Quick response to a guest review regarding defensive FLAK: I never claimed they could stop Macro Shells or Lance bolts, they operate on deterrence and obscuring targets vs 40K weaponry. Only things they can shoot down are ordnance and missiles, as they are slow or small enough for the battle star to outright destroy.
And yes, guestnobody, I've gone for the 'incompetent commissar' in this rendition. But it's worth remembering, before you just let the Inquisition off the hook, that Commissars work for the Inquisition. The Commissariat is a child organisation of the Holy Inquisition.
Chapter 10
The small fleet was under way for about a week now with little sign of activity of any kind. Invictus kept up her patrols while the Cobra destroyers continuously scanned the area, feeding all ships with sensor data. Though the scope was clear, the commanders and officers were not at ease. While traveling this close to the GrailDark nebula, everyone had the feeling that they were being watched. It was almost as if the nebula itself was looking upon the five vessels as unwelcome intruders.
Just before departing, the commanders of the escort vessels came aboard Invictus to plan the exact route. Again, it was clear that these men were a rough bunch. Clearly, they'd seen a lot of bad stuff that Price and Howard rather not know the details of. Eye sockets sunken into heads, twitchy hands kept constantly on pistols and swords as beady eyes scanned sporadically around room.
However, Howard had them pegged from the moment they stepped aboard. Prove you can keep your word of loyalty to the holy navy, and not leaving anyone behind, and they will follow to hell and back.
For some reason, a fifth imperial figure had joined the commanders in the Situation Room. He wasn't part of the Navy, that much was clear. The man wore a black trench coat with red lining and inner sleeves, together with a pointed officers cap. Not the deep blue and pale white uniforms of the navy. According to Goradin, this man was part of a different branch within the Imperium that attached itself to the navy and guard on regular occasions. Something called the Commissariat. Whatever his purpose was aboard a ship, he didn't interfere or take part in the route planning in great part.
He just stood around, keenly observing for the most part. Stalking in the shadow of the 4 naval commanders in a way that was deeply unnerving to the colonials.
Price didn't care much about him at the moment. He had more pressing matters to discuss with the commanders.
With their combined experiences and knowledge they could avoid certain known hotspots of pirate activity. But they would still have to cross a lot of dangerous ground, Eldar territory. Some of which they had fortunately already passed without seeing any sign of the enemy, or any sign of anyone.
According to intel provided by the station commanders, a lot of imperial ships were already en-route. By now they would have seen someone. They had to have… or at least a plasma trail of some kind, indicating traveling ships.
But the route was entirely empty. No ships, no plasma trails, no debris, no comm traffic. No Eldar either. Nothing. Something was clearly off, and everyone present knew it.
None of the Commanders, Colonial or Imperial, liked it one bit and thus kept their crews close to alert. Ready to react within a moment's notice. As an added precaution Price had ordered radio-checks every one or two hours, especially if one of the destroyers peeled off to investigate a nearby area. Mostly unnecessary, but if someone got missing, they'd know it soon enough.
Right on time for his duty-shift, Price marched in the CIC to take the Conn. "Sit-Rep" He ordered.
He was answered by one of the junior officers on watch.
"All systems nominal, course steady at 236 by 75. DRADIS is clean."
"Fleet Report?"
"All ships have reported in half an hour ago, all report negative contacts as well."
"Very well Major. I have the Conn, you are relieved."
"Yes Sir" the man replied before walking off for his down-time.
"Where is the XO" Price asked at a nearby console operator.
"The colonel was called away to engineering. Something about maintenance."
"Alright, have you seen the LT?"
"The Blue should be around somewhere. Last I saw him he was looking at the fleet comms" he said while pointing toward the other side of the room.
'The Blue', so that is what they were calling him now. The crew was getting accustomed to having foreign officers aboard. Seemed like a good thing that they were giving him a nickname. Though they'd never say that name to his face and expect to survive his response. He was a very… passionate man. Maybe it was a good idea to explain this later to the man, should he lack the sense of humour and fly into a rage upon over haring his new name on board.
Walking towards the comms he saw 'The Blue' sure enough.
