The Terpla'ns - Chapter 4.75
Star Admiral Terson was feeling the pressure to do something. As bad as the destruction of Star Force 2 was the First Leader had to declare war on a new alien race. That meant a portion of the reinforcements slated for the now-dead System Admiral Anjur was siphoned off to the Nu?Chut sector. Having read the reports provided by the AFC, Terson seriously questioned why the First Leader started this second war. The entry point in the alien system of contact was closed, and the initial survey force was destroyed. It would?ve been a simple matter to fortify the other end just in case the aliens had seen where the drones disappeared when they exited the system.
It appeared First Leader Grandous was compelled to take on this new race even before the AFC had made more substantial gains against the CPS. The destruction of the buggy Uan?s home system, heralded with much fanfare, was in Terson?s opinion taken as a sign by Grandous that his fleet could take on multiple threats. Now word came back that the task group sent to engage the aliens was defeated, and this on top of the Allied recovery of Virga and the Hamthen Altocumulus chain.
Star Force 4, 1st Advance Fleet, was in Roll Cloud to back up the fortifications guarding the Pileus warp point. With Allied forces in Altocumulus SF 4 was threatened from two directions. Those mines and buoys left in reserve in Roll Cloud were deployed to cover the Alto warp point and the much reduced automated defenses in Cirrus and Rainbow were scrapped altogether and sent to Roll Cloud as well. A breakout from Virga into Contrail would leave SF 4 the choice of staying put, hoping for a relief force to push the Allies back, to advance and engage enemy forces in either Contrail or Pileus, or engage the Allies in Altocumulus. The defining factor was supplies, as SF 4 only had enough for five months, less if they have to use them for repairs.
Retaking Alto and crushing the Allied force will enable SF 4 to stay in supply for a bit longer. That would mean abandoning Roll Cloud and leaving the Pileus warp point fortifications unsupported. A fleet could stand off from those bases and destroy them at their leisure, taking their fighter and missile strikes in stride. However, if their attention was diverted to system with much more importance, say like Hagelkorn?.
Terson made up his mind. He sent orders to the commander of SF 4 to conduct an immediate attack on Alto. With the number of intervening systems and the distance between warp points in those systems the message would take half a day to get to Roll Cloud. Long before then the defenses of Hagelkorn would?ve been destroyed
A little before Terson came to his decision Task Group 231 entered Altocumulus proper. Moving at cruising speed the task group would take eight days to reach the Alto/Roll Cloud warp point. Halfway through a section of freighters and minelayers broke formation and made best speed for the Alto/Cirrocumulus warp point with a similar force heading for the Alto/Roll Cloud warp point. Preceding the first detachment were four Sloop scouts, the Privateer-class pinnace tender Curtys and the Chaq-B class pinnace tender Bayyar. A sensor contact, taking a direct line course between the Cirrocumulus and Roll Cloud war points, was investigated. It turned out to be an Axis fleet carrier, two undersized FT2 freighters, and two scouts. One of the Axis scouts in turn investigated the sensor contact that was moving slower than the Sloops. In this way the Curtys and Bayyar were distinguished.
After hearing the news the Axis carrier captain bought his ship about and headed for the Curtys and Bayyar. Believing them to be a Jonal minelayer and a regular Chaq pinnace tender the captain?s intention was to destroy or disable them so that they couldn?t emplace a minor minefield and conduct reconnaissance of the Cirrocumulus system. What he couldn?t have known was that the two ships really were armed pinnace tenders. In a calculated move the tender captains kept to their original course and allowed the carrier to close. They waited until the carrier, approaching from the port bow, had closed to six light-seconds range and launched fighters before turning away. Slowly gaining, the 30 Axis fighters were presented with what looked like 15 pinnaces upon reaching the three light-second mark.
Aboard the Apin named Wholly Mackerel the attitude of the crew was righteous. Lt.(sg) Davke was chewing on his trademark mackerel jerky while inputting targeting priorities for the three squadrons he commanded. Banna Coopersmith had elected to come along instead of staying aboard the Curtys. He was contractually obligated to his guild to personally film two combat engagements involving Apins. Having fulfilled one when Davke?s Blue Whales attacked a small convoy in Pyrocumulus Banna decided to get the final one out of the way.
While giving the jerky a final promise before swallowing Davke turned to Banna. ?In all honesty, Mr. Coopersmith, you should?ve stayed on ship. If those jokers have guns on their rails then our widows will be collecting our pensions.?
?If it?s all the same,? Banna said, enduring the smell of jerky that permeated the flightdeck, ?I?ll take my chance here. I believe enough Axis pilots will break through and seriously damage the Curtys.?
?Don?t sell your guild?s product short,? Davke said as he closed the faceplate of his vac suit. His following words sounded metallic through his suit?s external speaker. ?We may be outnumbered two to one and don?t possess datalink, but we can engage three separate targets. And,? he said with relish, ?if they expend their short-attack missiles on us it means that much fewer with which to attack the Curtys and Bayyar. I can?t think of a better way to go than by saving the ship.?
?I prefer old age and dying in my sleep,? Banna blurted out, to which Davke and the rest of the flightdeck crew laughed. Ten seconds to firing range the lighting changed to red, and Banna sealed his suit, expecting to be blown up at any moment. Good luck was on his side that day, for all the Axis fighters carried just attack missiles, and they were just out of range to engage the pinnaces.
Armed with an attack missile, laser pack, and an ECM pack each the 15 Apins opened up on the 30 fighters at a range of one-quarter of a light-second. Add in the built-in fighter gun and point defense mount the enemy pilots thought they were on the wrong end of a firing range. Seventeen fighters were blotted from the heavens, and the remainder flew past the Apins as they turned about to pursue. Now just 2 LS from the cruisers and the Apins 0.75 LS behind them the 13 Axis pilots thought the worse was behind them. They were wrong. They found out the hard way that the laser pack?s maximum range could still get to them along with the Apin?s point defense. Five more fighters were brought down.
At 1.5 LS the Curtys used its shipboard laser to engage but missed. Now 1 LS behind the fighters the Apins only had their point defense with which to engage, bringing down two more for their effort. The six survivors kept going, passing the 1 LS mark without incident. Now unable to fire on the fighters anymore the Apins turned about and went after the carrier at full speed. A necessary move since the captain detuned his engines to keep the range open.
