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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 19:49:37 GMT
The Vestahl Commonwealth was a fledgling stellar empire that had only recently, through a series of deals, referendums, and negotiations unified its home planet of Vestahl and began expansion into the stars. However the politics of that peaceful unification did not sit well with many of the citizens of the newly formed Commonwealth. Protests remained commonplace on Vestahl, and with the steady breakdown of talks between anti-unificationists and the planetary government violent clashes between protestors and police became increasingly regular, as did allegations of police brutality. When anti-unification leader Robert Moore was killed during a riot (allegedly at the hands of Commonwealth police) the Anti-Unificationists took it upon themselves to declare a revolution and begin a violent campaign of guerilla warfare.
Mired in planet wide counter-insurgency operations, the Commonwealth's growth as a stellar empire was ended before it truly had a chance to begin, and before long the Commonwealth turned to outside sources for aid in crushing the Vestahl Revolutionary Front. Gurpreet Singh, a Black Sail Organization member, was contracted by the Commonwealth to assist the Strategic Response Unit in putting down the insurrection. However, Singh saw an opportunity to carve out a country of his own on Vestahl, and rather than put down the Revolution, he joined them and muscled his way to the top.
With the influx of Black Sail arms, and personnel, the VRF was quickly able to topple the Commonwealth government, force them from the planet and seize or destroy most of the Commonwealth's extra-orbital assets. Desperate, the Commonwealth government in exile put out a call for aid in reclaiming their home world, and defeating the ambitious pirate warlord trying to carve out a country of his own.
Singh was disavowed by the Organization in short order (in the form of a several million bounty placed on his head) putting to rest any fear of reprisals from the pirate syndicate.
The Free Worlds was still building up. Even with the help of the Autaya Imperium and the increasing growth and settlement of the Ravskiy Mir system, there was only so much that their infrastructure could do.
But the fleet had been sending ships through to defend their new holdings like mad, led most recently by the proudest ship of the 3rd Hobben Squadron, the 20-year-old battleship Sunrise. It was the current leader of the Ancerious fleet, and when word came down the horn of the pirate takeover on Vesthal, the fleet's 1st Squadron was mobilized. The reasons for this were myriad, as were the reasons for much of anything in the Free Worlds, but three things were clear to see. One, Vesthal could become a trading partner, and an ally. Two, the fiercely independent militias and navy men jumped at the chance to test their mettle against an enemy that might very well become a threat to Ravskiy Mir.
Three? Well, to anyone that knew the Free Worlds that answer was simple. They hated pirates.
45 Free Worlds warships dropped FTL of the outskirts of the system beyond sensor range, the cloud of frigates and destroyers headed by the Sunrise and the squadron's four Raptor class cruisers. After hanging there for a few moments and scanning the system's outer planets, the FW fleet executed a mircrojump behind the first gas giant and established a stationary orbit in the planet's shadow. For the moment they stayed put, taking up guard formations and combat positioning as systems were checked and weapons were primed. They were here, they were ready, and they were spoiling for a fight.
Despite their losses suffered perviously at Thramas, the Araxium Empire had approached this one without hesitation. They saw in the Vestahl their own people, except that in the Araxian's case their emperor was betrayed, killed and his remaining forces scattered into exile under the leadership of the next empress. Empress Arabel really liked that story, because she was the same empress who led her people to new glory by reclaiming their lost land with the help of an ally. Now the Araxium Empire hoped to replicate that glory but this time by being the person helping a government who had lost their land.
The Araxians seeing this as an opportunity for propaganda and another opportunity for making more friends and testing out new equipment and weapons. And in response sending thirty ships, led by the 90km Ultimate Fast Battleship BLUE WITCH and under the direct command of the veteran of Thramas, Empress Arabel Ignatius Axonn.
Those 30 ships dropped out of FTL in arrow head formation close to the edge of the system. The 7km heavy Zerstorer Class and 6km lighter Kagero Class destroyers leading the formation. The second line consisted of the whole heavy cruiser formation made up of 17km Atago Class ships. While at the back sat the largest ships of the Araxian Kampfgruppe Valkyrie, two 30km Acclamator Class assault carrier and the flagship AIN BLUE WITCH.
Although, the TDA Ancerious expedition was not receiving much government support, this was a call that could not be ignored, a people languishing under a tyrant was not something the TDA would stand for, as many available resources were acquired for this operation. The Fleet Admiral had given permission for thirty ships to engage in the mission, as well as a sufficient supply of ground forces. This mission if successful would be a defining point for the Ancerious expedition. It would symbolise to all TDA peoples that TDA assets would be welcomed and well used to make a difference in this new galaxy, surely starting a rush of enlistments both military and colonial.
The mission fleet, being a detachment of the First TDAEF (Three Domain Alliance Expeditionary Force), is commanded by Rear Admiral Sara Switch, recently promoted and looking for an opportunity to prove herself in her new position. The fleet consisting of two Dreadnaughts, one being the Admirals Flagship the TDASV Young and Free, The fleet includes Four Battle Carriers, Ten Cruisers and fourteen Frigates.
The thirty ships arrived at the edge of the system. A multitude of sensor sweeps was conducted on the systems outer stellar objects as well as organizing the fleet into the Hoplon formation which put the Frigates as a moving screen for the Battle Carriers and Dreadnaughts, Cruiser stayed near them providing close the medium range protection and firepower. As with TDA protocol a Combat Air Patrol was established around the fleet and all fighters put on immediate launch notice. Shields were raised and weapons charged as none knew what to expect.
Of course the Idyll had received the Commonwealth's government's distress signals, and of course the Idyll understood the poor nation's plight. And, perhaps most importantly to the Metallurgists themselves, of course the Idyll was aware of the truly massive bounty on the head of Gurpreet Singh, the criminal usurper of the Commonwealth.
What prevented action was simple animosity.
For millennia, the Metallurgists coexisted with the universe and its fellow inhabitants, patiently and steadily expanding, steadily multiplying, and steadily conquering. Indeed, the issue the Commonwealth was experiencing was not, ultimately, anything new that the Idyll had not experienced. The plight merely faded into the background noise, perhaps purposefully, as the Idyll was content to allow the issue to rest, and for the steady march of progress to continue on as before.
Yet, it seemed, fate would not allow this to happen, for all that is required to set an event into motion may often be something unprecedented. The ambitious admiral of a rather large Metallurgist fleet, heavily armed in response to the pirate presence in the area, decided instead to go on the offensive. That bounty, after all, would definitely be of some use.
The fleet, five carriers, nine cruisers, seven destroyers, and eight escorts strong, had already detected that the system was rather crowded as it is. Shields were raised, and the fleet condensed, with carriers at the center, and more offensive vessels at the front and rear.
Flying dangerously close to one another, yet simultaneously defensively packed, the fleet weaved through the debris of the oort cloud of the system, acting as one vessel as the Admiral examined the state of the conflict carefully.
In recent months, the dirge had ascended from their catatonic state they had been held within upon entrance to Ancerious, and the Severance from their larger over mind. Naturally as they came to perceive more of the galaxy at large, so too did their programmed tendencies begin to reveal themselves once more. Driven to drive their influence to as many empires as possible, they 'graciously' responded to the pleas of assistance.
To the Dirge it was viewed as no more than an exercise, An excuse to flex their figurative muscles, and practice new combat doctrines, and fully explore the possibilities of their recent advances. AS well, it offered the possibility of gaining a new benefactor among the empires of the stars, naturally any race willing to respond to the call of arms would find themselves favored. The bounty however, was largely not even considered, as even the concept of currency had no occurred to the Dirge, it would likely simply be rejected, given away to garner more favor from a different faction.
at the edges of the named system, 16 churning pinholes of light emerged, and along with them a myriad of strange occurrences. The local space experienced extreme gravitational interference, light and the space around it bend and warped in a violent manner. from the pinholes energized particles erupted, creating the illusion of an aurora that lit up the dark expanse. With the strange physical phenomena, so to a radio signal accompanied, a vile cacophony of agonized shrieks and wails broadcast for all to hear.
Any hope or expectation of having a moment to catch one's breath and assess the situation, or being able to take any kind of a stealthy approach was quickly dashed by even the most cursory scan of the system. The system had four planets total, two gas giants orbiting near the system's edge, a rocky and uninhabitable world near the star, and Vestahl itself, the only inhabitable world in the system.
The problem was that some two hundred warships were currently bearing down on the last defensive post of the Strategic Response Unit (the Commonwealth's military). The SRU was vastly outnumbered and on the verge of collapse. There would simply be no time for a slow approach or a stealthy operation.
It was quite literally now or never.
"Engage system scans, let's see what's out there." Arabel ordered from the upper deck of the bridge. The BLUE WITCH was a truly unique warship, even for GAE standards, the bridge consisted of two decks and was very spacious, her four honor guard squads of 40 men stood around without obstructing the officers on deck. "Comms, send a signal off to HQ and update them on our situation."
"Scan complete, Lady Arabel." Captain Elias Faust stepped up beside Arabel's chair. "We're detecting other ships in system but we've also found the source of the distress signals. They're heavily outnumbered and currently under attack."
"Numbers?"
"Sensor officer estimates more than 180 ships attacking an unknown number of fewer ships. Too many objects between us and them." Elias remained at attention beside Arabel, as if waiting for orders.
"Have the carriers launch a first wave of strike craft and fighters, the BLUE WITCH as well." Arabel brought up a panel on the side of her seat and began drawing plans. "While the first wave moves in to engage, our fleet will move at full towards the enemy, let the heavy cruisers and destroyers engage first when in range. Leave the carriers with us and we will advance slowly. After the first wave begins their engagement, launch a second wave and followed by a third wave."
"As you wish." Captain Faust turned around and gestured to the fighter control officers on the deck to send the first wave in.
No more than five minutes later did the first wave of some 1 200 ships total launched from the hangar decks of the two assault carriers and the BLUE WITCH. The destroyers and heavy cruisers began building speed as they accelerated to the combat zone, leaving the ultimate fast battleship the BLUE WITCH with the two assault carriers.
“Admiral, the system scan is complete and… ah Admiral you may want to take a look at this” a concerned ensign said from behind their console.
“What’s the problem ensign… huh… that’s a few more ships then I was expecting. What are these fleets that are elsewhere?” Admiral switch said with a more then a small amount of concern.
“Unknown ma’am, but one already seems to be on an intercept course here, where there appears to be a confrontation of sorts and it’s also the source of the distress beacon”
“Alright, good” Switch strode back to her command console at the centre of the CIC. She knew the odds were stacked against her but every attempt must be made to help this system out it was her duty after all. After a moment of contemplation she looked around to see that the crew were waiting for orders, some were clearly nervous.
“Set fleet condition to Sabre one, Launch Void Group one and get Void group two ready for launch, maintain formation until the last second when I say get our frigates to assume the cyclone formation, us, our other dreadnaught and the battle carriers will provide long range fire and the cruisers will cover us. Comms give an update to HQ and be ready to send hails to other ships.”
As soon as the admiral finished speaking the orders were carried out. The TDA fleet came about and set course for the battle zone. Pilots ran to their Fighters as more and more were launched into the void. All in all 3000 fighters were launched.
The Free World's fleet scans told them the tale, and the tale was a grim one. The pirates had a very strong foothold, and if they didn't act now, the battle was already going to be lost. All the same, they could not rush in blindly firing all the while-- that had never worked before.
Admiral Nills aboard the Sunrise gave the order for all ships carrying strike fighters to launch them immediately, and to slingshot around the planet.
The slingshot maneuver, or the 'Teeth-loosener' as some of the more colorful crews had labeled it, was a maneuver that was often practiced but not often used in combat. It was intensely uncomfortable to those aboard the older ships with accordingly older inertial dampening systems, and for the larger combat craft it sometimes put a lot of strain on their frames.
The upshot to it was that the fleet came screaming around the apex of the planet's orbit like bats outta hell, and their velocity allowed them to spread out into separate groups, making the large ships less likely to destroy a lot of their fellows with shrapnel if hit, and the little ones a holy hell of a lot harder to actually hit in the first place.
The Free Worlds fleet spread out like water tossed onto hot concrete, and with a small cloud of 200 strikecraft screening them as the cruisers, destroyers and battleships unleashed a hellish volley from their main guns and opened with the first allied salvo of the battle as all ships in the formation prepared to open fire with their missile batteries.
The nameless admiral of the Metallurgist fleet, perhaps, would have grinned had they possessed a mouth. Their own system scan had been completed, and the results of this more detailed scan interested the Admiral greatly. The system was, as previously determined, already crowded, though this was not a result of being surrounded by pirates. From what the admiral could tell, other spacefaring nations had the same idea of claiming this bounty.
But of course, every Metallurgists' primary emotional element is apathy, and not even the Admiral was able to shed this fact from their being. In truth, they cared little for their fellow bounty hunters, who may either compete with them or seek to liberate the Commonwealth out of sheer righteousness, and they cared very little for the bounty, as the Idyll did not specifically desire it. The Metallurgists cared about themselves and each other the most - as the Admiral saw it, this would be a good opportunity to further hone their fleet's skills, and earn recognition back home for their heroism.
And at that, the Metallurgist fleet, coming in from the opposite side of the solar system and receiving a gravitational boost from the system's star, swooped in, definitely recklessly, the small and very compactly-arranged fleet slowing down greatly near the site of the battle.
The Metallurgists were pilots unlike any others; their interstellar vessels, constructed from the very same alloy as the Metallurgists themselves, were responsive, fast, and agile, especially with a Metallurgist pilot at the helm. As such, the Admiral's fleet flew as one, coordination and communication between vessels being near-instant. The fleet would be a difficult target to hit, though as with everything, it was not impossible.
The carriers, situated at the core of the fleet, began to strategically release the fighters within, which began to bravely, or recklessly, fly into the heat of the battle. The rest of the fleet remained, apparent apathy palpable.
The white holes widened slightly before collapsing into 16 sleek organic forms. They wasted no time preparing themselves for the coming battle. A cloud of charged particles shot from every ship, while the carriers ejected their load. The churning mass of flesh surrounded the Dirge fleet, protecting them from harm.
It seemed that many factions had answered the desperate cry for aid, though through the volume of chatter that broadcast into open space, it was fairly simple to discern friend and foe. A generic greeting encoded in binary was sent towards those whom the Dirge may call 'allies' for the Time being, whilst they began to charge weapons and head towards the hostile fleet.
Arna had just enough time to shout another set of orders over the coms before she was flying through the air, impacting the wall of the room with enough force to break her left arm. The particle beam had impacted the command section and exploded tearing a hole in the side of the large spire. Wind, smoke and rubble filled the area as she coughed and managed to pull herself up with a growl of pain. The sound of warfare now echoed through the room, the dead of her command staff were scattered about their mangled positions.
Picking up what was left of the communicator she started screaming into the long range coms "We cannot last long here! Perimeter walls 1-7 are breached and we are about to loose number 8! The Raka has just been destroyed and my staff have been killed! If you do not act now we will be wiped out!" Another large explosion blossomed to life just outside the spire, one the last of the Commonwealths Defender Triarch made interceptors that were still flying having killed another enemy craft. They had lost nearly all air support, and it was looking like the next hour would be their last.
The spire was huge, the site for one of the planets spaceports and also doubling as its primary military base, having been secured by the Commonwealth as one of their strongpoints for sometime the rebel forces had quickly laid seige to it in order to try and wipe out the exiled government. The capital had fallen and the Commonwealth leaders had been evacuated here, it was a last stand and nothing more. Troops fought tooth and nail in the barricades and wall breaches below the spire, the concentric rings of the fortifications all but smashed and poc marked from constant warfare, the spires shield had collapsed many days ago and the enemy had partial aerial superirority. Only the guns of the three vessels that hung above the spire, and the guns of another 18 more above in low orbit kept the spire ssafe for now, but this was but temporary. The three vessels hanging over the base took fire by the moment from found forces and long range ballistics while the fleet above battled with the overwhelming forces of the rebel backed fleet. Arna hoped that their aid would make it in time.
She checked her pistol ammunition and made her way out of the command room, she still had two companies in reserve inside the spire, she would lead them personally to bolster the failing defenses.
Beneath the surface of Vestahl itself, sequestered away in a command bunker Gurpreet Singh listened to the latest reports coming in. Everything had been going according to plan. They had secured the Commonwealth's old central command bunker, they'd captured most of the Commonwealth's fleet, and the final push on Levitsky and the SRU's orbital assets was under way.
Everything had been going according to plan.
Had.
It was with some alarm that he heard of the first reinforcement. Thirty or so ships, nothing that would turn the tide in the Commonwealth's favor. Thirty had become sixty, sixy had become ninety, and now the Vestahl Revolutionary Front was facing a force nearly the size of its own in space. Singh was angry more than anything else, he'd been given assurances.
"I promised there would be no armed response from the Organization," McKendrick had answered, sounding as bored and indifferent as ever even as the VRF's artillery had thundered in the distance. "There was no armed response from the Organization. There was a bounty, nothing more,"
"Then why are there two hundred ships in my system!?" Singh cried. "The bounty shouldn't have brought this much heat,"
"Heartfelt appeals from the government did I'm sure," McKendrick had answered.
"They can't broadcast outside the sector,"
"Can't they?" McKendrick pressed. "Had I known that I wouldn't have had their appeals passed on,"
Singh let out a frustrated shout.
"You motherfucker!"
"Goodbye Mr. Singh. The Organization sends its regards,"
His next call was to Cortez, the man commanding the fleets over the planet. Orders were simple: kill the interlopers no matter the cost.
Cortez gave and affirmative and stared at the tactical display aboard the VNMS Shadow Strike. He'd styled himself as a Void Lord and with Singh's approval had declared himself supreme commander of the Navy. He hadn't expected to have to live up to that title so soon... but he was no rookie commander, pissing himself over his first hard contact. He was a veteran of the Federal Navy, and he'd been commanding vessels for the Organization for a decade. This was not his first rodeo, and he sincerely doubted it would be his last.
"Move our carrier force to engage the incoming snub craft," He commanded. "Standard formations, no heroics. Pull back once their heavier ships are in range. I want a destroyer force out after the small fries coming in off the gas giant. And I want the bulk of our fire focused here,"
He pointed to the contact marking the incoming Idyll forces, packed tightly together. A poor tactical choice, he reflected.
"Introduce them to the nuclear era if you'd be so kind," He commanded.
His orders were followed in short order. Six carriers broke into three groups, supported by five corvettes each and began moving toward the snub craft launched by the GAE, Dirge, and Idyll. The carrieres disgorged fighters and interceptors of their own as they went while that corvettes began opening up on the hostiles snub craft with point defense, and anti-snub missile batteries.
Some thirty destroyers, accompanied by five missile boats broke from the formation and began on an intercept course with the freeworlders. The missile boats, with their superior range, came into firing range first, launching salvo after salvo toward the freeworlders, covering the destroyers as they continued to advance into firing range.
Finally, the heavy hitters of the fleet turned their attention to the Idyll. Clustered together as they were, they were the perfect targets for large yield missiles. The heaviest ships at Cortez's disposal launched dozens of nuclear tipped missiles toward the Idyll, set to proximity detonations in order to catch as many of the tightly clustered ships in a single blast as possible.
The battle had now well and truly begun.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 19:49:56 GMT
As the first GAE fighters began engaging the enemy who had launched an equal amount of fighters in return, the second wave now consisting of twice the original number took off from the three ships at the rear. Arabel watched the 2 400 craft leave the hangars to form up before leaving towards the enemy.
On their screens, Elias and Arabel watched as the battle unfold. The previous scan was further enhanced and the end result showed 200 enemy ships of all sizes while also revealing other fleets in system. She had recently received a message from one of the fleets but could not make sense of it. But the other message, one sent from the station, that one she understood well enough.
"Helmsman, take us to full power. Move us towards the combat zone." Arabel then turned to Captain Faust to order the carriers on either side of them to follow.
With a slight groan the AIN BLUE WITCH began gaining speed and moved towards the enemy fleet. Perhaps now with a 90km long Ultimate Fast Battleship bearing down on them, their opponents would consider directing more fire their way instead of towards the commonwealth forces.
The reason for the tightly-packed Metallurgist fleet was for the purpose of scouting; the nimble ships of the Idyll could fly closely together safely, and move quickly as one ship, decreasing their target size and detectability, while also defending the center ships in the event of an emergency. The recently-born Admiral seemed to have forgotten as much, seemingly caught off-guard by the nuclear volley by Cortez.
In the wake of this failure, the fleet reacted automatically, breaking formation sharply - gracefully - like a school of fish avoiding a shark. That is not to say that several ships were not damaged - One unfortunately slow Destroyer was forced to take the brunt of several missiles. Fragile, the vessel was nearly obliterated by the blast, more than half of its mass being lost to the expanse of space as a result of the explosion. Yet, in spite of the horrific damage, it lived on.
Idyll vessels were something different; forged from the same alloy as its Metallurgist passengers, every vessel had a core reactor somewhere at its center. As long as this reactor was still functional, and still connected to at least a part of the vessel, that part would be able to continue functionality.
Others would not be so lucky - three unfortunate escorts were obliterated, silvery shards exploding into a miasma, the light of the sun reflecting off of them brightly. To any non-Metallurgist observer, they would have likely appreciated the resulting rainbow, reflecting off of the miasma; the Metallurgists wouldn't have thought the same.
At the least, the fighters continued on, sleek and quick, though similarly fragile to their mother ships. It would take skill to destroy one, certainly, though not a lot of force. Admiral Switch studied the tactical console, enemy ships had broken off from the main concentration and engaged the other fleets, but not the TDA fleet, was it a trap, did they mean to insult us by not recognizing us as a threat, will the other fleets be able to hold after all, radiological sensors confirmed several nuclear detonations, all these things rushed through the Admirals head.
“Ma’am, incoming transmission from the source of the distress signal; Looks like they need immediate assistance or they are going to be defeated” said the comms operator.
“Alright, the other fleets will have to fend for themselves; all ahead full maintain current formation but halt when we’re at optimal range for the SMACs then fire at their largest ships first see if we can’t draw their ire this way. Send word to the fleet to start salvo fire with their Spinal 3100s it’ll be basically pot shots but it’s better than nothing. Get our fighters to hang close don’t want to be caught surprised by missiles or enemy fighters and get General Hashmon up here.” Switch barked her orders and turned to the comms operator
“Send a message of assurance to the people at the planet, and tell the other fleets in the system what we’re up to and that we mean to only rid this system of tyrannical pirate filth and make sure they know we mean no harm to them”
The engines of the TDA ships hummed as they propelled the ships through the void towards the pirate fleets main concentration, meanwhile the Spinal 3100s roared to life firing shot after shot towards to pirate fleet. The Dirge fleet spread itself thin. The interdiction was placed directly I'm between both battleships, while the shield carriers, and give ships took the rear. The escorts formed a thin staggered line along the edges of the oblong formation. Using the targets planets mass as an anchor, the Dirge fleet began rapidly accelerating towards the hostile forces at an angle.
Plasma spinners projected nets of super heated plasma in between their targets and the fleet, functionally acting as a simple detergent to the hostile strike craft launched, as well damaging or detonating the few munitions fired directly at them.
The fighter swarms condensed their mass, forming overall, a much sparse swarm, though much more armored, and armed with basic particle throwers. The swarms formed 6 rotating halos around the fleet, their particle throwers firing as they reached the edge of their own formation. As they grew closer to their prey, the particle shields of each ship would begin to condense towards their targets.
Due to their far position no weapons fire was given, as the distance to their nearest target was much to great, even for the longer range weapons.
"Incoming missiles!" went the shout, and the response was immediate. The CIWS and AA of every ship in the advancing, spread out formation spun up quickly and locked onto the cloud of incomings, waiting until they came into range. In the silence of space there was no sound to mark when they opened fire, but a hurricane of fire erupted forth into space and right into the pirate missile swarm.
Yes, they got most of the missiles as the AAs and CIWS worked, but they didn't get all of them. A single destroyer took a fairly heavy hit to its engines and a pair of assault frigates took heavy armor damage as the fleet barreled on and a dozen fighters went down, but the Free Worlders weren't deterred.
These pirates wanted to play their game? Time to play by Hobben rules. Every ship in the fleet began loosing their ASM batteries as the heavies continued to fire with their main guns. Missiles of all payloads from 2 megatonners to half kilotonners streaked forward and screamed through space, coming at the pirates in staggered waves.
There was screaming.
Arna fired off another round from her pistol before she was momentarily relieved from the screaming sound by the tank next to her firing its main gun, shaking the entire area as a rebel MBT exploded, the discarding sabot round punching straight through under the track and tearing the enemy vehicle apart. It wasn’t long before her hearing came back again, to be filled with constant raging sounds of war.
She had abandoned her command post up in the spire, personally leading a counter attack to try bolster the defenses in key areas alongside the last remaining reserves. Her left arm was wrapped to her body broken from when her command post was blown in; she held her laser pistol in her right. Her blonde hair was matted and caked with dirt but she wore no helmet. Around her behind one of the large collapsed wall sections were her men, laying down suppressive fire alongside 3 tanks in an attempt to stop an enemy breakthrough to the wall beyond after this section had been brought down by an enemy cruise missile. Another round of fire erupted from her position as several rebel sappers tried to crawl a little closer, each carried breaching charges hoping to destroy this collapsed segment and blow the defending forces along with Arna to hell. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Several were cut down by heavy machinegun fire and she herself put a beam through one of their heads.
They were holding for now. The situation was tolerable while their aid came ever closer. The remnants of the fleet and the defense platforms above held the enemy back and the pirate fleet had now begun to be more focused on the incoming forces, giving the Commonwealth fleet breathing space. With the combined precision fire support from the three vessels hanging above the spire Arna was adamant they could hold long enough.
That was when the warning klaxons started blaring. Both her and the troops looked around trying to see what was happening, Arnas personal coms unit began shouting about an incoming ballistic strike. That was impossible, the rebels needed this base. Then she saw the five silver streaks arc across the sky, one was intercepted at range by a ABM system built into the Spire itself, a second was also destroyed by the vessels overhead, but they were travelling too fast.
"Get into cover!" She shouted, the men around her scrambled rapidly to get somewhere to hide. Arna herself ducked under the tank that was beside her as the entire area lit up with damaging brightness and three suns sprang into life high above the spire. The fireballs from the Thermonuclear warheads vaporised one of the small escorts instantly, the shockwaves then pummeled another from the sky while the destroyer took heavy damage as heat warped its armour plating and the shockwave smashed the ship apart. The wreck quickly now no longer held aloft by its own power rapidly started falling.
The Spire took the brunt of the Nuclear strike, the heat melting some of its upper outer sections and either killing or horrifically burning anyone standing outside in the open, the shockwave and overpressure then hit soon after. Tanks were thrown about like toys, soldiers were sent flying like they weighed nothing at all their insides pulped by the sheer power of the blast. Commonwealth forces were the most affected, the rebel forces having taken precautions before the strike to anchor themselves or find cover and they now rapidly attacked as the fireball now started to block out the sun, Arna coughed pulling herself free of the tanks underbelly that had luckily not been blown away. She had no idea how many men she had just lost but the strike wasn’t the worst part.
With another huge crash and explosion the destroyers wreckage impacted the spire surroundings, smashing entire wall sections and killing commonwealth and rebel forces below it. Billowing smoke clouds rose up to join with the nuclear blasts obscuring most of the battlefield. Arna cursed with most of her forces now in disarray and with the walls breached by the crashing vessel AND with her aerial support down the Commonwealth forces were doomed.
Three of the corvettes met their ends as the GAE bared down on the main fleet, unable to retreat quickly enough. Further back the two carriers were mostly unhindered, simply pulling back toward the main fleet but leaving clear firing lines open.
The carrier force engaging the Dirge was more fortunate. Or at the very least more prudent. When their enemies pulled back to circle the main force rather than moving out to engage the small force proper they simply broke off engagement, pulling back toward the main fleet with only the occasional torpedo run or pot shot at the advancing Dirge.
The final carrier force held it's position, engaging the advancing Idyll. Hundreds of fighters and interceptors flew into the battle, weaving and jousting with the Idyll fighters quickly bogging them down in a dog fight while the five corvettes took attacks of opportunity, firing point defense and launching anti-snub missiles whenever the opportunity to do so presented itself. As instructed they fell back toward the main force as the Idyll advanced, the corvettes and carriers always just outside of effective weapons range for the larger ships.
Near the freewordlers the missile boats were undeterred, continuing to fill the space that separated them from the Freeworlders with salvo after salvo as the destroyers came into range. The missile barrage launched upon them was answered, CIWS coming to life and filling the space around the destroyers with red hot munitions. Most of the missiles never made it to their mark, and those that did impacted against shields that flickered and pulsed with each hit.
Of the thirty destroyers, a half dozen were damaged by the barrage, shields failing and armor taking the impact. Then they fired back. Railguns roared (as much as a weapon could roar in the vacuum of space at any rate) to life. Five of the destroyers targeted the largest ship, the Colony Class, while the remaining twenty five focused their fire on picking off the freeworlder frigates.
Aboard the Shadow Strike, Cortez listened quietly as his crew called out updates and reports to him. The 'small fries' coming off the gas giant had been engaged, updates to follow. His carrier groups were pulling back from two of their assigned targets, the missile barrage had been less effective than he would have liked, one of the hostile fleets was bull rushing him, and a second had made it into weapons range and had begun harassing his fleet from range.
He contemplated the situation, carefully going through the motions of lighting a cigar as he did. By the time the cigar was lit and the first puff of smoke was exiting his lungs his next course of action had been decided.
"Carrier group two is to re-engage their adversaries," He called. "Commandant Haroldson is to take his forces and assist them while Commandant Harper will keep our friends at range occupied. Everyone else, direct fire onto targets here," He singled out the closing GAE fleet. "And clear out the remainder of the Commonwealth's ships,"
"What about the defense platforms?" One man asked.
"Ignore them for now," Cortez replied. "They can't provide fire support on the planet's surface so they are of less concern for the time being,"
Acknowledgement was given and his order went out. The carrier group near the Dirge halted their retreat, snub craft forming up and preparing to engage as the Dirge neared and Haroldson broke from the main fleet with his force: A battleship, a pair of battlecruisers, five cruisers, and ten destroyers advanced toward the Dirge, taking potshots as they closed into formation with the two carriers and five corvettes already holding.
Toward the TDA came Harper's fleet. Five battlecruisers, five heavies, ten light cruisers and five missile boats broke from the main fleet on an intercept course, answering pot shot with pot shot as they evaded the long range fire.
The remaining hundred ships of the fleet, as instructed, turned their railguns and missile launchers either on the GAE or the remainder of the Commonwealth's ships.
On the ground, General Claudette LaBrosse answered a call from Singh, listening silently as he fumed over a so-called betrayal from Quinn McKendrick. There was some vindication in the pirate's anger. LaBrosse had warned him not to underestimate McKendrick, and to refuse any offer the contract broker gave them as she was sure it would include an infinite number of loop holes through which he could wriggle out of an agreement, but Singh had ignored her advice.
"The point is," Singh said finally. "I want you to cease your attack on Levitsky,"
"Cease it?" LaBrosse cried incredulously. "We're pushing on their last stronghold, the nuclear strike crippled their ability to oppose us!"
"And nearly two hundred ships just rolled into the system," Singh snapped in reply. "Halt the attack until Cortez has orbital superiority again. You don't have any more nukes to call on right now General,"
"Sir, if we can capture Levitsky any attempted drop by hostile elements would have to come through a fully operational orbital shield. We would have ever advantage against an attempted landing. We need to push the attack, not pull back,"
"Your opinion is noted," Singh growled. "Now do as you are told General."
The line went dead and LaBrosse swore loudly, hurling the communicator across the tent.
"Calling all units," She said picking up her comms. "Pull back to defensive line Sierra. Minimize offensive operations to skirmishes and directed artillery fire."
She listened as the objections poured in. Every commander out there, whether they were one of the pirates, or defectors from the old regime shared her opinion. Now was not the time to halt the offensive.
But orders were orders. And in the end, they did as they were told.
The Horizon's shields tanked the hits, flickering briefly before the titanic (in relation to the Free Worlders) warship's own guns returned fire, the four huge spinal railguns spewing metal and death straight into four of the destroyers that had engaged it as it's CIWS howled storms of metal and her missile batteries continued launching salvo after salvo. Her turret gun batteries did not speak-- yet.
The cruisers flanking the Horizons opened fire with all they had now, adding both the railgun each heavy warship carried to the ceaseless barrage the Free Worlds was putting out. The Raptors barreled on, targeting two destroyers for each ship with their heavy arms and raining a hell of nuclear munitions from their ASM pods. The destroyers followed suit, doing much the same though each only possessed one spinal gun and focusing their fire on the missile boats-- they had to go now.
The frigates had been spread out, and now further and further they scattered as the other destroyers engaged them. One of the assault frigates was not fast enough and took a bad hit through the aft hull section, the slug punching clean through her shields and causing a slow overload in her engines. Immedately the ship signaled retreat and a combat ineffective signal to the rest of the fleet, backing off quickly to try and repair the critical damage to their core. Others were damaged, and some heavily, but they carried on firing flight after flight after flight of missiles as they barreled on.
The snubcraft now hit their afterburners in full, the gel layers in the suits of the pilots doing as best as possible to compensate for the sudden acceleration as they divided into their squadrons and moved to dive down upon the enemy formation.
Arabel's command ship and two assault carriers had finally caught up with the main fleet. The destroyer and heavy cruisers that left before the three larger ships began advancing had slowed to a crawl as their shields and hulls took the barrage of missiles and railgun slugs head on. Three destroyers and one heavy cruiser were hit and received a moderate amount of damage, their hulls punctured by the railguns and armor began peeling off due to the harsh impact of the enemy missiles, the rest remained lightly damaged except for the three heavy cruisers at the back of the formation. A Destroyer that had been far in front leading the group took wave after wave of fire before eventually succumbing to damage, with all decks ablaze and her ammunition storage about to blow, the crew rushed to their escape pods.
"Order a halt on our ships, bring them to the flanks of the BLUE WITCH. Where are our Starfighters?" The Empress, Arabel Ignatius Axonn. And despite her small size her voice was heard clearly all through the bridge.
"The first and second waves are returning to the ships. A third wave is being prepared, should we launch them now?" Admiral Tanya Kutuzov appeared from a corner of the bridge, she had been on the lower deck of the bridge since their arrival in the system. "They'll finish taking on fuel and ammo shortly and are ready for launch."
"Have the third wave launched as soon as possible, get them out there before the first two waves return. Also, let us show our opponents some heavy firepower. Prepare to fire our primary armament, and put the Karl rail artillery into action."
"It will be as you wish." The Admiral turned to the crew below and directed their efforts in bringing their massive primary armament online. "Open doors one through four, extend barrels and load solid shot. Orders to fire on mark. Raise all offensive platforms to the surface, put our defensive system online to intercept counter battery fire."
Outside on the surface of the BLUE WITCH, doors folded away on the four blisters at sat along the ship's spine. Each opening up to reveal three 10 meter wide railgun barrels that extended out some distance. And while placed all over the hull, doors slid open as smaller artillery and railgun turrets rose to the surface.
"Mein Kaiserin, all weapons ready to fire." Tanya looked up at Arabel. Seeing her nod, she silently ordered all batteries to fire at will. "Launch the third wave."
The first two waves were small in comparison to the third, this time with most of their fighters and strike craft launched. A total of 10 000 ships formed up before making their way to the target.
Admiral switch watched on her console as a contingent of enemy ships peeled off and headed towards her direction. This was it this is where the fighting truly began soon the mettle of her and her troops would be tested in the crucible of battle.
“Launch Void group two and get three ready for launch ASAP, start rolling the reserve ships out we’re going to need replacements soon. Focus SMACs, on their larger ships first, work your way down from there. Everything else is weapons free. Alright this is the plan people.”
The Admiral bought up on the tactical display, The TDA fleet and pirate fleet further along their intended trajectories.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, we’re not stopping to engage the enemy in a stand up fight instead when they approach closer we break in half go around them on their port and starboard, then join back together on the other end.” The admirals command staff talked among themselves for a second.
“Admiral, what about the big guns without our bow towards the enemy, we can’t use them.” Said a concerned officer
“That’s the tricky part.” The Admiral continued
“We’re going to rotate the ships using inertial drift so the bow is always facing the enemy while we pass them. Then we hit the engines and turn towards the main pirate concentration”
The Staff officers looked on is surprise and confusion, could such a plan really work they thought. The Admiral dismissed her officers to dispatch the orders. Another Void group of 3000 fighters launched and the engines of all TDA ships were put into full power. Railgun turrets we’re orientated towards the enemy and began salvo fire. The SMACs came to life and started firing their superheated payload across the void towards the fleet that approached them.
While the nuclear warheads had initially fazed the Idyll's fleet, the ensuing moment of relative calm gave the Admiral the time required to regroup. While he had made a mistake, the Idyll was nothing if not loyal to one another. The Admiral would see the fleet through to the end of the battle - assuming they all survived.
"The enemy is being attacked on many different fronts," Was the report from the Admiral's inferior officer. "While they are playing more defensively in response, it would not be wise to continue our full-frontal assault. They simply outnumber our fighters, admiral - this fight is moving too slowly." The admiral, with a nod, accepted his officer's observation. A tiny part of him was somewhat indignant that he could have observed as such himself, but programming overrode all, and he soon returned to his strategizing.
The wordless order was sent, and received by all functional vessels in the fleet the fighters would continue their stalemated battle, distracting the Commonwealth fighters - the Idyll's carriers, thankfully, still had plenty left in reserve - while the rest of the fleet, in the momentary absence of opposition, would advance as far as seen reasonable. The vessels' speed and agility would be put to the test. The Admiral was alert.
As the Dirge formation grew nearer, the interdiction found itself unnecessary. Its gravitational drives typically used to produce an interdiction well instead began to magnify the local space disturbances produced by the fleets engines. While not as effective as a dedicated form, it generated a simple gravitational lense around the fleet. Not nearly powerful enough to deflect incoming fire, but given the distance between the fleet and engaging fleer, incoming shot could be deflected by a few degrees. Enough to turn a Centre of mass shot into a glancing blow, enough to redirect fire into thicker portions of shielding. This effect, in conjunction with the churning g masses of flesh, and particle shield that now completely were completely focused towards the incoming enemy, the incoming 'pot shots’ were largely negated. The occasional shot punctured through the defenses, and several found their mark, impacting the largest targets, though, the damage was largely cosmetic, as flesh quickly congealed to fill the punctures.
As the fleet drew nearer the long range weapons on each battleship began to fire at extreme distances, and likewise, new light speed particle throwers began to fire towards the hostile fleet from fighters and escort alike. At this distance it could simple be regarded as suppression, returning fire, simple produced for sake of it. Arna laid down another barrage of suppressing fire, the rifle in her hands barrel glowed orange as she continued to fire. Where she had gotten the rifle she didn’t remember but the fighting had been even more intense as the rebels had made a massive assault on the spire, easily breaking through the smashed walls and defensive positions that had either been wiped out or heavily damaged by the nuclear strike and then collapsing commonwealth vessel. Radiation was high, although thankfully there was no fallout due to the airburst. Arna was sure the gamma pulse would screw her health over in years to come, but who cared when she was probably about to die anyway.
She held out with the remains of about 6 different squads, having taken up defensive positions in a large set of craters from an artillery barrage, the rebel troops were moving up rapidly. An enemy IFV was now moving into range as well.
"Ma'am it’s been an honour but we can’t do shit to that IFV, we lost our AT weapon and we are out of grenades"
"Well we did everything we can, either we sit here waiting or we go out in a blaze of glory. Affix bayonets!" She ordered, throwing away the rifle she had used one handed and now pulled out a large combat knife.
"I wouldn’t charge yet ma'am... Their pulling back" one of the troopers shouted. Arna quickly looked up over the crater edge. The IFV was reversing and the troops were quickly pulling back. The last working radio was also signifying enemy forces were withdrawing all over.
"Well fuck me sideways." Arna muttered "Looks like something spooked them, alright don’t waste this opportunity, we withdraw to the Spire base, that’s where everyone will make our stand, we don’t know how long we have now let’s go!"
The Free Worlds battleship's big guns were virtually worthless against the agile destroyers, the four targeted ships nimbly dodging the shots from the battleship while their shields flickered and pulsed from the hits the cruisers inflicted. CIWS continued firing from the pirate fleet, shooting down missile after missile, shields flickering, pulsing, and eventually failing as missile made it through the storm of counter measures.
When the proverbial smoke cleared the destroyers pressed their attack. Five more had been damaged in the barrage. Visible gouges and holes pock marked their exterior, and in addition a sixth, previously damaged destroyer, had gone dark and drifted uselessly through space, it's weapons silent.
The remaining destroyers pressed their attack. Nineteen closed in with their prey, the frigates, and fired their rail guns and ship to ship missiles at the smaller vessels. The ten destroyers that had engaged the battleship continued firing, un deterred by the return fire, launching slug after slug and missile after missile toward the behemoth vessel.
Four of the missile boats held their targets, continuing to launch their salvo toward the enemy fleet while the fifth angled toward the incoming snub craft and launched a salvo of missiles toward them, set to proximity detonations all over the formations.
Elsewhere, while the initial shots from the TDA fleet failed to penetrate the shields of the coming fleet, when they broke and began drifting around the pirates, shots began to score home. Two battlecruisers shields fell, the first took a lucky shot to the reactor and blew itself out of existence in seconds, sending chunks of debris flying in every direction. A handfull of light cruisers took hits and a heavy cruiser reported catastrophic electrical failure.
The ships were quick to react to the maneuver though. Rather than trying to engage both forces they instead angled and powered on an intercept course with only one of the drifting fleets, separating it from its counterpart while the vessels began pouring on return fire, no longer the pot shots and occassional missile swarms, but proper fire now that the enemy was in range. Railguns flashed in the void, and the missile boats began unleashing their salvos on the drifting fleet.
Near the Idyll the carriers and corvettes followed their initial orders. As the fleet advanced they fell back toward the main fleet while their snub craft continued to harry and harass the Idyll all along their advance. Bombers, covered by point defense fire from corvettes and fighter escorts lined up attack runs and launched torpedoes toward the smaller Idyll escort ships.
The fleet near the Dirge however, had no intention of falling back. Though the strange monstrosities scored hits on both of the carriers, and destroyed a corvette, the rest of the fleet sent to intercept them soon arrived. The battleship led the way, opening up on the largest of the spaceborn creatures with its main guns and was soon joined by the battlecruisers while the cruisers and destroyers picked smaller targets.
Aboard the VNMS Shadow Strike Cortez paced around the tactical display as it was updated with the latest reports from the fleet. The Idyll would be upon him before long, and at least part of the TDA fleet provided they didn't break off their advance to assist their comrades. The rest were being held at bay for now, and most of the Commonwealth's navy was a smoldering wreck after the last barrage. He kept forces committed to engaging the defense platforms, but the majority of his ship turned their attention toward the GAE.
A carrier had been destroyed in their opening barrage. A pair of cruisers damaged and a handful of missile boats destroyed. But the fact remained that the GAE had rushed into battle against an enemy who outnumbered them without the support of their allies.
