9 April 4009On 9 April,
Warden 2 was given orders to proceed back to her original posting on the WISE 0350-5658 jump point, having spotted not a single Belaire warship in two weeks. This proved to be a moment of some coincidence, as she had been on station for not even two minutes when the Belaire battle fleet jumped into the system - and immediately jumped out yet again. Clearly, forcing the Belaire to give battle would be somewhat trickier than previously thought, and with this in mind Lord Admiral Criasus ordered First and Second Fleets to proceed to the jump point at full speed with the aim of ambushing the slippery Belaire fleet at the earliest opportunity. As the fleets carried out their orders, the Belaire fleet gymnastics exercise continued at irregular intervals, until at last the fleets arrived on the jump point to WISE 0350-5658 late in the evening of 14 April. Dutifully, the Belaire battle fleet jumped into the system only 15 minutes later, however at this point the Legion crews discovered a new source of frustration as the Belaire fleet immediately jumped back out of the system before a single shot could be fired. Legion science officers were universal in voicing their amazement at this, noting that even the finest Legion technology could not permit a vessel to jump through a jump point twice in such an infinitesimal time period.
This posed some difficulty for the Captains of First and Second Fleets. A jump point assault may have been necessary, but would be a dicey prospect given the reduced orders of battle for each fleet, and thus would be considered only as a last resort. Ultimately, it was decided to send a pair of reconnaissance fighters through the jump point at the next instance of a Belaire double-jump, taking advantage of the jump shock effects to protect the fighters from weapons fire long enough to evade the Belaire fleet and perhaps frighten them into jumping back to Kuiper 79. Implicit in this plan was the clear opinion of the Legion Navy officers regarding the stiffness of Belaire spinal anatomy.
Rather concerningly, this plan proved rather flawed, as the Belaire in fact seemed to have reinforcements beyond the jump point. At least, this was the supposition made based on the panicked screams transmitted through the jump point by the fighter crews. In any case, it immediately became clear that a second plan would be called for. After a brief and informal conference, the Captains of the fleets determined that since the traditional approach of offering battle and expecting the opponent to join it had failed, due to the Belaire being utter cowards, deception would be tried instead. The bulk of First and Second Fleets would move back towards the jump point to Belaire, leaving behind a second pair of recon fighters which would monitor the jump point from just outside of Belaire sensor range. The fighters would keep their active scanners off so as to maintain secrecy, hopefully giving the Legion fleets sufficient notice of the Belaire approach to spring a trap once the Belaire had moved far enough away from the jump point that no further shenanigans would be possible.
Schematic showing elements of the Legion deception plan devised and executed on 16 April. Warden 2 was not essential to the plan, but as her station was at the jump point during normal times she would retire a safe distance away to watch the battle - should one occur - unfold.Barely 15 minutes after
Warden 2 had reached her designated holding position, some 53 million km from the jump point, the Belaire battle fleet re-entered the system. By this time the Legion fleets had only proceeded some 77 million km from the jump point, and apparently was still detectable on the Belaire sensors - likely due to the fleets’ large thermal signatures - as the enemy fleet promptly exited once again. Curiously, this process was again repeated at noon on 17 April, despite the Legion fleets being well out of range by that time, perhaps indicating excessive caution on the part of the Belaire fleet. Finally, on 18 April the Belaire fleet once again appeared in the Kuiper 79 system and cautiously set their course for the Belaire jump point - unbeknownst to them, while observed by Recon Flight 2.
At 1731 on 24 April, the passive sensor arrays of
Broken Wind detected active sensor emissions from a
Kirov-class cruiser approaching the Belaire jump point, roughly 200 million km distant. At this, First and Second Fleet immediately powered up their engines and set out to give chase, acquiring the Belaire fleet on active sensors at 1358 the following day. By this time the Belaire had retreated to 450 million km from the jump point, clearly having spotted the incoming Legion fleet and now attempting to make a futile escape.
