The Hokum - Chapter 1.75
Crimson Expanse, population 1.8 million, was the first world settled in the former Nu?Chut territory. In fact the first colonists arrived just two months after the Nu?Chut AIs were exterminated on the planet. On average 40,000 Comensal arrived each month since then, committed to making the mineral-rich world a significant contributor to the economy of the Axis. It was also the most forward fleet base in the Axis, yet its space station was still small and fixed defenses were light.
Admiral Mallak was pleased that the aliens continued to advance along the systems he had mined. Now they were two systems away via the warp lines. However, with the defeat of AFC forces in the Hamthen Altocumulus chain the promised reinforcement for SF 3 had all but evaporated. What he also didn?t like was the prodding by the First Leader to attack immediately, added with a subtle hint of being replaced if action didn?t come fast enough. So it was Mallak devised a plan to engage the aliens in the Cain system. It was binary white dwarf system that only had four warp points to its name but suited Mallak?s purpose. The mining effort has lead to this system, and with a few more small convoys to tempt the aliens to follow the deciding battle would be set.
So far Lord Admiral Janus was obliging Mallak?s plan. If it wasn?t a mining convoy it was a scout that showed the way. Six transits inside Axis territory the Expeditionary Fleet was in the Stonewash system. On the fifth day, while a trio of Fast Walkers pursued the Axis scout that lead the fleet to Stonewash, a fresh sensor contact appeared just outside the inner asteroid ring of the system. After a scout determined that the contact consisted of one huge military-hulled freighter, a CA-hulled freighter and two destroyers Janus ordered 24 squadrons of F0s, 8 squadrons of F1s, six destroyers and six shuttles to intercept.
Armed with a pair of stand-off missiles each the fighters engaged the destroyers at a range of one light-second. With two F0s shot down in the process both destroyers were crippled. What came as a mild surprise for the Hokum was that the freighters fired upon the destroyers just as the fighters pulled away. No lifepods were observed leaving the destroyers, leading Janus to reason later that word of previous captures was now common knowledge among Axis crews. Death, even when handed out by their fellow beings, seemed preferable than to be taken prisoner by the enemy.
As soon as the fighters fired the six Type 2s, waiting just beyond capital force beam range, de-tuned their engines and began their run. For three minutes the tin cans closed the range until they were 2.5 LS away, but one Type 2 lost two engine rooms from enemy fire and fell behind. The freighters launched their shuttles in a bid to crash them into their pursuers, but the 48 F1 fighters from the missile strike had stayed, each armed with a gun pack. All the shuttles were shot down and two marine pilots became aces that day thanks to previous kills back in Whal. Once the DDs opened fire the inevitable dismemberment began. After the shields were battered down the freighters? capital force and tractor beams were singled out and lanced by needle beams. Then came the engines and point defense, and once that was done the shuttles came forward. A few more hits by needle beams knocked down those shields the freighter crews had restored in the interim. Three shuttles each docked with the freighters and following hour-long fights in smoke and blood-smeared corridors they were secured.
Aboard the command BC Standard Bearer the battle was followed with interest. ?No data again this time,? Janus said to Bantel, her operations officer. ?We?re going to have to disable ships in job lots to get one with an intact database.?
?We?ll only be able to repeat what we did in Whel if the enemy obliges,? replied Bantel. ?I suspect those ships were on a minelaying mission. So far our scouts have encountered six systems guarded by mines. Having cleared three of them we?ve found no evidence of population, not even an outpost.?
Janus was looking intently at a flat panel display of systems so far encountered by her scouts. ?Those freighters we caught might very well have been the ones that mined the system we were previously in. See here, there was just one warp point in each of the past three systems our fleet was in that was mined. Our scouts have found six other systems that were mined, but some of those were one or two transits removed from our chosen route. Most of those warp point minefields just had 300 patterns, Bantel. Every scout or convoy we?ve followed has led us to another warp point that was mined. In systems with multiple warp points only one on the far side was mined.?
