The Hokum - Chapter 2.75
As the first emperor ever to preside over a war there was no established protocol for Valsur to consult when it came to vacations. Going to a resort off-planet was an option until research showed that the majority of previous emperors and empresses often went off-planet when confronted with scandal. To avoid that impression Valsur spent a week at a forest house that belonged to his wife?s parents.
Little Vendex was kept occupied by his grandparents while Valsur and his wife Avita took to hiking, wildlife study, tennis and swimming. It was a pleasant enough of an escape, but the war had its own priorities. On the fourth day a government courier arrived and had Valsur sign for a message that came from the Imperial Council. He was required to read it and send a response as soon as possible. Only after sending Vendex to bed that night did Valsur read the message in the company of Avita.
?The last of the Expeditionary Corps has landed on Crimson Expanse,? Valsur said after sipping fruit juice. ?Our casualties are now 20,000 with 6,000 dead. Comensal casualties are at least 100,000 with 17,000 dead.?
?What about prisoners?? Avita asked pensively. ?Are we still trying to take prisoners??
Valsur shook his head. ?That is the reason why our casualties are what they are now. Comensal fight to the death, and those we did capture with sleep gas kept attempting to escape until they die trying or become the center of insane rescue attempts.?
Avita finished her glass of juice. ?Has there been any real thought given in collecting Comensal babies? They wouldn?t be burdened with the indoctrination given young children.?
Valsur shook his back hands in an unconscious display of denial. ?I seriously doubt we?ll get even one infant. They fight and die as families. Even the babies are used as weapons. Several dozen incidents have been reported of babies being rigged with explosives so that if they?re picked up?.?
?Monstrous!? Avita exclaimed. Like everyone else that fought against the Axis she found its disdain for their children?s? future to be sickening. ?They?re that callous with their own? They think that after all is said and done they?ll just make more children to replace the ones they so casually used like ammunition??
?At the risk of sounding like a monster, at the rate they?re going they?ll run out of ammunition,? Valsur stated harshly. ?They may have been egged on by their officials to fulfill the tenets of their cultural imperatives. I?m willing to concede that point. All they need is dissuasion.? Writing hard and fast so that he needed two hand to hold he pad firmly Valsur composed a reply. ?I just made an imperial decree for IA Bemus. He is to instruct Ronon to smash each city, town, and work site on CE and lay waste to the fields. That, along with the winter season that?s now occurring in the northern hemisphere, which also had the bulk of the population, should make the Comensal rethink their priorities.?
?That could take years, Valsur,? Avita said in counter-point. ?Are we willing as a race to take casualties for that long while our enemies, having firmly stated that their purpose in life is to kill all of us, slowly starve and sicken in the field, never conceding defeat and dying to prevent being captured?? She looked at Valsur with an intensity usually found in fighting or lovemaking. ?As Emperor, will you be able to handle the burden of this decision??
?I?m going to have to take it, Avita. The emperor that comes after me will have the means to incorporate the Comensal into the Imperium, either as citizens or corpses.?
********
Camp Lazlo had been busy continuously ever since the uprising started six weeks ago. Surgeries operated with rotating teams of doctors, armories dolled out ammunition like groceries, and mechanics patched up vehicles without knowing if it was day or night. The pit chief in one garage had his gang work over a vehicle called Loaded Vice. It sustained numerous hits and scuffs while in the field but it took the platoon leader, Piton Susex, to order the crew to take it in for repairs.
?How did you manage this?? the pit chief asked Furdex, the vehicle commander. He pointed to a big deformation in the bow plate. ?This wasn?t done by a rocket hit.?
Looking a bit strained and with lines below his eyes Furdex rubbed his left front hand over the dent like a driver inspecting a bumper after a collision. ?We were supporting a company of infantry in an urban assault sweep when our mortar rounds ran out. On one building there was a persistent set of snipers. Our proximity 30mm rounds were having no effect, so I had my driver ram the building?s northwest support column multiple times. That caused the whole corner to collapse; crushing some of the snipers and making the others expose themselves to counterfire as they tried to leave.?
?You?re lucky the front axle didn?t get out of alignment,? the chief spat out. ?As it is it?ll take five days to get Vice back up to specs, even with the fabrication shop on the Minstrel Show.? He looked back to the turret and found Spuran the gunner painting something in red. ?You?re doing it again? It?ll just serve as an aiming point for those boney bastards.?