Luck remained with the pilots for a bit longer as the six survivors past the half light second mark, weaving and banking through the explosions of point-defense missiles. It was clear that the Bayyar would be the target as twelve attack missiles wouldn?t put Curtys out of commission. At the last moment Bayyar turned to port 60? so that Curtys? weapons could engage the fighters in the smaller ship?s blind spot. Even with CAMs on its external racks the big tender was only able to shoot down one fighter. Bayyar lost her armor and cargo hold after all was said in done, and the five fighters pulled away at full speed. Curtys couldn?t turn quick enough to bring even her laser into play, but the more nimble Bayyar still had the reach of her point defense. She missed, and the greatly diminished strike rushed back to its carrier to rearm with gun packs, for eventually the engine detuning will take its toll.
Twenty minutes later the carrier stopped detuning, allowing the 15 Apins to close the range. Just as the armed craft were 1.5 LS behind the ship turned to starboard and fired its laser, taking out one of 5th Squadron?s Red Fins. It also launched its last five fighters. Generating ECM, the quintet went for a head-on strike, which was both daring and made the Apin?s job of shooting them down easier. One fighter was splashed before it could attack, but its squadronmates took down three Apins with them. The carrier?s capital point defense mounts claimed the fourth.
At 1 LS range the 10 Apins were now at maximum range of their laser packs. Three scored hits while the carrier missed. Thirty seconds later the laser picked off another Red Fin. Five lasers punished the big ship?s armor, destroying all of its external ordnance. At half a light second Davke lost one of his Blue Whales, but with five more hits the carrier belched air and slowed from the loss of an engine room. Refusing to slow to generate more ECM, as this would allow the Apins to get into his blind spot, the carrier captain kept moving at best speed and turned at the last moment to bring his weapons to bear.
The eight Apins were atop the carrier and revealed a new surprise. Carrying a single fighter close attack missile, this weapon wasn?t armed with a nuclear warhead but with anti-matter. Last-ditch fire took down one more Apin, but the rest made the ship a cripple moving at half speed. It was simple matter of maneuver to get into the ship?s blind spot and thus avoid further losses. Again, there was nothing the Apins could do to shoot down the four courier drones fired by the dying ship, trusting that the Sloops and the minelayer group at the Alto/Roll Cloud warp point could get them.
Reduced as his force was, Davke had his crews go after the two undersized FT2 freighters. They were a new class not previously seen, so it was advisable to find out what they had in the way of defenses if any. One bright spot was their slow speed, allowing the seven Apins to augment their ECM packs with engine modulation. The freighters were armed with point defense, seeing how they illuminated the Apins with fire-control ladars, but were unable to generate a fire control solution due to ECM. Keeping the range open at 0.75 LS, Davke?s crews took their time, knocking out one FT2 and then the other. To his word, Davke gave this class the reporting name of Lugger, honoring one of the first Apin crews to be lost in combat.
With only seven Apins left it was decided to base all of them on the Curtys, sending the Bayyar back to Pyrocumulus for repair. Arriving ahead of the minelayer group, the Curtys sent in one Apin to probe the Cirrocumulus warp point. What it found was a minefield of 120 patterns and 60 buoys being controlled by an undersized type-2 base. All seven Apins took out the buoys and waited until they were joined by three refitted Valhallan Reliant cruisers. Filled with mine-clearance charges, the Reliants proceeded to clear a path in the minefield while the Apins returned to the Curtys to get rearmed.
The base fired its three drones, sending them to the warp point. One was shot down by the Reliants while the other two broke past and headed into Altocumulus. Returning, the seven Apins went down the lane cleared by the cruisers. The ships followed, their scanners intent on getting as much data on this type of base before it was destroyed. With ECM packs and modulation the base was unable to engage the Apins either at long or point-blank range. Three salvos of two anti-matter fighter attack missiles each, one salvo every thirty seconds, broke down the base, its disintegration revealing that it was assembled from prefabricated components instead of a unitary hull.
A Sloop sped on to Cirro III to find a very small Axis space station orbiting the planet, its tonnage roughly the same as a type-4 base. It appeared to be identical to the one that orbited Pyro IV, as it fired but a single missile at the scout. Then, with the scout crew looking on in horror the station began bombarding the planet. Whereas Pyro IV was rich in mineral content Cirro III was poor. Only a 35,000 man Axis garrison watched over the 265,000 Hamthens that lived on the planet. Conquered for its resources to support the defenses in Roll Cloud the station commander decided to move up the extermination date of the population by two years. In any event it was planned to wipe out the population if Allied forces regained the system. In little over three hours the deed was done. Neutron warheads exterminated the settlement as well as ten percent of the troops despite the advanced warning.
The Curtys attacked the space station with externally mounted capital missiles and its laser. As for the seven Apins they kept their distance and participated in only one sortie, firing stand-off missiles, yet another new weapon. The pinnaces and shuttles sent out by the station attempted to ram the Curtys, but were shot down by the Apins. The hopeless outclassed station kept flailing away with its sole missile launcher, firing sprint-mode missiles as the Curtys parked itself at point-blank range and lazed the station into oblivion, losing only half of its shields after all was said and done. As for the Axis troops they were treated to a brief missile bombardment courtesy of the Apins. Eventually a freighter loaded with kinetic bombardment satellites arrived and in conjunction with a single division of E?sani troops proceeded to kill all the Axis soldiers. It just wouldn?t do to let them live, even in scattered small groups for years to come, after they?ve killed so many out of expediency.
Aside from encountering and destroying another Lugger the Apins of the Curtys were done with their first deployment of the war. New units were prepped and sent to the ship as well as the repaired Bayyar. Banna Coppersmith collected more than he bargained for his media presentation for the guild. He was made an honorary member of the Blue Whales and even given something called a flight jacket, complete with squadron patch and matching gloves. Though he could never wear the garment Banna treated it as a prized possession, never failing to show it to friends years later, even though it smelt like mackerel and beer. That was because it was presented during a victory party, one that the CPS and its allies were waiting for a long time.