First FleetCaptain Felix Tegyrios commanding aboard CL
DissolutionCruiser Squadron 1:
Denouement, Devastator, Dissolution, Grand Cross, 2x R-56, 1x AR-56
OspreyCruiser Squadron 3:
Devourer, Double Edge, Garrote, 1x R-56, 1x AR-56
OspreyDestroyer Squadron 7:
Carnivore, Chu Ko Nu, Cretaceous, FelstalkerTotaling 127,500 tons displacement with 3,792 crew complement
Second FleetCaptain Alastair Pleiades commanding aboard CL
DauntlessCruiser Squadron 2:
Dauntless, Defenestrator, Gothic, 1x AR-56
OspreyDestroyer Squadron 3:
Catharsis, Centaur, Chronomancer, Final BlowDestroyer Squadron 4:
Covenanter, Cry, Ye Wicked, Final JudgmentFrigate Squadron 3 (attached):
Broken Wind, Endless NightTotaling 122,500 tons displacement with 3,691 crew complement
Republic of Belaire Battle Fleet 5Commander and designation unknown
4x Kirov class Battlecruiser
3x Kiev class Jump Cruiser
3x Sovremenny class Cruiser
3x Slava class Escort Cruiser
1x Skory class Missile Destroyer
4x Osa class Destroyer Escort
Totaling 267,000 tons displacement with unknown crew complement
Author’s Note: While the Legion captains remained certain of victory due to their technological, tactical, and doctrinal superiority, it should be noted here that the Belaire fleet actually outmassed the combined Legion fleets by a slight margin. This is indicative of the by now battle-worn character of the Legion fleets by this stage of the Belaire War, despite suffering relatively minimal losses the Legion Navy was now seeing effects of attrition nevertheless. Notably, the resulting reduction in point defense capabilities had potential to prove concerning for the Legion fleets in the coming engagement.Initial positions immediately after the Belaire fleet was detected by the active sensor array of Broken Wind at 1358 on 25 April, at which point the full composition of the battle fleet could be verified.Immediately, the crews of First and Second Fleets leapt into action, executing the by now tried-and-true practice of closing to 400,000 km (actually amended to 450,000 km by the Captaincy in-theater, opting to grant the helm officers slightly more range to work with). At 0336 on 26 April, the range was closed to under 500,000 km and the Belaire fleet began firing its missiles at the Legion ships, as was tradition. Far less traditionally, several Belaire missiles were able to leak through the Legion point defense each time the heavy and light missiles arrived on-target simultaneously, with the first set of heavy missile impacts including one hit on
Devastator and half a dozen explosions against the armor of
Denouement. While this was worrisome, the fleet Captains elected to press onward, knowing that the Belaire had only a limited number of heavy missiles in their magazines and deeming even the loss of a light cruiser an acceptable price to destroy the last known Belaire battle fleet - particularly as long as the crucial destroyers survived to provide sufficient defense against the far more numerous light missiles launched from the
Slava-class escorts. Thus, the pursuit and desperate defense continued.
This bold decision was seemingly proven correct, as the second instance of simultaneous arrival of both Belaire missile classes failed to score a single hit on the Legion cruisers. This pattern held true for the next two such occurrences as well, before
Devastator suffered another pair of large explosive hits on her armor, two minutes after the first. By now, Legion sensor officers had been able to determine the approximate explosive yield of the Belaire heavy weapons, announcing to their Captains that the Belaire missiles detonated with a strength of five megatons - a number which would be reported to the Legion media outlets as 5,000 kilotons for a more appropriate dramatic effect.
Devastator would suffer a fourth 5,000-kiloton impact ninety seconds later, still receiving only superficial armor damage for her trouble. At this stage, the Legion Captains were perhaps becoming a bit overconfident, and the Legion railgunners perhaps a tad less attentive to their duties. Whatever the circumstance, thirty seconds later any such illusory overconfidence was shattered by an impressive series of ten heavy missile explosions, with a trio of missiles creating further dents in the armor of
Devastator while the remaining seven rocked her sister
Double Edge, failing to penetrate her armor. Despite the shocking development in this instant, Legion tactical officers still could not help but comment on the rather awkward target selection of the Belaire missile gunnery crews, as by now the Legion cruisers had been on the receiving end of twenty large nuclear explosions without losing a single internal component, let alone any of their resilient light cruisers. Had these explosions been directed against a single target, perhaps the Belaire gunners would have experienced better luck, inconsequential though it might have been in the end.
As it was, the Belaire had by this stage completely exhausted their supply of heavy missiles, and the Legion point defense gunners would not struggle to deal with the remaining few dozen waves of light missiles over the next several minutes. Finally, at 0348 the final light missile salvo had been destroyed, and the Legion crews turned their attention to the more interesting phase of the battle.