?All the better for me to shoot back at them,? Spuran boasted. ?Nothing draws out the fire of a boney like a Mongoose.?
?Just what is the score now, quickdraw??
A flick of the wrist and Spuran was done tallying Vice?s kill board in bright red lettering. ?Two tanks, eleven technicals, and 280 personnel, give or take five.?
?By personnel you mean ones actually armed with weapons?? the chief said critically. ?You heard what happened to that Mongoose crew in the 4th Division??
Spuran?s back arms flexed instinctively from the tone of the chief?s voice. He looked down from his turret perch like he was about to pounce. Furdex stepped forward and placed himself in-between his gunner and the wrench monger. ?We heard that story, Chief. For the record they did go overboard in their response, despite the fact their vehicular commander had her head blow clean off by a sniper on the school?s roof. They practically leveled the building in response and circled the burning debris, not caring what they ran over in the process. As for my crew, my vehicle,? Furdex slapped the side of the Vice with both left hands, ?we only shot at those that shot at us or the troops we?ve supporting. And yes, they were all armed, regardless of age, whether it was a pipe rifle or a bottle of fire syrup.?
?I was just saying?.? The chief said, but was slapped down by Furdex.
?It?s going to get a lot worse before it lets up, Chief. Frankly I?m surprised the boneheads haven?t tried to assault our divisional bases. They?ve attacked practically everything else of ours on this planet, including forward aid stations. My crew witnessed the result of a boney attack on an aid station. Of the children involved, they used knives on those wounded that couldn?t defend themselves.?
The rest of the pit crew had stopped and listened to Furdex?s story. He looked at them with a level of contempt reserved for those that haven?t fired so much as one shot in anger. ?I see all of you aren?t wearing sidearms. You may think you?ll have time to get armed in case of attack, but you haven?t seen how fast or stealthy a boney child can be when the need is upon him. Unlike the helpless wounded, you wouldn?t have an excuse.? He gestured to Spuran, having him come off the vehicle and accompany him to a dining hall. The pit crew and the chief resumed work on the Loaded Vice, but only after arming themselves with service handguns and holsters, along with three extra clips of ammunition.
********
As for the Expeditionary Fleet the past six weeks was a study of agitated waiting. The Comensal broadcast centers on CE had been all destroyed, leaving only the daily news report originating on a mobile shipyard orbiting the planet. It offended the sensibilities of the spacers that enemy civilians would rather expend themselves in ultimately futile battles than wait for a rescue by their fleet. It was as if they wanted to fight just so the survivors could say they did their part in killing Hokum soldiers.
The flood of Axis courier drones weeks earlier that had in all likelihood started the CE uprising could only have come from the ships guarding the other side of the CE/Abyssal-018 warp point. Question was, when will the Axis mount a proper assault to reclaim CE? As if offering a response an Axis intrusion started two hours after the news broadcast announced the ISA casualty totals reached 20,000.
First to appear were two DN-sized vessels, likely assault carriers or equally-armored minesweepers. More than a few jaws and curses were dropped when a mass transit of 240 ships was detected. When the sensors cleared from the numerous interpenetrations it was shown the Axis had 110 explorer-sized vessels, 14 escorts, 14 undersized corvettes, and 26 full-sized corvettes. Behind them were two more DNs and a CV. The explorers, escorts, and full-sized corvettes were classes not previously seen by the ISN. All the small ships were facing the arbitrary direction of southeast while the bulk of the ISN ships were 1.5 LS northeast of the warp point
Had this assault happen just two weeks later then it would?ve seen the participation of three ISN type-4 beam bases, currently in the final stages of reassembly over CE. Without them the defenders still had the considerable force of the Expeditionary Fleet and its antimatter-armed fighters. Fifteen squadrons were on the CAP and as one they swarmed the warp point when the first Axis ship made its appearance. First to fire was an Axis DN, believed to be an assault carrier for it fired just one HET laser, hitting a Type 2 while failing to knock out a single minefield pattern with BAM-Rc rounds.
Just five of the fifteen CAP squadrons became active and fired their FRAMs, each targeting one of the large Axis ships. With shields down it was revealed that the DNs were two assault carriers and two minesweepers. Those ISN ships that became active focused their efforts in smashing a DN(V)s hanger bays while taking out as many explorers as possible. Having so many of those small ships involved meant not only to dilute buoy fire but also signal the Axis? intent to bodily clear a path through the mines. One DN(V) lost its hangers and fighters and 9 out of 110 explorers were vaporized.