"I suppose the blitzkrieg can't work everytime," Cortez mused aloud. "Would you kindly send word to battlegroup one through three. Turn guns on the GAE and fire at will. Everyone else continue as ordered,"
Acknowledgements were shouted back and the fleet began repositioning, some sixty ships turning their guns on the closing GAE vessels and firing. Battleships, all the way down to destroyers opened up on the advancing fleet while the carriers disgorged thousands of ships to intercept the incoming GAE swarm.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 20:06:36 GMT
The battleship's shields, Autaya-made and recently installed, flickered and pulsed madly as pirate fire managed to get past the big ship's defensive guns. But on and on it went, it's escorting cruisers peeling off to flank the mass of destroyers with their batteries spitting metal, flames and nukes. At the same time, with the enemy vessels passing out of the firing arc of the Horizon's main guns the big beast's secondary batteries finally spoke. Storms of heavy shells travelling at terrifying speeds for such weapons erupted forth from the thing, slamming into the enemy formation as it's ASM units continued to scream out nuclear death.
The luck of the frigates, it seemed, had finally broken. Autayan shields flickered and died as five ships were heavily damaged by the initial barrage with two being disabled and a third vanishing in a cloud of short-lived flame and erupting shrapnel. This shrapnel peppered another two assault frigates as the rest of that formation and the missile frigates behind them scattered like roaches under a bright light. And even then, more assault frigates were peppered with fire and rattled under the furious assault, rattled and scorched. The stubby ships went every which way, up, down, sideways and a few attempting to burn right past the pirate destroyers as they fled the sudden holocaust and lay off the firing for a few precious seconds to get clear-- and it resumed shortly.
The snubcraft that had begun their dive onto the pirate formation sighted up on the missile boats that had continued to hang back from the destroyer's charge, locking weapons and swooping down upon them like devils from the void. Chainguns screamed silently and swarms of heavy radar-seekers burst loose, raining hell as the fighters ripped past their targets and came around widely for another pass.
Switch, Clenched the tactical display as another salvo hit the ship, the shields successful in diverting the rounds away. The pirates had turned and faced the half of the fleet she was in, not ideal but it still worked none the less. The opening salvos were brutal taking out three frigates with all hands lost with another one being evacuated successfully, its husk now drifted silently in the void. The opening salvo was also successful in damaging two other frigates as well as a cruiser. The Admiral smiled without even realising it, she raised her head to address at her command crew.
“Get the other half to retro thruster around and so we can hit these bastards from two sides, we’re going to press into their formation and rip them apart, Tell all ships that are in range to start firing their secondary laser armament at the pirates. Launch Void Group three, and get the fourth ready for launch and give all fighters attack orders for the enemy fleet, Nuclear armaments are authorized”
Her staff began barking orders at their subordinates. The other half of the TDA fleet turned itself towards the enemy and began salvo fire on the enemy fleet, railgun rounds soared through the void to their target as well as the SMACs continuing fire on the enemies largest ships. The ships that were in range activated their laser batteries and begun a continuous fire on the enemy fleet all three void groups of fighters began their attack runs on the enemy and soon they would feel nuclear vengeance for the lives lost in the opening salvo, some 9000 fighters launched their nuclear payloads at the enemy fleet with their target priority being smaller ships. With the combined firepower of either most or all of the enemy fleet on them, the GAE began turning away from the direction of incoming fire and headed instead towards the planet orbiting closest to the star. They had advanced in order to force their enemy to force the revolutionists to engage something else and with that objective completed they now prioritized their own protection. The return fire had been devastating on the Araxian ships, half the destroyer fleet consisted of old first generation Z Class destroyers and all of which were damaged moderately while two Kagero Class destroyers suffered reactor leaks, forcing the crews to scuttle and abandon ship to be picked up by another destroyer. Three heavy cruiser in the force were heavily damaged, what few weapons were stopped by point defense weapons struck the hulls, tearing away chunks of armor and opening parts of the ships to the vacuum of space. while they were heavily damaged they could still offer resistance to enemy ships.
The BLUE WITCH began covering their fleet with its hull, showing only the top side of the ship to the enemy while firing the three triple railgun turrets at the enemy. Projectiles the size of a civilian bus were sent down the barrel and towards the enemy's largest ships while her smaller offensive armament targeted the smaller ships.
Arabel's attention was on the system map. She was surprised that the other fleets in the system were not advancing as well as she would have liked. While she could have understood that even when combined their fleets were still outnumbered, her ships were the ones receiving much of the heat from the enemy. In her view, their ships were in a far better position to advance closer to the enemy while they were concentrated on her.
Arabel turned to face her Admiral,
"Kutuzov, I'd like you to set up a joint tactical network just for this battle. Setup comms to the other fleets engaging the revolutionaries so that we can make some progress in space, we are unsurprisingly outnumbered after all. Try to get the commonwealth contacted with a two way connection if possible."
Almost as soon as she was ordered, Tanya had set up a comms network for the fleets present and began her attempts at contacting the remnants of the commonwealth forces. An encrypted comms line for the network was sent to each fleet in system, and now all there was left to do was to wait for a response.
The fighter swarm shifted the majority of its mass to the heavier ships, circling around and around, providing an additional layer of defense as they began to take the fire from the heaviest weapons the opposition was bringing to bare. Combined the gravitational shielding, it would not stop heavier shells, but rather the velocity of the drones slamming into the heavier calibre weapons would simply convert some of the forward velocity into angular momentum, making the incoming fire less 3ffective overall. Despite this, many of the shots did break through the many layers of defense. The first battleship, being th3 closest towards the line of Fire naturally took the most damage. Multiple shots impacted the craft, sending crimson tendrils streaking throughout the formation. The bulk of the craft mostly protected it's companions, with the interdictor type receiving glancing blows, and the second battleship being virtually unharmed. The escorts enjoyed a degree of maneuvering room, as both fleets were still at distance, though this did not stop those at the front of the formation from taking incoming fire. Two escorts were nearly destroyed, a majority of their mass damaged, they ceased to fire on their targets, however their broken forms began to drift onto eachother. Additionally one of the escorts toward the rear of the formation took some damage as a result of some of the heavier shots being deflected. Unlike the others it did not cease to function, but instead it began to draw some of the damaged drones onto itself on an attempt to repair the damage.
The two battleships continued to attack the largest of their enimies, whole the escort systematically targeted the smaller craft, combining their fire efficiently.
The area was bustling as Arna sat letting the medic tend to her arm, giving her a temporary servo frame to allow her movement while he worked on fixing the bone. The troops swarmed like ants around the base of the Spire with the defensive positions destroyed the base was the only defensible position they had. Barricades were constructed as vehicles towed wrecks into place and bulldozed rubble up to form obstacles for the enemy while the troops dug into the rubble embankments to create indents and firing steps.
They had a repreive though and that was all that mattered, troops fed themselves and rested as best they could. Arna wondered how the forces in orbit were doing and now that the Commonwealths battered fleet had time to make repairs and rest as well hopefully they could be able to reinforce their position, but the forces sent to aid them probably didnt have the whole situation.
"Give me a long range com unit"
"Ma'am?"
"Just fucking do it" She growled, the trooper next to her nodded and walked into a nearby command tank giving her a large phone connected by a wire which he dragged over she was surprised it reached.
"This is Arna of the Commonwealth, you know the people getting our asses kicked planetside. Just to let you know thanks for the help and if you can keep those bastards off us we may be able to whether the next assault. However a word of caution do not attack the capital directly they have heavy Anti orbital defenses, we tried to cut the head off the rebels that way but lost a chunk of our fleet trying to make an orbital drop. Drop in the surrounding regions. I wish you luck in destroying the enemy fleet because if you don’t we are all fucked anyway"
Ambition was a double edged sword. Many a great feat had been acomplished due in no small part to the ambitious goals of leaders and heroes. Many more had been ruined by their own ambitions. The Idyll admiral, who had so ambitiously taken his fleet to fight the pirates was doomed to the latter category. The message came through that superiors were supremely unimpressed with his aggressive strike in an unfamiliar galaxy. He was ordered, in no uncertain terms, to break off engagement and return at once.
As one, the Idyll ships turned away from the pirate vessels, returning to the system's edge. Their FTL drives charged and in a flash, the thirty ships vanished, retreating from the fight and leaving the allies to fight alone.
Cortez, for a brief moment, allowed himself to think the unexpected retreat was a boon. Thirty ships had left the battlespace and he'd suffered no casualties in forcing them to do so. Yes, for a brief moment things were very much looking up for Cortez. The GAE had turned away with heavy losses, and while the Shadow Strike shields pulsed as the Blue Witch returned fire, they held. A Raven-Class battleship suffered a glancing blow from one of the massive rail gun shells that severely impacted her operational efficieny, but as the GAE fled toward the system star, the Blue Witch was the only ship that fired on the pirates.
The Free Worlds were similarily disorganized. Their frigates had scattered, and while their battleship's fire took its toll, destroying four destroyers and damaging a fifth, the snub craft engaging the missile boats were less successful. The barrage launched at them destroyed many of the munitions before they ever reached their targets, only enough missiles getting through to damage one missile boat, and destroy the engines of a second.
Near the TDA, his forces had divided their enemy, and focused on half of the hostile fleet while the other attempted to flank. Four kills had been reported with nearly as many damaged and in return a light cruiser, previously damaged, had been destroyed, along with a second. A heavy cruiser covering the rear of the fleet had also been destroyed, and two more damaged along with some damage to a battle cruiser. But the TDA had been separated, and their attempt to drive past the fleet sent to engage them and fight the main element had been stopped as the other half of their fleet turned to assist their comrades.
And, much to his suprise, a few of the organic Dirge appeared to have been killed and others were injured. A carrier had been destroyed, and the remaining corvettes had fire balled as well but it was more than Cortez had hoped for.
The GAE remained isolated, the TDA's attempt to push through and relieve them had failed, the Free Worlds were in disarray, and the Dirge were preoccupied for the moment. Yes, things seemed to be going his way. Things seemed to be going a lot less his way when the sensors lit up, indicating another fleet was inbound.
"Late to the party are they?" Cortez muttered, rubbing his chin as he looked over the tactical display.
"Keep pressure up on the GAE," He ordered. "I don't want them getting a reprieve to repair and regroup. Order the destroyer group to pick off as many more of the Frigates as they can and hold position. Let them close with us and then they'll hit them from behind. Hold engagement with the Dirge, we have them occupied for now but if casualties get to be too much I want them to pull back to the main fleet. Same goes for the battlegroup with the TDA. The rest of you..."
He turned his attention back to the tactical display.
"I think it's time the Vestahls wave goodbye to the rest of their navy,"
Acknowledgements went out across the comms. The nineteen destroyers fired on the scattering Free Worlder frigates, focusing especially on those who tried to burn past them and into close range of their guns. The remaining six fired a few partings shots at the battleships, and a few more targeted her escort cruisers as they passed. The missile boats finally stopped firing, their batteries going dark as they broke off engagement and moved to regroup with the destroyers behind the advancing Free Worlder fleet.
Near the TDA the situation remained largely unchanged. Cruisers moved toward the main fleet, so as to avoid being encircled by their enemies, but all of the fire remained solidly focused on only one half of the fleet, with heavy cruisers using their shields and thick armored plating to cover the rear.
It was much the same story near the Dirge. The fleet closed in and kept up its fire, the battleship leading the group focusing all of its fire on the interdiction form, and the smaller ships of the fleet focused on the wounded escorts attempting to repair themselves. It seemed they had no intention of letting ships get back in the fight if they could avoid it.
Finally, some twenty ships detatched themselves from the main fleet, pursuing the GAE. They stayed at range, close enough to keep pressure on the fleeing vessels, but not so close as to ensure any great number of hits.
The remaining forces turned their guns on what little remained of the Commonwealth fleet. As salvo after salvo was launched, the last of the Commonwealth's ships met their end. Now, they had only a handful of defense platforms protecting the central command module. Time was running out for the Commonwealth. Disorganization could be a two edged sword for both sides in a battle. While it severely damaged the capability of the ones disorganized to set up cohesive attacks, it also allowed for the same fleet to pull moves that others might not expect--
--Such as the Free Worlds Rainmaker class missile frigates ripple firing every last launcher they had into the pirate destroyers at ranges, that for space combat, were damned near point-blank. Punishing clouds of nuclear missiles tore out into the intervening space between them and their enemy, the frigates maneuvering madly to get clear of the blasts of their own weapons and enemy return fire as the remaining assault frigates came about to unleash their main guns and secondary batteries into the pirate destroyers. But even this maneuver was not without casualties. Two missile frigates took heavy hits, one ceasing all acceleration as it's engines were shot clean through and the other losing every launcher on it's port side. A previously hit assault frigate turned out to not be able to handle the sudden course change, and suffered a major hull breach under the strain-- it was out of the fight. Yet more took heavy fire, their shields flaring and dying under the weight of fire and armor splintering from the impacts of enemy weapons.
"They're moving in behind us!" went the roar on the bridge of the Sunrise, and the response was instant. The cruisers and destroyers were immediately ordered to cease forward acceleration and engage the pirate destroyers, and the large warships began the wide turn to re-engage the enemy as the Sunrise slowed and began to turn. The destroyers were the first to come about and bring their pirate counterparts into their gunsights-- and they wasted no time opening fire.
The snubcraft pressed relentlessly as their prey disengaged, sending sheets of heavy rounds and missiles after the missile boats as they gave chase and dodged any return fire as the pilots flung their small craft all over the sky.
As the Dirge entered the threshold for minimum viability on their mid-range weapons, many additional kinetic and plasma shots streaked from the formation, now primarily targetting the hostile battleships. One of the sheild carriers released its load into the void. Shrinking to nearly a tenth it's size, it had fulfilled it's only purpose, it's shriveled form crept into the shadow of the interdictor, using its bulk to avoid incoming fire. The particle shields surrounding the formation grew, becoming magnitudes deeper as well, denser.
With the additional protection given, the drones streaked ahead of the Dirge formation, their movements were erratic and spastic, loosely based off of movements observed from union missiles. As they grew further and further from the formation, they began to fire their own particle throwers towards the hostile fighters and carrier.
Several additional shots began to hit into the Dirge formation, though with the bolstered defenses, they did a fraction of their potential in damage. So, despite the incoming fire towards the limping escorts, they managed to reach their Centre point, the masses of both craft combining and merging into a completely new entity that would continue to fight.
The BLUE WITCH remained at the back of the GAE fleet as they attempted to disengage. Shouts and warnings came in all over the bridge as captains from other ships reported in their damages. But so far their two assault carriers remained untouched, though their point defenses did fire up at enemy weapons most of the threat had been taken care of by their destroyers and heavy cruisers. Now one of which lagged behind as damage sustained from the last impact crippled her propulsion system, rendering the Atago Class Heavy Cruiser immobile but still able to fight back.
"Enemy ships approaching from the rear!" The officers rushed all over the decks attempting to get some confirmation as to what was going on with the other fleets, and possibly what was going on with the commonwealth. Arabel heard their transmission and was clearly frustrated. Things had not gone her way, she hadn't expected that much firepower from another fleet but even now the other fleets were ignoring their communication requests. There were no responses from the other fleets and with an enemy force bearing down on their ass, Arabel decided to take more direct communication methods.
"Order the two assault carriers and all damaged destroyers to meet up with the nearest foreign fleet." Arabel tapped on the system map, at the Free Worlds. "The rest of us will begin a snake maneuver towards the same destination. We don't have as much firepower on our rear as we do on our sides or front so this is all we can do for now. Recall all remaining strike craft and order the next wave to be ready to launch. I'll leave it to the assault carriers captains for which fleet they choose to support."
The fleet formation shifted again, from an arrowhead formation with their flagship at the rear to a diamond formation with the Blue witch in the center, the Kagero Class destroyers leading and the remaining Atago Class heavy cruisers following up behind and on the sides of Arabel's ship. Four heavy cruisers and eight Zerstorer Class destroyers along with the two assault carriers made their way to the Free Worlds as fast as they dared without shattering their damaged ships.
The situation the TDA fleet got itself into was a difficult one to say at the least. Their plan for a swift breakthrough had backfired and they were now bogged down engaging the enemy fleet. Although when the enemy started moving back towards the main fleet things started to look a little better and the Admiral was more than relived, even though another frigate had received a few good rounds and was barely kicking as well as one cruiser reporting a hull breach spanning multiple decks sucking hundreds of navy personnel into space, as well as a second cruiser having multiple hull breaches across its bow.
“Admiral, all Void groups report attack vector locked in with target priority on the missile boats.” The Void group commander reported.
“Good, in the mean time I want all fire on those battle cruisers, I don’t want a single one left intact, as they retreat bring our other half around them to join back up with us, use retro thrusters to keep bows at the enemy, we need those spinal guns.” The Admiral Barked.
"Admiral, incoming message from the surface. They're warning us about heavy Anti Orbital defences planet side. We also have incoming Hails from one of the other fleets in the system." A comms ensign shouted across the CIC.
"Tell the other fleet we're bogged down and we'll help out where we can"
Over near the enemy fleet the swarm of fighter craft was locking their targets and preparing target coordinates. They flew in at all directions and different angles as too avoid too much PD fire in one spot. When the enemy ships let loose with a furious salvo one after another at the incoming TDA Strike fighters combined with CIWS fire, it initially caused some chaos with fighters manoeuvring all over to avoid incoming fire from multiple directions. They did however, still managed to launch their payloads even after suffering many casualties, out of the 9000 sent some 8712 made it out of range of enemy PD and on route to their carrier ships.
The rebellion and pirate takeover on Vesthal as well as the distress call for aid from the Vestahl government was actually heard by Divine Davia Empire forces in the 19th sector for sometimes. Said incident was received with mixed views. For one this incident if left unchecked could become a potential threat for the empire's holding and trade route in this galaxy should the pirate warlord success in his empire building game. In the other hand the so called Black Sail Organization - the original overlords of this pirate warlord - had disowned him in the form of huge bounty for his head, this bounty no doubt would booster the new sector. Then, there would be a lot of benefits to gain should the intervention success. And coincidently Davian Armed Forces happened to need a place to real test some of its new weapons (including imported weapons) and tactics, Vestahl would be a suitable place. Lastly the Vestahlan somehow seemed to be a human faction so they should be help.
Thus the Davian High Command approved the intervention. A fleet would be sent to answer the call of Vestahlan government.
==Location: edge of Vestahl system, near a gas giant==
Two massive wormholes emerged out of nowhere. Then from within 7 figures moved out and quickly entered real space. There were 2 Thien Truong class Fast Cruisers and 5 KhH class Frigates.
"Gate successful comrade commander. Should we begin scanning the system?" The main SAI of one of the Fast cruiser announced to its captain.
"Yes scan everything and do it as fast as possible. We should have overall information before the main forces arrive." Responded the captain: "Full alert, we're in combat zone, prepare all weapons, shields, fighters, drones and countermeasures."
"System scan completed." A mechanical voice sounded again and a visualized map of the system showed up: "We're late to join the party. Detected multiple fleets fighting all around the source of the distress call. There're clearly two sides conflict here with all the other fleets fighting the estimate 150 to 200 ships around the habitable planet. Ground situation unknown due to distant." The overall location of the fleets and the fighting would be highlighted one after another: "Beside these ships are nearest to us. They seem to be damaged, their signal marched one of the fighting ships. There're also a group of ships fighting retreat toward that group. I suspect both are not our enemies. Still caution is a must."
"Thank you SAI. Launch fighters and drones. Establish safe parameter for the main forces arrival. They would be here any moment." The 7 Davian ships began to launch fighters, decoy drones and spy drones in drove. Soon enough a web of fighters and drones surrounded the Davian ships: "Friendly FTL signals detected. Main Forces arriving."
Dozens of massive wormhole again tore the space apart as more Davian ships entered real space right behind the first group. The arriving increased Davian's present in the system to 30 ships including: 5 Dai Viet class Line Battleships, 5 Bach Dang class Battlecruisers, 3 Thang Long class Battle Carriers, 2 Thien Truong class Fast Cruisers, 10 Chuong Duong class Heavy Destroyers and 5 KhH class Frigates. All these ships belonged to the Vestahl Expeditionary Fleet. The arriving ships divided themselves to several smaller groups in rather loose formation.
Each of the arriving Davian ships would be escort by a large number of decoy and spy drones. The decoy drones then mimmicked and attempted to hide the true ships radar, lidar, gravitometric and thermal signatures. In the other hand spy drones began to actively scanning and try to read every signal they can. To those who cannot see through the decoys the sudden arrival of hundred signatures would be quite impressive if not threatening.
"All forces arrived. Vestahl Expeditionary Fleet assembled and prepare for combat. In the name of Divine Davia Empire we will enter this fight. Glory for Davia!" Admiral Tran, Captain of the Battleship RUBY SABER and overall commander of the Davian fleet declared. Throughout the fleet personnel, AIs and even war beasts roared and cheered in responded: "GLORY FOR DAVIA! LONG LIVE THE DIVNE EMPIRE!"
The admiral then turned to his comm officers: "Try to establish contact with the ships nearest to us and to those fighting retreat ships. We need to find some friends here." He then turned to the various screens which showed the captains of the other ships: "Gentlemen. All ships move forward with caution. Prepare our long range missiles and strike crafts. I want commanders and commissars prepare the fly boys. We're outnumbered here and it's our mission to beat those pirate scums, establish space superiority and open the way for our transports."
"Yes comrade commander"
The signal calling for temporary co-operation again the common enemy would be sent to the group of Free World ships staying near the gas giant and the retreating GAE ships.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 20:06:51 GMT
The Free Worlder's missile boat attack was sudden, if not entirely unexpected. Four destroyers, all suffering from previous damage, didn't make it through the sudden barrage of missiles, while the remainder were able, with some help from the missile boats firing counter barrages to aid their own missile batteries and PD, to survive largely intact. The missile boats in question, now having linked up with their destroyer counter parts, weathered the second pass of the snub craft. Damage was reported on one boat, but they'd come through largely unscathed.
The problem was the new fleet. Cortez's sensore operator was reporting over a hundred new contacts but Cortez knew that couldn't have been right. Their sensors hadn't picked up half that number coming in on FTL, and only seven scout ships had preceded the main force's arrival. It wasn't a hundred. Fifty? Maybe. But not a hundred. And now they were moving toward the Free Worlders along with the GAE.
He drummed his fingers against the tactical display. Near the Dirge a cruiser had been destroyed, and the battleship was reporting damage while one carrier was working to supply fuel and arms to two carriers worth of snub craft engaging smaller Dirge entities. As if that wasn't bad enough, the last salvo had been ineffective.
The TDA was a better story. They'd mistaken the cruiser's movements to avoid encirclement as a retreat and were linking back together rather than maintaining their flanking maneuver. All of the battle cruisers had been damaged along with a heavy cruiser shielding the fleet's missile boats but the TDA remained bogged down.
"What does the Commonwealth still have operational?" He asked aloud.
"Five defence platforms, two of which are damaged, and the Central command hub, also damaged," His operator reported.
So little threat there, and with the Dirge and TDA bogged down, little reason for him to keep the bulk of his forces here. It was time to go on the offensive.
"Break engagement with the GAE," He ordered. "Pick off the stragglers, then bring us onto an intercept course with the Free Worlds and our new guests."
Acknowledgements and the orders went out. The twenty ships tailing the GAE shifted away from the main force, snaking toward the Free Worlds, instead going after the already wounded ships that were on a direct course. The first to recieve their fire was the engineless Atago, which presented an easy target, and then the rest.
The hulking form of the VNMS Shadow Strike came about, and along with a battleship, three battle cruisers, two carriers, three heavy cruisers, five cruisers, five light cruisers, and ten destroyers they began moving toward the Free Worlders, where they would join with the 2 carriers, three cruisers, five corvettes, and ten missile boats already tailing the GAE as well as the destroyer force, which came about and began firing.
The Free Worlders were in short order taking fire from two sides, the destroyers behind them, and the fresh force advancing on them, which began firing. The Shadow Strike, at the center of the formation unleashed a truly hellish barrage, multiple large payload nuclear war heads streaking from its launchers toward the Free Worlders... and then straight past them.
The nukes weren't meant for them, they were meant to differentiate false contact from real, and detonated in the Davian formation.
The ships engaging the TDA halted their supposed retreat. Free from the threat of being encircled, they began firing once more. With carriers busy elsewhere, the snub craft were, for the moment, of the most concern. The fleet focused their fire on the TDA's battle carriers.
The fleet near the Dirge was struggling to keep up with smaller strike forms. With one of the carriers down, and the corvettes (designed for destroying snub craft) out of the fight it fell to the last carrier to keep as many snub craft operational as possible from two carriers, and it was struggling with the task.
To make matters worse, the lack of effect from the last salvo was affecting morale. All ships were instructed to fire on the Interdiction form, which had earned the ire of the fleet Commodore, with everything they had. Rail guns slugs, nuclear and conventional missiles, and bombers carrying torpedoes all began streaking toward the form, a punishing display of firepower.
"We've got allied ships heading for us!"
"How the buggery do you know they're allied?!"
"They're not shooting us, are they?!"
"Well... no."
"Cut the chatter! Signal both those groups and let the pirates have it! All vessels are to get their shields back up and light 'em up! All guns, all launchers, fire fire fire!"
Both the incoming GAE group and the Davians were signaled that the Free Worlders were not pirates and that help would be vastly appreciated and fast, as generators hummed and the Free Worlds formation somewhat reformed facing every direction.
And then they opened fire. With the sunbcraft continuing their relentless assault on the pirate missile boats and now every other pirate ship in range, the Free Worlders opened fire on every single pirate ship in their gunsights. The cruisers and the Sunrise unleashed a hellish volley upon the incoming enemy heavies, sending wave after wave of metal towards their foes in an unceasing hell of fire as the destroyers and frigates unleashed their fire onto the enemy destroyers.
The enemy fire took it's tool again however, and two more assault frigates went dark from the weight of enemy fire, four of the destroyers taking damage shielding the frigates from shots that would have cored-- or worse-- the smaller ships.
“Ma’am, a new fleet just appeared on sensors, registering one hundred ships plus”
“Good, now this is more like a stand up fight instead of praying for the best” The Admiral said hopefully.
The TDA Fleet had successfully joined back together, but at the cost of giving up their encirclement of the enemy. The enemy ships had been quick to react and started firing back on the TDA Fleet, Most of their fire however seem to be concentrated on the Battle Carriers. However with the fleet assuming is whole formation this fire was only able to cause hull breaches in one frigate and the venting of two compartments to stop a ship board fire from spreading in another with some 116 personnel being unable to evacuate in time.
“Pull us back a bit, make it look like we’re thinking about leaving. Get Void group four out too supplement PD while the others re arm. Keep the pressure on those Battle cruisers, hit them with everything.”
As the TDA fleet kept up its vicious salvo fire of the enemy fleet, they suddenly stopped and started a very slow reverse towards the systems edge, as fighters swirled around the TDA ships taking out incoming missiles where they could.
The ship the GAE left behind was a heavily damaged Atago Class heavy cruiser, though she was still able to fight back to a certain degree her whole hull burst into flames and exploded into many chunks as the enemy bombarded her hull. The explosion was sudden with no escape pods being launched.
Seeing as the revolutionary fleet had ceased engagement with her force altogether now, Arabel ordered her fleet to make best speed towards the Free Worlds. and on the tactical display she could see the ships she sent up ahead begin engaging the enemy ships there. The assault carriers having recollected their star fighters from the previous waves launched another wave of bombers and fighters to support the free worlds.
On the remaining undamaged Atago class heavy cruisers, their long range missile bays opened away to reveal their own set of atomic warhead weapons. In some ways these weapons were like fixed torpedo tubes on submarines, still able to reload from the inside. The four heavy cruisers surrounding the Blaue Hexe launched all currently loaded missiles and proceeded to reload their tubes for another launch. The launch trajectory would take the missiles through the ranks of her ships up ahead and into the enemy ships in front.
The drone tendrils branching off of the rapidly approaching dirge fleet largely ignored the hostile snub craft. Rather they split into two seperate formations. One of which continued to advance, they began to systematically target the hostile ships weapon systems. The one group created a toroidal formation far ahead of the Dirge fleet, they fired their weapons towards the incoming missiles, and kinetics. When they could not stop it with weapons fire they hurtled themselves into the hostile munitions. The front of the formation several hundred kilometers became a desperate battle. Drones attempting to deal maximum damage against the hostile fleet while simultaneously protecting their own. Many nuclear flashes let up the swarm and began to thin it out. The majority of bombers were stopped, prioritized by the churning masses of flesh. As the small engagement continued more and more weapons seeped through.
At alw hat could be called a medium range, there was far less time to intercept incoming munitions. Despite the multitude of defenses, at this range with now a much higher volume of incoming fire, many shots began to make their mark. Explosions of flesh rang put from the interdiction form, and the battleship to its front. While many missiles and bombers were stopped, incoming kinetic fire found itself increasingly effective against the Dirge fleet. Additionally the amalgamated form born of multiple consumed escorts succumbed, it's mass quickly became ravaged and consumed to swell the Dirge swarm once more.
Plasma and kinetics fired into the hostile fleet. The heaviest of weapons targeted those undamaged, while smaller weapons targeted those damaged craft unable to fully defend themselves.
"At least 50 ships of various sizes coming toward us lead by their largest ship."
"The hotly engaging fleet ahead identified themselves as none enemy and requested help immediately. There're enemy ships between them and us and the big group are coming fast. Suggest support our temporary allies immediately or they would be crush."
"Incoming long range missiles comrade commander. It came from their largest ship."
"The other fleet didn't respond sir but they're fighting the enemies." Admiral Tran sat on his command throne and received messages after messages from his various officers and AIs: "Intercept those missiles. I don't want any of them to reach our formation. Loose formation and move toward our embattled allies."
As the pirates long range high yielded nuke missiles rushed toward the seemingly hundreds of Davian ships, the Davian warships responded with furry, missiles launchers opened fired and threw out ten thousands of anti-missiles. The swarm of nukes, hit by these anti-missiles explored one after the other into huge blossoms; some nukes were also caught by the explosion and denoted. Still some nukes managed to pass through the counter barrage.
"Distant bellowed 500.000 km sir."
"Long range point defense open fire."
In near unison the long range point defenses from all Davian warships flicked to life and threw out ten thousands of plasma bolts per seconds. The huge storm of plasma bolts effectively eliminated the rest of nukes.
"Launch first Air Group."
"Davian Air Force deploys!"
The Davian began to unleash the first wave of their fighters and bombers. Like a swarm of angry bees charged out of their hives, waves after waves of strikecrafts rushed out and swung themselves all around their motherships. Then the cloud of strikecrafts formed themselves far in front of the Davian formation. The first wave consisted of 14030 strikecrafts in which 530 equipped with stealth.
"Deploying missiles and drones."
Along with strikecrafts, Davian ships also launched their various missiles and deployed even more spy and decoy drones. In total these missiles numbered up to 10890 missiles of various sizes in which 1340 of them equipped with stealth devices. Due to the reliant in AI tech every single of these missiles would be piloted by independent NAIs which linked together into one massive network which acted like a mind of a starving multi arms, multi heads predator. Each of these missiles were programed to be as smart as possible and will attempt to dodge incoming attacks, larger missiles were also equipped with their own CIWS to counter strikecrafts.
Among missiles and strikecrafts were decoy drones. Unlike the larger decoys drones which tried to disguised warships these smaller drones tried to disguise themselves as large missiles and always moved ahead of the formation to draw as much fire as possible toward them.
Then there were spy drones. While having far smaller number than the other weapons they were no less important. The spy drones, equipped with the many sensors would try to survey and collect as much information of the enemies as possible then relayed it back to the collective mind of the swarm and warships for further use. They would also try to disrupt enemies' communication or sensors as much as possible.
The various attack sensors of the Davian weapons illuminated almost all of the pirate ships just like the beast eyeing at its prey while forming themselves in formations. Then a single word echoed across the innumerable swarm: attack. Almost immediately the whole swarm kicked opened their engine again and began their mad charge toward the now identified enemies. Waves after waves of Davian weaponries charged in extreme loose formation so they have enough place to engage their quarries in every angles possible. Their targets priority would be the smaller ships first then onto larger ships, beside any ships with shield downed or seemingly damaged would become first priority. Escape pods would also be considered fair game in this engagement with lower priority and would only be target by fighters.
"First attack wave on the move sir."
"Prepare the second wave. Our attack should be as swift as the wind brutal like fire and relentless like the wave. By the will of Divine Davia Empire we will fight this battle with everything we have."
With that order the second wave of fighters would be ready for launch while missiles launchers restarted their launching cycle. The Davian fleet, in loose yet strictly organized formation followed their attacking swarm toward the embattled Free World ships. Then at long range the fleet opened their prow mounted weapons and fired at the pirate ships. The 5 Line Battleships and 5 Battle Cruisers fired in bolts mode while the destroyers fired in beam mode, all tried to target the pirate ships fighting in close range with the Free World.
Like most Davian Plasma weapons these prows mounted cannons have two modes: bolts and beam. The bolts mode fired several huge plasma bolts one after the other in high speed so they have better chance of hitting smaller targets and higher rate of fire, meanwhile beam mode unleashed a single massive lance of plasma toward target and could drill through shield and armor or saw through ships with ease. At the rim of the habitable zone of the Vesthal system, several new celestial bodies flashed into existence. Grey, solid, and blocky against the inky blackenss, the fifteen ship-strong battlegroup of the Imperial Dawn had arrived. Aboard the lead ship, an argument brewed.
"Julia, what are we doing here?" asked Grand Admiral Stelluna Clairewind, Master of the Magisterial Battleship Fel Victorious, Commander of the First Magisterial Exploration Fleet, Steward of the Queen on Foreign Shores, and, for the moment, Command of Battlegroup Thinus in a rather nonplussed tone.
"We're hunting pirates!" Her wife, Julia Clairewind, Firstmage of the Neverguard and Heir to the Greater House Clairewind, excitedly interjected. "It'll be just like the old days!"
Stelluna shuttered. "In the old days the pirates almost killed me." She dug around in the pocket of her duty uniform and pulled out a cigarette. Lighting it, she added, "And you."
"Oh come on, it'll be fun. Fighting for justice and freedom," Julia chuckled to herself. "Not to mention the seven million crown reward."
"Like we need it." the Admiral commented, taking a drag from her fag.
"Hey, we're already here, why not have fun with it?" the Firstmage cheerfully suggested.
The older of the two let out a puff of smoke. "Heh." She smiled. "The things I do for you." Standing, she straightened her jacket and demanded, "Report!"
The bridge was a flurry of activity as reports came in from across the battlegroup. The comms officer was the first to reply. "All ships report status normal. Carrier Vehementi's air group is still on standby." The intelligence officer added his own information to the lot. "Sirs, the planet two hundred million klicks ahead seems to be the center of activity in the system. I'm reading the pirate fleet along with several other battle groups. They appear to already be deeply engaged."
"Awww" A sound of disappointment came from the Firstmage. "We're late."
"Helm, take us into orbit. Comms, patch me through to the carrier."
The comms officer nodded.
The Admiral picked up the comms handset. "_Vehementi_, Clairewind; I need eyes on the engagement up ahead."
"Understood Sir. We have a Night Lance in the tube."
"Good." the Admiral switched to the fleet-wide circuit. "This is the Admiral to Battlegroup Thinus. All ships advance to the targeted planet."
In the vacuum beyond, the Artemis-class battleship; Vanguard-class heavy carrier, Titania-class battleship; two Arbiter-class battlecruisers; two Mazuril-class heavy cruisers; three Aurora-class cruisers; five Thundercall-class light cruisers; four Whirlwind-class destroyers; and the trump card of the battlegroup, the single Victoria-class destroyer, all ignited their engines, the silent blaze driving them forward at an unreasonable speed. A single stealth recon fighter left the Vanguard's forward launch tube at an even more unreasonable speed.
"This is Grand Admiral Stelluna Clairewind to all non-pirate vessels. On behalf of the Imperial Dawn, my battlegroup is here to assist in the apprehension of rogue pirate elements. For those so inclined, please share the tactical situation." She hung up and took in another lungful of smoke. As she let it out, the holographic tactical display at the center of the bridge began to light up with the positions of ships, ordnance, and directions of fire as more information was relayed to the command ship. Stelluna's eyes lit up in turn. She smiled to herself. "Maybe this will be fun.
To say the Shadow Strike unleashed hell was an understatement. The massive led the main force of the pirate fleet to link up with the destroyers located behind the Free Worlders, firing rows upon rows of point defense as it went. Combined with the point defenses of the rest of the main force, the salvo of fire from the Davians was annihilated. A few missiles and torpedoes made it through the hail of defensive fire only to be stopped short of damaging their targets by pulsing of shields.
However the focus on stopping the Davian barrage left the fleet vulnerable to fire from the Free Worlders and the GAE. The GAE's nukes proved more effective than the Free Worlders. Many were stopped before making it to the fleet, but a pair of nukes made it through and found their target, tearing apart a battle cruiser in two bright flashes and damaging a pair of destroyers who were struck by the shrapnel.
The Free Worlder's missiles were not without effect however. A corvette was destroyed in the barrage, and a pair of light cruisers damaged as they shielded the wounded destroyers when the main fleet linked up with them.
Having whethered the storm of fire, and now linked up and much closer to all three of the fleets the seventy-two ships answered in turn, launching a hail of missiles and railgun slugs at all three forces. Two of the four carriers directed their snub craft toward the Davians, bombers escorted by fighters following behind the hail of munitions and adding to it as they drew close, launching torpedoes and missiles of their own while corvettes and fighters fought with the Davvian snubcraft.
The Shadow Strike itself issued a personal challenge, ignoring every other ship in the fleet to focus its fire exclusively on the Colony-Class and the BLUE WITCH, daring the two flagships to engage with it.
With their Admiral now pre-occupied with the tactics of his own fight final strategic orders went out to the rest of the fleet. They disengaged the besieged Vestahl forces, leaving them only a trio of defense platforms and the central command station while they repositioned. One of the two remaining battleships took point, leading four carriers, five heavy cruisers, ten cruisers, five light cruisers, five missile boats, and five corvettes against the most recent arrivals. They spread into combat formations as they went. The missile boats with their long range were the first to get into firing ranges, launching missile after missile toward the Imperial Dawn's forces as the rest of the fleet closed in and began firing their railguns and missiles from long range.
Seeing their comrades struggling to fight the swarm of fighters, two carriers accompanied by a damaged battleship began steaming toward the TDA. A missile boat had been damaged in the recent exchange of fire. For a brief moment, the ship had gone dark after being struck, and it seemed as though it would be out of the fight. But not a moment later the lights flickered back to life and it resumed fire, albeit at a slower pace. The fleet held its position, seeing the TDA's retreat. Content for the moment to keep up the fire and 'persuade' the retreating forces to leave the system altogether. They were soon joined by the battleship and the two carriers, disgorging their contingents of fighters and bombers which soon began engaging the TDA in vicious dog fights.
To the Dirge went a pair of missile boats and corvettes, the corvettes focusing their ample point defenses on destroying the swarms of fighter sized Dirge while the missile boats launched a punishing salvo toward the wounded battleship and interdictor forms. The Commodore in charge of the forces there soon realized however that he had made a miscalculation by rushing into the fray without the bulk of his fleet. The already damaged ship was hammered by the Dirge, its super structure groaning loudly as it twisted and then broke under the barrage. The ship broke into two, and the reactor went into meltdown, annihilating the wreckage in a single blinding flash.
The remainder of the fleet joined with the main fleet, swelling their numbers as they added their fire at long range and continued to close in and link up with their forces. Every one of the pirate's remaining ships was now engaged.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 20:07:07 GMT
“They’re all over me I can’t shake…”
“Break off into groups of three don’t get separated”
“Dammit! he’s on me”
“I’m on him”
“Chalk up another one, home base”
The constant chatter of the ongoing dogfights filled the CIC, the success and demises of pilots could be heard by nearly everyone. The faux retreat had worked and the enemy had halted their advance. The problem being that two carriers had joined them and the fleet was up to its knees in enemy fighters until the rest of the Void groups were prepped for launch. In the meantime a salvo of fire headed for a battle carrier was intercepted by a cruiser the salvo penetrated through the shields and the weakened armour of the damaged cruiser causing mass explosive decompression resulting in a huge majority of the crew to be vented into space, anyone who survived left the hulk in escape pods.
“Admiral, new contacts entered the system. They sent us a message they’re saying that they are the Imperial Dawn and that they are here to help.” A comms officer said enthusiastically
“Good, tell them any assistance is welcomed and we’re the TDA and we too are trying to liberate the planet etcetera. You get the idea.” Switch replied
Switch was getting frustrated the exact thing she was hoping to avoid happened, getting bogged down in a slug fest with a numerically superior enemy. This wasn’t going to end well and a lot more lives would be lost before the space around the planet was cleared enough to deploy ground forces. She knew there were limited options all of them terrible in their own way. She made her choice it was now or never, this stalemate had to be broken.
“Launch all fighter, I want every goddamn fighter we have out into space, send Void groups one to four for a direct attack on the enemies carriers with every nuke they have. Have the rest cover our advance.”
“Our advance?” said one of the Admirals staff officers
“Yes, instruct the fleet to engage engines to full, we’re going in for the knife fight. Turn our SHMACs on to their light cruisers; we need to lighten the load.”
The TDA ships engaged maximum thrust, with both dreadnaughts and all battle carriers launching as many fighters as they had. SHMACs fired from all ships hurtling their superheated payload at the enemy light cruisers, as every TDA ship bought their weapons to bear against the enemy. Battle Group Thinus was quickly closing upon the battle zone, retro-thrusters firing as the small fleet reached the outskirts of conflict.
On the bridge of Fel Victorious , flagship of the battlegroup, the Admiral watched the tactical display intently, raising an impressed eyebrow at the effectiveness of the pirates' point-defence fire. A wry grin appeared on her lips as she saw the enemy fleet regroup and a battlegroup advance upon her own force’s position. She did, however, find herself rather distracted by the bouncing woman next to her.
“Someone’s eager to get going.”
“I can’t help it! It’s been so long since I’ve been in a good dogfight.” The younger Firstmage squirmed. The Admiral chuckled. “Get down to the hangar deck. I’ll lay down a barrage, then you can get into the fight.”
“Okay!” her wife excitedly responded before disappearing in a flash of light.
Turning to the gunnery master, she gave her orders. “Gunnery, target the pirate flagship and relay targeting information to the fleet. Full railcannon barrage.”
“Rockhammers, Sir?” the gunnery master asked hopefully.
“No. Save them for the next salvo.”
“Aye Sir.” The man picked up the comms handset. “Gunner control to all ships: forward batteries, fire!”
In the vacuum, a salvo of eight quarter-million-tonne steel shells flew at nearly quarter-lightspeed away from the Imperial formation, slamming solidly into the enemy battleship’s flank moments later. After its salvo was away, the Artemis began laying down fire with its sixteen broadside heavy gamma lasers and sixteen ten-metre-calibre heavy rifles, concentrating on the enemy carriers. Despite the glaring effectiveness of the enemy point-defences, the Hylastra-class guided missile battleship began pouring forth roughly five thousand of Sledgehammer armoured comet-cracker missiles, aiming themselves primarily at the enemy carriers and corvettes, along with another five thousand or so Hawkmoth interceptor missiles, which made quick work of the salvos from the pirate missile boats. The two Arbiter-class battlecruisers turned on the enemy heavy cruisers, joined by the Mazuril-class heavy cruiser and Aurora-class cruisers and Thundercall-class light cruisers, though not advancing, waiting instead for the enemy to come to them. At range, the cruiser group returned the railgun fire of the enemy heavy cruisers in kind, fifty-metre-wide shells closing the distance in a matter of seconds.