Missile damage suffered to the armor of the three Defiant-class light cruisers on which the Belaire managed to score hits. In the post-battle analysis, most experts would agree that the Belaire gunners would have accomplished a greater effect by concentrating their fire on a single cruiser, most notably Devastator which may have been opened to vacuum by one or two further strikes on her stern section.As the Legion fleets were unsupported by
Hellfires in this battle, the Captains ordered a direct charge towards the Belaire vessels, steeling themselves to receive fire from the Belaire laser batteries. The initial salvo at 0351 from the
Sovremennys scored only two glancing hits on
Double Edge at extreme range, followed by 32 more out of the next three salvos, all failing to penetrate the cruiser’s armor. From the opening shots, the Legion cruisers required only sixty seconds to close to their own firing range, scoring 150 hits split between the three
Sovremennys which due to the long range only caused superficial damage to the Belaire cruisers. Curiously, at this stage the
Sovremennys suddenly changed their target and fired their heavy lasers at
Broken Wind which had remained with Second Fleet throughout the pursuit. Realizing his mistake, Captain Alastair Pleiades hurriedly ordered Frigate Squadron 3 to break away from the fleet before the Belaire medium lasers could recharge and fire on the frigates, and while this order came too late to prevent the Belaire from targeting the smaller vessel the frigates did succeed in opening the range far enough that only minimal damage to the armor of
Broken Wind was suffered.
Having lost their preferred target, the
Sovremennys turned their fire on the destroyer
Covenanter, scoring a preliminary hit with a heavy laser before landing 26 hits from their medium lasers including eight penetrations. These penetrations caused modest internal damage to the destroyer, however this damage included the loss of an engine and Commander Hephaestus Valerii was ordered to withdraw from the battlefield as a result. In response, the Legion cruisers fired their second salvo of 152 mm rounds, scoring another 180 hits but only a few penetrations as the range was still fairly open at 65,000 km. One of these penetrating hits did succeed in knocking out an engine aboard the lead
Sovremenny, which fell out of formation with its escorting vessels.
As the range between the two fleets dipped below 45,000 km, the
Osa-class escorts finally opened fire, targeting the destroyer
Centaur which suffered five hits to her armor belt. Meanwhile continuing to display an impressive grasp of focused-fire tactics - that is to say, no grasp at all - the
Sovremennys fired their heavy lasers at the fleeing
Covenanter, scoring no hits. For the lead
Sovremenny which had already lost an engine, this would prove to be her final shot as
Denouement immediately blew her target to dust with thirty-two well-placed 152 mm rounds. Another 120 shots found their targets against the remaining
Sovremennys, dealing heavy internal damage including knocking out several engines and causing the Belaire formation to unravel. As the
Sovremennys fell behind the main Belaire fleet, the Legion destroyers were able to take aim.
Chu Ko Nu claimed the second of the
Sovremennys, which had lost three of its four engines and was quickly overtaken by the Legion fleets, while
Centaur eliminated the final cruiser of the trio. In their dying moments, the
Sovremennys fired a final salvo from their medium laser batteries, ineffectually grazing the armor of the withdrawing
Covenanter.
In a rare case of a Belaire fleet actually exacting revenge for their lost comrades, the
Osas fired a concerted broadside at
Centaur, crippling her engines and leaving her dead in space. By now, however, the entire Belaire fleet was well within range of the rapid-firing 102 mm railguns of the Legion’s destroyers, and within ten seconds the
Osas had been permanently silenced.
With no laser-armed vessels remaining, the Belaire battle fleet stood no chance against the powerful Legion railguns. Even so, the Legion Captains ordered that each remaining Belaire vessel should be targeted by only one Legion ship, hoping that by minimizing the damage done per salvo some of the remaining ships might be persuaded to surrender - hopefully to better effect than their comrades aboard the
Azovs had experienced a month prior. This approach proved effective, with one of the large
Kirov-class battlecruisers becoming the first Belaire vessel to surrender to the Duranium Legion Navy (and survive intact). Sadly, the self-preserving crew of
Kirov 17 could only watch as their comrades chose to fight to the death - for a loose definition of the term “fight”. At 0354 on 26 April, the fifth and final Belaire battle fleet ceased to exist as a naval formation.
By this stage, the Legion intelligence analysts had pieced together a more or less complete picture of the
Kirov-class capabilities, thus initial inspection of the captured vessel did not prove terribly informative. Of mild interest was the fact that, according to the surrendering Belaire Captain, the class was properly designated as a “Strike Cruiser” rather than the more evocative “battlecruiser” term used by the Legion Navy to signify a capital ship. Despite the eagerness of the surrendered crew to serve under a more competent chain of command, the
Kirov 17 was likely to be scrapped for minerals and research purposes, as the Legion lacked any ability to reequip the vessel with appropriate ordnance, or indeed any ordnance at all.