A buoy tender and one of the recently completed control bases became active and together had 200 energy-beam buoys open up on the Axis intruders. It was enough to reveal that the small ships had shielding to one extent or another and that the normal sized corvettes had overload dampeners. Those that happened to be hit twice were able to disperse the energy that got past their shielding, thus preserving their interiors. Upon seeing this Lord Admiral Janus had to complement her foe for readily adapting his assault force to counter the energy buoys. At the same time those corvettes were more expensive to build than the previous model, making their destruction a priority.
Like the last time there was no second wave, and the intact DN(V) and CV launched nine squadrons of fighters. One explorer and escort transited back into Abyssal-018, leaving the remaining 100 explorers to launch their cutters and engage engine modulation. The minefield patch targeted by the Axis ships with their BAM rounds was reduced to 73 patterns. First to enter this ravaged patch were 73 explorers, all of them barely surviving the initial mine attacks yet only 44 remained mobile. Momentarily those 44 completed their destruction as they attempted to leave the minefields with the corvettes following on their heels. Other than losing armor the corvettes were intact, yet jamming from the Deflectors rendered their datalinks useless.
The 100 cutters had split into three groups, each heading for their own Interior cruiser. Still rushing to action stations, the trio could only offer tepid resistance, shooting down only three rammers. Shields collapsed and armor buckled; it was clear which ships were going to be brought down by the corvettes? plasma guns.
Just outside the jamming radius of the Deflectors the Axis fighter squadrons went after those Hokum CAP squadrons that still hadn?t fired yet. F1 Spears that did fire their FRAMs earlier still had their guns packs, killing Axis fighters even as they shot down squadrons that opened up on the dreadnoughts. Of the 27 explorers still on the warp point 16 were destroyed by Hokum ships along with the 29 immobilized ones in the minefield. With nine corvettes also blasted there were just 64 active Axis ships left.
Utilizing 280 of the reusable laser buoys and last 100 available energy buoys the Hokum were able to immobilize 20 corvettes and finish off the first DN(V). As a group the fifteen escorts plunged into the warp point and returned to Abyssal-018, followed by the remaining 11 explorers of which two interpenetrated on the far side. Of the eleven corvettes in the mines still able to generate a drivefield they pressed on, being completed obliterated in return for taking 220 mines down with them.
Having done their duty over the warp point the Axis fighters turned on the Hokum ships, gunning for a destroyer with their short range attack missiles. They fired, despite having their datalinks broken by jamming, and managed to destroy one Type 2before succumbing to pursuing fighters and point defense. With needle beams at work the remaining Type 2s sought to disarm and immobilize the remaining Axis ships. The battle ended two minutes after it had started. Janus had to marvel at the expense the Axis incurred just to conduct a spoiling attack. It was apparent they hadn?t developed antimatter ordnance yet or the armed pinnace, a weapon far more ideal to mass transit attacks than ships by any stretch of the imagination. For the great expenditure of lives the enemy only destroyed one BC, three Interiors, one Type 2, 26 fighters, 18 energy buoys, and 55 mine patterns and damaged another Type 2.
Still contending with the previous probe assault captures the bounty from this battle would have to wait for conversion work. One DN(V), two DN sweepers, a CV, two regular-sized and sixteen undersized corvettes were systematically towed to CE. With some many ships the odds favored at least one will still have an intact database (which was proven to be the case), so Janus decided to spare her boarding parties and simply destroy the live support of those Axis ships that still had it.
It occurred to Janus that had her opponent elected to send in the known forces in Abyssal-018, even in normal transit, ISN casualties would?ve been higher. Given what happened in Fallowed Field, had she been in charge, then the mobile defenders in Abyssal-018 should?ve been pulled backed to Bedrock. The fact that the Axis was content with staging another probe attack, and a half-hearted one at that, meant they were waiting for further reinforcement. Janus was sure that meant antimatter ordnance, and given how much punishment the one DN(V) took to be destroyed composite armor was now in the Axis fleet.
Two weeks. In just two weeks the assault DNs would be on hand. Provided that the Axis wasn?t hideously reinforced in that time the Expeditionary Fleet would move on Abyssal-018 in force. The more she thought about it Janus doubted she would get clearance to move a segment of ships into Tire Iron via Fallowed Field, thereby isolating the forces in Abyssal-018. The situation with the CSF and the Solid State system has so far not been resolved. Rather than think about missed opportunities Janus worked with her staff in coming up with an assault plan. Two pinnace probes would be conducted before the DNs arrived so as to see if the Axis had been reinforced in the interim.