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CSF Admiral Ayrth, commanding Task Force 21 and overall commander of allied forces in the Hagelkorn system, knew he was taking a major gamble. He wanted to entice the Axis fleet in Hamthen into making a spoiling attack. The intent was to make the AFC believe it was in its best interest to keep the Allies fixated on defending Hagelkorn and not to risk an assault of their own. With the recovery of Virga (and thankfully its two colonies by Hazen ground troops) and the ongoing Altocumulus operation the AFC would be compelled to regain the initiative. So as to satisfy their ego as well as make them lose their assault force, which could only help the Allies for their plan to take Hamthen, Ayrth made the AFC an offer it couldn?t refuse.
Before the third Axis probe assault on Hagelkorn Ayrth pushed for and got several type-4 bases for the defenses. These bases, however, mounted almost nothing but shield generators and armor. Indeed, each of the 12 type-4s Ayrth got cost as much as a dreadnought due to their prefab components. After the third Axis assault the bases were assembled and slotted into position with the type-5s. Their purpose was to confuse and spread enemy fire while the real bases reached action stations.
With the introduction of the plasma-armed corvettes by the Axis, as demonstrated in the Ua attack, these floating armored citadels more than justified their cost. Ayrth ordered a major change to the defense posture. The Blockhouses, as the 12 became to be known, were left at the 1.25 LS position divided into four groups from the warp point. One-quarter of a light second behind them were six type-2 bases, armed with advanced missile launchers and equally spaced apart. At 2.25 LS, in two separate groups of three were the beam-armed type-5s and one LS beyond them, again divided in two groups, sat two of new BS6(V)s, 6 BS5(V)s, 4 BS5(E)s and 6 BS5(R)s. The other six BS5(B)s and six BS5(R)s were pulled out to a distance of 11 light-seconds, and thus they were invisible to the enemy targeting scanners. Long range scanners would take them as auxiliaries, such as personnel transports used to pick up survivors. Six tugs were on hand to tow the bases into combat if the need arose, but it was their apparent absence that should tempt the Axis to attack.
2400 patterns of mines in one thick shell covered the warp point. 1500 weapon buoys in six parks were in attendance. Only 300 of them were of the one-shot laser variety, the rest being cut-down energy beams. The new corvette class had thick armor and its two plasma guns were given the best protection. It would take six point-blank laser buoy hits to destroy this corvette, and the numbers employed at Ua told Ayrth that lasers just won?t do. Using a relay of BC and CL fast freighters the admiral had 1200 energy beam buoys brought in from the Yoshibo fleet base in the weeks after the fall of Ua. When the Axis used their new corvettes again, and no-one doubted that they would, they would be burnt out by energy overloads and rendered impotent.
As for the task force it orbited the warp point at 1.5 LS range, just outside the reach of plasma guns, with the capital missile and carrier components at 3 LS range. The CAP, being provided exclusively by the bases, was 174 strong and orbited the warp point at half-a-light-second distance. Everyone was expecting the attack soon for Ayrth allowed the last Axis pinnace probe, detected three days ago, to return unmolested. On the twentieth day after the Allies attacked Virga the Axis came calling.
On the western side of the warp point the Allied ships watched as the first wave made its entrance. First and second in line were Soar carriers, followed by a mass transit of 300 Grenadiers, of which 96 interpenetrated and exploded. Fourth was another Soar, and the fifth was a mass transit of 8 Grim Reapers (2 interpen), 5 Soars, 4 Falcon Crests, 4 Wave Riders (2 interpen), 60 Sprinters (20 interpen) and 60 Punches (16 interpen). The last entry was 20 Dispersions with 6 trying to share the same space at the same time. 322 Axis ships, facing the arbitrarily designated northeast, fired their transit addled weapons at the type-4s while flushing mine clearance charges from their external racks.
Starting with the first salvos the Axis wave received one surprise after another. The Blockhouses performed as required, soaking up a great deal of fire that would?ve brought down more conventionally armed bases. Only six were destroyed. Next were anti-matter warheads, dealing twice the damage than expected. 4 Soars, 3 Falcon Crests, 3 Grim Reapers, 2 Wave Riders, 4 Punches, 11 Grenadiers and 8 Dispersions were destroyed. 18 of the 29 CAP squadrons became active with 35 more crashed-launched from the bases and 18 from the carriers.
The Axis was successful in destroying 139 mine patterns. Then there were the buoy controllers on the 12 small Allied bases and 6 automated weapon control ships sitting 6 LS ?north? of the warp point. Five bases and one ship became active, and between them they activated just enough energy beam buoys so that each Axis ship was subjected to two attacks. 154 Grenadiers lost their engines due to massive electrical overloads caused by the energy beams, thus rendering the Axis Commander?s plan to ?plow the road?, where each ship was subject to just one attack, useless.
20 Axis squadrons launched and made a bee-line for the BS5s to the north while the ships, namely the DDs and FGs, focused on the southern bases. The Soars and the Falcon Crest turned as best they could to face their exit vector. Twelve BCs arrived two at a time with only one pair interpenetrating and exploding. Like filing attracted to a magnet 10 of the 18 active CAP squadrons went for the new arrivals while the other 8 went after the carriers and minesweepers. It was here that fourth in the series of surprises was sprung on the invaders as the fighters were fight generation, each armed with three close-attack missiles filled with antimatter.
It was a slaughter. Just 52 Grenadiers remained, impotent while their plasma guns recharged. Half of those were unable to move due to energy beam hits. One Falcon Crest, one Grim Reaper, 4 DDs, 4 FGs, and 3 ESs were e-hulked. 42 Axis fighters were shot down, intercepted by 54 fighters and the point defense of the immediate target and of the bases nearby, leaving just 78. Ayrth ordered 132 more e-buoys used so that each of the remaining Grenadiers was targeted by at least 2 buoys. For all their trouble the Axis only badly damaged one BS5 with long-range laser fire. The new composite armor had proven its worth; otherwise it would?ve meant the sure destruction of one base and the damaging of another.
Wave three was composed of 12 CAs and 12 CLs arriving in groups of four. Eight of the CAs interpenetrated while the CLs made it through safely. Ayrth ordered those ships that had plasma gun and energy beam armaments to close on the warp point with the intent of e-hulking as many ships as possible. Before they fell to the guns of defending fighters the Axis squadrons succeeded in destroying one type-5 beam base.