The incoming ordnance had some effect on the Magisterial ships, shields flashing madly as they put their all into deflecting or vapourizing incoming railgun rounds. One shell managed to push its way through the shields of one of the light cruisers, completely shattering its dorsal directed energy nodes, rendering its energy weapons useless. At the head of the formation, the Artemis-class Fel Victorious suffered most heavily, its shields overwhelmed by concentrated railgun fire. Despite this, its hundreds of metres of layered armour handily absorbed the impact of many of the rounds, though her forward gravitic thrusters were moderately damaged by the barrage.
At the same time, the heavy carrier Vehementi began disgorging its many hundreds of Long Lance deep space fighters as well as several thousand Hawk interceptors and Raven tactical bombers, which began advancing at relativistic speed. The Hawks zoomed ahead and began picking off missiles and any pirate fighters unfortunate enough to find themselves in front of their 150mm main guns while the Ravens began pestering the enemy missile boats with their own 50 megatonne ordnance. Meanwhile, at the head of the hundred-forty-four strong formation, the Firstmage addressed her wing.
“Listen up! We’re outnumbered a few dozen to one, so I don’t want to see anyone wasting ammo out there! Pick your targets and make your shots count. Weapons free!”
With those words, the engaging the pirate snub craft at long range, a salvo of several hundred well-aimed 500mm railcannon rounds falling on the enemy wing.
Watching their own ship's missile strikes and their effectiveness from far away from the battlefield raging below their fighters and bombers, the GAE formations of some two thousand began altering course towards the battle before splitting up into smaller groups to begin engaging enemy ships. A large portion of the formation had gone straight for the Shadow Strike and the rest were evenly spread throughout the fight.
Watching from the bridge, Arabel received her information from the two small screens installed on either side of her seat. In theory the Blaue Hexe could operate effectively with a skeleton crew and with an AI to help, but this wasn't one of those times they needed that.
"Raise all weapons turrets and batteries, prepare for medium to short range combat. All ships, open fire when ready." She ordered. Her fleet had just only now caught up with the force she sent forward who were now hovering outside the battle zone.
"Reactivate all main battery turrets, load blue comet tracer and fire when ready. Launch all available fighters and bombers that have been rearmed."
With her latest orders being carried out, Arabel watched as the ships surrounding hers began opening fire, countless thousands of projectiles launched at the enemy within a small period of time and only now she had just noticed the Shadow Strike facing towards her ship in particular, seeming to ignore everything around it.
"Hmm, not bad. Tanya, update the orders; all turrets to target that battleship." Not too uncommon for Arabel to change her orders at the last minute. And just as well, her main guns had finished loading the specified ammunition. Long blue tracer shells flew from the barrels of the main railgun armament, flying towards their target, the Shadow Strike. Her first main battery salvo was followed on by a series of nuclear warhead torpedoes, smaller than the missiles sent before by the Atago class heavy cruisers.
"Reporting! Test salvo no effect. Air Group 1 engaging enemies. Test salvo distracted enemy units, temporary allies caused fair damage to enemy units."
"Spy drones identifying enemy ships, weapons and point defense weapons."
"Combat distant closing. Enemies returning fire with missiles and railgun."
Admiral Tran sat on his command throne, his mind linked directly with his ship main SAI like most of those presented on the command bridge. "Evade their main attacks. Battleship 1, 2; Battle Cruiser 1, 2, Destroyer 1 to 5 and 50% of decoys move up front to tank the attacks, direct all shields to the front, all ships deploy counter measures and maintain formation. Air Group 2 deploy, Air Group 3 standby. Keep deploying missiles of all kind. Ready all plasma batteries, Nano bot standby. Keep moving to the Free World but keep our distant. By all mean tell them to slowly pull back. Our fleet won't risk close range fighting."
The entire Davian fleet, still in rather loose formation began to make evasive maneuvers to dodge as much fire as possible. 2 Battleships, 2 Battle Cruisers followed by 4 Destroyers, surrounded by half of the Davian decoy ships, formed themselves in front of the formation, to brace the incoming impacts. While executing these maneuvers the entire fleet kept churning out more and more missiles of all kind with a rate of thousands per seconds. Half of these missiles, composed solely of high yield thermonuclear warhead, rushed toward the incoming swarm. The NAI pilots of the larger missiles won't attempted to hit individual targets, instead they denoted themselves in the middle of the swarm to catch as much snubcrafts or projectiles as possible. Smaller missiles in the other hand aimed at enemy's missiles. Meanwhile the other half of the deploying missiles fanned out in two groups then formed themselves at the far flanks of the formation.
"By the will of the Divine Empire, Air Group 2 joins the fray." The Air Leaders and Commissars of Air Group 2 yelled.
"Glory for Davia!" Responded by both organic and cybernetic pilots of the deploying strike crafts.
Along with the missiles 14030 strikecrafts (in which 530 of them would be stealth strikecrafts) of Air Group 2 would also launched themselves into the void. These strike crafts along with ten thousands of smaller missiles would move behind the missiles ready to engage enemy snubcrafts and projectiles which survived the nuclear storm.
Huge chain of explosion lighted up the space as high yield thermonuclear missiles denoted themselves in the middle of the incoming swarm instantly vaporized anything nearby and probably damaged those within. Then the battle between the pirates snubcrafts and projectiles and Davian own missiles and Air Group 2 began. The target priorities were as follow: Missiles, Bombers, Railgun rounds then fighters.
Still a lot of projectiles and significant groups of snubcrafts managed to break through and rushed toward the Davian fleet. Plasma cannons in flak mode and CIWS flicked to life one after the other as they threw out millions of plasma bolts and flak rounds. Pirates projectiles and snubcrafts finally 'found' their targets and attempted to struck them. Yet much to their dismayed the 'ships' they were trying so hard to attack turned out to be fake targets. As the result of the attack however several decoy drones would be destroyed after drawing a lot of fire from the true ships. The fleet's flak and CIWS managed to stop almost all of the missiles as well as large part of railgun rounds. Still some would get through.
"Sub-fleet 1 stop firing. Incoming fire. Plasma Pulse! Brace Davian!" The 9 Davian ships unleashed their plasma pulse at once. 9 massive bubbles of bright white blue color rapidly expanded from the ships and engulf all missiles, railgun rounds and snubcrafts in hot plasma. The pulse vaporized everything around the ships.
Despite all counter measures though railgun rounds and missiles managed to strike the shield of the Davian ships. While the shields hold they would no doubt weaken.
"Praise Divine Davia. We hold! Plasma pulse begins recharge. Request counters attack."
"Missile launcher keep firing, all long to medium range plasma coilgun batteries switch to normal mode and open fire. Air Group 1, 2 keep pushing, deploy Air Group 3. All Stealth Strikecrafts activate Stealth field. Missile group 2.1 and 2.2 attack from both flanks and rear, missile group 3.1 go with Air Group 3. Deploying Missile group 3.2 , 3.3."
The Davian missiles swarms each consisted of 108900 missiles (in which 13400 were stealth missiles) staying at both flanks of the fleet surged forward as they maneuvered to the far flanks of the pirates ships. Once there all stealth missiles activated their stealth generators and kept moving to the rear of the pirate ships. Meanwhile another 108900 missiles from missiles group 3.1 finished their deployment and along with another 14030 strikecrafts from Air Group 3 made a frontal charge toward the pirate ships. All the missiles were instructed and timed to reach the pirate ships at once and from every single angles. Unlike those missiles used to bombard the pirate's attack, each missile swarms have 3 kinds of missiles: shield breaker missiles specifically designed to collapse shield, plasma missiles to break through material armor and finally thermonuclear missiles to cause large destruction. And like all typical Davian missiles and strikecrafts groups these groups would be accompany by large number of decoy drones which tried to draw enemy's fire and spy drones which tried to disrupt enemies' communication or sensors while help guiding and painting for their own units.
"Instruct all units to aim at damaged ships and ships with shield downed first. Specifically struck their point defense weapons first before going after their Command Bridge, engines and hangars. Set capital ships at lower priority, we will strike their smaller crafts first."
"At your order sir. The empire will carry the day!"
As the missiles and strikecrafts either making their maneuvered or attacking the main pirate fleet, Davian ships (and their decoys) closed their distant with the embattling Free World fleet. Once in range plasma coilgun batteries began to fire at the pirate ships which entangling with the Free World. Thousands of plasma bolts began to fill the space aiming at the ships.
Then a short message would be sent to the Free World: "Hail brave allies. Davia fleet sincerely requests Free World fleet to slowly reverse your ships toward our incoming ships. We will try our best to cover your maneuver. Together we may pull through this fight."
The Free Worlds forces were taking an absolute mess of enemy fire, and it was by some miracle of some unknown deity that only one destroyer out of that group had been disabled. None of the heavy frigates, missile craft nor destroyers were left unscathed by now however, and all vented water and atmo into space as they continued to fire everything they had at the pirate fleets.
The battleship and it's cruisers were still very much the bruisers of the FW group, snapping off heavy fire from every battery and launcher they had, pouring shot and nuke into the enemy in an unending rain of metal and hellfire.
The snubs jinked and zipped about, avoiding the pirate's fire as best they could as they attempted to cover the fleet covered and to take out any missiles that the fleet's PD missed. And then, a squadron zipped straight up from the battle and out of range of AA, their pilots chattering and weighing their orders as they searched for their target on scanners-- they had been ordered to hit the Shadow Strike if they could.
With the primary threat to the Dirge fleet eliminated, the Dirge took a somewhat more agressive posture. The interdiction form retreated towards the rear of the formation, while the escorts raised themselves on an axis, giving a wider firing angle though they lost the protection of the massive forms bulk. The first sheild carrier had reinflated somewhat, and continued to hide itself in the interdictor shadow, biding it's time and growing new layers of sheilding to be poured into the void. The second however emptied it's bowels, the density of the particle shields began to shred incoming kinetics with an increasing efficiency. Shrapnel still managed to penetrate deeply into the fleets formation but with much of the original mass and energy of the shots robbed, a majority of incoming damage was superficial.
With the approaching corvettes and point defense craft, the swarms carrying out pinpoint strikes reeled back towards a more defensive position of the fleet. Particle throwers now expressly targeted incoming munitions and snub craft. With the majority of missiles being destroyed by the ciws and swarms, they could no longer wear thin the particulate shields encapsulating the fleet.
The battleships exchanged position, and the damaged escort limped towards the bleeding battleship.
The heaviest weapons of the Dirge fleet possessed by the twin battleships now concentrated on the missile bearing craft, while the lighter weapons focused on the rest of the fleet.
With the Commodore's flagship fragged, and an increase in weapons fire headed in their direction it seemed that the fleet facing the Dirge had, for the moment, lost its will to perform suicidal charges. The fleet pulled away, covering each other as they regrouped. The missile boats, as opposed to going on the offensive, moved to the rear of the formation, using their rapid launching missiles to destroy incoming munitions while the fleet regrouped. The cruisers weaved around one another, using their shields to blunt the brunt of the incoming heavy weapons fire and protect their missile boats and the invaluable cover fire they were providing.
The maneuver was not without it's casualties however. One of the cruiser's shields were breached, and its engines damaged before a battle cruiser came forward to cover the vessel as it sluggishly returned to formation. Once the ships had regrouped, the destroyers went on the offensive. Witht he corvettes providing point defense, and the fighters doing what they could to protect them, the ten destroyers surged toward the Dirge formation. Finally, it seemed, the pirates had clued in that shield ships were the source of a great many of their woes, and the lighter vessels targeted them exclusively while the cruisers continued to lay down fire, if nothing else to keep the Dirge distracted while the destroyers closed an attempted to knock the shield vessels out of the fight.
Two destoyers never made it into firing range however, leaving only eight vessels to target the shield ships.
Near the main force, the situation was looking increasingly dim for the allies. The Free Worlds and GAE had both suffered heavily since the beginning of the engagement, and the massive amounts of point defense the Shadow Strike was able of providing served to continued to overwhelm even the massive amounts of missile fire the Free Worlders were capable of generating. Counter missile batteries, CIWS, the Shadow Strike had the works and it was obvious that she had not been chosen as the flagship of the VRF for no reason. Even the aid of the newly arrived Davians did little to actually damage the fleet, their second barrage proving little more effective than the first, once again what few munitions actually made it to their targets failing to punch through their shields.
Grouped together, and under the Admiral's command, vessels flowed around each other, similar to the tactics in use by the Dirge, heavier ships traded positions, using their shields to cover the fleet, however under the Admiral's command the tactic was far more effective. Despited the combined fire of the three fleets, only four light cruisers were damaged, and a pair of wounded destroyers finished off before the fleet had its chance to return the favor in kind.
The Shadow Strike, now joined by the battle ship, and one of the battle cruisers once again focused its wrath on the flagships of the Free Worlds and the GAE. The hulking dreadnought unleashing railgun shot after railgun shot and missile after missile toward the Blue Witch while the Battleship and the Battle Cruiser focused all of their fire on the Colony-Class. The rest of the fleet picked targets at will, aiming for ships among the two fleets that had already been wounded, and unleashing another barrage upon the Davians while the bombers and fighters made more attack runs.
While the main force pushed aggressively on their opponents, the ships up against the Imperial Dawn remained at range and fought conservatively. The battleship, now damaged, allowed the rest of its fleet to push ahead while it fired from the rear of the formation, targeting the already damaged Artemis class while it waited for its shields to come back online. Two of the four carriers also took heavy hits, shields flaring and then failing as rounds impacted against her hull and left deep gouges and fiery scars upon them. But for the moment, the fleet remained at range, laying down fire on the newcomers while the snubcraft, supported by the point defense laden corvettes, closed in on attack runs with the ships at the front of the Imperial formation.
The Commodore leading the attack on the TDA however was not one to back away from a fight. As the TDA charged forth he too ordered his engines to full and lead his ships toward the TDA, all weapons firing as the two fleets rapidly closed in on one another. Weapons flashed, shields flared and died as the distance between them disappeared to near nothingness and then, like jousting knights of days long gone, the two fleets crashed into one another, unleashing all they had at near point blank ranges as they pushed past each other.
The Free Worlders fought bitterly on. One by one, ships began to take too much damage to carry on. First a missile frigate, then another, and then suddenly three heavy frigates all at once. Another destroyer became crippled and unable to maneuver as a round slammed through two of it's reactors, and a cruiser for the first time in the battle lost it's shields and took a savaging to it's armor as the engineers franctically worked to get it's shields back up.
And yet, for the punishment they took they dished out hell and metal in return. The frigates and destroyers carried on their barrages of missiles, beginning to cold launch and cycle the launchers as fast as possible to 'launch' much larger barrages as their guns screamed defiance. The cruisers as one focused their fire on the pirate battlecruiser, combining their main guns and missile batteries upon the enemy vessel as the Sunrise began trading fire with the pirate battleship-- behemoth against behemoth in cold-blooded trading of metal and death.
And then, the fighters above Shadow Strike were ordered to attack. With the enemy vessel's PD busy, they dove in staggered groups like hawks upon prey as they unleashed flights of nuclear rockets and dove for the enemy vessel's command structure and sensors. They did not expect to survive intact, but if they did not try things would only get worse.
Admiral Switch hadn’t expected the pirates to muster enough courage to counter charge like they did; these weren’t the usual lot of brigands that would flee upon seeing organised military attacks. The beating on the TDA ships was monumental with Frigate after frigate either being evacuated or being destroyed outright, all in all 5 frigates we’re destroyed and five more being damaged in an attempt to shield the larger ships from the initial salvo. The cruisers didn’t fare so well either with two being evacuated after already taking serious damage and four more taking damage after their shields failed. The other larger ships remained intact with their shields holding… for now.
“I need a SITREP for our attacking void groups!” The admiral barked
“They’re engaged now, admiral”
“Good, Get Void Groups five to eight to target the enemy light cruisers and Void groups nine to twelve to target their Heavy cruisers and have remaining ships concentrate fire on their battle cruisers.”
The Vast fighter fleet of the TDA broke off and made head ways to their targets, while fighting off enemy fighters and avoiding PD from enemy ships, one group after another they launched their nuclear payloads at their targets although at heavy cost with hundreds of dead or missing pilots. The rest of the ships unable to keep enemy ships in the arc of their spinal guns focused turret battery fire on the battle cruisers where the repetitious salvo fire from railguns and CIWS would hopefully make short work of them.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 20:07:24 GMT
Leading the fleet from the front, the Blue Witch received heavy fire from the enemy dreadnought, her forward shields failed in several areas and railgun fire left multiple slugs imbedded in the armor. Despite the efforts of the AAA gun crews, several of the missiles made it through the defenses and impacted the ships armor causing several smaller railgun and AAA turrets to tear off their mounts. Clouds of colored bursts from heavy flak and streams of yellow, red and orange tracers from light flak filled the space surrounding the Blue Witch as she attempted to intercept more missiles directed at the ship.
Two Kagero class destroyers, just behind the Blue Witch received medium damage as a result of stray slugs that either ricochet off their flagships armor or strays from the enemy guns. A missile impacted one of the damaged Atago Class heavy cruisers along the belly which caused the reactors to go offline temporarily. Fighters deployed from the assault carriers and other ships in the fleet darted between enemy ships, letting loose the single anti-ship torpedo that each carried while the torpedo bombers launched their heavy anti-ship torpedoes at the enemy dreadnought.
More nuclear warhead missiles launched from the bays of the Atago Class cruisers as they advanced slowly behind the Blue Witch. The Assault Carriers behind the entire fleet continued to rearm and launch their fighters and bombers for the continuing action. Occasionally their AAA guns would open fire to intercept missiles but aside from that the ships were well protected behind the screen of destroyers and cruisers on their sides.
"Artificial gravity systems deactivated, crew quarters and corridor lights off." reported an officer, dialing in further instructions on his terminal.
With the artificial gravity systems offline, Tanya floated up beside Arabel. "Crew has begun repair of internal ship systems. The bow has taken some damage but so far nothing too dramatic."
Arabel was hardly listening, trying her best to keep her butt on her seat. "Keep HQ informed of our situation, we don't want them thinking we've gone down."
While the pirate's anti missiles systems began to spew out munition at the mass of missiles. The Davian missiles and drones from missile group 2.2, 2.3, 3.1 as well as the strikecrafts of Air Group 03 suddenly engaged in a surprise maneuver as they scattered all over the place and pulled backward. While a fair number of them would be destroy by the intense fire, most remain untouched. The 3 missiles groups numbering nearly three hundred thousand missiles of various sizes and sharps began to encircle the pirate fleet. Their individual AIs hive mind merged with the other and became coded as Grand Missile Group GMG1.1. From times to times, groups of 1000 missiles would charge in to either attack a single ship or simply withdraw again to draw anti-missiles weapons away.
Yet not all missiles followed this maneuver. Far from behind of the pirate fleet, 26800 stealth missiles of various sizes stealthily closed their distant. They moved unseen and with caution. Their collective Artificial Hivemind reported as SM01.
Meanwhile the first group of Davian fleet itself began to enter mid-range combat with the pirate fleet. Plasma coilguns and plasma cannons batteries as well as closer missile launchers threw out ceaseless tides of sun like blue white bolts, plasma beams and all kind of missiles at the pirate ships. Yet with the shooting this close loses would be inevitable. Having witnessed missiles and railgun rounds for a long times, energy shields began to fail one after another, thus pirate's firepower began to strike at the Davian armors and hulls. Across the first groups various damages began to be reported.
"First group taking heavy fire. Our shields are failing, Armor and hull breached. Damage escalating. First group keep firing. Glory for the empire!"
"We go in flame. Long live Davia!"
"This's Battleship 01, we lost our shield, armor begins to take damage."
"Hull breached! Repeat hull breached. Battlecruiser 02 taking heavy fire."
"Destroyer 02 crippled. Request evacuation… BOOOOOOM!"
Encased on his command throne admiral Tran allowed streams of information to flow through his mind. His first group was taking a lot of damage. Out of the capital ships, Battleship 01 lost its shields and sustained moderate damage, Battlecruiser 02 was rendered into a smoking hulk. Anyway Battleship 02 remained intact and Battlecruiser 01 just lost its shielding. The situation for the lighter ships was no better. Destroyer 02 was out of the fight for good, its hull tore apart and the crew was forced to evacuate. Destroyer 04, crippled by a lot of fire, then a missile somehow denoted within its hull and effectively blew apart the first 1km of the ship, thus its crews also began to evacuate, however the ship's AIs remained active and all its remain weapons kept firing. Destroyer 01 meanwhile lost its shielding and sustained moderate damage, Destroyer 03 which stayed at the back of the formation still fully operational yet its shield also collapsed. Beside half of decoy drones accompanying the first group were also destroyed.
"Front to rear, rear to front. First Group pull back using unscathed ships as cover, Second Group takes the lead. 50% remaining decoy drones of First Group keep position, the rest cover the retreating ships. Battlecruiser 02, Destroyer 04 keep firing till the end. Keep our distant; we don't want close range fighting." Admiral Tran ordered: "Deploy missile group 3.2 and 3.3 to the far flanks, missile group 3.4 at front. Load Illuminate, Beam and Multi Laser warhead. Deploy with haste. Deploy more decoys…" The admiral, supported by his ship main AI, issued a string of commands before personally told the SAI: "Tell your brothers to evacuate only in the last moment."
"You have my word sir. The AIs will do as your wish. For the strikecrafts I suggest..."
The second group of 2 battleships, 2 battlecruisers and 4 destroyers immediately rushed forward surrounded by even more decoy drones and covered by Davian electronic warfare dome. Meanwhile the damaged first group engaged their engines and revered from the fight as fast as possible all the while keep firing. Yet what remain of the crippled Destroyer 04 kept their position along with half of the remaining decoy drones of the first group. These crippled ship would keep firing till the last moment.
While the larger ships began to redeploy, the Air Groups also repositioning themselves. Air Group 01 which engaging the pirate ships and strikecrafts from the start began to pull back for rearming. They would be covered by the arriving Air Group 03 which splintered into smaller groups to better cope with the ongoing battle. Meanwhile Air Group 02 held their position and protected the larger warships.
"All Stealth Crafts joining together sir. Code Name SF01." The stealth strikecrafts from all three Air Groups began to separate themselves from the battle and silently joined together into an extreme loose group. There were around 1500 of them: "SF01 attack their flagship along MS01."
"Missile group 3.2 and 3.3 successfully deployed to both flanks admiral. Deploying missile group 3.4"
With all the damage and lose sustained across the fleet both missile group 3.2 and 3.3 possessed somewhat fewer number then the previous groups. Precisely 3.2 numbered 112305 missiles loaded with Illuminate warheads while 3.3 had 99800 missiles with Beam warheads. The two missile groups then moved as fast as possible toward the largest pirate ship and encircled it from a far.
"Missile group 3.4 formed between Second Group and Main Group. Should we attack?"
"Yes. Missile group 3.4 charge. All Air Groups stay break off and stay away. Do it."
As ordered 100520 missiles of group 3.4 all loaded with Pumped warhead charged forward accompanied by thousands of decoy drones in front and spy drones. The new swarm quickly moved passed the Davian ships, missile circle as they closed their distant with the pirate fleet.
"Air Groups breaking out! Reform behind Missile group 3.4! Move! Move! Move!" Orders shouted across the engaging Davian strikecrafts which immediately and suddenly ceased all attack as they retreated across the incoming missiles. "Missile group 3.4 final charge. Speed 0.9C ready to fire."
"Fire!" A single word shouted through the individual NAIs of the missile and they open fired all at once. Each missile of the group initiated their second charge and unleashed dozen of trans-gamma laser beams to all direction except behind. Thus everything staying behind the missiles would be unscathed while everything in a wide front of them would be bath in a huge storm of trans-gamma beams. The missiles were single shot however as the discharge exhausted their whole power cells and rendered them useless. Right after the laser discharge the Davian strikecrafts mostly from Air Group 03 and part of 01 moved in to attack.
"Missile group 3.2, 3.3, MS01, Air Group SF01 in position."
"Attack their flagship. Let see how they fare again this."
The circle around the Shadow Strike collapsed as 212105 missiles from Missile group 3.2, 3.3 all charged at the Shadow Strike at once.
"Distant reached. 3.3 Fire." From a rather large distant 99800 missiles discharged their payload and sprayed 99800 plasma beams toward their target. Several seconds later 112305 missiles from missile group 3.2 engaged their second phase, the core of each missiles overload, their physical body immediately vaporized as the whole missile turned into a plasma bolt which continued to slam into their target.
"SM01 engage" From well behind the Shadow Strike came 26800 unseen missiles aimed directly to the engine of the super dreadnought. They moved in 10 waves with 2680 missile each.
"SF01 engage" Finally around 1500 stealth strikecrafts closed in and racked the Shadow Strike with their weapons.
The Admiral was uncomfortably jostled in her command seat as the enemy railgun rounds slammed into Fel Victorious’ bow. “Helm! Roll our port towards the enemy. Gunny, give ‘em another salvo and open up with our broadsides.”
“Aye, Sir!” The grizzled man happily replied. The gunnery master, enlivened both by the glaring scars left on the enemy carriers and the enthusiasm of his commander’s orders, picked up his radio and ordered another volley of eight heavy-mass shells upon the already-wounded enemy ships. Once the railcannons had done their work, and once the ship had rolled to expose the less-damaged portion of its bow to enemy fire, the sixteen high-output gamma lasers along the Artemis’ flank let loose, their beams focusing at a single point on the pirate battleship’s shields in an attempt to maximize their damage.
The cruiser squadron, meanwhile, maintained their standoff distance with their counterparts as well as their constant rate of fire, matching the shells and missiles of their enemies, the barrels of the squadron’s many CIWS turrets glowing to keep up with the constant influx of enemy fire. The damaged Thundercall light cruiser moved to the rear of the formation, allowing the heavier Aurora and Mazuril cruisers to take the brunt of the enemy force, the Mazuril’s side sponsons taking heavy hits, incapacitating some of its smaller-caliber main guns. Even so, it continued to fight on.
Far ahead, Julia was having fun. Her own craft was pockmarked by hundreds of incoming CIWS impacts, and while they provided a rather bumpy ride, few of the smaller shots managed to penetrate the Long Lance’s quite thick armour. Despite losing some handfuls of fighters to heavier fire, the Firstmage and her wing continued their harassing attacks on the enemy in order to prevent as many missiles and attack craft as possible from reaching the main body of the Imperial force. Providing long-range support, the Hylastra-class guided missile battleship continued sending an unending wave of armoured missiles to occupy the enemy fighter craft and anti-air units so that the Imperial voidcraft could do their work.
Admiral Switch hadn’t expected the pirates to muster enough courage to counter charge like they did; these weren’t the usual lot of brigands that would flee upon seeing organised military attacks. The beating on the TDA ships was monumental with Frigate after frigate either being evacuated or being destroyed outright, all in all 5 frigates we’re destroyed and five more being damaged in an attempt to shield the larger ships from the initial salvo. The cruisers didn’t fare so well either with two being evacuated after already taking serious damage and four more taking damage after their shields failed. The other larger ships remained intact with their shields holding… for now.
“I need a SITREP for our attacking void groups!” The admiral barked
“They’re engaged now, admiral”
“Good, Get Void Groups five to eight to target the enemy light cruisers and Void groups nine to twelve to target their Heavy cruisers and have remaining ships concentrate fire on their battle cruisers, don't turn to engage maintain present course towards the planet, I want nice clean pass through.”
The officers scrambled around the CIC to carry out and pass down orders as they did one General Burt Hashmon walked confidently and unfazed by the ensuing battle into the CIC.
"Sara, long time no see. last time we served together we were at..." Hashmon said enthusiastically before being cut off
"That'll do with the pleasantries Burt, I'm getting desperate, I take you heard about the anti orbital defences on the planet?" Switch said with a sincere tone
"yes, and I have a plan already."
"Good, point out to me where you need to be and I'll do my best to hold ground there while you disembark."
Hashmon laughed "I don't need you to stay anywhere, we're going to hot drop everything we can about 150,000 men should be enough to assault their main position and secure the Orbitals intact, I just need you to pass over the drop zone."
"Alright, lets get it done" Switch said with more confidence in her voice
When they finished coordinating their plan, several fleet wide messages went through and the army was mobilising to hot drop on Vestahl. On the Young and free, claxons and PA announcements filled the ship as well as the foot steps and soldiers getting to their positions for the drop hearing the final call for ready positions, Hashmon bid switch farewell and left to suit up and enter his pod.
Meanwhile out in space the Vast fighter fleet of the TDA broke off and made head ways to their targets, while fighting off enemy fighters and avoiding PD from enemy ships, one group after another they launched their nuclear payloads at their targets although at heavy cost with hundreds of dead or missing pilots. The rest of the ships unable to keep enemy ships in the arc of their spinal guns focused turret battery fire on the battle cruisers where the repetitious salvo fire from railguns and CIWS would hopefully make short work of them. Both shield craft now hid in the shadow of their much larger counterparts, having temporarily spent their usefulness. As the missile boats and lighter craft adjusted their targets, so to did the drones. The ever closing range between the two fleets gave them an advantage. The closest drones to the opposing fleet quickly rushed the unshielded ships. Those that made it to their target rapidly decelerated, and latched onto the exterior, venting their stored energy, and weapons into the hull directly beneath them. This was not however a suicide attack, the drones had been subtly adjusting their physiology to accommodate this maneuver, and now struck at the first opportunity.
With the drone swarms harrasing the opposing fleet, the battleships niw focused exclusively on targets that still had their shields up, the heaviest weapons attempting to drop whatever potential defenses the enemy could still use, attempting to defeat them more rapidly now, as the conditions of the world's defenders deteriorated. Time was of the essence.
Naturally this sudden shift in strategy left the fleet relatively defenseless. The drones no longer swatted at incoming projectiles, the light weapons generally relegated to ciws could now find their mark against the nearest most ships.
The battleship that had replaced the damaged one took significant damage in this bout, weapons cutting deeply into the form, albeit not dealing enough damage to properly fell it. The escorts that hid behind the forms that dwarfed them no longer cycled themselves, but rather forms a flesh shield, preventing more fire from striking true against those most targeted. The crimson plumes that erupted from the battleship and interdictor were not absorbed into the shield to bolster the Dirge defenses, nore did it contribute to the churning swarms that harrased the opposing fleet. Rather, large filaments reached across the void, and connected the three largest craft, and slowly within their own formation, they began to drift into eachother.
The time for cunning tactics and skillfull maneuvers had come and passed. There was no place for either anymore as the fight around Vestahl had devolved into a stand up slug fest. Ships traded fire, dodged what the could, and tried to cover one another as best as possible but in the end the fight was nothing more than one of attrition, and only one question was left to be answered: who would crack first?
And the answer was the leaderless fleet engaging the Dirge.
The extra point defense supplied by the corvettes, along with the carrier's snubcraft engaging the Dirge limited the effectiveness of their drone assault. That alone may have provided hope to the battered forces there, if not for the Dirge's newest attempt at merging forms. No one was keen to find out what the newest Dirge monstrosity would look like, nor what it would be capable of and their already flagging morale began to break entirely.
It was in the disarray just before the rout that the most damage was scored. Four cruisers were destroyed in short order, followed by another four destroyers and then a missile boat as it ceased firing and tried to turn away. A single carrier, two battle cruisers, four destroyers, a final missile boat, and two corvettes were all that remained of the force.
However, as ships began to detonate all around them Captain Parker's voice began booming over the comms, spurring what was left of the force into a frontal assault. His confidence, and the sudden acceleration of his battlecruiser toward the three largest Dirge vessels rallied his remaining forces for one last push.
The fleet surged forward, throwing caution to the wind as the battlecruiser led the way into the Dirge swarm. The corvettes fell in on either side of his ship, keeping the drones off the wounded battlecruiser as she plowed forward, her heavyiest guns targetting the closest of the three large forms while the destroyers, missile boats, and bombers laid down close range fire on everything else in their way.
"Prepare to break contact on my signal!" Parker shouted over the comms. The battlecruiser plowed forward at full speed, angling itself toward the next closest of the three massive forms as it continued to fire. It became obvious in the seconds that followed exactly what the mad Captain's plan was. As his forces began to break engagement his ship showed not the slightest sign of slowing down as it moved toward its target.
"Alright then bitches!" Parker shouted. "GET,"
The battlecruiser slammed into it's target.
"FUCKED!!!"
With that, the ship fired everyone of its remaining nuclear missile, obliterating itself in the process. The remainder of the fleet didn't wait to see the outcome of the suicidal charge, using the ensuing chaos to accelerate away from the Dirge and toward the system's edge as their FTL drives began charging.
Parker's final charge went unnoticed by the rest of the fleet, occupied as they were with their own engagements. Near the Imperial Dawn the situation was far less grim. The bulk of the forces there were still intact, they still had a leader, and (most importantly) they held the numerical advantage.
Nowhere was the numerical advantage more apparent than in the steadily growing dogfight between the Imperial Dawn's snubcraft and those of the Vestahl Revolutionary Front. With four carriers worth of ships, it was quite simply impossible for Imperial forces to escape the numbers advantage. Everywhere the reports were the same. Two on one. Three on one. Four, five, six, and seven on one... there was nowhere for the Imperial pilots to go where at least two pirates weren't lying in wait.
Their combat effectiveness was rapidly degrading as the pirates attacked with renewed vigour, pushing forward into more optimal combat ranges while their snubcraft kept their Imperial counterparts tied down and ineffective.
The nimble corvettes led the way, using their ample point defense to destroy incoming munitions while the missile boats began to unleash a fresh and truly hellish barrage, covering the cruisers, and battleship as they moved into optimal combat ranges and began adding heavy railgun fire and nuclear missile barrages.
The attack was not without its casualties of course. At the front, three corvettes were destroyed two missile boats were struck and destroyed by stray fire at the back of the formation, two light cruisers were damaged, a third destroyed. A damaged carrier finally went dark and floated without power, unable to carry on, a pair of heavy cruisers were struck hard but fought on and three cruisers were destroyed...
But the pirates continued on, firing endlessly into the imperial forces as their ships began to break apart around them.
The bulk of the fleet remained engaged with the GAE, Free Worlds, and Davians, where their numerical advantage was less pronounced. Nonetheless, the Shadow Strike was proving an especially difficult beast to bring down. Despite the volume of fire sent its way it continued to lay down devastatingly effective point defense fire. Supported by six carriers worth of snub craft, and the point defense laden corvettes, not to mention its armor and shield the snub craft engaging the Shadow Strike posed little threat.
The same could not be said of the the Blue Witch. As the Shadow Strike and the Blue Witch began to dance around one another, laying into each other with everything they had, signs of battle began appearing on the Shadow Strike's exterior. Deep scars and gouges in her armor, the occassional vent of oxygen, water, and personnel into the void, and guns that abruptly began to go silent.
Still she fought on, unleashing salvo after salvo toward the Blue Witch and any other vessel unfortunate enough to earn the beheamoth's ire.
The rest of the fleet was less able to shrug off damage. As combat formations rapidly collapsed, the main fight turning into a genuine clusterfuck if ever there was one, the pirate's fleet began to break under the pressure of the continuous barrage. Ships previously damaged were the first to go. Seven destroyers, two missile boats, and six light cruisers, all bearing the scars of earlier enagements were picked off one by one. Some went dark and quiet, others exploded, and some simply broke apart under the sustained fire.
With the weak and the injured picked off, the next to fall were those unfortunate ships to be forced out of position. A carrier was destroyed after it found itself matched up against a battleship in single combat, two missile boats, cut off from their brethren and support craft met their ends in a similar fashion, two heavy cruisers pushed deep into enemy formations in an effort to avoid nuclear detonation found naught but destruction awaiting them there.
And after? After it came down to luck. Those lucky enough to avoid enemy fire lived, those that weren't died. Two cruisers, and eight more destroyers went down as the fight continued on.
But one would be remiss to think the casualties were inflicted at no, or even at a low cost. The pirates continued to unleash hell, targetting vessels that were already damaged first, while larger vessels continued in their efforts to goad their large counterparts into disadvantageous positions. The Davian decoys were wholely ineffective by this point. Enough fire had been levelled against them that the true targets had been seperated from the false. New decoys were disregarded and ignored, the pirate's fire only being sent against actual ships and the fire remained deadly to both the Free Worlds and the GAE, already battered and bruised by earlier engagements.
The deadly joust against the TDA did not leave the pirates unscathed. The close ranges left little room to maneuver and much like the main engagement it was those vessels already damaged that suffered the worst of the attack. A missile boat went first. Then a heavy cruiser. Three battlecruisers followed, three light cruisers after that, and two more missile boats met their ends as the joust completed. The pirates brought their ships about in short order, continuing to fire as they pursued the TDA toward Vestahl itself, but they ceased their pursuit as the TDA made it into the defensive sphere provided by the three remaining SRU defense platforms and the SRU Central Command platform, seemingly clear to push toward their drop zone on the planet. On the ground, in Levitsky, the SRU had received a much needed breather. The revolutionaries had pulled back, and while they still probed and skirmished with what remained of the SRU they seemed content, for the moment, to wait and see how the battle in orbit played out.
Quinn McKendrick seemed out of place in the warzone. Surrounded by soldiers in fatigues and armor, his unkempt suit, and loose tie made the contract broker very out of place indeed. Only the assault rifle resting on his shoulder indicated that the man knew he was in a warzone as he picked his way through the rubble and towards Arna.
He put down the rifle with a groan, leaning it against broken concrete while he dug a lighter and a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of one of his pockets and lit up before offering the pack to Arna.
“Well Singh’s sure made a mess of this place hasn’t he?” Quinn commented offhandedly as he took a drag and sat down with a grunt.
“I have good news though,” He commented. “You may not believe me… but Singh’s already lost this war. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
He glanced toward the sky, and the distant forms of the TDA vessels passing overhead.
“Well… unless these idiots fuck it all up of course.”
The TDA received several hails and warnings from the defense platforms, reminding them of the anti-orbital defenses, all of which fell on deaf ears as they pressed toward their landing zone.
They were still quite a ways out when the first signs of the anti-orbitals became apparent. It started with a dozen new contacts. Missiles from the surface on a course with their fleet… a dozen quickly became two dozen… then a hundred, then a thousand, ten thousand, and hundred thousand. A veritable cloud of missiles had begun streaking from the surface toward the TDA, and no amount of point defense, shields, or armor would save them as the number of incoming missiles continued to climb toward the millions.
They were still too far away from their LZ to make the drop. Detonating the frigate early would provide them a window to make it there, but would guarantee the destruction of the entire TDA fleet… or it could provide a window to withdraw. There would still be casualties, there were far too many missiles for there not to be casualties, but the fleet (what would be left of it anyway) might survive.
Then there would only be the problem of the pirates, circling just beyond the range of the orbital defense platforms like hungry vultures.
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Post by CanisDirus on Mar 21, 2021 20:07:40 GMT
Like the pirates they faced, the Free Worlds suffered and fought. Under the weight of fire, most ships that had already been damaged suddenly broke. The heavy frigates flared and died, going dark or coming apart in twirling clouds of light, short-lived flame and metal as they exploded. The destroyers suffered much the same fate as they were pounded and savaged, going dark and beginning to drift as they were overcome.
And then, shock of shocks, a cruiser exploded. Nobody had seen what the fuck had hit the heavy warship, but the enemy fire had punched straight through the vessel's Autayan shields and cored it. The cruiser's guns gave one last defiant volley before escape pods began bursting free, the vessel going dark and simply losing all power and thrust in moments. Then another took severe damage, it's engines and armor taking a savage pounding from the VRF even though the vessel slewed about and continued to fight bitterly on.
The battleship took a hit meant for a Rainmaker, the sheer shock and impact of the enemy strike rattling the heavy hitter from bow sensors to stern as it absorbed the force as best was possible and returned fire with hellish, punishing force. The Free Worlds vessels, now down to a scarce handful of frigates, continued to loose everything they had in unending, apocalyptic waves of nuclear munitions and slugs towards their foe.
The fighters attacking the Shadow Strike flew low to the hull and alarmingly fast, and while their numbers were cut down to but a few in moments, a few fighters hurtled on towards what they had deduced was the dreadnought's main sensor array. If they could blind the great monster... then they might, might attain the upper hand for a few critical moments.
The plan was a success they passed through the enemy forces with ease although suffering heavy losses, the planet fall was commencing, the detonation of one of the frigates as a move to screen was done earlier then hoped as the orbital defences were heavier than expected.
“Burt, we can’t go in any further you’re going to have to drop here I’m sorry but we could lose the whole fleet if we don’t leave.” Switch said to Hashmon sincerely over a secure channel
“Roger that Sara, I’ll recalculate drop coordinates on the go.” Hashmon said sternly with a hint of annoyance.
As the detonated frigate began its descent, so too were all the Drop pods and dropships launched as well as twenty Mobile bases, they all launched so that the frigate would hit the ground exactly thirteen seconds before the first wave hit the ground, followed by the second wave fifteen seconds after the first and the dropships and mobile bases reaching a very low altitude two minutes after the second. Drop ships that could not be stored inside the mobile bases were to hang back and act as reserve units, as well as the troops on board the mobile bases whom had no other way to get to the surface and were crammed on.
“Move us out this goddamn fire zone now!” Switch bellowed
“If I had known the fire would be this heavy I would of never agreed to his plan” she muttered under her breath
As the ship pulled away as fast they could some were unable due to engine damage sustained from enemy fire while they moved towards the planet. All but one frigate remained active even so it was in critical condition with the rest being shot down with all hands lost, The previously damaged cruisers we’re no match without their shields and covering fire from the frigates five of them were destroyed outright and the rest taking on heavy damage. But the biggest blow was when several missiles made critical hits on the Battle Carrier TDASV John Howard as well as the others causing significant damage.
“Ma’am we have an SOS from the John Howard.” Said a communications operator nervously
“Put it through the mainline” Switch said
“This is the John Howard we are going down I say again we are going down.” Said the Captain of the ship with fear and dread in his voice
“Admiral, we can’t maintain altitude reactors have gone offline and the planets dragging us in we have to abandon...” The transmission was cut brief by an explosion
“Hello, anyone there?” Switch asked
“The captain’s dead ma’am, we’re leaving the ship, we… we can’t stay here we’ll all die” the scared unknown person told the admiral
“Very well make sure all the soldiers get to the surface.” Switch ended the transmission
Just as the call ended the barrage of missile had stopped, not even the mighty dreadnaughts had been left undamaged the sister ship of the Young and Free; Girt by Sea had taken several direct hits to it starboard launch bays destroying several dozen pilots and fighters as well as venting the hanger into space resulting in the deaths of dozens of crew members.
“Damage report” the admiral demanded
“We’re intact… mostly multiple hull breaches and half of D deck as well most of E deck have been breached and vented. No one made it out it time admiral.” The Damage control officer said with a sombre tone.
She was sick of this; the fighting and the dying. They all died hero deaths of course she though, everyone here was a volunteer they wanted to come and restore the correct government of this world, but at what cost. The admiral ordered what was left of the fleet to maintain high orbit well out of range of the anti-orbital facilities and close enough to get support off of the friendly defence platforms. They would only be limited air support for the ground forces as they needed the edge of the fighters if the enemy came back around.
