Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 17, 2017 13:35:22 GMT
Section Admiral Falkoner stood on the bridge of the Behemoth-Class Air Force Carrier on the disputed edges of USM space. She leaned over her railing, a single hand to her chin in thought as she examined the holographic tactical display before her. Here, nearby stars and planets and various other celestial bodies were put in a 3 dimensional display. She looked about the bridge, for two people; her DNI 'advisor' and the Halcyon officer that was surely aboard.
The halcyon officer upon this ship was no little than a Seraph - an arctic breed, which always seemed to be content and friendly - the sort of smilling quiet person - whether he was helping in the engine room, helping on the bridge, or beating the ever living life out of somebody.
The said Seraph was named Kralen, and was here with a lance of halcyon operators - a lance of combat engineers and scientists - techpriests.
While the 8 techpriests were content with being in presence of the working Minevans, aiding them, Kralen remained upon the bridge. His ears twitched as he "felt" Falkoner look around, turning around to look to her.
"Yes, madam?" The Halcyon smiled wide.
Falkoner couldn't seem to locate the 'spook' anywhere on the bridge, letting it go once Kralen approached her. She smiled ever so slightly, motioning to the display ahead of her.
"I know your team ran diagnostics on the levels below; these scans are accurate, yes?" Minevan sensors were as top-notch as they could get, and still some blips were unaccounted for. It was a confusing matter indeed. It didn't help that they were on the contested edge of their space, setting up listening posts to keep their 3-dimensional borders as definite as ever. Pilots were already prepared to sortie at a moment's notice on the flight deck.
"I need to know, because if that's the case there may be a few problems." Her smile faded a tad.
Kralen nodded, holographic interface zooming, and presenting the data displayed before her. Halcyon technology was very advanced, and their sensor systems able to pick up the slighest specs of dust. Sensor technologies were a basic
"Most of the techpriests were surprised... well... Phantom dots had showed up on the radars of the ships. Upon closer look however, these are genuine detections. There were objects there, and moving, but the sensors upon this ship could not... Well, figure out what it was detecting. We have adjusted the anomaly which lead to this, which is nothing more than a tuning issue. Anything else, Admiral?" Aside from the serious talk, his smile remained constant.
She leaned away from the railing, crossing her arms while still examining the obtuse red signals on the blue holo-display. Falkoner cocked her head, mulling over the information provided to her. She couldn't help but also think about how constant the Halcyon's smile was, rivaling it herself for but a moment.
"I think a scout team of Hellions are in order," Falkoner suggested, with a shrug. She figured it common courtesy to run all of her decisions by the Halcyon representative, it technically being protocal to run all calls by the 7th Legion and DNI officials on any vessel. But right now, the DNI was out of her scope of interest, easily dismissing their authority on these calls if they couldn't be asked to stay on the bridge. "Sound reasonable? Perhaps some faster moving Eagle fighters, instead." She looked to him, awaiting his suggestion.
The Hellions, while very swift, armored, and powerful, may not be the best choice to scout with, but Eagles on the other hand had a bare minimum of weaponry but held all speed and maneuverability possible for a fighter of its frame.
"Do you have any unmanned drones, or can you send eagle jets as unmanned? We only want a look. Craft should be unarmed too, as to not be a threat," Kralen suggested.
"These pilots have been itching to go out for awhile after their training," Falkoner shrugged, "It's most likely asteroids or some sort of hulk. Could be a very good exercise for a 'combat sortie' for the new bloods." The fact of the matter was, the USM had no real drone 'fighters' in that sense of the word; they could send out a few of the small, strategic bombers, but they were mostly intended for planetary purposes with laser-coordinate designation and limited sensor systems. Plus, since they were unmanned, they had far less of the normal systems of other fighters.
"Though, since we aren't really going into planetary combat, I could send out some of those tiny Valkrie bombers," Falkoner smirked, meeting the Halcyon's suggestion. Maybe practice wasn't worth even the slightest risk for her men. In the slightest chance of danger, Eagles were capable of jumping out of system at the cost of most power, but that still left a whole range of possibilities. There were other days, of course. "They may not be very good at picking up things in space environments and maneuvering as well. But, they still got optics. Like you said; all we gotta do is see..." She made sure it was clear it was his final say.
"It sounds much safer this way. For all potential parties," Kralen happily assured.
"Alright. I'll get a message down to the flight deck," She turned, leaning on the railing again, "Operations, you heard. Have it ready!"
Falkoner looked back to the white-furred Halcyon, asking, "Since it was your pick, could one of your people operate or program the drones?"
"Of course, I am informing a techpriest right now. The drone will be programmed in a very short time," Kralen acknowledged her, just short of enthusiastic with his expression.
"I hope not too long," Falkoner cocked her head, "The blip is moving at a very... slow pace." Her tone was more curious than anything. Soon enough, the drones were primed and fired off, to the control of the techpriest and the Operations Officer on the bridge. The drones took a few minutes to navigate about, sensors and optics picking up little more than a few hulks. Obvious ship carcasses.
"Well, I'll be," She cocked a brow, turning to the halcyon again, "Could you amp up those scans by any chance?" It was funny to ask that for top-tier Minevan scanners, but they were missing something. She didn't even know it was possible to take it up a notch with the techrpiests already running diagnostics.
The techpriest did as requested - having performed some tuning and improvements on the droid. It went a bit closer, and fired it's sensors in all spectrums available. Kralen watching curiously.
It was the moment that the techpriest's sensors flared up that a concussive force ripped through the Operations Officer's drone, reducing it to scrap.
"Uh.. Ma'am?" The deck officer called up to her as his screen went blank, with an obligatory '[SIGNAL LOST]' taunting him.
On the 3D display, a massive blip began to load as the techpriest's drone scanned. A massive, 12 kilometer blip of unknown origin had just fired upon the drones, in a single, accurate volley. The deck officer's question fell silent as Falkoner nodded at Kralen. "This might be an issue."
The drone would detected heat sigs on the unknown object rising, obviously preparing a second volley.