There was no fourth wave. A full five minutes pass before Ayrth gave the order to stand down. SAR teams went into action, rescuing those few Allied life pods that were ejected during battle. No Axis life pods were picked up, and only those captured on the hulked ships were made prisoner. Whatever demented scheme the Axis admiral had in conducting this major probe attack it was proven a failure. For damage to one BS5 and one BS4, and the loss of one BS5, 6 Blockhouse BS4s, 1 BS2, 171 patterns of mines and 8 buoys the CSF had scored a major defensive victory.
Of the 300 CTs only one escaped back to Hamthen with 8 hulked and captured. All 8 DN(V)s and 3 CVs were gone with one CV hulked. Added to the list were 8 DN(MS), 4 BC(MS), 56 of 60 DD (4 hulked), 56 of 60 FG (4 hulked), 16 of 20 ES (3 hulked and 1 escaped), 12 BC, 8 of 12 CA (4 hulked), and 6 of 12 CL (6 hulked). Personnel losses for the Axis alone were on the order of 119,000. A stagger number indeed, and Ayrth wondered what motivated the Axis to conduct an attack that in all likelihood would?ve failed. As willing as the Axis has proven to make mass transit attacks by now they should realize it would take a whole fleet, not just assault waves, to swamp the defenses of Hagelkorn. Ayrth shuttered at the mere thought if those corvettes were used for warp point defense, little monsters with guns that would tear down ships like piranha. The Axis had the chance to do so in Virga but didn?t, indicating that they saw the corvettes as purely offensive weapons. For that oversight 193 plasma corvettes, as well as the support elements of the Axis forces in Virga were destroyed as they tried to flee to Contrail.
While Ayrth?s staff had wanted to wait three days before conducting the decisive assault on Hamthen, letting the enemy go back down to watch levels, he decided otherwise. If the Axis wanted clear proof of antimatter warheads and the new fighters then they?ll get it. The battles in Virga and Pyro may have been treated with skepticism but now all doubt was removed. Given time to digest the news the enemy might well be tempted to move his close-in bases out to 1.5 LS range, denying the plasma guns of Ayrth?s units a target even if it meant the bases couldn?t use them in turn. No, now was the time, while the enemy concentrated on their response to their failed attack that the fleet should strike.
Four hours after the last enemy cruiser was rendered into a shorted-out wreck the assault component of Task Force 21 was sent in to Hamthen.
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Terson found it hard to accept the probe attack was not as successful as predicted. Data from the only two ships and two pinnaces that returned, not to mention the fifty courier drones, was still being mulled over by the intelligence staff. The six bases destroyed showed they were heavily shielded and armored. As for firepower the only observed weapons were externally mounted CAMs, odd considering that if they had other weapons they would?ve used them. Being the second time the Grenadiers were used in combat Terson came to the conclusion that they should hold their fire until the effects of transit had gone. The resulting increase in accuracy would make up for the losses inflicted by the defenders. Using SF 1?s 60 DDs and 60 FGs was a calculated move on the admiral?s part. With the Grenadiers to help the plan was for them to charge a selected patch of the Hagelkorn minefield, depleted by the mass use of mine clearance charges. Once through the regular warships were to charge the beam bases and destroy them in their entirety. Only the fact that these bases were further away than expected, and the massive use of energy beam buoys by the enemy, prevented more of them from being destroyed outright.
While the loss of personnel was considerable Terson remained convinced his attack had the desired effect. The Allies would stay on the defensive in Hagelkorn, protecting the last Abom bastion, knowing that the Axis only sent in forces that were considered truly expendable while keeping the bulk of their fleet on reserve. Indeed, the battlecruisers and heavy and light cruisers used were ones originally slated for SF 2, but Terson recalled them a month ago from Contrail to reinforce SF 1.
In his opinion, had the CSF been serious about recapturing Hamthen then they should?ve done so well before now. Only a mass transit attack would work against the defenses the Axis had emplaced over the last fifteen months: 24 type-5 bases ? 12 beam, 6 missile, 4 fighter and 2 defense ? and 3 control bases guarded the warp point along with 2400 patterns of mines and 1200 laser buoys. The beam bases were arranged in four groups of three, located 1.25 LS from the warp point. Four LS north and south sat the fighter and defense bases and half a light second beyond them were the missile bases. Six LS south of the warp point were located the 3 automated weapon control bases. A formidable defense, and 3 more beam, 2 fighter and one defense base were nearing completion over Hamthen, being assembled from prefabricated components. As for SF 1, currently orbiting 1.25 LS northwest of the warp point, it was composed of 24 capital ships (the 12 DN(R)s sat with the northern missile bases), 24 BCs, 18 CAs, 24 CLs, 18 carriers plus escorts (located with the northern fighter bases), and no less than 828 fighters (204 of which were on CAP at any one time), backing up the fixed defenses. Despite the widening of the war on the First Leader?s part Terson was going to get 24 more capital ships, 12 BCs and six fleet carriers in two months. With such reinforcement a mass transit with capital units would mean an end for the Hagelkorn system.
Going over the data in his day cabin, located next to the CIC on the dreadnought Righteous Fury, Terson was alerted by the klaxon that announced an enemy warp transit. In a moment he was in the chamber, already set to combat lighting, taking in the huge hologram display of the warp point and its environs. The first three ships that emerged were huge, at least 30% more massive than a dreadnought. Unless these ships had heavy passive defenses Terson just considered them to be big?.
The fourth transit wasn?t a single ship but a tsunami. 160 ships, from the new larger warship class down to frigates, emerged with 36 interpenetrating. Taken aback by the sheer amount of tonnage Terson didn?t see the fifth transit was composed of one ship, but the sixth transit had 300 escorts and explorers (118 interpenetrating) and an incredible 400 enlarged pinnaces as described in sketchy reports from Virga and Altocumulus. 60 pinnaces exploded from interpenetrations, but the survivors moved out from the immediate environs of the warp point, breaking past the minefield at a further cost of 34 of their number.