On the ground the situation was completely different when the Frigate hit the ground it plunged deep into the snow of the surface send out a massive shock wave as well as massive amounts of debris, smoke and snow in all directions for several kilometres. Seconds later the first wave of drops pods landed some we’re unfortunate enough to land in the water, with the occupants having to walk on the ocean floor back up the surface on the beach. General Hashmon was in the first wave of drop pods, it was his own policy to be in the first wave of any attack, just the same as many other Generals, even though he was one of the youngest people to achieve General rank at 35 although this was a common occurrence in the TDA army ever since a fierce battle referred to as the “Meat Grinder of Liberty”. Hashmon had served there and earned his promotions there too, he was by no means a rookie Commander and would be a deadly foe for anyone facing him in battle. Hashmon surveyed the icy hell scape that surrounded him as the second wave of drop pods landed, when they hit some areas of the snowy ground they disappeared completely in its depths. The problem wasn’t the cold it was the depth of the snow being 1.5 to 3 metres in depth it was going to hinder mobility, troops would need to jump from place to place with their jump jets, the 4500 series Mechs or “Cricket Mechs” as the troops called them would be able to move unhindered due to their height, Hashmon thought to himself that he it was a good thing that he didn’t factor armour into his plans. Over the cold ocean about two hundred kilometres away Hashmon noticed something coming out of orbit and plummeting towards the sea. Troops all over the frozen beach stopped momentarily as the ship gracefully plunged into the planets ocean on its way to the cold depths at the bottom.
“Remember the sacrifice the fleet payed for us to get here today; we have a duty to them as much as anyone on this gods forsaken hell hole.” Hashmon announced to his soldiers sternly but sincerely.
Over the radio a voice was trying to break through, at first it was crackling before clearing up.
“Unknowns come in, I say again unknowns come in.” said an unfamiliar voice
“This is General Burt Hashmon of the First TDA Expeditionary Force Army, who is this?” he demanded harshly
“This is Captain Thompson Vestahl Strategic Response Unit, listen you need to get you and your men closer to the capital they have all positions around it zeroed in with artillery once you’re spotted that’s it game over.” Thompson said forcefully
“Alright, thanks for the warning captain, we’ll do the best we can with the information you have provided.” Hashmon said gratefully
He sighed deeply before reconfiguring his battle plan, as he did the sound of the mobile bases and drop ships filled the air with noise and heat of their engines. In his changes he spread out his divisions and moved his reserves back over the ocean, supplies and reinforcements would have a longer wait time but the trade-off of not having the bases blown to pieces by artillery was worth it. The trek to the capital had begun and when they arrived the revolutionary forces were in for a tough fight, they were up against some of the most fanatical soldiers in the TDA, they only knew two things Death and Glory, and both were tasted in any battle they participated in.
With the Blue Witch now locked in battle against the enemy dreadnought the rest of the fleet kept up a steady missile and torpedo barrage, trying to stay at range while their destroyers closed in with their main guns. Two of the remaining eight Zerstorer class destroyers were caught within the Shadow Strike's close range armament and were completely obliterated, their hulls perforated like a sieve and without power now floated onwards lifelessly. Kagero class destroyers launched their torpedoes at the shadow strike, but with the hole in the formation caused by the loss of two ships, the destroyers that weren't already damaged were now. And those that were damaged were reduced to wrecks.
The heavy cruisers were relatively safe behind their screening vessels but not all were entirely immune, return fire from the enemy fleet had scored as a warhead from one of the numerous nuclear missiles detonated in its silo, completely removing the upper hull of the near undamaged ship. The crew rushed to the escape pods as the other missiles in their tubes began detonating one after another and soon the reactor would too. The lucky ones managed to get thrown clear of the ship and the intense radiation, the fewer unluckier ones were either fried as their escape pods left too late or were completely lost in the explosion.
Arabel watched the battle unfold from the command room buried deep within the Blue Witch, the bridge was deemed too unsafe as her shields failed and shut down. And now with the admiral and her bridge crew in the secondary control center the Araxians fought on. The hull of the ultimate fast battleship was clealy marked with battle damage, some shells flew straight through the ship in the thinnest areas without hitting anything while others had found their way into something important. The forward reactors were disabled and it won't be long until the larger weapons there ceased functioning. The secondary weapons of the Blue Witch, her flak batteries and their crew continued firing madly as a steady pile of spent casings built up behind the guns.
"What's the situation with the star fighters?" Arabel demanded.
"Our pilots are reporting 50% losses without any noticeable damage." The admiral was watching her screen, dots representing the fighters disappeared slowly one by one as their ships ceased broadcasting.
"They're requesting to withdraw. Should I order them to continue their attacks?"
"No, let them return to their ships. We'll need them if we're going to ever land a force on the planet." Arabel studied the situation closely. She already noticed that someone had managed to land some forces and while she was tempted to try her own landing the losses suffered by the allied fleet and the situation she was in now had discouraged her for now.
"What is your situation Battleship 01?" The Davian admiral responded. Yet before any respond happened his main SAI sounded with slightly shocked voice: "Battleship 04 destroyed admiral. He tried to get the crews out while keep firing. I lost his signal. Our battle line are being broken sir."
"Get out of their Battleship 01 crews, both organic and AIs. Get out of there." The admiral, ever calmed and cooled head responded through comm link before turning to his AIs assistant: "Military SAI do not panic soldier. We are not done yet. Battleship Alpha joining the fight, Carriers and Fast Cruiser stay behind as final reserve, everyone follow me. It's times for the commander to do it by himself or die trying!"
Thus the Davian threw their reserve to the fight. Led by their Battleship Alpha every ship, excluding the 3 Carriers and 2 Fast Cruisers and a few retreating ships, charged into the fight.
With the commitment of their flagship and reserve force the Davian fought with renewed vigor. Yet courage and vigor had nothing to do with the damage they were taking.
The battle raged on for an unknown amount of time.
"Move forward 20, right 43, all plasma batteries concentrate on that ship, missiles keep firing. Battleship 02 you wounded, don't try to be hero, Battlecruiser 05 evac crews, Frigate 04 shield Battlecruiser 05." Admiral Tran gave out a string of orders for his ships before glanced at his main SAI: "Give me damage report."
"Here is the report comrade commander: 3 destroyers lost, 3 damaged. 2 frigates lost, 2 damaged, 2 battlecruisers lost, 1 damaged. 2 battleships lost, 2 damaged including our vessel."
"There's nothing to lose now. Keep pushing."
"Recommend sending in last reserve."
"Not yet. We can still hold
The dirge continued their relentless assault, trading defense in favor of total offense. Their shots rang true, and hit their marks, but so too did their enemies. Incoming fire reduced the remainder of the Dirge escort into bloody mists, while the suicide attack led by the largest remaining ship all but destroyed one of the Dirge battleships. One of the shield carriers, and two hiveships fell in the ensuing chaos, but, as the two large craft finished merging into a much larger from, the slug match was over.
The remaining drones vegan sifting meticulously and efficiently through the wreckage if the downed hostile craft. Any corpses or biological materials found were quickly swept up by the churning masses. Several firefights broke out in the few intact pressurized compartments or airlocks, but even the longest died out in only minutes.
They would collect themselves and survey their surroundings. It would only be for a moment, but as it stood with the damages they took, it'd be unlikely they could fulfill their final objective immediately on surface. They must join the others and quickly end any remaining orbital activities.
Cortez surveyed the battlespace as his ship shook with impacts. He left his XO to take over while he poured over the displays. The numbers came in and he straightened, rubbing his chin. He had the advantage. He'd lost some ninety five vessels, with twelve more damaged. Meanwhile the combined forces of the allies had lost nearly a hundred vessels, with half that again damaged.
The battle was his to win. But...
He stopped and lowered his hands to the display again.
Routing the enemy here would see nearly his entire fleet destroyed. He would be the victor, but he would have no fleet left to defend Singh's planet. His victory would be no victory at all.
"Fleet wide order," Cortez said at last. "Disengage from all targets and prepare to jump. Rendezvous at waypoint Sierra."
"Understood Admiral," One man shouted.
~~~~~~~~
Quinn took a final drag on his cigarette, glancing over his tablet for updates on the battle above.
"Ah," He said with a grin. "Right on schedule,"
He turned the tablet to Arna and cast the remnants of his cigarette aside.
"Cortez is a strategically minded man," He commented. "A tactical victory is worthless to him if it doesn't further a strategic objective."
He picked up his communicator and tuned it to the open channel as Cortez's forces began breaking contact and retreating from the system, jumping to FTL whenever they were able and leaving the allies alone and unmolested for the time being.
"This is Quinn McKendrick with the Black Sail Organization," He said. "Send whoever you see fit to the following coordinates in Levitsky. Arna and I will... apprise you of the situation once you're on the ground. Try not to die on the way over if you'd be so kind,"
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:57:46 GMT
With the pirate fleet in full retreat switch breathed a sigh of relief as the rest of the crew in the CIC celebrated with cheers and shouts. She gave them a moment to savour the victory before having them return to their stations.
“Alright, get on comms tell HQ that we have space superiority and get our reinforcement ships in system. Get the fleet into orbit way out of the range of the orbitals, and begin bombing of enemy defensive locations. Nukes are authorised on hard targets away from civilian areas, we want to keep the planet intact.” She gave her orders with a more optimistic tone as she picked up the comms headset in front of her.
“Burt, you there, listen the pirate fleet is gone and we’re starting a bombing campaign against the anti-orbital sites so we can hopefully provide direct fire support soon, you’ll get the priority for air cover and support though so don’t worry.” She said cheerfully
Down in the snowy wastes Hashmon was listening to the message as he was jumping through the snow with his men to avoid the incoming artillery fire. Only moments after he received the message about it did all hell rain loose, he quickly reassessed and decided that he would use the capital which he was told was under SRU control and was a relatively safe zone as a forward operating base for his ground operations.
“Ah geez, that’s great Sara you think you can find where these goddamn artillery guns are and destroy them, we’re getting bombarded to hell and back down here so it’s not a great time to talk.” Hashmon yelled stressfully over the comms
Some 50,000 soldiers had the slog through the snow on foot getting through the snowy plains bit by bit, the choice to spread his divisions out had saved a lot of lives so far casualty reports had 723 dead and 403 wounded. Hashmon stopped for a minute to catch his breath, the armour enhanced movement speeds but the wearer was still limited by their own stamina. As he looked around to see more rounds hit the ground all around him as well as soldiers pushing forward to the capital. He was getting annoyed now, the artillery was his first problem to solve. His moment to himself was quickly interrupted by incoming artillery shells that impacted on one of the nearby mobile bases flying overhead that was making its way quickly to the capital, they were flying incredibly close to the ground out of fear of the anti-orbital missiles.
“Base Group one this is Hashmon, can you get a position on where they are firing and counter battery?” he said impatiently
“Negative sir, we can’t get accurate target lock on their position and ordinance we do send will be wildly inaccurate.” The Base Group leader said sharply
“Fire anyway let them get a taste of their own medicine” Hashmon snapped back
“Sara, you there I need all air support to go on combat asset destruction, coordinate it with Base group one.”
It was another forty minutes before they reached the capital away from the artillery strike all in all there were 2542 dead and 5621 wounded. The mobile bases found no suitable places to land so they tethered themselves to some of the taller buildings. Any dropship that didn’t fit inside a mobile base was already there and a strong perimeter was established around the capital by the time Hashmon had arrived. From a glance it was easy to tell there had been fighting smoke, fires, bodies and wreckages told the story of the battle that took place here. He was approaching the location he had been messaged about and was keen to meet those who had been fighting down here. Using his jump jets he quickly jumped himself to the position. He landed with a large crash on the ground, and casually walked over to a man in a suit with a rifle. An extremely unorthodox choice for battle, but desperate times call for desperate measures he thought. The helmet on his suit fold back behind his head and tucked itself inside if the suit revealing his face.
“You’re Quinn Mckendrick I take it, I need that SITREP” He said rather sternly
Arabel watched as the red dots on the screen disappeared one by one. The gun crews confirmed with the bridge that it was not a system error and the enemy ships were jumping out of system. Then turning to Admiral Viktoriya she gave orders for ground deployment. "Have all available ground units deployed immediately, and tell the hangar to have my Type XXIV ready for me when I get down there. Deploy the 8th Schutzstaffel with me and deploy the rest evenly to other units." Before the admiral could reply, Arabel was already out the room and racing towards the elevators.
The doors opened with a swoosh and Arabel raced out past troops rushing to their transports before being loaded onto landing craft. At the end, her Type 24 sat as the engineers performed final checks as a service person passed a flight suit to Arabel. The Type 24 was a mech suit that had a semi-exposed pilot, essentially a human strapped onto a larger humanoid body without a head connected to two multi-condition engines and armed full of weapons. The flight suit Arabel wore was no different than what pilots wore, though she would be inside an exo-skeleton that protected her.
Now fully encased in an armor suit, Arabel moved her four meter tall mech beside landing craft that we launching out the nearest exit. She was joined by another eleven similar units that were to be her honor guard, all similarly armed with 127mm shoulder mounted rail guns, 20mm automatic rifles and missile pods.
"Hangar control to Hunter One, cleared for loading." Deploying in a Type 24 was like with any other similar mech unit, loaded into a launch tube the person with their machine was accelerated and launched out the other side, Arabel was locked in the launch ring and the heavy door shut behind.
"Hunter One to hangar control, ready for launch." Arabel checked her systems again, careful not to drop her 20mm automatic cannon.
"Hangar control to hunter one, cleared for launch." she heard a switch being activated in the control room "Hunter one, launch."
Now ejected out of the ship along with her squadron, Her unit joined the small fleet of landing craft making their way to the planet. A total of over 280,000 men were all going in the same direction, fewer than the original number as all Araxian ships carried troops and their losses meant losses on the ground as well. For now, the main fleet followed up behind the landing party, captains nursing their ships on slowly as more Fighter and bombers from her fleet joined up with the landing force.
Arabel's force arrived and were over the capital in no time, the fighters and bombers that had arrived with the landing force remained at high altitude searching for targets as the landing craft deployed transports, tanks and artillery, setting up their landing zone just outside the capital. Arabel made a circuit around the capital, making sure there weren't any enemies who would pose an immediate threat before landing. Walking over to two men already gathered, she removed her helmet, letting her hair flow down and ears unfold before introducing herself.
"Arabel Von Raxia of the Araxian Empire, here to assist."
"Enemy ships retreating admiral."
"Confirm that enemy ships are retreating. They're trying to breakthrough our missile blockade."
"I need overall scanning of the battlefield." Admiral Tran called for the main AI of his battleship as he saw the many red dots disappeared one after another: "To all units. Maintain formation and keep engaging enemy units. Do not give chase. They may very well trying to lure us into traps or changing units. All remaining missiles from Grand Missile Group GMG1.1 fire at will."
"They're truly pulling out admiral, not only from us but from all fronts." The ship main SAI reported: "Beside someone have already landed a large number of troops onto the planet." After a few more moment the AI spoke again: "Other fleets are moving to the planet. Your order sir?"
"Hm… I do not think they will give up that easy. Still consider we've won the space battle for now." The grizzled admiral responded with cautioned voice before ordering his forces: "Send word to the HQ and tell them to ready ground force. All ships re-group, recall all everything except Air Group SF01…"
The Davian ships began to regroup and began to move to the planet while all of their strikecrafts, missiles and drones quickly returned to their motherships. Swarm of nano bots were released and along with the crews tried to pack up their damaged ships. However not all Davian ships would move toward the planet. The 3 surviving frigates stayed behind within what remained of the battlefield, these ships would remain there to act as liaison ships for the incoming ground force and salvage anything worthy from the battlefield. Any stragglers or surviving crews from the other factions would be rescue and transport to these ships, for the pirate however their fate were sealed as the Davian nano bots would simply 'dismantle' them.
Awhile later the Davian fleet reached the planet during the planet fall of the GAE. Having received some information about what happened to the landing of the TDA, admiral Tran decided to have his ships stayed quite away from orbital firing range.
"General Hung, what's your plan?" The Naval Admiral asked his ground force counterpart who stepped in the command bridge and responded: "As you can see. Our 'allies' are landing en-mass at the capitol; there would be at least several hundred thousands troops around there with heavy air/space cover. I said landing all our current troops there won't be the best choice as if the enemy can dislodge all those forces then our forces won't be able to help much. Anyway we do need to have troops secure that objective so I suggest we land part of our troops around the capitol first before doing something else."
"Agree general. The Navy and Air Force will provide space and air support and test the enemy orbital fire. So are you going?"
"Yes I'll get down there to set up a base. Beside I suggest you keep your wet ships here until we can deploy them. Wish me luck comrade admiral."
"Good luck general."
The Davian fleet began to deploy their ground troops. Wave of assault crafts escorted by fighters ejected themselves from the ships and made their way to the planet's capitol. General Hung encased himself in a large power armor, surrounded by his staff and dozens of both human power armored soldiers and robotic guards stepped into an assault crafts. All around him troops and vehicles waited for their turn to go.
As times pasted, Davian fleet successfully landed 6 divisions at the Capitol. There was a naval infantry division, a paratroop division, an armored division and 4 mixed divisions for the total of around 72000 troops. The naval infantry and a mixed division stayed at the left of the main capitol while the paratroop and another mixed division stayed on the right, the two remaining divisions positioned themselves within and around the main capitol complex. Upon landing the Davian troops immediately began to fortify their position and even managed to set up strong anti-orbital shield to protect their position.
While the ground forces busied with their landing. The Davian warships watched the space and sky of the planet carefully. Then Admiral Tran ordered: "Ok it's our duty to test their defense while covering our deployment. Launch spy drones and decoy drones. Let's tease them a bit."
The Davian ships launched their spy drones and decoy drones which began to cover huge swath of the planet surface. The decoy drones mimicked themselves as either warships or landing crafts would try to fools the defenders into thinking the Davian are making mass planetary invasion, meanwhile the many spy drones using their multi-scanning devices would attempt to map the terrain and locate anti-orbital positions as well as the other important positions.
"Prepare the warbeasts. We may need them soon."
Meanwhile, general Hung and his staffs touched the surface of the capitol and walked toward theer individuals he thought to be a commanding officer of the Vestalh Armed Forces. He and his staffs arrived just in times to know the woman individual was Arabel of the Araxium Empire: "General Hung of the Imperial Davia Ground Force, here to support the war effort." The general put down his face's guard and saluted.
The Dirge group immediately set upon the world as their adversaries had fled. The small group entered a high orbit above the world, and fired several dummy units to probe the defensive installations on the world. Layers of flesh shed from the underbelly of yhe proto-dreanaught, layers of heat ristsiant flesh protected the emerging forms as they dropped in the hundreds of thousands through the atmosphere. Several that strayed to far from the deployment lanes were picked off with relative ease, but nit nearly enough to make a significant different. Unfortunately, due to the low priority of this mission as well the accumulated losses in the short lived slugfest, the Dirge could not afford to deploy the overwhelming numbers typical of their planetary offensives. Rather, should the retreating pirates return it would be very likley that the allied fleets would succumb to a fire grave without their aid.
Therefore, a simple encoded message was sent to Identifiable command units already planetside, that could more or less be interepered as a greeting, as well a cease fire, and finally a proposition to plan the next moves in concert , as numbers on all sides were limited.
The Free Worlds fleet had taken an unholy pounding in the space battle, and in all true honesty they had not intended to deploy a full counter-invasion force as they had not brought any troop transports.
But all the same, the Colony class battleship ordered the remaining cruisers and destroyers to make high atmo runs and deploy what troops they could as it did the same. The surviving frigates were to deploy shuttles, and avoid dropping their pods with how badly savaged they already were. They followed the same course that the GAE had, noting that this was going to be their best bet to avoid losing any more of their heavy ships to enemy ground fire. They'd suffered quite enough today.
The first thing the GAE would have noticed was the drop pods screaming down from above in a veritable short rain of boxy metal covers. Within each of these was a IFSP, the small and two-legged mech that was the most common fighting vehicle of the Free Worlds. These pods began thruster-braking as they neared the ground, at the same time deploying parachutes to enable the panels of the pods to be blasted away and the IFSPs to clamber free when they landed. Of these, there was about two hundred.
Following the pods were the shuttles, holding the entirety of the Free World's hasty counter-invasion force. In total less than 5000 men, the militia were still ready and eager to hit ground and do everything they could to help liberate the world. The shuttles landed in a loose circle around the IFSP deployment zone, and the FW commander on the ground declared on open frequency to the GAE that they were the Free Worlds and that they were there to help.
"Calm down," Quinn answered General Hashmon with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I don't like repeating myself so we'll begin once everyone is here,"
The contract broker lit up another cigarette, offerring the pack to each of the newcomers as they arrived. Once everyone was there, or at the very least listening in the case of the Dirge, Quinn began.
"Alright," He said. "Arna will give you the tactical run down..."
Distant explosions sounded as the anti-orbital shield began firing on the probing forces launched by the Dirge and the Davians.
"Suffice to say the anti-orbital shield is your second priority," Quinn said taking a long drag. "Your first is securing your decidedly tenuous position in space. Cortez, that's the Admiral you were fighting up there, he's a strategically minded man. He could have fought to the end, probably would have won too judging by the way things were when he left, but it would have been a pyric victory with most of his fleet destroyed. Anyway, in all likelihood he'll be back before long. Unless..."
Quinn paused for dramatic effect and took another drag on his cigarette.
"Unless you blind and deafen him in the system. Which I can help you do... for a price,"
Arna immediately tacked on the rundown "Alright I'm only going to say this once. Singh is hauled up in his deep as fuck command bunker, its built into a mountain so good lukc bombing him out only real plan is to go in and clear with forces. Expect it to be damn tight, his main forces were assaulting me and my people in the capital but he called off his forces when you guys turned up they are likely pulling back to pre-dug in positions ready to engage your forces, these positions are around several uplink sites located here" She pointed them out "You will need to go through his forces to get to his evil lair"
She paused for a second, nursing a cup of coffee and taking a gulp before sighing and continuing.
"Also beware they have a surface fleet operating nearby, their giving precision fire support with guns and missile strikes, I dont recomend you head on assault it best bets probably taking out the missiles and orbital shield then nuking it to hell from orbit. To take down those two gems you need to capture the uplink sites, meaning you got to destroy his army while getting bombarded by the fleet, fun times right?" She made a happy gesture.
"Also beware that bastard has several high yield Nuclear ICBMs in his mountain stronghold, capable of firing them yes, does he have the launch codes? No. But I would bet my cup of coffee here that he is trying to crack them as we speak. Also if you do take the bunker I would appreciate it if you didnt loot or destroy the Nukes that we need for planetary defense ok?"
Upon hearing those words leave Mckendricks mouth, Hashmons happy go lucky demeanour disappeared and was replaced by a seething rage. He was apparently some form of war profiteer, the TDA had absolutely zero tolerance for them as war profiteering was what started the unification war that brought the TDA together. It took all of his self-control not to kill him where he stood.
“I don’t know what you think this is Mckendrick, but look around you this is a war zone you have soldiers dying to save your hide and you won’t hand over critical information to save theirs. I have it in my right mind to mist you right now, but I don’t want to leave a bad impression on these people for executing someone as yeller as you.” He yelled angrily at Mckendrick before turning to Arna.
“Your briefing was a little short you seemed to forget about the rest of the critical information that we need before we start sending people in to die for you and yours. In case you forgot it’s; Troop numbers, equipment, weapons, how much and what armoured vehicles they have, types of fortifications they are using, their level of air cover, how much AA do they have and what kind of terrain do we have to move across to get to them.” His anger was still lingering as he spoke to Arna.
Up in space the situation and atmosphere were much calmer, depending on which ships you were on. Those ships that had been destroyed during the battle were searched for any survivors who hadn’t manage to escape their ships in time and were trapped in compartments with life support as well as the many escape pods and pilots that ejected during the battle. Switch still remained in the CIC where she looked over the total losses for the fleet, they were substantial and they were still climbing. She was interrupted by an ensign who told her that the transport ships had arrived and fallen into formation as well as begun the task of establishing a proper logistical network for planetary operations.
The Davian general listened carefully as Quinn and Arna gave him a wider picture of the situation. The general and his staffs immediately felt disappointed as Quinn turned out to be a war profiteer while Arna seemed to be a little too happy in fighting a war. Then the TDA's commander began to rant. This action triggered the Davian staffs and imperial guards as they quickly formed a line on both flanks of their general, their weapons however remained at ease.
"Came down commander Hashmons, what we need is winning this war, not squabbling among ourselves." The hardened Davian general spoke to the TDA counterpart as he signaled his own men to step down: "We are all here to help the Vestalh Commonwealth again the rebel aren't we? And since all of us have quite limit resources so we will need any help available."
"For you Mister Quinn, I cannot say I like war profiteers like your kind. But since we happen to need any help we can get to save this planet quickly and minimize our own lose so we will consider paying you. But first you need to convince us how good your "master plan" is. Failing to do so and I may recruit you as frontline mercenary so you can learn how to properly make money from wars."
Hung then turned to Arna: "Miss Arna. As commander Hashmons said. The information you gave us are quite lacking. If you do want to save your home planet faster and with less damage then I recommend you to give us those information. And to prevent needless civilian lose we will need information and location of your civilian centers so we won't mistake them as targets. Speaking about your civilian, are they friendly toward our cause? Or are they hostile and supporting the rebels? Beside I need to know how many forces you have left and how many of your forces willing to join the liberation of their own planet? And finally do you have any active forces inside the enemy's territories?"
While the majority of the Dirge forces landed outside of the capitol, the probing forces became far more calculated. Neural pods of hollow flesh twined onto enemy positions, they themselves a simple but effective sensor suite designed to gain detailed battlefield information prior to their inevitable destruction. A stream of encrypted data was relayed to allied forces, outlining all the Dirge were capable of gathering at the time. It was not entirely detailed, but included visible aa sights, elevation and significant landmarks, and took movements, as well pinned likley areas of strong opposition. It was not an ideal solution, but one that may make communications between the TDA and the rest of the forces less tense.
A single form dropped into the meeting between leaders, and simply stared with its jet black eyes as its psychic precense filled the area. And then it spoke,
"This one feels... those gathered must have been prepared..... the information given. .. was similar. ... we knew.. what was to come....."
Before turning it's bulbous head to Hashmon,
"He is simply doing his job. .... please... refrain from anger. .."
"I'm actually gonna agree with Mr... Ms... Something on that one." said the Free Worlds ground commander, Captain Rich Ackers over the comm as his IFSP approached. "I don't like the sounds of 'for a price' at all, but if he can help he can help. So what's the bill, big man?"
The Free Worlds forces began to form into small units to strike rapidly and fast where they were needed, taking in whatever sensor data their allies-of-the-moment could provide as the ships in orbit made what scans they could. It wasn't as much as Captain Ackers would have liked, seeing as they had not come equipped with invasion equipment (Something the Free Worlds frankly didn't have much of at all) but it was far better than nothing-- or a kick in the teeth.
Looking over the intel quickly, Captain Ackers sent a comm to the battleship in orbit requesting reinforcements. He didn't know what forces Ravskiy Mir had on hand apart from the marines aboard the system squadron and maybe the RRF, but it was going to have to do. The Sunrise confirmed the request and shot it off home. They'd have to see what came to help.
Arabel could be more than easily mistaken for a child, she did look the youngest out of all gathered here. "Nobody would like the sound of the 'price' but we don't have many options if any. The fleet that retreated from the system could come back any moment and cut off our passage to space or worse, leave us stranded here for a long time. We need to know everything about the ground forces here and move out as soon as possible."
The Araxian ships had entered orbit, scanning the surface for contacts. Admiral Kutuzov kept her fleet ready for battle as crews began their scans and repairs. The Blue Witch could probably still fight but half the fleet or more damaged, the GAE would be easily overpowered if the enemy fleet returned. "First of all General," Quinn said after another drag. "You wouldn't need this information if you hadn't thrown away a sizeable portion of your fleet on a hot drop you were specifically told not to undertake by people with a much better picture of the situation on the ground than you. Second of all, my only responsibility in this conflict is to pay out the bounty to whichever man kills Singh. I'm not a citizen of any nation here and under no obligation to help any of you. Third, I gathered this information at great personal risk to myself and my associates. I expect to be compensated for those risks, and the resources expended. You want to call that war profiteering? Fine. I call it information brokerage."
He paused to take another drag on his cigarette.
"Cortez, being the strategically minded man he is, has left about a dozen monitoring drones in the system to keep track of what's happening here. They're extremely difficult to find unless you know exactly what you're looking for. If you destroy them, Cortez is blind and deaf to what's happening here and he won't risk jumping back in to a hostile system with no recon. Destroy the monitoring drones, Cortez ceases to be a problem. I'll tell you where they are and what they look like all for the low, low price of signing over salvage rights to Henry and Sons Salvage Solutions LLC."
Quinn produced a tablet and held it out to the nearest person.
"That's the contract. It defines 'salvage' as any ship that is unable to leave the system under it's own power. And it promises a substantial cut of profits to the Vestahl Commonwealth to aid in post-war reconstruction efforts. The rest is just lawyer speak and legal fuckery. Sign the contract, and I'll tell you where to find Cortez's little birds,"
He flicked away the last of his cigarette before turning to the Davian commander.
"The civilian population is of little concern to you or anyone else here. All of the small towns between here and the bunker have already been evacuated. Singh put a large portion of his available troops into the final push on Levitsky and now they've been pulled back to the bunker. If you capture the bunker, Singh's forces are crippled. If he dies, then they're likely to flee into the country side and continue to be an occassional thorn in the side of the Commonwealth for decades to come. But they'll be a manageable thorn, and probably never pose a significant threat again. The civilians themselves are split. Some support the rebels, others the government, but if they were going to fight for one or the other they already would be,"
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:58:00 GMT
Captain Ackers dismounted from his IFSP, and the jumpsuited officer (His garb strangely reminiscent of an old Terran fighter pilot) approaches with his hands in the pockets just above his belt and very, very large sidearm.
"Just so you know, pal." he said, his tone calm and even friendly, though there was very clearly no merriment in his eyes. "I can understand salvage rights as much as the next guy, and I really don't want that big fucker coming back. But before I sign anything I want to make it clear that the fleet is not gonna like it at all. The ships we lost were homes for damned near all of the space boys, and I get that the ones shot to shit and all cheese are done. Writ off, total bungo. But the ones that aren't, navy's not gonna like losing them without the chance to attempt salvage themselves. Or at the very least without the chance to gather the dead."
“Yea but that salvage also helps us rebuild, and im pretty sure you dont need those ships more than we need money to rebuild our homes after everyone heres finished destroying them" Arna commented with a waved hand before turning to Mckendricks and holding up a hand.
"Wow calm it man, ive just come out of a 5 day seige with like maybe 11 hours of sleep over that period, dont get angry with me. Im the damsel in distress you were supposed to save after all hmmm?" Arna teased before giving him the details.
"That bastards got around 800k men depending if he has brought in more from elsewhere across the planet, as for equipment they are pretty ill equipped mostly from looting our supply depots and caches, their well trained though so dont underestimate them. As for armoured vehicles and tanks well I dont have a lot on that, they have some entrenched armour used as temp fortifications but other than that they may have moved off, either way they aint there now." She paused taking a nother swig of coffee.
"They also got trenches, bunkers and other fortifications protecting various positions scattered around plus full SAM cover so I wouldnt advise heavy air pushes. They still have plenty of aircover themselves from the carriers off shore and small scale gunships for ground attack. I would offer to help in the air but my airforce consists of a whopping 6 craft all of which are being made flyable as we speak. Also they do have ABM systems so any sort of cruise missile strikes will probably have problems getting through. Overall terrain though is pretty standard, plains leading into hills the closer you get to the mountain bunker" She then flipped through a dataslate.
"For forces left I have around 16 thousand troops left in fighting condition, and around 230 tanks and around 1200 armoured vehicles of various kinds. I cant provide extensive support but we will be going in with you either way. Its our world and someones got to put a bullet in Singhs head" General Hung, his staffs and Davian fleet listened before he spoke again first to Quinn: "Ok mister Quinn. Our navy does not like your salvage right, however we will go along your plan, show us the location of these probes. We would like to know their exact location as well as their defense. For your salvage right, while we agree to let you salvage our wreckages, we want to retain our right to remove our emergency pods, our martyred as well as valuable technologies like our encryption or weapon's core. If you want to salvage our technologies, it would be a different story."
"For you…hm…princess. I guess the enemy force would be around 1 million with everything necessary for a defensive army and we are not outnumbered them, am I right?" The general turned to Arna: "Also, we are supposed to act quickly or risk the enemy fleet comeback. This campaign is not easy in my opinion but no war is easy anyway. Regarding your force, 16 thousands men would be around a reinforced division, truly you don't have much to offer but any help would be welcome. You know your home best so I would like to have your men preferably special force, recon or light infantry to work with our scouts to guide our units. Beside I suggest you to form some smaller mobile units to act as fast responding force, lastly you better leave your crafts here."
The Davian then looked at the other commanders: "Alright ladies and gentlemen as well as our hivemind friend. I highly suggest we work together and form a temporary unify command for this campaign. So what do you say commanders and generals? Are we going to work together here as one to save this planet from those wrenched rebels and to revenge those died in the cold space? Or are we going to act separately and risk losing this war? Maybe one of you may declare that you have full power to do it alone. But I say working together would be a better choice."
"General reinforcements have arrived." The Davian comm officer silently informed him: "Our transport fleet just entered the system. They will join the main fleet soon. The Admiral is dispatching his forces to escort them."
"Good news then."
Arnas comment about the use the salvage funds being put to use to rebuild had hit home for Hashmon. He knew all too well what it was like to see your home go to hell in a planet consuming war.
“Listen, I can’t sign that its strictly protocol that all assets that are un retrievable are destroyed. As we speak our fleet is probably doing its last check before they destroy everything. But you’re free to take whatever bits of scrap metal are left over. On the plus side I’m sure once the fighting is over the corporations and the government of the TDA will be more than willing to lend a hand rebuilding. In the meantime lets focus on the fight.” Hashmon said sincerely before looking around at everyone.
“Yeah, to best coordinate our efforts and to optimize our attacks the formation of an allied command is necessary. Otherwise it’ll be a complete mess, too many generals not enough soldiers as the saying goes.” He stopped and looked at Arna
“Well boss, it’s your planet so you ought to be commander in chief for this operation. Where do you want us to strike first?”
Arabel just remained quiet, nodding in agreement occasionally. She wasn't really concentrating on what the other commanders were saying about not liking to work with Quinn. She had heard what the man had said about the price they had to pay and compared to losing the rest of the fleet it seemed more than worth it to her. So taking the tablet from Quinn she singed her name at the bottom of the contract. Someone in the Araxian Navy won't like the decision but any commander in a position of command would say it was better this way.
With an annoyed look on her face, Arabel turned to the rest of the commanders gathered. Normally she would have been smiling but given the recent exchange of dislike between some of the men gathered, it had made her a bit uneasy. "So aside from creating a temporary central command structure for this ground assault, what would be the best way to approach this?"
The Dirge troops quickly formed up defensive positions around the Capitol while the delegations took place. Incursatroy strikes continued to gather rudimentary information on enemy positions, though as the information broker spoke, they were less and less used. The Diplomat simply stared with is inky black eyes. Quinn took the tablet back and held it out to the Free Worlds commander, the only one who hadn't signed yet.
"The contract contains clauses for the returning of any dead, wounded, or trapped crew found during salvage operations. They're not interested in corpses. Only scrap."
Arna nodded "Thank you for the help, we will need it after this war. As for where to strike I recomend hitting the control installations first"
She then turned to General Hung "I am no princess, and no I refuse your offer. We will not slink around like special forces or scouts, I will lend some small units to guide everyone but we have more right than you to fight on the frontline. I will be spearheading the forces alongside you all, dont think you can talk me out of it."
"As for a best way to approach this" She replied to Arabel "I suggest a full on armoured assault, frontal attack crush the surrounding forces of the installations and capture them with follow up with mechanised infantry"
“I like your gumption. Well I can’t do mechanized it’ll take too long to get it all down here and ready to go but I’ve got a group of pilots crazy enough to do an under the radar attack. I’ll get them down here ASAP and we’ll take on the control installation head on with an aerial assault. But while we’re en route we’ll have the mobile bases hammer them with artillery strikes.” Hashmon laid out his plan as he sent several messages to the army and to the transport ships in orbit. It would only be a short time before several squadrons of 4330 series Aerial Transport or as the troops called them “Hot Boxes”.
"Oh, alright fine." Ackers muttered, taking the tablet and signing it with his wrist-comp stylus. "When the reinforcement fleet arrives, if it arrives, they'll handle policing our guys."
He sighed, and looked to Arna. "Assuming I've got the men and the mechs, I'll join you in that. But if Mir doesn't send me backup, I'm gonna have to work with what I've got and frontal assault ain't gonna get anywhere with as few men as I've got." He paused.
"Now, don't take this the wrong way, but if I don't have the men then I'm going to have to hit the flanks."
The grizzled general listened to the commanders before smiling slightly at Arna: "Sorry for my rudeness miss Arna. And I understand your refuse, in fact your willing to lead your forces in the front is admirable and of course we welcome you to go with us. I too would prefer to lead the men myself but I've pass my best day."
"Regarding how to approach this, it's seem we're gearing toward fast armored approach isn't it? So let it be. However it will take sometimes for us to bring our mobiles forces down here. Fortunately I happen to bring with me some decent artillery so my force can start to bombard their positions. We normally seek for gaps but if we cannot then we will just open the gaps ourselves. In the other hand we Davian prefer to approach from every angle so if the situation allow we may attempt to tunnel our way beneath their positions and backstab them but we need some geological information from you. Beside our airforces can support the operation should it's require. And may I ask do you happen to maintain control any deep water area for the deployment of oceanic ships? Then, according to my knowledge we're having a rather large ground forces here so Davian forces will held part of our forces in orbit and wait for the opportunity to fall right on top of their positions or act as strategic reserve. Finally in any case we're making a strong defensive position around here to serve as our fall back point just in case we need to re-consider our strategy. That's all I can say for Davian's ground strategy. Since it's your home planet, I agree with general Hashmon that you have right to be the first among the equal here."
The general then turned to Quinn again: "If I'm not mistake then everyone here signed your paper. So may you tell us the information relates to those 'eyes and ears'?" He then turned to the other commanders: "So who're going after those spy stations. Anyone want to volunteer? My ships need some repair and part of them is escorting my transport ships but I'll consider donating some for that task."
As the commanders continued their talk, more Davian forces began to land on the surface of Vestalh while Davian troops already on planet preparing their artilleries and forward base for the incoming battle. At the time, Davian's artillery forces on the surface not only including their normal pieces but also anti-orbital level pieces which capable of providing ground bombardment. Beside Davian forces also began to deploy some of their giant tunnel maker machines on the surface.
"The Araxians can take the front line immediately, I have brought enough armor and infantry organised into Panzergrenadiers along with several companies worth of Panzermensch and Fallschirmjager." Arabel produced a tablet from inside her bulky flight suit, displaying her currently deployed forces on-site.
"We can begin the assault whenever we like, my fighters and bombers will be able to assist us in the assault or they can create a diversion somewhere."
The Araxians had deployed six motorized infantry battalions, six mechanized infantry battalions, 18 panzer battalions, six mechanized Schutzstaffel battalions, one fallschirmjager battalion, two panzermensch battalions and four Valkyrie squadrons. Totaling 279,923 men, not including those pilots who were in the air with their machines. There were 9040 tanks were assembled in their respective formations. The panzergrenadiers were organized one mechanized infantry division and one mechanized schutzstaffel battalions with three panzer battalions. All the formations had their own engineers to perform construction and demolition of bridges and fortifications along with the recovery and repair of damaged or destroyed vehicles.
"We should have enough here for a good breakthrough at one point to allow my airborne infantry and shock troopers to take advantage of the penetration." Setting the tablet to project a hologram image of her army and their equipment including tanks, artillery, armored cars, gunships, transports and signal vehicles. "Araxian ground doctrine is mainly mobile warfare and breakthrough, but most of the tactics and strategy depends on the army fielded."
Arabel turned to Quinn, "now, how about that information we needed to stop another slug fest from destroying our fleets?"
With a few brief taps at his tablet computer her sent a list of coordinates to the assembled commanders, which included pictures that clearly identified which pieces of junk were in fact spy sattelites for Cortez. None of them appeared to be armed in any way. Their only defence seeming to be the apparent difficulty it would have taken to identify they existed in the first place.
"With his eyes and ears gone Cortez won't risk a return," Quinn explained once the coordinates had been sent. "He'll take his fleet and go looking for a new employer. Another problem for the day after this one. Organization doesn't like loose ends after all,"
He stood and picked up his rifle with a sniff, straigtening his coat and tightening the scarf around his neck.
"A final word of advice to you all: you've already losts dozens of ships and thousands of men because you underestimated Admiral Cortez. I'd advise you not make the same mistake with General Labrosse. Singh may be an idiot, but unfortunately he has a bad habit of surrounding himself with very talented individuals,"
Quinn clicked the safety off his rifle and motioned in the direction of the bunker.
"Shall we?" He asked at last.
With the information in hand, Arabel sent the document up to Tanya back in the Blue Witch. Meanwhile, her troops finished mounting up onto anything that wasn't wheeled. The Araxian assault guns, tanks and engineer recovery vehicles were packed with tank riders, mostly from the motorized infantry as their wheeled vehicles would get stuck in the snow. For the panzermensch and fallschirmjager they would remain until the breakthrough had been achieved by the main force before rushing in to widen the gap. The mechanized and SS troops had no problems with the snow in their IFVs as the panzers ploughed through the snow with heavy dozer blades. As for the troops remaining on standby, their transports remained warmed up. Gargoyle III gunships sat with their engines running as the airborne infantry checked their equipment over again. It would be likely that the gunships would be used to resupply the frontline units if the battle lasted long enough for it to happen as all the Araxian logistics vehicles were wheeled.
Arabel was what one would describe as a wolf girl. She was human but had sharper canines, tail and an extra set of ears along with a strong desire for blood suppressed by childish behavior and cute things. Of course you could try petting a completely out of control Arabel about to kill you, but it was only half likely that she would calm down and not bite your hand off. For now though, she hovered somewhere between violence and hospitability as she drank from a bottle of milk kept warm in a compartment near the engines of her Valkyrie unit.
"It'll take some time for my ground forces to reach the enemy's defensive line but me and my Valkyries are anything but dedicated foot soldiers, so I'll be joining in later on to give some heavy firepower." she said, pointing towards the shoulder mounted railgun and rocket tubes. "I've got another 48 of these units, they're smaller than the last models and we still have yet to test them."
“Alright it’s a plan then. I should go my rides here now anyways.” Hashmon turned away from the group and his helmet morphed back over his head. As he headed to his transport which just touched down near their location and promptly took off.
He then proceeded to jump aboard his 4330 along with two squads under his command. The men under his command weren’t just regular soldiers they were known as “Vanguards of Freedom”. These troops were the best of the best second to none in the TDA army as they had a priority job to ensure that generals survived on the frontlines. Hashmon drew up the greater battle plan but by no means would he micromanage the assault. Each company involved was in the capable hands of their officers. Involved in the strike would be 600 4330 “Hot Boxes” each with two squads comprised of ten men each as well as an attached “Hopper” mech in the rear magnet grapples. Reinforcements for this assault would come in the form of another wave of the same composition in total Hashmon had three attack waves ready to go. For ground based assets a Division was getting armour and mechanised support these vehicles would need to trudge through the snow and would join the offensive later.
Also on call was enough air support to level a city provided by the navy as well as CAS from several squadrons of 4680 “Claw Hammer” Gunships, included for support were the guns on the mobile bases once in position they can reign hell onto enemy forces with OTH Artillery strikes. The transports and gunships had a hard ceiling of 400ft they would stay low and hug terrain to avoid detection as long as possible. As such the formation of the transports would be sporadic but on the final approach they would come together to cover a large field of fire in an attempt to supress enemies so the troops jumping out would have a better chance surviving when they hit the ground.