"They are likely hostile, yet, I advise to attempt communication before battle ensues. Both to inform our factions, and to contact the ship," Kralen suggested to the Admiral.
The rest of the unarmed drones were quickly picked off in the same manner, all signals going dark. But the scans still remained. There was a tight debris field, preventing all actual line of sight. Falkoner mulled over Kralen's words very thoughtfully, before asking her Comms Officer to send an open hail in the approximate distance of the ship as told by the scan.
A figure in a magnificent suit of ornate, golden armor answered their call. It was what looked to be a human in a bridge not unlike the design of a throne room with various ship systems. Very overtly extravagent, all the while regality and dignification reeked from the sight.
"I am Hanos," The man of soft features spoke with a deep, rich voice, not unlike that of a noble prince, "This space is claimed by the Justicars. For your transgression and desecration, justice shall be exacted accordingly."
Kralen sent through psychic orders to his men to assume their combat position - presetting the weapons, shielding, and being on the ready for any form of issue, power armors active and sealed up. He looked to the one named "Hanos" with what could best be described as spite - That was, in fact, the first time he had looked to someone, or something, with a look of distate and disgust upon his face.
He sent for a techpriest to do a full analysis of the enemy ship with the onboard sensors, and pool it against the ship their were in - as well as weakpoints in relation to armor thickness and angling, shielding, weapon arc exploit, and any other notable weaknesses. Once he had this information, he would advise Kralen further.
For the time being, since they only had the little information off of the short scans to work with, it was hard to make out any weakpoints aside from the massive hangar arrays placed at midship and its seeming lack of point-defence systems. It would definitely be weak to a fighter assault, especially Hellion attacks. Though, any Halcyon ships aboard her Behemoth-Class she seemed to have forgotten. If the Halcyons had any sort of mechs or fighters, it may be a good idea to mobilize. Other than that, all that was left for the deck crew and enlisted men throughout the ship to prepare the point defense guns.
"We're not looking for a fight, sir," Falkoner stated, very bluntly, "But if you attack us we will oblige you."
Hanos' expression was blank, but she could read the slightest hint of condescension. "We will purge you in the name of all that is good."
Falkoner looked to the comms officer, drawing a finger across her neck. The line was cut. "All hands, prepare for combat. Man stations, fill the catapult deck!" She looked to Kralen, "There are not many capitol ship weapons aboard this ship but about a half-dozen mass drivers. If we must fight, we must use the fighters... do you have a compliment?"
Kralen nodded.
"Yes, a lance of four monickers are in the hangarbay, ready to be deployed, each carrying tacticle missiles."
Monickers. High mobility, High speed, and very heavily armed. And with missiles. And four of them. Adding these to the fighters the USM ship was going to send, would push in an extra wallop.
"The Monickers are designed to destroy enemy craft hardpoints, and have a good range. Sending them at front to neutralise the point defense will increase the survivability of our forces. I advise sending for a focused strike along the large hangarbays, taking out the point defenses and then hard points. Missiles should be sent into the enemy hangars as to prevent an effective counter attack."
Falkoner nodded, "Just what I had in mind. We oughta mobilize now and keep the initiative."
In the Hangar, the Flight Wing Commander had deigned the situation too difficult of Eagles; Hellions would take this one. Strongest first. Ten Squadrons of Hellions prepped lightning fast; 40 mechs in fighter form total. They launched into the blackness of space from their side hangars as their catapults were sectioned off by automatic bulkheads. They staggered their formation, knowing the Monickers could keep up with them. They headed to the asteroid field, deciding to cut through with cover and jump upon their prey ship.
Halcyons had already set into their Monickers - crafts which took a surprising ammount of cargo space.
The crafts flickered and hovered as they became active, pilots controlling them as if it was part of their own bodies. They hovered, ready to leave, a communication sent to the comms officer.
"Lance leader spectre. Requesting tune in on combat network if available."
"Uppercut Lead, checking in. Ancestors be with you," The head pilot of the dispatch finished off the role call of squadrons, taking the lead of the formation as they entered the asteroid field. The squadrons staggered so no AoE weapons could take clusters of them out at once, in the worst case. They still kept some semblance of coordination with their squadrons.
"SPectre," Her voice called over the network, "I'd like to see you on my far 9 and 3. Don't wanna have all the fun." Her voice was dry, a bit monotone. In all actuality, her adrenaline was beginning to pump, and they'd have to open up the fray a bit more. From the look of the scan, the other ship wasn't more than a klick from the other end of the asteroid belt, practically hugging it. It would take a minute to navigate, however...
"Spectre, roger. You heard the lady. Wide formation."
The Monickers came out very sharply of the ship, right outside and in place.
They had to be the first there, and take out the most point defences possible. LEss point defenses meant less fighters and missiles taken out. This would give them the total upperhand.
The Hellions departed from the asteroid fields, right aside the Monickers and scattered with their teams. The ship before them was a marvel; while she had expected a lot of the basic figure from the tactical projections to her HUD, she was not prepared for all of what she saw. The thing looked like a solid mass of gold, extravagace and excess seeping off of the elegant, yet bulky design of it. The ship had begun maneuvering, slowly rotating its hulking mass in place, its nose turning to face the asteroid field.
A volley of missiles from the ships hurdled towards the pilots, her Hellions' automated MG defenses coming to life and detonating them short of her. Her eyes narrowed as she closed in on the ship, strafing close to the hull to confuse the PD systems that were targetting her allies about. Her railgun fired, taking out the short, bulbous turrets one at a time. The other pilots were doing their best to keep up.
Near the ship were tiny bits of asteroids, leftovers from the field. While not nearly big enough to belong in the field, they were large enough to supply cover and concealment.
The Monickers had employed their gravitational drives to anchor multiple asteroids and debris, which they proppelled towards the incomming missiles, only moving the asteroid "shield" so that the Hellions and Monickers could fire, or to shield themselves - the asteroid "barrier" quickly draining.
