RP: Battlegroup Warden [Battlegroup Warden] Mission 1: The Battle for Trinity

[Gunhand4171]

RP Date

46.5

RP Location

Armageddon Sector: Trinity System

After several weeks of transit, the ships of Battlegroup Warden were making their final FTL jump. Across all vessels, a shock clock was prominently displayed on their main view screens, counting down to when they would all arrive. Aboard the NSS Spirit, Captain Braun sat in her command chair while the Rear Admiral monitored things from the Combat Information Center (CIC). Typically, the XO would be responsible for the CIC. However, Valentine wanted to keep his eye on the big picture. Braun was the CO of the Spirit now, so he'd let her run the ship. All around the vessel, the ship's lights were set to give off a yellow glow. The ship was in Condition 2, which meant there were no enemies in their vicinity, but an attack was possible. This meant the crew of the Spirit was ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. As the clock counted down to zero, everyone held their breath as they exited FTL.

Warden exited FTL at the very edge of the Trinity System. "Sensors, passive scans only. What do you have?" Captain Braun asked. The sensors operator scanned his console and shook his head. "I have nothing on scope, Captain." Valentine looked up to Braun and nodded, silently giving her the go-ahead to continue with the plan. Braun returned the nod. "CAG (Commander of the Air Group), launch the ready five fighters. Proceed further into the system and find us some targets." She ordered. "Aye aye, Captain." The CAG replied. Soon after, a squadron of Scythe Stealth Fighter launched from the Spirit and flew further into the system.

Several hours later:

Valentine and Braun stood in the CO's ready room, where the command teams of Warden's ships were displayed on the room's screen. "Here's what our recon team was able to find," Valentine began. The display screen on each ship changed to show an updated system map. Each planet was designated P 1-6. P1 was the arid world, and P2 was the atoll world. P3 through P6 were the system's gas giants. Around P2 was a cluster of four ships, designated H1-4. "The NMX must have not expected anyone to make the trek out here. They sent second-generation ships to claim this system. H1 is a Pillager light cruiser, and H2 through 4 are escort destroyers. They appear to have a ground presence on P2; we didn't risk trying to get close enough for exact troop compositions on the surface." The Rear Admiral explained. "So, here's the plan. The Invictus and Hold My Beer are to target the light cruiser. Knock the big boy out for us. The Battle of Nexim Arsenal will move in behind the formation with the Spirit's Banshee Squadron to attack H2. They will be using Scythes so they can follow you in quietly." Braun looked to Hector and crossed her arms. "Take good care of them, Captain Pontius." Valentine cleared his throat before continuing. "The Immortal She, Sagacity, Surprise, and Rafaela will take on H3 and H4. The Spirit will provide fighter support and provide support if anyone starts having trouble. Once we clear the orbitals, we will send in the marines to clear the NMX off the planet. Any question regarding the plan?" Valentine asked, opening the floor for the COs to voice their questions or concerns with the plan.

 

[Cowboy]

NSS Surprise
The anticipation on the ship was growing. You could feel it. And the closer the battle group got to the Armageddon sector the more tangible it became. The Surprise had passed the time running drills and simulations, at least as much as they could. The ship was filled to the brim with extra supplies for a long cruse to the point that even some of the hallways and quarters were filled with boxes. The Surprise wasn't that big a ship either. At less than 200 meters, she wasn't roomy like a cruiser or some of the larger destroyers. She also carried an additional 2 squads of Marines. A Longsword Frigate would typically carry only 2 squads of Marines. The Surprise carried 4 as a matter of course. The Surprise loved boarding enemy ships and taking them as a prize. Hence the extra Marine squads.

When the battle group finally arrived in the Armageddon system the Surprise was ready to go. Jack stood behind the navigation, watching the ships progress and where the other ships were. Quite a nice little battle group. Time to see how well they would work together. Like all career officers, Jack longed to raise his own pennant and become an Admiral someday it wasn't an easy job. An Admiral had to deal with Captains who were God Almighty aboard their own ships. Time would tell how well Valentine would lead.

Jack was called away from his musings by the Admiral himself. Seemed like it was time to inform the squatters that this new owners were here. The Surprise would be tasked with taking on two Escorts along with the The Immortal She, Sagacity and Rafaela. Doable. When the Rear Admiral asked for questions Jack asked, "Do you want us to try to take any prizes? Or try to capture any enemy officers? We might get lucky and get some valuable intel if you think it is worth a try."

