14 February 4009On the morning of 14 February, with the elements of First and Second Fleets fully refuelled and resupplied from the fleet auxiliaries, Lord Captain Selene Styx ordered the two fleets to advance to Belaire II, aiming to draw out and destroy the Belaire battle fleet defending the system. Without the disadvantage of making a jump point assault, and with the Belaire fleet known to be several ships smaller than that which had defended the jump point, the Lord Captain was confident that two battle fleets would prove sufficient to destroy the Belaire forces even without the assistance of the 15,000-ton
Invincibles. The fleets arrived in orbit of Belaire II at 1526 on 15 February, noting that the situation around Belaire Prime had not changed and thus the whereabouts of the Belaire fleet remained unknown. This was a cause of some concern, but Lord Captain Styx was confident that the Belaire fleet would return to defend their vulnerable home planet in due time. Regardless, each Cruiser Squadron was ordered to launch a reconnaissance flight to attempt to detect the Belaire fleet as soon as possible.
While this was continuing,
Bad Omen reported from her surveillance position near the Giclas 9-38 jump point the detection of a new Belaire ship class, matching the technical description of the civilian spaceliner previously described to Legion intelligence officers by Belaire survivors from the Battle of Kuiper 79.
After briefly being amazed that such seemingly-superfluous information had actually been useful in some small capacity, Lord Captain Styx ordered
Bad Omen to intercept and destroy the vessel. These orders were promptly followed, and despite being armed with only a pair of 102 mm railgun batteries
Bad Omen effortlessly dispatched the unarmed civilian vessel by 0044 on 16 February, after which she resumed her watch post near the jump point. Commander Hera Thrace made a note in her report suggesting that the use of boarding marines to commit acts of piracy could be a lucrative source of material rewards for the Legion in future conflicts, perhaps preferable to outright destruction and salvage of civilian vessels.
The efforts of the various reconnaissance flights sent out by the cruiser squadrons proved to be rather less than essential, as at 1225 the frigate
Broken Wind sent out an urgent report announcing the detection of the Belaire battle fleet on a direct course for the Kuiper 79 jump point - and the vulnerable fleet auxiliaries on station. While the Legion commanders naturally approved of this nakedly aggressive action, as it was well-known that the best defense is a good offense after all, this did nevertheless present said commanders with some difficulties which would have to be resolved. Immediately, First and Second Fleets fired up their engines and made for the jump point with all haste, ordering the dispersed reconnaissance flights to hold positions in orbit of nearby planets until the crisis was resolved. The auxiliaries were evacuated through the jump point, carrying the alert back to Kuiper 79, while
Broken Wind would remain on the jump point to delay or distract the Belaire fleet as long as possible, finally evacuating away from, rather than through, the jump point at 1548 after the Belaire fleet had crossed to within 40 million km.
Broken Wind’s maneuver appeared to be effective, as the Belaire battle fleet veered away from the jump point on an apparent pursuit course. With the fleet auxiliaries likely saved from certain doom,
Broken Wind set out on a course that would hold the attention of the Belaire fleet, keeping her at the edge of their sensor range, while leading them directly into a confrontation with the bulk of First and Second Fleets.
Approximate course headings of each stage along which Broken Wind planned to evade the Belaire battle fleet. The combined First and Second Fleets would approach from the lower-right, rendezvousing with Broken Wind before counterattacking the Belaire warships.Due to some miscalculations by the helm officer of
Broken Wind, an immediate evasive course change had to be made as she approached the Gamma point to prevent the Belaire fleet from closing into heavy missile range. By the time the frigate could turn towards the incoming Legion fleets she had been forced some 85 million km off of her planned course, though in spite of this the Belaire missile gunners had failed to secure a target lock on their slippery quarry. In spite of this the plan succeeded brilliantly as distraction and to bait the Belaire fleet towards the approaching First and Second Fleets. Thus,
Broken Wind set her course to rejoin her Legion comrades who were eagerly awaiting another chance to shed Belaire blood in glorious battle.
