Drums of War: Part1[August 16th 14:45][Venus Fleet][2 hours until invasion]
Butterlenain, 5th Demon Lord of the Venusian Space Dragons, commanding officer of the Incubus class battleship Chimera snorted with disgust in holo-form in the war Counsel of the Expeditionary Fleet. All seven ranked officers of the twelve ship flotilia were on hand for final orders as the finest 108kTons of Venusian might prepared to traverse the last jump point and bring war to the Gallenshu.
In theory this was a joint operation with the Syndicate, but a miscommunication had left the Earthlings millions of km out of position. Even with the fleet throttled down to 70% power (2.8k km/s) the men from Earth were still 19m km out of position.
His disgust was shared by the other officers. Sure the Syndicate was 'only' 2 hours behind, but they were
two hours behind. This close to their latest sworn foe the Dragons of Venus could almost taste the blood of their enemies, and they wanted it.
Butterlenain: "Ksh! Enough! We do we we wait for the men of earth? They have bravery and guts enough but they are Pathetic!" The Demon lord said scornfully.
"They are technologically inferior, are slowing us down and, worse, are late!"
The 2nd Demon Prince Lengokrab, senior officer of the taskforce gave a kurt tongue click of complacent recognition. As the 2nd highest officer of Venusian military he was sadly aware of such little details like 'racial good will' and orders to 'Permit the Sydnicate to redeem face.' Still, one didn't achieve rank without a few risks and Lengokrab was no exception. He wanted blood as well. With the Syndicate late by a fault of their own and his officers and crew restless it wasn't a hard choice. Besides, the fleet had original intended to fight alone all along.
"True. They die well, but their chance must wait." Lengokrab said with a widening grin. "Prepare the fleet! They are late and this hour is ours! We shall take point for the glory of the inner worlds and let the Earthlings take the gleanings! We shall rendezvous as promised at the gate, but the rendezvous shall be on the
Gallenshu side."
Six equally toothy grins slowly grew in answer.
[16:45:06] [Venus Fleet]
Lengokrab sat complacently at the bridge as the stars rearranged themselves. The gate assault was great fun and should help keep the fleet on their toes. While in theory the Gate ought to be defended the alliens had shown no prior tactical awareness of..
"CONTACTS"
tick-[16:45:11][Gallenshu Avenger]
Senior Commander Slagoth stared grumpily at the gate he was 'guarding'. "Exile more likely."
In theory a picket duty like this on the ancient relic of his command ought to belong to a junior commander, but mineral shortages were slowing new fleet construction and patrons were... lacking. Especially after his mate's latest indiscretions. His mood seemed to be reflected by the glowing amber light which meant...
"CONTACT!" he screamed, awakening his dozing crew. True to their training they were rolling into their stations before they even remembered they had been asleep. "Open Fire! Open Fire! Defend our Sovereignty!"
"Target?" Came a call.
"The... the shiniest! That one! Firm engine resonance. Looks new."
tick-[16:45:16][Venus]
"Senors are still off line! How could you know?" Lengokrab snapped, still a little groggy from jump migraine, which he knew would be even worse for the ship's electronics.
"Hand Sensors." The excited communications chief reminded him. "Thermal hunting scopes. We've got at least 5 thermal contacts waiting on the gate! And *pause* And more contacts coming in! There could be a dozen of them! An even fight!"
Lengokrab ran a hand across his scalp, thinking fast. "Weapons will be offline, So focus on our search sensor. And set course for... planet A-VI. Lets not be sitting." The Prince rattled off, his thinking recovering.
"Also.."
tick-FLASH[16:45:21][Venusian Ship Squall]
Star ships are impressively tough creations. They have to be to withstand the rigors of space. Even the thinest star ship hull is tougher than a five meter thick basalt slab. Reinforced with sorium inertial dampening and even close proximity nuclear blasts could be shrugged off. Which was why Gallenshu favored mesons.