Spectre: "Advise wide formation focused on a enemy firing arc. If we take out all the defences on said arc, they will not be able to neutralise us, and if we keep in a wide formation, they will not be ready to harm us. Uploading firing arc parameters. We will proper the asteroids towards their ship, where they will need to shoot them down with point defense - use this opportunity to hit them with missiles at key targets"
The asteroid wall was already being focused, about to be propelled.
One of Uppercut team's Hellions quickly switched into mech variant and used counterthrust to steady in front of an opening hangar on the side of the ship. The Hellion's arm toted a twin-barrelled missile launcher, quickly steadying and firing its salvo into the bustling fighter bay. The fighters that had managed to creep but a few inches out were swallowed up by the fireball that totalled the bay.
"Roger that. Be warned, enemy craft embarking from the far end of the ship," Uppercut Lead notified, "Alfa through Dagger, defend our focus point. We need to work, faster."
The ship had finished it turn, and began to accelerate. The Hellions adjusted to this, keeping up their assault with minimal damages. Though, the golden ship was gunning it..... straight towards the field.
The monickers spread appart, sending a huge array of missiles and debris towars the enmy craft, all the white firing their PPCs at pre-recorded targets - sensor systems and communications were targeted and utterly torn appart by two Monickers, while the two others took target for the point defense which would potentially have a chance to harm the Helions which were firing up close. They shared and synchronised the sensor readouts of the entire force, as to have it as effective as possibly for everyone.
The 16 Hellions successfully engaged the initial wave of fighters, albiet just light craft. They were equipped with little more than concussive autocannons, a successful salvo tearing into the leg of one of the deployed humanoid Hellions and effectively blowing off everything but the 'skeleton'. As point defences that were a threat to their assault were torn apart, the remaining Hellions defending their force from attack craft huddled onto the the enemy hull in human form, using it as a soldier would use cover.
Lower on the side, the Hellions with missile launchers tore into the supersructure of the ship through weak points created by striking hangars and previous hits.
Though, their window was closing. The enemy vessel was foolheartedly accelerating directly into the asteroid field, deploying a hard shield as an umbrella in front of the vessel. They must have been saving all of their shielding power for this feat. The massive vessel pushed all of it aside, with obvious strain on its shields. The Hellions, however, still kept up, expecting the Monickers to do the same. The objective remained constant, but this just got a whole lot more interesting.
The monickers quickly took a sharp thrust to the damaged side of the ship, "hooking" and pulling hellions which had got into towards the speeding front - as to keep them in the enemy ship's effective blind side. This close, their PPC and thermal beamers ripped through the enemy craft's remaining defences which threatened the Hellions - the closest, which had been targetted as primary targets foolishly by the point defense, leaving their hinges and fragile spots open for fire. The monickers fired along the side of the ship - every single modules they could hit from this blind spot, where the helions and monickers were safely placed - from hard points, shielding outlet, vents, sensors, support modules, mobility ports and thursters - everything to make the enemy ship in effect, sitting ducks.
"All units, focus on shield generators," Uppercut Lead smirked, baring a cuspid under her helmet, "This is in the bag. Shield's down, and we-"
She was cut off by a warning light. [INCOMING: 100 METERS]
Her eyes went wide, reacting as fast as she could towards the source of the object. How did something get past their advanced sensors so easily. What lie before her was a humanoid machine that dwarfed the Hellions by several meters, evidently more thin and graceful in design and just as exorbitantly golden and ostentatious. The Hellion brought its massive rail rifle to bear, firing a few shots. Having no time to aim, these rounds went wide.
The Justicar mech swung its ornate hammer, impacting with the cockpit and blowing the Hellion apart before it detonated in a round fireball. The comms went loud, the rest of Uppercut Squadron calling to their Captain, one charging the unit with a feral cry. The Justicar suit easily weaved in and out of their accelerated slugs, closing the distance and destroying the two riflemen. The heavy let his launcher float off into space, pulling out the Hellion's massive sword and cleaving towards his comrade's killer.
But there was nothing there to hit. From behind, the hammer dispatched of the Hellion in a similar manner.
Am onicker asked for docking on one of the Hellions - their leader.
"Accept the dock - I will share my fighter's energy supply with yours, and shield your machine with the gravitational fields. Your ship will be faster and stronger, and I will be able to block for you. We need to hurry, or we will lose more of them!"
Two other monickers fired from range at the Justicar Mech, while keeping as far appart. If the Monicker fire wouldn't destroy it, the merge was an option.
The last Monicker, fired a round - right into the enemy ship's bridge!
"I am Hanos!" A voice blurted over all of their comms, as he instantly charged one of the Hellions taking cover on the ship's hull, "And you will taste JUSTICE!"
The pilot, unable to react, had his mech smashed into the ship before it went up in flame as well. The fireball was a bit clearer this time, showing a very prominent shielding system flicking away the slightest of debris away from touching his armor.
The Justicar bridge crew had little time to even recognize their fates before it was blasted to nothingness. Hanos had evidently abandoned them to join the battle himself; that is, if the man in the Justicar mech was who he claimed to be.
With the Hellion Commander dead, the next highest ranking officer was a Lieutenant Commander Hix. While still shocked at the sudden destruction of Uppercut team, she was cut off by the intervention of the Monicker. "Roger that, docking now!" She flipped a switch, beginning the procedure as fast she could. The other Hellions distracted the Justicar, all the while the ship was about to reach the edge of the asteroid field. If they were able to engage the Minevan Carrier, then problems were sure to arise. "Keep at the ship! Knock it out!"
Some Hellions had lost their weapons, using their blades in an attempt to skewer the ship and rip into systems while ranged units did their best to engage the enemy commander.
"Retreat. Do NOT engage the enemy mech. All systems online."
The hellion would find the Monicker deploying around itself, adding extra armor, it's weapons around it's shoulders, and it's gravitational drives out. The hellion piloted by Hix was far stronger and faster, and shielded."