Here it can be clearly seen just how far off-course Broken Wind was driven due to admittedly poor helmsmanship, the greatest enemy of the Legion or at least its most successful opponent. Even so, the decoy tactic of Broken Wind had been a clear success in spirit if not in execution.At 1322 on 17 February, after more than 24 hours of playing the prey,
Broken Wind rejoined Second Fleet and prepared to once again play as the predator. By this point, the Belaire battle fleet had detected the threat looming at the edge of their sensor range, and had turned to flee back toward the jump point. First and Second Fleets were ordered to pursue the hated foe, closing to 400,000 km and preparing for the inevitable missile barrage. While there was some concern that the Belaire might reach the jump point ahead of the Legion fleets, placing the Legion in the rather confusing position of having to launch a jump point assault against their own system, at 1950 the Belaire commanders once again showed evidence of a severe allergy to making good decisions, having not even made half the distance to the jump point before veering sixty degrees off-course in a futile attempt at evasive action. Victory for the Legion was all but assured.
Duranium Legion Navy Combined Reconnassaince FleetLord Captain Selene Styx in operational command at Kuiper 79 Mission Control Department headquarters
Captain Jocasta Gelanor in tactical command aboard CL
DisruptorTotaling 363,000 tons displacement with 10,992 crew complement
First Fleet Captain Felix Tegyrios commanding aboard CL
Dissolution Cruiser Squadron 1:
Denouement, Devastator, Dissolution, Grand Cross, 1x R-56, 1x AR-56
Osprey Cruiser Squadron 3:
Devourer, Domination, Double Edge, Garrote, 2x R-56
Destroyer Squadron 1:
Char, Chronomancer, Furious Destroyer Squadron 7:
Carnivore, Chu Ko Nu, Cretaceous, Felstalker Frigate Squadron 4 (detached):
Halberd, Harrier, Heavy Metal, Hellfire Totaling 200,000 tons displacement with 6,130 crew complement
Second Fleet Captain Jocasta Gelanor commanding aboard CL
Disruptor Cruiser Squadron 2:
Dauntless, Defenestrator, Disruptor, Gothic, 1x R-56, 1x AR-56
Osprey Destroyer Squadron 3:
Catharsis, Centaur, Crushing Blow, Final Blow Destroyer Squadron 4:
Champion, Covenanter, Cry, Ye WIcked, Final Judgment Frigate Squadron 3:
Broken Wind, Brutal Legend, Endless Night Totaling 152,500 tons displacement with 4,603 crew complement
Dispersed Reconnaissance Forces 1x Bellerophon class Frigate:
Bad Omen 3x R-56 class Reconnaissance Fighter
3x AR-56 Osprey class Reconnaissance Fighter
Totaling 10,500 tons displacement with 259 crew complement
Republic of Belaire Battle Fleet 4Designation and commander unknown
4x Kirov class Battlecruiser
3x Kiev class Jump Cruiser
3x Slava class Escort Cruiser
3x Sovremenny class Cruiser
4x Osa class Destroyer Escort
1x Skory class Missile Destroyer
Totaling 265,000 tons displacement with unknown crew complement
As was by now the tradition, a pursuit action commenced. At 2202, as the Legion fleets closed to under 400,000 km from the Belaire fleet, the first wave of missiles was detected at launch and Captain Jocasta Gelanor settled in for the also-traditional twelve-minute concert of railgun reverberations which would characterize the Legion’s point defense work at this stage of the proceedings. Her reverie would only be mildly disturbed by the report from her tactical officer that the Belaire had changed course, back in the rough direction of the jump point, at 2207 as they ran out of heavy missiles. Finally, at ten seconds past 2214, the last Belaire light missiles had been destroyed, and the Captains of the Legion fleet grudgingly awoke from their power naps and gave the order to their helm officers to begin the most difficult part of the encounter: closing to
Hellfire range.