?It seems your reasoning has been born out, Admiral,? said a thoughtful Bantel. ?If we simply skirted the mined systems that would?ve extended our route, adding weeks to transit times. That would only serve the enemy by giving him time to assemble his forces. However, by arbitrarily taking our current route we?re also advertising our location to the Axis.?
?By taking the path of resistance,? Janus pointed out, ?we?re forcing the issue of a fleet engagement. Having read their historical text the presence of our fleet in their territory is an embarrassment for the Axis. Instead of waiting for word on the light minesweeping groups we?re going on to the next system. I want to engage them, Bantel, and by moving in a deliberate manner they?ll come to us. Had they any sort of mobile force they could?ve harassed us with fighter strikes and bled us at selected warp points. No, I?m making them commit to a battle on my terms, not theirs.?
?The Axis may be thinking the same thing, Admiral. We?ll have to see who has the bigger hammer.?
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The presence of 120 laser buoys along with 300 patterns of mines at the Cain/Stonewash warp point served as the final tripwire alert. It was the commitment of battlecruiser-sized minesweepers by the enemy that convinced System Admiral Mallak that his decisive battle was on hand. Aboard the command missile dreadnought Resolute the admiral took in the composition of the enemy fleet, the scout being allowed to observe it for a full three minutes before it was crippled by two fighter squadrons and then captured. 27 battlecruisers, 12 undersized battlecruisers, 38 undersized heavy cruisers, 21 light cruisers (most likely small carriers), and 50 destroyers had almost the same tonnage as SF 3. The new warheads (determined to be antimatter after analysis of sensor readings) employed by the aliens gave them a notable edge.
On his ledger Mallak had 15 dreadnoughts, 12 battleships, 15 battlecruisers, 12 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 18 destroyers, 18 frigates, 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers, 4 escort cruisers and 4 escort destroyers. As for the 384 fighters on his carriers the admiral decided to employ them defensively, having each armed with a gun pack and a short-range attack missile for anti-shipping attacks. If the enemy light cruisers did turn out to be carriers then there would be parity in fighters. The last thing he wanted was to have the same kind of destruction visited upon his ships as what happened to Larnan nearly three months ago.
On Lord Admiral Janus? part she now faced an Axis force that was over 70% larger, tonnage wise, than the one in the Second Battle of the Frontier. Also like before the bulk of the ISN was involved, including most of the reactivated reserve. She did get six more carriers; bring her fighter total to 376 (108 of which were F1s). Scouts puzzled out the Axis fleet, but unable to distinguish between heavy cruisers and light carriers Janus sided with caution and opted to have her fighters serve in a defensive posture. All Type 1 Spear fighters were each armed with two of the newly developed laser packs while the Type 2 Spears carried a single FRAM in addition to the pair of lasers. While this denied her fighters the devastating punch of pure FRAM armament Janus saw that the lasers would allow the fighters to stay in combat longer, ravaging the armor of designated Axis ships.
On a more positive note antimatter CMs and SBMs arrived in quantity, allowing for more destructive loiter-mode volleys for the latter. While the Axis may know of the full range of a SBM and its potential to carry antimatter warheads they were in for a new surprise. In Standard Bearer?s CIC Janus watched her main plot as the distance between the fleets ticked down. Both fleets launched fighters just beyond 10 LS range and had their respective carrier groups turn about to keep the range open. Just as the Spears got clear of the fleet the first volley of SBMs armed with an entirely new warhead were fired.
In the Resolute CIC Mallak saw the volley of missiles spat out by the enemy BCs and CAs. He had expected the warheads on those missiles to be of the new, more destructive type. A first he was puzzled why those missiles that got through exploded prematurely, only to feel his ship shutter slightly an instant later. Then the reports came in. Fifteen ships, including his flagship, were hit by laser fire that originated from where the missiles immolated themselves. On first look it appeared the aliens had adapted the bomb-pumped laser technology as used on weapon buoys and miniaturized it to where it worked on a large missile. Armor damage in this initial volley was very light but loss of external racks and their missiles still occurred. If allowed to continue the aliens would scrub off all the armor on his ships and remove the decisive punch of externally launched capital missiles.