The other monickers continued to focus fire upon the enemy unit - the monickers were anti hardpoint and fighters, not designed to take heavy targets. It would do, however. "This is spectre. Keep your distances."
The Hellions staggered more, but retreat was not an option. They were almost out of asteroid field. Normally, mech units wouldn't be an unfair match for them, but this unit was unreal. One Hellion strafing away was grabbed by the arm, and a simple yank resulted in several mechanical failures for the Minevan pilot to view, heart racing. One of the Monicker's rounds hit the Hellion's arm, blowing it safely away. The Justicar turned to chase one of the Monickers, pushing his lighting-fast mech to its limits whilst swinging wildly with its massive hammer with a concussion field should it impact. The other Monicker weapons impacted hard on its shields, causing them to flicker a tad.
Hix gritted her teeth, making a snap decision to slam the throttle directly toward the Justicar. She drew her Hellion's blade, preparing it to slice her quarry in twain. "If you've got anything, fire it now!"
The Monicker docked to the Hellion unloaded everything it had, firing it's weapons towards the enemy mech, while giving the Helling full gravitational shielding and thrust, the sword of a fallen Hellion held behind it with gravitational force.
The monickers, having to keep in line with the ship, the debris, covering for the hellions, and out of range of the enemy, was too much however - as a Monicker was fired upon by one of the ship's gun, cracking it's hull, the second one, tearing right through it, and splitting it in half, a large shockwave occuring.
Watching the Monickers getting lit up sent a white-hot rage through Hix's blood, expelled in a gallant cry of defiance.
The Hanos' mech was having a great bit of trouble; having chase the Monickers into his vessel's killzone, he turned to taste the full impact of the coupled Hellion-Monicker's weapons. For all its worth, the Justicar's impressive shields were finally rendered null. The enemy barely got a chance to maneuver out from a head-on collision with Hix and Spectre. Hix swung the sword, only to have it shattered by the Justicarian hammer's concussive force. She had to hope on Spectre's blade striking true.
The ship's shields began to fizzle as they exited the asteroid field. The Minevan Carrier was in sight, ableit far off, and the Justicar vessel was still gunning right for it with all its power in forward shields.
The gravity held sword went into a long, sharp slash at the momment he was about to swing - the momment he couldn't block, and they would be hit - and at the same time, expelled the Hellion from it's deployed form. While the hellion was sent below it, the Monicker didn't avoid the impact, the hammer ripping - and getting stuck into the fighter's main body, red shattered pieces flying. The twitching, damaged Monicker held true, however, tilting to the side, the gravity engines hanchoring it in place - the Hanos mech could not employ his arms, or his giant axe. It fired another salvo of PPC and thermal beams, the cockpit expelling the pilot in armor.
"He's all yours!" The ejected Halcyon told Hix
Hanos' mech was yanking itself free from the Monicker's wreckage as it consistently took damage, getting bits and pieces slowly blown and ripped off.
But it wouldn't hold forever. Hix took Spectre's encouragement, and without thinking, had her Hellion grab onto the Justicarian mech's legs. With all the mechanical force the Hellion had, it swung and tossed the foe away from Spectre's free-floating form, right into the ship's hull. The impact dented the ship's hull, blowing off more pieces and systems off of Hanos' suit. Hix kicked her Hellion off of the surface of the ship, bringing the Hellion's wrist to bear and firing all of the wrist-compartment-mounted reserve missile pods into the vulnerable, exposed Justicar. The missiles detonated, causing a chain reaction that reduced the Justicar commander and the machinery around him to nothingness. The shockwave blew her Hellion back, but her counterthrust controlled it, quickly looking for the ejected Halcyon.
"All units, tear this bastard apart. Spectre, do you read me?"
"This is spectre, armor suit hull at 62%. I'll make my way back to the ship, good luck!"
The remaining Monickers went on to move to pick off their weapon and defence systems one by one, Spectre contacting the USM ship's commander.
"They are defenseless. Act how you wish, but maybe they should not pay for their idiotic leader's behavior."
Falkoner heard the message over the comms, contemplating her two options. The Hellions kept up their assault, tearing through enough compartments to destroy their umbrella shield.
Her option was clear once the central-mounted gun on the nose of the Justicar vessel began to like up. Her Operations Officer warned her of heat sigs building. Even without their commander, their attack persisted. And at that, the comms were down for them. It was a hard call, but fate was having it be...
"Helm, get this ship moving; combat element, engage and destroy all systems. Ancestors be with you."
Spectre made her way towards the destroyed Monicker's hulk, where the halcyon pilot, sadly, was dead. Leaning in, she ripped the soul catcher interface - this pilot would soon have his own cerulean body.
Hopping off, she headed towards the Minevan craft, while the Monickers took hold of all the damaged and derelict parts they could, towing them - the Monickers, a few Hellion - and most importantly, having looked for any fallen Hellion mech survivors.
There wasn't much of the destroyed Minevan tech to scavenge through; the caliber of the concussion hammer left very little scraps of the pilot or the cockpit and the resulting core reaction of the Hellions destroyed and vaporized the rest. While unfortunate fates for the fallen, it's something the Hellion pilots signed up for knowing full well it may happen. None of the Minevan wreckages sported survivors.
One of the Heavy Hellions brought his missile launcher to bear at to exposed core of the vessel, ordering everyone to retreat and informing him of a probable nuclear blast. They had to destroy the vessel before it could fire off at the exposed carrier. Hix's Hellion flew up by Spectre, cockpit adjusting pressures and opening up for the wayward Halcyon pilot. "We gotta vacate, hurry!"
She nodded, climbing in - her armor quite badly banged up, and Hix could have sworn her left arm was torn off and mechanical - seemed like she had already gone down once.
She climbed in, holding the soul catcher safely.
"Thanks."
She waited for the hull to seal, looking to the enemy ship. She turned her gaze to the fallen hellions respectfully. They had died for something good.