"Commander" He greeted sharply, looking up from his clipboard and bowing his head towards his superior.
"Morning LT. Anything of note happening around here?"
"Nothing sir. Aside from our regular transmissions, all we hear is the malicious void laughing at us."
Static bursts of radiation shooting across space always gave garbled sounds through the comms. Listening to the random burbling and garbles for too long could give a man chilling nightmares if he let his fantasy loose, so Price felt he could relate to Goradin's superstition for once.
"The universe can laugh at us all it wants for all I care. I just want to get through this area as fast as possible. This place gives me the creeps."
"I don't like it either. There's nothing out there we can detect, but still I have the feeling like we're being watched. Who knows what lurks in the shadow of the dark nebula…" Goradin muttering the last part largely to himself.
The next hour and a half Price just went about his duties, only to be disturbed by a call from Commander Rohr aboard the cobra 'Avenger'.
"Price" he started without naming ranks. "My observers have seen silhouettes of an Eldar destroyer stalking us in the distance. Bearing 192, same attitude."
Price snapped with his fingers and gestured Goradin to pick up the second horn to listen in.
"Rohr, please repeat your last" he said while taking a hard look at the DRADIS screen. Rohr did as asked. DRADIS showed nothing.
Goradin ordered the observers dotted around the Invictus' hull to look in the direction Rohr indicated. On the many surveillance screens both men focussed hard, looking for any sign of the fish-like shape of the enemy vessels.
After a few hard looks they managed to get a few quick reports and views on the small vessel. From the look of it, that ship had been drifting after them for quite a while.
"Confirmed. We see them as well." Price covered the mouth piece and ordered: "LT, Identify"
"Looks to me like a Hemlock-Class Destroyer. Eldar Pulsar lance-boat. We can't ID him yet though, holo fields are interfering." Goradin rapid fire reported.
Price nodded and relayed his orders to the convoy "Stand-by for orders. Do not engage unless fired upon."
Quickly he pulled up the navigation map and scrambled the navigator to assist.
"We're still some ways away from the estimated jump point" the man began while calculating in his head.
"It is doable though. We can get within 200k of our previous calculated exit point. If I adjust our present calculations, we can jump in under seven minutes." the navigator concluded.
"Do it" Price ordered. The immediately navigator sped away to perform his duty.
"Sir?" Goradin began questionably. He still hated early jumps, ingrained fears would not leave him. He'd rather turn and crush this lone destroyer than risk a jump, like any sane Imperial commander would.
"We're not here to fight them just yet, and we have no idea how many other ships could be lurking in ambush. Our mission is to reach Orar. Connect me to the fleet." he said while picking up the horn.
"This is Invictus Actual to all fleet vessels. We are being followed by an enemy vessel. More ships of unknown strength may be following as well. Fall in and begin Jump Prep to Point Bravo. Avoid combat if at this time."
"Stalker, Aye" Borzakov affirmed.
"Avenger, Aye" that was Rohr.
"Silent Nemesis, Aye" Geiss said with his raw voice.
"Aquila, Aye" Lemere voiced, only to be followed by a loud protest from the background.
A voice came back which Price remembered of being from the Commissar.
"As the Commissar of this fleet I deny this order, 'Commander'!" he said, spitting Price's rank out like meat gone foul.
"We are here to vanquish all enemies of mankind and as such they shall to suffer our wrath, here and now! We will not run like cowards when faced with such a pitiful force!"
"Make no mistake Commissar, I am no coward. But I am not about to risk our vessels on a wild goose chase with unknown consequences when it is not in my mission description. We have no idea what is out there. This vessel could have been shadowing us for quite some time while remaining undetected. Maybe as long as we entered this region. For all we know there could be an entire fleet out there. At this time, it is imperative to reach the Orar system as soon as possible, with as many ships as possible, just as Lord-Admiral Ravensburg instructed. I intend to carry out this order. If you wish to protest against my orders, I suggest you take it up to him, not me. Until then you are to assist in prepping your vessel for immediate Jump Action towards Point Bravo. Do I make myself clear?"
There was a deafening silence on the other end of the horn, shortly broken with a clearly angry growl before the connection was broken.
