RP: YSS Imperator Mission Four: War Drums

YSS Imperator
Bridge Hot Seat

"Hai." Serphine's voice coolly cut through the command center. She took a deep breath as she began to compile the data being received about the enemy ships; The Kuvexian composition was actually quite similar to Yamatai's own, it seemed-that made her job a bit easier, and a lot faster. Her fingers began to flutter deftly about the keypads, classifying the opponents into approximated battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and even a carrier. A cross-verification was all the confirmation she needed, and soon Kami has sent the Elysian's data to the Imperator's various fighters and other nearby proper starships, the classifications being relayed throughout the whole fleet. Too bad they don't know much of anything else so far.


Spaaaace~
The twins laughed a little as the chaos of battle unfolded around them. Weighed down as they were by the volleys of torpedoes they held, the Nito Heis were perhaps the least maneuverable Mamushis in the Heartbreak squadron-but also among the most threatening. They swung about erratically, incapable of dancing like their superiority-focused squadmates.

"This is Heartbreak Seven, Eight and I have the firepower to get them to do more than roll over. We just need a spot to hit, and a clear firing range." A bandit charged towards the twins, streaking deadly fire between them as the identical pilots returned attacks of their own, gutting holes in the brave enemy efficiently and chaotically.

"Aoi, switch to sensors mode, let's see if we can get seven and eight a target." Akane said rolling her starfighter in, firing at another fighter that was getting too close to seven and eight. The Kuvexian fighter exploded in a spray of debris.

Aoi switched the multi-role pod that their fighter carried into sensor mode, flooding her plot with even more information then she was being fed by the AWACS. She deftly narrowed the focus of the scanner to the lead ship of the Kuvexian formation. Even as the battle flashed around her, she remained focused, looking for something that looked particularly vulnerable. "Eleven to Seven, Eight. I've identified a target for you. I'm lighting it up now."

Space

The Kuvexian fighters turned to engage, but they were too late to stop the approach. As one of the other squadrons from some other ship began a furball with the Kuvexian gauntlet, the battleship's point-defense guns began to fire in a screen rather than at a particular fighter. Despite the screen, the ship looked open enough.

The AWACS called out throughout the channel, "Lead ship is now being classified as battleship weight, Identified as Sierra One." He was quickly followed by the voice of the CAG, "Alright kiddies, dump 'em and get ready to engage the buzzards flying around, I don't think we can take it all the way down."

If they wanted to hit it, they'd need to figure out where to hit it themselves.

Far off the back side of the Battleship, what looked like an entire wing of fighters came into view. Their hulls were colored by squadron, the lead group being all black with red stripes across them. The AWACS designated them as usual, with the identification all saying 'KUVEXIAN - UNKNOWN CLASS.'

Considering how the first group fired two missiles towards Heartbreak Squadron, they wanted to tango. The CAG's voice barked over the commline with a mix of surprise, confusion, and uncomfortableness coating her voice, "Fire and Break! Fire and Break!" There was a single second of silence before two torpedoes launched from the CAG's outer pylons, one after the other.

"Heartbreak One, Fox Two!"

Space

"Heartbreak Four, Fox Two.", Ayane intoned as she released her aetheric payload towards Sierra One, the Mamushi breaking left after the firing sequence. The pilot pushed her Mamushi at full military power towards the Kuvexian fighter wing.

She arced her craft, making another sudden break as the Mamushi flew along the flank of the enemy formation, taking shots at any bandits that passed through her firing arc. Before engaging, the pilot utilized her SPINE-linked sensors to judge her escape window. At the best opportunity, she initiated a lead pursuit on a Kuvexian bandit, her targeting systems aiming just ahead of the craft's position before opening up on the target with her turbo aether cannons.

With a flash from the omnidirectional sensors, the pilot quickly disengaged so as to avoid a dogfight. She maneuvered the Mamushi back into an offensive position, and initiated a pure pursuit on another bandit. After establishing a lock, Ayane released her second torpedo, a high maneuverability variant specialized for usage against agile fighters.

After releasing her torpedo, Ayane took advantage of her escape window and disengaged from the fighter. Once again, she maneuvered her craft out of the fight and sought further targets...

YSS Imperator
Engineering

Word of the battle had begun to spread everywhere on the ship, especially down in Engineering. These Kuvexians are tougher than Zeusanium plates, a couple of cruisers got hit real bad, we don't even know what ships the Kuvexians have. Fear had begun to set, for this much is true: the Yamatai can only be defeated by Yamatai itself.