It is said that there are times when a picture is worth a thousand words. This was not one of those times.At 2216 plus 25 seconds, the Sovremennys and Hellfires exchanged their initial volleys at extreme range, collectively scoring no hits. Captain Gelanor ordered her fleets to reduce speed, aiming to close to just around 181,000 km without crossing the 180,000 km range of the
Sovremennys’ medium laser batteries. Ten seconds later, this was accomplished and the fleets reduced their speeds to match that of the Belaire fleet. This was a mildly momentous occasion, as for the first time in Legion Navy history this maneuver had been successfully executed without crossing into range of the Belaire medium lasers.
While some navies might have celebrated this audacious occasion by popping champagne, the Legion Navy preferred a different sort of celebration, as the four
Hellfire-class frigates popped off their second salvo of the duel, scoring two hits against none by their opponents. This pattern was repeated on the third volley, and continued for some time as the Legion frigates scored some 28 hits including 5 penetrations without taking a single hit from the
Sovremennys. This fifth penetration succeeded in taking out an engine of the lead
Sovremenny, causing it to drop out of formation, ripe for the kill. The Legion fleets slowed to match their wounded target, still wary of facing the wrath of the Belaire medium laser batteries, while the
Hellfires continued to fire on their vulnerable target. Despite its vulnerability, the
Sovremenny proved once again to be of sturdy build, requiring a full four minutes of beam sniping to take out its second engine, though the third was destroyed in the following volley and the final engine in the volley after that. Two and a half minutes later, the former lead
Sovremenny of the Belaire fleet was destroyed with
Harrier claiming the kill, and the two Legion fleets resumed their pursuit of the remaining Belaire vessels.
Once again, the fleet closed to a precise distance with no errors at 2249, an accomplishment which was likely to earn Captain Gelanor some measure of honors for her prowess in commanding the famously fickle helm officers of the Legion Navy. No less of an accomplishment, albeit for the other side, was had as one of the remaining
Sovremennys finally succeeded in scoring a hit against a Legion vessel, adding another gash to the armor of
Hellfire. The beam frigate squadron responded in kind, landing three hits on the armor of the offending
Sovremenny. After three and a half minutes of exchanging fire, during which the greatest damage was done to Legion vessels not by the Belaire but rather by simple malfunctions. Particularly,
Hellfire had run out of maintenance supplies in a valiant effort to keep her unreliable guns firing, ultimately leading to one of her starboard weapons being completely disabled. For her troubles
Hellfire scored a pair of penetrating hits on the targeted
Sovremenny, not only disabling one of its engines but causing a massive explosion which crippled the ship and left it stranded in open space. At this, Captain Gelanor ordered her two frigate squadrons to halt, while her heavier destroyers and cruisers pressed the attack against the crippled vessel, being careful to remain out of range of the remaining Belaire fleet. This tactic was proven correct as the Legion cruisers and destroyers approached their prey, which offered a meager four laser shots in response to the attack. The second
Sovremenny perished in a hail of 152 mm railgun fire, with Captain Gelanor herself claiming the kill aboard her trusted
Disruptor. As the fleet had lost no distance on the remaining Belaire vessels in this brief aside, the Legion fleets resumed the pursuit without interruption.