Hix surveyed the Halcyon for a moment, but didn't waste time to seal the cockpit and blast away. The Heavy Hellion let loose two warheads, before ditching the launcher and accelerating full speed away from the vessel. All of the Hellions left the immediate area as the damaged Justicar ship was engulfed in a nuclear fireball; just before its weapons could go off.
The Carrier was saved, for the time being.
The halcyon officer upon this ship was no little than a Seraph - an arctic breed, which always seemed to be content and friendly - the sort of smilling quiet person - whether he was helping in the engine room, helping on the bridge, or beating the ever living life out of somebody.
The said Seraph was named Kralen, and was here with a lance of halcyon operators - a lance of combat engineers and scientists - techpriests.
While the 8 techpriests were content with being in presence of the working Minevans, aiding them, Kralen remained upon the bridge. His ears twitched as he "felt" Falkoner look around, turning around to look to her.
"Yes, madam?" The Halcyon smiled wide.
Falkoner couldn't seem to locate the 'spook' anywhere on the bridge, letting it go once Kralen approached her. She smiled ever so slightly, motioning to the display ahead of her.
"I know your team ran diagnostics on the levels below; these scans are accurate, yes?" Minevan sensors were as top-notch as they could get, and still some blips were unaccounted for. It was a confusing matter indeed. It didn't help that they were on the contested edge of their space, setting up listening posts to keep their 3-dimensional borders as definite as ever. Pilots were already prepared to sortie at a moment's notice on the flight deck.
"I need to know, because if that's the case there may be a few problems." Her smile faded a tad.
Kralen nodded, holographic interface zooming, and presenting the data displayed before her. Halcyon technology was very advanced, and their sensor systems able to pick up the slighest specs of dust. Sensor technologies were a basic
"Most of the techpriests were surprised... well... Phantom dots had showed up on the radars of the ships. Upon closer look however, these are genuine detections. There were objects there, and moving, but the sensors upon this ship could not... Well, figure out what it was detecting. We have adjusted the anomaly which lead to this, which is nothing more than a tuning issue. Anything else, Admiral?" Aside from the serious talk, his smile remained constant.
She leaned away from the railing, crossing her arms while still examining the obtuse red signals on the blue holo-display. Falkoner cocked her head, mulling over the information provided to her. She couldn't help but also think about how constant the Halcyon's smile was, rivaling it herself for but a moment.
"I think a scout team of Hellions are in order," Falkoner suggested, with a shrug. She figured it common courtesy to run all of her decisions by the Halcyon representative, it technically being protocal to run all calls by the 7th Legion and DNI officials on any vessel. But right now, the DNI was out of her scope of interest, easily dismissing their authority on these calls if they couldn't be asked to stay on the bridge. "Sound reasonable? Perhaps some faster moving Eagle fighters, instead." She looked to him, awaiting his suggestion.
The Hellions, while very swift, armored, and powerful, may not be the best choice to scout with, but Eagles on the other hand had a bare minimum of weaponry but held all speed and maneuverability possible for a fighter of its frame.
"Do you have any unmanned drones, or can you send eagle jets as unmanned? We only want a look. Craft should be unarmed too, as to not be a threat," Kralen suggested.
"These pilots have been itching to go out for awhile after their training," Falkoner shrugged, "It's most likely asteroids or some sort of hulk. Could be a very good exercise for a 'combat sortie' for the new bloods." The fact of the matter was, the USM had no real drone 'fighters' in that sense of the word; they could send out a few of the small, strategic bombers, but they were mostly intended for planetary purposes with laser-coordinate designation and limited sensor systems. Plus, since they were unmanned, they had far less of the normal systems of other fighters.
"Though, since we aren't really going into planetary combat, I could send out some of those tiny Valkrie bombers," Falkoner smirked, meeting the Halcyon's suggestion. Maybe practice wasn't worth even the slightest risk for her men. In the slightest chance of danger, Eagles were capable of jumping out of system at the cost of most power, but that still left a whole range of possibilities. There were other days, of course. "They may not be very good at picking up things in space environments and maneuvering as well. But, they still got optics. Like you said; all we gotta do is see..." She made sure it was clear it was his final say.
"It sounds much safer this way. For all potential parties," Kralen happily assured.
"Alright. I'll get a message down to the flight deck," She turned, leaning on the railing again, "Operations, you heard. Have it ready!"
Falkoner looked back to the white-furred Halcyon, asking, "Since it was your pick, could one of your people operate or program the drones?"
"Of course, I am informing a techpriest right now. The drone will be programmed in a very short time," Kralen acknowledged her, just short of enthusiastic with his expression.
"I hope not too long," Falkoner cocked her head, "The blip is moving at a very... slow pace." Her tone was more curious than anything. Soon enough, the drones were primed and fired off, to the control of the techpriest and the Operations Officer on the bridge. The drones took a few minutes to navigate about, sensors and optics picking up little more than a few hulks. Obvious ship carcasses.
"Well, I'll be," She cocked a brow, turning to the halcyon again, "Could you amp up those scans by any chance?" It was funny to ask that for top-tier Minevan scanners, but they were missing something. She didn't even know it was possible to take it up a notch with the techrpiests already running diagnostics.
The techpriest did as requested - having performed some tuning and improvements on the droid. It went a bit closer, and fired it's sensors in all spectrums available. Kralen watching curiously.
It was the moment that the techpriest's sensors flared up that a concussive force ripped through the Operations Officer's drone, reducing it to scrap.
"Uh.. Ma'am?" The deck officer called up to her as his screen went blank, with an obligatory '[SIGNAL LOST]' taunting him.
On the 3D display, a massive blip began to load as the techpriest's drone scanned. A massive, 12 kilometer blip of unknown origin had just fired upon the drones, in a single, accurate volley. The deck officer's question fell silent as Falkoner nodded at Kralen. "This might be an issue."
The drone would detected heat sigs on the unknown object rising, obviously preparing a second volley.
"They are likely hostile, yet, I advise to attempt communication before battle ensues. Both to inform our factions, and to contact the ship," Kralen suggested to the Admiral.