Apparently the Kuvexians are pretty close to Yamatai's standard of technological and strategic prowess, but Noboyuki would never cower in the face of adversity such as the Kuvexians! Not when he doesn't know what adversity means yet!

The officer darted for the closest technician, the young fast-thinker already forming a plan. He was essentially acting independently of the captain, and the psuedo-chief engineer, and that's not fine. Then again, being hit by the enemy isn't fine either. Or not getting a proper breakfast.

"Adjust the balance and nature of the CFS! We need to cut down on the FTL travel to a bare minimum, and put all of that into firepower augmentation and shielding strength. I also want the spacial distortion array to be more fluid so enemy fire can travel around our rear and back at their fleet via an articulated path of least resistance within our space distortion field!", he ordered the technician, whom just so happened to be slightly taller than Noboyuki... As was everyone else, it seems.

Space

"You got it, Heartbreak Six...box two." Zanven said shortly as Heartbreak Four released her payload. As the fire and break mission was in full swing his sensors came alight as the indication of an enemy squadron appeared on his HUD. He smirked before taking a calm collected breath. As he linked back up with Hearbreak Four he saw that the engagement had begun, and to him the flashes of light as both ally and enemy opened fire was almost breathtaking if not already terrifying. He lived for combat, to excel and become the best this was the first step. He took aim at the enemy squadron and as he fired ahead of the enemy hoping to have a good enough lead to drop one he barrel rolled to the left before arcing downward. The debris around the area already causing hazards, but effective ambush points as well.

"Perhaps leading them into the debris and setting up a choke point might be a good idea anyone?" He said on his coms channel before going back in for another strafing run with his turbo aether cannons trained on small enemy groups.

Able listened in as the AWACS described their main target, which both of his missiles were reserved for. Most of his other wingmates had already begun flying in and dropping their payloads as soon as the AWACS had finished speaking, which was coincidentally when the lead ship's fighters trained their firepower on Heartbreak Squadron. It was at that moment that the fighter wing broke formation completely to engage the enemy, which left Able open to strike Sierra One without interruption.

He pushed forward on the throttle gently, his Mamushi shooting forward to get as close as he could to the hull of his target. He flew low to avoid the sight of the guns, eyes narrowed as he lined up a good shot. "Heartbreak Five, Fox Two." He said over the comm., letting loose both of his missiles before sharply curving upwards, turning himself around in mid-air and heading back towards the main fray. He didn't see the result of his payload, but he assumed he at least scratched the damned thing, if nothing else.

He swooped in on an interception course with a straggler from the Kuvexian wing, lighting him up briefly before curving around to pursue a bandit flying in the opposite direction. He let off a few potshots at this one, who tried shaking him off in obvious panic. He let him go as well, just in time to see Heartbreak Four zip past. She was obviously getting into the thick of it, while remaining cautious at the same time. "Feeling confident, are we, Ms. Yamasaki?" He teased over the comm.

The brief gesture left him open, and a Kuvexian fighter had managed to get him in a pursuit, and was opening fire. "Damn!" He hissed, pulling himself into a tight barrel roll in hopes of getting free. However, the pursuing fighter stayed tightly locked in. He shouldn't have gotten distracted... He knew better. He sent himself into a barrel roll in the other direction, but this time pulled back hard on the throttle, sending the Kuvexian craft flying ahead of him. Quickly getting up to speed, the two changed positions, which made Able smirk softly.

"A grave mistake, friend." With that, he let off a heavy stream of aether fire, targeting the fighter's engines. It barely had time to react as the craft erupted in a ball of flame, shards of scorched metal flying in every direction as he quickly swooped up to avoid one of the pieces striking his Mamushi. Once the adrenaline had worn off, Able sighed shakily in relief before kissing his bandana once more.

Space

"Roger that. Heartbreak Three, fox two." Shanota chirped over the comms as her fighter dove towards the battleship. She quickly launched off a couple of torpedoes before rolling off to the side, watching her HUD light up with the Kuvexian fighters moving in. With a sly grin she angled up before rolling and diving down on the incoming enemy, her cannons and gunpods blazing wildly as her fighter screamed towards and through the enemy formation.

The neko quickly pulled out of her dive and spun back to zero in on the enemy's rear. Her cannons lit up again, smacking aether across an enemy fighter before she pulled off for a new target.