Star Mate 1st class Brecking's first indication of trouble was when several hundred mesons tunneled out into a 3-meter shere within his engine compartment. Reintroduced to the real world the mesons wasted no time splitting and recombining with the local matter... energetically. The result appeared as a string of firecrackers turning a fifth of the compartment into an imitation of swiss cheese, including a marble sized crater in his side from one outlier. Still, military engines were remarkably robust with built in redundancy. The mess from the unlucky 2nd mate would leave stains, but other than a few months of expected operation life the engine should keep operating. And it did... right up until a 2nd meson burst interrupted Breckings sigh of relief.
tick-[16:45:26][Venusian Command]
"We did it sir! Our active and passive sensors are on! Enemy ships, 7,300 tons, eleven total! Two groups. One near, One a few thousand K off point."
Lengokrab: "Good work, now lets..."
Sensors: "Sir! The Squall vented ordnance and is dumping life pods! No impact strikes... looks like mesons."
The demon prince soundlessly cursed at this.
"A trap! How soon until the fleet gets under way?"
Confusion was replaced by horror is the luckless com-tech made an urgent lunge back to her controls.
tick-[16:45:31][Gallenshu Avenger]
"HA!" Slagoth bellowed happily watching his target die. "Now this one! Second Strike group, Fire!"
tick-BOOMMessons slashed into the Simmon, an Azazel Mod-1 like the Squall. The Squall had taken 26 hits to die. The Simmon died in in 15. Of course, the strength 14 secondary engine explosion didn't help...
"The fools die!" Slagoth continued to exclaim, dreams of promotion to a newer ship already filling his head.
"A big one next! Too easy! A big one next! That one!"
tick--BOOMMassing 12,000 tons the Incubus battle ships were twice the size of their AMM-escorts. With twice the internal competence and none of the frail 0-HTK size-1 AMM tubes the Incubus were more than twice as hard to kill. In theory. Ordinarily the chewing of mesons leads to 'soft' mission kills, but the unprecedented strength 60 sympathetic magazine detonation gutted the ship from the inside. The Chain-reaction strength 5 engine explosion was only insult to injury.
tick [Venus]
"Cuba class ships firing! Targeting... Simmons." *wince* "Simmons down." the sensor staff pointlessly updated. At least half the bridge crew was watching the streaming tactical data, even those who ought to have other jobs. "Uganda firing, targeting... ... no fair..."
"Auto notifications sent sir. We're preparing to move out, but weapons are still off-line." The pale com-tech reporting was one of the few still focused to task. She knew that a good performance for the rest of the battle was essential for than just her job but also trivial benefits like breathing. Turning away from her task to see the latest event was a reminder that Prince might not be the one to killer.
tick-For a fateful seconds the fleet stood shocked, before turn back to their duties with frenzied motivation.
tick- tick-The Ballisk became the 2nd battle ship to take fire. The great ship lost speed: but unlike the previous 3 the Ballisk refused to die.
tick-"Stop the staring or I'll eat you myself!" Prince Lengokrab roared, an open fleet channel belatedly reestablished. "The Ballisk lives yet, but I'll flay the last crew ready to move out!"
tick-"YESSHHH! The Ballisk still lives! Get Engines online! Make it ugly, make it fast!
tick-"What? No! Fire again" Slagoth snarled, his joy fading as the target emerged still in one peace after a 2nd meson volley. "Fire Again, then back to the lessors!"
tick-Across the fleet Venusian bridge crew exchanged glance while licking lips in tense silence. A third strike was enough. After 89 meson hits Ballisk was finally gone, and any one of them could be next. Still, the fleet was finally shifting course and finalizing order confirmation.
tick-tick-"NOOO!" The crew drowned Slagoth's own cry as their shots went wide as their foe moved at last leaving behind Slagoth's chance of promotion with the wreckage. "After then!" Came a reflexive order.
tick- [16:46:21] [ Venus Command Ship]
One by one six wide-eyed holographs wearing feral grins joined Prince Lengokrab in a new war-counsile. The fleet had escaped, and with speed of 4000 km/s to 1712 km/s that was slower than even the Syndicate's first war ship the fight had turned. The grins grew toothier when the officers realized all were present: Commanders one and all of the senior ships not a one had been lost. The fleet had lost a third of their strength to the best Gallenshu could give, but they had taken. Soon it would be Venus's turn to give, and give generously they would.
[END PART ONE]
[ooc]There. Part 1 of the AAR is down. I'll toss up ship specks latter.
FYI: Current Game Data: April 20th, 2084[/ooc]