Off-Topic: Belaire Kirov-class Strike Cruiser show
Kirov class Strike Cruiser 22,947 tons 573 Crew 2,967 BP TCS 459 TH 1,560 EM 0
3399 km/s Armour 5-71 Shields 0-0 HTK 136 Sensors 12/6/0/0 DCR 12 PPV 76
Maint Life 1.54 Years MSP 969 AFR 351% IFR 4.9% 1YR 468 5YR 7,014 Max Repair 397.36 MSP
Magazine 1,404
Captain Control Rating 4 BRG AUX ENG CIC
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Improved Nuclear Pulse Engine EP260 (6) Power 1560 Fuel Use 62.02% Signature 260 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 1,400,000 Litres Range 17.7 billion km (60 days at full power)
CIWS-120 (1x4) Range 1000 km TS: 12,000 km/s ROF 5
Size 4 Missile Launcher (19) Missile Size: 4 Rate of Fire 15
Missile Fire Control FC65-R113 (3) Range 65.5m km Resolution 113
Active Search Sensor AS69-R113 (1) GPS 12204 Range 69.4m km Resolution 113
Active Search Sensor AS31-R20 (1) GPS 1440 Range 31.8m km Resolution 20
Thermal Sensor TH2-12 (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 27.4m km
EM Sensor EM1-6 (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 19.4m km
As the surrendered
Kirov was out of fuel as well as ammunition, having suffered an unfortunate accident during the battle which had precipitated her surrender although her fuel tanks remained physically intact, the tanker
Dragon was dispatched from the Belaire system, and would take over five days to arrive. In the meantime, the remaining Legion vessels would form up on the wounded
Centaur as she effected post-battle repairs to her engines, with the jump cruiser
Grand Cross detached to collect the Belaire survivors who had not been wise enough to proffer their own surrenders. Faced with their own insignificance and impending mortality, several of the Belaire survivors had the good sense to strike deals with their Legion Intelligence inquisitors to procure slightly larger prison cells containing not only beds but pillows as well. Most interestingly, several of these volunteers informed their captors that the Republic of Belaire was in fact at war with a second alien race, one not known to the Legion and the Belaire name for which could not be translated. Given that the Legion Navy had faced the overwhelming majority of the Belaire Navy’s battle capabilities, all involved agreed that it was astounding that the Legion Navy had seized control of the Belaire home system well before this unknown race had even come close to mounting their own offensive. Otherwise, however, no new intelligence was gained, albeit less due to the reluctance of the Belaire captives and more due to the fact that the information volunteered had already been provided by previous captives in the process of making similar bargains for themselves.
Pictured: Devastation.While the necessary post-battle regrouping process continued, Lord Admiral Criasus and his command staff on Kuiper 79-A II determined to their satisfaction that the Belaire Front was completely under Legion control. Of the original Belaire fleet roster determined by
Adamant some years ago, beyond which no new Belaire warships had been identified, only three
Sovremennys remained unaccounted for along with three
Kievs which posed no threat to the Legion fleets. All twenty
Kirovs had been either destroyed or in the most recent case had surrendered, and only half a dozen Belaire missile destroyers remained at large. While the Belaire Navy still operated a considerable force of three dozen
Slava and
Osa-class escort vessels, without any major fleet units to escort these were almost certainly scattered about the galaxy and unable to pose any threat to the Legion as a massed fleet. While the Belaire War was far from over, after all there remained a home planet to be subjugated and looted at some time in the future, the Lord Admiral and his subordinates were confident in declaring that the bulk of their work as fleet commanders had been accomplished, and a certain measure of breathing more easily could be had.
Of course, this did not mean that the actual work of being a Legion Navy Lord Admiral would cease even for a moment, thus Lord Admiral Criasus found himself along with Lord Captain Selene Styx boarding the light cruiser
Disruptor, captained by the now-infamous Captain Jocasta Gelanor, which would along with an ad-hoc escort group ferry these commanding officers to Duratus to participate in the long-anticipated Naval Conference. The
Disruptor group would make a brief stop at Adamantine Base, where Commander Aion Styx aboard the
Hellfire would join the procession, before proceeding to Duratus at full speed so as not to try the patience of the Legion high command any longer than necessary.
While the Lord Admiral and his entourage were in transit, First and Second Fleets reordered themselves, such that all of the damaged ships from the most recent battle were now grouped under First Fleet while Second Fleet would be the “full-strength” fleet in-theater for the time being. First Fleet was left under orders to proceed to Duratus after refuelling from the incoming tanker
Dragon, where necessary armor repairs would be carried out and fresh reinforcements dispatched to Kuiper 79 to relieve Second Fleet.