All the Allied ships faced northeast. Save one all carried capital mine clearance charges on their external racks. The exception was the first ship to enter, an Avami class assault carrier, and it fired 15 antimatter armed CAMs and a hetlaser at one Axis beam base, located at the edge of plasma gun range from the warp point. 85% of the base?s shields were smashed, and in the subsequent volleys the internal weapons of Allied ships destroyed three beam bases and damaged five, three of those seriously. 228 patterns of mines had been cleared by BAM-Rc rounds. The Allies lost three Avamis, four Salyfs, and one Nikazu-V with another with some light internal damage. Of the 1080 fighters embarked on the carriers that survived transit 702 remained, most of those on the fleet and light carriers. Facing them were a total of 816 Axis fighters with 102 of the 204-strong CAP becoming active and 222 more crash-launched from their bases and carriers. Deliberate targeting orders from Terson make the pure assault carriers the primary target for his warships. With them gone the Allies would be denied their use in future assaults.
300 laser buoys were fired, matching the number of remaining Allied ships exactly. Damage to any one ship would be negligible, but did serve the purpose of wiping off any EDMs the larger ships, especially the fleet carriers, happened to carry. While that was done the 303 armed pinnaces that survived transit and the minefield fired their addled weapons at a buoy park, destroying 57 laser buoys. As the second wave, 3 DNs and 3 BCs, started to enter the fleet, light, and escort carriers transited back to Hagelkorn as a group. Two CV and two CVLs were destroyed on the far side, but this maneuver save the rest from destruction as Terson had designated them as the next targets.
Allied minesweepers, composed of two SDs, six DNs, four BBs, and six CAs entered the ravaged portion of the minefield, accompanied by the 120 Magnet ESs and 62 Damage Sink EXs. 54 patterns were expended in the process of attacking the ships, bringing down the shields on everything smaller than the SDs and inflicting heavy armor damage on the CAs, ESs and EXs. Fulfilling their roll, the Damage Sinks were destroyed as they attempted to exit the field, taking a further twelve patterns out of the equation.
Before Terson could grimace from the disappearance of most of the carrier targets an alarm spread across SF 1 and the fighter squadrons nearest the warp point. All datalinks had been cut by enemy jamming, making coordinated attacks impossible. Quickly as it could be determined the jamming was found to be generated by three of the enemy?s battleship-hulled carriers and two battlecruisers. The Axis admiral ordered that these ships be destroyed first so that datalinks would be restored. It was done, but with its short-term salvo advantage the Allies either gutted or destroyed the beam bases and tore into the CAP squadrons with their escort cruisers and frigates and fighters. The Endrili Hellstones vaporized one BS5 and a BB, firing killer salvos of antimatter sprint missiles. Even the addled new arrivals, three Cqux DNs and three Hazen Trumpeters BCs, took down a Hailfire. Just like the jamming Terson was given a new consternation by clear evidence of antimatter ordnance.
Allied fighter strikes went out to engage the close-in warships and southern bases. The south-bound squadrons slowed down just enough so that their lasers and guns could engage the crash-launched Axis fighters (those responding to the first wave) outside the range of proximity-mode fighter close attack missile. Those Allied fighters that hadn?t engaged the CAP squadrons attacked the buoy parks, taking down as many of the automated weapons as possible before the control bases (the controllers on the beams bases having been destroyed) could activate them.
With the fall of the jammers Terson had his ships pound on the Allied capital units, starting with the Hazen dreadnoughts. Four DNs and four Valhallan BCs were destroyed along with one BC heavily damaged. The Allied fighters attacked the Axis ships with conventional nuke-armed attack missiles on the real possibility that the Axis would?ve gunned for all the carriers at the start. Fighters sitting on their catapults, armed with antimatter attack missiles would?ve caused their carriers to go up like gasoline-soaked dynamite had even modest damage reached the launch bays. However, this didn?t limit the Apins from carrying antimatter ordnance. Terson, expecting the Apins to carry just one laser and a fRAM each (as observed in Virga and Alto), didn?t live long enough to express his curses as 303 Apins fired a laser and three fRAMs each, the equivalent of 50 fully-loaded squadrons of F1 fighters. Combined with the 30 F1 squadrons carrying conventional attack missiles Star Force 1 was effectively gutted.
The one reason why the Allies conducted conventional assaults from Hagelkorn until now was due to the construction of a space station just a little over one light-minute away from the Hagelkorn/Hamthen warp point. Consisting of little more than shuttle bays and living quarters, the station was built just large enough to hold 400 Apins. Based on combat simulations, that number was decided on so that at least 100 would survive long enough to fire their weapons. Now in Hamthen with three times that number the Allies were in awe of the destruction they wrought. Only two Prestige DNs, three National Power BBs, four Hero BCs, four Hailfire BCs, six Stalwart CAs, and nine National Will CLs remained with the rest either destroyed or severely damaged. Terson was dead, his flagship smothered by a datalink group of Hellstones and the hetlasers of a trio of Tamayas.
With the painful realization that the battle was lost the Axis carrier commander recalled those fighters crashed-launched moments after the third wave?s arrival and started to leave the area at best speed. He also had the fighters just launched from the bases to join him. The prime commander in charge of the National Reach DNs decided to leave as well, and for this action he was demoted one rank posthumously. Until then the close-in ships went down fighting and those fighters that survived to fire their attack missiles conducted suicide attacks on the Phyr escort frigates, succeeding in only bringing down the shields on six of them. What those pilots should?ve done was ram the Trumpeters. That trio of ships activated their jammers and launched 36 marine-filled assault shuttles; their intent was to board the e-hulked bases and immobilized ships for the purpose of capturing their databases.
The minesweepers and Magnets were attacked by mines as they left their designated swath to be cleared. 37 of the previously damaged little ships were extinguished, but the rest were mobile and their plasma guns recharged. First blood this round went to the second-wave Cqux DNs, however. Even while crawling at 0.016c so as to generate the most ECM two Axis Hero-C BCs were pulverized into weaponless wrecks. Again the Axis fixated on destroyed the jamming ships, more out of frustration than for the pitifully few datalink connections they had left. Those fighters launched in the moments after the first wave appeared, after storming past the Allied CAP and improved point defense batteries, made their attacks as singletons due to the jamming, though their efforts did finish off the first and second Trumpeters.