SAR operations successfully recovered 1,100 personnel from the downed ships. The defensive minefields and energy buoys were rearranged so that there was an even distribution. An order sent to the mobile machine shops over CE to prep 26 replacement fighters. With anticipation building the crews of the Expeditionary Fleet were eager to attack. A spectacular success would go a long way to boost morale in the Imperium in light of the hellish combat on Crimson Expanse.
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It was snowing in Vista Platte, a city of 16,000 roughly 800km northwest of the capital city of Blood Valor. The minimal ISA presence that was in the city before the Uprising was gone, forced out with heavy casualties. Eagle Eye UAVs prowled at attitude, attacking any sign of armed activity. A subsequent blockade prevented vehicles from going in and out. Being an agricultural processing center Vista Platte had a considerable supply of food, and denying its service to other population centers would render useful results. Under what came to be known as the ?miserable and wet? policy the city was one of the first to be demolished for the sole purpose of denying its inhabitants a roof over their heads. While they may have their basements those caught in them while the buildings above them collapse would be effectively entombed. Calls for the civilians to surrender their arms went unanswered along with amnesty offers. The Comensal civilians prepared for ISA troops to invade the city in a conventional way.
Vista Platte had the distinction of being the first city to be subjected to attack by the recently developed orbital kinetic bombardment system. Observed warehouses were attacked first, utterly demolished by 100kg projectiles fired at 10% the speed of light. For the troops waiting on the city?s perimeter it was like watching lightning being hurled from the heavens. Fires broke out where the ?rods from the gods? hit, each subsequent strike provided more fuel for the flames. In twenty minutes all the major buildings were destroyed, with fires spreading to housing areas, yet there was no civilian exodus. That night the steady light snowfall was replaced by blizzard conditions and bitter cold.
For the troops observing the civilians it was surreal. Between the fires and the snow they showed no inclination to leave the city. Instead they concentrated in putting out the most dangerous fires and digging entrances to basement shelters. Teams of civilians still kept to the perimeter, watching and practically daring the ISA to attack, even in a major snow storm. Five days into the wretched weather a surprise attack was launched on one concentration of ISA troops, causing massive casualties and only ending when armored vehicles bulldogged their way in and provided close-in covering fire. It was found that the civilians were equipped with military-grade thermal cloaks, effectively hiding them from Hokum sensors and well as their eyes in the blizzard.
It turned out to be the same in other cities and towns that were selected to be rendered uninhabitable via bombardment. They stayed put, though often a group of civilians would come forward to surrender only to pull out concealed weapons, even knives, to die attacking. It was also proven time and again that there was no way to handle Comensal prisoners other than keeping them unconscious practically all the time. Professor Alba was on the edge of despair after reading battlefield reports. Incredible as it seemed the civilians in towns that had yet to be bombarded demolished their structures so as to make them better suited for defense.
As distasteful as it was Alba had to conclude the Comensal were so truly set in their beliefs that any sort of accommodation, much less peace, was impossible. Most telling and gruesome on exactly how far the Comensal were willing to go to defy the Hokum was that infants were killed by their own parents rather than run the risk of them being captured. She wracked her brains to come up with an explanation for such behavior. Feeling that something obvious had missed her attention Alba delved into Comensal historical texts again. After three days of intense searching she found a connection.
Many centuries ago on the Comensal homeworld there was a major clash of nation states. In one of those wars one nation invaded another and made considerable gains. Rather than admit defeat the leader of the besieged nation called upon his citizens to resist and engage the invaders while the army rebuilt itself for a decisive offensive. The invaders became so tied down fighting guerrilla bands that it had failed to subdue the nation before the winter season. By the time spring came the invaders, weakened and short of supplies due prolonged guerrilla activity, were unable to resist the resurgent army and were decisively defeated. In time the nation triumphed and destroyed the invaders, taking its territory and people for its own. Two pairs of snapping fingers mentally went off in Alba?s head. After furthering research she found that the nation that resisted the invaders was the one that held beliefs that eventually became those of the entire Comensal race. With brains that absorbed knowledge and intolerance at an early age, repeated for generations, resulted in the current incarnation of Comensal civilization. Alba wrote her report and sent it to Ronon. She had a fair guess to the conclusions he?ll draw from it, but in the end it was a matter for the IC and the Emperor to decide.