Once the first wave hit ground they would “Bite and hold” enemy fortifications and strong points. Their objective would be to destroy enemy assets and deter counter attacks. The second wave contains a detachment of sappers which would destroy the uplink site in its entirety. The third wave and the following division of mechanised troops would be on mop up.
"Thank you for the brief ladies and gentlemen. Good luck." General Hung saluted before walking out with his staffs.
"Prepare for mass bombardment. No enemy fleet above so all anti orbital launcher would be direct to the ground. Contact the Navy and ask them where we should strike. They will have a lot of anti-missiles and shielding so don't expert it as cake walk. Look out for counter strike too…" The grizzled general ordered. "…Oh and tell the navy to get those spy drones as quick as they can"
== Vastalh's space, Davian fleet ==
At that moment the Davian transport ships, escorted by the Davian rear guard managed to make their way to the planet and began to land the bulk of the invasion force. The Davian standard war transports was not large, in fact they were designed to be small and fast, good armor and possessed a few defensive weapons. Each of these war transports was 3 km long and large enough to carry a full army division along with all of their equipment and support elements across the stars. As the transport fleet reached their destination. Stream of dropships began to land more Davian troops and equipment to the ground. The landing would increase the Davian present on the ground from 72000 to around 180000 or 15 divisions, most of these contained mixed divisions and armored divisions, among them however was an entire anti-orbital division whose possessed several giant mobile anti-orbital vehicles. Beside there would be a so called 'experimental armored division', this division was equipped entirely of Davian's latest model war machines as well as exported tanks from several factions notably from the Singers of the Voids and Risallas Dominion. Vestalh, hopefully would be their testing field.
With the transport fleet firmly under the protection of the main fleet, the Davian began to dispatch a task force toward the location of the spy drones. Spearheaded by a swarm of long range torpedoes, drones and no less than 200 strikecrafts a KhH Frigate and a Chuong Duong destroyer carefully moved toward the location of the pirate's spy drones.
The transports fleet not only brought ground troops but also more strikecrafts, spare parts and supply to re-armed and re-equipped the Davian fleet. There was also a dedicated repair ship to help repair the fleet. With the ships rearmed, the Davian began to increase their propping and scanning activity. Swarm of decoy and spy drones kept testing and mapping rebel's positions. The decoy drones would emit various signals to fool the defenders into thinking they were warship and lure them to open fire thus revealing their positions. Meanwhile the spy drones would try to map the planet and won't hesitate to infiltrate the surface. Beside of the ground theater, Davian drones and scanner would attempt to locate the rebel's fleet. As said by Arna the fleet contained carriers which would be able to provide air support for the enemy. Thus neutralizing the fleet would be rather important.
Still the fleet didn't sit idly. Once rearmed they began to launch thousands of long range missiles and torpedoes, these projectiles would stayed away from the planet at the moment however.
Meanwhile another KhH Frigate, damaged but still functional and supplied by more personnel began to engage in a daunting task to break the control code and communication code of the pirates and rebels. Hundreds of cybernetic warfare personnel and their AI assistants would be locate for this. Should the process success then the cybernetic strike would be available for the Davian to strike down their enemies. To make thing a bit easier, several pirate's personnel and a few intact data salvaged by the Davian ships after the space battle would be very valuable accesses.
Those few unlucky pirates who found themselves 'rescued' by Davian salvage operation would be transferred to another KhH frigate. They would be place in the hand of the fleet's commissars, medical staffs and bio weapon experts, these poor souls would be interrogate and subject to a few 'necessary measures' to make them 'more cooperate' and provide necessary information. Of course the entire process would be closely watched by a lot of guards personnel and locked away from any outsiders to ensure there won't be any interference. As usual each and every prisoner would be assigned to 12 guards: 3 human troops, 3 Shiguran troops, 3 battle SAIs and 3 tiger like war beasts to ensure there would be no escape.
== Vastalh's surface==
Meanwhile at the surface the Davian worked to strengthen their positions further as well as establish a temporary airfield. From this airfield Davian strikecrafts would be able to launch attacks across the battlefield without having to climb up to the ships. The Davian positions would be support by ample multilevel defense including fortification, anti-air positions, anti-orbital shields… should the enemy tried to attack the Davian using ICBM or anti-orbital weapons they would have to break through the shields first.
With all the buildup in process Davian troops began to form into units, ready to move out when need. However before all that, they would drown the defenders with accurate artillery strike first.
"General. The GAE and TDA are moving out. Are we also going?"
"Wait for the navy for signal. We will open fire with them. The plan would be simple. Orbital strike, then artillery strike, then air strike and we move in fast lead by the tanks."
"Let's get on with it indeed..." Ackers said, jogging back to his IFSP and climbing into the cabin. Sealing up the mech, he drew his 30mm autocannon and motioned to the squadron rallying nearby.
"Alright boys, let's get a move on! 1st regi on the left flank, 2nd on the right! Rest of you break up into RRFs to support the other units as needed, let's go!"
"Are we gettin' backup from RM?" asked an officer from one of the LAVs.
"Unknown at this point, just get it movin' an' pray they do! Move, move, move!"
The Free Worlds forces began to advance, the ground troops separating and moving as they had been ordered to flank the main assault forces. The LAVs and IFSPs screened the rapid advance as the infantry moved behind them, the air forces that had been deployed from orbit heading in at high speeds to begin predatory airstrikes against the enemy positions on the ground.
In orbit itself, the cruisers and destroyers headed for the locations of the spy drones alongside the Davians with the locations that had been provided by Quinn and uploaded to the fleet by Ackers, their nuclear batteries ready to blow the drones out of the sky when they had their targets locked.
The battleship meanwhile moved to provide what orbital fire it could, hanging out of anti-orbital fire range and preparing it's batteries to rain hell once more.
A simple message burst was sent to the gathered allies from the dirge,
"Acknowledged"
An electro static hum filled the air around the Dirge formations as thick, dense particle shields surrounded a majority of their ground forces. Expeditionary units were quadrupedal, and mimicked ground topology as they moved.
Having no individuals it took less than 5 seconds for the 350k assembled dirge units to move out. Infantry units moved at equivalent speeds as their combat vehicles, as well even the largest forms had a comparable speed.
3000 of the largest forms , anti orbital units, burrowed deeply into the crust, using a super heated plasma jet to melt the stone and earth into slag, while sheathing itself in a magnetic field to prevent any contact, and finally super cooling the molten earth behind them.
The Dirge units moved into 3 evenly distributes units, ment to accompany and assist allied forces, while using superior speed and mobility to move to where they were needed the most in the coming engagement.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:58:11 GMT
The VRF's anti-orbital shield continued to prove effective. Firing on positions from outside the range of the missile was largely ineffective, as it gave interceptors ample time to destroy incoming munitions, and what munitions weren't intercepted impacted harmlessly against the energy shield covering the Central Command Bunker and it's surrounding environments.
The barrage unleashed by the allies rumbled on the horizon as the combined army moved across the snow covered plains. For the moment there was no sign of the enemy. Once the barrage began to quiet and the air units began delivering their payloads was when the enemy finally began showing it's hand.
Missiles streaked out of the forest, targeting aircraft as they neared the enemy's position, supported by rapid firing quad-linked point defense systems. The anti-air cover was already heavy... and that was before the VRF's air force put in their first appearance. They came in low over the horizon, with the setting sun at their backs and began to engage the allies. Fighters and bombers were ignored for the time being as the VRF set their sights on eliminating gunships and obvious CAS over achieving air superiority.
Worse, the Davian decoys proved ineffective. The VRF had seen this trick in orbit already, and they knew to rely on visual confirmations over radar signatures.
With the battle beginning overhead, Labrosse lowered her binoculars. Her troops were emerging from their bunkers, and setting back up as the enemy closed in and their artillery barrage began to slack off in anticipation of friendlies in their firing zone.
"Have the artillery fire now," She ordered simply.
And fire it did. The full force of the pre-ranged artillery began to fall on the GAE and Dirge as they advanced, shells landing amidst their formations with cacophonous booms and blooms of fire and shrapnel as they closed in on the forests surrounding the Central Command bunker.
==Vestahl Orbit==
While hell was unleashed on the ground, orbit was a rather quiet affair. With their document signed the salvage teams wasted no time entering the system and going to work on the ships they now owned the salvage rights for, beginning the long and tedious task of stripping what was left of the vessels there back into base components for re-sale elsewhere.
Cortez's spy drones proved as elusive as Quinn had made them sound. Were it not for the detailed instructions provided by Quinn it was unlikely any of the forces would have ever found the innocous drones amidst the scrap and asteroids.
The drones themselves had nothing in the way of defense, having relied entirely on stealth to protect them from the enemy. Destroying them was a trivial task, easily accomplished by a couple well placed missiles.
As the Davians began combing through the wreckage picking up Revolutionaries as they went it became quickly apparent that Cortez had done a good job of evacuating his personnel before leaving the system. What survivors could be found were often alone or in small groups of two or three. By the time all of the life pods had been picked up there was a mere hundred and twenty seven personnel. The rest it seemed either died when their ships were destroyed, or were picked up by Cortez prior to leaving.
Most of the prisoners were of little interest. They were low ranking. Engineering personnel usually, the occassional deck officer, a fair number of ejected pilots... but no one who seemed to belong on a bridge crew and certainly not anyone who could provide any useful information on the situation on the ground.
Except one.
She was a pilot, and at a glance there was little to separate her from the other pilots that had been captured. She had a lip ring, and acid green mohawk. Nothing out of the ordinary...
Except her dog tags identified her as Jennifer Cortez. And a second closer look made the family resemblance obvious. The young woman was Cortez's daughter.
If there was one thing the GAE hated, it was getting pinned down. As artillery shell rained down on the advancing armored force, the infantry instinctively held on tighter to their armored vehicles as drivers began speeding up in an effort to avoid getting hit. Of course, sitting on the back of a tank wasn't a smart idea but it was somewhat better knowing that they were moving some speed faster than crawling through the snow. The initial barrage destroyed about three divisions worth of armored vehicles and infantry along with the loss of a few IFVs. Some of their crews and passengers who somehow survived being blown up were now attempting to continue on foot.
Towards the rear, the motorized artillery halted and began counter firing at the enemy artillery. Making sure to move after every four shots before opening fire again from a different location. Twenty of the Flakpanzer Norden located towards the rear with the artillery began opening up with their own fire, sending 150 rounds per minute with each of its four 50mm guns.
Araxian pilots had been staying above the capital for some time, seemingly forgotten by everyone on the battlefield except for Arabel. JagdAdler fighters and Banshee bombers streaked towards the battlefield at high altitude before diving down into the air war. Banshee bombers flooded the air with a distinctive screeching sound as they made their attack runs on ground installations while the fighters broke off to engage the enemy air force.
Arabel turned to Arna looking as if she had suddenly remembered something. "What's the policy for combat around here? Do you want to take as many prisoners as possible or none at all? I mean like, my guys aren't going to leave anyone alive even if they surrender. The last time a civil war broke out I would watch as captured soldiers were executed in groups with anything we had available. And of course sometimes I would join the execution squad, I always preferred hip firing the MGs." she said, her smile showed off her longer and sharper canines that she had used for close unarmed fighting. She was somewhat lost in thought before straightening herself again. "So what do you want to do? They're your people still, well sort of I guess."
The Free Worlds troops continued to advance, their vehicles and infantry keeping up their drive towards the enemy positions. They kept low and fast, advancing as they observed the artillery falling on the GAE and... whatever-those-things-with-the-flesh-dealios were. They were quite glad that it wasn't falling on them at the moment, but they moved in such a way that they could seek cover quick if it suddenly was.
The Free Worlds fighters flying low over the formations noted the VRF going after their gunships, and while the enemy craft were not focusing on the FW fighters the FW snubs were not ignoring the VRF. Flaring and popping countermeasures to scatter and confuse the enemy AA, they went after the VRF in groups of three or four popping off shots from their missile payloads and unleashing streams of fire from their cannons as the attacked at high speed.
In orbit whatever probes the Davians didn't get the Free Worlders did, putting missiles and cannon rounds into the enemy spy units before beginning to gather their dead and wounded from the fleet, and picking up any Revolutionaries that the Davians missed.
Fifty klicks it was only fifty klicks that needed to be crossed to get the men to the front line Hashmon thought to himself. The assault started out as planned they avoided detection and interception for only twenty klicks… then all hell broke loose. Without any warning the fleet of dropships had missile lock and incoming ordinance and bogeys on their screens. Hashmon was quick to have his air cover respond to the threat, however there wasn’t much they could do about the missiles by the time they would arrive. The Drops ships and gunships evaded and used all the ECM they could to get some of the missiles taken off target, it worked to an extent however many missiles till hit their mark. Several Gunships were destroyed immediately and others crashed into the snowy terrain below. The drop ships fared better their bulky frames able to take the hits while others caught fire and crashed into the ground below hence how their nick name was earned. The “Hot Box” Drop ship was able to take damage but the shock absorption was a hit or miss as it was notorious for starting internal fires. After the missile barrage ended the enemy fighters arrived they opened fire outright destroying many craft.
“Evasive manoeuvres bogeys incoming”
“He’s on my six I can’t shake him”
“Hit the deck G-9”
The pilots relayed messages among themselves. The situation was turning grim they couldn’t sustain these losses. That’s when a full flight of Fighters showed up their missiles streamed out of nowhere towards the enemy craft they could be seen manoeuvring and evading missiles where possible the fighters then streaked towards their targets in groups of three to eliminate all incoming bogeys.
“Dropships lower attitude air cover is here” The CAG ordered over comms
Reaching proper dogfight range the TDA fighters engaged their targets and attempted to chase them away from the drop ships when they chased them to higher altitudes however they were met with vicious AA fire from the ground that destroyed half a squadron before they even realised what was happening. Even as they were being hunted down however the VRF fighters seemed to be directly targeting the dropships and gunships where ever they could several more were destroyed or crashed. They were now only ten klicks out and the deadly firestorm of enemy fire began. Once again the transports evaded where they could and again they took their fair share of losses but they put their foot down and increased speed to the drop zone. It was here where they hit the air brake and slowed dramatically for what seemed like a second but for the troops disembarking it felt like an eternity. They jumped out and landed roughly against the terrain. They immediately came under fire when they did so, small arms and heavier weapons mostly with the small arms being well resisted by their armour. When the TDA troopers returned fire it sounded like hell had opened up the roar of their rifles alone seemed to be killer, combined with the supporting fire from the “Mantis” Mechs no enemy was left without supressing fire. The order came down from Hashmon they were to target the AA guns and any emplaced weapons first. Squads lined up against the doors of the nearby bunkers they had their squad heavies’ blow open the doors and they stormed inside taking down hostiles where they popped up from once they were inside.
The first artillery shells hit the Dirge formations with a resounding 'thud', though they looked quite impressive. Explosive munitions simply exploded midair on impact with the vast overlapping particulate fields shrouding the army, while kinetic or armor piercing rounds rarely hit their mark due to the extreme lack of visibility and the next to complete uselessness od thermal and radio imaging within the shields. What shells did find a solid purchase merely took out a small handful of units as the Dirge formations were now spread incredibly thin.
From within the veil came responses to the artillery. Plasma mortars rang off from mobile infantry groupings towards the nearest forces, while heavier kinetic munitions targeted the artillery currently bombarding their allies. Due to its relative lack of effectiveness on the dirge forces, the ones attacking them were simply ignored.
Infantry groupings and smaller 'armored forms waited at the edges of their shield barrier as the entire army advanced like a shadow over the land.
==Davian's drone hunter groups==
The two Davian ships and their escorts carefully followed Quinn's location and systemically eliminated the spy drones on after another. While the ships act as the center of the operation it was the strikecrafts and pre-launched long range missiles which scored the kill. Ever careful the Davian preferred to let the more nimble elements to do the job instead of risking ambushes or mines. Still the process would be rather quick.
==Davian's electronic frigates==
The process to break the code used by the pirates and rebels remained in process. The Davian electronic specialists worked to recreate the pirate's communication and command code for their systems. It was indeed a daunting task and they certainly didn't have that much time to waste. Suddenly the head specialists realized something as he walked toward the ship's bridge and told his captain an idea who relayed it to the admiral.
"Greeting commander Arna. This's admiral Tran of the Davian fleet. We're trying some electronic warfare. Should we success to do it then we may interfere with the rebel's communication and their other system. However we don't have all days so if you can provide us anything useful, please do. I believe they're your people and their equipment would be somewhat similar to your. We await your answer."
==Davian's prison frigate==
At the end of the salvage operation, Davian forces managed to gather 127 personnel from the enemy's ships. At first glance these prisoners seemed to hold little usefulness regarding to information, yet they would have some more usefulness. Thus each prisoner would be place in individual room along with the fleet's commissars, medical staffs and bio experts as well as guards. The prisoners would be ask a lot of questions including if they wish to be alive or not, would they willing to surrender or act as speaker to convince their fellow rebels to drop their weapons. Overall the Davian would go soft as first to the prisoners yet Davian's interrogators didn't hide the fact that stubborn prisoners would have parts of their body cut off slowly then restore again just to be cut off once more. Then want it or not their very voice would be taken to be used as propaganda resources, and kept silent won't help once their captors began to tore their brains apart to learn about their secret. It won't be too strange if some or most prisoners would yield to the Davian. Indeed in order to prevent escape or interference the entire process would be lock away and all prisoners would have their entire body (except their head, fingers and toes) tied up on the wall.
Yet almost immediately the Davian interrogators would realize they happened to capture Jennifer Cortez daughter of Cortez, the admiral of the pirate's fleet. Upon learning about it, the Davian captors escorted the women to another room. This room would be a rather large empty room with just the door and filled with various cameras. Jennifer would be, unlike other prisoners, allowed to sit down on a chair which leaning again the wall and itself connected to the floor. Her body, hands and legs would be tied to either the wall or the chair to ensure there would be no escape. Due to the important of this prisoner she would be watch by 24 guards and interrogated by several personnel.
"Alright. Miss Jennifer Cortez daughter of Admiral Cortez isn't it? So you're a pilot and a daughter of our enemy's leader. While we doubt about your willing to corporation with us, we will give go softly first. There're a few questions for you: Where're your fleet and your father? Do he know you're still alive? Should he know you're alive then will he try to get you back? Will your father surrender if we demand him to do so in exchange of you? How is your impact to the rest of the rebel? I mean do the rebels on the ground know about you? If they know about you then will they lose heart once they know we captured you? Can you provide us information regarding your command and control? Are you willing to surrender to us or to Vestalh government? Do you want to live, or not? If you indeed want to live then work for us, will you? If you indeed do not want to live then what dying do you want to?"
==Davian's fleet==
With the rebel began to fire back using their long range weapons they showed their positions. In the other hand the appearance of rebel's air force would also showed off the location of their airports and possibly their oceanic fleet. It would be the times for the Davian to strike.
Having learned from the bombarding of the other fleets that old school missiles would have rather limit effect due to powerful anti-orbital, anti-missile and shielding, the Davian's orbital strike would be rather difference. Instead of launching missiles directly from launchers down to the surface, Davian fleet would build up the number to 302670 missiles. These would be launch in several successive waves. Each missile would have their target pre-determined.
"It's times to light up the sky gentlemen." Admiral Tran ordered: "Missile group G1 attack. Missile group G2, G3, G4 standby."
As the order was given the first wave of a hundred thousand missiles dropped down from the orbit. Just when the anti-orbital accesses began to respond these missiles received the second order "Illuminate". Their core overloaded and immediately vaporized the whole missile; in just an eye blink the swarm of missiles turned into massive plasma bolts which slammed down to the surface like falling stars. Being superheated plasma bolts mean anti-missiles weapons would prove little to no effect to them, while strong power shields may stop these falling stars the combination of number, kinetic power and heat would hopefully overload or severally weaken them. The Davian also ensured the velocity would allow the falling star would remain devastate in impact.
"Missile group G1 illuminated. Missile group G2 attack."
The illuminating of the first wave signaled the second wave of another one hundred thousand missiles to move. The second wave, like the first would drop down from the sky. As the defenders still confused and busied to deal with the rain of plasma bolts the second wave rushed in and overloaded their core. Yet unlike the first wave which turned the missiles into plasma bolts, each missile of the second wave would act like a single shot plasma lance. Thus a hundred thousand massive plasma lances fired from the missiles crashed down to the surface like a waterfall. Yet having expended all of its power the missiles of the second group would fall down from the sky and allow themselves to be burn out by the orbit.
"Missile group G2 finished destination. Missile group G3 moving in."
The third wave, again consisted of one hundred thousand missiles charged down from the sky. These missiles were, unlike previous wave, were rather old school missile with phosphor warheads. The Davian didn't hide the fact that they would literally burn down the sky above the rebel's position. These phosphor missiles were designed to burn within atmosphere. Even if shot down they would release huge amount of burning phosphor and smoke which fall down to the surface.
"Missile group G3 in striking distant. Missile group G4 engage. Nuclear weapons inbound."
The fourth and final wave of missile, this time consisted of mere 2670 torpedoes. However each of these was significantly larger, heavier and more heavily armored. Despite their large appearance, these torpedoes used old school thermonuclear warhead, the old technology yet still very capable for orbital bombardment. As the missiles engaged their engines and speed for the surface, the previous smoke released by the third wave would shield them from visual view and the swarm of decoy drones staying on high orbit would shield them from more advance sensors. Even if shot down these large torpedoes would remain very dangerous as they would explore within atmosphere and being so large their power would still effect the surface or their remain would crash down causing damage. To avoid friendly fire these massive missiles would only target rear areas, anti-orbital accesses or the command bunker.
"Repeat the launching matrix. Tell the ground force and air force to moving out now."
==Davian ground force==
The troops on the surface watched as their navy counterpart rain fire upon the rebel's line.
As the last of missile groups reached their targets, General Hung ordered via loud speaker: "Artillery open fire. Avoid our allies. Ground forces ready to move out. Where're army's musicians and standard bearers? Get in formation. Remember ladies and gentlemen. We are fighting for Divine Davia Empire. Glory for the empire! Sons and daughters of Golden Davia, sing your patriot song, raise your banners. We match to war."
"DAVIA!" The crowds of Davian troops screamed as they began to march out of their positions in parade columns, officers in front followed by banners, hundreds of musicians began to play patriotic songs to ignite the patriotism and devotion from the troops. They marched like parading, banners raised high with patriotic music and artillery fire at the background and 15000 strikecrafts on their head; their destination would be hell and they would march straight to it. While such act surely impressed everyone, questions would be heard from the background telling how foolish they were to parade into battle.
Yet the Davian wouldn't parade into battle. The parading ended at the edge of the shield domes. There musketeers would jumped into their awaiting vehicles and the Davian strike force moved out in full combat formation.
"Alright people. Parade time is over. Now is the time for killing. Form into mobile formations. Heavy tanks lead the way. Maintain shield over our head. Let hope the air force would be able to cover us."
Waves of heavy D3-THN-P led the way for the mobile units followed by D3-THN-C which for the times being raised high their 300mm coilgun and fired like artillery at the enemy's position. Their bulky chassis, advance targeting technology and extended scanning network allowed them to fire on the move. Their guide munitions would have very high chance of hitting targets. Right behind these heavy tanks would be the D3-THN-AAC variants which acted as anti-air vehicles. Heavy tanks would form the vanguard for the mechanized infantry from behind and all Davian formations would be protected by overlapped mobile shield generators and individual shields installed on each vehicles.
The advancing armored spearhead would be support by no less than 15000 aircrafts with more then half were either Tre Fighters or Truc Lancers. Unlike the other engaging parties, Davian didn't rally on specific gunships or CAS crafts, they used these fighters instead. Being fighters these crafts would be very capable of providing air support as well as wrestling the sky from the enemy at the same times, the fact that Davian's weapons particularly missiles were designed to attack both air and ground targets also helped.
Beside air support Davian units would also be support by their own artilleries, in the form of Bombardman and Rocketman which stationary at their bases. Since there was no enemy fleet the massive anti-orbital missile launchers from the anti-orbital division would be used to augment the bombardment. Of course these larger piece would only be used again rear or to bombard the command bunker to avoid friendly fire.
It should be note that the Davian concentrates their advance on one wing and at the center instead of conducting general offensive on all fronts. They were interested in seizing the suitable beach to land their oceanic ships.
For electronic cover the drones swarm would cover the advance, attempting to fools or disrupt sensors, meanwhile the white and heat hiding camouflage of Davian units would prove difficult for visual targeting.
In order to fools the defenders further. Large number of drones would advance at the empty wing followed by small units of specially trained sappers and Shiguran airborne who would act as skirmishers. For further deception 3 ultra heavy tanks and 3 mobile anti-orbital generators and several more units would be place on that particular wing as deterrence force. This wing would be used to stretch the defenders further. The rumble of the engine made it hard to listen at the best of times but with artillery raining in Arna had to work even harder to listen to the com network. The Commonwealth forces had advanced alongside the GAE and were currently under attack by artillery and air power. Arna had chosen to fight alongside them due to her small numbers and the fact that due to such she could operate as a mechanised force. While she didnt have too many tanks like the one she sat in, it would be enough. The SPAAGs and few SAM systems that she had left opened up on the Vestahl air power which was now being engaged by the GAE, by baiting the Vestahl craft over Arnas small AA net she could inflict more damage that way.
Listening to Arabels question Arna gave a slight look of disgust that Arabel couldnt see over the radio "We take prisoners, these guys may be bastards but they are still my people. Commanders and high rankings are to be kept alive we can glean information from them, but prisoners are to be taken, no executions and if I find anyone massacaring my people I will personally kill you myself I dont give a fuck what faction you are" She replied to Arabel but made the broadcast forces wide.
Commonwealth artillery, the small amount that they had left now loaded precision targetted muntions, their numbers far too small to conduct any surpressing barrages targetted known Vestahl artillery locations, acting as counter battery and hoping to detroy as many as possible now firing on the TDA to relieve some of the fire on them.
What artillery the rebels had on land was quickly destroyed by counter battery fire, however with the bulk of their fire suport coming from the ocean, counter artillery fire was ineffective. The fleet was constantly on the move, and without eyes on to provide course corrections and firing adjustment actually hitting any of the many ships was a monumentally difficult task.
So for the moment, the artillery continued to rain with a frightening accuracy, though it shifted away from the GAE's forces as they closed in on the rebel positions and instead began targeting the Davian armored column, which had a lot of ground to cover now that they were lagging behind the rest of the allies.
Artillery continued to rain down on the Dirge as they closed in on the first line of defense: lines of trenches and hastily contructed bunkers criss crossing through the pine forest. Troops up and down the line began firing on the dirge as they closed in, machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, and rocket launchers all firing into the advancing enemy as they neared even as the plasma rounds began to slam down on their positions, flash cooking flesh and literally melting those unfortunate enough to be close to the blast.
The TDA, unmolested by artillery, faired somewhat better that the other allies being the first to arrive at the enemy's defensive line. The enemy clearly hadn't expected them to continue pushing after their drop ships had been heavily engaged and it was with some degree of surprise that the TDA forces began landing amidst their ranks.
Still the rebels fought hard. Every inch of trench they lost was paid for in blood, and every bunker the TDA captured cost them dearly. Worse, the line had begun to collapse. VRF troops near the TDA were already pulling back to their second line, leaving behind no small amount of traps to delay the TDA's advance.
However the situations was about to get much worse. With the allies aircraft occupied with the VRF planes engaging their CAS and gunships the VRF's own CAS and gunships put in an appearance. The CAS fighters came from high altitude, descending quickly toward the Free Worlds on the western most flank and with a cacophonous 'brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrzt' began strafing up and down the line with explosive tipped munitions.
They pulled out of their dive and continued down the line, strafing the GAE, Commonwealth, Dirge, and finally the Davians. They targeted armored personnel carriers and tanks, but with explosive tipped munitions there was of course splash damage. As the planes completed their strafing run and began ascending toward high altitude once more the VRF abruptly changed tactics. Gunships and CAS fighters were abruptly forgotten as the interceptors turned on the fighters engaging them, pinning them down as their CAS fighters finished their runs to prevent pursuit...
Or further engagement.
The distinct whir of gyro blades came from over the horizon, signalling the arrival of the VRF's own gunships. The gyros closed in on the TDA, now occupying their former position and unleashed fury from rocket pods, guided missiles, and nose canons, taking advantage of the enemy's preoccupation with their interceptors while they could.
Then as quickly as they had arrived, the gyros pulled back before an adequate force could be mustered to engage them.
The first defensive line may have been crumbling, but the VRF ensured the price for its capture was a high one.
Meanwhile in orbit, the Free Worlds and the Davians succeeded in destroying the last of the spy drones... but that was the only success to be found in orbit. Despite the massive bombardment, the Davian missiles still failed to penetrate the orbital shield and so had no effect on the battlefield below. The shield seemed unphased by the massive bombardment, showing no sign of weakening. They could continue to fire, but it should have been apparent to the commanders that it was a waste of time and ammunition. The shield wouldn't be falling as a result of orbital attacks. It was up to the forces on the ground to bring it down.
If the orbital bombardment was ineffective then the Davian cyber attack proved even more so. As they continued to try and hack their way into the VRF's system it became immediately apparent that it simply wasn't possible. Not because of any grand defense system, or cunning counter hacking... there simply wasn't a system to hack. Whatever computer operated the orbital shield was on a closed network. No remote access was possible with the hardware installed... the cyber attack was as much a waste of time as the orbital bombardment.
And finally there were the prisoners. Every one of them resisted the Davian's attempts to draw forth information, and as they began breaking, one by one, it became quickly apparent that they simply didn't know anything of use. Most of the prisoners were common soldiers, and what few were officers couldn't provide any information on the ground situation, or Cortez's strategy. That had been information reserved for only the highest ranks... none of which were present.
Jennifer Cortez, for her part, waited patiently for the Commissar to finish asking his questions, impatiently tapping a foot against the floor as he went on and on... and finally when he paused long enough for her to get a word in she smiled sweetly and answered simply
"No comment,"
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:58:21 GMT
Those CAS aircraft that had attacked the Free Worlds formation suddenly found themselves having to contend with the Free World's return fire, flurries of autocannon rounds, SAMs of varying sizes and descriptions and types and IFSP launched rockets as the Militia troops and their machines opened up in retaliation. All the same, a good bit of the vehicles were hit and a few were taken out loudly and very violently, the men and women inside and on them simply vanishing as they were destroyed, those unfortunate enough to have been caught out in the open falling to storms of shrapnel or direct fire.
The FW fighters meanwhile had been half-way expecting their prey to turn on them at some point... just not this soon. Peeling off and beginning aggressive maneuvers, the Starlings popping flares, chaff and anything they could to disrupt enemy missiles as they carried on the engagement. Except now it wasn't a chase, it was very, very much a dogfight. The squadron leader detached a trio of his fighters to keep the enemy CAS of the formation below them, as the Wasp dropships coming in to extract wounded after the CAS strike didn't have the speed or the maneuverability to fend of enemy CAS-wagons, though the probably had the guns.
------
Captain Ackers had called for backup from Ravskiy Mir, and the response had been... measured. He'd gone out with a good portion of the system squadron already, and when he'd called for backup after taking heavy casualties the prospects of what the FW commanders were seeing wasn't exactly that great. But he needed air and ground troops, and what carried both in great number were carriers.
So, he got two. The Starlight class light carriers FWNS Andromeda and FWNS Vanadi dropped FTL with their frigate escorts near the Free Worlds picket in the debris field, and after exchanging comms with the cruisers they proceeded to Vehstal and took up station with the battleship beyond the range of enemy AO fire. Almost immediately they began launching fighters and dropships carrying reinforcements, both types of craft heading down to back up the troops already on the ground-- and to get in the VRF air force's face. Hashmon watch as the incredible display of Davian missiles exploded against the planetary shield. He thought to himself he’d never be more grateful of an enemy then an ally after it seems that they were shelled by friendly artillery. He picked himself up out if the trench he dived into to escape the approaching strafing run. He was lucky but many others were not. He saw dozen of TDA Troopers lay dead or wounded on the ground. Medics began treating the ones who could be saved first while others got a shot morphine and left in a comfortable position. He ordered a casualty collection point be set up at one the more intact bunkers.
“Status report Battalion commanders check in” Hashmon ordered
One after the other the Battalion Commander checked in, he was saddened by the fact his 12,000 men had been taken down to around 8500 or so, however it seems after that strafing run the VRF Troops thought they could escape. Hashmon ordered the second wave to engage, their journey to the front overall was not as deadly as the first waves.
“Move in, keep the assault going, come on men up and over!” he ordered as he began using his armour’s jump jets to jump around the battle field.
As he kept moving forward with his men the sound of the “Hot Boxes” Engines could be heard piercing through the air. The first one Hashmon saw was one conforming to its nickname as it was a light and crashed to the ground in front of him. Emerging from it was the payload of the craft another two squads joined the fray and began charging forward. The Troops of the second wave landed on top of the troops in the first providing air cover as they did. As they moved forward they quickly caught up with the VRF soldiers many were simply landed on at the end of a jump and others now out of cover became red mist on the snow. Now they were at the hardest part: The second defensive line. A lot of Troops were picked off by sustained small arms fire and heavy emplaced weapons while they were mid-way through their jumps. It was a killing field simple as that. The assault was halted or so the enemy thought when the second waves “Claw Hammer gunships” combined with mortar fire from the ground created enough suppression for several handfuls of troops to get inside the defensive lines. They needed to create an opening up enough for a larger amount of forces to break through.
==Davian electronic frigate==
After awhile the electronic specialists concluded that electronic warfare would be irrelevant as there was nothing to be hack. So the manpower devoted to the process should be used somewhere else. While it took sometimes to repurpose, the frigate would be used to enhance the command and control capacity of Davian forces.
==Davian prison frigate==
The prisoners seemed to be stubborn and tried to resisted the Davian interrogators but after some mind breaking talks with commissars or threatened with severe torturing they yielded one after another. Of course more stubborn prisoners won't yield to mere threaten words; these unsubordinated cases would be subject for physical torturing. If there was a darker side for holding some particular technology then the Davian's brutal torturing method would be one of the examples. With their highly advance bio and stem cells technology, the Davian could physically crushed their prisoners then restored their wrecked body anew just to be crush again. And here at Vestalh the pirates and rebels prisoners would be subject to this method. Across the individual cells, prisoners screamed or howled terribly as Davian bio specialists and medical staffs began to cut off their victims's fingers or toes. Such agony proved to be too much for the prisoners who begged for their life or begged for quick death. Yet the Davian captors would only care for information, no more, no less.
"Admiral, here's the record about our prisoner." The main AI of Davian's flagship quietly announced Admiral Tran. "Let me see..." The admiral looked through the record: "So all these prisoners are lowly grunt with no value at all?" "I afraid they are sir. Uhm..." The AI stopped for the moment before continued: "We did used some necessary measure. But those scums really hold no valuable information." "Hm... Waste of times and effort then..." "Admiral. Word from the Vestalh. They disapproved killing prisoners." The comm officer reported. "Hm... Fortunately we didn't actually kill them yet." Tran snapped before turning to his SAI: "So we will of course not executing them. We will keep them here till the war is over. Treat them fair then." "And the woman?" "Keep her where she is." "Yes sir"
As words went out, the interrogating and torturing ended and the prisoners won't be tied to the walls anymore. Instead their torturers would begin to cure their physical damages or reconnected their fingers or toes. While Davian's torturing method including cut off part of victim's body, these parts, if possible, would be keep alive so they could be re-implanted into the victim's body which saved both times, cash and effort to grow these parts back. Since the torturing until then only involved cutting of fingers or toes and didn't go to limbs yet so the curing process won't take long. Once the prisoners woke up from their hibernation they would found themselves anew and staying in their individual cells. They would remained there for the times being. The Davian did show mercy to the prisoners and supplied them with food and drink.
For Jennifer. The Commissar would simply... smile back: "It's your choice to be silence Miss Jennifer. We actually didn't expect you to answer them. Vestalh government also clarified that they want prisoners alive so we won't kill you. In the other hand we won't torture you. But since you're a valuable prisoner, we will keep you here for the times being. Enjoy your times." With final word he walked out of the room. Jennifer, like other prisoners would be put in an individual cell with food and drink. Due to her status the women would receive a little higher treatment.
==Davian fleet==
"Orbital bombardment has no effect admiral. The shield is simply too strong." A tactical officer reported. "I know... In this case we just have to focus on supporting our ground forces." The admiral ordered: "Stop orbital bombarding. Prepare atmospheric missiles. If we can't get them from above, we will get them from below. Also link us with the Ground and Air Force."
The Davian ships repeated their launching matrix however this times the missiles won't be used for orbital bombarding. Instead they would hang above the Vestalh's capital waiting for signal to move toward the capital's sky and then onto the battlefield. This maneuver method required somewhat more complicate command and control so the number of missiles won't be as large as the previous bombardment. In total the new missile group would only contained 90 000 missiles, their designed name would be Missile Group GS1, GS2. In the other hand to avoid collateral damage and friendly fire no nuclear warhead would be use.
"Missile Group GS1, GS2 awaiting command. General Hung. You can call for them if you need them. That's the best we can do."
==Davian ground force==
"Any help would be great comrade Admiral. And I hope you have some of your Multi Laser missiles there. Their aircrafts are really disturbing." General Hung responded from below while surveying the visualized battlefield."
"We are under heavy artillery attack general." A divisional commander reported: "We can deal with ground base artilleries but those bloody sea base artilleries is another story. And their air force is strapping us. We are deploying smoke screen."
"I will divert the artillery to fire smoke barrage. Keep moving."
On the frontline. As artillery rounds began to fall and enemy's aircrafts appeared. The Davian mobile forces activated their smoke screen to visually hided themselves further while the accompanying drones kept throwing out fake signal. Soon a whole part of the battlefield would be choked with thick cold black fog which swallowed even the brightness displaced by the mobile shield generators. The Davian army turned into somewhat a ghost army, while the smoke screen would certainly reduce the Davian's own visual sight it was not a big problem since they would be guide by hundred thousands 'eyes' from various kind of scanners and sensors of all kinds.
As the VRF's aircrafts descended upon them, the advancing Davian responded furiously with storms of their own multi-purpose missiles, high caliber anti-air coilgun from either the XT-PPK, XT-SPK or D3-AAC filled the sky with flak rounds. Meanwhile all kind of point defenses would add the fire power to the firestorm in their attempt to stop as many solid rounds as possible. The anti-air capacity of the Davian particularly for medium and short range would be very good since almost all of their fighting vehicles from tanks to IFV possessed multi-purpose missiles.
The Davian kept advancing through the cold snow and under the fog, firing and dying all the way. The deeper they advanced the worse casualty they suffered, corpses and wreckage began to lift the field. Yet Davian army kept moving forward boldly and implacable. Those survived after the destruction of their vehicles would be picked up by the other.
Once the Davian troops came at suitable range, their transports began to unloaded infantry. The Imperial Musketeers jumped out of their vehicles, fanned out and advanced on foot. These bogged standard musketeer, armed with their self-guided long range plasma musket and further enhanced by the sensors web over the field began to fire. Their range would be long, their accuracy: deadly. Each of these troops would be equal to at least marksman of other armies. Shielded by interloping shields and hided by fake signals, thermal hiding, cold snow and black fog, it would be very hard to counter them while they can open fire.
Sometimes later, the Davian managed to reach the first line where the GAE, Dirge and particularly the TDA were fighting. With the TDA managed to secure part of the first line. The Davian right behind them would have much better times to advance. Soon contact was made with the TDA fighting units. All that herald the coming of Davian troops would be a few spy drones from the sky then thick black fog screen and only after the fog reduced visual sights severally would the Imperial Musketeers came, their visors in placed of their eyes and forehead glowed with murderous blood red and sickly green light. The sudden emergence of these soldiers from a thick black fog would be unnerving. And the TDA soldiers would found groups of these soldiers cautiously moved in and reinforced their positions.
"Greeting again TDA ally." A group of three Davians who seemed to be officers, walked in front of a group of TDA's soldier and asked: "We Davian are reinforcing your position. Where are your commanding officers?"
While the Davian columns moved in to support the alliance, their artillery began bombarding the joining sections between two lines, the second line itself and further to suppress enemy forces. The bombardment of the joining section however would be conduct with utmost care to not cause friendly fire to allied units. For the second line the Davian began to fire phosphor munitions which would exploded midair and engulfed the whole area with burning and poisonous phosphor as well as cover the line in murderous white 'smoke'
==The air war==
Along with the ongoing ground war, the war for the sky of Vestalh raged as fierce as ever. As the first VRF aircrafts appeared. The Davian's long range AA units located within their bases open fired. Then part of the Davian atmospheric fighters particularly the Tre Fighters swarmed over to intercept them. Since the Davian was not using dedicated gunships their air forces wouldn't be vulnerable to the enemy much. As the enemy CAS appeared and began to attack their ground forces, the rest of the Davian strike crafts composed mostly of the Truc Lancers immediately moved in and unleashed torrents of guided missiles toward them. These CAS would be subjected to fire from both the mobile formation and these Lancers. Worst these dedicated CAS would be vulnerable to full fighters. As the CAS pulled out and fled to high attitude. They were greeted by thousands of heavily armed and armored star fighters. Facing star fighters which excelled in high attitude combat these CAS wouldn't have much chance.
Then from the horizon the second wave of Davian Air Force arrived. 10000 strike crafts in total. The massive Davian air Amanda came from all attitudes and began to engage the VRF crafts. The reinforcement increased the total Davian Air Force present over the battlefield to around 25000.
Yet what moved behind those 10000 strike crafts would be much more dangerous. 90000 long range missiles send by the navy to support the ground operation. Screened by the second wave of Davian Air Force, these missiles raced through the air war and moved straight toward the second VRF's line. Once reached suitable range the leading part of the missiles numbered around 45000, armed with plasma lance warhead engaged their second charged and threw out ten thousands of bright hot plasma lances directly at the VRF's line. Then came the second wave armed with high explosive warheads. These missiles would slam down the second line to cause catastrophic damage. The chance for these missiles to reach their target would be rather high as Davian's artillery just bombarded the line with phosphor munitions so the defenders would be too busy to deal with all those burning smoke.
Arabel watched the her forces on the tablet she had. And while the advance seemed slow, they were at least not the worst on the ground. Troops disembarked from their tanks as they were targeted while the mechanized infantry in their IFVs remained inside, only bailing out when the vehicle was incapacitated. The motorized artillery units packed up and continued their advance and the Flakpanzers continued putting up proximity fuse warheads into the sky as the enemy strafed the ground units. Fighters dueled it out at gun range with enemy airpower occasionally dodging an incoming missile, their four 30mm cannons tearing into whatever they hit. Banshee bombers continued screeching in towards their targets, 37mm wing mounted cannons firing as they went.
The enemy air attack had sent the infantry on the backs of their armored vehicles dismounting very quickly, the ones who were not so lucky were literally torn to shreds as they attempted to get off the vehicles. The Araxian tanks didn't seem to have much problem with the strafing run. Engineers and infantry then began rushing the enemy defensive line, clearing out whoever was left with flamethrowers, grenades and light machine guns fired expertly from the hip. Araxian SS troopers went in with blunt melee weapons to begin subduing and capturing whoever they could. Their steel-foam composite body armor was thick enough to stop most bullets unless it was larger than 12.7mm in diameter.
