(Planetary Defense Command Bunker, Nuevo Edo)
“Group Alpha reporting in. Invaders at Point Alpha destroyed. Two gunboats lost, some damage to Breath of Hades, and down four fighters and three bombers. Tarpit in that area went down when the dreadnought died.”
Premier Fukuya’s head snapped around from the screen she was studying to focus on the speaker when she heard that last part. “Why weren’t we informed of that as it happened?”
General Akagi spared the young woman reporting the news, and said, “I imagine they were busy fighting for their lives at the time, and did not bother checking those sensors until they were through dealing with people shooting at them.”
Fukuya sighed, and nodded to her friend. “Continue your report, Lieutenant.”
“Point Beta remains at full strength, but the tarpit traps were layered with five times the needed strength to blanket the three primary attack points, so they are being forced to move at sublight until they can clear the tarpit.”
“Point Gamma was hit hard, ma’am. That was the only group without bomber support, and it shows. They are down to four fighters, five gunboats, and one Assassin operational, the Shadowdancer. All other assassins and the Shinokage are too damaged to continue the fight, but should be repairable, according to damage reports.”
Admiral Saez whistled appreciatively. “That’s impressive, considering how badly they were outgunned. I’m surprised they didn’t lose more people.”
“Point Delta is holding. The fighters are making all the difference there, ma’am. The enemy carrier attempted to use their fighters to attack us, but the Black Star squadrons annihilated them. Black Star has lost six gunboats and we’ve lost four, but all Assassins and capitol ships are still in the fight. The Jubilee just finished off the enemy dreadnought. Remaining enemy ships from Point Delta have pulled out of effective range of the platforms. Ten cruisers and twelve frigates remaining, most damaged but still fighting.”
“What about the carrier? Are the Marines in play?”
“Thunderfury reports the Marines have landed, and are meeting heavy resistance. However, ion cannons appear to be keeping the enemy self-destruct systems offline, so they may actually be able to capture the ship intact.”
“ADMIRAL! Multiple tachyon surges at Point Beta! Unidentified fleet just entered the system!”
Admiral Saez, General Akagi, and Premier Fukuya all shouted out at once, “WHAT?”
(X’thari Carrier
First Company, Black Star Marines, had been joined by the newly established Second Company for this fight. Between Black Star personnel and their families, and new recruits from Nuevo Edo or Dimiya, the Black Stars were more than could be fielded in a single company. Fortunately, the Thunderfury was designed with the ability to just barely carry two Companies with their command and logistics staff. Provided, of course, that it was for short spells. Hot-bunking Marines was not something you did for extended periods if you could help it. More than that, and they would need a second Assault Craft. Fortunately, he’d gone with Captain Am’rica to talk to the eggheads that designed some of the new ships, and put together what they’d need for a full assault craft, as well as something for special forces teams, when a Raven-class wasn’t available.
And right now, Second Company was getting their trial by fire. Most of them were Locals, so he’d gotten together with their Major, and come up with new tactics that took advantage of what they learned in the raids they launched during the Civil War, especially the Venus op. The benefit of ‘immortals’ on the battlefield was impressive, but respawn times meant you couldn’t just human wave a strong point with a platoon until you broke them. And the Locals weren’t just sitting back on their thumbs and letting First Company do the really hard work. They were Marines, not Army, after all! However, if your door kickers and rearguard didn’t feel like dying was ‘game over’, then you got a whole lot of options that opened up to you.
First Company led the way into the breach when the Thunderfury pulled up next to the X’thari carrier, when they used their ‘gravpacks’ (gravitic movement assistors did NOT catch on with the Marines, for reasons) to rocket out of the Thunderfury and into the open hangar bay of the carrier. That was where the first real fight came, and Khan was pleased to say that all his Marines, even the new people on Second Company, did damn fine jobs on their first ship to ship insertion.
Now that they had completed the hardest part, getting on board, they had to try and get control of the ship. There was no ‘ask for surrender’, and no ‘stun them’ or ‘take them alive’. Everyone knew the score. The X’thari would not allow themselves to be taken prisoner, so they all had to be put down, as fast as possible, or Bad Things™ would happen. That said, with no knowledge of the ship’s plans, they had to play this by ear. So, Second Company went aft, hoping to find whatever passed for an Engineering section on this tub, and First Company was headed towards the center of the ship, looking for the bridge.
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As they were advancing, Major Khan (he really needed to get a full battalion together so the rank was correct) called a halt as he found what they really needed. Looking over to one of his officers, he yelled, “Comms, are we still in contact with Raven aboard Shinokage?”
“Spotty, sir! Last communication said that they’ve been taking a beating. But I have stable comms for the moment, if you need them.”
“Then plug in to this terminal! I know our specialists are all kick ass codeslingers, but I need a map, and I need it yesterday!”
“Accessing… we have good connection to Raven. Wait one… Right! She’s found us a schematic of the ship, but it is hard to read because of being alien. She’s highlighted two sections for us, though. ‘Engineering’ and ‘Central Control’. Guess that is what it translates out to.”
“Forward that map to Second Company, and tell them to get moving! I don’t want this tub blowing up around me, and I know they don’t, either! First Company, move out! We have a Central Control to capture!”
(NEN Santiago, Point Delta, Nuevo Edo System)
“Captain, I must insist you go to the infirmary!”
Captain Gonzalez shook her head, further annoying the ship’s medical officer who was trying to patch the head wound she’d suffered in that last exchange with the enemy cruisers. “I’m not walking off the bridge of my ship in the middle of a fucking battle, doc. Keep it so the blood stays out of my eyes, and then go look to the more seriously wounded. Either we’ll get through this and I’ll have plenty of time to sit in the infirmary, or we’ll all be dead. Now go!”