********
The defenders of Abyssal-018 felt confident. Sensor readings from the latest probe attack in CE had shown only a modest increase of Imperium ships. More important there were no signs of battleships or dreadnoughts. Until the appearance of heavily-armored assault carriers, and barring a massive tsunami of armed pinnaces, it was felt the Imperium would stay put. With Circuit Run threatened by CSF forces in Borehole the AFC didn?t need a fresh breakout to contend with at this time.
Sitting at the other warp point in Abyssal-018 were eight mobile shipyards, a small freighter and three small tugs. Two BS5(V)s and a BS5(E) were being assembled from prefabricated parts. Already with one month?s work done, it would be two more months before the bases were completed and another three weeks after that for the crated fighters on the freighter to be prepped and made ready. The other five mobile yards were engaged in refitting the new composite armor on three DNs and three DDs. In three weeks a quartet of mobile repair ships and additional warships would arrived to bolster the defenses. As it turned out their services would be utilized elsewhere.
It was two weeks after the last Axis spoiling attack when first ship of the Hokum assault wave, an Imperial Valor, made transit. Two more followed it, and what came after them were 120 Garrochas (armed pinnaces) and 40 Turtle escorts. 18 Garrochas and 14 Turtles were lost via interpenetration. The Axis crews noted this increase in Imperium aggressiveness, using for the first time small ships with which to dilute laser buoy fire. Rounding out the first wave was another Imperial Valor and a Rodeo Clown minesweeper.
The Axis task group was the same as the Garrochas left it two months earlier. Regular warships orbited the warp point clockwise at a range of 1.5 LS at a speed of 0.033c. Currently they were northwest of the warp point. The carriers were 3.75 LS northeast, moving at the same speed and going counter-clockwise. As for the six known bases they were still 4.75 LS north. Eight squadrons of Hatchets, the same number as before, were on the CAP. As they fell on the Hokum ships, racing to activate fire control systems, the first DN fired its CAMs at an Axis Prestige. Just three hit, but armed with antimatter the CAMs took down 1/3 of the Prestige? shields.
Losing 11 of their number in the mines the 91 remaining Garrochas opened up with internal guns and point defense, knocking out nine buoys. The presence of the Turtles muddled the targeting priorities of the Axis units to such an extent that those ships and CAP squadrons that became active focused on destroying them instead of the DNs. 11 of the little ships were destroyed with two more damaged. One Imperial Valor was heavily damaged with another losing its shields and 14% of its armor. The targeted Prestige lost all of its passive defenses and was streaming air. On a positive note for the Axis three of their fleet carriers crashed-launched 12 squadrons.
Just one buoy controller attained on-line status which meant only 100 one-shot laser buoys could be activated. Each of the 20 Hokum ships on the warp point were targeted by five buoys each. Only one previously damaged Turtle was obliterated. The one heavily damaged Imperial Valor only got hit by three lasers, a twist of fate that allowed it to survive to launch its brood of 42 fighters. Had the captain of just one Axis destroyer or frigate fired on the ship then it would?ve gone up in an apocalyptic fireball for its fighters as well as those in its three sister ships were armed with FRAMs.
It wasn?t the sight of 168 fighters catapulted into space that angered the blood of the Axis defenders. The second wave entered, composed of five DNs of yet another new class and a second Rodeo Clown. Drive field frequencies of the fourth and fifth DNs caught the eye of scanner techs, realizing that there was a match in their databases. Optical inspection revealed them to be Axis hulls, though they were painted in yellow and blue instead of red, white and black. Even the targeting sensors of the two DNs were of the same kind as used by the Axis. This was totally unacceptable for the defenders. In the history of the AFC this was the first time an enemy used hulls it had captured against the original owners. Targeting priorities was now set. Starting with the two desecrated hulls every enemy ship was to be completely destroyed.
14 squadrons of Spears stayed on the warp point to engage the remaining armed CAP squadrons and buoys with their lasers while the other 14 squadrons and 55 Garrochas went after the warships. Many ships were mauled, especially the destroyers and frigates. Of the 36 other Garrochas they took a different course that would put them on top of the missile bases in 120 seconds. Only 6 Spears where shot down by the Axis ships, a pitiful number especially in the light of the disproportionate damage they received. The CAP squadrons found their datalinks jammed, courtesy of the first wave DN(V)s. Making the most of their predicament they went after Turtles, smashing them so as reduce their effectiveness in diluting buoy fire.