The rest of the unarmed drones were quickly picked off in the same manner, all signals going dark. But the scans still remained. There was a tight debris field, preventing all actual line of sight. Falkoner mulled over Kralen's words very thoughtfully, before asking her Comms Officer to send an open hail in the approximate distance of the ship as told by the scan.
A figure in a magnificent suit of ornate, golden armor answered their call. It was what looked to be a human in a bridge not unlike the design of a throne room with various ship systems. Very overtly extravagent, all the while regality and dignification reeked from the sight.
"I am Hanos," The man of soft features spoke with a deep, rich voice, not unlike that of a noble prince, "This space is claimed by the Justicars. For your transgression and desecration, justice shall be exacted accordingly."
Kralen sent through psychic orders to his men to assume their combat position - presetting the weapons, shielding, and being on the ready for any form of issue, power armors active and sealed up. He looked to the one named "Hanos" with what could best be described as spite - That was, in fact, the first time he had looked to someone, or something, with a look of distate and disgust upon his face.
He sent for a techpriest to do a full analysis of the enemy ship with the onboard sensors, and pool it against the ship their were in - as well as weakpoints in relation to armor thickness and angling, shielding, weapon arc exploit, and any other notable weaknesses. Once he had this information, he would advise Kralen further.
For the time being, since they only had the little information off of the short scans to work with, it was hard to make out any weakpoints aside from the massive hangar arrays placed at midship and its seeming lack of point-defence systems. It would definitely be weak to a fighter assault, especially Hellion attacks. Though, any Halcyon ships aboard her Behemoth-Class she seemed to have forgotten. If the Halcyons had any sort of mechs or fighters, it may be a good idea to mobilize. Other than that, all that was left for the deck crew and enlisted men throughout the ship to prepare the point defense guns.
"We're not looking for a fight, sir," Falkoner stated, very bluntly, "But if you attack us we will oblige you."
Hanos' expression was blank, but she could read the slightest hint of condescension. "We will purge you in the name of all that is good."
Falkoner looked to the comms officer, drawing a finger across her neck. The line was cut. "All hands, prepare for combat. Man stations, fill the catapult deck!" She looked to Kralen, "There are not many capitol ship weapons aboard this ship but about a half-dozen mass drivers. If we must fight, we must use the fighters... do you have a compliment?"
Kralen nodded.
"Yes, a lance of four monickers are in the hangarbay, ready to be deployed, each carrying tacticle missiles."
Monickers. High mobility, High speed, and very heavily armed. And with missiles. And four of them. Adding these to the fighters the USM ship was going to send, would push in an extra wallop.
"The Monickers are designed to destroy enemy craft hardpoints, and have a good range. Sending them at front to neutralise the point defense will increase the survivability of our forces. I advise sending for a focused strike along the large hangarbays, taking out the point defenses and then hard points. Missiles should be sent into the enemy hangars as to prevent an effective counter attack."
Falkoner nodded, "Just what I had in mind. We oughta mobilize now and keep the initiative."
In the Hangar, the Flight Wing Commander had deigned the situation too difficult of Eagles; Hellions would take this one. Strongest first. Ten Squadrons of Hellions prepped lightning fast; 40 mechs in fighter form total. They launched into the blackness of space from their side hangars as their catapults were sectioned off by automatic bulkheads. They staggered their formation, knowing the Monickers could keep up with them. They headed to the asteroid field, deciding to cut through with cover and jump upon their prey ship.
Halcyons had already set into their Monickers - crafts which took a surprising ammount of cargo space.
The crafts flickered and hovered as they became active, pilots controlling them as if it was part of their own bodies. They hovered, ready to leave, a communication sent to the comms officer.
"Lance leader spectre. Requesting tune in on combat network if available."
"Uppercut Lead, checking in. Ancestors be with you," The head pilot of the dispatch finished off the role call of squadrons, taking the lead of the formation as they entered the asteroid field. The squadrons staggered so no AoE weapons could take clusters of them out at once, in the worst case. They still kept some semblance of coordination with their squadrons.
"SPectre," Her voice called over the network, "I'd like to see you on my far 9 and 3. Don't wanna have all the fun." Her voice was dry, a bit monotone. In all actuality, her adrenaline was beginning to pump, and they'd have to open up the fray a bit more. From the look of the scan, the other ship wasn't more than a klick from the other end of the asteroid belt, practically hugging it. It would take a minute to navigate, however...
"Spectre, roger. You heard the lady. Wide formation."
The Monickers came out very sharply of the ship, right outside and in place.
They had to be the first there, and take out the most point defences possible. LEss point defenses meant less fighters and missiles taken out. This would give them the total upperhand.
The Hellions departed from the asteroid fields, right aside the Monickers and scattered with their teams. The ship before them was a marvel; while she had expected a lot of the basic figure from the tactical projections to her HUD, she was not prepared for all of what she saw. The thing looked like a solid mass of gold, extravagace and excess seeping off of the elegant, yet bulky design of it. The ship had begun maneuvering, slowly rotating its hulking mass in place, its nose turning to face the asteroid field.
A volley of missiles from the ships hurdled towards the pilots, her Hellions' automated MG defenses coming to life and detonating them short of her. Her eyes narrowed as she closed in on the ship, strafing close to the hull to confuse the PD systems that were targetting her allies about. Her railgun fired, taking out the short, bulbous turrets one at a time. The other pilots were doing their best to keep up.
Near the ship were tiny bits of asteroids, leftovers from the field. While not nearly big enough to belong in the field, they were large enough to supply cover and concealment.
The Monickers had employed their gravitational drives to anchor multiple asteroids and debris, which they proppelled towards the incomming missiles, only moving the asteroid "shield" so that the Hellions and Monickers could fire, or to shield themselves - the asteroid "barrier" quickly draining.
Spectre: "Advise wide formation focused on a enemy firing arc. If we take out all the defences on said arc, they will not be able to neutralise us, and if we keep in a wide formation, they will not be ready to harm us. Uploading firing arc parameters. We will proper the asteroids towards their ship, where they will need to shoot them down with point defense - use this opportunity to hit them with missiles at key targets"
The asteroid wall was already being focused, about to be propelled.