Mallak ordered the fleet to max DN speed but Janus was on top of this. She kept her ships ahead of SF 3 and only allowed the range to close by 1 LS when the missiles went out again. Targeted on capital units that weren?t previously engaged Janus smiled as more hits were obtained, scouring armor and breaking external missiles on their racks. So far the Axis didn?t fire back, proving that if they had SBMs they would?ve used them. Janus wanted to target the capital missile dreadnoughts, but until the range dropped to 7.5 LS there was no way to distinguish them from the beam-armed class. So for the next three salvos, using up the remaining SBM-Lts on the BCs, the Axis capital units were bitten by high-tech mosquitoes.
While the one-sided missile engagement raged on the respective fighter strikes tangled in a massive furball. Like the bomb-pumped missiles the Axis pilots were given a surprise of their own when at a range of three-quarters of a light second all the alien fighters opened up with compact lasers. Fifty six Axis pilots and their mounts exploded into high-speed fireballs. The two groups then went in a circle, but Strike Leader Maro had his planes slow slightly so that when the lasers recycled the Axis fighters were now only a quarter of a light second ahead. Although already reduced in numbers and armed with just one gun pack each the Axis pilots bagged 98 of Maro?s pilots while the more numerous but less accurate lasers took out 94 of their Axis opposites.
For the last salvo of SBM-Lts Janus decided to use them in loiter mode and allowed the Axis to close to 7.5 LS range. This permitted the National Reach missile dreadnoughts to reveal themselves, and along with the Prestige DNs they fixated on one BC, taking down it shields and 27% of its armor despite point defense and EDMs. Then at a clean 7 LS distance the INS BCs and CAs let loose with their augmented missile volleys. With CM-Lts combined with the loitering SBM-Lts the targeted Axis missile dreadnoughts elected to use their EDMs (believing the CMs and loitering SBMs were armed with antimatter) before losing them only to find that they wouldn?t work against these new laser warheads. To his credit Mallak didn?t lose his composure and simply ordered that the previously targeted BC to be hit again. Shattered armor and streaming atmosphere showed that the Axis scored first blood in the engagement but the ship still retained its engines. For the fighters, now at point-blank range, 117 Axis and 64 Hokum fell to their respective guns.
Returning the favor Janus now had her ships concentrate their fire on one National Reach. The big ship, already having lost half its armor from laser hits, was lacerated and breached, losing four of its launchers and reduced to 40% speed. For this work the previously hit Imperium was destroyed, its antimatter ordnance in its magazine exploding like miniatures suns. A further 66 Axis fighters were downed for a loss of 42 Hokum, leaving just 42 and 160 respectively.
Still at 7 LS range the Hokum punished another missile DN harshly while only the shields of another Imperium was brought down. The dogfights were now over with all Axis fighters downed, leaving just 146 of their Hokum counterparts. Maro kept his strikegroups out of range of the Axis fleet for now, waiting word from Janus when to commit them to close action. Down to the last volley of CM-Lts the Hokum BCs ships fired on their third missile DN at a range of 6 LS. It was crippled, and the second Imperium lost its armor and one launcher.
Janus maneuvered to 5.25 LS range and ordered the deployment of loiter-mode SBMs. For the Foreguards and Interiors, each having a free launcher, they targeted another National Reach, taking down 55% of its shields. It took the missile fire from the remaining National Reaches and the Prestige DNs to destroy the second Imperium. Still trailing behind the Axis fleet Maro had his fighters destroy the third crippled missile DN though at the cost of two fighters.