"Doesn't sound too bad, Six." She answered back to Zaven's idea. Her fighter shook as a couple of enemy rounds blazed past her cockpit. "I cam easily lead them."

YSS Imperator

"Enemy capital-class craft tagged and identified under temporary classes! The battleship that took out the Saigo is designated as "Raven"." And as she spoke, the KAMI system relayed even more information to the fleet, the vast interconnected network of artificial intelligences analyzing and referencing and distributing any and all data relevant to this new, unforeseen encounter.

Space

"Torpedoes away, TAKE THIS!" Arcturus launched his entire volley of heavy, powerful torpedoes, whooping as the sudden increase of agility sent him careening through the void meters from enemy fire; the elysian was hot on the return, lining up behind the enemy squadron and gimballing as he blasted at their rears as the torpedo volley he had delivered (hopefully) slammed into the hull of the cruiser he had targeted.

Armin, meanwhile, held his payload close and swerved to his left, crossing his aether fire with his brother's in a way where the unfortunate kuvexians they had targeted had little time to even recognize the dual attack before they were annihilated. "This is Heartbreak Eight, I still have my full payload for additional torpedo targets."

Space

Torpedoes streaked towards the leading battleship, the CAG's first two slamming into the shields with a tremendous explosion. There was a bright flash of energy as the power shields modulated before bursting. The next two, fired by Zanven, slammed amidships on its left side and pieced the outer section of armor. The battleship reacted with a lateral movement, no doubt due to the Aether detonations and rolled slightly to starboard. The torpedoes from Able and Shanota slammed around the battleship's starboard hull, breaking into armor and igniting fires and explosion from bow to stern. Despite the lashings, it seemed to still be alive enough to begin spooling up its FTL drive.

That was, until Arcturus' entire ordnance load came screaming in into the bow quarter. The first two broke the armor and the others fell into their holes. It looked like a small detonation before a violently bright light and severe shockwave carried the closest fighters away from the wreck, tearing shields away like paper. The entire front third of the Kuvexian battleship was missing from existence, another violent explosion detonating the generators and main engines leaving a large wreck where the leading ship once stood.

Arcturus' fighter was screaming at him, his shields completely offline. The paint on his fighter was singed black on his port side and underside. Besides this, the damage was minimal. If he remembered his training, the abnormalities in flight could be trimmed out. That CAG and the AWACS hit the comm at the same time.

"Heartbreak Seven, you just made m--" The feminine voice was covered by Nightstalker's voice breaking over the frequency loudly, "HOLY HELL THAT WAS BRIGHT! New targets are the fighter wings in front of the Kuvexian cruisers. They are more a threat to you than the fleet."

Bridge

The Communcations operator turned her head to the XO and Captain, "Sirs, Nightstalker reports the battleship completely destroyed! He has recommended that the fleet begins engaging the capital ships to take their weight off our strike fighters!"

Kaede spoke before the XO could, "Main Battery! Switch to salvo fire and hit those remaining battleships! Let the Shock Cannon sing in unison too!"

The weapons operator gave out a sharp "Hai!" and began firing, the mighty guns of the Sharie firing in salvos before the massive blast of the shock cannon gave its word against two of the Kuvexian battleships out of the range of the fighters.

Engineering

The technician Noboyuki had spoken to answered loudly, "Hai!" She immediately went to work getting things in order, barking out orders herself as she attacked a console with her hands to give it its own orders. A voice rang out from the status board as someone reported, "Damage Control found the problem in Battery Two! Repairs imminent!"

Another voice called out from main power grid station ten feet away, "Generator Three is being a bit sassy today and is talking back, but I think we can coax her into keeping rolling!"

Unbeknownst the Noboyuki, the senior member of the Engineering crew smiled from behind him before yelling out to the entire room, "Alright, I am going to head to auxiliary station B at the bow to help manage the shock cannon! This guy here is in charge, he knows what he's doing!"

Engineering

"Yeah, I know exactly what I'm doing!" The idiot agreed with the senior technician, only to realize he may actually be breaking a rule by assuming rank in the presence of some higher officer, causing him to hesitate. In fact, he was even going to turn around and run to the technician, to get him to stay! He can't do this, not without someone who could catch him.

N-no, stop it, Baka! You done really well during those simulations, you have what it takes! Always remember what Elijah said! Baka means unstoppable!, the young officer thought to himself as he began to bring out his inner leader. I am unstoppable!

With a surge of vigor, he levitated up and over to the power grid area, and sent a quick telepathic message to the technicians in the power grid zone. Hold tight guys, I'm coming over to help right now.

