Turn 108, Day 6, Leningrad system, Soviet Home Fleet
Polhovnik General Fedorov lurched out of his bunk and slammed his head into the low overhead, almost knocking himself out in his haste to get up. He blearily looked around his room, which was lit in tones of flashing red lights, and a wall speaker was blaring an alert signal. Shaking his head to clear it, he moved to the comm station at his desk, and realized that it too was blaring something at him. Trying to gain some coherence, he hit a button on his desk to clear the alert signal and the flashing lights. Suddenly, the comm announcement became clear.
“All hands, all hands, combat alert! This is not a drill! All crew to combat stations! Button up the ship and report status to the bridge immediately!”
A cold feeling sunk through him as he began pulling on his ship-suit, a combination of ship-side uniform and vacuum armor. As he did so he punched in the combination for his chief of staff into the comm unit, and almost immediately Polhovnik Sidorenko appeared on his screen. “We have been ambushed, comrade General! D’Bringi ships appeared fifteen light seconds away, and are now moving towards us! They must have been hiding with their drive fields down, waiting for us!”
A dozen questions raced through Semenov’s mind, starting with how the D’Bringi ships had gotten here, into this supposedly secure system, but none of that mattered now. “Order the fleet to turn away from the D’Bringi, to maximize our time to get the crews to their stations. I will arrive in the command center shortly.”
Polhovnik General Fedorov appeared on the command deck of his flag destroyer just under ninety seconds later. He immediately crossed the deck to the central plot, in the center of the area, where his chief of staff was standing. He took in the situation in a quick glance. The D’Bringi fleet had closed to twelve point seven five light seconds, and was moving twice as fast as his fleet, which had been caught off guard. “Status on the D’Bringi fleet?”
Polhovnik Sidorenko pointed to the icon for the D’Bringi fleet. “The D’Bringi fleet is composed of three strength fifteen drive fields, ten strength twelve drive fields, and twelve strength four drive fields, or three BC’s, ten CA’s, and twelve CT’s.”
Fedorov did a quick calculation. His fleet had a minor mass advantage, better than being out-massed but not really enough for a decisive advantage. “What is the status of our fleet?”
Polhovnik Sidorenko punched up a window showing the status of their fleet. Ninety seconds after the D’Bringi popped onto their screens eight of the eighteen ships in their fleet were at action stations and ready for combat. Semenov did some more quick calculations in his head and, although his crews were taking longer to get to their stations than they should, his ships would almost certainly all be at action stations before the D’Bringi reached the maximum capital missile range of seven point five light seconds. He frowned, his mind racing. Too many of his ships, particularly the larger ships, had green crews, which would almost certainly affect the battle.
As Polhovnik General Fedorov watched the plot, the D’Bringi fleet crept closer to his fleet, and the icons for several more of his ships, including two of his battlecruisers, changed color to denote they were now at action stations. Polhovnik Sidorenko, who was new to his staff, interjected cautiously – “It looks like we have the advantage in mass, sir.”
Polhovnik General Fedorov nodded. “We do. And, we have six battlecruisers to their three, which may be a critical advantage. But we do not know how those ships are armed. The D’Bringi have never used capital missiles, to my knowledge, but there is always a first time.”
“They have never shown us battlecruisers either, so we must be prepared for whatever the D’Bringi throw at us.”
Polhovnik General Federov’s lips tightened. “The D’Bringi cruisers we have observed in the past have been heavily armed with short-ranged beam weapons. Assuming most of those cruisers are so-armed, they will have a heavy advantage in close range combat, as we only have five destroyers armed with beam weapons. Our light and heavy cruisers are all armed with medium-range missiles, which may give us an advantage in that range bracket, but if the D’Bringi manage to close to beam range, they will be able to gut us.”
