Countryman shifted his gaze to his personal monitor for a moment. The remaining Cathamari ships were breaking off. Heading straight for the big Cathamari warship in the system. He noted their movements and he also noted what was going on with that large warship as well. It was under attack by ships both Cathamara and Valorian. Neither of which were holding up against its massive firepower, but they were lasting long enough for their goals. It didn’t escape his notice about how the ship was slowly moving in the direction of the Enterprise and those ships that attacked his group were now heading toward it. That was likely no coincidence.
“Hmm, seems someone made us part of their battle plan but they aint very good at hiding it.”
Greyman interjected, “What do you mean sir?
He pointed to the screen, “Someone wants us to fight the big Cathamari ship. They are luring it towards us and trying to lure us towards it in turn. They expect us to chase the retreating cruisers.”
“I see. Well since we see it, we won’t fall for that.”
“Regardless I think we should engage that ship.”
Greyman stuttered and blinked, “What! Its three times our size! Look at that firepower!”
Countryman sighed, “I know, and I plan to engage it on my terms. We won’t last long against it at close range, but we can keep it occupied. With the jamming field in the system we can’t run till we clear the field or destroy the source. I’m certain our ships can escape it easily, but our Valorian friends may have some trouble.”
Greyman frowned, “You want the Coto and Umikaze to escort our new friends out of the battlezone while we serve as a distraction?”
“I do,” replied Countryman while glancing at a monitor. “Okay that is far enough, time for some fireworks.”
He turned to tactical, “Load forward torpedo tubes, target the retreating cruisers, one torpedo per ship, target their primary reactors.”
“Aye, sir!” was the quick response. No one questioned the number of torpedoes. Normally that would be too few, but they had been fighting them just recently, and as such they knew the shield modulations of those warships. A single torpedo was all they were going to need.
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Reia blinked as she watched several Cathamari cruisers explode after taking a single torpedo each. Their shields flaring to little effect. She had seen human torpedoes piercing shileds before but never so decisively. Usually a couple of them would explode harmlessly on the shields. Yet this time that wasn’t the case.
Their destruction meant they had a bit of a breather. As there were no other ships in range to be a threat for some time. Especially now that all warp travel had been shut down by system wide jammers. She glanced at her sensor officer. “What happened?”
“If I had to guess, the humans somehow knew the exact shield configurations of those cruisers. All of them. Their torpedoes penetrated the shields, punched through the weaker aft armor before detonating near their primary reactors. The resulting secondary detonations claimed the ships. Clearly they knew exactly where to hit them as well.”
The torpedoes penetrating the aft armor wasn’t all that surprising. It was a common issue many races had to deal with. Not every race was lucky enough to have a reactionless drive system. The need for rear thruster ports imposed certain limitations on providing adequate protection to rear located targets. The more interesting fact was that they not only penetrated the rear armor, but pierced deeply enough into the cruisers to detonate near the main reactors. Then again any detonation near the engines would be serious. Her own ship didn’t have any armor, relying more on the shields and internal forcefields for protection. Internal projector fields could contain a penetrating torpedo hit easily enough and limit damage, but honestly a good shield was both cheaper and more practical than heavy armor.
Of course the Cathamari and the Krall utilized both but those two powers also spent a great deal more on their military. Something she felt might change soon. The chaos of this battle was already highlighting a number of weaknesses in their current designs.
She glanced out at the tactical screen and noted an orbital. A trade station to be specific, underfire by several Valorian cruisers and two Cathamari destroyers. Her limited defense grid was returning fire, but her shields were already failing.
Suddenly a Cathamari cruiser swept in from above, firing not on the station but on her attackers. A cruiser was hit with a heavy volley of plasma torpedoes and her shields buckled. As the Cathamari vessel angled onto a second Valorian Ophera class ship, she fired several heavy concussion bolts at the first cruiser. They slammed into the hull with brutal force and detonated. Engulfing the ship in a bright fireball, at least on her computer enhanced sensor display. When the dust cleared the ship was gone with all hands. The second vessel didn’t fare any better.
Then the Cathamari ship took a barrage of torpedoes from one of the Cathamari destroyers. The deadly plasma penetrated her shields and damaged her hull. Yet she stayed intact, long enough to return fire. A deadly barrage of heavy plasma cannons ripped the offending destroyer apart and its buddy in short order. Before the five remaining Valorian cruisers opened fire on the cruiser. Her shields were down, but her armor was holding. The pulse fire penetrated more deeply where her armor had already been breached by the earlier torpedo hits. Yet it mattered little. The cruiser returned fire, her superior weaponry making short work of the five Ophera class cruisers. Their superior shields meaning little in the face of overwhelming firepower.
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In moments all five of the remaining cruisers were reduced to expanding clouds of superheated plasma. Leaving the sole Cathamari cruiser the only vessel left standing, but not without scars. She had suffered over two hundred penetrating hits to her hull plating, several of her plasma turrets had been destroyed and her port plasma manifold was little more than molten slag. Leaving her with only half the engine power she was meant to have, and reduced firepower. The orbital on the other hand, along with the thousands of people aboard were safe. Thankfully the commanders of those cruisers were idiots.
