(Gateway, Lupas Sanctuarii System)
The Conquest Gate opened, from the Prey System, and throughout the fleet, the members of the Wolf Fleets watched to see what ‘riches’ the Second Capture Force had brought back. The last raid five years ago had been less than they had hoped, which is why they had to advance the timetable for acquiring new breeders. If, as some said, the lesser creatures were almost devoid of prey to take, then they would have to look for other worlds through the Conquest Gate. Either way, the Wolves would hunt.
And because they were waiting for their conquering heroines, no one was prepared for what happened next. So long had they been safe in this system that they had forgotten the possibility of being attacked.
(Ghost Squadron, Lupas Sanctuarii System)
“Ghost Leader to all squadrons! Break into attack formations! Weapons free! Let’s roll out the welcome mat for the Commodore!”
“Eagle Leader, Confirm.”
“Sentinel Leader, Confirm.”
“Giant Leader, Confirm.”
“Inferno Leader, Confirm.”
“Phantom Leader, Confirm.”
Parca nodded to himself as all the squadron leaders reported in, and the attack began. His Ghosts and Lioness’s Grey Phantoms had been first through the gate, since their Raptors were stealth ships by definition. Speed and stealth was what they lived or died by. But they WERE capable of attacking ships, at least enough to let the better armed and armored Thunderbolts and Dragons through unmolested. By the time the squadrons were through the gate, the feeble defenses around the gate were shattered, leaving nothing available to stop the rest of the fleet from coming through.
It was a slaughter, simply put. A one-sided, hopeless mismatch that turned into a complete and total slaughter of the defending forces. No quarter was given, even if the defenders had time to ask for it. Everyone knew the score. These were pirates and raiders, and they deserved everything that was about to happen to them and more. The two corvettes and four defense platforms that had been placed to cover the gate were wiped out utterly.
And then Shinokage led the Assassins and the rest of the fleet through the Gateway, pretty much sealing the deal on whether the ‘beachhead’ was going to be held or not.
“Commodore Mollen to all fighters, all ships. Raven confirms the presence of three hundred and fifty-seven individual targets requiring servicing, including space-based and planetary industrial nodes. All ships are to advance and destroy the enemy completely. These are fanatics, brainwashed from birth. They have been raiding the people of Nuevo Edo for generations to sate their misguided ambitions. We will not permit them to remain a spacefaring ‘civilization’. Execute Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Parca chuckled, despite himself. Someone was having fun with the operation names again. “You heard the man. All fighters, targets are now appearing in your HUDs. Inferno Leader, the two dreadnoughts closest the gate are begging for your full attention. Thunderbolts, cover Inferno on their run, and take out the ‘little ships’ as you please. Grey Phantom, Ghosts, we’re going to hit hard and fast at the industrial nodes, to make sure nobody gets stupid ideas. Watch out for crossfire, boys and girls. Show these people why they should have been good neighbors!”
Laughing at the joke that only the Nomads would understand, he cut the chatter and went FTL with the other Ghosts to service his targets.
(BSN Shinokage, Lupas Sanctuarii System)
The ‘flag deck’ of Shinokage was organized chaos. As the battle reports began filtering in, Commodore Mollen and Raven stood next to the screens showing the layout of the system in as close to realtime as they could manage. Looking over the screen, the Commodore gave his orders.
“Inferno Squadron has the two closest dreadnoughts. Jubilee is to take Third Group’s gunboats and help the fighters wipe out that task group. Focus fire on the cruisers and mid-level ships. Shinokage is to take First Group and wipe out the fleet in orbit of the planet. Focus fire on the dreadnoughts first. Thunderfury is to follow in our shadow, and assault the primary orbital facility. Marines are ordered to search and destroy on all combatants, and to look for intelligence to capture. Full Contamination protocols are in effect. Nightforge is to remain by the gate with Vicious Return and Dykhaniye Smerti. Carriers are to prepare to refuel, rearm, and launch fighters. Priority to the Dragons. When the Dragons are relaunched, I want them pointed at the rest of the enemy capitol ships.”
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Raven nodded to her commander, and said, “The initial surprise of the attack through the gate worked well. The enemy defenses are coming online now, but we should be able to avoid any serious casualties. Their weapons are simply too weak to do anything against modern ships. The fighters are the only ones in any real danger.”
“Don’t underestimate rabid animals, Raven. They’re cornered, and they have to know there’s no winning, but that makes them dangerous. Those ships may be old and slow, but enough of them focusing fire on one point could rip even the Nightforge to shreds. They brought handguns for a shootout, and we brought APCs with machine guns, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do something insane just to bleed us.”
Raven considered the Commodore’s words, and said, “Then why are we bothering invading their station, when we’re destroying all the others with prejudice?”