With augmented salvos the Hokum ships fired on the National Reaches. With enemy ECM neutralized by ECCM and augmented by capital fire control Janus? salvos were more effective. Again thanks to the previous laser warhead hits three of the big ships staggered and fell behind to be further crippled by Maro?s fighters. Sensing his ultimate fate Mallak transferred command to his subordinate Hastis on the Prestige DN Claymore while making for the shuttle bay. A third Imperium had lost its passive defenses in the past minute, but now the Axis was just down to three missile DNs. A further volley aided by loitering SBMs soon crippled two of those ships. However, return fire from the three ships as well as the six Prestige DNs crippled the third Imperium, but with its two datalink partners using their tractors it was pulled along without slowing down the rest of the fleet.
Hastis, acting on his initiative, ordered the DDs and FGs to go to full speed and close on the INS warships. While the Hokum BCs and CAs couldn?t engage them with capital force beams due to their fire control circuits being tied up with loitering SBMs the 50 Type 2 destroyers were under no such restriction. One DD and FG were reduced to half-speed from the pounding they received. Mallak had left the Resolute barely in time, for even the few missiles Janus could throw the ship became just like the previous eight DNs. As for the third Imperium, which was the back-up flagship for Janus, it was destroyed by the missiles of the Prestige DNs.
The distance between the two fleets remained at 5.25 light seconds while the Axis DDs and FGs were now barely outside hetlaser range. However, they were in prime range for their externally mounted capital missiles. The fourth Imperium lost its passive defenses from all this attention and the Axis had another DD and FG slowed from force beam damage and a Prestige from antimatter missiles.
Janus had the BCs launch loiter-mode SBMs while directing the CAs to engage the Axis DDs with force beams and BBs with antimatter CMs. Along with the Type 2s the Hokum broke the shields of one BB and two more DDs and FGs were made into crawling, weaponless wrecks. As for the fourth Imperium it was flailed by Axis hetlasers and limped on two engines. This time no tractor beams were used as they would slow the fleet down. Maro?s fighters had meanwhile made the last National Reach DN weaponless as well as the first DD and FG crippled by the Type 2s.
Distance between the Axis and Hokum fleets was now 6 LS while he Axis DDs and FGs were 3.50 LS away ? a range where capital force beams doubled in effectiveness. Four more of those small ships were rendered weaponless while their lasers took on a fifth Imperium while the fourth succumbed to force beam fire from the Axis DNs. One Prestige and a National Power broke from antimatter bombardment and were slowed to 60% speed while three more BBs and a BC lost 50% of their shields or more, expending their EDMs to forestall the inevitable.
Having had enough of being nitpicked by lasers, Janus slowed and maneuvered her ships so that while the Axis fleet was now 5.25 LS distant the destroyers and frigates were at 2.5 LS ? precision needle beam range. No loiter-mode SBMs were fired as Janus had her BC and CAs? force beams fire on the Sprinters and Punches. Firing individually, the Type2s took out the HET lasers plus some engines, effectively nullifying the threat. It came at the cost of the fourth and fifth Imperium. All three targeted BBs and the BC lost their shielding and some armor with one BB losing an engine.
Switching back to loitering launches Janus stayed ahead of the Axis fleet while the crippled DDs and FGs turned about. This didn?t prevent them from being fired upon again by the Type 2s, further slowing them down due to engine damage. In the battle?s tenth minute the aforementioned BBs and BC were reduced to a crawl while Maro only lost one fighter from the previously slowed BB.
Between the missile bombardment and the sniping fighters (which left a trail of unarmed and engineless ships behind them as they pounced on them as they fell out of line) Mallak, having relocated on a heavy cruiser and resuming command, ordered the firing of all external missiles at the sixth Imperium. This was Naulus? ship, second in command to Janus. Reduced to one-third speed this Imperium quickly fell out of line and was finished off by long-range force beam fire. Maro?s fighters immobilized two of the three trailing BBs and the BC, but overzealousness on the part of one squadron took out the third National Power.
The Interiors, having the same load-out as the Foreguards and Imperiums, still had CMs and SBMs armed with laser warheads. Focusing on the Axis BCs, the Interiors pecked away, stripping off EDMs along with armor with the hits they managed to score. With this help three more Axis BCs fell out of formation. Like the previous ones this trio turned to port so that their weapons could be brought to bear on Maro?s fighters. Four were shot down, and in an understandable reaction the remaining pilots destroyed the trio rather than severely damaging them with their lasers.