She looked elsewhere. More isolated skirmishes like that were happening all across the system. With Valorian firing on Valorian, Cathamari firing on Cathamari. Cathamari firing on Valorian and vice versa. However the fighting was thickest near the massive Cathamari warship near the local yards. It was an imposing warship, the largest she had ever seen and its firepower. That thing was menace, anything that got close was simply melted by powerful heavy plasma cannons. As if to prove its power a Protector class heavy cruiser drifted into range of those guns.
Numerous ports glowed with energy before unleashing a deadly barrage which ripped into the powerful shields on the cruiser as if they were little more than paper. They buckled and the ship disintegrated. Leaving nothing more than plasma behind and it happened so fast the crew likely had no time to regret their mistake. They didn’t even have a chance to return fire before they simply ceased to exist.
It took her a moment longer to notice that dreadnought was slowly making its way towards them. She had barely enough time to notice before she was informed, “Ma’am we are being hailed by the Enterprise.”
“Put Captain Countryman through,” she replied while shifting towards the main screen. A moment later the familiar view of his dark bridge appeared. The man himself shrouded a bit in the dim shadows.
He immediately spoke, “I presume you have noticed that someone seems to be pushing that dreadnought towards us, yes?”
She nodded, “I have.”
“I’d rather avoid battle with it entirely, but I doubt we will have the chance. Neither your ship nor the Guilded Heart can take even one hit from it and I’d rather not be forced to use the Enterprise to shield your ships from that thing. As such I’d like you to make your way out of the system, best speed. I’ll send both the Coto and the Umikaze to escort you just in case.”
She frowned, “Wait what are you going to be doing?”
“Engaging the enemy, we are going to keep them occupied so that you can make your escape. We will rendezvous in deep space later.”
She stood up, “Wait you can’t! There are over 50 thousand people on your ship, many of them civilian colonists!”
He glanced to the side, “It seems we have little choice. I’ve just been informed of sixty eight ships on an attack vector, they will be here in twelve minutes. Leave now before you get caught, we will hold them off.”
The channel closed with that and she glanced to her sensor officer who reported, “Confirmed, sixty eight ships on approach, Twelve of them are Ophera class cruisers, the rest of them are Cathamari Heavy Assault Cruisers. Broadsword type.”
She cursed internally, she knew what the Cathamari called a Heavy Assault cruiser was really more like a small battleship. The Broadsword type featured thick plating, heavy weapons, and a strong engine configuration. They were fast, deadly and hard to kill. A potent combination. They would have a hard time against one, especially in a slugging match, if they could get into a proper skirmish maybe, but there was no way the Guild Heart would be able to keep up or evade that many for long. Not with her battle damage and her own ship might have some trouble against that number.
She glanced to the helm, “Coordinate with the other ships and set us a course out of system maximum sublight.”
“Aye, Ma’am!”
She glanced to the screen. The Enterprise was already turning to engage. Her gun ports open and she was picking up speed as she closed on the nearest ship. Several torpedos already launched at a second vessel.
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The warlord glanced at his screens. The Human Battleship was still out of range, but it was closer now. The battle having drifted towards the position of the newly arrived Human vessels and from the looks of things the thick of the fighting was still moving that way. His counterpart was also sending more ships to engage after his first twenty had been annihilated. Something that surprised the warlord a little.
Now their battleship had turned to fight the new ships, her gunports blazing with furious fire. The first ships to enter range were bombarded with heavy firepower. One of them was a Valorian ship who had the misfortune of being targeted by a torpedo volley, her shields took seventeen hits but several more penetrated. Unfortunately for them it only took one and all of them were aimed at her primary reactor. The ship went up in a massive fireball.
The second ship fared a little better. She was a Broadsword cruiser and her shields withstood the initial barrage of heavy particle fire. The follow up seconds later, however, breached the shields leaving her open to their deadly cutting beams which almost instantly raked over the ship. Tearing deep into her armor in seconds. In under a minute the ship was sliced open from bow to stern, yet she still had fight in her. She returned fire with a barrage of heavy plasma. Scoring multiple ineffective hits before a final attack finished her.
A second set of deadly blue energy streams raked the stricken cruiser, piercing even more deeply into her hull as it precisely cut where the first beams struck. An explosion occurred inside the hull, triggering several more before the ship was torn open with violent energy. The hull simply disintegrated in a fashion that he recognized. Antimatter containment failure. Her main reactor had been breached.
Then the other ships streamed into range and opened fire. As the Battleship engaged them alone. She was not trying to run. He was impressed and her commander was certainly fearless and while he had heard of Human vessels engaging multiple battlecruisers on their own and winning. It was not with this margin. It was more often to be one cruiser against four maybe as many as eight. Never did it exceed ten, this commander was a bold one.
And apparently skilled. An instant before the first barrage of torpedoes was about to hit. His ship put out an energy burst and effectively teleported into point blank range of a nearby cruiser. The poor ship was shredded at point blank from heavy particle cannons before she had time to do more than fire a single plasma blast.
He felt a stirring in his blood at the sight. Now there was a worthy opponent. Someone who might be able to really test his new ship far more than the slag he was presented with in this system. A thought reinforced by the cruiser being destroyed by a single volley from his guns. It hadn’t even required his personal attention. He turned to bark his orders. They were going to engage that ship.