“Because that station is important, and I’m betting any information worth talking about is going to be mentioned there, somewhere. I want to know what kind of tech they have, if there’s any of it we can use safely, or can adapt to our needs without becoming monsters like the Hundeherstellars. And if they’ve been working on refining that ‘freedom fighter’ virus the originals had, I can think of a few ways that would be very useful, don’t you?”
“Yes, I guess it would be. Better to have what information we can get before we destroy everything these ‘people’ have accomplished since fleeing known space and leaving them husks of their former selves.”
The Commodore smiled at his companion, and clapped her on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit, Raven. Now, let’s see how the battle is going.”
The android looked at the screen, even though she didn’t need to in order to interpret the data. “Twenty-five percent of targets have been neutralized all ready, including five of the twelve dreadnoughts. As expected, the older-model ships are not able to take as much abuse as the newer ships. All ships are jumping away from combat when their shields fall below fifty percent, rotating attack runs so that the enemy does not get a chance to adjust or conduct repairs.” She paused, and then continued, “Update, enemy casualties have risen to forty-two percent. Fighters returning to carriers for refueling and rearming. Ghost and Grey Phantom squadrons report all space-based industrial nodes have been neutralized.”
“Raptors are to be rearmed and then deploy to intercept any ships leaving the planet before they can get extrasolar. Assume that they will be leaving a direction other than by the gate. Nightforge and the carriers will cover that direction. All other fighters are to engage targets of opportunity as they arise.”
“Enemy casualties have risen to fifty-seven percent. The Marines are now breaching the station. All dreadnoughts have been destroyed. Commodore, we are receiving a communication from the planet. They are demanding to know who we are.”
“Send back, text only, ‘Naughty wolves will either be domesticated or put down.’” The Commodore chuckled as Raven looked at him like he was a madman. “Let them think what they will. We’re not negotiating with these people, and we certainly aren’t going to evacuate them or help them with what is about to come. But if, somehow, they are able to mount a response, I would rather have it directed at those who deserve it, rather than at my people or Nuevo Edo.”
“Understood, Commodore. All major enemy ships have been destroyed. Gunboats and fighters are hunting down the smaller warships and freighters. Enemy defense network has been destroyed.”
Raven paused, and then said, “Alert! Four ships launched from the planet below. Four different intercept tracks. Raptor squadrons have the data, and are moving to intercept. Detecting four old-model FTL drives in warm-up mode, five minutes until FTL-capable. Ghost and Grey Phantom squadrons have intercepted. All four ships have been destroyed.”
The Commodore nodded at the not unexpected news, and simply smiled at his companion. “They are terrorists, Raven. Their kind always run and hide when things get dangerous. That’s what brought them to this part of space, after all. They were running from the Hundeherstellar forces when their coup failed. In the face of overwhelming force, it was only natural that they would try and run again, saving what they could of their leadership and industrial base. The improvements in FTL drives since their time made it a certainty that they could not escape us, provided we had fighters ready to intercept when they made their move.”
“And you pretended to be their old enemy to flush them out?”
“Say rather that I employed a bit of psychological pressure on a known facet of their group ideology. If they believed that it was a choice between death or a worse fate, then the leaders would likely attempt to flee, and preserve their ‘movement’. On the other hand, if they thought we were just another enemy come to take this world, then they may have tried to dig in, or go to ground, and turn it into a guerilla battle on their home turf. If the leadership was still in place, they might be able to react better to the coming challenges, and that would make things more difficult.”
“Understood, Commodore. I’ll remember that for future engagements. Use of psychological warfare to hamper enemy operations. All enemy ships and installations have been destroyed, except for the primary orbital platform.”
“Very good. Now, how are the Marines doing?”
“Major Khan reports all major resistance ended when the enemy ships were destroyed. The remaining forces are standing down. The computer cores, such as they were, have been physically destroyed. No recovery possible.”
“Unfortunate, but oh well. Tell the Major to send those who surrendered down the space elevator to the surface, and then evacuate the station so Executor and Entropy from Third Group’s gunboat squadron can have some target practice. Fighters are to leave one squadron of Thunderbolts on combat air patrol, and all others are to return to base, on standby, while the Nightforge and carriers remain on station by the Gate.”
He took a breath, and said, “All other ships, advance to the planet and begin bombardment of all spaceports and ground to space vehicle launchers. If it can get a manned vehicle to orbit, I want it hit until it will take at least four months to repair the damage.”
Looking over to the android again, he asked, “What is the status of the special munitions packages I wanted?”
Raven considered the data, and answered, “Twelve packages ready to fire. Due to the increased size, we can fit a single package on each Dragon-type fighter. Time to equip Inferno squadron with the packages: approximately five hours.”
“Do it, and contact our observers upon the Smerti. Ask the Premier if she and the General would like to be present as we finish the threat of the Amazons to Nuevo Edo once and for all, and offer them an invitation to the Shinokage in five hours time.”