Both of the Axis-hulled Hokum DNs were destroyed with great malice. The only other consolation was that only 4 Turtles remained, making for just 13 ships on the warp point. When two of the small control bases became active they coordinated with the controller on the BS5R, releasing 300 IDEW-Ls. Though only capable of doing two-thirds the damage of a similar number of the one-shot variety they did their job. The first Imperial Valor was lost along with the last of the Turtles. One second wave Indomitable was badly damaged but retained it full suite of weapons. The fourth Axis CV launched its 24 embarked Hatchets while the CVLs still struggled to get their magpults online.
Wave three was made of five Indomitables and one Rodeo Clown. They passed the three surviving Imperial Valors as they transited back to Crimson Expanse. Initiative yielded to the Hokum. The first three Indomitables in the second wave took aim and let loose with their needle beams on shieldless DNs and BBs while their forces beams pounded on a National Will CL, crushing it like a soda can. The 13 northern Spear squadrons turned south to assist the other 14 to engage the 12 Hatchet squadrons that were now attacking the third wave ships. Just one Indomitable fell to Axis short range attack missiles but only 21 out of 72 Hatchets lived to fall back to their carriers.
After the depredations of the Axis ships and missiles bases (all of which had now become active) there were just five Hokum ships on the warp point, all from the third wave. The 55 Garrochas that had fired their FRAMs had busied themselves in attacking buoys. With this in mind the master controller elected to fire the remaining 127 one-shot laser buoys before they were splashed like clay pigeons. All five ships had breached armor with the Rodeo Clown nearly on death?s door.
The fourth wave had five Indomitables, representing the last of the current members of the class, and a Rodeo Clown refitted with a jammer. Only seven Spear squadrons stay on the warp point to intercept the four squadrons of Hatchets that had launched a minute earlier. 120 Spears, including 84 that still had FRAMs, went back to finish the Axis warships. Again initiative fell to the Hokum, firing a pair of Indomitables before they succumbed to Axis counterfire. Weapons were pinched by needle beams and a previously hit Sprinter was tripped up by capital force beams and exploded in slow motion. The improved accuracy of the Indomitables capital fire control in conjunction with ECCM helped to offset the ECM generated by the slow-moving Axis ships.
A trio of missile bases, now synced up, fired their capital launchers and flushed their racks at a third wave Indomitable. It was complete overkill, for it would?ve worked out better had they split their fire between two ships, making it easier for the cruisers to finish off the wrecks. The second trio realized this and fired on a pair of fourth wave Indomitables. Spears tore into ships that had yet to bleed air, leaving behind a trail of debris that stretched hundreds of kilometers. With single-mindedness that went beyond obsession Axis ships finished off all the third wave ships and polished off one from the fourth. 167 IDEW-Ls that had yet to fire were tasked to do so against the five Hokum ships at the warp point. An Indomitable already pounded by Axis fire exploded into several dozen parts while the fourth wave Rodeo Clown lost most of its point defense.
The CVLs had gotten their act together and launched their eight on-board squadrons. Coming in the fifth wave were three Implacables and three Imperiums, including Janus? flagship, the Watch Tower. With their laser packs the Spears strafed Axis ships that had already been breached, taking out engines and weapons until all the surviving DDs and FGs had nothing left with which to shoot. The 36 Garrochas still with FRAMs kept their distance from the missile bases. When the Implacables stabilize their fire control the first targets were the bases; only then would the pinnaces attack, forcing the defenders whether to use their point defense against them or the missiles. As it was two fourth wave Indomitables were destroyed by overwhelming missile salvos.
Given the state of the defenders they had nothing left to lose by firing their remaining 63 IDEW-Ps at the eight Hokum ships. It was mostly engines that got pierced by the incredibly focused weapons, but the Hokum weren?t going anywhere while the minefields were still intact. Wave six was the same as wave five and this time the Axis was on the mark, electing to fire their missile bases at the fifth wave Implacables at the expense of using their point defense against the Garrochas. For this effort they shot down 15 Garrochas while two bases were practically destroyed and another with its armor breached. Meanwhile the Spears devastated the 8-squadrons strike sent out by the CVLs which had only done moderate damaged due to their downed datanets. The first Implacable ruptured along its spine as it went into its death throws, being the center of attention for Axis fire once the last Indomitable was destroyed.