As the two officers discussed the situation, the D’Bringi continued to close, now at ten point seven five light seconds range. Most of the Soviet fleet was now at combat stations, with the exception of a single destroyer, and the battlecruiser Varyag. Polhovnik General Fedorov glared at the icon for the Varyag, and turned to his chief of staff. “Contact Mayor Popov and inform him that if he cannot get his crew to their stations in the next minute, I will have him ejected from his ship in a life pod!” Polhovnik Sidorenko blanched and turned away to contact the unfortunate commander, and General Semenov turned back to the plot. Watching the D’Bringi fleet close, he tried to weigh his alternatives. He could avoid combat, once all of his ships were at action stations, but to do so for any amount of time he would eventually be forced to retreat to the Moskva system, giving up this system to the D’Bringi. Or, he could accept combat, here and now. He was torn. If he lost this battle then there would be nothing between the D’Bringi and the Solar System. But if he could crush them, here, then their advance would be stopped and the USSR would have time to rebuild its fleets. Watching the icons for his ships, he came to a decision. His fleet would smash the D’Bringi fleet, and stop their threat here and now.
As the general watched, the icon for the destroyer Admiral Levchenko changed to indicate that it was now at combat readiness, but the icon for the Varyag remained stubbornly dark. Polhovnik Sidorenko returned to his general’s side, and they both watched as the clock counted down to the minute deadline that General Fedorov had given. Finally, seconds before the minute was up, the Varyag’s icon flickered and changed to show that it was at combat readiness.
Polhovnik General Fedorov’s finger stabbed down on the all-ships communicator button, and was linked to all of the ships under his command. “This is Polhovnik General Fedorov. The D’Bringi thought to ambush us here, to cause us to panic and run in fear. But they underestimate us! We are Russian, and we will bury them! They, and their cursed allies the Rehorish may have killed General Lebedev and destroyed his fleet, but we will repay them for that a hundredfold, and it begins here and now!” He paused, and he could hear crewmen all over the fleet cheering. “The fleet will come to combat speed and turn sixty degrees to the right. We will allow the D’Bringi to close to capital missile range, at which time we will begin a missile duel. I will designate our initial target, which will be one of the D’Bringi battlecruisers. All cruisers and light cruisers will stand by to engage if the D’Bringi reach standard missile range. Destroyers will screen the capital ships from any D’Bringi ships that reach beam range. We go to victory!” Once again cheers broke out across the fleet as it turned to allow the D’Bringi to close.
Polhovnik General Fedorov’s chest was filled with pride as he watched his majestic battlecruisers, the pride of the Soviet fleet, come about, now broadside on to the approaching D’Bringi fleet, and prepare to meet their tormentors. Less than a minute after General Semenov gave his orders the D’Bringi crossed the seven-point-five light second bubble and both fleets began flinging capital missiles at each other. This first salvo was something of a test for both sides. The D’Bringi battlecruisers fired first, with each launching seven capital missiles, all targeted on the rather unfortunate Soviet BC Varyag. The Varyag’s commander decided, because of the long range, to trust his point defense suite to stop any of the missiles that managed to achieve target lock on his ship, rather than deploying an EDM to decoy some of the missiles away. This proved to be a mistake as twelve alien missiles achieved target lock, and six of those managed to race through the point defense fire and hit the Soviet battlecruiser, taking out its shields and about half of its armor. The Varyag’s group fired in response, targeting one of the D’Bringi BC’s in return. The Soviet BC’s were each launching six capital missiles, and unlike the Varyag the targeted D’Bringi BC launched an EDM in its own defense. The Russian BC’s, with their green crews, had more trouble getting through the D’Bringi defenses, and none of the first salvo missiles hit their target. Surprising General Semenov, three of the D’Bringi cruisers launched capital missiles at his fleet as well, six each, all targeted on the Varyag, which had no EDM’s to launch now that most of its XO racks had been scoured from its hull. Four hit the Soviet BC, taking out a good chunk of its remaining armor. The second data group of Soviet BC’s fired their capital missiles at the same D’Bringi BC targeted by the first group, and this time they punched three missiles through its defenses, taking down its shields.