 

[Nameless]

NSS Sagacity

Aliasse's eyes danced on the screens showing the new intel they received from recon. It was a blessing that the battlegroup they ran into was a small one, but the fact remained that a force was present very early on in the expedition. Was it a scouting party, or were they there to establish an outpost? She couldn't help but wonder, but either way, they'll find out soon enough. Once the ships are taken care of, she imagined that it won't be long until they go planet side. She communicated directly to the armory as the meeting was taking place, taking great care that she wasn't transmitting to the other ships. "Rodriguez, imminent engagement. You know what to do."

The image of a short-haired brunette blipped off from Aliasse's screen as the order was silently acknowledged, replaced by a close-up of the enemy escort crafts, not just the ones they had just received, but also ones pulled from the intel files the army already had, and from less official channels from the savvier members of her crew. The battlepods those escorts were carrying were going to be an issue if they're allowed to deploy. Assuming they're all on alert, there was a tiny window before they take flight.

She would wait until the Admiral responded to the first question before she'd put forth her own. "Do we have a path where we able to sneak up behind their formation safely and without being detected? If so, we can prioritize hitting the escorts' rear launch bays in our opening salvo. If we can't jam the opening mechanism, we will at least be shooting into the softer interior, and likely take out strike crafts before they have the chance to engage with our Scythes."

 

[Damaske]

NSS Rafaela

With every spare meter of the 120-meter craft filled to the millimeter with supplies, the Rafaela moves along with the rest of the fleet near the Surprize in a slight lag position. Its Third Eye, subspace, and tachyon scanning systems watch the surrounding space like a big brother. Each of the four heavy pulse laser Vulcan turrets scans the space around the fleet for any fighters that may discover them. The crew was standing down from a drill defending the fleet from a fighter swarm attack, the launcher systems on standby to clear the drill data from them and back to live data. Instead of the normal 50 crew, there were another 25 marines onboard the Rafaela to help serve as boarding crew, or on standby to transfer to another craft for planetfall. Stretching the already limited space onboard to its limits.

Getting his assigned orders for the attack, Martin grins and then radios over to the NSS Surprize wanting to speak with the Captian. To go over the plans of the engagement, And let him know that they were heavy on marines for possible boarding operation as he has boarding torpedos onboard. Martin was thinking of hanging back a little to unleash his Torpedo payload in a massive opening volley targeting one of the escorts to take it out before any battlepods could be launched. Then moving up to provide Anti-fighter defense while the others hammered the destroyers, firing off his Curbstomber and Suplex cruise missiles as they reloaded.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

FTL

With a pre-emptive call of Commander on deck! the bridge crew came to alert as Miska stalked onto the bridge, thermos of coffee in hand as he waved his bridge crew down and strode towards the captains seat to which his executive loomed too large to take it up himself.

"I have the bridge." Miska intoned almost as an afterthought for which Ajax Vanderhuge did the same with a same-sense response of "The bridge is yours, Skipper." Looking about contentedly and taking a sip of the still steaming hot black coffee Miska trained his cybernetic eyes about taking stock of his bridge crew before crossing one leg onto the other and resting his free hand against his cheek.

"Report Mr.Vanderhuge." He intoned, passively reading a display on his captains console.

"Conn has us at six light minutes out from dead-drop. All gunnery stations are primed and shields are set. We should be third out of the line on systems edge." Her executive reported with a clip, causing his captains lips to pull ever so slightly into a smirk.

"Have Lieutenants Fisk and Dubois on standby for sortie until the flagship comes about and we call formation." Miska ordered lazily as the bridge clock began ticking down towards zero. When it finally hit to within a single light minute he popped his back, straightend up, secured his belt to his chair, and made the order to general quarters.

Trinity System

It's a big if that planet is habitable. Miskas intel liaison answered his question as the other captains conversed, the hazy outline of the planet displayed on a holographic projection in the bridge getting more of the captains attention than anything. "Terraforming is time-consuming and costly but even in the boonies like this that rock will have the NYRDs here frothing at the mouth within a year as soon as someone stumbles on the report." Operator Carson grinned, a very unsettling sight of the gaunt mans disposition as Miskas mind worked.

"If its habitable that means there's a chance of life. Life means biomass." Ajax offered. "Biomass means they can grow their ships faster and feed their cats better." He followed up.