The officer landed by a small team of power technicians, whom were maintaining Power Generator Three. He eyed the machine, which emitted uneven thrumming noises from within. As Noboyuki ran down the list of issues in his head, he asked aloud to the team. "Someone run me down how this generator is giving you guys problems? Have any of you run a system diagnostic? Why is it making that noise, because it's making me really squeamish!"

Able had to shut an eye, his teeth gritting as the explosion from the capital ship rocked his fighter, the blinding light flooding his cockpit. Once it was done and he heard the AWACS over the comm., he was ready for whatever new task they had to carry out. However, it seemed like they'd have to fend off the buzzards, for now. Buzzards that if they let unattended, could easily break through to the main fleet and do even more damage than had already been done by the destroyed Kuvexian leading ship.

Able grunted as a Kuvexian fighter whizzed over his head, pelting his hull with pot shots, two of which bounced of his nose, just inches from the glass of his cockpit. Glaring after the fighter, he made a sharp turn, pursuing closely. He pressed down on the trigger, letting loose a stream of aether fire, but the aircraft quickly shook him off, joining with two others and joining the very thick of the dogfight. "Damn." Able murmured, looking ahead just in time to see two more enemy aircraft intercepting him from the front, both lighting him up.

He flinched, expecting to be blasted to pieces. Thankfully, the fighters missed their mark. Deciding that he was an easy target out in the open, he turned the center stick downwards, flying towards the thick of the fighting himself. He barrel rolled through both friendly and enemy fighters, both of which pursued each other at breakneck speeds, aether fire passing before his very eyes in bright streaks. He caught sight of a straggler, who already looked to have minor damages. He intercepted, firing at the vessel, only a couple of his shots connecting.

As the fighter sped up to escape the onslaught, Able got into position to follow behind closely, where he continued to assault the craft with aether fire. The Kuvexian fighter rolled from side-to-side to evade any major damage, which made Able wish he hadn't used up both of his torpedoes. He managed to let his mind leave the fight long enough to speak to the CAG, while still concentrating on his current opponent. "Heartbreak Five to Heartbreak One. What are your orders, sir? Shall we take Six's advice and set up a choke point?"

Space
Heartbreak Squadron

Akane and Aoi held their fighter in for a few moments longer then the rest of the squadron, guiding the missles into their target. The blinding light from the explosion filled the cockpit as Akane deftly maneuvered the fighter away. Aoi for her part was using the sensors to analyze the damage for future attack runs. The fighter dodged and weaved into the furball of a dogfight with the rest of the squadron.

Aio stored the gathered sensor data for more complete analysis later and switched the sensor array to electronic warfare mode and started jamming the enemy fighters. Akane noticed that one Kuvexian fighter was confused by the sudden loss of a targeting lock and opened fire. The Kuvexian fighter exploded as Akane's fire hit it hard. Akane and Aio grinned as they fought their fighter.

Space

As her cockpit it up again with the impacts of the torpedoes, Shanota grinned as the fighter screamed away to avoid any shockwave before rolling back around to avoid getting get down by pursuers. She kept her flying to somewhat rookie level, letting the enemy tail her with the promise of an easy kill before pulling off rolls and sharp turns to keep them getting a bead on her as her gunpods lit up any that got to close. Her fighter turn and dove into the debris field, hopping Zanven would make good on his plan.

"Heartbreak Six, you better be ready to spring that trap of yours." Her cool starting to waver at the amount of shots whizzing by. "I'd like to not join the debris here, you know?"

Space

Streaking across the black, large blue streaks collided with another of the battleships out of the range of the fighters as the Star Army fleet became more and more involved in the fight. The following minutes were well active with the Imperator's fighter groups all jockeying around and shifting in their dance of death and destruction.

The fighter struck by the Sisko's fighter was wounded by the connecting shots, breaking off it's engagement to lick its wounds and hide. Shanota's guns fired with impunity against the Kuvexians, tearing two down within seconds of each other before she leveled off and dove for the debris field. The field itself was spreading out as the former mass that held it all together slowly died off. It was stretching at least two kilometers wide and half a tall. The only problem was the background radiation would affect missile guidance and tracking. Those who'd enter would have to fight like gods with guns alone.

Far off to the Star Army fleet's left, the ship lines collided as two cruiser divisions engaged their opposites with the YSS Dominator and YSS Absolution let loose their mighty batteries against the remaining battleships on that flank. On the right side, Imperator and Ultimatum hammered into the two remaining battleships as they were engaged as well. The cruiser divisions supporting the two Sharies tore into the destroyers and cruisers the Kuvexians were fielding.