General Fedorov frowned at the plot. Something about the D’Bringi CA’s…yes! He punched the all-ships channel. “All battlecruisers will shift targeting to the designated D’Bringi heavy cruiser. We will allow the D’Bringi to close to four light seconds, then the fleet will turn to keep the range steady.” He settled in to watch the next exchange of missile fire, this time at five point seven five light seconds range. The first to fire was the Soviet battlecruiser group built around the Varyag, launching eighteen missiles at one of the D’Bringi capital missile armed cruisers. The D’Bringi cruiser launched an EDM to decoy the Soviet missiles, but three still got through to hit the D’Bringi ship, which lost its shields in response. The D’Bringi heavy cruisers fired back at the Varyag, punching three missiles through its defenses and eliminating the last of the Soviet BC’s armor. The second Soviet BC group punched another two missiles through the D’Bringi ship’s defenses, leaving it streaming atmosphere. General Semenov nodded; his suspicions confirmed. The D’Bringi capital missile armed cruisers were throwing salvoes every bit as large as those launched by his much bigger battlecruisers, and they also appeared to have relatively heavy point defense suites. The space for the point defense emplacements and the capital missile launchers had to come from somewhere, and the way the Soviet missiles tore through the cruiser’s passive defenses confirmed that those defenses were thinner than even one of his destroyer’s. Even as Fedorov watched, though, the second salvo from the D’Bringi battlecruisers ripped through the Varyag’s defenses and savaged the engine pods of the big ship, drastically reducing its speed.
General Fedorov brought up the all-ships channel again. “The Varyag will break off. The fleet will turn right at the designated point, and the cruisers and light cruisers will prepare to engage with standard missiles. I will designate targets.” The Varyag was doomed, he knew, as it had no real change of withdrawing at its current speed. Still, he had other things to worry about as he designated new targets for his heavy and light cruisers.
The intact Russian battlecruiser group fired first, targeting the D’Bringi BC that had been targeted earlier in the battle. That BC had lost its shields and at least some of its armor, and had used at least one EDM, making it a good target. In addition, at General Fedorov’s orders, the Russian BC’s threw their XO mounted missiles into the salvo, adding a total of fifteen more capital missiles to the mix. The results were gratifying. The big D’Bringi ship seemed to stagger in space as eight of the sixteen capital missiles that achieved target lock slammed into her drive field. The D’Bringi BC was left streaming atmosphere and slowed by 16%. The D’Bringi chose to launch their XO missiles as well, and the return fire from the two BC’s still in their data group totaled twenty-four CM’s, all aimed at the Kronstadt, a BC in the second, intact, Russian BC data group. The commander of the Kronstadt, having had the example of the Varyag before him, launched both of his XO mounted EDM’s to distract any D’Bringi missiles that managed to penetrate his ship’s active defenses. Thirteen missiles achieved lock-on, and seven fell to the Russian ship’s point defense, leaving six racing towards the ship’s drive field. The two EDM’s managed to decoy three of the six away from their target, leaving three to strip away the Russian BC’s shields. The two ship Russian BC group fired next, targeting the same D’Bringi BC as its fellow BC’s. This time six capital missiles got through, heavily damaging the D’Bringi ship and slowing it to one third its original speed. The unfortunate D’Bringi ship targeted the Varyag, doing additional internal damage, and the Varyag returned the favor, scoring a single hit on her tormentor. The D’Bringi heavy cruisers armed with capital missiles launched then, targeting the Kronstadt. The heavy cruisers managed to punch eight capital missiles through the Kronstadt’s defenses, shredding most of her armor. The three Russian Moskva class heavy cruisers joined the fray with their advanced standard missile launchers, targeting the D’Bringi CA damaged earlier in the battle. The range was at the extreme edge for their missiles, but their commanders had been waiting for this moment. The cruiser’s advanced launchers managed to fire twice as fast as the larger capital missile launchers on the battlecruisers, and the cruisers mounted six each. The Russian heavy cruisers managed to punch five missiles through the D’Bringi cruiser’s point defense, leaving her 16 % slower and streaming atmosphere. Unfortunately, a data group of D’Bringi heavy cruisers also joined the fray, but they had older and slower standard missile launchers. They targeted the Varyag, and got seven standard missiles through her defenses, causing serious internal damage to the limping battlecruiser. The Soviet light cruisers were able to fire as well, with their older standard missile launchers, and targeted the same D’Bringi heavy cruiser, hitting it three times.