"That last one was disproven." The operator claimed causing Miska to click his teeth to silence them as he daned to rejoin the captains conference.

"The cruiser is concerning but a negligible issue with the Arsenal and Invictus present in system and the Spirits fighter compliment making its longevity questionable." Miska found an opening between the captain of the Suprise' statement though Miska considered the want of renown for a Prize to be at the top of his list he could see from the corner of his eyes the sour look on his Marine contingent leaders face at the prospect and was of the same state of mind.

If the cards fell and they managed a lucky crippling of one vessel it would be hard and bloody fighting to take the ship and the renown of Miskas men were not worth their lives. Instead he would be happy with one of the vessels, preferably the cruiser but unlikely in the treatment it would soon get, was in at least large enough pieces to send over teams and assess any information they might scrounge up locally from if the AI, cores, and local systems were not overtly destroyed and could be decrypted later.

"With all due respect to Captain Canterburys proposal, however," He followed up, stressing the word however to make it clear it was more out of the need for caution than apprehension, "Is that this is not all that the NMX have committed to this system. One or more frigates outsystem on patrol, scouting corvettes, or pasco-forbid a stealth vessel we have yet to identify and we risk being caught on the back foot." Following up on that Miska made it very clear that while he was urging caution it was not for the sake of delay as he bared his teeth in a way that was almost comical with his young feminine features and pulsing eyes,

"We need to strike fast. But divert resources to scouting out any such vessels; If a stealth vessel or any others survive they can threaten our rear-line support while we are committed, or lead future reinforcements right ontop of us. The planetside forces will be stranded without orbital support after all."

 

[Gunhand4171]

NSS Spirit

Valentine nodded at the COs as they had all put forward good questions. First, he addressed Jack and the Surprise's question. "If the opportunity presents itself, I'll allow it. However, it can't unnecessarily jeopardize the operation or the lives of the battlegroup. Only board if we have crippled the vessel and have the time to spare." Next, he turned to address Aliasse and the Sagacity. "It will be hard for those without stealth systems to get close enough to launch a surprise attack. The Spirit will have its interceptors out and ready to play with the battle pods when they make an appearance." Finally, he turned to Miska and the Immortal She. "We are in agreement, commander. This is our first real engagement as a Battlegroup, and we must be cautious. However, we will have the advantage if we are fast and can get the drop on the NMX. The Spirit will remain in stealth and play goalie. If any ship enters the system or if anyone ends up in trouble, we will intercede. Now, if there are no other questions, we have some ships to blot out of space. We will commence the attack in t-minus 30 minutes. Let's show the squids that Trinity is Warden territory now ." Valentine added, a mischievous smirk playing across his lips as the channel disconnected. He turned to Captain Braun, who nodded and tapped a button on her desk. As she did, the ship alarms began to blare. "General quarters, general quarters, all hands man your battle stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill." The automated message repeated several more times as the Spirt prepared for battle.

30 minutes later:

"All vessels report ready, Rear Admiral." The comms officer reported. Valentine nodded. "Good. All ships commence the attack." He ordered. Braun took that as her cue and began barking orders. "CAG: assign a squadron to shadow each vessel. When the battle pods come out, hammer them before they can hit the fleet. Tactical: I want firing solutions on H1 through 4. If the need arises, I better see every missile tube firing. Sensors: keep an eye out for any incoming vessels. If a squid vessel so much as farts near this system, I want to hear about it." "Aye, aye!" Each officer responded.

Out in the black, fighters formed up on each vessel and followed them in. Banshee flight formed up on the Battle of Nexim Arsenal and radioed in. "Battle, this is Banshee 1. We are ready to go hunting." The flight lead for Banshee reported.

As the Nepleslian ships began their approach, the NMX vessels sat in space above the planet. They haven't noticed the battlegroup... yet.

 

[Nameless]

With the meeting adjourned, Aliasse sent out a message to her ships inhabitants. "This is it, ladies and gentlemen, first combat we're seeing in this new battlegroup. As always, stay alert and aware of not only our enemies but our new friends as well. Especially our strike crafts. Marines, be ready for boarding. We're not aiming to hop ships since we'll be dropping into the planet after orbital engagement, but if we're ordered to, I want you out in less than a minute. Gunners, I want nothing less than ninety-five percent accuracy on the first ten seconds of engagement. Center mass on H3. Cut that ship in half if you can. After that grace period, aim to disable their guns. Everyone to their stations!"