Looking up Price found Lieutenant Goradin staring at him as if he was nailed to the ground and he had just lit on fire. The way he talked the Commissar down... Not many officers in the Imperial Armed Forces had the guts to talk to a Commissar like that. Even fewer lived to tell the tale. Goradin didn't know whether to laugh, cry or just marvel at the sheer bravery on display before him. Regardless of future consequences he found, it glorious to behold a commissar being put in there rightful place in the Imperial Navy.
Similar thoughts where running through the heads of just about every Imperial who heard the exchange. One unfortunate LT on the Aquila receiving a bolt round to the skull from an enraged Commissar for no reason other than venting his incredible frustration and righteous fury at being unable to shoot the arrogant outsider immediately.
After making sure his entire fleet had jumped, the Invictus spooled up her FTL-drive and jumped out. Though Goradin had several jumps under his belt by now, but he still couldn't get used to the feeling. Neither did he stop his customary litany of prayers and blessings before jumping. He needn't have worried; but routine, faith and ingrained fears drove him to do so with each jump.
As expected the ship emerged at Point Bravo, slightly off course, but close enough all the same.
All ships checked in and were verified before resuming their place in the formation. The three Cobra's formed a spearheaded front, closely followed by Invictus and the Aquila lined side by side. Soon the first patrols emerged from the Invictus launch tubes and went on to recon the area.
Something was off though, the same feeling of being watched and stalked by an invisible force pervading to the second jump region, but that wasn't all. According to the star charts the edge of the nebula should be several thousand kilometres away from their present course. Instead they were practically sitting on its edge, looking into the grayish-purple stain on space. After looking at the charts and constellations again they found they were in the right position. Only the nebula wasn't.
"Either this map is horribly outdated or someone didn't paint it in the right spot…" Goradin muttered.
"It doesn't matter. Things move in space all the time. Signal the escorts to stay close. I don't want to lose them in this soup."
"Copy that. We should keep our heads down while we're here. We could have someone watching us in there. How long till we reach our next jump point?"
"If we keep our emissions down, four days. Maybe a bit more."
"Very well. Let's hope we can pass unnoticed."
For the duration of his shift nothing of note happened so both officers went about their duties. Afterwards they exited the CIC together and started walking towards their quarters.
Before they could step through their hatches, alert-sirens started blaring, warning lights began blinking their amber lights and a voice came over the intercom:
"Action stations, Action stations! Set condition one throughout the ship. Commander Price and XO Howard to the CIC…."
What now? Price asked in his mind and quickly went back to the CIC.
"Sitrep!" he barked at the ranking officer nearby.
"We've got reports of vessels nearby. Patrol 5 didn't report in and was overdue by an hour. The Stalker went in to investigate. The Vipers were found destroyed by energy weapons. Stalker was lucky to survive. A Hemlock destroyer swooped in and flew right past them at point blank range."
"How the hell do they get in so close without being detected?"
"I don't know Sir." The man concluded.
"Right… Get the Vipers in their tubes. And where is the XO?"
"Right here, Sir!" Howard replied while quickly walking towards the Commander, excusing the officer from his post.
"Order the fleet to stay at full battle readiness. Increase speed! No sense in trying to hide when they are looking right at you… Slowest ship gives the pace!"
His orders were quickly executed. Looking at his plotting table, Price wondered what his adversary had in store for them. Moments later Goradin took place between the DRADIS and Fire Control stations.
Usually the ship would rely completely on its own sensors, but because it was now in convoy, all sensors were linked, giving all ships better vision all around.
Since the Eldar were active now, they were visible on sensors from time to time.
Everyone expected them to attack at any moment. However, for the next twenty minutes everything was quiet. That would not last long.
Out of nowhere the shadow of an Eldar vessel appeared, flashing through the formation before anyone could react. When the guns were busy tracking the shadow, another appeared, followed by another at a different altitude and bearing. When closing, the shadows appeared as multiple small destroyers bearing down on the Cobra Avenger, Invictus turned her guns to defend and sent a barrage of fire their way. Only to find their shots would fly straight through them...