The doctor gave her that dirty look every doctor must learn in medical school for when a patient is being ‘unreasonable’ by their estimation, but they don’t have the authority to simply force them to stop what they’re doing and take their medicine. Fortunately, the whole ‘in the middle of a battle that might kill us all’ thing got through the doctor’s indignation at her refusal to leave her post immediately. The bandages would do fine for now, as long as they didn’t take another hit like that last one.
She hit the call button on her bracer. “Nagai, status!”
Nagai Juri, her Chief Engineer, was one of the brighter technical minds on the planet, to the point where she’d been told that there had been some rather… lengthy back-room talks between the government and that Commodore Mollen who ran Black Star. Seems they had wanted to poach her for their crews. Considering that she was catching up on tech that was at least a hundred years ahead of where they were, that said something about the young engineer. Ana was glad to have her.
“Captain! We managed to get the shield generator back online, but I can’t promise how much damage it’ll be able to soak. Engines are at 57%. I might be able to get as much as 65% for a little bit, but we’d be getting towed back to dock.”
“What about the primary weapon? When can we fire again?”
“Relays are shot, captain! I can do a workaround, but it isn’t going to be efficient at all. You’re looking at double the charge time, at least! And that’s if we don’t explode the next time you fire. I can maybe get you one shot, but that’s it.”
“Captain! We’re detecting multiple tachyon surges out by Point Beta!”
“Is there anything we can do about it right now?”
“No Ma’am.”
“Then keep an eye on whatever’s going on, let me know if something becomes relevant. Comms! Get me the Cortez!”
“Online.”
The main viewscreen was shattered, but the monitor at her side was (miraculously) still intact. Looking into the picture, she said, “Captain Ara, our primaries have been knocked out. What is your status?”
“Primaries online, but that last attack run took a lot out of us. Engines are at 32% and holding. One more good attack, and we’re finished.”
“All right. We just have to hold out for a little while longer, until the bombers from Black Star get back our way. Lets link up with the Wakizashi. They are in about as good shape as you are, so Santiago will lead the attack run on Cruiser 16. Let’s try to keep them away from Aikawa’s life pods!”
“Understood. Forming up with Wakizashi now. Good luck, Captain.”
Gonzalez sighed as the connection broke off. Quietly, she muttered. “Yeah, we’re going to need it.” Then she took a breath, and said, “All right, prepare for attack pattern Delta-3!” She hit the communicator again, and said, “Juri, give me everything you can to the shields! We’re going to need them!”
“I’ll do what I can, Captain.”
“Captain! Ships coming out of warp at the edge of the Carrier’s tarpit envelope! It is the group from Point Alpha! Dragons incoming!”
“All right! Continue attack plan. Reroute all power to shields. Let’s look big and bad so the others can send these aliens straight to hell!”
(Planetary Defense Command Bunker, Nuevo Edo)
“Ships at Point Beta have been destroyed!”
Saez looked up from the tactical screen where she’d been following the battle closer to the planet. She was Admiral in name only, she knew, since she’d never commanded a fleet in combat (hell, her ‘fleet’ was all brand new) but she was learning everything she could from watching the Black Star forces. When you built an entire fleet out of force multipliers, that could add up, fast. But she had also noticed the weakness of such a system. The Commodore’s forces at Point Gamma, which he’d led himself, had been savaged. They’d managed not to lose any of their larger ships, but no one had heard from the Commodore himself since the Shinokage’s last attack run.
Now, she saw that the previously untouched group at Point Beta had indeed been wiped out, thanks to the mysterious fleet that had appeared in a burst of tachyons. Commodore Mollen said that the Empire used technology like that, but they should be far out of range from any Imperial worlds. “Do we have identification on those ships yet?”
“We’re running them through the Black Star algorithms now, Ma’am. They appear to be Imperial designs. Three superdreadnoughts, one carrier, and support craft. Appears to be a standard task force. INS on the lead ship reads INS Triumphant.”
“Admiral! The enemy carrier’s tarpit field has gone offline. All other ships have been destroyed.”
“Very well. Have our ships form a perimeter with the Black Star ships. Launch S&R shuttles to begin rescuing pilots and pick up escape pods.”
“New contact, the BSS Starlight Raven just launched from Shinokage! Transmission incoming!”
Commodore Mollen’s face appeared on the screen. He looked to be injured, but otherwise he was still breathing, which wasn’t bad, considering that Shinokage had gone toe to toe with a dreadnought.
“Admiral, I see you’re issuing orders for S&R and a perimeter. The Imperial task force is here because of me. I called in a favor or two, and was able to get them to send a few ships.”
“A few, Commodore? Your gift for understatement astounds me. But where did they come from? You said their ships didn’t have the legs to reach us from Imperial Space with their transition drives.”
“They don’t. But the Amazon system is within range, a fact I’d forgotten until my contact asked about it. They used the Gateway to form up in the Amazon system, so they could jump in all together, instead of coming through the Gateway one at a time. But it took a bit longer than we expected to get everyone moving the same way, which is why their arrival was delayed.”
Admiral Saez nodded. “Well, I’m glad you called in those favors, Commodore. I do not enjoy the thought of what those fresh ships would have been able to do to our defenders when we’ve already been beat up as much as we have.”
“Always happy to help, Admiral. If you’ll give the task force an orbital slot, I’ve been informed the Empress of the Terran Empire would like to make her first diplomatic visit to Nuevo Edo and confirm its status as a free port.”
“We’ll send orbit information and language translation software to them now, Commodore. And congratulations. We weren’t certain you had survived, for a while.”
“Neither were we. All Black Star ships are returning to orbit, and we’ll start working ships through the yards in the order of what we can get back online fastest. Mollen out.”