The bridge was tense as the systems were checked for any faults. Things were running perfectly fine, but the majority of this crew knew that things could shift at the most inopportune times, but as the time ticked down, this ship held firm.

"Target in range," came the gunners' report. "Awaiting signal."

Aliasse, eyes glued to the screen mirroring her gunners' point of view, nodded to herself as the engagement officially went underway. "Weapons free."

Fifteen pulses a second.

Twelve barrels total.

All aimed at one central spot.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

NSS Immortal She

Gravity increased by .3g and lights flashed momentarily from a bright white to a warning yellow as the call of "Hall hands, General quarters!" Sounded in a dull monotone as the Longsword Frigates ACE-AI, named Raven intoned in a young mans voice but without emotion or inflection the ship-wide order as sailors made way for the Hostile-armored marines trampling down the hall to their deployment points and EVA suits were dawned in critical sections as the Immortal She began a full-burn with enough force that the increase in gravity opposite to counteract the G-forces kept all feet on the deck at least as, in the bridge, the doors long since sealed as the bridge crew buckled into their stations and two Hostile-armored marines took positions outside the doors with weapons at the ready.

"Thirty seconds to flammel!" The helmsman called out as the ship started to purposefully let off its forward thrust to let the ships continued and unhindered momentum carry it forwards and avoid any noticeable thurst-plume as it did so like a million tonnes of Durrandium and Nermimum spearshaft plumetting through the void.

"Distance achieved; 9,700km and growing from formation." The helmsman echoed the sensor tech who follow up with a report of the Mass Meshers ready state and the ACE, Raven, manifesting via a holo-projection to affirm that Black Veil suites ready status.

"Curbstomper Tubes one and two are primed and ready!" Weapons announced.

"Lieutenants Fisk and Dubois report their Saber fighter craft will be ready to deploy within five minutes!" The bridge talker announced after that, "We have ACE-to-ACE with the Spritis FOMO and ready to coordinate air assets if deployed."

"Captain Mercer has two teams suited and ready for deployment, all other Marine teams are at damage control or prepped for anti-boarding operations, Captain!"

Miska jostled slightly in his seat as the reports started coming in, his own interface and screens giving all the same information as it became available as the holo-display began to take shape. The She was behind and close to 10,000km offsides of the faster Sagacity. With the outlines of H3 and H4 coming into range moments later the immortal moment of the start of the battle started as seconds felt like an eternity.

"Sagacity is opening up!" The fleet talker announced as the weapons team swung in their seats to look at the executive officer for confirmation.

"Activate the Black Veil and surge up the Mass Mesher!" Ajax ordered, well accustomed to the drill as the ship practically ceased to exist as its electronic and counter warfare suites hit the two underclassed destroyers with the subtle force of a truck as sensors and action-suites were jammed or scrambled and what did get through was unreliable as the infamous Mass Mesher scrambled and attempt to differentiate signals as anything from a Primus battleship to an entire fleet flickered on the sensors of every non-nepleslian ship in the system telling them only that there was an enemy but not what or where it was.

"Fire tubes one and two." Miska ordered as the weapons station acted and with the vibration of the tubes loosing two Curbstomper torpedoes raced ahead at a fraction of the speed of light and were gone and only recorded as just two illuminated yellow '+' on the holographic display.

"We will stay hidden until within 250,000-kilomiters." Miska ordered, putting the vessel practically within knife-fighting range of he closest vessel, H4. Looking at his display that would put the 'She' within that range just minutes after the Curbstompers reached intercept range. It meant Sagacity would be the entire focus for a matter of minutes as a result but if they timed the maneuver right by the time the 'She' opened up with her lances and antimatter blasters it would be a hammer blow on whichever the vessels they targeted depending on if the curbstompers were intercepted before reaching H4 or not.

"T-minus eight minutes and counting until mark!" The helmsman announced as Miska casually sipped from his coffee.