As the frigate squadrons were rejoining their parent fleets, an unfortunate miscommunication between the helm officers of the various squadrons led to several destroyers accidentally closing to 172,000 km of the Belaire fleet. The surviving
Sovremenny thus had the good fortune of scoring a penetrating hit through the battered armor of the destroyer
Char, not yet repaired from the jump point assault. Fortunately, no internal components were in fact damaged by this hit, and the
Hellfires replied in anger but were unable to score any hits in revenge. Half a minute past 2254,
Halberd and
Harrier did manage to score a trio of hits between themselves, the first hits made against the third and final
Sovremenny. This initial success proved a false herald of things to come, as it took a full seven minutes before
Halberd finally managed to knock out one of the
Sovremenny’s engines with a well-aimed shot. After this, it appeared that the
Sovremenny had lost much of its maneuvering ability as hits became far more frequent, with
Heavy Metal blowing apart its second engine only twenty seconds later. The length of the battle began to take its toll on the rest of the fleet as well, scarcely 30 seconds later the
Sovremenny managed to score another penetrating hit on
Char which this time succeeded in destroying one of her weapons batteries. In reply,
Halberd added a second engine to her list of struck components, reducing the
Sovremenny to one-quarter speed. She would add a third to this list at 2305, disabling the
Sovremenny after a long and grueling gunnery duel. As this was the final
Sovremenny, Captain Gelanor ordered the fleet to hold the range open and allow the
Hellfires to claim their kill, preferring not to risk any additional hits from medium laser fire against the wounded
Char - particularly as the Belaire ship was still firing its heavy laser in spite of what was surely massive damage taken to that point. Finally, at 2309 precisely,
Harrier claimed the kill, ending a fourteen-and-a-half minute endeavor and allowing the fleets to once again fire their engines back up to speed and resume the pursuit of the now nearly-defenseless Belaire fleet. By this stage, all four
Hellfires had run out of maintenance stores, and three of the four had at least one beam cannon out of commission with
Harrier proving the lone exception. As the Belaire only possessed four
Osas as remaining combat-capable vessels, Captain Gelanor was content to allow the frigates and destroyers to avoid combat, ordering her cruisers to burn towards the Belaire fleet at full speed and target the
Osas.
The devastation was swift and brutal - though
Domination did receive a single penetrating hit which failed to damage any internal systems.
Despite superficial damage taken while closing the range, the Legion cruisers effortlessly dispatched all four Belaire Osas in a single salvo from their 152 mm railguns.The trio of
Slavas followed, again eradicated in a single volley. The following two salvos eliminated two
Kirovs apiece, along with the sole
Skory of the Belaire formation, though the two
Kirovs targeted in the second salvo remained technically intact but were clearly mission-killed. After this, the unarmed
Kievs stood no chance, and after being afforded fifteen seconds to signal their surrender were obliterated in the final salvo. A brief turnaround to mop up the two crippled
Kirovs was no trouble at all for the Legion Captains, and at 2324 plus 40 seconds victory once again belonged to the Duranium Legion.
The immediate strategic impact of the battle was obvious: with their last remaining defensive fleet reduced to nothing, the Belaire had no hope of regaining control over their home system, although cracking the defenses of Belaire Prime would prove a difficult task even for the battle-hardened Legion Navy. Less immediately obvious, though with far longer-lasting implications for the future of the Legion Navy, was the effect of the strong showing put forth by the Hellfire-class frigate squadron, which had despite being pushed beyond the limits of their endurance by the demanding Captain Gelanor had succeeded in destroying all three Sovremennys of the Belaire fleet - a resounding vindication of the particle beam concept. This had been a deliberate move on the part of the Captain, who herself was a strong supporter of the Hellfire experiment and had been eager to demonstrate to her superiors how effective they could be when pushed beyond the limits of conservative doctrinal practices. This move would win her many powerful friends in the Legion high command - and no fewer powerful opponents.