One Hero had the distinction of shooting down all the missiles directed at it in the twelfth minute of combat. With the reduction of two-thirds of her Imperium datagroups Janus only netted one Hailfire and the slowing of one Prestige. Only the Interiors fired again, just three CM-Lts from each datagroup at the Prestige. Enough got through to take out another engine room, and soon enough it was hulked by fighter lasers.
At the end of the thirteenth minute only two Heroes were made to fall behind. The Imperiums, save those with the capital fire control or a dedicated CIC, were down two volleys of nuclear capital missiles. Janus had the Foreguards and Interiors fire at three suspected Hailfires. Only one Axis BC fell out of line, the volleys being insufficient to break the defenses of the other two.
Two minutes later the Axis fleet was down to 3 DN, 8 BB, 6 BC, 12 CA and 12 CL. A literal trail of powerless ships showed where the fleet had been, and the DDs and FGs continued to crawl away. Janus? losses (aside from fighters) were just 6 BCs. The Foreguards were down to just two salvos of standard CMs, but the Interiors still had ammunition for their launchers. As reduced as they were Janus suspected the Axis commander was waiting until no-more antimatter missiles were in the offering, betting that she would turn about and finish the job with beam weapons. They could at this point simply turn and run, leaving the DNs and BBs to their fates and take whatever the fighters had to dish out. Indeed, had they done that earlier then Janus? fighter losses would?ve been far greater. By staying to their course the Axis was proving their fanaticism for all to see. Janus wasn?t quite ready to reward them for their slavish devotion with the decisive deaths they wanted; her Interiors still had six salvos of antimatter missiles to fire.
After five more staggered salvos one Axis DN, three BCs and three CAs were destroyed or immobile. During those five minutes the two remaining Prestige DNs kept firing their twin capital missile launchers at the seventh Imperium. When the armor was breached Janus decided to turn her ships around so that the seventh Imperium would be able to fire with her datagroup before being damaged further. Maro was given the go-ahead for his strikegroups to close to point-blank range.
Onboard the CA Trumpet System Admiral Mallak was a prime example of dignity in the face of disaster. The officers and ratings around him in the ship?s auxiliary control gained strength from Mallak?s composure, as much as he wanted to curse out his enemy. The aliens exploited their new technologies to the utmost. Missiles with 33% more range than a capital missile, armed with a laser-spewing warhead and able to loiter to permit substantial volleys were unknown to Axis science. Then there were laser-armed fighters with a reach of at least one light second. He consoled himself that in previous wars enemies of the Axis employed initially unknown weapons and tactics. That the Axis always won in the end proved that Providence was looking after its most perfect creation.
At a range of 4 LS the depleted Axis force destroyed the seventh Imperium and a Type 2 and damaging another Type 2. Long-range fire from the fighters all but killed one BB. As for the others Janus focused on taking down the shields on as many ships as possible so that the needle beams on the Type 2s would strip them of their weapons. Maro?s fighters closed to point-blank range as the respective battlelines came to 1.25 LS. It was here that the Deflectors finally were in their element and employed their datalink jammers. Disjointed yet still deadly the Axis destroyed two Type 2s, an Imperium, and crippled another Imperium and a Foreguard. All save the two Prestige DNs had their shields knocked down from force beam and capital missile fire for the Axis ships used their point defense against the fighters. Needle beams denuded the National Wills of weapons and conventional damage was such that most of the ships couldn?t keep the fighters in range of point defense after Maro?s fighters put the hurt with the handful of FRAMs carried by his surviving F1s.
With shields and magazines knocked out but with complete engines the two surviving Hailfires went after the fleeing fighters. Just one was nailed before both ships lost their point defense to needle beams. Datalinks still jammed, the Axis ships managed to take down a Foreguard and seriously damage another before most of them lost their weapons. The last Prestige fired off a pair of lasers, finishing off a Foreguard, before it lost them to the Type 2?s precision weapons.