 

[Soban]

Lysander sat comfortably in the captain's chair. He had the chair modified so that he fit properly in it. As a side effect, anyone else who sat in his chair looked small by comparison. He sat quietly, but attentive to what was happening on the bridge as various officers did their work of keeping the ship running and ready to go. There was a slight tension in the air from being at general quarters. Three large screens a the front of the Bridge showed the tactical situation, what was outside of them, and the ship's status. The tactical display showed an intercept course for the Light Cruiser. "Helm, Full ahead. Put a timer to maximum range. Weapons, at that point, launch missles. As we reach closer engagement ranges, I want all guns blazing. We want them to be paying attention to us. Hold My Beer can dish it out as well as we can, but she's a smaller ship so can't take it as well. The more the enemy is paying attention to our thunder run, the less they will be paying to the other ships in the squadron." He explained their part of the battleplan.

 

[Damaske]

Sitting on his command chair after the command was given he leaned forward "Sound Battlestations, have the fire control aim for H3 with our opening fire, fire all tubes at it including the baby torpedos I want all tubes to be empty. I want all sensors active on the hunt for stealth ships and be on the lookout for fighters. Reload all tubes and fire at target H3 if it's still there, otherwise fire on h4, If they get battle pods out target them with all non-capital weapons and hammer them before they get close paint any battle pods for the NSS Sagacity our gunship in the fleet. "

Aye aye captain sounds the bridge crew as the coms officer moves to contact the NSS Sagacity to link up that the NSS Rafaela will provide targets of opportunity if any battle pods are managed to be launched. The weapons officer moves to target H3 and tells the launcher crews what is going on, as with the gunners of the few turrets that are on the Warhawk-class ship. Alarms sound all over the ship as the speakers blare "All hands Battlestations, this is no drill, all hands Battlestations! " the sounds of feet running Are heard all over the ship as the crew run to their stations, fingers fly over the keyboards, gun crews ready ordinance to be reloaded after the current ordinance is fired.


The NSS Rafaela starts to slip upward to get into better tracking on H3 and H4, then as they get into range. Seeing the NSS Sagacity opening fire the Warhawk-class fires from all tubes as the cruise missiles, and torpedos arc away from the ship as they start to track the NMX Destroyer still idle for the moment. then all sensors go active as it starts to search for battle pods, or ships attempting to hide.

 

[Gunhand4171]

With those first few salvos, the battle was truly underway. The fight for Trinity had begun...

The first few shots from Sagacity took a few seconds to reach H3, but as they impacted, the tactical officer could see chunks of armor flying away from the ship. The NMX were truly unprepared; their shields weren't even up. However, those shots had awoken the nest. H1, 2, 3, and 4 quickly tried to raise their shields and turn to face the incoming threat, their active radar painting the Warden vessels. As they did so, the stealthed Banshee Flight launched a combined SWARM missile strike into the hanger bay of H2 before they could get their shields up. The hanger was set ablaze as the battlepods were decimated, still in their launch positions. As quickly as they appeared, Banshee was gone from the sensors.

The combined missile swarm from the Immortal She and Rafaela saturated the NMX's point defense. Some missiles were blotted from space, but the majority hit their marks. The resulting barrage illuminated space briefly as the warheads delivered their payloads. H3 and 4's shields were taken down once more. As Invictus charged ahead, she began taking the brunt of the enemy's counterattack. Her weapons were pounding against H1's shields. It needed a little more to crack them, but rough estimates put its shield at 35% and falling. In contrast, the Invictus's shields had only dropped to 75% under the enemy's onslaught.

While the battle ragged. H1, 3, and 4 began launching their Battlepods. While the ships may have been older, their strike craft were top-of-the-line. They deployed the Hota-Class Battlepods out into space, trying to gain an advantage.

Aboard the Spirit, the Rear Admiral raised an eyebrow at Captain Braun. The look communicating 'How are you going to respond?' Braun tapped her on her command interface. "All fighters engage those battlepods! I want to own the orbitals!" With that order, the fighters following the Warden ships broke away and began dogfighting the Hotas. Braun turned back to her tactical officer. "Ripple fire all missile tubes. Target H1." The tactical officer nodded, and shortly after, the missile contrails illuminated the Spirit. All 32 torpedos streamed toward H1. Again, the point defense was able to swat some of them down, but a large majority struck H1, dropping the shields even further until they failed entirely.

After the opening salvos, the estimated hull integrity of the enemy ships were:
H1: 85%
H2: 96%
H3: 76%
H4: 78%

 

[Nameless]

"Salvo hits confirmed. Good effect on target, chief. Bastards didn't even have their shields up," came the report for Aliasse, who had multiple screens illuminating her face fully focused on the battlefield projections.