While the majority of the Legion Navy dealt with the vagaries of logistics,
Gatekeeper 7 in the Belaire system reported another convoy approaching the Giclas 9-38 jump point on 12 May, consisting of ten
Zhdanov-class 68,000-ton auxiliaries escorted by a pair of
Osas. These would prove to be an easy target of opportunity for Cruiser Squadron 5, which transited back to the Belaire system and immediately gave pursuit, being careful to remain beyond 50,000 km range until the short-ranged
Osas had been eliminated. With their escorts eliminated, a full five
Zhdanovs surrendered to the Legion raiders - an incredibly boon, as these vessels in fact turned out to be Belaire orbital mining ships which would be greatly appreciated by the Legion economic planners on Duratus. A flotilla of space tugs was immediately dispatched to the Belaire system to recover the lumbering behemoths and relocate them to the Sol system.
The lightly-escorted Zhdanov-class convoy to be intercepted by Cruiser Squadron 5 on 12 May. The speed of the Zhdanov-class mining ships made them the slowest Belaire class yet detected, suggesting that the convoy had been in flight from Belaire Prime for nearly four months, likely having fled after the jump point assault of 19 January.----
19 May 400900:38 Legion Galactic Time
Duratus spacedocksIn the earliest hour of 19 May,
Disruptor arrived at Duratus carrying her precious cargo of Legion Navy flag officers, escorted by the destroyers
Champion and
Flayer as well as the frigates
Executor and
Hellfire. While the appearance to onlookers at the Duratus spacedocks would be that of an honor guard escorting Lord Admiral Criasus and his retinue, in practice the collection of escorts had been assembled from a mix of damaged combat vessels and jump ships which no longer had an intact battle squadron to accompany. In each case, the crews of these vessels had been at war against the Belaire for some time now, in some cases several years with only occasional shore leave and certainly no vacation time, thus all aboard were eagerly awaiting their arrival on Duratus. For the Lord Admiral and selected other officers aboard the flotilla, awaited with greater eagerness was the commencement of the Naval Conference set for noon of that day, after allowing time for rest and debriefing.
It was against the backdrop of this relaxed mood that the events of 19 May would transpire. At 0038 the flotilla made their final approach to the spacedocks. Below is a transcript of the radio communications between the spacedock traffic control center and the helm officer aboard
Disruptor:
[00:38:01] TRANSMISSION BEGINS [00:38:02] OPERATOR: “
Disruptor, you are clear to dock at station Beta-Two, I repeat, Beta-Two, over.”
[00:38:05] DISRUPTOR: “Roger, Traffic Control,
Disruptor clear to dock at Beta-Two. Proceeding now at twenty-five meters per second, over.”
[00:38:13] OPERATOR: “Roger,
Disruptor.”
[SILENCE] [00:38:33] OPERATOR: “
Disruptor, we do not detect movement of your vessel. Is there trouble with your engines? Please report, over.”
[SILENCE] [00:38:48] OPERATOR: “
Disruptor, are you in distress? Please report, over!”
[00:38:51] DISRUPTOR: static “Just a moment, Traffic Control.”
agitated voices can be heard in the background but no words can be made out [00:38:55] OPERATOR: “Do you need assistance? Station vessels can be dispatched to your position--”
[00:39:01] DISRUPTOR: agitated voices continue to be heard, increasing in volume. After several seconds, the voice of Disruptor’s helm officer is clearly audible. “They did what??”
a single loud, agitated voice is heard in the background “OH SHI--”
[00:39:12] DISRUPTOR: the sound of a loud explosion is heard, which rapidly increases in volume [00:39:14] TRANSMISSION ENDED----
Shipbuilding1x Charybdis class Destroyer:
Charitable Donation2x Hellfire class Frigate:
Harbinger, Homunculus----
OOC Note: Yes, finally we have arrived at the long-awaited Naval Conference, albeit not in the manner anyone expected I should think. As we prepare ourselves for several updates of fierce debate, mundane technical intricacies, and pointless pontification, what better way to transition to such matters than with a sudden plot twist which is likely to hang over our heads unresolved for the entire duration, driving the readership to demand plot advancement and resolution whilst the author steadfastly insists on writing a political drama spinoff? Then again, perhaps the readership by know expects such things from an author who regularly leaves plot threads hanging while writing about convoy raids and mineral economics, thus this latest development is perhaps not so unexpected as it might first appear? We can only wait and see what the future holds...