In the wreck of Standard Bearer?s CIC Janus was still giving orders. The Type 2s were unleashed, taking out engines and point defense of Axis ships to prevent them from self-destructing and to facilitate boarding actions. Janus had the carrier group turn around so that their marine contingents could be utilized. Even those marines that survived on Standard Bearer participated. Initially just the shuttles from the escort cruisers were used for the SAR operation to pick up Hokum lifepods. Once the capture operations were complete more shuttles and cutters were made available. Fewer than 5,000 INS personnel were recovered. Only 200 Axis prisoners were taken for there simply wasn?t enough room for more aboard the transports in the fleet?s support group. Thus combats aboard the broken hulls that once composed Star Force 3 were taken to their logical ends. Knowing how Axis ships were wired it was a simple manner for Imperium Marines to open all compartments to space, flushing out and killing all holdouts. The number of ships to board was such that the Type 2s ?babysat? the Axis force, knocking down shields and lancing any repairs the crews happened to make to their engines. Life support was knocked out as a matter of course. By the time the marines came to the DDs and FGs all the surviving crews were dead from asphyxiation.
For the loss of 288 out of 376 fighters, 10 BCs and 3 DDs the Expeditionary Fleet won control of the Cain system. It had captured 12 DNs, 11 BBs, 11 BCs, 10 CAs, 12 CLs, 12 DDs and 12 FGs. With only 88 fighters Janus decided to let the Axis carrier group escape, as much as Maro and his pilots wanted to destroy it now so that they wouldn?t have to face it latter. She did order the prefabricated BB-sized space station carried by the support group to be assembled by the warp point used by the fleet. The full-sized shipyard module that constituted the bulk of the station would be used to refit the ships for Hokum use and repair them just enough so that they could make the trip to Whel to be fully converted.
Bantel?s assertion of capturing ships in job lots was proven correct when seven databases were recovered intact. Janus was pleased to find to Crimson Expanse was just one transit away. While the defenses were formidable compared to what she still possessed Janus believed they could be taken without prohibitive loses. Thus three days passed before the Fleet made for another of Cain?s warp points. By the time the first elements of the planetary invasion force arrived the Fleet?s break-in attempt would?ve either been successful or thrown back on its heels.
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Mallak?s carriers had gathered over Crimson Expanse (CE), waiting as the orbiting space station went about prepping crated fighters to fill the now-empty hanger bays. Civil defense drills on the planet were run almost daily and all 15,000 ground troops set up defensive positions around Blood Valor, the planet?s capital. At the CE/Cain warp point the defenders were as ready as they would ever be. Two beam bases, one fighter base and three missile bases watched the warp point as well as the six hundred patterns of mines and 300 laser buoys. A mere four squadrons were on the CAP, flying in a circle around the warp point, waiting for an attack that was going to happen sooner or later.
The attack came sooner. Thanks to the military data the Hokum captured just days earlier the six minesweepers of the first wave directly faced the bases on the other side of the minefields. Accompanying the sixth sweeper as it made transit were 52 armed pinnaces. Eight of the armed small craft interpenetrated and exploded, giving proof by the violence of their deaths that they carried antimatter ordnance. With CAMs on their external racks the minesweepers fired on a beam base sitting 1.25 LS out, taking down its shields and half its armor thanks to the sole sweeper armed with antimatter CAMs. Two of BS5 missile bases, sitting 4 LS out, became active and fired at one sweeper, crushing 87% of its shields.
When the first ship entered all four squadrons of the CAP changed course and ended up on top of the assault wave. Working on the damage already done by the two missile bases the four squadrons released their fire controls and destroyed the ship in a volley of short attack missiles. As the squadrons raced back to the fighter base one of the active missile bases, equipped with a buoy controller, directed 100 laser buoys to open fire on the five remaining ships. Damage was extensive. The fighter base was quick off the mark and crash-launched its? remaining eleven squadrons. As for the 44 Apins they managed to shoot down seven buoys with their transit-addled point defense and guns.