"Good. Proceed as planned," was her response as her eyes jumped between the map and her own ship's status readouts. "Fighters are moving up to engage enemy strike craft, but don't let up on our downrange pressure. Bring the scalar array online for any fighter that might break towards us. We'll move with the vanguard, but give us a 45-degree rise relative to our prey, I want its big guns to be nothing but scrap."

"Detecting enemy shield activation."

"It won't hold. Orders remain the same. Have the Svarog fire upon reaching extended maximum range."

Rosetta walked up behind the captain's chair to watch the multitude of screens her sister had up. They were redundant displays of what the other bridge crew had, consolidated to a single console. One would be rightly concerned that Aliasse was a control freak with her insistence in knowing everything concerning the ship, its systems and every piece of data she could conceivably get routed to her console, but it was for her peace of mind as she was not the type for constant communication, that trait went to the younger sibling, but when it comes down to it, her aversion to speaking did bring up the bridge crew's efficiency once they've adjusted and understood her ways.

Whether due to genuine understanding and synchronicity, or they were just intimidated by her presence into working better, that was for less biased eyes to decide.

The Sagacity adjusted its relative elevation and tilt so it was shooting downwards at H3's top guns. The change in angle allowing a larger margin for the lasers to hit their intended target, while also bringing center mass closer to the firing cone to minimize shots flying off to empty space.

The muted booming of the massive mass driver could be heard as the Sagacity started firing its big gun a hundred kilometers before its listed range. 'Test shots' Aliasse called them. Even if they weren't at effective range, it didn't change the fact that an 8-inch shell was hurtling through space at a speed of 5 kilometers a second plus the Sagacity's own speed at the time that the projectile was fired. Often times the first few shots could miss. Better to have the gun already calibrated when it reached the range where it mattered.

 

[Damaske]

Martin Glover leans back in the chair as he watches all the missiles fly away from the ship, " All tubes unloaded and reloading now Sir, Weapons officer comments. "Fighters launching they look to be top-of-the-line Hota-class battlepods Painting them for the gunship, and targeting with baby torps. Anti-fighter turrets are hot and opening fire.!" Martin nodded once more and then looked around at his team knowing that they would do what it needed and he was there along for the ride like all the rest. They knew the ship and what it could do. He wanted it to do so much more, more missiles to put into space between him and their targets but the NSS Rafaela only had so many tubes and space in its 120-meter length. " I want more tubes dang it!"

The crew moved about loading more torpedos, and cruise missiles into the tubes over and over as the NSS Rafaela sprewed them out time and time again. The Baby torpedos fly toward the dog-fighting battle pods, and the cruise missiles fly out toward target H3. NSS Rafaela keeps moving upward in its arc as it keeps scanning for anything stealthed that the Mshhu might have nearby.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Immortal She

"BP's in the ink!" Sensors shouted as Miska processed the data on the sub-optimal curbstomper strike. Still behind and amidships of the others in the formation the She was in the proverbial shadow as it coasted still practically dark as they neared the embarkation line the captain had set. There was a tense silence in the bridge as he and the bridge staff watched in anticipation as they neared near knife-fighting range of 250,000km where the Longswords secondary armaments would be in range.

350,000.

325,000.

300,000

275,000...

The bridge lights turned from a soft yellow to an immediately oppressive red as soon as they hit 250,000km from H4 as a single high-note alarm sounded and the bridge erupted into controlled chaos.

"Tubes one and two are set!" Gunnery shouted, followed by an immediate call to "FIRE!" As two more curbstompers were let out.

"Narwhals away!" A secondary station declared as the smaller baby torpedoes were launched.

"Fire antimatter blasters on cutaway, Helm prepare to burn retro on my mark!" Miska ordered as the ship vibrated as its two antimatter blastered unleashed a rapid-fire burst of packets at H4-

"Marke!" Miska ordered as nothing happened for several seconds, a low trill alarm sounded on the ship giving a short warning before the captain momentarily blacked out as the ship was introduced to sudden and extreme G-forces as all its forward thrust was bled away as the retro thrusters began to bleed away at the forwards thrust in a dangerous maneuver that no doubt spiked the Immortal-She' sensor profile like spiking a rock in a puddle despite the mass-mesher.