The air war concerned her just a little though. Her anti-air vehicles didn't seem to be doing to well and her fighters couldn't stop every attack. Her space fleet wont be sending any more fighters down to her but she did at least have her Valkyrie squadrons. Small and fast units armed heavily, they gave their pilots oversized hands and legs with two engines attached to mounts on their waist that connected everything to a central spine that carried a large backpack containing the power source of the vehicle. She had four such units in reserve, 48 pilots and machines each not including her own. These were a combination of the heavy five meter tall Type 23 and the newer and lighter three meter tall Type 24. Both were armed with a shoulder mounted 75mm railgun on the right and a set of rockets on the right, plus every pilot could carry one additional weapons in hand. The larger Type 23s carried heavy shields and energy lances along with a 20mm automatic rifle while the smaller Type 24s carried a pair of katars in their arms and a 15mm automatic rifle. Arabel had chosen to deploy only one Valkyrie squadron for now and kept the remaining four in standby when the first defensive line on the Araxian side had been breached.
48 Valkyries took off from the capital and sped their way towards the battle at low altitude. Once there, they would each spread out into their individual platoons and give support fire in one location before jumping away to fight in another area of the line.
With initial waves of the Dirge were supressed by an overwhelming amount of firepower, they quickly adjusted their strategy. Armored units fired with impunity on defensive positions with high explosives and plasma, while the much quicker infantry spread out, and attempted to surround the varied trenches and bunkers that were encountered, though with largley mixed results.
The final bouts of traded artillery fire had seen a significant damage to the shields hiding the Dirge forces, and too many of the host forms fell to incoming fire. too late however was this relief as the Dirge were largley upon their targets
The Dirge constantly readjusted their forces, moving with a single mind. Every unit in this situation counted. They could not simply throw their forces against the proverbial meat grinder. One saving grace they enjoyed was their unit phisiology however. Units with even half of their bodies destroyed by hostile fire continued to move and tie up opposing forces.
The few anti air units the Dirge brought to field did not so much target the hostile aircraft , but rather, prevented a direct attack. They quickly projected immense plasma nets that bathed the battlefield in a sickly green hue.
Finally the subterranean units that had made their appearance early on began to come into play. Though their intended role was ment to attack orbital units, their allies appeared to be handling it nicely so instead they were heavily utilized as shock troops. Errupting from the surface only detonate their ordanaces on themselves in an attempt to disrupt and scatter opposing troops and negate to some degree theor defenses entirely. How did you fight an enemy that had no problem sacrificing their own soldiersby the thousand? That was the thought rolling around General Labrosse brain pan when the missiles hit the second line. The reports had been coming in over the course of the past few minutes. The TDA was pushing hard and they were on the second line in great number before the forces had even fully retreated from the first.
She'd been preparing to roll what armor she had in behind them and push the TDA, now far ahead of their allies, into the waiting guns of her second line forces... but that had been before the Davian missile barrage.
There was nothing left of the second line, save smoking craters and what was left of those unfortunate enough to have been station there when the missile swarm came in. Her forces had shot down the missiles by their thousands as they had streaked toward their targets. Armored as they were, and prepared for the possibility of chemical and biological attacks the white phosphorous had had little effect. The plasma was a different story entirely. The VRF on the second line were dead. The TDA on the second line were dead. And anyone else unfortunate enough to have advanced to the second line was also dead.
How did you fight an enemy that so callously threw away the lives of their allies. She gazed out across the boring forests and finally picked up her radio, issuing her commands before leaving the third line and retreating with a sizeable portion of her infantry forces back to the Central Command Bunker.
What remained of her infantry readied themselves in the third and final line. Heavily fortified bunkers, deep trenches, barbed wire and minefields protected them. They wouldn't be able to hold forever, but they would undoubtedly inflict heavy casualties for as long as they did.
Any reprieve the allies may have hoped for following the Davian missile barrage that had left as many allies as enemies dead were quickly dashed. With the forest burning the main obstacle to the VRF's armored vehicle movements was removed and within minutes of the last missile strike the first tanks began rumbling through the crater of the second line and on into the advancing soldiers.
With their cover burning from the white phosphorous, and the line ahead of them utterly obliterated the closest source of cover for the soldiers between the first and second line was the captured trenches behind them. Until they could reach those trenches they were easy pickings for the tanks and IFVs rumbling through the forest fire...
And while the air forces focused on the CAS fighters moving back toward high altitude the VRF's gunships reappeared and began unleashing hell all along the first line. The artillery barrage was redoubled, a rolling barrage of high explosives and shrapnel that moved all up and down the first line, now completely under the control of the allies. None were spared from the wrath of the VRF's high seas fleet as they peppered every inch of the first line and the advancing allies with shell after shell after shell.
Every fighter craft the VRF had was launched in the ensuing chaos, thousands of fighters and interceptors appearing on the horizon, with the setting sun at their back and joining the ongoing dogfight. Any numbers advantage the allies had rapidly vanished with the arrival of the last of the Revolution's reserves, now there was one fighter for every one the allies had, and the CAS fighters quickly dove back toward the allies for a second strafing run. Everything the VRF had was committed and they fought with no fear of death. No surrender was given as the Davian missiles had firmly convinced the enemy soldiers that surrender ensured a fate worse than death.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:58:32 GMT
A Vestahl gunship smashed into the ground near Arnas command tank, tearing up the earth and scattered its wrecked frame over a huge area as burning fuel covered the plain. Having fallen prey to Commonwealth missile platforms Arna sneered. Her forces were now moving up fast alongside the GAE, her artillery pinning down the enemy artillery position and her troops now readied themselves to rush the next defensive line.
That was until Arnas eyes widened as the second line that they were assaulting merely dissapeared into a fiery eruption.
"Everyone brace!" She shouted, the shockwave hit them moments later, the sheer amount of ordnance aimed at the line displacing such air that it didnt even need to be a nuclear weapon. Several vehicles were flipped by the force of the blast, and many infantry who had been moving up were smashed off their feet and chucked like toys into the air, to fall back down to earth only to die from impact. She quickly reevaluated as she took in the details. The second line was gone, even the TDA forces were massacared that had been assaulting it, she blinked. What absolute idiot could of done such a blind barrage with such level on ordnance on friendly forces? Surveying the small holographic map she had her rage rose as she noticed the massive Davian air assault.
Before she could begin shouting at the seemingly retarded allies she had, a round speared out from the flank instantly detonating the tank next to her own, though the massive confusion Arna now noticed the forest to their flank was gone, white phosphorous now burning the once great trees that had stood there, her heart welled with sorrow. She had grown up here and played in those woods as a child and now they burned because of some so called ally. Out of the burning inferno came the Vestahl tanks, Arnas forces desperately tried to recover, firing off from what weapons they still had and relaying the attack to the GAE. The Davians had single handedly not only wiped out their frontline but also entirely destroyed their flank cover, they were now open and Arna had nothing that could stop them. Artillery rained in harder and the air battle was becoming harder for the allied forces.
She couldnt stay here.
"All forces retreat! We cant hold them, fall back and fight a rearguard action we cannot afford to hold our ground!" She ordered as the vehicles and infantry of the Commonwealths few remaining units now began to pull back under the huge armoured push. Arna then opened a com line to the Davians, her voice was calm with barely constrained rage.
"You have not only destroyed our entire frontline, but our flank too. I just lost over a few hundred men to your little stunt, and we are now having to retreat. The sheer audacity that you would employ such levels of firepower let alone WP and a nuclear barrage on the shield of that magnitude shows that you are beyond incompetant. You will cease all offensive actions against the Vestahl forces using large assaults, and after- No if we even win this you are to leave this planet immediately with no concessions. If you refuse any of these statements I will declare you an enemy of my people and will personally execute your entire command staff. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" She shouted.
As their allies were forced back due to the callous mistake of a few, the Dirge began their own tactical withdrawal. The bunkers and trenches that they had sucessful encircled remained under seige in an effort to break some of the defensive lines. Using their rapid mobility to great advantage, they elected to take up a supporting role.
Shield units broke from the dirge formations to support retreating allied forces, leaving the Dirge vulnerable to the incoming artillery, though it was quickly answered in kind. Massive walking tanks reached the Commonwealth forces quickly, and fired upon yhe incoming armor, reinforcing the new China in the common wealth armor. Subterannean units began to break the counter offensive, Errupting violently from the earth underneath incoming forces before detonating themselves violently in massive bursts of super heated plasma.
Additionally , though the Dirge had relatively no air support, they could suppliment and control the movements of hostile craft. Plasma nets were launched and shifted over allied forces, providing an area of denial for the airspace. The positions of these were constantly sent to allied air forces , allowing them to move in a less restricted manner than their opposition. There were however deliberate openings in these baleful clouds, that led into areas with the largest AA coverage.
The troops that were left behind at the casualty collection point could only watch in horror as the mass of missiles annihilated everyone and everything at the second VRF defence line. The despair of the situation really set in when they found out it was friendly fire, combined with the fact that the same friendly fire also cleared a path through a nearby forest for a VRF armoured assault. They were cut off and they were only a company of fighting troops with a large amount of casualties as an added burden. Colonel Gus Warren was suddenly thrown into the command of the front line troops that remained.
“All call signs this is forward command. Situation untenable Second drop Division has 95% Killed in Action, General Hashmon has been killed in Action as well and we have an enemy armoured assault incoming to our rear. We need immediate extraction pickup is from my location over.” He said in a panicked tone before turning to the nearby Davian officers that one of his troopers directed to him. His frustrations couldn’t be contained.
“DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY GOOD TROOPERS YOU KILLED? THOSE SAME TROOPERS WHO’S PARENTS, PARTNERS AND KIDS ARE NOW LEFT WITH A BROKEN PROMISE THAT THEY WOULD BE COMING HOME.” He had lost his cool and was out of control his anger was personified in his voice. It was also fortunate his helmet was down so no one could see the tears welling in his eyes as well.
“It’s time for you to leave now. This conversation over” he gestured for his sergeant to escort the officers out.
Both the troops left in the capital and the fleet in orbit heard his message. Switch nearly collapsed when she heard the news from both TDA and SRU sources. A whole division almost wiped out and one of her friends killed and if their sensors were right it was from their so called allies the Davian Empire. She was at first almost overcome with grief then after a few moments she composed herself.
“Send a system wide message to the Davians. Reiterate what the SRU commander said.” She was clam and composed on the outside but inside she was burning with a hot rage. She turned her attention to the situation on the planet.
“Give the launch order. I want every goddamn fighter in the fleet either running a sortie.”
On her word squadron after squadron launched and made head way to the planet. Every fighter was armed with precision guided missiles for an en masse surgical strike of the armoured assault group and for the annihilation of enemy aircraft.
Brigadier Michelle Moranis was the head of the third attack wave upon hearing the distress call from the front she immediately ordered her forces to engage as well as the armoured reserve divisions to set off immediately with or without all their vehicles. They took off and made their way to the frontline. They passed over the allied formations and made a hot drop of every “Hopper” Mech a couple of klicks from the enemy formation, the rest of the transports then continued their course to the CCP (Casualty collection point). The Mechs began a full sprint towards the enemy formation with their guns blazing as they did wave after wave of guided missiles came over the top of them into the enemy armoured formation. Once the Mechs we’re close enough the missile barrage ceased and the fighters broke off to engage other enemy fighters although a significant number had already been damaged or destroyed by enemy AA fire but they pushed on. The Mechs however were only getting started. The trudged their way through hectic volumes of fire taking many casualties then they began their jump, they leaped up into the air firing AT rounds from their main guns at the top armour of enemy tanks and armoured vehicles. They were somewhat immune to enemy fire when they jumped as they could move outside of enemy MBT field of fire by being higher than the enemy could raise their main guns, as they got closer they alerted nearby Allied commands of their intentions. The Mechs continued to close the gap with the enemy formation until they right next to them literally. They jumped around erratically to avoid return fire as best they could as they let off their rounds and whatever missiles they had left from their epic marathon. The strategy overall was not to destroy the enemy armoured formation but to distract them from the most part from the now rapidly advancing TDA Armoured Divisions.
In the air above the battlefield the newly arrived groups of fighters were welcomed putting the balance of numbers back into favour of the Allies. It seemed for every TDA Fighter shot down two more took its place. Close to the ground TDA “Hot Box” Transports made their way to the CCP. They had to avoid both enemy fighters and ground based AA, several dozen of the transports were downed as a result, nonetheless the majority of them made it. With a fresh lot of troops disembarking, Moranis believed it to be too risky to send the wounded back via air so she doubled down on the medics and medical supplies that she took to help all the wounded. The situation seemed to be turning back into Allied favour at least from the TDA perspective. But there was another moment that would re awaken hope in the TDA forces. A trooper on observation duty noticed two people approaching. One was carrying the other and they seemed heavily wounded, both however were bearing TDA IFFs. The Trooper signalled his squad and they went and collected the survivors and brought them to the CCP for treatment.
“MEDIC, we got two live ones from the missile strike” the squad leader called out
“Bullshit no one could survive that” one of the combat medics replied
“Well tell that to them” she replied back laying both men down and leant them against a wall. The medic removed the helmets of both men one was dead he could tell that immediately and ran a medical scan on the other one by hand as their suits were too damaged to run it off of them.
“Orbitals broken to shit, 4th degree burns to 50% of your right side, that arm is gonna have to come off… and that leg too. Alright you ID as… General Burt Hashmon?” The medic said dumbfounded. He slapped the general lightly across the face to wake him up.
It seemed like a lifetime ago since Hashmon was leading his men into the trenches of the second defensive line. The morale, discipline and tactics were spot on one couldn’t be happier with the way things were going. Then suddenly he received a missile strike warning before he knew it white phosphorous was setting the air around him on fire, and then the plasma came. He watched several Troopers melt away almost instantly, others ran off with partially melted limbs while others where coated enough just to have them boil to death inside their armour their flesh and the suits metal becoming one. A missile impacted near him but one of his own Troopers shielded him and activated their jump jet to get away. That Trooper gave his life to save him and Hashmon hated the fact that he could never repay such a heroic act. When he awoke to being slapped he found himself in the CPP, all he could feel was pain but we could also feel the morphine which must have been injected into him when he arrived. What shocked him most was that he could only see out of one of his eyes.
“Uhhh… What happened? What hit us?” He asked dazed and confused
“We can explain later sir but right now the fact that you’re alive is a miracle, it’s like some higher power chose to save you” the medic told him
“Tell me what hit us that’s an order and who else made it out?” His tone changed to a serious one.
“It was the Davians sir… Friendly Fire and you’re the only person to survive to the bombardment, I’m sorry to say”
“GODDAMN IT! Those sons of bitches will pay for this…” Hashmon tried to stand up only to fall back down his legs failing him
“Look sir I need to lock off your right arm and leg otherwise you’re not gonna make. So sit down and so I can get started that’s an order” The medic told him sternly
Hashmon was given enough painkillers so he wouldn’t be able to feel a thing. The medic then got to work removing the damaged limbs, a gruesome task by any means.
“How’d I get back here anyways?” Hashmon inquired
“Looks like you walked here by yourself carrying that man there” The medic pointed out the corpse next to Hashmon. At a glance he knew that was the Trooper who pushed him out of the way. He would give him every commendation and medal possible to him but it still wouldn’t even to begin to account for the debt Hashmon felt he owed him.
News quickly spread through the ranks of the TDA and to the fleet in orbit that Hashmon was alive. Everyone was relieved that the ‘Vestahl Massacre’ as it was being called spared one life.
Generaloberst Sabine von Guderian watched as the force of the explosion picked up her signal vehicle and threw it through the air like a toy, whoever was still inside was dead on impact, Araxian soldiers were thrown like ragdolls if they were not in the trenches ahead or in some ditch before the defensive line. And she watched in horror as an armored assault burst through to her flank.
"Mein gott, fall back, mount up in whatever you can. Why the fuck do we have to fight alongside madmen!?"
Most Araxian tanks could move just as fast backwards as they could going forwards, so showing frontal armor to the enemy during a retreat was not an issue. The GAE followed the commonwealth out of the combat zone, firing as they went, sending railgun slugs, ATGMs and APFSDS flying at the enemy as they left. The assault had been a complete waste of time for the GAE. Sure the first defensive line collapsed but the second had been completely annihilated by allied fire and sending a large portion of allies with it. If such firepower could have been sent earlier then there wouldn't need to have been such dramatic loss of casualties on their side.
The Araxians lost three fourths of their deployed IFVs and about an eighth of the tanks sent into combat and almost the same amount of infantry was lost. around 20,000 Araxian soldiers had been either killed our wounded in the assault and allied bombardment as the force threw troop transports with occupants still inside. A further 10,000 or so soldiers were lost in the chaos following the order to retreat as enemy artillery took a shit on them.
Arabel was glad she didn't send in all her forces at once, her airborne infantry and storm troopers saved from wasting their energy at the front and almost getting wiped in friendly fire. The troops already had plans to move into the second defensive line as they finished up the first and were somewhat glad they weren't fast enough to advance.
"Such incompetence for people with great firepower." she muttered, closing the tablet and jumping into her Valkyrie unit. "Kaiserin to all Valkyrie units, follow me, we're going to cover the retreat of our allies." The 48 units hanging above the battle as their allies retreated now landed in the snow, letting loose a few shots before jumping away or changing positions rapidly. The remaining 144 Valkyrie units led by Arabel rushed into the battle, assisting her forces and those of Arna's as they fell back. 20mm cannons, railguns and rockets firing off.
"Arabel to Tanya, get the three undamaged heavy cruisers down here. We'll need some serious firepower to remove their fleet and provide support for the next assault if there ever is one." She watched as her deployed fighters and bombers climbed away and towards the assault carriers in low orbit, going back to rearm and refuel while also avoiding enemy air superiority. So much for mechanized assault if we were going to get plastered by allied fire, she thought.
Then narrowly dodging a burst of shrapnel next to her, she opened a comms to Tanya again. "Tanya, I also need you to ask the Davians for whatever prisoners they may have picked up to be handed over to someone else, I have a feeling they are about as incompetent with handling them as they are down here."
"Tanya to Arabel, orders received, carrying them out now." She responded, sitting in her swiveling command chair on the bridge of the Blue Witch. Arabel's smaller chair had been removed after she had left and was replaced with Tanya's. "Comms, open me a line to the Davian fleet."
Up in orbit, Captain Elias Faust led three Atago class stealth cruisers 17 kilometers in length, armed with nuclear warhead missiles and railguns descended above the capital slowly. Fighters that belonged to these ships returned to them to rearm and refuel in their hangars. Even from orbit the friendly fire looked spectacular, the explosion was bright enough to be seen from orbit with their cameras and binos. "Comm channel open, Admiral. We're ready to send."
"Alright. This is Admiral Tanya Kutuzov of Kriegsflotte Befreien of the Araxian Navy, we are requesting the transfer of any prisoners you may have picked up to our ships for further questioning if any. This is in response to your absurd failure on the ground assault and friendly fire incident."
Commissar Shen had been called many things in her life. She'd been called a hard ass, a bitch, and she knew the troops whispered behind her back, awarding her the nickname 'Wingless'. A dig at the two stumps that occupied the shiguran's back in where her wings should have been. But the one thing she had never been called was incompetent. The blonde shiguran had listened passively to orders and troop movements for the duration of the battle, sipping at a coffee near the commander's vehicle while the Davians advanced...
Then the massacre had happened. She heard the allies scream their frustrations (although that was putting it lightly) and the scarred Commissar realized there was a shitstorm brewing. A political fallout so monumental it would tarnish the Empire's image across the entire galaxy.
She sipped at her coffee, adjusted her peaked cap and motioned to a group of soldiers who fell in behind her as she walked toward the Davian command staff, still arguing over troop movements and strategy. The all fell silent when the wingless Shiguran approached with a squad of troops at her back.
"General, you stand relieve," She said simply, her voice calm and even betraying nothing of the burning rage she felt.
"But..." He began to argue.
"General, you stand relieved," She repeated, firmer this time, shifting her coffee from her left hand to her right and brushing the handle of her pistol. The general nodded silently and at another motion the troops escorted him away. He'd be on the first shuttle back to orbit. Now she turned her attention to the command staff.
"I want all of you to understand that there are court martials waiting for you in Saigon," She continued calmly. "The only reason you remain in command is because I don't have the time to find people to replace you. I expect each and every one of you to follow my commands. Is that understood?"
"Yes Commissar," They answered in unison.
"Good, bring me a radio. I want our tanks pushing in on the VRF's armor with orders to halt their advance. I don't care how many casualties they take, I want their armor stopped. Understood?"
"Yes commissar,"
"Get it done,"
She took the offered radio, confirming that a similar scene had played out in orbit with a fleet commissar relieving the Admiral.
"Commissar," She greeted. "I want the navy to quit faffing about and get my boats in the water. I'm deploying the airforce to find the enemy ships and as soon as they have eyes on I want every ship we have dropped as close as concievably possible. No, I don't care about casualties, and if I so much as hear that someone armed a ballistic missile I will have every Captain court martialed and sent home in shame. Understood?"
"Yes comrade,"
"Get it done,"
Finally she switched to the open channel as the troops began rushing to obey her orders.
"This is Commissar Shen. I've relieved General Hung and Admiral Tran of command. I will be commanding the Davian forces for the remainder of this battle. Your request for prisoner transfer is noted. Acceptance is pending."
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Captain Ackers howled into his comm as the firestorm erupted over the battlelines, and signatures of VRF tanks and god only knew what else began popping up on his HUD. The forest burned, and with it the TDA forces-- whom Ackers had actually begun to respect. And who, who had done this?!
"Cap'n!" came the cry from one of the flanking IFSP teams. "I think that was the Davians! Why the fuck would the Davians do that?!" "I dunno!" Ackers howled back, his face losing all color as it hit him. The Davians had unleashed that blue on blue?! "CONTACT FRONT! TANKS TANKS TANKS!" screamed a frontrunning unit-- and suddenly the plan came crashing down. They couldn't hack this, the flank would fold with the casualties they'd already taken... and their own allies had done massively more damage than the enemy had--or could-- or would. They could not stay here.
"Signal all forces to begin fighting withdrawl back to base camp!" he snapped. "Say wha?!" "Fall back, damnit!" he roared. "Fall back, fall back!" "Copy that, all forces tally up and pull back! Sabre 2-2, cover us and get Goblin to give us rearguard! 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, pull back now! Eagle Squadron, cover cover cover!"
The Free Worlds forces disengaged from the front line and fell back en masse, heading back and away from the fighting as fast as they could. The aircraft already up came in fast and hard to perform CAS runs on the enemy units advancing to slow or destroy them. Acker's hands shook in rage on his controls as he led his troops back and away from that terrible cauldron of death.
He was going to have words with the Davians when this was over. Between the gunships, the tanks, and the artillery the allies were taking a beating. The flank was collapsing and the whole line was set to collapse right along with it. The Free Worlders were retreating, the SRU was retreating, the GAE was retreating... even the Dirge were beginning to fall back.
The Davian advance offered a brief reprieve for the allies. While the Davians and TDA surged forward with reckless abandon the VRF became focused on their tanks. Their advance slowed... and then stalled as they traded fire with the Davians... but there were simply too many of them. The Davians alone were little more than a bump in the road, but maybe if the retreats halted the battle could again turn in the allies favor.
More successes came as Davia began deploying its seas fleet. They descended from orbit and crashed into the water, large enough that one couldn't help but notice them. The VRF's high seas fleet was now forced to divide its attention between the enemy closing in on them and supporting their forces on the ground.
The artillery bombardment slowed as the fleet's attention was diverted. The Davians had created an opening. It came at a heavy cost to their own forces, their dead and dying climbing steadily as they fought on...
But there was an opening, if only the allies would seize upon it.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:58:46 GMT
"Panzer halt! Halt!" Sabine shouted at the top of her voice as the GAE reversed themselves out of the battle. She had seen the Davians headed the opposite direction they were going and were now engaged. Retreating was not seen in Araxian society as cowardice unless it truly was cowardice. But having to retreat after an entire flank collapsing and almost stabilize itself due to either the bravery or stupidity of an ally would be seen as dishonorable.
"Forwards! Get yourselves in forward gear, get in there and save their asses."
The Araxian ground force halted their fighting retreat and began going back forwards, the tank riders dismounting again and setting up their ATGM launchers while the armor moved forward again into the grinder. Even the flakpanzers moved in, their quad 50mm guns firing armor piercing shells.
Arabel had seen it too, her Valkyries were now irrelevant again as the fighting was away from them. Still though, she could cut up some enemy armor with her close range melee weapons. "Kaiserin to all Valkyrie units, into the fray we go! Fold those shoulder weapons unless you want to break them!" she said, flying into the air before landing in the midst of the tank battle. Firing her 15mm assault rifle and cutting enemy armor with her plasma katars. The rest of the 192 units followed her in, firing their main weapons, cutting enemy armor or simply stabbing the tanks with their plasma lances while bashing anyone in their way with a massive tower shield.
Captain Faust watched the battle rage down below. He wouldn't be likely to make the same mistake the Davians may have done. "Ready weapons, target the enemy surface fleet, delete them with the torpedoes. No nuclear warheads."
Torpedoes launched from their tubes at long range as the three cruisers hung over the capital. Conventional explosive warheads designed to operate in space and in atmosphere. But not in water though, these Araxian torpedoes were about the same as an oversized cruise missile with an armored penetrator at its tip. Ideal for dealing with enemy space fleets with armor to punch through but maybe not a surface fleet. Regardless, these warheads came in from the top, ensuring that even if the warhead did not detonate inside an enemy ship it would punch right in and out the other side.
Admiral Kutuzov kept silent. It sounded as though there was some argument aboard the Davian ships but she couldn't tell for sure. She chose to keep quiet for now. If the prisoners were transferred at all, they would be briefly interrogated before handing them over to the Vestahl Commonwealth. After all, it was their people and their war. Responsibility was the Commonwealth's unless they specifically requested for someone else to handle them.
== Davia's main base in Anccerious galaxy ==
"WHAT THE FUCK HAD YOU MILITARY DOGS HAD DONE!?" A figured screamed while threw a cup of tea out of his hand: "What have you… no… what have those damned dogs had done?" "Grand Councilor Kia, please calm yourself." Commissar Shen spoke through a 3D screen: "I and Jun is in control, we can…" "You don't understand. Those TDA you had killed is our permanent ally." Kia shouted again: "First you military gave me Askandar, now you throw this straight into my face. If you military dogs hate me so much then go here in Saigon and shoot me, not ruining this sector." "Grand Councilor. Please calm down." Another voice came from another 3D screen: "The commissariat is in charge we will try to contain this." "Tch… you will keep your words commissars." The words from two high ranking commissars hold enough weigh to calm the enraging sector commander: "I want a court martial in Vestalh not in Saigon, no more, no less, understood?" "Yes. Grand Councilor." The two commissars saluted before turning off the links. Kia stood up, his hand hold a golden hilt, upon activated a plasma blade appeared and he slashed it down to his own table. Yet his blade would be stop by another blade. "Stop it commander. Calm yourself." "Gold. We have work to do." "Yes commander."
==Davia's fleet==
Jun, the Fleet Commissar stood motionless while surveying the field below. Indeed the battle below was turning backward. Enemy's armors rushing toward their fleeing allies. Something must be done and quickly. "We can stop their armored units with mis…." One of the tactical officers suggested. "Did someone just suggest missile strike?" Jun asked quietly while walking in front of said officer, being Shiguran she was shorter than the man yet her voice was stern and cold: "Did you not listen to Shen's words?"
"Commissar…"
With a flash of light, the officer stumbled to his knees just in times his severed right hand crashed to the ground, blood splatted on the Shiguran's face as she spoke coldly with the terrified navy staffs: "Gentlemen. It's seemed we have one more friendly fire due to your missile strike. The next friendly fire would be a lethal once. Understood?"
"Yes commissar."
== On the ground ==
As the VRF's tanks charged en-mass toward the alliance, unlike some of their allies, the Davian didn't retreat. Instead they hold their positions or counter-charge. Since the catastrophic missile barrage had wiped out the terrain there would be no obstacle for armored warfare. And head to head tank battle was nothing strange for the Davian who used to fight a lot of heavily armored foes. And the VRF would quickly found out the fact. The Davian Empire, forged from the fire of war known that every battles would be hell and they would literally turn the battles into true hell if need.
Upon hearing the tanks coming the Davian infantry raced toward the trench lines or covers and began to open fire at suitable range. The Imperial Musketeers changed their muskets to beam mod which upon firing would expend the entire power cell for a massive discharge which far more devastated than the usual plasma bolts. Even tanks or IFV would not be safe when facing with these musket armed troops. And just like other factions the Davian infantry units possessed their own heavy weapons and anti-tank weapons which at the times open fired at once into any VRF's vehicles or troops in range.
While the infantry stopped or attempted to fortify themselves in any available covers, Davian tanks surged forward the VRF's tanks leading by their large yet agile D3-THN heavy tanks. These heavy tanks, specialized to engage multiple heavily armored targets formed the bulk of the Davian spearhead so far. The Davian heavy tanks discharged rounds after rounds of plasma bolts, kinetic rounds and missiles toward the onrushing tanks, their energy shields flared brightly while their thick armor attempted to shrug off return fire. Even the heavy anti-air variant would prove no less dangerous as their 6x100 mm coil gun were not something to trifle with. It would seem the VRF would have a hard times trying to defeat these big boxes. While all of the D3 heavy tanks and part of the MBT moved in to brawl with the VRF the remaining MBT, IFV and mobile shield moved behind to support them or act as anchor point for wounded tanks and crews to retreat.
Yet the Davian still possessed some more tricks to play. Firstly it would be artilleries. While any artilleries strike would be render unusable due to close range of the tank battle, the Davian began to change their warheads into either smoke round which would create very dense black fog which upon falling would cover the ground and greatly reduce visual. Yet those smoke rounds would be nowhere as dangerous as the second kind of round: nano bots round. The nano bots round each contained ten thousands of tiny nano bots which would be released once the round reached its target. These bots would either attempt to repair or shield the Davian's own units or their allies while aggressively dismantle anything belong to the enemy, munitions, hull or crews alike and the tank's crews as well as infantryman would be their prime target. VRF's crews may found themselves 'dismantle' alive by the swarm which invaded their vehicles.
Then from a far the Davian ultra heavy tanks accompanied by the equally large mobile anti-orbital shields and supported by several anti-air tanks regiments rumble into the battle. The Davian had committed their strategic reserve. The ultra heavy tanks were true monsters of their kind, armed with truly impressive arsenals theses beasts were designed to grind their way through enemy's line, and they were being support by their mobile shield brethren which were designed to stop low intense orbital strike. As the beasts plowed into the fight their flank would be cover by the experimental tank division which consisted of imported tanks from either the Risallas Dominion or the Singer of the Voids or newer tank design of Davia. More disturbing the massive beast would be protected by thousands of Davian fighters which formed the third and final part of their air access. Then as the super tanks stopped at the first line and brough their colossals weapons to bear. All around them monsters which hidded themselves among the ultra tanks and their AA support began to emerged and charged. The warbeasts of Davia joined the fray, these heinous centipedes like monsters were intended for space boarding action yet the Davian decided to use part of them to stabilize the battle line and to destroy the enemy. These monsters were large, fast, and agile created solely to kill and terrorize, each hold the mass of a tank, their hundreds legs each strapped with large plasma blades which capable of slice through tanks of butcher their way through the enemy, their mounts capable of spit powerful short range plasma blasts and their entire body encased in thick armors. With the massive fog screen covering the field and all kind of decoys fooling none visual scan it would be really hard to detect these monsters yet it would be truly terrify once a giant centipedes blitzing with plasma blades jumped into your tank and tore it a part. Of course these monsters as well as any Davian fighting units were instructed to not engage anything besides VRF's accesses. In fact these monsters were also ordered to avoid contact with none-Davian allies. Clearly the Davian just wanted to terrorize their enemy alone.
The VRF would found themselves stuck by the Davian and allies frontline units, hinder by smoke screen and decoys drones while ultra heavy tank rumbling forward them in front.
Meanwhile the sea battle began to reach another level. With the Davian dropping their iconic YK class attack submarines close to the VRF's fleet. While inevitably several submarines would be destroy on their dropping but those hit the sea would dived deep and began to fire torpedoes after torpedoes at any enemy ships within range.
As the battle went on, words reached the Davian as TDA's general Hashmon still alive and were staying at the CCP near or within the Davian's operating zone. Thus an entire regiment of mechanized infantry would be task of defense that point at all cost. Words would also be sent to the TDA saying should they need any medical help or evacuate the Davian could provide them. Upon hearing Hashmon were effectively crippled, commissar Shen had also sent a personal apology message from the sector commander himself and humbly offered to cure the general and any wounded back to normal.
== Back to the fleet==
Commissar Jun picked up the comm and replied to the Araxian: "Greeting Araxian ally. We indeed found several prisoners after the space battle and are questioning them. However your request for transferring them is regrettably negative. Those prisoners of wars are under the responsibility of Davian Armed Forces and we would only handle them to the Vestalh government because those are their people. In the other hand we had found no useful information from them. Unfortunately much of the prisoners were wounded so we have responsibility to treat them back to acceptable level before delivering to the Vestalh."
Then across the system the Davian began to displace footage of the prisoners. It turned out the prisoners were being treat rather well with those wounded receiving medical care. Along with footages, a message would also be broadcasted chiefly to the VRF: "Surrender and you will live and treat well. Resist and you will die. Your resistance is futile. All the destruction here was because of you. Your resistant would only bring more death and destruction to your own planet. Repeat. Surrender and you will live, refuse mean you will die and more unnecessary destruction."
Keep pushing forward, lets give em’ hell” Moranis ordered her troops from her command tank.
“Hoppers get out of there you’ve done your job head to the CCP and hunker down.”
The ground shook violently as the treads of the TDA tanks mowed through the snowy ground. They were approaching at full combat speed to the incoming VRF counter attack in a line formation. Moranis wanted her own troops out of there first, there was no point in wasting any more TDA lives. She saw on her sensors that the Davians and the GAE were mounting larger counter attacks and unlike her Davian ‘Allies’ she would make every effort not to kill any friendly troops.
“Squadrons clear ma’am we’re on route to the CCP” the mech squadron leader reported
“Good, all squadrons fire on undamaged enemy units first and work your way from there.” Moranis was replied with a series of confirmations. The black smoke launched by the Davians had little effect on the target finders on the TDA tanks, they were still very clearly able to see the opposing sides forces and friendly forces.
“FIRE!” She roared through her comms
All at once the TDA tanks fired all of their rail cannons in waves and the IFVs behind them launched every ATGM they had loaded at the VRF armoured column. The missiles and rounds roared through the air to their targets.
“Keep firing, keep firing don’t let them get a chance to recover.” Moranis yelled encouragingly to her troops
Overhead several more waves of fighters came to the aid of their brethren with another volley of precision munitions on the VRF advance.
“Artillery now, three quarter speed all squadrons” Moranis again roared
Several of the mobile bases began unleashing a hellish accurate volley on the VRF armoured advance, their precision was thanks to target designators on the TDA tanks. The rest of the mobile bases used their artillery to support the Davian naval attack with the location of the VRF naval fleet now known their eventual destruction was guaranteed.
Hashmon was quickly coming to his senses. He glanced around the bunker to see the same sight although it was busier. There were more medics and troopers were getting some advanced medical care.
“What happened?” he demanded
“It was Brigadier Moranis sir, she gave the order for further troop deployments. She’s currently engaged with that armoured formation coming up our ass.” One of the medics replied happily
“Good… good, i need comms can you get me some?”
“Yes sir right away” the medic gave a few hand gestures and a long range comms unit was brought to Hashmon
“You’re not gonna believe this sir the Davians want to offer you an apology, a healing and to evacuate the wounded. What a joke aye sir?” The trooper who had the comms unit sarcastically told Hashmon
He paused for a minute pondering. They offered “him” an apology, not an apology to anyone else but him. Like the troops that they killed didn’t even matter. He reached for the comms unit, only to realise that it was on his right side where his arm used to be. The Trooper realised what happened, apologised and moved it to his left side. He grabbed the communicator ear piece and put it on his ear, he could hear all about the ongoing battle.
“Sir we have fuck ton of Davians moving up on this position, your orders.” Colonel Warren stuck his head and inquired
“Keep them away from here I don’t want them any near this place, this is a place for heroes not for cowards.” He said sternly
He sat back and paid close attention to the ongoing battle, he would wait until the VRF assault was defeated until he came up with a new strategy for tackling what remained of the enemy.
"Sir, the GAE is starting to advance again! Christ, the TDA and those fucks just aren't letting up!" shouted another IFSP, and Ackers brought up what of a tactical map the Free Worlds had. "Son of a goddamn..." he muttered, looking over the situation quickly. The VRF was faltering, and their attention had been drawn away by something-- hell if he knew exactly what. They had an opening...
"Signal the carrier's dropships to put their troops where we were, we're pushing back up." he ordered. "Cap'n, the fuck?! We were getting torn apart!" "I know, but the enemy's attention is one something else! We push up now, or we ain't getting another shot!" "God dammit! Copy all, let's go!"
The Free Worlds forces did an about face, the dropships carrying their reinforcements screaming on ahead to deploy as they pushed up. The tanks and militia that the carriers had brought began hitting the VRF as the dropships peeled off and came around to do gun runs, advancing and slamming the enemy as best they could. It was a hard fight, and it was only going to get harder, but with the Free Worlds numbers on the ground climbing higher with every ship that came in, the prospects weren't quite so bleak anymore.
As the allies began their counter offensive, some moving in an armored wave while others blindly leaped into the fire, the Dirge pushing along side them. Their forces were now spread thinly, they would no longer provide a great offensive push, but rather, repair chinks in their allies armor, cover the flanks and fill in gaps where needed. Shield units provided cover to allied armor as it pushed while simultaneously providing targetting information to enshrouded units. The Dirge subterranean units now opted to emerge directly underneath trenches, and bunkers opting to destroy them outright rather than take them.
When possible the dirges armor prioritized the heaviest targets avaliable, firing heavy plasma and supersonic rounds alongside overwhelming artillery. The infantry forces moved along side allied infantry, and used themselves as literal mestshields when faced against supressive fire. Due to the Dirges resilient physiology, they could survive and function despite horrific damage where their allies simply could not. Arna listened to the comment that Davian high command had been replaced and that her demands had been totally and utterly ignored and threw the communicator across the tank breaking it.
"Those fucking pieces of shit!" She shouted, watching the Davians counter attack entirely ignoring what she had said activating her communications line to the commonwealth forces she then relayed new orders, with her forces having somewhat regrouped and with friendly forces now redoubling their efforts she had no choice but to throw her forces back into the fray.
"All forces keep to your attack patterns, we are going to counter attack now, work alongside the GAE forces as before. Additionally, all forces are to treat Davian forces as potential hostiles, be wary of them if they even so much as sneeze in your direction light them up as hard as those revolutionary fucks. Im taking no chances today we have already lost too many" She recieved multiple acknolwedgements over her command network as her own tank stopped reversing and now once again pressed on further. The Commonwealth forces aiming to take down the Vestahl tank push alongside the GAE and push through the forest remains where the enemy had come from.
There was no retreat and no surrender as the VRF fought on in the blasted remains of the forest. The black fog had no effect on them, the advanced optics on their vehicles more than up to the task of finding targets in the inky blackness. No quarter was given and none was asked for. Every time an allied tank was destroyed and their crew attempted to evacuate the VRF cut them down with machine gun fire. Whatever mercy the revolutionaries may have had had long since dried up.
It was a slog breaking through the armor. Even with the combined efforts of the allies the VRF was able to inflict heavy casualties on all forces (especially the Davians and TDA who had fought the without support in the beginning) before the last of the tanks fell and the allies were finally free to press onward toward the third and final line of defense.
And what a line it was. Trenches and hastily erected bunkers were replaced by HESCO barriers protected by a field of mono filament wire and hidden landmines. The moment the allies appeared machine guns and rifles began firing all along the barrier whild ATGMs streaked toward any armor that made an appearance.
If the first two lines had fallen quickly then the third quickly became a meat grinder. The allies went in one end, and meat and slag came out the other.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:59:01 GMT
The only reprieve for the allies came from the fact the artilleru had momentarily fallen silent. While the GAE's torpedoes were handily halted by the orbital shield, the Davian submarines succeeded in at least distracting the fleet. But the simple fact was that they were massively outnumbered. Their torpedoes had a limited effect while the VRF opened up with counter torpedoes and a plethora of depth charges. The submarines wouldn't distract for long, and once the navy was done with them the allies would once again face the wrath of their big guns.
The Free Worlds took a more cautious approach to the third line, though it was in no way cowardly. Instead, they bombarded the ever-loving dogshit out of it with their tanks and IFSP rockets, raining hell that while it wasn't as powerful or as punishing as the VRF's artillery, it was definitely a bombardment. Ackers directed the bombardment while adding to it from his rocket pods, moving his units around for a full bore assault the instant they had an opening in the line for the militia and armor to exploit.
That said, ATGMS were a legit problem and his tanks, though they were mostly home-built Nerias with a few old UEA Ravagers, were having trouble with the sheer amount of ATGMs coming at them. Their ERA and other defenses couldn't keep up, and the VRF's slaughter of retreating tanks crews had told the Free Worlds one thing-- this was not a fight they could win their way, and they'd have to play this very, very careful. The tanks and the militia thus pulled back into whatever cover they could, though they still kept hitting the line with everything they had, every opportunity they had.
And he called in CAS-- oh god almighty, did he call in CAS. Fighters and dropships came in upon the VRF line like birds of prey, cannons roaring and unleashing storms of missiles and bombs onto the enemy. They came in low and fast in full squadrons at a time, raining fire on their targets and then pulling right out to let another squadron have at. There were casualties yes, but Ackers still had planes and still had pilots willing and able to make the runs-- so he kept making them. If only the fleet in orbit could get a clear shot...
"Get those flamers out and start burning them out!" Squad leaders shouted to the engineers carrying heavy fuel tanks on their backs. Normally stored aboard a engineer/recovery vehicle or ERV, these flamethrowers shot up to 100 meters at most and were typically used for clearing out bunkers by bouncing the flame off walls to hit targets inside rooms while the user was outside.
Sabine armed herself with an assault rifle from one of her fallen soldiers and advanced along with the rest of her infantry.
For a moment, Arabel surveyed her surroundings. Counting up the losses, she estimated another 1,000 dead or wounded in the brief tank battle. Ordering the rest of her reserves into battle, she and her remaining Valkyrie units joined the allies on the front. Gargoyle II gunships lifted off from the capital, flying close to the ground with the doors open and heavy gunners sitting on the sides with their machine guns.
The storm troopers in their medium power armor marched up to the third defensive line with their 15mm heavy machine guns firing from the hip. All small arms fire simply ricochet off the armor while ATGMs sent chunks of soldiers flying. Any tanks remaining consisted of weakened 5 battalions worth advanced up to the third line. Engineers began throwing flames into bunkers and heavy machine gun operators led their squads into the trenches, firing at over 1,200 rounds per minute at close range.
By now, the GAE fighters and bombers were ready for another round, this time the whole 5000 strong force took off from all Araxian ships. Flying around waiting for easy targets and infantry to call for strikes. StuGs on the ground literally blasted away any bunkers that were too stubborn for the infantry to deal with as the comparatively lighter MBT Lowe tanks tried their best to intercept every incoming ATGM but not every vehicle was invincible, vehicles were disabled and some were completely destroyed as flames shot out of every open hatch.