One of the many incoming destroyers fired three blasts with its pulsar lance. The first impacted on the Destroyers void shield, overloading it immediately, the second hit the base of the command tower and decapitated the bridge from the rest of the ship: killing the Destroyer's command staff. The final blast missed the destroyer and cleared Invictus only by a margin of mere meters, not causing damage but leaving glowing white scorch-marks along her spine. The Hemlock destroyer shot past and tried to align for a second pass but had to abort to avoid the combined fury of the convoy's batteries.
A Second Hemlock came in for a second pass mere seconds later and put two pulsar blasts into the Aquila frigate, striping the shields on the Strike frigate before disappearing again.
"What the hell was that? Six of them were closing in at the same time but only one fired?" one of the crew exclaimed, stunned by the speed and ferocity of the attack.
"That is because there was only one destroyer attacking us at a time. Two ships were relieving each other, keeping us under fire." Goradin explained. "Their Holofield technology makes it near impossible to find the real ship between the electronic and optical shadows. Only the real ship can shoot. So if you can target that vessel, kill it quick... But it's impossible to tell the fakes from the real ships until they fire."
Thirty-five minutes passed without another sign of the enemy before they attacked again.
This time Invictus launched one of its Viper wings to assist in repulsing the attack. But again, the convoy had no luck in dealing any damage to the Eldar vessels. The Vipers simply unable to get missile locks on the Eldar ships, or tell if what they were targeting was even real. The Eldar would swoop in at different angles, fire their guns and Lance to strip shield and pick apart key modules on ships, then swoop off into the misty soup. Like birds praying upon helpless field mice. If they did get hit by the defensive fire, the Imperial and Colonial crews found little evidence of it.
After a few of these battle 'cycles' some officers began to wonder what was going on. They were sure taking their time to secure kills…
"Why are they disappearing every time? If they make a concentrated attack they could destroy us in one pass!" Howard remarked.
"If they attack now, at least one of them will be destroyed before they can take us all out. They are keeping us on full alert. They will keep harassing us until one of our ships makes a mistake or gets separated. If we do, they'll strike and blow us into space." Price reasoned, discerning the tactics behind their movements.
"Not much we can do about that. They have the initiative. And without a signature to follow we can't take the fight to them. All we can do is firewall the throttle and stick together in the defence until we reach our next jump point."
Attack-day 5.
By now all crews of the Convoy had been fending off Eldar attacks for 113.27 hours on and off. Almost five days without sleep was taking its toll on the crews. Most were walking around with unbuttoned uniforms and unshaven faces. More and more crewmen were falling asleep against door-frames, bulkheads and on top of their consoles and had to be awakened from time to time by their neighbour. Even the Imperial Lieutenant, who still always walked around spotless and properly dressed, showed clear signs of fatigue in the long shadows under his eyes. He kept going though and commanded the tired men with in the traditional way of the Navy.
The ships of the convoy where not fairing much better. Avenger was missing her bridge along with most of her command crew and lost power to some of her auxiliary engines; a long scar appearing along her starboard side and gaping hole between two of her, now inoperable, torpedo launchers. Aquila had lost one of her dorsal turrets, debris trailing from the gaping maw left where it had been; but worst off where Invictus and Stalker.
Invictus' damage was largely aesthetic, but certainly looked the most severe. She had been battered by Star-Cannon impacts, the ship looking strained but, fortunately for Price, the hardy Battlestar had no critical damage. Stalker on the other hand was in truly dire straits, having serious engine problems and trouble with her Gellar fields.
The Commander and the XO were discussing the ship and crew status in the hallway, next to a comm officer collecting signature-forms. Though damage wasn't serious, the state of the crew was more of a worry.
"Twenty-one more cases of nervous exhaustion. That makes 105. Get the doc to put them on stims to get them back on their feet. One in four every cycle"
"That is gonna come back and bite us in the ass." Howard grounded, mostly to himself as he thought through the worst scenarios of men high on stims.
"Well, we have too much work and not enough people to do it. Tell the imperial commanders to continue to do as they see fit on their ships, but make the recommendation. Was this my ten minutes or yours?"