But it the cloak and daggers, the pre-firing of torpedoes to occupy the targets defences, the ill-advised maneuver, and more was all a setup for more than the bloody nose Miska had running out one nostile as without the swing-force of forwards momentum allowed the She to precisely and accurately deliver the coup de grace with near impossible to miss odds as the ship lined up directly with H4 and-

"Fire." Miskas voice was husky but cold as the gunnery officer input a set of commands and less than a few seconds later the ship began to shake and vibrate as it fired an continued and unbroken line of plasma from its lance-battery connecting the She to H4 with the mother of all suckerpunches as the line of plasma, unbroken, continued to gush with the retro thrust of the ship keeping it on target for one second, two, three, and even five whole seconds for a quarter of its maximum duration before being cut off.

"Damage report!" Miska shouted, eluding more towards the fate of the enemy destroyer more than her own vessel and whatever it had just likely shaken loose with such a manever.

 

[Gunhand4171]

As the Sagacity changed its orientation and began firing down on H3, armor panels flew away from the damaged ship as round after round slammed into the forward cannons. The combined assault from Sagacity and Rafela tore the ship apart. Finally, H3 took a round right through the cannon, causing a massive internal explosion. The hull of H3 cracked in half with the detonation. The first kill had been claimed.

H4 didn't fare much better. The Immortal She's torpedo's made contact first, causing serious damage. That was shortly followed by the lance battery strike, which cut a deep furrow through H4's hull. Atmosphere could be seen venting into space along with the unlucky crew that had been in those sections. Shortly after, H4 lost power and began drifting through space. The last remaining enemy vessels finally began to break orbit, moving as one to target the largest threat they could see, the Invictus.

The cannons smashed against the Invictus's shields as the enemy desperately tried to take out the cruiser. Her shields flickered as they were reduced to 35%. All the while, a massive dog fight raged around them, as the Spirit's fighters went toe to toe with the battle pods. The numbers were thinning thanks to the Rafaela's intervention, but there were still several squadrons worth. The battle was turning in Warden's favor, but there was no time to slack off.

Updated Hull integrity:
H1- 75%
H2- 91%
H3- 0%
H4- 35% (combat ineffective)

 

[Nameless]

Sagacity

There was a momentary roar of cheering as the enemy escort broke apart, but the fire did not let up. Aliasse had already marked a second target as analysis of H4 showed that it was not a huge concern anymore. "New target copy. Adjusting parameters." The helmsman brought the Sagacity in line with H2, maintaining their relative elevation from the previous target. All guns immediately fired the moment H2 was over the crosshairs, aiming the ordinance at its weapons just like before.

"Situation update," her comms officer began his report, "Enemies making a move towards Invictus."

"Good," Aliasse responded, "We'll clean up the rabble before they get seriously injured. Keep an eye on H4. If it twitches. Shoot it with the Svarog. Helmsman, begin orbiting the prey. Keep us out of our friendlies' line of fire and avoid intersecting ours with their flight path."

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Immortal She

The words "Engine Kill" were not entirely accurate as the ACE reported but more a turn of phrase of a disability kill as the bridge of the She remained starkly quiet but for the beeps and lacks of the various stations and low-murmur chatter as Miska leaned into her display, examining the information as targeting and acquisition read it aloud.

"Power is draining fast from H4. Too fast for a normal shutdown, can confirm; Engine kill." At that the bridge erupted in brief cheers before Ajax shouted them down and Miska let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding.

"I recommend an immediate boarding action to secure the vessel before they can dispose of any intelligence or wipe their computer core." The IPG Liason offered but did not push when Miska simply stared at the holographic outline of the ship.

"We might have only shaken something loose in her. Theres every chance H4 can perform limited repairs or has backup power we don't know about." Ajax offered afterwards, getting more consideration even as sensors and comms spoke up.

"Invictus is engaged and showing yellow." The station reported.

Dwelling for only a moment Miska began issuing orders.

"Send my compliments to the captain of Sagacity and inform them we leave H4 to them. It's dead in the water enough that she can handle it If it tries to go active again, Conn how long to complete deceleration and come about?"

"Three minutes, skipper!" The helmsman announced without even needing to look at their screens.

"Slow deceleration by half and prepare to swing. We'll lose all maneuverability but it will put our guns on target to H1." Miska ordered for the She to essentially perform a high-G swing of it's rear to face the front of the vessel to a target. With the mass of the ship it would be tricky and involve a lot of sway and put any weapons on a wide arc of potential accuracy but it would shave minutes off a propper maneuver even if it left the She highly immobile until it could burn away the backwards force of their trajectory and pick up speed again.