A third buoy controller became active and with it the Axis officer commanding the automated weapons elected to fire off 300 laser buoys. Tasked to engage enemy ships within three-quarters of a light-second range, many of the buoys were going to miss hitting the targets the control officer wanted ? the Magnets. Just seven of the previously damaged ships were destroyed, and the rest of the assault force took some hits but far fewer thanks to ECM protection.
The fourth wave entered, and it was composed of three Derakag BCs and three Terpla DNs, including the Captain Avma and Captain Dessis, Ayrth?s flagship. Mindful of the losses he incurred to secure the warp point Ayrth nevertheless felt righteous as he watched the Axis carrier and capital missile dreadnoughts flee the scene, covered by fighters that otherwise would?ve wrecked more havoc at the warp point. The southern missile and fighter bases were now being attacked by Allied fighters, so Ayrth ordered that the northern bases be finished off by his ships. To prevent their loss, the admiral had the minesweepers and the Magnets turn around and exit the system. Internally launched mine clearance charges from the Terplas and the Derakags took care of the last few mine patterns in the selected exit vector. The last Trumpeter exited for there was no longer a need for its jammer.
Now all active, the three northern missile bases fired their one-time ship-killing volley at the Captain of Industry, a Tuphonese-crewed Terpla and veteran of the UWL War. The ship was destroyed with 50% overkill, but was avenged in short order. In moments the only close-in Axis ships that were left were either e-hulked or motionless due to shut-down damaged engine rooms. The whole of the southern bases were destroyed, but 140 Axis fighters, having destroyed the fourth-wave Derakags and polishing off the last of the Hazen Second Colonels, elected to crash their charges into Allied ships rather than serve as moving targets for the Apins. Twenty-three fighters each went after the six Tamaya minesweeper conversions while the last two went after a badly crippled Phyr. All the Tamayas were hit for light damage, leaving the 73 that missed to be downed by the Allied CAP.
With the National Reaches out of missile range the last hurrah for Axis might came in the form of its 39 remaining laser buoys. The damaged scored only made the Allies think of it as a pathetic show of contempt. Moving into the clear zone of the minefield with maximum ECM the fleet focused its weapons on the northern defense and missile bases. The six Cqux opened up with their massive batteries of advanced launchers, their missiles? antimatter warheads making an impression the Axis would never forget. What few missiles that got through contributed to the collapse of the defense base?s passive defenses, its hull belching air from several breaches. Primary beams pierced the missiles bases, taking out launchers and point defense systems. Each new wave that recovered from transit added to the bases? torment, grinding them like rocks in a crusher.
Regarding the fleeing ships Ayrth had no wish to send his destroyers after them, incurring losses to an already steep bill. So, as the destruction of the remaining bases continued he had all the fighters and Apins attended to the elimination of the Axis mobile forces. With just 96 fighters the Axis flight groups were outnumbered 5.4 to 1; with the Apins it was 8.9 to 1. The DN(R)s and the carriers were 1.25 LS apart and were moving at 0.083c when the Allies reached them. Firing their capital point defense at the Apins, the dreadnoughts brought down five at a range of 1.25 LS. Axis fighters, still loaded with close attack missiles, left their holding stance over the carriers and angled for the massive strike bearing down on them. The range had closed to 0.75 LS to the DNs, and the gun-armed Allied fighters turned in time to face their Axis opposites at a range of 0.25 LS.
It was here that the Axis carrier admiral cursed himself for not rearming his fighters with gun packs. They were all shot down by the gun-armed fighters and the Apins? built-in point defense and gun mounts. 17 more Apins were brought down by the point defense barrage but that left 281 and 326 laser-packed F1s. Four DNs lost their armor and a fifth was destroyed.
Closer still, at 0.25 LS range the Allies destroyed no less than 8 DNs with laser fire for the loss of 20 Apins, some of which fell from long-range laser fire from the carriers. The DNs changed course and lured the Allies away while the carriers went to full speed. Only two more Apins were shot down before the last of the National Reaches exploded from overwhelming laser hits.
Turning around the massive Allied group slowly caught up to the carriers. At 1.5 LS eighteen lasers from the carriers fired on the Apins, knocking out five. A bit closer in, capital point defense mounts opened up, and with the lasers brought down 24 more. Still closer at 1 LS regular point defense joined in, shooting down 37 in all. The ten pinnaces launched by the DD-sized tenders missed with their shots and were brought down by the Apin?s point defense. Four escorts DDs were destroyed and a fifth was reduced to half-speed.
Having kept station with the Apins until now the Allied fighters, save eight squadrons, went to up 0.15c, placing them at 0.25 LS range from the carriers. As for the eight they went up to 0.133c. The Axis crews ignored the fighters and kept after the easier-to-hit Apins, taking out an incredible 49 in the space of thirty seconds. Return fire took out the last two DDEs, both pinnace tenders, all four escort cruisers and three CVLs with another now moving at half-speed.
At point-blank range the laser-armed fighters and the 48 armed with one close-attack missile each went after the carriers tong and hammers. 25 more Apins succumbed to the single-minded fire of the Axis ships. Four CVs out of the original eight remained, and the 119 Apins turned away, leaving it to the fighters to finish them off. Unable to clear their blinds spots the captains performed their last duty and had their courier drones fired at maximum speed. The comm chatter on the pilots? frequency was filled with as many whoops of victory as well as epithets since so many pinnace crews died in the process. Later the pilots learned that the losses they sustained as well as those ships destroyed in the warp point battle fell short of the average hourly death toll on Hamthen. It was a fact that stayed for them for the rest of their lives.
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From the failed Axis probe to the glowing wreck of the last Eagle Crest carrier scarcely four-and-one-quarter hours had past. The rest of Task Force 21 had already entered Hamthen and was making a beeline for the planet. Along the way they encountered a BB-sized tug towing a corvette and an escort. All three were destroyed in passing, for there was no need to capture them for the Allies had enough hulks to probe for data. Likewise, aside from the prisoners that were taken while securing the hulks around the warp point, no attempt was made to recover Axis life pods. For as massive as the Allied force was, both in warships and auxiliaries, there was only so much capacity to recover and care for survivors. Axis life pods were ignored, leaving their personnel to die through power exhaustion, asphyxiation, or suicide.