Only five Axis warships retained any sort of offensive weapons when the seventh wave, made up of six Type 2 DDs, made transit. As for the Axis carriers, having only 65 embarked fighters in the process of rearming, they went to full speed, prompting the Spear squadrons to pursue. Even with just laser packs they intended to cripple the carriers before they could put up an effective defense. Not much damage was exchanged between the bases and an Implacable except for one base that lost 40% of its launchers.
While the Garrochas busied themselves in knocking out the recharging buoys the eighth wave, again made up of Type 2s, entered. The bases kept to their task and took out another Implacable yet were left with only one armed warship engaging the Hokum. The vast number of Axis ships were crawling wrecks, many without point defense, and all painfully pulling away. The Type 2s began their task of lancing engines so that the ships would be immobilized.
Wave nine had three CLs and three DDs. This made the Axis crews feel rage again as these ships, all captured back in Whel, had been converted to Hokum use. Drive field frequencies, fire control and even shields were kept the same even though their armament was changed. Madness took the Axis crews, even those on the crippled ships, making the choice to stop running, turn around, and charge the warp point. All this served was to make the Hokum?s job easier, and they wanted to capture those ships to make up for the losses they sustained in this battle.
Due to the course the carriers took they found that the Spears had closed to within 0.75 LS. Point defense, lasers, and sprint mode missiles only took down nine Spears. By sheer numbers the fighters beat down the armor of one CV and wrecked its hanger bays, taking out the two squadrons of Hatchets that were just moments away from being launched.
In the tenth wave the three CAs and three DDs, all captured Axis hulls, found the battlefield in its ending stage. The Spears had closed to point-blank range with the Axis carrier group and encountered two squadrons, part of the original CAP, launched to intercept them. Taking the drubbing, the Hokum pilots pressed on and crippled two CVs and a CVL, their hanger bays transformed in charnel houses. An escort destroyer was also hobbled, falling behind to lend cover to its fellow cripples. Work done, the seven Hatchets (the other five having been shot down by Senior Picador Maro?s squadron), turned tail and headed for the warp point, intend on ramming. They were shot down by the buoy-killing Garrochas.
Set on crippling than destroying the carriers and their escorts the Spears didn?t witness the end of the missile bases. Having been reduced to firing as individuals the last two concentrated on a BC of the fifth wave, which turned out to be Janus? flagship. Thankfully it wasn?t blown up under her feet this time though it would require some time in a repair slip. When the fourteenth wave appeared all direct threats to the Hokum ships had been eliminated.
Ships kept coming in; racks and launchers filled with mine clearance charges. Imperial Wave carriers and Troubadour troopships came in the sixteenth wave. Fresh squadrons and marine-laden assault shuttles went after the carrier group which by now was moving so slowly due to damage they had no realistic hope of escaping. One carrier and two escort destroyers were destroyed in the process of knocking down their shields, interiors already so wrecked that little additional damage was needed to finish them off. The three control bases were located 8 LS south of the warp point and were dispatched with no loss to the fighters. The battle for Abyssal-018 was over.
Lord Admiral Janus elected to stay in Abyssal-018 and had the only three available repair ships come in and tend to her flagship?s damage and that of two other ships. SAR operations had recovered over 9,200 spacers, and a sensor net was in the process of deployment between the starless region?s two warp points. Admiral Cirro, the head of Janus? staff, had tallied the other costs of the battle. All fifteen Indomitables, representing the first production run and including the two Axis hulls, were destroyed. Four Rodeo Clown minesweepers, all forty Turtles, three Implacable DNs, and one Imperial Valor assault carrier were also lost. As for smaller craft 44 of the 120 Garrochas had been destroyed, the majority by interpenetration and minefield casualties. Finally 100 out of 168 F1 Spears were shot down, many by point defense fire. 9,845 personnel were picked up from their lifepods.
In return the Axis had the ignominy of have most of their ships involved captured. 6 DN, 6 BB (1 lost), 6 BC, 9 CA (1 lost), 9 CL (3 lost), 12 DD (4 lost), 12 FG (2 lost), 4 CV (1 lost), 4 CVL (1 lost), 2 CA(E), 2 DDE (both lost), 192 fighters, 300 one-shot and 600 reusable weapon buoys and, eventually, 900 patterns of mines. Just 41 Comensal were taken prisoner in the course of boarding actions. Of course, all six BS5Rs and the three undersized BS2s were eliminated. In the math the Axis lost 63% more tonnage than the Imperium.
