmored defenders like a hot knife through butter until finally rushing the room from which Shimizu Akina directed her war.

 

[Nashoba]

Flag Bridge YSS Nadare

The crew of the flag ship was valiantly trying to stop the hordes of NMX soldiers who had boarded the ship. The problem was there were multiple groups, and it took them a while to notice that the groups fell into two categories with different ways of operating.

Whether or not this was intentional, it had the result that it made the work of the ship's security troops that much harder to counter. On the Flag Bridge Akina started to see a pattern, and choose to try to exploit it. She had her Special Combat Detachment regroup in force on the level of the Flag Bridge. Unfortunately this mean having to divert them from other areas. But the boarders needed to be stopped. She positioned a two squads of SCD soldiers at each access way to the bridge level. Another three squads were positioned just outside of the Flag bridge, to either serve as a last line or to shore up any of the others should they need it.

Looking at the fleet screen, Akina saw one bit of good news, the third attack group of the 4SF had pushed through the enemy and was assaulting Bizankro. They offered to assist the first battle group, but Akina ordered them to proceed with the mission. It was vital to the war effort to take out that base, and the third group was on the other side of the engagement, they would spend too much vital time trying to get here.

She picked up the handset and dialed the comm channel for the SCD. "All Special Combat Detachment, we have analyzed the strategy of the boarders, and it would appear that they are trying to seize control of the command tower. You must hold at all cost. Do not let any of the Mishhu breach, hold them and we will have other soldiers come in behind them and crush them."

She hung up the hand set and turned to Valdia. " Shiratori-Santo Hei, arm the Nadare's self destruct. If they manage to take the bridge, we need to blow the ship and make sure they can not gain any information."

 

[SSharp]

The Rippers that had survived the initial assault on the Command Tower regrouped and reorganized, assembling themselves for the final attack on the bridge. Bodies lay broken and bleeding in the dark room, and every now and again a Ripper would take a moment to use its blades and finish killing an unlucky survivor.

The Rippers' traitorous counterparts arrived within moments -- a keen eye would notice that there were far fewer power-armored amongst them than before -- of the advance's halt. Mindy's and Daisy's and those without armor assumed a well-practiced formation around the final hatch. In the darkness, a Mindy activated its aether blades. The white energy filled the room with pale blue light. The Mindy raised its arms, and swung the blades in an arc at the Hatch's handle, burying them into the metal against the door's protesting groans. For an instant, the room fell into darkness once more. Then the Mindy pulled its blades away, raised them once again and used them on the hinges.

The bright wrist-blades of the Mindy made short work of the door. Eventually, the hatch buckled under the stress of its own weight and fell forward. The light from the bridge spilled through the doorway, silhouetting the Mindy darkly.

The wrist-blades flared ever brighter as it stepped into the view of the hostile SCD Team.

 

[Nashoba]

The Flag Bridge became the scene of an desperate battle. The members of the SDC, and bridge crew fighting. But it was like trying to hold back the incoming tide. The NMX had numbers and the SDC were badly outgunned.

The bridge was blacked out and the only illumination was from the flash of weapon fire making the scene appear to be viewed in stop motion with the strobe effect. The first of the Rippers to enter the bridge were cut down but another would take its place.

The copper smell of blood was almost overwhelming, as Akina stood in the back of the bridge armed with a LASR. Miraculously from her perspective she had not been hit by any of the weapon fire. The only injuries she had sustained were minor and from debris from damaged consoles.

She was on her last magazine, and continued to fire at the enemy. "Get the hell off my ship you bastards." She yelled.

Then the bridge was silent except for the sound of the wounded, and the crackle of fire in the consoles. Akina's LASR fired its last round and she found herself facing three rippers. She moved to draw her NSP when they fired three projectiles.

Akina barely felt the impact as she looked down to see three large darts protruding from her chest. Pain unlike anything she had experienced coursed through her body as the venom in the darts spread. Her limbs went limp and she hit the floor like a sack of wet clothes. She tried to telepathically reach out to the KAMI but she could not get through the interference the enemy was creating.

One of the Rippers crossed the room, stepping on the bodies of the wounded and dead with cold indifference. It grabbed Akina by the back of her AMES. "Target acquired. Return to the ships. Inform Mellison that we have her prize." The Mishhu solder carried her off the bridge, the last thing Akina heard before darkness took her was the sound of the wounded screaming as they enemy shot them.

The NMX Soldiers left the Nadare as quickly as they had ravaged it, taking the most direct route. Akina had been placed into a cloth bubble that provided atmosphere to keep her safe.

The Warship she was taken aboard was the first to leave.

The two attack groups of the 4SF forces on this side of the depot were mostly burning hulks or heavily damaged ships. The third group succeeded in destroying the enemy Depot then made its way to render what aid they could. An hour later they left the scene with whatever ships were able to move. All survivors were transferred off the ships incapable of travel.

The Nadare and the remnants of its attack force self destructed shortly after the fleet left. The Aether explosion serving as a funeral pyre for the thousands of Star Army Soldiers who had perished.