Three Imperiums and three Foreguards made up the second wave. All 44 Apins went through part of the minefield, losing seven of their number but ending up atop the two beam bases. Offensive weapons still off-line, those bases fell to the CAMs and force beams of the Hokum ships as well as the antimatter close attack missiles and lasers of the Apins. Only two of the pinnaces fell to point-defense fire, and of the twenty that still had their missiles elected to fire their lasers and point defense at the oncoming fighter squadrons, now 0.75 LS away and an even 2 LS from the warp point. 10 of the 66 fighters were shot down. 100 more laser buoys were fired, but spread across eleven ships only two of previously damaged sweepers were destroyed.
Wave three was composed of three more Imperiums and Foreguards. Janus commanded from the third Imperium in this wave. Seeing the eleven squadrons about to pounce she hoped that history wasn?t about to repeat itself for a third time. However, when the fighters arrived at the warp point they found that the three remaining sweepers had activated their jammers. The two active missile bases had no choice but to destroy them, freeing their squadrons from the jammers? disruptive effects. As for the third it, too, became active and had to use its external missiles as well to destroy the last sweeper. The three Imperiums from the second wave were destroyed by the fighters, and the last 89 buoys fired on the remaining nine ships, taking out two Foreguards from the second wave as well.
As the fourth wave arrived the three missile bases destroyed an Imperium from the third wave. Five more pinnaces were shot down before one base was destroyed and a second rendered useless. The pinnaces pulled out of point defense range and headed back to the warp point, unable to engage the returning strike as it landed on the fighter base. The fifth wave, three Deflectors and three Interiors, kept station with the rest of the assault force. Force beam fire took care of the second missile base while the third, with half its shields already collapsed from five FRAM hits, became the focus of the remaining ships. Antimatter warheads took care of the remaining shields as well as most of the armor.
In the battle?s third minute the remaining missile base finished the last ship from the second wave. Avenging this loss the Hokum all but destroyed the base, each new wave of Interiors adding their fire to the last target, the fighter base. To save on antimatter warheads conventional nuke missiles were used. It would?ve been better had the former been used because four-and-a-half minutes into the battle the four squadrons that composed the original CAP were rearmed and launched.
Preferring to preserve her surviving armed pinnaces Janus had the Deflectors activate their jammers and allowed them the first go at the fighters. At point-blank range the improved point defense mounts were 67% more effective than standard ones. 16 of the 24 fighters were shot down by the dedicated anti-fighter escorts and only three managed to fire before they and the remainder were cut down by force beam fire. The targeted ship, which happened to be Janus?, lost the last of its shields and nothing else. Missile fire finally brought down the last base, and the two Axis scouts that where hanging at the periphery of battle had to be reminded of the range of the SBM. Moving a further light-second out the two scouts watched as the Hokum ships fired mine-clearance charges, but once they saw the carriers enter they knew they were doomed. Each scout had three squadrons of F1 Spears armed with twelve stand-off missiles each and a marine-filled shuttle chasing them. Only one fighter was shot down and 14 marines killed, but both scouts were captured.
The Axis carrier group fled the system with SF 3?s auxiliaries, a pair of Fast Walker scouts trailing them. Crimson Expanse?s space station, almost four times the tonnage of a dreadnought, was bombarded at long range and thus denied the use of its 12 capital missile launchers. The two squadrons of fighters assigned to the station were dispatched before they could get anywhere near the Fleet. Repeated calls to the planetary governor to surrender were met with a recorded message of defiance. Janus instructed Field General Ronon of the ISA to commence landing operations that would ultimately result in the deployment of 400,000 troops. It was still unknown if Comensal civilians would be as fanatical as their writings made them out to be. With a nearly 5-to-1 ratio of troops to civilians it was unthinkable that any concerted, organized effort would be offered by the populace.
Then again, reasoning and thinking were two disparate concepts when it came to the Axis.
---Zume