== Davia's main base in Anccerious galaxy ==
"Commander. You cannot go there. You don't have to." Gold said sternly. "They killed off 2 divisions of our permanent ally and literally casted down this sector no this empire's foreign relation into abyss." The Davian's sector commander walked in circle while yelling at his robotic second-in-charge: "We need a public martial court to ease that incident." "There's the other way sir. You're simply overreacting. Look this way. They're all angering, there's an ongoing war, you cannot running to the frontline to say sorry or to judge your officers there." "But…" "Kia. As your second in charge I will not let you run straight to Vestalh." "Me too. As your second in charge I must say you're overreacting. I request you to calm down first." Green walked in the room and announced: "In the other hand. I just have a quick talk with our forces in Vestalh and ordered them to do whatever necessary. And no need for martial court in Vestalh. Now Kia. Sit down and calm yourself." "Ok, Fine."
==Vestalh Oceanic front==
The Davian's YK attack submarines kept fighting despite hugely outgunned and outnumbered. Yet with such overwhelming odds arrayed again them, the submarines won't be able to win the sea battle alone. Of course the Davian submarines could sacrifice themselves to buy a little more times for the ground war, but then they would have nothing left to support the ground operation. Other methods would be need. The YK subs were ordered to disengage and either dived deep into the ocean or to move away from the Vestalh fleet cover them would be thousands of decoys. The retreating of the submarines would inevitably allow the VRF's fleet to resume their bombarding of the ground forces. Still the chaos and distraction caused by the Davian submarines allowed the second and last wave of Davian oceanic ships to deploy far away from the VRF's fleet. Unlike the first wave, the second wave not only consisted of some YK submarines which would join their brethren to conduct hit and run with the VRF but also several groups of surface ships. By deploying these surface ships the Davian had essentially deployed their entire oceanic power to Vestalh. There were three kinds of surface ships.
Firstly were the Dinh Quoc class battle cruisers. These ships would form the first rank of the Davian surface fleet and each would be armed primarily with plasma lances. Due to the massive water body of the ocean the plasma lances on these ships would be able to maintain their plasma lances for several minutes constantly before having to cool down. Of course this firing method require huge amount of water to cool down the reactors as well as to extract hydro from water for the ships to keep firing, beside extend use of the beam method would worn out the life span of the entire turrets quickly. Yet the Davian Navy in Vestalh risked themselves as they began to open fired all their plasma lances toward the enemy's ships specifically targeting larger ships to cut them down. The result of the plasma lances attacks would be devastating as a single swept can slice through several ships at once and the Davian have several ships of this kind. Each times these ships open fire huge amount of white smoke would flow out all around them as huge amount of water would either be vaporize by the heat which could be seen from very far away.
The second kind of surface ship was the Dai Hieu class battle cruisers. Using the same hull as their Dinh Quoc brethren these ships however would be armed with coil guns thus capable of providing ground bombardment as well. However their main concern at that moment was the VRF's fleet. While their coilguns was nothing special, their munitions were. Due to the catastrophic friendly fire and the fact that the Davian would be hugely outnumbered, normal plasma and nuclear warheads would be rule out. Instead nano bots warhead would be use. Like those in use by their ground forces these self-guided munitions would explode above their designed target and envelope them with thousands upon thousands of tiny nano bots which aggressively dismantle anything belong to the enemy's ships before moving to the next targets. Without suitable countermeasure the huge cloud of nano bots would destroy one ship after the other.
The third kind and possibly the most important kind of the ships were the Thuy Trieu class oceanic shield ships. They again used the same cruiser hull yet these ships contained no offensive power on their own beside large number of point defense weapons. Instead they housed very powerful energy shield akin to those used by the Davian's Ultra heavy LC-KG-CD Anti-Orbital Mobile Shield Generator. These shield ships would be used to shrug-off returning fire from the VRF's fleet. Again these ships would take advance of the large water body of the ocean to help cool down their generators or to extract hydro from water.
As the surface ships began to engage, part of Davian Air Force, mostly the May Atmospheric Bombers emerged from the horizon each carry both long range anti-ship missiles and GPM missiles. These bombers were diverted from the ground war mostly due to the ongoing air war was deemed as too risky for these bombers to make any sortie. As the bombers moved in range each would launch all missiles toward the mass of VRF's ships before hastily turned back to avoid retaliation.
== Vestalh Ground front ==
"Vestalh's rebels. You had failed to surrender. We have no choice but to forcibly neutralize your resistance." The Davian army broadcasted the message across the frontline.
"All units halt at the second line. Any commanders who cannot restrain their troops from rashly charging a head would be court martial. Stand down and wait for artillery strike." Commissar Shen ordered sternly as the Davian units stopped their advance at the second battle line: "Artillery strike, nano bot warheads."
"Yes commissar."
"And I want every guns and troops we still have in orbit here now. And yes I mean all the war beasts too." The army's commissar then messaged her fleet's commissar counterpart who responded with just two words: "Yes comrade."
The Davian units began to advance toward the blasted second line and began to dig in there. Any resistant on the way would be swiftly deal with. Despite the brutality of the VRF, the Davian would take prisoners mostly those too damaged to resist. These prisoners would be given a powerful sleeping pill then concentrated into a collective point at the first line.
A short message would be send to the SRU: "Those prisoners are your. They showed us no mercy yet we did. Yet we have no responsibility to care for them while our troops are dying for you. You want them live, you take them and treat them."
On their way to the second line the Davian salvage and medical units would also pick up any friendly wounded on their way and concentrate them all in a few gathering points at the safer first line. Troops from every allied factions including Davian's own would be place next to the other as the Davian medics and nano bots take care of them. A short message would be send to every factions: "We have your wounded troops, we treat them as our own. But if you need them back then come and take them."
With the obliteration of the suicidal VRF's armor charge and several allied factions began to advance toward the third line. Davian troops reformed and refitted themselves behind the second line. Shattered units would be formed into new ad-hoc units.
While the Davian ground forces reforming themselves and receiving more reinforcement, their artilleries began to sing again. To avoid friendly fire only one kind of munitions would be use this times: the nano bots rounds. As the VRF would find out again the Davian artillery would send clouds upon clouds of nano bots down to their positions. The multi millions tiny bots released by the barrages would work their way through almost anything be it mines, heavy weapons, tanks or flesh. Programmed to attack the VRF's only these rounds would probably cause no friendly fire.
Then the Davian army advanced again. Spearheaded by their colossal ultra-heavy tanks and mobile shield which would simply shrug off incoming fire, these metallic beasts would be closely guard by the remaining heavy tanks and the centipedes like beast. Infantry would advance behind the armored screen cautiously.
As the Davian advance more and more VRF's weapon fired at them. Casualty began to increase. Yet at suitable range the ultra-heavies stopped and open fire all of their weapons at the strongest defensive positions literally cut them down or blast them away. Then the centipedes like war beasts surged forward, quickly and silently they moved closed to the ground and could quickly dodge heavy rounds or shrug off small armed fire. Screen by the war beasts the Davian armored and infantry advanced. Again the long range and accuracy self-guide muskets of the Imperial Musketeers proved deadly. At close range however plasma shotgun and flame throwers would be used to clear either trenches or bunkers.
The counter attack lay defeated and Moranis and he Divisions pushed forward to the CCP. They were greeted by cheers and shouts of happiness from the troops that were already there. Moranis pulled her tank up right up to the entrance of the CCP, disembarked and immediately ran inside to look for Hashmon. He was a few metres from the door sitting up against a wall.
“General, I thought you were dead. When I heard about the missile strike I was genuinely worried.” Moranis said sarcastically
“Geez you almost sound worried, you were just hoping to get that promotion you can’t lie to me” he responded with a similar tone.
“Nah, but on a more serious note sir, do you have a plan or no?”
“I’m a little out of commission at the moment so you take the lead on this one. I’m just going to take a break here for a bit, but I’ll be listening in.”
“Yes sir, I’ll see you after this this is over.” She responded happily
Moranis left and embarked back on her command tank. She transmitted all the relevant strategic data to her subordinates and initiated the attack. The armoured divisions and mechanized divisions moved forward at top speed. When they came to where the second line of defence was they drove carefully as to not run over any of the TDA Trooper corpses that were lying in the snow. As they passed through there was dead silence in the ranks as a sign of respect for the fallen. The rifle and machine gun fire had little effect against the armoured vehicles. The ATGMS fired did have an effect however destroying many vehicles as they rushed forward.
As they moved closer to the third line Moranis gave the signal and as many spare fighter squadrons and what remained of the “Claw hammer” gunships strafe the line to supress as many positions as possible. At the same time the mechanized infantry moved forward still inside their “Jack in the box” IFVs disembarked in spectacular fashion, being thrown several metres in the air they guided themselves to land on top of the barricades. With a momentary high ground advantage they mowed down as many supressed VRF soldiers as they could before pouring into the trenches to fight the VRF soldiers. The artillery of the mobile bases was redirected away from the frontline to destroy the VRF Fleet at sea as Moranis was settled on having more of the TDA fighter fleet be dedicated for CAS.
The DIrge had accepted their role in this conflioct silently, protectors that went unnoticed. they gathered losses while preventing their allies. TYhey took trenches and bunkers without fanfare, or, atleast destreoyed them, and yet they persisted. They had little concept of individuality, though through their experience they came to understand it. For every unit they lost, it simply ment another, with friend and family could live on, and for the Dirge that was enough. and so despite staggering losses, though would never surrender, thoey would never cease, even those with the most horrific injuries continued to throw themselves at their enimies, tying up increasily precious resou7urces as the alies pressed fortyh. The Dirge fulfilled their role without fault... They protected what was important on this battle field... No more... No less...
Armored units continued to defend the flanks, while shield units assitsted allied long range elemtns, infantry wsokred in concert with other forces to lower casualty counts as miuch as possible. They could make no impact, but they exxageratted their allies strengths, whislt making up for their weaknesses.
With holes punched through the HESCO barriers and GAE and Davian troops streaming in one couldn't help but feel like the third line had fallen far too easily. This was supposed to be the last line of defense before the orbital shield control uplink. Shouldn't there have been more defenders? Shouldn't there have been bigger guns?
This was easy... too easy...
No sooner had that thought occurred to one of the TDA jump troopers than he noticed something. Just to the left of one of the dead troopers, a green glow. A closer look revealed a digital display. Several wires came from the display and went between the HESCO barrier and off to... well he wasn't quite sure where.
'Standby' the green display read... and just above that a yellow posted note that read 'git gud scrubs'.
Now just what was that supposed to...
When the display abruptly switched from 'Standby' to 'Armed' it all clicked into place.
It was too easy. Because it was a trap.
The TDA had seconds to react, if they were quick enough they could jump away from the third line. The GAE and the Davians were not so lucky. Seconds after the alarmed shout went out the entire line vanished as several thousand pounds of explosives, placed in tunnels beneath the line detonated all at once.
The sound was deafening. Later reports said the explosion was heard as far away as Levitsky. The explosion sent dirt, mud, and personnel (in varying states of dismemberment) hurtling into the air. Simply put: there were no survivors of the deadly explosion. The entirety of the GAE and Davian forces that had advanced through the line were gone. Davian tanks were blown apart and thrown around like a child's play thing, and the GAE's power armor rapidly turned against them as chunks of shrapnel penetrated and then ricocheted around the inside of their armor, turning the unfortunate personnel wearing them into unrecognizable masses of bloody meat.
When the explosion echoed away and the last chunks of scrap, body parts, and mud had rained down the way was open. No more gunfire sounded. No more revolutionaries rose to fight against them. The line was broken and the way was clear but getting this far had cost the allies dearly.
At sea, the full deployment of the Davian navy offered little help. Even with every ship they had on the water they still remained outnumbered four to one, an advantage the VRF rapidly exploited. Half the fleet, still more than double the Davian's numbers, broke off to engage them while the remainder resumed their bombardment of the allies. The Davians would not last long even against only half the VRF's numbers.
The Dirge for their part succeeded in saving the beleagured allies from the full force of the resumed bombardment, their shields protecting the allies from at least some of the death raining down upon them once more.
Sabine had seen another of her forward signal vehicles totaled by yet another massive blast, not exactly front line but then not exactly rear line as well. She had been thrown like a ragdoll through the air like the rest of her men but was to some extent worse off than the dead around her. Broken bones all over, the pain was numbing but she just couldn't die and she couldn't kill herself. So she just laid there, some distance from the first defensive line, waiting for something to happen, staring up at the sky.
Arabel had been far more fortunate, caught mid-air as she was switching positions, her engines surged with power unexpectedly, sending her soaring high up and caught up in the blast sending her even further into the air. She found herself now hovering somewhere away from the battlezone, nowhere near the capital or what now remained of the battlefield. Somewhere she had passed out before regaining herself at 10,000 feet. Checking her rig over, she noted the missing ranged weapons, the railgun and rockets had been torn off and her assault rifle was lost, and the left plasma katars were out of commission. Fucking prototype, she muttered under her breath. The comms unit was out too, maybe somebody could hear her be she couldn't hear them. Turning around, she just realized the large pillar of smoke rising from the detonation site and at least now her long range optics worked.
Total loss is what one could describe it. All active ground forces involved in the battle were either killed or wounded so badly they wished they were dead. All 18 panzer battalions, 12 mechanized and motorized infantry divisions, 6 mechanized Schutzstaffel battalions and the two panzermensch battalions along with a majority of the Valkyrie units taken out all at once. Arabel surveyed the scene from afar. Also noting that any Araxian aircraft that were involved were probably gone too. At best she could estimate the one remaining fallschirmjager battalion was all she had left for infantry and at most one platoon of four Valkyrie units. A mere 15,300 men left from a force of around 281,000 men, a staggering 94.56% casualty rate and by far the highest in any single battle the Araxians ever had in history.
She was tempted to call a full retreat of the GAE from the system, seeing as she wouldn't have the forces needed to take on the remaining enemy. Flying back to the battlefield, she found a reasonably undamaged 15mm assault rifle and began going through whoever was left of her army. The initial scans showed little to no chance of anyone surviving this explosion and even if they did they would be better off dead. Putting a round into every still living soldier from her army until she reached Sabine. Her arms and legs were completely wrecked, bent backwards and her body was gone. Arabel gave her enough time to upload her consciousness to the Blue Witch before crushing the body with her mech foot, the gun was out of ammo and her remaining plasma katar was out of juice.
"What a fucking disaster." She said before flying off toward the capital. "Fucking messed myself in that last one, gotta get changed before this crap freezes over my crotch."
The fallshirmjager considered themselves lucky to be far enough from the explosion that they wouldn't get blasted so hard. Despite a few new shrapnel holes in the fuselage of their plane, everyone remained unhurt and at worst just a bit disorientated from the blast. Not a word was whispered on the way back to the capital. "Report at least 90% casualty for frontline units, around 50% for supporting units, rear units remain intact Commissar. They literally blew their own line up." A staff reported: "Overall casualty so far exceeded 150 000."
"Hm… so they exchanged their third lines to blunt our spearhead?" Shen replied while taking another sip of coffee: "Surviving units re-group under cover of the ultra-heavy division. Get the wounded out of there too. Front to rear, rear to front. And bring me report of my boats if there are any left. We are not done yet."
The explosive caused massive casualty for Davian Army as a whole. Literally everything staying at the middle of the blast were destroyed, the blast destroyed or crippled around 10 divisions worth of troops and equipment including the entire accesses of centipede war beasts and most of heavy tanks. Yet those units staying outside of the third line especially the ultra-heavy division and their anti-orbital mobile shields and those staying around them remained mostly intact.
In the other hand Davian's strategy didn't put all units in the frontline and even though with the order to bring down reserve forces, these units would take times to make planetfall then moved up to the frontline. Clearly the strategy proved to be helpful at the moment like this. The Davian forces in Vestalh still able to muster hundred thousands of troops excluding those fighting at the sea battle.
As what remain of the Davian troops from the blasted third line hastily retreated back to the second line, covered by smoke screens and the shields and armor of the ultra-heavy division as well as the air forces, several salvage units escorted by small fighting units rushed toward the third line and with help from nano bots clouds launched by their own artilleries attempted to salvage anything left including wounded soldiers or surviving AIs. Meanwhile from the capital the Davian deployed more of their reserve forces in the form of 5 more divisions. These formations would quickly move to the second line and join with what remain of the first line. These processes would take times to conduct however, so temporary there would be no large Davian attack.
Yet it didn't mean the Davian did nothing to contribute to the battle, their artilleries would support any advancing allied units, small units of the elite sapper commando would probe and skirmish with any enemy units.
The salvage operation did saved a lot of dying Davian from certain death and to the Davian remain survive would be all that matter because almost all wounds could be cure.
== Oceanic front ==
The Davian oceanic fleet fought well and causing a lot more lose to their enemy than what they took. The problem was, their enemy simply outnumbered them too much. The oceanic fleet would be given two choices. Fighting to the end and drag as many enemies down with them but then there would be no fleet left to worry their enemy or retreat to fight later and keep the enemy deter. The fleet chose the latter. What remain of Davian ships began to break out and retreat from the VRF's fleet, gun blazing while not forgot to throw out mines and decoys to hinder any pursuing attempt. At the moment the technology of Davian again proved useful. The surface cruisers began to submerge themselves and vanished into the depth of the ocean. The fleet was ordered to retreat into the deepest trench of the ocean as possible. Once the ships reached these areas preferably dozens km to the surface they would enter silent mode and wait there.
The number of jet capable troops numbered a mere thousand, but they were used to great capability, Auraxian jets coupled with antigrav organ propelled the armored infantry skyward. At the highest points of their hurculean leaps they fired guided explosives at hostile strike craft. As the descended, at hostile machine gun emplacement, artillery or anti air. And when they landed, they exclusively targeted hostile trenches and bunkers , reducing the men they landed on into red paste as the weight of a main battle tank came crashing down on them, and then their macabre Arial dance continued anew.
The Dirge within a short amount of time shifted their role drastically, though they still supported their allies it was simple a matter of destroying the enemy positions assailing them. The Dirge could no longer afford to waste resources supporting the weaknesses of their allies, so instead they bolstered their own strengths.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:59:13 GMT
“Moranis come in are you still alive? What happened out there?” Hashmon demanded over comms
“We’re alright sir, nearly had us caught in their trap is all, lucky one of the troopers found out what was happening and we got the hell out of dodge.” She replied out of breath
Looking over to where the defence line used to be it was apparent that whatever remained of the enemy was either dead or retreating. The uplink was now ripe for the taking. Moranis was quick to send a company to secure it, she only sent what she thought was necessary as she wanted to tend to the wounded and get her divisions consolidated for another push. The casualty collection point was getting pretty full so Hashmon gave the order for CASEVAC missions to commence under fighter squadron escort back to the mobile bases field hospitals back in the capital. The heavily wounded would be taken first for emergency surgeries. So far the TDA losses stood roughly at 34300 KIA and some 11200 WIA as well as a decent number of machines destroyed. Moranis was familiar with loss of life in war but she consulted with Hashmon and if they suffered over 50% casualties the order would be given to withdraw from the planet and leave it to its fate. For now the battalion dispatched to the uplink was pulling up now. Moranis watched from the different perspectives using the Troopers helmet cam. They formed up and entered the uplink using proper tactical formations while some companies stay outside to take over any defences that remained as well positioning their vehicles in good firing positions. Once inside they took over all key areas including the command centre where it could be deactivated, just as they were about to do it however Moranis ordered them to stop and hold position until she could get some clarification.
“Arna this is Brigadier Moranis TDA Army, we’re in position to disable the orbital shield. But I need to know if this shield is the only thing protecting us from the ICBMs you mentioned they have?”
The rest of Moranis’ divisions consolidated and got re organised for another attack as well as spread themselves out to mitigate the damage of the artillery. “Hot box” dropships came and picked up the wounded and supplementary units to bolster the ranks.
"Son of a--!" seemed to be the consensus of the Free Worlders as the third line blew, and the there was a long pause as the Militia froze and watched the debris raining down. That could have been them. That could have been them. And they would not have survived.
Ackers watched as the allied indicator lights on his console winked out one by one by one and then en masse, and he cursed strongly. There was a moment or two where utter silence reigned, and then he got on comm. "We've got an opening in the line and the command center is beyond that, people!" he snarled into the pick up. "Don't let those deaths be in vain, go, go, go, go, go!"
The Free Worlds forces surged forwards, the tanks and IFSPs marching relentlessly forwards with the Militia going in right behind them. The air support went on another hard burn of bombing runs as they advanced, heading towards the command center as the ships in orbit at long last began locking in their firing solutions to rain unholy hell upon the enemy the instant the shield went down.
Arna had noticed the mass allied assault onto the third line, she had expected a portracted combat that would take some time to dislodge their opponents but when the Davians and the GAE had pushed onto and over the line with little resistance she instantly knew something was wrong. Bringing up holographic maps of the area she had noticed the underground access tunnels running across the line.
"Oh fuck" She had uttered, the enemy could of hidden tonnes of explosives down there, and before she could even warn the others that very eventuality unfolded.
Arna and her forces had moved up, having to navigate their way through the gigantic craters that were all that was left of both the third line and the Davian and GAE frontline forces. She gritted her teeth, she had told them to always be cautious at the meetng, had give them all the information they needed and yet they still charged headlong without any care in the world. This was the price they had to pay. Another area of the planet that would have to be rebuilt.
Arnas forces pulled up to the orbital relay, other allied force surrounded the area preparing to move onto the main command bunker in the mountains, the artillery bombardment from the oceanic fleet continued without relent and Arna quickly dismounted her command tank and rushed to the orbital relay, a squad of her troops came with her, it wasnt a long journey but it was slowed by a brief firefight with some remaining revolutionaries who had hauled up in the secure parts of the facility. Once they had been killed Arna entered the control centre, inputting the codes and gaining access to the system. With the touch of a button the orbital shield was lowered.
"Everyone the orbital shield is down, destroy the oceanic fleet but if I see any bombardment anywhere else we are going to have some serious words"
The Dirge simply followed commands silently. Their orbital elements began firing precise tactical strikes into the oceanic core, while their ground forces trailed behind their allies. With Ni mire opposition the dirges job was for the time fulfiled. The most mobile elements of their troops swept through the battlefield, assisting in the aftermath of the combat. Retrieving allied soldiers that lived or were wounded, whilst silently dealing with any living rebels, either capturing or executing them dependant on the circumstances. The more heavy units if the Dirge grouped around the central command bunker.
==Oceanic Front==
Diving provided little safety for the Davians. Vestahl had long since developed the technology to travel the void between planets and establish interstellar empires. Firing munitions that could accurately strike targets at the bottom of their own oceans was a trivial task by comparison. The Davian navy found no safety at the bottom of the sea, if anything they were more vulnerable there where they couldn't fire back effectively, allowing the VRF to unleash the full fury of its weapon systems with impunity. Casualties were heavy, with more ships lost every minute until finally Arna brought down the Orbital shield and the Dirge began unleashing their pent up fury upon Vestahl's navy.
Still clustered together as they were the navy made easy targets for the Dirge's orbital strikes, two or three ships being blown apart with each blast of precision targeted orbital munitions. It took minutes for the Dirge to send the VRF's navy to the bottom, finally bringing some relief to the the now thoroughly battered Davian forces. Casualties among the navy would be high, but the navy had served its purpose, delaying the artillery bombardment at least briefly... but at a heavy cost.
==Levitsky==
It remained a mystery to some in Levitsky why it was the allies had never bothered to clear the city. All of them had advanced with most of their forces and never once had any of them thought to actually clear and secure the city. Sure they secured their own little areas...
But that did little to deter the revolution's elite guerilla fighters.
The emerged from sewers and blasted apartment blocks like ghosts, moving through the streets like shadows to their targets, all of which thought themselves safe and secure...
Not so.
The whole affair only took a few minutes, the guerillas engaging what few Davian forces had been left to guard their orbital shield generators. Plastic explosives took care of the generators in short order, the impromptu orbital shield falling.
"Objective completed General," One Guerilla reported.
==Central Command Bunker==
General Labrosse silenced her communicator with a sigh, the two technicians continued to work on sealing her into her hard suit. Singh had been pacing back and forth for the better part of the last hour ranting and screaming about this and that. Mostly it seemed the pirate warlord couldn't fathom why exactly his contract broker had turned against him and broken his entire revolution.
"What are you going to do?" Singh pressed finally, finishing his rant.
What was she going to do? She smiled sadly at the thought of that. There wasn't much else she could do. She should have ignored Singh's orders and continued her assault on Levitsky. Then she would have wiped out the last bastion of the SRU long before the allies put boots on the ground and the whole fight may have played out differently.
But she hadn't. She was a good soldier. And good soldiers followed orders.
"There's nothing left to do," She said at last. "We'll defend the bunker until we can't. Most of my forces have already scattered. Some will surrender, others will go back home to their families and angrily blog about this, the rest will gather in the hills and continue to fight a guerilla campaign,"
"How do we win from here?"
"We don't," Labrosse answered simply. "We fight to the last man..."
"General," She turned toward the door. One of Singh's hackers stood, disheveled and exhausted looking, but also seeming very pleased with himself.
"Yes?" She said at last.
"We've broken the launch codes for the ICBMs," He said simply.
"Launch on designated targets," Labrosse said simply.
"Yes General,"
==Central Command Bunker, Entrance==
The trip to the bunker was by no means an easy one for the Dirge or the Free Worlders. Artillery spotters, now with no artillery to spot for turned to other methods of remaining combat effective. Anti-Material rifles occassionaly cracked from within the forest, whenever the opportunity to kill an officer presented itself.
The snipers were near impossible to find in the forest. They attacked from the tree tops and then moved, relying on visual and sensory cloaks to conceal them. Then they'd wait... and wait...
Crack.
And the process repeated.
As they neared the bunker itself the snipers rapidly became the least of their concern. Automated defense systems began to activate. Autocannons of varying fire rates and calibers began coming online, unleashing hell upon the advancing forces. Mines detonated under foot, and automated rocket systems began targeting the Free World's armored vehicles as well as the larger of the Dirge's forms, all while missiles lanced toward the sky, annihilating any aerial vehicle that so much as thought to come within their range.
It was impossible to reach the outer wall of the bunker without casualties. The forest had been cleared, as had boulders and anything else the allies might have been able to use for cover, giving the automated systems clear and overlapping firing arcs.
But as bad as the approach was, it was about to get much, much, worse. The first indication of that was a blaring klaxon from somewhere deep in the mountain followed by a rumble on the ground that rapidly grew in intensity until the source was made clear.
From deep within the mountain five missiles left their silos, streaking toward the heavens with trails of acrid grey smoke behind them.
==Orbit==
Once upon a time the Commonwealth had had a sophisticated and effective anti-missile shield... but that shield had been among the first things the rebels had captured and subsequently destroyed. The Commonwealth it seemed, at least briefly, was utterly defenseless against the missile launch...
Briefly being the key term.
The systems that abruptly came to life in orbit of the battered planet were ancient. Built by long dead nation states for a war remembered only in history text books. But the coding was solid. The mechanics even more so. They'd been built to last, and last they had. Silent guardians long since forgotten by the people who had constructed them.
ALERT: NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED
A message went out, sent to command stations that had long since been destroyed. The system waited patiently, tracking the missiles' progress toward their targets. Awaiting a response. Awaiting instructions that never came.
That was fine. In the absence of instruction, the soulless machines carried out their pre-programmed duties.
NO ORDERS RECIEVED CONTINGENCY BLACK ENACTED CHARGING INTERCEPTION BEAM... STANDBY ...STANDBY ...STANDBY CHARGED NO ORDERS RECIEVED ENGAGING
Like a bolt from god himself the bright blue laser beam exploded from the heavens and crashed into the first of the ICBMs. It stuttered momentarily in flight and then exploded, sending flaming debris crashing back to the planet's surface.
Then a second bolt broke the heavens and a second missile suffered the same fate. A third beam and a third missile broke. A fourth beam and another missile was sent to fiery and premature death.
CHARGE EXPENDED RECHARGING BEAM STANDBY ...STANDBY ...STANDBY
The ancient station had done its best, but its power source had failed. Minutes passed while it found the power to destroy the last missile and minutes was more than enough for that final ICBM to reach it's target.
The nuclear warhead detonated over Levitsky. The force of the explosion levelled the city, and vaporized anyone unfortunate enough to have been stationed in or near it. The fiery mushroom cloud rose high on the horizon, clearly visible to the allies even kilometers away at the central command bunker, leaving no doubt as to what Levitsky's fate had been.
And the grim realization that that had been five missiles. The VRF had dozens, if not hundreds more in their command bunker.
"Everyone get fucking clear!" Arna shouted, as the missile contrail headed up into the sky, automatic mortar fire and autocannon fire peppered her position on the mountain slope but she didnt care. She shouted warnings across all channels to all parties. Ordering the evacuation of the civilians from the city, but she knew that there wouldnt be any chance. The city and its inhabitants as well as the Commonwealth council would burn. She faltered for a moment, this entire endeavour had been for nothing.
Then anger filled her. No there was still revenge.
Her warning had given 30 minutes to any within the city, those on the outskirts fled or took shelter, those in the inner most areas fled, millions taking to the streets like a stampede as sirens blared the imminent demise of the city. The sheer throng of people made any escape for the various forces in the city to escape by ground utterly impossible. Those civilians who could evacuate by air did so but not enough got out before Arna turned away from the blinding flash.
The ancient ABM system had given her temporary hope, maybe the strike would be destroyed, but one missile had got through and that was all it took. Her home had been wiped off this world with fire. And anger coursed through her veins.
With the Revolutionary front all but crushed and their navy destroyed Arna now directed her tired troops forward, each one raging in anger as they strode through automated fire to destroy the defenses piece by piece before finding a main entrance into the facility. Once again Arna led the charge, she would have blood by the end of today.
=== Davian command center on board Battleship Alpha ===
"Report the status of our ground units." Shen asked while still looking at the visualized map of the war below. "Their capital and our ground command center wiped out comrade." Fleet Commissar Jun responded: "Probably everything not get out in times is already death. We couldn't evacuate our equipment within the city in times but most of the men and AIs got out alive. Our lost consisted of a blood guards division and quite large number of equipment. Our two other bases remained fully operational. For oceanic front, we navy did have a pyric victory, yet we paid heavy price."
"Hm…not too good, not too bad either. And I lost my coffee cup there too." The scared commissar responded with calm yet somewhat sarcasm voice: "Let get it done people."
"Coffee as you requested commissar."
"Thank you comrade."
=== Oceanic front ===
Moment after the shield went down. The entire Davian fleet began to pour orbital strike down the ocean to crush the VRF's navy. With full furry from a whole space fleet the VRF's oceanic fleet went down one after another untill none was left.
With the VRF's fleet destroyed what remained of Davian fleet resurfaced and began to be transport back to the fleet above as fast as possible.
=== Davian ground bases ===
The ICBM strike did indeed wipe out the capital city entirely. The strike also destroyed the Davian's base, the ground command center and everything within. The strike also eliminated a blood guard division and even more equipment. However within 30' and with massive effort which involved thousands of aircrafts including all the available bombers and all hover vehicles the Davian managed to evacuate most of their human and Shiguran soldiers to their fleet or to the two shielded bases which staying outside of the capital. Meanwhile the AIs were also ordered to upload themselves onto any available links then moved toward the two bases. While some units would be catch in the blast, personnel lose were not large and those unfortunate enough to be infect by radiation or suffer wounds could be cure later.
Regretfully though, the Davian didn't help to evacuate Vestalh civilian or their allies. There were simply not enough times or vehicles to help. The Davian loyal war beasts served their masters till the last. Their fearsome appearance and bulk effectively barred any attempt from the panic population to swarm the Davian's evacuate points. The AIs units within the robots and vehicles also showed their worth guarding the bases in utter silence and would only upload themselves away from their metallic shell just a few minutes before impact.
While the ICBM destroyed a significant part of the Davian long range artilleries the two surviving bases still possessing ample long range artilleries to provide fire support for the war effort. Knowing the anti-orbital shields would be their source of survival more efforts would be used to defend them. For instance Davian troops surrounded their orbital shields with lot of troops, automated and war beasts along with permanent smaller shield generators and nano bots swarms as well as load of drones. And indeed any none Davian individuals which came anywhere near these shields would be shoot immediately.
Not long after the ICBM strike. The artilleries began to rain artillery barrages at the VRF's final positions. With the enemy's controlled area lessened considerably and with all scanning and spy drones concentrated to scan every cm of the ground and to direct the fire, the barrage would no doubt have a lot of effect. To prevent friendly fire though, allies's positions would also be measure to ensure no round or missile would land anywhere near any friendly units. As the allied troops finally closed their distant the artillery switched from their plasma warhead to nano bots warhead and rained a thick nano bots cloud on top of the field. These bots would invade the bunker and brutally dismantle any surviving VRF troopers.
Vestalh civilian or surviving allied troops who somehow found their way near the intact Davian bases would be direct by long range message or loud speakers to stay near the bases but not entering the base itself. Due to the seriousness of what happened, the Davian forces began to activate the highest level of their shields. Without designed codes or gene codes none Davian would be unable to enter the shield dome.
With the war nearly over and the risk of more ICBM attack, the Davian began to airlift their troops in the two base back to orbit. The bases would only be manned by just one reinforced divisions each along with personnel to manned artilleries, anti-air, anti-orbital and other defensive weapons.
Meanwhile the fleet above began to drop ten thousands of anti-missiles missiles down. These missiles would hover high above the bases and Davian's units to provide anti-missiles domes.
=== Davian troops at the second line ==
Meanwhile the Davian troops stationary at the second line managed to concentrate themselves up. Just like with the bases, transports began to airlift part of the Davian back to the orbit including all wounded soldiers. The regiment guarding the TDA's hospital would also be airlifted out. Then the remaining Davian divisions advance once more with the entire Davian Air Force flying above them which in turn covered by anti-missiles missiles. These units were chosen to make the final attack.
These Davian units would move fast and passed through the third line then through the forest and finally reached where the Free World, Dirge and SRU units were. As this state the Davian Air Forces retreated.
Then the ultra-heavy tanks and anti-orbital mobile shield generators moved up supported by enough troops to thwart any counter attacks. Enormous VRF's fire hammered the huge shield domes of the mobile shields which flashed none stop. Yet the Son Tinhs didn't charge, they just moved in front of all allied units yet still kept a fair distant. Avoiding the charging SRU units and other allied the tanks open fired their main massive plasma cannons and began to sweep the defensive line using their constant plasma beam. Several of 1.2 m wide plasma lances systematically swept along the defensive line, each lances would be kept constant for a few minutes, whichever caught by the beam would be bath in super heat plasma. Meanwhile smaller weapons of the tanks provided fire support for the charging SRU and any allies. Yet the division didn't commit all of their tanks and mobile shields to the fight. Half of them would sit back well outside the firing range. Whenever a tank or mobile shield lost their protective energy shield, they would immediately reverse back to let their reserve brethren take their place.
With Arna and her troops began to charge into the facility. A giant cloud of Davian nano bots followed and poured into the bunker.
The remaining Davian began to fixed their bayonets. "Sound the advance, play the music, raise the banner." "This is it Davian. This is the moment you serve the Empire. CHARGE!" "Long live Davia. Glory for the Golden Empire!" The Davian Human, Shiguran, AIs and some war beasts yelled in unison and began to charge the bunker alongside with the SRU, Free World and Dirge. Like always the Human led from the front followed by other troops.
A furious charge resembled the suicidal charges since the War of Vengeance millenias ago. Wars had never changed, and the final moment of the Vestalh war would end with a bayonet charge and patriotic music at the background.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:59:25 GMT
Ackers saw the ICBMs launch, but at that precise instant he'd had a lot more pressing problems, like the defensive fire raking his troops. Tanks were exploding and IFSP drivers were having to eject from crippled machines, but the advance ground stubbornly, rapidly on. "Dirge are movin' up with us, the crazy bastards! We've got this, cap'n!" came the shout from one of the comms vehicles, the commander of which was on a vid comm with the FW commander. "Let's hope so, but what about the..."
It was then that the station began firing, and the entire Free Worlds force gawped at the display that the ancient station gave off before it abruptly ended and the city from which they advanced... vanished. "What the shit... what the shit..." Ackers muttered. "Are they INSANE?" "Seems like it, cap'n! What do we do?!" Ackers looked at his forces, advancing doggedly despite the enemy fire and the losses they were taking. They were Free Worlders through and through, and they all knew that the only way this was going to end was for that bunker to go. But those nukes were supremely concerning...
"Get one of the Raptors in HA to act as ABMS, and tell the Sunrise to rain hell right on that fucking naval fleet! All of us, get to the damn bunker! We take that thing TODAY! Hooah, you goddamn excuses for Militia?!" "HOOAH!" roared the comms back at him. "Signal the Dirge we're moving up with 'em, let's GO!"
------
The Dirge received a signal from the Free Worlds forces, and regardless of whether or not the Dirge could read it the meaning became clear when the FW troops all out charged the bunker's entrances across the open ground, raining hell and thunder on the enemy defenses as they came with guns roaring and missiles flying.
------
In orbit, the FW battleship received the fire mission, and after confirming targets on whatever the Davians weren't already firing on--and in many cases what they were, the battleship opened fire with it's main guns and began raining absolute holy hell on the VRF fleet on the surface, arcing them over the horizon like an archer firing over a castle wall. Again and again and again the heavy warship's guns fired, loosing almost a dozen heavy slugs in the span of a minute.
The Raptor class cruiser Serrim received Acker's latest orders and confirmed that yes they ad seen the launch yes they saw the satellite and yes they understood what was needed of them. Powering up their CIWS and AAMs, the cruiser descended into high-atmo and kicked in it's thrusters after parking itself over the command bunker. If they launched any more missiles, it'd do what it could to bring them right the hell down. Moranis watched in shock as the horizon was lit up with a bright flash from the Nuclear ICBM launched by the VRF. Levitsky the capital was gone, but Moranis’ main concern was her people there they should have had ample time plus some to clear the blast zone.
“Base Group did you clear out in time?”
“Affirmative ma’am, we’re at the forward casualty collection point and we’re happy to say everyone there was evacuated successfully. We have all guns ready and realigned so we just need firing coordinates and we got missile defence systems set up so another ICBM incident won’t happen on our watch.” The Group Commander cheerfully said
“Alright we’re moving forward elements into position to designate targets, so you’ll have you’re coordinates soon.” Moranis replied back
Forward scouts took up positions behind the main battle line well out of range of the automated weapons fire. They used their scanners on the main entrance to the central command bunker to relay relevant data back to Moranis as well gain pinpoint the location of the automatic turrets for artillery fire. Once they were locked in the Mobile Bases fired one round for every weapon it would be one shot one kill with maximum precision to avoid friendly fire. Moranis also deployed fire teams to search and destroy the sniper teams, although they wouldn’t be able to tell who was what rank without a proper TDA IFF reader the thought of people being picked off one by one was something that disturbed her. Her approach to this next lot of defences would be conservative with her amount of ground assets dwindling she didn’t want to risk an air drop that would result in a high casualty rate. For now she would use her spotters to scan the base for anything interesting and provide long range support to the advancing allies who charged in with reckless abandon. 15,300 Araxian troops stood between the capital and the first defensive line watching the capital get nuked. Not far off, Arabel's Type 24 had crashed in the snow and was now being set with explosive charges by her troops. She stood there with her fallschirmjager, freezing with them and standing very uncomfortably. Up above, Captain Faust aboard one of the three Atago class heavy cruisers had moved off along with the rest of the Araxian landing craft. The smaller ships swarmed around the large heavy cruisers like smaller fish around their mother.
"All forward batteries activate, target any available enemy units on the ground. Careful not to hit any allies." Captain Faust could see the exchange of fire down below and also the fleet of gunships that had landed in the snow. Their dark grey factory colors distinct against the snow. "Open comms to the infantry below us. This is Captain Faust, Can you hear me Major Student? Allied forces are currently fighting it out up ahead, better go join them."
Arabel disappeared into one of the gunships and into a small compartment behind the passenger area, a small private area commonly used as a sleeping area when the gunship was fitted for long missions. She had gone in to get changed into some heavier clothing and also deal with the mess she created not too long ago. Outside, Major Student received the call and ordered his men back into their transports and the very large group dispersed into various gunships. When Arabel had finished changing herself and stepped out into the passenger area, they were already flying low and slow to the battlefield. Equipping herself from the equipment rack nearby, she found a special helmet with holes in the top for her wolf ears to go through, she smiled. With the nuclear blast and loss of the capital, the Dirge now shifted their priorities slightly. The many burrowed antiorbital units unburrowed themselves around the battlefield, and all anti air units spread themselves evenly among the allied forces. The Dirge fleet in orbit lowered itself into the upper atmosphere, and spread itself thin, attempting to increase the likley good of intercepting any nuclear warheads that may potentially be launched. The orbital elements fired their lowest calibre munitions at coventional speeds delivering accurate tactical strikes against the most difficult defenses of the main bunker the allies now marched on.
While the orbital support delivered precise strikes, the Dirge units on the ground largley did the same thing. Their charge ceased they used light artillery and the longest range armor elements to pick off elements of the automated defence that the orbital were not capable of properly disposing of. Some infantry units were tasked with accompanying allied infantry units, their position was to be between the advancing forces and the surrounding forces, so when the occasional sniper shot was felt, the likley good of being able to retaliate would increase.
==Oceanic Front==
The Free Worlds fire impacted the ocean. The VRF's navy had already been sunk so their fire had no effect, save splashing water around and looking impressive. The fire ceased moments later once it was communicated to the fleet that they were firing at targets that no longer existed. But they had succeeded in killing a lot of water. The water was very evil.
==Central Command Bunker==
"Why have the missiles stopped?" General Labrosse demanded as the technicians finished sealing her into her hardsuit.
"Um..." Singh's hacker said uncertainly. "Some kind of uh... system lock has been activated. We're working to clear it but..."
"But?" She pressed when the technician hesitated.
"But um... their estimates say thirty minutes to clear the block,"
She swore loudly and kicked over the nearest trash can.
"How?" She pressed.
"Um..." The hacker hesitated. "It uh... seems to have been remotely uploaded using an old maintenance connection to the orbital uplink site. If I had to guess I'd say this work is... well... it's got all the trademarks of uh... of..."
"Of what?" Singh now pressed.
"Spider Murphy," The hacker finished quietly.
Singh laughed at that. Actually laughed.
"Quinn fucking McKendrick," He said once his laughter had died down. "Bending me over and fucking me up the ass. Goddamn contract brokers."
He shook his head and moved around Labrosse, leaving her to her defense. There was no doubt in the general's mind that her commander in chief would abandon her to her fate. He would flee, or at least try to, well she prepared the last defense. Trying to buy enough time for the hackers to clear the system lock.
"Attention all foreign and domestic soldiers within range of this transmission," She said, patching herself in to the bunker's communications array to broadcast on all available channels. "I've launched one nuclear warhead already. I have five hundred more. Cease combat operations and begin withdrawal immediately or I will scorch the earth you walk on. This is your only warning. You have thirty minutes to comply,"
==Bunker Entrance==
The entrance to the bunker was built in to the mountain with a heavy blast door covering the entrance. Beyond the physical entrance a wall of reinforced concrete surrounded the bunker, as well as smaller bunkers built into the ground from which some of the auto-canons and missiles were launching. More of the automated defenses were scattered along the concrete wall, and still more were built directly into the side of the mountain and fired down with impunity upon the advancing allies.
The artillery had virtually no effect on the bunker's defenses. The Central Command Bunker was hardened against even the largest artillery shell the allies could throw at it. They impacted on target, and detonated but they simply lacked the power to have any meaningful effect.
The orbitals were another story. With multiple allies raining down orbital strikes the area around the bunker quickly became a dangerous place to be. Even with the care the allies took to avoid friendly fire it was impossible to predict, much less control, where the deadly shrapnel from the impacts would fly. Those advancing on the bunkers, while spared any direct strike, still found themselves facing chunks of concrete, rebar, and metal hurtling into their formations with a deadly velocity.