?I thank the Five Gods for allowing our full strike to launch,? Cirro commented as he handed a datapad to Janus. ?We would?ve suffered more otherwise.?
?More to thank dumb chance in my opinion,? Janus opined. ?Just one more laser hit on the Rescript and she would?ve gone up in a massive fireball earlier than she did. It was my decision to have the fighters loaded with FRAMs. We could?ve lost the battle had the Turtles not distracted them.?
Cirro saw the sour look on Janus? face. The Turtles had originally been intended for warp point defense. When the Axis demonstrated their mass transit of corvettes over two months ago the idea came to use the Turtles for the same thing. Janus half-heartedly recommended that such a tactic be used if the defenses in Abyssal-018 rated it. She was surprised when the Emperor himself gave permission to employ the tactic if the defenses were above a certain threshold. While it worked in this case it was a usurious way to conduct war. Losing 30% of one?s ships in a simultaneous transit was like giving free kills to the enemy, and Janus resented giving the Axis the satisfaction for those free kills.
?There is one positive note about all this,? Cirro offered. ?We only had to use boarding actions on relatively little number of ships. The rest we merely had to take out their life support and lance any repairs to their engines, preventing them from self-destructing. Back to distractions it really served our cause that the Axis had a hissy fit when it came to us using their hulls against them. Had they just ignored them in the latter part of the battle then they could?ve effected their self-destruction. Instead they crawled back to the warp point and allowed to be lanced by needle beams.?
Janus hummed in agreement. ?Yes, I will have to consult with Professor Alba on that point. If they remain that distracted by the sight of captured hulls being used against them I will consider using those corvettes we captured for a future operation. Speaking of hulls there is good news. Eight newly commissioned repair ships will be arriving in the Cain system in four weeks. They?ll assist the prefab station in converting and repairing the Axis capital ships that we captured there and send them to Whel for conversion work. Once that?s done they?ll work on the smaller ships and refit them on-site, sending them to us or the other two segments as needed.?
?Other segments?? Cirro questioned.
Janus smiled. ?I got the news only yesterday from a top-secret message delivered by chip. Our diplomats have reached an agreement regarding the co-belligerent status between us and the Commonwealth. No longer paranoid about having a CSF fleet barging into Imperium space the IC gave the Imperator of the Navy permission to detach two segments from the Home Fleet. Both will be heading to the Laser Burn system where they?ll guard the warp point leading to Circuit Run. Scout forces will also probe the warp links leading out of Laser Burn and into what is labeled in Axis records as the Nu?Chut sector. Not only will we be looking for Axis systems we?ll also be laying claim to them. Whichever side that enters a particular Axis system first has claim to that system. So it?s in our best interest to speed up our surveys as much as possible.?
?Nothing like a war to grab land for oneself. Just like ancient times,? Cirro chimed in.
?We need the space, Cirro. Even Corral Bridge is nearing full exploitation.? Janus scrolled through the datapad. ?What of the investment of the Abyssal/Tire Iron warp point??
?On schedule, Lord Admiral. Aside from our damaged units the whole of the Expeditionary Fleet is on station with a CAP in place. Six hundred patterns of mines and a like number of one-shot laser buoys are in place. It?ll be another two months before we get the force and energy beam buoys you requested. On a side note, with so many long range scanners in proximity a patch of debris was found one light-second from the warp point. Intelligence believes it was the result of bases under construction that were scuttled. Clearly the Axis didn?t have reinforcements in hand, namely carriers, to protect this assembly project.?
?Then it?s a good thing we moved in when we did,? Janus said. ?Regardless what kind of bases they were it would?ve been a tougher fight.?
Cirro continued. ?We also got word from Fleet Headquarters. A survey squadron will be sent to the Com-9 system to investigate the unknown warp point.?
Janus? eyes narrowed in thought. ?Unknown indeed, Cirro. The CE database showed it as unexplored as of five years ago. The system Com-2 was considered the frontier as its other warp point, the one linked to Doorstop, was unexplored. Same goes for the third warp point in Com-9. In the interim they may well have done so, yet the warp links from Com-8 and Com-5 are closed in Com-9. After finishing their survey the Axis may have felt Com-9 made for a good gatekeeper system and deferred exploration beyond it until the sector was more developed.?
?If that?s the case, Lord Admiral, we might very well be exploring virgin space. After receiving the Axis and encountered the CSF in contested space I hope this time around the surprise will be more pleasant.?
End Chapter 2
---Zume