General Fedorov watched the exchange of fire with satisfaction. His fleet was engaging the enemy on more or less equal terms, but that would change rapidly if he let them get into beam range. His fleet had a grand total of five DD’s equipped with force beams, while the enemy appeared to have twelve corvettes and four heavy cruisers equipped for close combat, based on the fact that they hadn’t opened fire yet. Coming to a sudden decision, he punched an order for a course change into the command net. Up to now the Russian fleet had been letting the D’Bringi slip in closer and closer, but now that would change. They couldn’t prevent the D’Bringi from getting closer, due to the need to keep them out of their blindspot, but they could reduce the rate of closure. The next exchange of fire took place at four point two five light seconds. The range was still long for standard missiles, but both side’s capital missiles were in their optimum range band. The exchange of fire was growing increasingly savage as the two groups of ships closed, and both groups were shedding damaged ships as they fell behind. The difference was, the damaged D’Bringi ships fell back, out of battle, while the damaged Russian ships fell directly towards the oncoming D’Bringi fleet. Indeed, the damaged Varyag was now within range of the D’Bringi force beams, and was ripped apart before she could get another salvo off from her few remaining launchers. The missile exchange between the two battle lines continued as the Varyag met her end. The Russian BC’s concentrated their fire on an intact D’Bringi BC, which immediately launched EDM’s in its defense. Both Russian BC groups and the Russian heavy cruiser group focused on that one ship, managing to score enough damage to rip away her shields and armor, leaving her streaming atmosphere but otherwise intact and still firing. All of the D’Bringi missile ships concentrated on the Kronstadt, savaging the big Russian ship and leaving her crippled and falling back towards the oncoming D’Bringi fleet.
General Fedorov knew that he couldn’t keep the D’Bringi out of beam range much longer. He had knocked all of their BC’s out of their data-group, forcing them to fire individually, but with the range dropping their beam-armed ships were rapidly becoming a larger threat to his fleet. After watching the plot for a few more seconds he began shifting the targeting for his ships to the D’Bringi beam-armed cruisers. The D’Bringi force had closed to three point five light seconds range, and both sides were now within range of their force beam weapons. The D’Bringi focused their fire on an undamaged Russian BC, the Senyavin. The Russian BC immediately fired two EDM’s to distract incoming missiles, and its point defense emplacements began swatting missiles from space. The Senyavin managed to survive the incoming salvos and the force beams targeted on it, but lost its shields and two thirds of its armor. The poor Kronstadt, falling back towards the D’Bringi fleet, stabbed out with its force beam turret but missed, and was answered by massed force beam fire from nine D’Bringi corvettes, leaving little but debris and drifting life pods. The Russian ships concentrated their fire on two D’Bringi beam armed cruisers, and the Russian CA’s and CL’s finally deployed their XO mounted missiles, thickening their salvoes. They crippled one D’Bringi CA and left the other slowed by 84% and falling behind.