Nine hours at maximum dreadnought speed had TF 21 right over Hamthen. Like Pyro and Cirro there was a small space station in orbit. It self-destructed just as the ships entered capital missile range. Admiral Ayrth already knew what that station had done in the interim, for contact with resistance groups was established hours earlier via pre-arranged radio frequencies. The space station had bombarded Hamthen, creating radioactive buffer zones between the population and Axis Army troops. Accompanying TF 21 were 100,000 Terpla?n and E?sani soldiers with 2 million more being transported from their staging grounds on Hagelkorn over the course of a week. Using kinetic bombardment satellites the initial divisions created clear zones of their own, targeting concentrations of Axis troops even as small as a platoon in the process. Air and artillery defenses were built up, and radiological scanners more robust and powerful that those of the Axis were able to detect the much clich?d ?suitcase nukes? sooner and thus neutralized with orbital strikes.
System Admiral Hanset, military governor of Hamthen, acted on a contingency plan he hoped never to use. Upon receiving word of the successful break-in by the CSF the evacuation of the Comensal civilians, numbering 1,900, didn?t take long but the loading of seriously wounded army troops prevented the transports from leaving for four hours. Still, at maximum speed, the two ships plus their escort of two light carriers and those other auxiliaries able to keep up would make it to the Evershem warp point without interference.
Hanset cursed this turn of events, and leveled several at Terson. War hero or no, Hanset believed that old age has ossified Terson?s brain. Had he acted decisively months ago, even without those corvettes, then the threat to the Axis? new world would?ve been greatly reduced. Probe assaults, while they may have focused the enemy?s attention to defend Hagelkorn and Pileus, had the effect of also concentrating the enemy?s potential to conduct offensive operations as well. Had Terson been thinking aggressive like in his past exploits then he would?ve taken Pileus at the first opportunity and then assault Hagelkorn from two directions. No, old ?Scarface? Terson and the High Command just had to send Anjur down the Virga Chain in what amounted to a lucky fishing expedition, finding the home system of intelligent bugs. Had Hagelkorn been cleared out early, then more settlers could?ve been brought to Hamthen and sped up its incorporation into the Axis.
With the Army effectively on its own for the foreseeable future the plan was to preserve itself as long as possible while at the same time continue its campaign to exterminate the Aboms (aka the Hamthens). Any other race would see this as two mutually exclusive goals. For the Comensal it was an imperative. Exterminating as much of the enemy as possible, whether it be soldiers, spacers, or civilians, would ensure the eventual victory of the race. Reorganizing behind their freshly-made radioactive barriers Axis troops then set out in battalion-sized formations to resume the killing. Having never developed the weapon, or even thought about it due to cultural prerogatives, Axis troops were punished harshly by kinetic strikes and found their battalions being broken up. Those would-be exterminators incinerated by the kinetic strikes would come to be envied by their comrades.
What faced the five million Axis troops was more than resistance fighters, Allied armies, or even the incessant bombardment from space. It was the determination of a whole civilization fixed on destroying every single Comensal that soiled their world. By the millions huge bands of civilians, armed and unarmed, grappled with the enemy. Shot, bombed, and gassed in job lots those that lived to physically attack the boney-skinned killers found them down to using knives for they had run out of ammunition. It all ended the same, every soldier being dismembered, alive if possible, with the resulting freed limbs being used as clubs for as long they lasted.
Allied troops tried to and then gave up dissuading the civilians from fighting the Axis Army. They just weren?t listening, and a fair number were killed in kinetic strikes that knocked out even the smallest concentration of enemy troops. What ended up happening was that the flanks and rear of Axis positions were attack by the Allies, leaving just the front open ? open towards the hordes of a wrathful populace. Word had gotten around on what was happening to Comensal that fell in Hamthen hands. For a race that professed to be favored by Providence, righteous in their superiority, they chose to face the quick death by the Allies instead of the prolonged agony they so richly deserved.
Along with the troopships came freighters of all sizes, filled to capacity with supplies to aid the population. A great many of the auxiliary support services were composed of E?sani personnel, and there was some concern that the Hamthen would be hesitant to receive help from them. Their height and thickness could be construed as intimidating, and they were bipeds, like the Comensal. Far from hesitant the populace embraced their newfound tall benefactors. Battlefield stories, backed up with video, showed the proven E?sani robustness in point-blank combat. Hits that would?ve killed an adult Hamthen only bruised the hide of an E?sani trooper, and each hit was repaid with a dead Axis soldier. Civilians went out of their way to congratulate any E?sani they met. Indeed, Hamthen children, who would run in terror on sight of a Comensal, ran towards E?sani service personnel and were rewarded with treats and toys. In this, after sixteen months of hellish night dawn had finally broken for the Hamthen.
Before the drama unfolded on Hamthen there was still one more act left to play out in the reaches leading up to the Evershem warp point. Admiral Jki?s carrier group, accompanied by 60 destroyers and faster than the dreadnoughts and battleships of TF 21, caught up to the trailing elements of the support group that once serviced Star Force 1, First Advanced Fleet. On the roster to be encountered first were six tugs, three machine module equipped FT9s, two FT9 bulk transports and two FT2 ?Lugger? freighters. To minimize fighter losses each squadron utilized stand-off missiles, sending volleys of 18 of the new weapon just beyond the anti-fighter engagement range for capital point defense. Destroying the tugs first, and damaging the rest to the extent that they streamed air from hull breaches, the fighters broke off their attacks and left the destroyers to finish off the FT9s.
Next came the FT4 and FT3 freighters, two and six respectively, and one FT4 transport. From captured Axis records the FT4 class designation was known as Kitchen. Given the reporting name of Potholder by Jki on the spot she had the destroyers dispatch the ships so that her fighter crews could recuperate. Closer to the warp point were the larger dreadnought-based auxiliaries: 2 DN(FT)s, 6 DN prefab transports, 1 DN troopship, and 2 DN mobile shipyards. Hetlaser-armed destroyers engaged at maximum range, stripping the ships of their armor and a good portion of their external ordnance. This time the fighters carried full loads of laser packs, preferring to conserve their antimatter-armed close attack missiles.