"Aye, skipper! All hands prepare for High-G environment aft!" The helmsman responded as Miskas stomach lurched as the ship began to swing hard.

 

[Cowboy]

NSS Surprise

The Surprise followed the Rafaela in, launching it's torpedo's and missiles to the overwhelming barrage. Jack stood by his own command chair watching the data screens and absently tapping his sword against the deck. He liked being in the thick of it. The general melee of a boarding action. But this wasn't the time, not yet. Still... "Captain, we've got fighters coming around on our flank." Alerted radar. "Shift course slightly to Point-zero-three-five. 30 second burn then bring us back around." Jack said. The ship began to turn even before the Aye Ayes. Jack smiled predatorily. Shifting slightly allowed all of his Vulcan anti-fighter guns to come to bear. The Surprise's gunnery was very good and they quickly destroyed most of the attacking battle pods.

"Launch the Twins and have them clean up what's left." Jack ordered. The Twins he was referring two were the two Saber pilots the Surprise carried. They were twin girls, so identical that Jack had trouble telling one apart from the other. Their call signs were "Starboard" and "Larboard". They launched as soon as the Surprise had finished its volley of deadly anti-fighter shots and when flighting to finish off any battlepods that weren't dead already. Jack took a look at the battle as a whole. The battle group had been quick and deadly efficient so far. Two ships already nocked out of the fight. Were things going too easy?

 

[Soban]

NSS Invictus

The chaos of battle filled the bridge. "Shields at 35%, we've been hit." The operations officer said as the damage reports poured in.

The lights flickered, leaving only Lysander's mechanical eye as the only light for a moment. "Weapons, maintain fire and prepare for off bore firing of missiles. Helm, preform a combat roll to bring up fresh shields. Maintain fire on Hostile One. We're a bigger ship, so every shot that we shrug off is something other members of our squadron might not. Engineering, prioritize repairs to the shield systems. We may be bloody, but we remain unbowed." Lysander commanded calmly, the eye in the middle of the storm.

 

[Gunhand4171]

As the battle raged on, Warden Actual watched on from the CIC. He liked what he saw from the crews, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Scanning the holo display, he could see that with the aid of the Rafela and Suprise, the last of the battlepods were being mopped up. Turning to Braun, Valentine spoke up. "Captain, recall two of your squadrons. Have them rearmed and outfitted for atmo air-to-ground operations."

Braun nodded and called up the CAG, ordering just that. "I'm assuming you want them to hit the planet while they think we are still tied up with the engagement up here?" Braun asked.

"Precisely." The Rear Admiral responded, turning back to the display.

In the black, the incoming fire headed towards the Invictus slammed into the fresh shields, mitigating most of the damage. However, H1 and 2 did not stay idle, trying to maintain the damaged section in the sights. Invictus's heavy weapons and missiles pounded into H1's hull, tearing off chunks of armor plating. Several of her shots struck the Furious Main Cannon on the underside of H1's nose. From what the Invictus could see, it appeared they had managed to damage the barrel.

H2 was so preoccupied with hitting the big Carnivore class that when the Sagacity made herself known, H2 wasn't in an optimal position to return fire. She took several direct hits, but H2 wouldn't let Sagacity have her way. The destroyer began to role, attempting to bring more guns to bear against the gunship.

Back aboard the Spirit, Braun turned towards the tactical station. "Let's give the Invictus a hand. Get me a firing solution on H1 for the Quads. High explosive ordinance. " She ordered. "Firing solution on H1 for the Quads, Red shells. Aye, Ma'am." The officer replied. On the hull of the Spirit, eight quad-mounted Svarog mass drivers rose from their stowed positions. This decreased the Spirit's stealth capabilities, but it was one of her hardest-hitting weaponry. "H1 is locked on." The tactical officer reported. Braun grinned. "Commence Svarog bombardment!"

The forward four cannons flashed as 16 shells left their barrels. H1 was also caught off guard as the high explosive shells slammed into her port side. Explosions rippled across her port wing and engine. She was hurting after that barrage but she wasn't down yet.

Updated Hull Integrity:
H1: 40%
H2: 79%
H3: 0%
H4: 35% (combat ineffective)