The Russian fleet continued to run ahead, trying to keep the range open but having to turn to keep the D’Bringi out of their blind-spot, which allowed the D’Bringi to steadily close the range. The D’Bringi commander now released his corvette force, and it sprang ahead of the rest of his fleet, closing to 2.25 light seconds range while the rest of the D’Bringi fleet was at 2.75 light seconds range. The Russians continued to focus their missile fire on the D’Bringi beam armed cruisers, while the Russian light cruisers and destroyers began engaging the D’Bringi corvettes before they could get close to the Russian capital ships. The D’Bringi beam-armed cruiser force was heavily damaged, with two cruisers heavily damaged and falling back, and two with most or all of their passives gone but still forging ahead. The D’Bringi corvettes proved to be more resilient than the Russians had hoped, and two suffered damage to their shields and armor, but were otherwise intact. The D’Bringi focused their fire on the Senyavin, a Russian BC in one of the two-ship battlecruiser data groups. The Senyavin suffered two capital missile hits and nine force beam hits, and lost two engine rooms. With the Senyavin slowed and falling back, the D’Bringi shifted fire to the Pozharsky, a BC in the last two-ship data group. The D’Bringi missile cruiser group flushed its XO racks at the Pozharsky, hitting the big Russian ship with fifteen missiles, which was followed quickly by a barrage of force beam strikes from the oncoming corvettes that stripped the last of the Russian ship’s passives and destroyed two engine rooms.
The D’Bringi fleet continued to close on the fleeing Russian fleet. The D’Bringi corvettes raced ahead, now a full light minute ahead of the rest of their fleet. Two Russian BC’s fell back, towards the D’Bringi forces, no longer able to maintain full speed. The main D’Bringi force wasn’t able to close with the Russian main force, staying at two point seven five light seconds after the Russians made an unexpected turn, while the D’Bringi corvettes closed to one point seven five light seconds. The Russian CA’s continued to focus their fire on the two D’Bringi beam CA’s still in the fight, and they absolutely gutted one of them, pounding it with no less than twenty-five hits from their advanced missile launchers. The Russian CL’s and two battlecruisers, firing independently, targeted the second D’Bringi beam cruiser, gutting it as well, leaving it limping away at 16% of its original speed. The rest of the Russian fleet concentrated on the D’Bringi corvette force, causing armor damage to three corvettes, and seriously damaging a fourth. The D’Bringi, apparently shocked by the massive damage caused by the Russian cruisers, focused their fire on one, the Stalingrad. The Stalingrad launched its only EDM and put up a massive flak barrage in between its drive field and the oncoming missiles and beams. In spite of this, the D’Bringi standard missile armed heavy cruiser group managed to get eight hits on the Russian CA, and these hits were followed by a capital missile hit from a D’Bringi heavy cruiser, and two hits from force beams and another from a capital missile, all from two D’Bringi battlecruisers firing independently. The two Russian battlecruisers that were falling behind the main fleet focused their fire on the oncoming D’Bringi corvettes, now just one point two five light seconds away. The Pozharsky targeted a D’Bringi CT with all of its weapons, but its green crew failed to get even one hit. The Senyavin targeted a different D’Bringi CT, getting a hit with its force beam and two capital missile hits, slowing the D’Bringi corvette. In return, the D’Bringi corvettes, and the two D’Bringi beam cruisers, targeted the two Russian BC’s, causing additional internal damage and slowing both to just 16% of their original speed.
General Fedorov watched the battle develop, sweating as his precious battlecruisers were damaged or destroyed one by one. Three and a half minutes after the firing started, he had lost two of his battlecruisers, and two more were heavily damaged and about to be overrun by D’Bringi corvettes. His heavy cruiser data group was intact, as was his light cruiser data group, and his five destroyers. In exchange, the D’Bringi BC data group was broken, with one BC completely out of the fight and the other two firing independently, as one of the two was streaming atmosphere and had lost its datalink systems. The D’Bringi capital missile armed heavy cruiser group was reduced to two cruisers still in their data group, with the third heavily damaged and fallen back, out of the battle. The D’Bringi standard missile cruiser group was intact, but the four beam cruisers were all heavily damaged and falling back. The D’Bringi corvette group was closing on his damaged BC’s, but four of the twelve were damaged. General Fedorov could feel it, a rising tension in his chest. The battle was hanging on a thread, and could go either way. The D’Bringi had more damaged ships, as their damaged ships simply fell back, out of battle, while his were destroyed as they fell towards the D’Bringi fleet. But, he had more intact data groups, if you excluded the corvettes. They could still overwhelm him, but his fleet was doing significant damage to the D’Bringi. His fleet and crews depended on the decision he made next…