When the first round of orbital strikes stopped and the smoke cleared their effects were more pronounced. The wall lay in ruin, and with it most of the defenses that had been situated there, however those built into the mountain itself continued to fire down on advancing troops. The hostile fire had been stemmed, but by no means stopped.
Making it into the opening floor of the bunker, troops were beset immediately by a pair of autocannons, unloading on anyone who came through the blast door. There were no personnel here, and the why soon became apparent. To access the bunker proper, the allies would need to ride down a small elevator. At most, six squadrons could be crammed onto the elevator... and who knew how long the ride down would be... == Oceanic front == The Free World orbital fire while killed a lot of water and fishes did score kills and the Davian submarines were at the receiving end of it. The Free World's orbital strike hit where the Davian didn't fire at, yet they may or may not realized that where the Davian space navy didn't fire at was the locations of their own submerging ships. And the Free World orbital struck several resurfacing or still submerging ships. Some were vaporized immediately while some were thrown around like toys. The fact that the Davian didn't share the exact location of these ships as well as all the stealth and decoys methods used by the Davian didn't help either.
"Free World Ally. We sincerely request you to stop bombardment immediately. The VRF were destroyed and some of our ships were lost due to your strike. We are trying to evacuate what remained of our battered oceanic navy down there." Commissar Jun opened the communication link to the Free World first and to other allies later: "To all allies we also sincerely request you to stop orbital bombarding the command bunker. Our ground troops are too close down there. Further orbital strike would be too risky."
While several ships would be struck down the oceanic navy did managed to evacuate themselves soon after.
== Bunker ==
"Rebels. You had been defeated; resistant is futile, stop your madness. Is that the destruction of your whole homeworld you want? Your commanders are insane, they do not share homeworld with you, and they don't care about your homeworld. Stop following their order. Surrender."
On the battlefield the flying debris and defensive fire caused heavy casualty to the charging Davian. Worse a large debris, broke down from an orbital strike, crushed the brigadier and commander of the strike force along with his command squad, none survived. Yet the unit's commissar assumed command moment later to continue the war effort.
"Get the ultra over here to shield the troops and finish them off. Get the brigadier out of here."
"Yes commissar."
Upon received order, the enormous tanks and mobile shields rumbled forward, using their bulk and shields to protect the advancing troops while bringing their massive firepower to beat down the remaining bunkers. Whenever a hard target were to be found the main cannons which power equivalent to small space plasma cannon would open fire and swallow the bunker whole, meanwhile guided missiles and smaller cannon aimed direct to the enemy's barrels to break them. Designed to bring down colossus and having wide elevation these monsters formed an unbreakable wall of fire to shield the advancing ally.
Then a squad of commandos infiltrated the bunker along with score of allied troops. They entered the elevator.
== Davian bases ==
With the allied troops began to enter the bunker itself, the artillery from the base stopped.
Upon hearing the threat from the VRF about more ICBM strike, panic spread like wild fire among the refugees who staying outside of the two bases. They tried to swarm into the shielded bases yet for no avail. The Davian had increased their shield's security to highest level, those without Davian's gene code or designed code would be unable to enter the dome. Finally though the bases yielded, section of the base would be open to let the refugees enter while a few more shields would be put up in order to cover larger area, yet the refugees were instructed to stay away at least 50m from the shield themselves. Medical support would be provide and each bases established a decontaminate station to deal with radiation infection among the refugees. The Free Worlds battleship did not acknowledge, but the fire ceased. The battleship's gunners wanted to keep firing, considering what the Davians had done, but they stopped.
The threat from the rebel commander though, got a response.
"Your threats aren't anything we haven't heard. You launch, we stop you." came the response from the Free Worlders, and the cruiser on ABM duty over the mountain brought all it's weapons online with a chorus of whirrs and clicks in the planetary atmosphere.
-----
"Suppress those ACs!" Ackers snarled, before a sudden lucky cannon round hit his IFSP right below the forward cams and shrapnel tore through the inside of the vehicle. With a scream of pain and a crash, his IFSP went down to one knee as he lost feeling in his left leg. Another IFSP moved up to cover him, interposing it's metal body between him and the ACs as it opened up in retaliation with it's own autocannon.
"Fucking Davians just put a squad on that elevator, Cap'n!" the IFSP reported, dumping 30mm into the autocannons as a tank rolled up and added it's weight of fire to the barrage. "God... fucking..." Ackers snarled, jamming a painkiller into his leg. "Cap'n?" "I'm hit, goddamnit." he snarled. "Get a EC assault squad in there, two PA." "Copy that... Thunder Two, g'wan in there! We'll cover!"
The EC squad so noted dashed forwards to the elevator as fast as their legs would carry them, the Corpsmen and power armor troopers sprinting under the waves of fire from the IFSPs and into the elevator. They were kitted out for close assault and tunnel fighting, and going down into this base they fully expected it.
“Shot has no effect, lining up next shot.” One of the forward spotters said over comms
“Negative, hold fire we don’t want to cause any rock falls or anything down below the turrets built into to mountains.” Moranis ordered
She ran through a quick list of what was left and she saw that a platoon of Sappers had remained in reserves and was not fortunately caught in the Davian missile strike. Her plan was simple she would launch a surgical strike on the guns using the Sappers and Troopers, they would rush to the front in IFVs and then jump jet up to where the guns were firing from and use the Sappers to disable the guns. Although it sounded cruel she hoped that the allied charge would be enough to distract the guns while her forces snuck into position. Hearing over comms about some sort of elevator into the lower levels she knew it had to be where their leader was holed up. Moranis really wanted to go down there and mist the bastard herself but she felt that she was more needed leading the attack up on the surface, plus if it was a trap the Army wouldn’t hold losing another high ranking officer. So she sent a squad of 10 from her own Generals unit under Sergeant Buckler, they raced forward in a pair of IFVs supported by long range MBT fire to cover their advance, once they reached the entrance the IFVs did a fast U-Turn ejecting their occupants from the side rather than from the top and made their made their way back to the TDA rear guard lines. The squad made their way the elevator alongside the FW Troops. Also over comms came the threat of another wave of nuclear missile strikes, this was concerning so Moranis had all non-essential TDA personnel evacuated as a result 3 of the mobile bases returned to where the capital was and ascended into the sky for pick by their mothership. All the wounded were now back into space where they would be a lot safer than on the planet.
The smaller dirge ahips has mow positioned themselves above the mountians and continued to rain down precise strikea qith thwir smaller weapons. The Dirge were relatively unfazed by the shrapnel and debris cascading onto them as they advanced alongside the allies. So naturally small groups began to enter the bunker. As the allies reached the interior of the bunker, advancing dirge armor slowed to a crawl, licking theor wounds both figuratively and in a few cases quite literally. The army looked haggard, and beaten. Some units missing nearly 50% of their body mass but continued to press nonetheless, and tanks with metal wreckage from allied and enemy tanks crudely fused into their flesh to provide additional armor.
Alongside their comrades in arms, a group of 8 dirge units boarded the elevator. 4 standard units with small plasma rifles, 2 with deformed chest cavities that would unleash a caustic spray, one unidentifiable form missing most of its torso ans a leg, thick ichor stemmed from the wounds, and finally a large form that could be considered a 'leader' type
Just at the edge of the fighting, the GAE gunships put down their troops before lifting off again to provide fire support. Several of the landers had also dropped off their wheeled fire support vehicles, this time modified hurriedly with cables, chains or anything strapped around the wheels to improve the grip. 8x8 wheeled fire support vehicles, the sd.kfz. 15/4s that were packed in storage rolled out crewed by the fallshirmjager. Additional Gepard light tanks that were carried around with the Araxian gunships also marched forwards.
Captain Faust was again watching through his binoculars at the effect the railgun bombardment was having. "Cease fire, we aren't making any significant progress. Call up the Blue Witch and get them to do a scan for possible nuclear missile launch sites."
Arabel followed the rest of the allies into the complex under a hail of fire, the four squads she had with her were getting cut up. At the end of it, only one full squad remained, the rest were treating the wounded at this point. Her squad of ten men, armed with assault rifles and one missile launcher now joined the rest inside the elevator, herself armed with a light machine gun.
Arna stood in the elevator watching the others get in, she was covered in blood having earlier cut a man in half with her large vibro sword procurred from one of the quarter masters back in Levitsky, he was gone now. Just like her home. In her other hand she carried her trusty large bore pistol still with her ever since the rebellion had began, her fingers occasionally twitched on the trigger. Arnas face was deadpan, she was so enraged that she could no longer show it and she would kill every single Revolutionary she came across, no mercy now not after what they had done.
Around her a squad of Commonwealth soldiers stood in tight formation, their SMGs for close range combat had been chosen over large bulkier weapons, they too looked war weary, angry and tired at what had transpired. They gave strange looks to the various forces entering the elevator, especially the Dirge, although they also gave baeful glares to the Davian forces that entered.
Arna said nothing, she didnt know if they expected some sort of briefing or speech, and frankly she didnt care. She merely stood in silence. The last to arrive, and the last to board the elevator was Quinn McKendrick, despite the fact he must have been lurking for the entirety of the battle it looked as though no a single spec of dust had managed to fin its way onto his unkempt suit. Squeezing in the the elevator Quinn hit 'down' and the elevator began its slow descent into the bunker proper.
Quinn lit up a smoke as the elevator descended, but made no comment to the assembled forces. The battle continued to rage above ground, the automated defenses providing no end of trouble for the allies still fighting there, but the sounds of the battle rapidly faded away as the elevator continued it's descent into the bunker.
Soon, the sounds of the battle above had faded away entirely, and not long after all the comms went dead too. Through the layers of concrete and shielding it was impossible to get any signal into or out of the bunker. The soldiers on the elevator were quite literally it.
Five minutes passed before the elevator finally came to a halt, deep in the mountain. There was no sign of the VRF for the time being. A hallway stretched away in front of the allies, the only sound a downbeat chorus of distorted guitars and spoken word poetry playing softly over the bunker's PA system.
There was a door down the hallway to the left, and then the hallway continued onward.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:59:38 GMT
"Move out." the FW squad leader ordered, and the Corpsmen moved from the elevator into the hall. With their rifles raised and ready the Free Worlders advanced, their power armored troopers leading. They did not go far, instead heading to the door on the left and flanking it. The squad's tech man examined the door, checking for any electronic lock systems or booby traps, while the rest of the squad, power armor troops included, prepped flashbangs.
They didn't know what was beyond that door, and so they were going to take every caution necessary when the breached and cleared. "Any luck?" a PA trooper rumbled. "Door's a door alright, just give me a minute." the tecchie responded. "Hurry it up." The FW squad was quick to move to the door to the left but SGT Buckler was curious as to what was at the end of the out stretched hallway. He looked around at all the other squad present near him.
“We’ll take point and for the love of all things don’t step into our line of fire unless you want to quickly become a red stain on the wall.” Before he turned to his squad
“By twos down the hall way” He told his squad
The squad moved cautiously down the hallway not know what to expect at the end they had weapons ready. The only distinguishing feature Arabel's fallschirmjager uniform had compared to her troops were the two holes in the helmet for her ears to poke through and another hole at the back of her trousers for her tail to remain free. And unlike other helmets, her eye pieces had orange displays. Her MG was belt fed from a contained off to the side holding 50 rounds and with a heavy barrel and lighter bolt, the weapon would at close to 1,000 rpm. While the heavy barrel would do some work in controlling recoil, most of it would be down to her holding it down through the bipod angled off to the side.
Getting off the elevator and off to the side, her squad watched both the door and the end of the hallway with assault rifles raised. The last man checked the ceiling for turrets and explosives with his helmet's various vision settings before putting his attention back to the door. While standing nearby, Arabel offered Arna a bar of chocolate from inside her coat. "How about we go get something nice to drink once all this is over?" she asked Arna, with the LMG slung over her left shoulder and right arm gripping the trigger. Clearly she intended to hip fire the weapon down a narrow corridor despite her small size. The 12 Davian DC Commandos wore the same pure black uniform. Yet these clothes and armors would automatically change their color to fit with local environment. And unlike the other squads which exchanging words or even joking around, they kept silence partly due to their knowledge that none would see them as friends and partly due to their neural link network made actual speaking redundant among themselves.
- Alright. I hope that everyone knows, like always, this could be our very last mission. - The squad leader's thinking would reach his squad and his squad only. - Yes comrade.- - Move out.- - Yes comrade.- As the other squad moved out one after another, the Davian followed slowly while using their multi sensors to scan everything around.
- Get the nano bots ahead. They will be our eyes and ears. And tell those above to send down more. -
6 Davian clicked a button on their arms and each of their backpack released a small amount of nano bots which began to fly out ahead of everyone. These little bots would check or trigger any traps ahead.
- Split out in 4 groups of 3. Keep an eye on six people and watch out for the other squad. Remember we have no friendly here. The Empire bless us all - The dirge were the last to depart the elevator. One close combat unit , and the mangled husk stood firmly behind the FW troops working on the so or. The other 6 however, followed their allies down the Davia, and TDA down the long hall ways. Walking in a staggered pattern as to not clog up the hall in the event their Friendlies needed to retreat, their torsos altered themselves with a sickening crunching noise. Their slightly altered forms would allow all 6 of the large forms to fire down the hallway at a time without blocking shots. A small signal was sent to friendly forces indicating the dirges location... they could be quite frightening in the dark. Arna and her forces moved up forward through the hallway, weapons ready as they let the Free Worlds take the breeching positions. Arna said nothing as her forces took up positions ready to push through, she was fine with the Free Worlders doing the breeching. It was cold but she didnt want any more losses for her troops.
She did eye the Davians with barely contained rage. She could shoot them now, it would prevent any further friendly fire or accidental destruction of her world, and it would make her feel much better. But she knew that wouldnt go down well, she would however watch them closely. If they did something she wouldnt hestiate to act. "You should have left when you had the chance," A voice came over the PA system cutting out the music that had been playing. "You have no business being here. This was a matter that didn't concern you and yet the powers of the galaxy just can't help themselves from sticking their nose in everywhere they don't belong. No matter. You'll die all the same."
The line went dead as the Free Worlders finally pushed in through the door. The other side was a grizzly sight. The room was filled with operating tables and doctors and nurses were hurredly rushing back and forth trying to save who they could. Most of the victims on the tables were so horrifically burnt as to make it near impossible to tell which side they had fought for. No one so much as glanced in the Free Worlders direction for several moment before a nurse finally looked up and noticed them.
"This is a sterile environment!" She shouted. "Get the fuck out!"
Meanwhile in the hallway three rhytmic 'plunks' abruptly sounded and three cylinders bounced off the wall up ahead before landing in the hallway. The first detonated with a blast of blue lightning. The EMP blast sent the davian nano-bots clattering to the ground, and would further affect anyone unfortunate enough not to have EMP shielded gear.
The second was a flashbang, and the final one a frag grenade.
As soon as the frag had detonated, eight feet of power armor came around the corner and fired up the hallway with a rotary gauss canon on one arm, and high caliber anti-material canon on the other, quickly filling the hallway with a cacophony of gunfire. "Free Worlds Armed Forces ma'am, we're not gonna hurt you or the people in here." the squad leader said, backing up and raising his hands. "Sullivan, up here now!"
The squad medic rushed up digging in his bag assuming one of the FW had gotten hurt... and instantly stopped. "Holy..." he muttered in shock. He looked to the nurse. "Ma'am, who're all these guys? How can I help?" "Sullivan, do what you can to help out. Jus' observe if you gotta, we'll--" "CONTACT!"
The Free Worlders spun, some of the Militia reeling from the flashbang and cursing the dropping of their HUDs. Their PA rushed up and knelt, their HMGs roaring defiance and thunder upon the enemy in long and screaming streams of heavy rounds right at the enemy PA. The Militia hurled grenades at the thing, a veritable storm of explosives as they took cover behind whatever they could (Including their own PA troopers) and returned fire with their rifles. "Feuer frei! Feuer frei!" Arabel shouted as her men began recovering from the flashbang and grenade. GAE helmets with their lenses immediately dimmed to account for excessive light intake but regardless, they were still slightly dazed from their surprise. "Bring that panzerschreck up here now!"
The last soldier in the squad hurried up from behind, taking aim and firing in less than a second, sending the 8.8cm missile went straight down the hallway. Arabel had gotten her MG into action, firing 7.92mm armor piercing bullets down the hallway with her troops. Fallschirmjager armor wasn't designed to stop anything carried by power armor. Two soldiers immediately fell in the initial surprise before the squad knew what was going on. The first two grenades had no effect on the TDA Troopers, they were protected from EMP blasts and the flash bang was filtered out by the inbuilt dampeners. The frag grenades however left obvious signs of impact but failed to penetrate through their armour. However while powerful their armour was not infallible and the two Troopers at the front of the squad stood little chance when they were riddled with automatic and high powered weapons fire, they were dead before they hit the ground. The rest of the squad jumped to the side of the corridor as everyone behind them lit up the target.
“Take em down!” Buckler yelled
The squad returned fire with their own high powered automatic weapons taking on an additional two casualties as they did. The Davian Commandos took little affect by either the grenades or the PA as they were essentially staying behind the FW, GAE and TDA troops. Not only that the commandos were equipped with multiple stealth devices which concealed them from signals, heat and visual detection which would prove very difficult to aim at them. And finally, like all Davian units, each commando would also be equipped with personal shield, the best the Davian's arsenal had to offer.
"Nano bots terminated, enemy's heavy infantry detected, none-Davian units engaging enemy units. Return fire, nano bots engage, request more nano bots."
"Open fire. Aiming at vulnerable points."
Several Davian commandos quickly concealed themselves at the corners or behind covers then return fired with their plasma carbines set on beam mod while releasing several more nano bots which rushed toward the shooting power armored. While their carbines were designed for rapid fire yet they still retained their beam mod which capable of punching throw hard target in exchange of the entire power cell. Regarding of accuracy each and every commandos were trained to the point of usual sniper's level and adding by their self-targeting guns, SAI assistants, nano bots as well as the short distant of the hallway, each of these beams would probably hit their targets which were the eyes, neck, weapon's barrels, limbs and joining points of their target. In fact the commandos didn't even have to expose themselves to fire accurately.
"Jezail to the neck. Fire Lance to its arms."
"Yes comrade."
A commando who was covering himself behind a hard cover pulled out a rifle like weapon which longer and heavier than usual Davian's musket and open fire. The Jezail was the main anti-material double as sniper rifle of Davian, basically it was a high caliber railgun which fired plasma sheathed bullet. With a heavy yet silent thud, a large anti-material bullet leaved the gun, coated in plasma and rammed directly to the neck of the power armored.
Meanwhile two more commandos pulled out their Fire Lances, a RPG like weapon, and fired two guided missiles at two weapon's arms of the enemy's power armored. Shards of shrapnel reached the Dirge and simply burries themselves in the legs and 'shoulders' of the thralls. Their eyes simply for show, as well having nearly no mechanical components or organs that could be interrupted by even the most powerful EMP'S the Dirge were arguably the least damaged out of the allies. Their position behind the rest of the friendly troops was certainly a major factor. And thus , when the hostile targets presented themselves the Dirge fired down the narrow hall way their weapons aimed firmly at their allies backs. But of course, there was no friendly fire. The bullets the infantry fired had small gyroscopic air jets, and maneuverable fins permitting them accurate movements. While they fired into the backs of their allies, bullets rained from all angles at what remained of the opposition.
Inside of the medical roo., as FW troops moved to assist , the Dirge silently moved themselves into unoccupied corners of the room, optimal locations to fire upon anything that opposed them. Naturally this was a precaution, should the wounded jump up in arms at their would be saviour, or if rebel troops burst into the room. Like specters of death they watched Two of Arnas men went down the moment the PA opened fire, shells tearing them apart as the remaining squad members opened up, one of them with an anti material rifle he had procurred earlier in the battle aimed and fired at the vision slits, hoping to put a round through the head of whatever bastard was inside it. Arna herself sprayed a clip at the PA to no avail in a bid to try keep it surpressed, she used the Dirge forms as cover, they seemed to be assisting her and her squad and she appreciated that, so far the most alien and horrifying of all their new allies had turned out to be the most compassionate and competant.
That was soon reinforced by the multiple blasts of launchers as GAE troops fired missiles and RPG rounds into the PA, before Arna could even shout to stop the back blasts hit her like the force of a moving train. Three of her men died instantly, pulped by the sheer force of consectuive overpressure from the blasts, their ruined bodies hit the floor as Arna impacted the floor herself as she struggled to breath, the impact caused her to issue a silent cry as the blast ripped the air from her lungs. As she began to breath again in rapid desperate breathes one of her men came to her side.
"Ma'am are you ok!" He shouted over the noise of gunfure. She nodded, her face a mixture of pain and anger, the Dirge forms had shielded her and the remainder of her soldiers from the worst of the blasts, and she gave thanks to them as she readied her gun again.
"What the fuck do you think your doing firing such weapons in confined spaces! Thats the basic fucking rule of launchers!" She shouted at the GAE, she couldnt see them in front of the Dirge but she wouldnt be surprised if they had killed several of their own too. By the time the smoke had cleared and the ringing in everyone's ears had ceased and additional four soldiers lay dead. Two Free Worlders caught in the back blast of the GAEs weapons, and one of the Davian commandos, cut down by the enemy power armor just seconds after he'd launched his missile.
Quinn very much shared Arna's assessment of the situation, and with a muttered curse he pushed himseld to his feet and dusted himself off.
"Right," He said rubbing his forehead. "You're all idiots. You, you, you two, you, you, you, you, the two of you, and you I guess,"
He said pointing in turn at two GAE, two TDA, Arna and another trooper, two free worlders, two dirge and finally two Davians.
"All of you come with me into the bunker. The rest of you stay here and help the doctors get their patients out. Got it?"
He didn't wait for a confirmation walking ahead of the troops and stepping over what was left of the VRF trooper before continuing deeper into the bunker.
General Labrosse could only watch and silently marvel at the idiocy of the force that had been assembled to take her planet. How they'd managed to make it this far was a mystery.
She tracked their progress on the cameras. Minutes ticking by like hours as they worked their way toward her and the missile silos. They faced no further resistance. Most of her forces having already retreated. But even so it took another twenty minutes before they made it near her. And by then...
"Ma'am we've broken the lock. We can launch the rest of the missiles on your order,"
"What about their ships?" She asked.
"We traced the line Murphy's virus used to lock the missiles. We should be able to remotely activate the shield through the same connection. It will severely limit their ability to intercept."
"Do it. Do it now," she said with a sigh. She patched herself back into the PA system as alarms began blaring across the bunker, announcing the imminent missile launch.
"I was a Colonel in the SRU once. Same training class as Arna. Difference is Arna got a cushy posting on world. I got sent into a hell fighting horrors I can't even begin to describe. And when I got home you know what I got? A commendation with my name spelled wrong. Are you starting to understand who you're helping? And why I'd rather see this planet burn than go back to that?"
The allies had reached the final obstacle: a heavy blast door. Beyond was the control center. Of the two Free Worlders that had been selected, one was a rifleman and the other was, surprisingly enough, the squad's tech guy. "Alright Wilson, pop that door." said the rifleman, and the techhie moved to the door and began breaching it's locks as fast as he could. "Wilson..." "What?" "Not meaning to pressure you, but we got birds about to fly from the sounds of it." "I know, I know, I know. Hoi!" the techhie barked at the rest of them. "If anybody wants t' slap some thermite on this hunk'a'junk's hinges or whatever it's got, that'd speed things up. C'mon, people. And for the love of god no high explosives."
The rifleman would have said something pithy in response to the good General... but there was no excuse for what they were wanting to do to this world. As chaotic as the Free Worlds were, destroying a planet, simply because you didn't want someone to run it? No excuse for that. None.
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On the levels above, the medic Sullivan handed his rifle to another trooper and held up his hands. He made a point to stay clear of the docs and their patients, because his gear was... well, he'd attended to FW wounded in the mud outside. Nuff said on that point. The rest of the Free Worlders left the OR and took up positions outside it. And they attended to their fallen. Once again, only the Dirge had seemed to try and shield the allied troops. And still two of their men were dead. "Doctor, we need to get you, your colleagues, and your patients outta here," he said, keeping his voice calm and professional as he could under the circumstances. "There's a lot of nasty going on down below, and we can get you to a safer OR. How many of the wounded here can be moved?"
--------
The cruiser above kept it's weapons spun up and it's gunners on a hair trigger, though with no targets yet available for it's weapons to fire upon the crew double and triple checked the ammo feeds and targeting systems, wanting to be damn sure that when they had a target, they be on it right away. Buckler took one of his Troopers and followed along, the door was pretty hardy and at the request of the FW tech, he declined to use a breaching charge coupled along with the fact that it wasn’t guaranteed to go through a door this secure. Instead he and his Trooper lined up at the side of the door behind one another, ready to enter as soon as the door was open. Buckler also took the courtesy of readying a flashbang grenade to throw in before everyone entered.
“Ah, don’t be anywhere near the door when this thing goes off it’ll affect us in our armour, so it’ll probably stun you for a while” He told everyone at the door.
At the OR at the entrance the squads’ corporal made a call for a CASEVAC at the surface entrance to evacuate all the wounded and dead. The remaining three Troopers tended to their dead, sitting them up against the wall near the elevator. Then all four took up a position near the OR to keep it locked down.
On the surface there was a massive energy spike which alerted all TDA Commands that the shield had been reactivated somehow. Not taking any chances with the nuclear missiles Moranis ordered all Mobile Bases forward to the TDAs current position to eliminate as many possible. Admiral Switch had launched every available fighter craft and had them on interception duty in low orbit and in Atmo.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 14:59:55 GMT
== Outside the door ==
"One RPG gunner down. Enemy's unit destroyed. Squad leader and one operative moving in, the rest stay here to assist the wounded."
"Yes comrade."
The reason why the Davian's Fire Lances didn't cause friendly fire due to backlash and overpressure were because of several reasons. Firstly the Davian were staying behind the other squads, then these weapons were created for use in concealed place so their backlash would be rather small, and finally the backlash produced by firing these weapons would be contain within the shield bubble of the shooters and to be vent out carefully right after that.
Still the two chosen commandos went along with the other and stopped at the door. One of the commandos gave the FW a fairly large plasma charge designed to break the door: "Here's our contribution, just attach it on the door. It's plasma base charge designed to break open bulkhead and door, fairly strong and safe on our side."
After given the charge away, the two commandos stepped backward and found good covers for themselves.
== Hospital above ==
"Alright people, bring those people out. Tell those outside we need more men, medical equipment and stuffs. Half of you stand guard, the rest help them, all nano bots, sweep the entire room. I don't want fanatic or suicide bombers here." The second in charge of the commandos spoke as half of the squad began to help evacuate the hospital while the rest spread out along with nano bots to scan for any suspicious individuals or objects. Should anyone or anything suspicious to be found, they would be deal with.
Meanwhile a few more Davian squads infiltrated the bunker to help bring people out.
== Outside the bunker ==
The battle raged on yet the resistant mounted by the VRF was lowering significantly at least to the entrance of the bunker. The Davian forces, helped by their massive tanks and mobile shields managed to establish a relative safe corridor for the evacuation of those inside the bunker.
As the warning for more nuclear strike spread and the war nearly ended, the Davian decided to further degrease their present on the surface. 1/3 of the Davian units near the command bunker began to withdraw back to the safe distant so the Air Force could bring them back to the fleet above.
== Davian bases ==
The two Davian bases at the times had become two fully defended and shielded bases capable of withstanding either nuclear war or orbital bombardment. Still for safety reason, the personnel manning them were decreased further as robotic, bio weapons and automated systems took over the protection and operating of the bases. Meanwhile thousands of anti-missiles missiles kept rotating above the bases ready to intercept any incoming ICBMs. Still parts of these bases were the rally points for large number of refugees, should the ICBMs overwhelm the bases, ten thousands of Vestalh refugees would be kill. Arabel ignored what was being thrown at her, glancing over the corpses of those killed by the back blast of the 88mm rocket and giving the demolitions man a playful elbow to the stomach. "Nice job killing more than that power armor, nutcase." Thankfully for their allies, the demolitions soldier was not selected.
Removing the remaining missiles from the man's pouch and boxes, she proceeded to dismantling the rockets. Araxian missile weapons had warheads of a jelly like substance contained inside a glass sphere located within the shaped warhead, with enough force, the jelly would break free from the glass and melt through whatever it was going through. At least in theory. Arabel removed the warhead with it's reinforced casing for directing the hot substance on the end of a long pipe, like a spear, ready to burn down the hinges with her squad leader. "You might want to cover your mouth and noses, this stuff isn't safe to inhale when it starts burning."
Meanwhile the rest of her troops began making preparations to move the wounded out of the facility. Their armor was tough, tough enough to survive a hot back blast and the resulting effects in a confined space, it was after all designed to be able to protect the wearer from breaking their bones while using what was essentially small rocket motor packs strapped to their backs. Nobody said a word, they weren't impressed or surprised by Arna's outrage. They had been asked to come here to fight their war that they were losing and suddenly when things were going their way they somehow now have a voice and status to criticize others. Assholes haven't seen what our territory looked like after the first civil war, was the general thought going around the troops. "Where are we taking these guys if there's already a battle raging outside when we left?" The Dirge units gave a wide berth to their allies. Recent history has suggested their ability to properly utilize any form of explosive to be significantly sub-par. They said nothing, but placed their bodies directly between arna and her surviving contigenr and the door. Should the allies be sucessful, the Dirge wanted to be recalled in a positive light.
Meanwhile the two thralls that had joined the medical group adjusted themselves to be properly suited to the task on hand, and while carting the patients away from was soon to be an active war zone, also conducted medical aid, stabilizing the most horrifically wounded as they went. Arna nodded to the Dirge warform as it moved to cover her and the remainder of her squad. They had taken up breaching positions but had kept well back when the other forces prepared explosives to set off the main blast door. After all their track record with explosives was abysmal at best. Arna had been happy when Quinn had sent the majority of them away, the rage inside her was directed to not just the revolutionary front but also her new helpers as their actions had done almost just as much damage to Vestahl and its people as any of the revolutionary front had.
It burned her hatred, and the prospect of another nuclear strike by the revolution was enough to make her growl loudly. She would kill Labrose herself. After several excruciatingly long minutes of the Free Worlders staring blankly at the plasma charge and continuing to work on a hack that was obviously going nowhere, Quinn finally lost his patience.
"Is this fucking amateur hour?" He said finally. "Jesus christ it's not hard. You take the charge, you put it on the door..."
As he spoke Quinn grabbed the charge from the Free Worlder, slammed it on the door, and stepped back.
"And press the button. Fire in the hole fuckos." That was all the warning anyone got before the charge went off, blowing a sizeable hole in the door... a hole that was quickly filled two thousand rounds per minute from a rotary gun mounted on Labrosse's hard suit.
Outside on the mountain itself hundreds of silo doors began opening as the missiles began into final launch sequences. Buckler was quick to throw his flashbang into the room when it opened up, he waited for it to go off before him and his squad mate ran into the room, they took opposite sides of the room to get the enemy into a cross fire, not only with themselves but with the rest of the people at the door. They fired single shot into the enemy to accurately take them out, as they feared firing burst or full auto could damage the equipment in the room from missed shots. Wilson the tech spat a venomous curse and glare at Quinn, but he and the rifleman added their own flashbangs to the TDA's and followed them up with two smokes, waiting until the cooked grenades had gone off before they barreled into the room, bringing up the thermal filters on their helmet HUDs. The troopers grabbed cover immediately, popping up to fire a burst at a time upon the targets pointed out by their HUDs before dropping back down and moving from cover to cover, heads down. Neither one of them engaged the hardsuit directly except with a thrown grenade from Wilson, as neither man had the firepower on them to take it down. Up above and observing the ground battle, the three GAE cruisers readied their weapons for shooting down any missiles that might leave their silos. Intercept fighters from orbit launched to join up with other allied fighters with the same objective.
She had to admit, the hole was larger than she was expecting for a door belonging to an underground command center. As for the volume of fire coming out the door, she wasn't surprised. At least she wasn't the first to go through the new hole. Arabel wasn't sure how large the room was and something told her she'd get more than a shouting if she did happen to use another explosive weapon. So instead, she kept herself to the side where she won't be bothering anyone and decided to wait out the wall of bullets. From her experience, something firing that fast couldn't possibly carry enough ammo for a long firefight and certainly not be able to keep them pinned forever. But just in case, she switched her helmet settings to thermal and readied her MG and left the still unused ATGM lance propped up against the wall. The soldier standing beside her did the same, ready to join in if they were really needed. The two Davian commandos, well concealed behind covers and powerful shields as well as added by their stealth armors stayed far from the fight. As the hardsuit threw out torrents of bullets down the room, the commandos choose to not foolishly expose themselves, instead they sprayed out several nano bots which flew forward to record everything that move.
- Get the jezail into its join neck. I'll cover. - One of the commandos 'spoke' using neuron link while raising the barrel of his plasma carbine out of the cover and open fired. Like almost all of Davian hand held weapons the carbine didn't require the user to expose himself to fire accurately as the gun's self-guiding system would be fully capable of pointing the gun toward its target. The commando aimed for possible weak points on the hardsuit.
- Yes comrade - The remaining commandos quickly pulled out the anti-material rifle or jezail, pointed it toward the hardsuit and open fire directly to the neck join of the hardsuit while not even exposed himself. the door burst and a torrent of heavy machine gun fire tore down the cooridors , the Dirge were hit arguably the hardest. Utilising their own bodies as cover for what may have been their only competent allies, as well their awkward physiology prevented them from utilising the cover avaliable in an effective manner.
The first form, closest to the door was mulched by the machine gun fire, and as the allies engaged the hardsuit the dirge what they did besy, and provided support to the best of their ability. Feeding through whatever information the Dirge could glean from the situation, their smart bullets exclusively targeted delecicate areas of the suit, joints, optics, and firing mechanisms were prioritized. And as the cluster fuck of heavy fire was traded, they licked their wounds. The form in the rear used it's free appendages to grasp it's dampen ally and fuse their bodies together. This provided a sufficient boon to prevent the second form from falling, as well allowed to to use both weapons Arna and her remaining men charged when the door opened guns blazing at Labrose and her hard suit, however the sheer volume of fire was suicidal. Her remaining men went down one after the other in quick succession torn apart or critically injured by the rounds as they raked across the room at the allies.
Arna herself used the death of her comrades as fuel, she rushed at Labrose, firing her pistol until it ran out of ammo before she discarded it. Pulling out her vibro blade she pelted forwards hoping to slice at the weakpoints of the hardsuit, but she also had another trick up her sleeve. With her free hand she pulled a grenade out of her pouch, she would jam it straight into that bitches armour and have her revenge. There were no other troops in the control room. The General stood alone in twelve feet of hulking hard suit. To say the flash bang was ineffective was an understatement. The grenade did nothing. The first TDA trooper through the door took the full brunt of thr rotary canon. At such close ranges his body was rended apart by the sheer volume of fire levelled against him and he was long gone before he ever hit the ground.
His death, at the very least afforded his comrade and the Free Worlders who followed them the opportunity to reach cover. The dirge and SRU soldiers who came next had no such luck.
Labrosse moved upon seeing Arna, faster than one might have expected a hardsuit of that size to move. It intercepted a very shocked Free Worlder as he moved between cover amd grabbed hold of him. With a whine of hydraulics and a sickening crunch she crushed the foreigner in her grasp, hurling the broken corpse at Arna. Misplaced sentimentality perhaps stayed the General's hand from finishing her former comrade.
Her wrath however was far from spent. With bullets pinging off the hardsuit she sent anothe torrent of fire toward the allies.
A round pinged off her shoulder. Rearview displays showed weapons fire from the hallway. Stealthed commandos at a guess. Too bad stealth systems couldn't hide weapons fire. A final burst to suppress the allies and she was out the door and upon the nearest Davian commando. She grabbed hold of him and with little in the way of ceremony smashed him face first into the wall. His helmet shattered on the first impact, and his skull broke like a melon on the second, sending blood, brain, and skull fragments in every direction. She let the corpse fall and turned the plasma thrower mounted on her other arm on the GAE trooper next to Arabel.
In seconds the unfortunate man was coated in plasma, which melted the flesh from his bones in short order. Labrosse turned the plasma thrower toward Arabel next...
Before she could fire the final dirge threw its full body weight into the hardsuit. Stabilizers had already been damaged by sustained fire and the hit threw the hardsuit off its feet.
Labrosse crashed to the ground, plasma thrower firing wildly. She coated herself as much as the dirge in her efforts to throw it off. Several long seconds passed before the dirge finally managed to get a weapon aimed at the General's head.
The shot rang out. The suit went limp and Labrosse's tortured mind finally fell silent.
A series of staccato beeps signalled the suits self destruct had gone active. The dirge acted quickly, enveloping the suit.
When the suit detonated the dirge was the only casualty.
And that was that.
The first missile launched, leaving the silo with a thunderous roar. Fighters from all sides closed in only to come to the grim realization that this was no missile. Singh's corvette unleashed a hell of point defense upon the incoming snubcraft destroying them in their hundreds as they tried to take shots at gis corvette before turning and speeding away under the cover of the shield. The ships in orbit had little chance of hitting the corvette while it was under the shield and none were prepared to chase down the vessel as it arced toward orbit.
But pretending to be a missile carried risks. Risks like being identified as a missile by Vestahl's silent guardian.
With a thunderous crack a fifth and final blue bolt lanced from the satellite eith pinpoint accuracy into Singh's ship as he left the cover of the shield. His ship was cored by the shot, and fire balled quite dramatically.
Vestahl had given Singh's rebellion life and in the end, she took it back. Arna panted, she was injured a round had gone straight through her left side and she was critically bleeding now, blood coating most of her uniform. She wiped away some blood dripping from her mouth as she deactivated the grenade and stabbed the blade into labrosses dead carcass. Arna then turned to the others.
"She has still set the missiles for launch! They have to be overriden, if they are kept in their silos and not released they will explode to destroy this base and nothing else" Arna shouted loudly before sighing.
"Everyone get out, I will stay behind and stop the launch, this is my world and my people its only fitting I be the one to do it. Besides..." She let blood fall from her hand that she had clamped to her body "Im not getting out of here alive anyway" Wilson had just closed the eyes of his comrade when Arna said this, and he stared at her in shock. This woman was beyond courageous, doing this, knowing she was going to die. And... Wilson, like many other troopers from Keera here today... he respected that. "Copy that, ma'am." he said, saluting her crisply. "It was an honor."
And with that, he left the control center and headed over to Quinn. The Davian's leader commando who survived the last battle looked at Arna and made a quick scan on her. His emotion couldn't be seen due to his battle marks, yet the Davian spoke: "It was an honor to fight alongside you lady Arna. I know you hate us and you may not want to listen to me, yet there's still hope for you. Your wounds while severe can be cure if you get out alive." He pulled out a cylinder, 3 pieces of square medicine like objects: "This cylinder contained painkiller and prevent bleeding medicines, using this will ease your pain, these 3 ginseng medicines can keep even dying people alive a little longer."
He stopped for a moment before continued: "That's all I can say. I will put these things here." He slightly put the objects down next to Arna before saluted slightly: "I should be here to help but since you have demand us to leave so I will do as you said. The choice is yours to take." The Davian commando then silently flung his fallen comrade on his back and asked Quinn: "So are we running back or there're other ways out?" Buckler thought a quick escape would be necessary and didn’t want to be encumbered by the weight of his comrade instead he pulled the ID chip from his collar so he would receive a proper memorial back home. Buckler turned to face Arna, nothing needed to be said to her she had made her choice so he walked up to Quinn.
“You got a quick way out of here or do we just have to start running?” he asked sarcastically
Arabel wasn't bothered the tiniest bit by the soldier who had been killed next to her, the smell if any had been filtered out by her helmet. While she did think that the suit would have been at least a tad bit more powerful she wasn't going to complain given that they could walk away with their lives.
With what Arna had said, she took one last long look at her, quickly and silently taking a photo with her helmet camera before turning to join what remained of the allied troops present. There was nothing she could say to her, and it would have probably been a waste of time anyway.
Pyromaniac: Wordlessly Quinn approached Arna and jabbed a needle into the woman's neck. She spun, toward him with a look half between shock and anger and then collapsed into the contract broker's arms.
"Sorry to break up the party here but Arna's sattelite just blew up Singh's ship which means I owe her seven million and it would reflect poorly on me if I let her die here to avoid paying her."
He picked the woman up and let out a sigh.
"Which means someone else is going to have to close the doors. Any volunteers or shall we draw straws? Quickly now. Our window for extraction is getting smaller by the minute,"
Wilson looked around at the others. He was a tech-guy, trained for working with stuff like this, though in these circumstances nobody could ever really be ready. Like every other Free Worlds soldier here, did not want to die. But if someone didn't stay behind to stop these missiles and end their threat to this world, they all were going to die.
Free Worlder, TDA, Dirge, GAE, Davian, the people of this world, who had sacrificed so much already to try and bring a stop to the fighting. They all would die. He was one man, and just a militiaman good with computers at that... but he knew what needed doing.
"I'll stay." he said, raising a hand. "I got this. You all get out of here." “Works for me," Quinn said without waiting for a response. "Wait sixty seconds and close the door, not a second more or less. Start counting now. Rest of you follow me. Unless you fancy dying of course, in which case you do you."
Quinn didn't wait for a response continuing through the bunker as fast as he could with Arna in hand. It didn't take long to reach Quinn's destination, one of the silos though whatever missile had been housed there had long since been launched. He handed out a length cable, instructing everyone to clip it to themselves and with little in the way of warning hooked himself and Arna in and fired a launcher up and out of thr silo, trailing the cable behind it.
"Hope no one's afraid of heights," He commented moments before there was a sudden jerk and the cable followed by a very abrupt acceleration upward and away from the bunker.
They were clear, and with ten seconds to spare. Wilson got to work, and got to work quickly. He went through the protocols and firewalls and systems as fast as he possibly could, closing door after door after door. The door through which Quinn and the others had escaped closed moments after they'd gotten clear, and when all was done and the silo doors sealed again, Wilson stepped back. His work was done. He'd done what he could. He pulled off his helmet and took a drink of water from his canteen, sighing and looking around the room. He'd done his part.
Whatever came next... he was ready. There was a bright flash and the war was over. There wasn't much left of the mountain, nor was there anything left of the bunker. The allied forces around the bunker were spared any further casualties, having pulled back while evacuating the wounded...
Then it was waiting to see what would happen next.
Truth and Reconcciliation is what the interim council had called it. The VRF had fled to the hills, leaderless and alone, but they were far from disarmed. Instead of pursuing the war and punishing the rebels the Commonwealth took a softer approach, offering amnesty to those who surrendered. More reforms were promised but they would take time, time the Commonwealth wasn't keen to give.
The intervention had left a sour taste in the mouth of the leaders. True to her word, and despite being bedridden Arna ensured the Davains were gone in hours. As for the rest... It was only days after the battle that the Commonwealth awarded a massive defense contract to a home grown PMC, and a couple days after that that two hundred fifty Rangvald warships were purchased by Black Rabbit Securities. The rest of the allies were evicted in short order albeit in a far more polite and gentle manner than the Davians had been.
Arna was promoted to High General, making the war hero the supreme commander of the Commonwealth forces.
Quinn faded away with little in the way of goodbye. Cortez was still at large, so Quinn's work was far from over.
And that, as they say, was that.
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