It was a brawl.

Ume barked out across the frequency as her screen lit up with the markers denoting the black-hulled Kuvexian fighters. "Heartbreak Squadron, push for the debris field, chase them funny-looking fighters in their as well. Avoid the cruiser anti-fighter fire as best you can! If you don't survive, I'll see you on the deck!"

With a salutary nod to no one, she burn her two last missiles and dove her Ke-V10 into the tail of the debris field, being tailed by two black-hulled fighters. As soon as she hit the radiation field, her screens began to flicker as her HUD locked out. She only had the basics, but that was all she needed.

Engineering

A technician barked out, "Some of these generators are old, they are picky when they want to work sometimes. Come with their age." He tugged at his environmental suit and placed his helmet on, "Sometimes, you just gotta go woo them the old fashioned way." He walked off with a small toolbox towards one of the access ducts to the auxiliary generator rooms.

The main generators were chugging, the aging console that spoke their language showing increased strain being put through her. Everyone knew she was an old battleship, one of the earlier runs, but everyone knew the old girl could take it. It was just a matter of calming her down when she'd kick.

Bridge

The executive officer's terminal showed the same readout on its small section regarding the engineering decks. It was shortened to the point where it would only show the broken pieces or the ones extremely stressed. Each salvo from the guns would make some of the auxiliary generators flash for a moment. Each heavy maneuver of the engines from the helm would cause some causeway and connection to strain. You could almost hear the engines complain with each heavy maneuver and hear the hull cry with every solid hit that smashed against the armor.

She was holding, but she didn't like it. The two battleships on each side were focusing on their absolute opposite. The Shock Cannon primed to wipe two cruisers out of existence and had a slightly longer spool time. Everything looked alright, except the strain was beginning to show more and more. They closed to the point where their cannon became near useless, switching to primary their main batteries with all their might.

Things were starting to show more strain now, the former chief knew that they'd need time in dock this time for major repairs and refitting. The old battleship was really showing her age as well as her fists.

~

As time went on, every ship received a battering. Imperator was holding to the best of her ability with scars from Kuvexian Aether tearing holes and grooves into her hull. The Kuvexian ships were growing fewer and fewer until the last battleship gunned their engines and arced wide around followed by what remained.

Many communications came out to the Star Army flagship in regards to orders and requests on to what was going on. It was only until the larger vessels began spooling their jump drives did it became known what was happening. The battered survivors ripped into FTL with two ships, a cruiser and a destroyer, failing to jump. Sensors indicated that they were suffering from systems failures due to the failing and dying generators. Several Eikans moved to intercept as well as marine boarders in shuttles and through space itself. Within the hour, both of them were captured. Most of the Kuvexians were dead except the few members who had not offed themselves or were too wounded to try.

Meanwhile in the debris field, the Ke-V10s showed their prowess as their internal systems compensated for the loss of guidance control. The Kuvexian fighters that entered did not return. It was not a one sided fight however. None of the Imperator's fighters came out unscathed. The CAGs was running on one engine with parts missing and a shattered cockpit. Luckily, they were close enough that her oxygen system would hold until she was on the deck.

They flew in a wide arrowhead formation once all ships had exited the field and headed back towards their ship. The CAG was signalling rather than speaking to save her oxygen, but her flying was more lax than before. Her blue suit was clearer than normal due to the lack of a shield. The broad formation turned back towards the Imperator's aft to make their landings.

On the bridge, everything had gone heavily stressed to relaxed. No one present had not been stressed. Kaede had released himself from SPINE and was quietly around the bridge before he tapped his intercom to the entire ship.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just engaged the Kuvexian Navy... and we have won. We did not do so without sacrifice. Our ship alone has lost forty, six of which were permanent. As you all know, our ship is an old woman, and I personally believe she wants to retire for now. On the admiral's order, we are going to be replaced by another battleship and we are going to return to Hanako's Star. Rejoice, ladies and gentlemen, for even though we have lost those who will not return, those we have lost will never be forgotten."

The Taisa sat back down in his chair and gave his order, "Helm, prepare the drives for home while we take on our fighters. We're going home."

As the last fighter landed on her wheels and taxied beyond the hangar doors. The mighty Sharie as well as four cruisers for escort turned towards a distant star and streaked out towards it.

Home.