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18 February 4009Upon receiving the report of Captain Jocasta Gelanor detailing the events of the decisive battle of 17 February, Lord Captain Selene Styx’s first reaction was not, as one would expect, joyful celebration. Rather, the Lord Captain immediately attempted to file express paperwork to issue a mark of censure against the Captain, this being halted only by the intervention of her superior, Lord Admiral Absolus Criasus. Officially, the reason given for this punitive act on the filed paperwork was “reckless disregard for the safety of Duranium Legion Navy ships and personnel”, specifically Lord Captain Styx claimed that Captain Gelanor had pushed her
Hellfire squadron well beyond their doctrinal limits to the point of near-total breakdown, in a fight which the Legion Navy could have won comfortably without taking such extreme risks. This was of course spurious grounds for censure at best, a massive overreach of the Lord Captain’s command authority at worst, and certainly disingenuous in any case. Naturally, the unofficial reason was once again closely tied to the simmering political feud ongoing throughout the Legion Navy officer cohort regarding the controversial
Hellfire class, in reality the Lord Captain as a staunch opponent of the beam frigate concept felt personally embarrassed that her chief subordinate had gone to such lengths to demonstrate the full potential of the
Hellfires. Indeed, the only reason a second outbreak of fisticuffs was not had was the equally staunch neutrality of the Lord Admiral, who sharply criticized his subordinate for clear overreach without taking any position on the subject.
Increasingly, it was becoming clear by this point that questions of fleet doctrine and procurement could no longer be quietly ignored in hopes that this would all blow over. In the immediate short term, of course, the battlefield remained the highest priority, and after a brief period to refuel and resupply First and Second Fleets would be ordered to the Giclas 9-38 jump point to interdict any potential Belaire relief efforts. Both frigate squadrons would be detached from the fleets, with Frigate Squadron 3 being split up to monitor the Kuiper 79 jump point
(Broken Wind) and Belaire Prime, from a safe distance
(Brutal Legend), while Frigate Squadron 4 would be dispatched to Adamantine Base to carry out more extensive repairs. It was well understood that this monitoring operation would place significant demands on the Legion Navy’s logistical capabilities, particularly as rear area defenses remained necessary to defend Legion space against the scattered Belaire formations beyond Kuiper 79. Nevertheless, Lord Admiral Criasus was determined to hold the territory he had taken, lest the hard work and sacrifice of the sailors under his command come to naught.
This was not to say that the political tensions would go unaddressed, rather once the Legion fleets had taken up and secured these new positions, a series of “temporary” personnel transfers would be effected with the aim of collecting the most prominent Legion Naval officers on both sides of the
Hellfire debate for a conference to settle the question once and for all. Nor would the question of particle beams be the only item on the agenda for this upcoming Naval Conference, indeed questions of doctrine and fleet design patterns were numerous and there were serious concerns even beyond the factional extremists that the Legion Navy was in the process of doctrinal stagnation. Perhaps the most pressing concern of many in the halls of the Legion high command was the question of the Navy’s scouting and reconnaissance capabilities, currently in the hands of the venerable but troubled
Bellerophon-class frigates and a few dozen reconnaissance “fighters” considered to be capable, but woefully under-equipped for the needs of the Legion Navy - and, some officers quipped, even more woefully under-equipped to carry the designation of “fighter”. A third concern of many was the proliferation of lightly-armed (or in the case of the
Grand Cross class, unarmed) jump vessels which accompanied almost every squadron in the Legion Navy. As these represented significant dead weight on the battlefield the nature of the concern was hardly controversial, however as no two Lords Admiral could agree on a single solution it was clear that a frank and earnest discussion of the subject was badly overdue. While the precise date was to be determined, as always the realities of war would render any attempt at scheduling in advance quite fruitless, certainly the date would eventually arrive when these matters could be settled conclusively.
Until then, as always, the business of the Legion Navy would carry on as usual.
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OOC Notes: as promised this update certainly complicates the picture as far as fleet doctrine is concerned. Not to be lost in the tumult of the ongoing Hellfire debate is the surprising efficacy of the Bellerophon class as a commerce raider, as we all know from history of course the idea of an effective commerce raiding warship always holds an allure for certain segments of the naval officership. Assuredly there are many possibilities to be discussed at the upcoming Naval Conference.
In other news, expect a shift towards a slightly more majestic posting schedule in the short term as I shall plan only one update midweek next, largely to allow reconstruction of a posting buffer as we will soon turn to the eagerly anticipated Naval Conference which promises to draw great interest from many quarters.