What remained were those ships just as fast as the carriers: six CA-hulled repair ships, two CA-hulled freighters, 2 CA minelayers, 1 scout, 2 CVLs, and, of most importance to Jki, two CA-sized transports were reported by a Sloop. Freshly received reports from resistance scanner and audio monitoring teams on Hamthen established that the transports were carrying wounded Axis troops and officers such as doctors, field engineers, and technicians. What really mattered was that the transport carried all the Comensal civilians that composed the beginnings of permanent Axis habitation of Hamthen.
Jki had no sympathy of what was going to happen to the civilians on those ships. The Axis systematically killed hundreds of millions on Hamthen without conscience, treating the whole affair of genocide like it was one ongoing live-fire exercise. Whole regions had been made unfit for habitation through nuclear fallout, massive fires that burned out vegetation, and something called black smoke mentioned in the few reports Jki was able to read in-between the destruction of the Axis support ships. After enough regions had been cleared the first Comensal settlers arrived, so confident in their supremacy and their army that they decided not to wait until the planet had been purged of all Hamthen life.
There was no way that the carriers or the destroyers were going to catch up to the transports before they left the system. Until the conditions on the far side of the Evershem warp point were known the destroyers were going to have to stay put. Fortunately there was going to one solution to both problems. Right after TF21 won the battle at the Hagelkorn warp point the 5th Pinnace Tender Squadron, composed of three BCs, three CLs and 54 Apins, was dispatched to invest the Hamthen/Evershem warp point. They were accompanied by the remaining 119 Apins from the warp point battle. The Apins, designated in CSF parlance as Whales, were sent ahead at full speed. With Axis? speed as a constant Jki calculated that the transports were delayed by at least four hours before heading out. Jki concluded that had they left an hour or even a half an hour earlier then the chance to get to them would?ve been gone. In just under a day the 173 Whales would intercept the fast Axis auxiliaries.
Unable to admit to the terror about to consume them the Comensal prepared to go down fighting. All 36 F0 fighters were fitted out with two gun packs each and placed in a holding pattern over the speeding convoy. The 119 Whales from the warp point battle lead the way, closely followed by the 54 based on the tenders. Following the same pattern as previous battles the convoy maneuvered so as to keep the Whales in the field of fire. Starting with the CVL lasers the first Whale was lost at 1.25 LS range. The fighters were released and they engaged the oncoming horde one light-second from the convoy. To keep them out of their blindspots the Whales had to turn broadside to the fighters and convoy alike. 34 were shot down, 29 of them by fighters. By numbers alone the 36 fighters were brought down by the guns and point defense of the Whales.
Turning back to the convoy the Whales stripped the armor off four of the repair ships while losing only six more of their number. Now at 0.5 LS range the laser-armed Whales faced externally mounted CAMs being fired at them. The ship captains had no choice but to use them now less they were destroyed by laser fire while still on their racks. Most successful this round was the two transports, bringing down 8 of the 18 Whales lost. One repair ship was destroyed and another reduced to 1/3 speed.
Closer still the laser Whales brought down another repair ship and stripped the armor off of the freighter CAs at a cost of 12 of their number. Just 48 remained as they finally reached point-blank range, destroying their third repair CA and crippling a freighter CA. 10 more Whales were vaporized by point-defense missiles. Having focused on the ones firing on them the Axis captains soon realized why the trailing group of Whales was so quiet. Now alongside their decimated brethren the 54 tender-based Whales opened up on the convoy with four antimatter close attack missiles each. Only 32 had to use their ordnance.
From the explosion spectra the Whale crews knew the transports were filled to capacity. They only regretted the fact that they had to sacrifice 87 worthy crews to accomplish their mission. Some would later argue that the destroyers were better suited for the task of holding the warp point and engaging the auxiliaries. To do so would?ve left the carriers unguarded against any task group the Axis happened to have in the system. The last thing the CSF wanted to do was to cripple their carrier support after the losses sustained in reclaiming Hamthen in the first place. Nevertheless this battle remained a topic for the ?day after referees? for decades to come.
The 38 remaining Whales that participated in the Hamthen assault sped on to the Evershem warp point. As for the other 48 they finished off the two cripples that fell behind for no further loss. Once back together the Whales probed the warp point and found just 600 patterns of mines and 120 laser buoys on the far side. No bases were evident as the scanners on the Whales only had a range of five light seconds. After destroying the buoys a Sloop entered and found just one small control base sitting 10 light-seconds away. Five hours later the carriers, destroyers and pinnace tenders arrived and one CVE was sent in, its strikegroup obliterating the base for no loss. Then after another three hours the DN and BB minesweepers and the Endrili Hellstones arrived and blasted open a lane.
The six tenders and half-a-dozen Sloops entered Evershem. Recharging the 86 Whales and sending them out on patrol patterns revealed just one FT3 Sugar Dog. It was very likely it was the one that placed the buoys around the Evershem/Hamthen warp point. The little freighter was dispatched in a hail of conventional short attack missiles and laser fire by three Whales at no loss.
A Sloop investigating Evershem II found that the Axis had an outpost but was recently evacuated. Another [Sloop detected a collection of ships just before it entered the Evershem/Dotz warp point. Most likely it was freighters and transports carrying away the outpost population. One Whale entered and found nine hundred patters of mines and two hundred buoys. Informing the scout on the far side the Whale returned and proceeded to blast away at the buoys until none were left. Like earlier there was just one small control base, and in time it was destroyed by fighters from the carrier group.
This time in Dotz the carriers were able to catch up to the evacuation convoy before it could leave. Accompanied by Whales, the CSF fighters, designated Sharks, tore apart the transports and their escorts. From the size and number of transports involved it was believed this was the outpost from Evershem. An Axis colony had been on Dotz III but being closer to Axis territory the colonists were able to get out in time. Now settled around the Dotz/Axis warp point the carriers, destroyers, Whales and minesweepers waited while the minelayers arrived to disgorge their loads. Now it was a matter for the rest of TF 21 to arrive so that all the hard earned gains could be secured.