One of Uppercut team's Hellions quickly switched into mech variant and used counterthrust to steady in front of an opening hangar on the side of the ship. The Hellion's arm toted a twin-barrelled missile launcher, quickly steadying and firing its salvo into the bustling fighter bay. The fighters that had managed to creep but a few inches out were swallowed up by the fireball that totalled the bay.
"Roger that. Be warned, enemy craft embarking from the far end of the ship," Uppercut Lead notified, "Alfa through Dagger, defend our focus point. We need to work, faster."
The ship had finished it turn, and began to accelerate. The Hellions adjusted to this, keeping up their assault with minimal damages. Though, the golden ship was gunning it..... straight towards the field.
The monickers spread appart, sending a huge array of missiles and debris towars the enmy craft, all the white firing their PPCs at pre-recorded targets - sensor systems and communications were targeted and utterly torn appart by two Monickers, while the two others took target for the point defense which would potentially have a chance to harm the Helions which were firing up close. They shared and synchronised the sensor readouts of the entire force, as to have it as effective as possibly for everyone.
The 16 Hellions successfully engaged the initial wave of fighters, albiet just light craft. They were equipped with little more than concussive autocannons, a successful salvo tearing into the leg of one of the deployed humanoid Hellions and effectively blowing off everything but the 'skeleton'. As point defences that were a threat to their assault were torn apart, the remaining Hellions defending their force from attack craft huddled onto the the enemy hull in human form, using it as a soldier would use cover.
Lower on the side, the Hellions with missile launchers tore into the supersructure of the ship through weak points created by striking hangars and previous hits.
Though, their window was closing. The enemy vessel was foolheartedly accelerating directly into the asteroid field, deploying a hard shield as an umbrella in front of the vessel. They must have been saving all of their shielding power for this feat. The massive vessel pushed all of it aside, with obvious strain on its shields. The Hellions, however, still kept up, expecting the Monickers to do the same. The objective remained constant, but this just got a whole lot more interesting.
The monickers quickly took a sharp thrust to the damaged side of the ship, "hooking" and pulling hellions which had got into towards the speeding front - as to keep them in the enemy ship's effective blind side. This close, their PPC and thermal beamers ripped through the enemy craft's remaining defences which threatened the Hellions - the closest, which had been targetted as primary targets foolishly by the point defense, leaving their hinges and fragile spots open for fire. The monickers fired along the side of the ship - every single modules they could hit from this blind spot, where the helions and monickers were safely placed - from hard points, shielding outlet, vents, sensors, support modules, mobility ports and thursters - everything to make the enemy ship in effect, sitting ducks.
"All units, focus on shield generators," Uppercut Lead smirked, baring a cuspid under her helmet, "This is in the bag. Shield's down, and we-"
She was cut off by a warning light. [INCOMING: 100 METERS]
Her eyes went wide, reacting as fast as she could towards the source of the object. How did something get past their advanced sensors so easily. What lie before her was a humanoid machine that dwarfed the Hellions by several meters, evidently more thin and graceful in design and just as exorbitantly golden and ostentatious. The Hellion brought its massive rail rifle to bear, firing a few shots. Having no time to aim, these rounds went wide.
The Justicar mech swung its ornate hammer, impacting with the cockpit and blowing the Hellion apart before it detonated in a round fireball. The comms went loud, the rest of Uppercut Squadron calling to their Captain, one charging the unit with a feral cry. The Justicar suit easily weaved in and out of their accelerated slugs, closing the distance and destroying the two riflemen. The heavy let his launcher float off into space, pulling out the Hellion's massive sword and cleaving towards his comrade's killer.
But there was nothing there to hit. From behind, the hammer dispatched of the Hellion in a similar manner.
Am onicker asked for docking on one of the Hellions - their leader.
"Accept the dock - I will share my fighter's energy supply with yours, and shield your machine with the gravitational fields. Your ship will be faster and stronger, and I will be able to block for you. We need to hurry, or we will lose more of them!"
Two other monickers fired from range at the Justicar Mech, while keeping as far appart. If the Monicker fire wouldn't destroy it, the merge was an option.
The last Monicker, fired a round - right into the enemy ship's bridge!
"I am Hanos!" A voice blurted over all of their comms, as he instantly charged one of the Hellions taking cover on the ship's hull, "And you will taste JUSTICE!"
The pilot, unable to react, had his mech smashed into the ship before it went up in flame as well. The fireball was a bit clearer this time, showing a very prominent shielding system flicking away the slightest of debris away from touching his armor.
The Justicar bridge crew had little time to even recognize their fates before it was blasted to nothingness. Hanos had evidently abandoned them to join the battle himself; that is, if the man in the Justicar mech was who he claimed to be.
With the Hellion Commander dead, the next highest ranking officer was a Lieutenant Commander Hix. While still shocked at the sudden destruction of Uppercut team, she was cut off by the intervention of the Monicker. "Roger that, docking now!" She flipped a switch, beginning the procedure as fast she could. The other Hellions distracted the Justicar, all the while the ship was about to reach the edge of the asteroid field. If they were able to engage the Minevan Carrier, then problems were sure to arise. "Keep at the ship! Knock it out!"
Some Hellions had lost their weapons, using their blades in an attempt to skewer the ship and rip into systems while ranged units did their best to engage the enemy commander.
"Retreat. Do NOT engage the enemy mech. All systems online."
The hellion would find the Monicker deploying around itself, adding extra armor, it's weapons around it's shoulders, and it's gravitational drives out. The hellion piloted by Hix was far stronger and faster, and shielded."
The other monickers continued to focus fire upon the enemy unit - the monickers were anti hardpoint and fighters, not designed to take heavy targets. It would do, however. "This is spectre. Keep your distances."
The Hellions staggered more, but retreat was not an option. They were almost out of asteroid field. Normally, mech units wouldn't be an unfair match for them, but this unit was unreal. One Hellion strafing away was grabbed by the arm, and a simple yank resulted in several mechanical failures for the Minevan pilot to view, heart racing. One of the Monicker's rounds hit the Hellion's arm, blowing it safely away. The Justicar turned to chase one of the Monickers, pushing his lighting-fast mech to its limits whilst swinging wildly with its massive hammer with a concussion field should it impact. The other Monicker weapons impacted hard on its shields, causing them to flicker a tad.
Hix gritted her teeth, making a snap decision to slam the throttle directly toward the Justicar. She drew her Hellion's blade, preparing it to slice her quarry in twain. "If you've got anything, fire it now!"
The Monicker docked to the Hellion unloaded everything it had, firing it's weapons towards the enemy mech, while giving the Helling full gravitational shielding and thrust, the sword of a fallen Hellion held behind it with gravitational force.
The monickers, having to keep in line with the ship, the debris, covering for the hellions, and out of range of the enemy, was too much however - as a Monicker was fired upon by one of the ship's gun, cracking it's hull, the second one, tearing right through it, and splitting it in half, a large shockwave occuring.
Watching the Monickers getting lit up sent a white-hot rage through Hix's blood, expelled in a gallant cry of defiance.
The Hanos' mech was having a great bit of trouble; having chase the Monickers into his vessel's killzone, he turned to taste the full impact of the coupled Hellion-Monicker's weapons. For all its worth, the Justicar's impressive shields were finally rendered null. The enemy barely got a chance to maneuver out from a head-on collision with Hix and Spectre. Hix swung the sword, only to have it shattered by the Justicarian hammer's concussive force. She had to hope on Spectre's blade striking true.
The ship's shields began to fizzle as they exited the asteroid field. The Minevan Carrier was in sight, ableit far off, and the Justicar vessel was still gunning right for it with all its power in forward shields.
The gravity held sword went into a long, sharp slash at the momment he was about to swing - the momment he couldn't block, and they would be hit - and at the same time, expelled the Hellion from it's deployed form. While the hellion was sent below it, the Monicker didn't avoid the impact, the hammer ripping - and getting stuck into the fighter's main body, red shattered pieces flying. The twitching, damaged Monicker held true, however, tilting to the side, the gravity engines hanchoring it in place - the Hanos mech could not employ his arms, or his giant axe. It fired another salvo of PPC and thermal beams, the cockpit expelling the pilot in armor.
"He's all yours!" The ejected Halcyon told Hix
Hanos' mech was yanking itself free from the Monicker's wreckage as it consistently took damage, getting bits and pieces slowly blown and ripped off.
But it wouldn't hold forever. Hix took Spectre's encouragement, and without thinking, had her Hellion grab onto the Justicarian mech's legs. With all the mechanical force the Hellion had, it swung and tossed the foe away from Spectre's free-floating form, right into the ship's hull. The impact dented the ship's hull, blowing off more pieces and systems off of Hanos' suit. Hix kicked her Hellion off of the surface of the ship, bringing the Hellion's wrist to bear and firing all of the wrist-compartment-mounted reserve missile pods into the vulnerable, exposed Justicar. The missiles detonated, causing a chain reaction that reduced the Justicar commander and the machinery around him to nothingness. The shockwave blew her Hellion back, but her counterthrust controlled it, quickly looking for the ejected Halcyon.
"All units, tear this bastard apart. Spectre, do you read me?"
"This is spectre, armor suit hull at 62%. I'll make my way back to the ship, good luck!"
The remaining Monickers went on to move to pick off their weapon and defence systems one by one, Spectre contacting the USM ship's commander.
"They are defenseless. Act how you wish, but maybe they should not pay for their idiotic leader's behavior."
Falkoner heard the message over the comms, contemplating her two options. The Hellions kept up their assault, tearing through enough compartments to destroy their umbrella shield.
Her option was clear once the central-mounted gun on the nose of the Justicar vessel began to like up. Her Operations Officer warned her of heat sigs building. Even without their commander, their attack persisted. And at that, the comms were down for them. It was a hard call, but fate was having it be...
"Helm, get this ship moving; combat element, engage and destroy all systems. Ancestors be with you."
Spectre made her way towards the destroyed Monicker's hulk, where the halcyon pilot, sadly, was dead. Leaning in, she ripped the soul catcher interface - this pilot would soon have his own cerulean body.
Hopping off, she headed towards the Minevan craft, while the Monickers took hold of all the damaged and derelict parts they could, towing them - the Monickers, a few Hellion - and most importantly, having looked for any fallen Hellion mech survivors.
There wasn't much of the destroyed Minevan tech to scavenge through; the caliber of the concussion hammer left very little scraps of the pilot or the cockpit and the resulting core reaction of the Hellions destroyed and vaporized the rest. While unfortunate fates for the fallen, it's something the Hellion pilots signed up for knowing full well it may happen. None of the Minevan wreckages sported survivors.
One of the Heavy Hellions brought his missile launcher to bear at to exposed core of the vessel, ordering everyone to retreat and informing him of a probable nuclear blast. They had to destroy the vessel before it could fire off at the exposed carrier. Hix's Hellion flew up by Spectre, cockpit adjusting pressures and opening up for the wayward Halcyon pilot. "We gotta vacate, hurry!"
She nodded, climbing in - her armor quite badly banged up, and Hix could have sworn her left arm was torn off and mechanical - seemed like she had already gone down once.
She climbed in, holding the soul catcher safely.
"Thanks."
She waited for the hull to seal, looking to the enemy ship. She turned her gaze to the fallen hellions respectfully. They had died for something good.
Hix surveyed the Halcyon for a moment, but didn't waste time to seal the cockpit and blast away. The Heavy Hellion let loose two warheads, before ditching the launcher and accelerating full speed away from the vessel. All of the Hellions left the immediate area as the damaged Justicar ship was engulfed in a nuclear fireball; just before its weapons could go off.
The Carrier was saved, for the time being.