"Yours, I had my ten minutes last time."
"I'll see you guys in combat." Price ended before walking off to his cabin.
"One hour to jump point!" an exhausted navigator called out.
"Eldar attack incoming, Port side!" the DRADIS operator shouted.
"Action stations! Launch Vipers in defensive formation and give us a solid defensive screen. Force them to break off before they get too close." Howard ordered.
Goradin stalked the Battery Control staff. Slapping a few crewmen awake and barking target orders while Howard strained to analyse the enemy attack patterns.
"My gods, they are focussing on the Stalker!" Howard exclaimed before franticly waving to battery control.
"Batteries seven through Fifteen, redirect your fire to cover the stalker, Now! Shoot you fools, wake up!" Shouted Goradin, pacing like a man possessed behind the control staff.
The batteries turned and fired to form a defensive screen around the destroyer, a barrier of FLAK shells rushing out to cover the stricken Imperial escort.
It came too late.
By the time the screen was formed, the Eldar had already stripped the shields from the ship. Two Pulsar Lance blasts sliced through the destroyers prow section and spine, cutting the destroyer neatly into 3 pieces; spilling the ship's crew and vital innards into the void before it's torpedo armament exploded and engulfed the debris field and surviving human forms in vaporising plasma.
"Gods damn it!" Howard Cursed. "Navigation, get us out of here! Order the fleet to jump, Now!"
"We're not yet at our designated coordinates! We will drift from our exit point!"
"We are close enough! Jump the fleet before we lose more ships!"
Moments later all ships jumped towards their next destination.
All four remaining ships emerged close to each other. The ships seemed relatively intact, save for the Avenger who emerged from the warp with streaks of fire trailing from her hull.
Howard tried hailing her and offered assistance. All they got back were garbled transmissions and random data before the ship broke apart.
"What the hell just happened?" Howard asked. "They were intact when they jumped right?"
"What happened is anybody's guess. Anything can happen inside the warp. They might have been in there for a long time." Goradin said
"They jumped mere minutes ago!"
"Time has no meaning inside the Warp. What for us is mere minutes could be months or years for them. And they entering the warp early in a damaged state. It is the risk you run when making jumps outside of designated warp relays. Especially when damaged as Avenger was." Goradin explained to the XO.
"Great. Now we're down two ships." Howard sighed. "Is there any sign of the Eldar?"
"Nothing yet Colonel." came from the sensors station.
"Keep an eye on it. Let's hope we won't see them for a while."
The next few days there was little sign of the Eldar at all. There were shadows moving in the background, but nothing came close enough to be a threat. Completely exhausted, the captains of all ships took the opportunity to get their crew rested and back on their feet. Still, with all those shadows and sensor shadows on the background no one was quite at ease.
It was even worse for the guys in the Vipers. It is easy to see ghosts in the clouds. And not having a thick battlestar's armour around you didn't help either.
Mercer and Major Burke were on patrol on the edge of the formation. Every now and then they peeled off to investigate an anomaly, but every time it ended up nothing. Just their minds playing tricks on themselves. They were about to return to the fleet when the DRADIS sensors started bleeping.
Looking down on their screens the two pilots only saw a faint, but massive, signal moving slowly to intercept them.
"Invictus, Bingo. We've got a Bogey on DRADIS drifting in on your starboard. Moving to investigate."
"Roger that Bingo. Be advised, Alert fighters have been launched and are two minutes behind you." came through the radio.
Price had just walked into the CIC when the alarm started blaring. "Sitrep!" he ordered.
"Bogey just appeared in DRADIS range, CBDR. From the size of It, it's probably a ship of the line. Strike Fighters are underway to intercept." Answered the XO approaching the Commander. "Constant Bearing Decreasing Range." he said to Goradin, answering his questioning look. "They are closing in on us."
"Unknown Vessel is launching Fighters! I count 30+ in combat squadrons, larger contacts among them, probably bombers!" the sensor operator cried out.
Returning his eyes to the communications array Goradin noticed strange signals embedded in the contact signal. After tapping a few keys one could see his eyes widen.
"Sir, I got Imperial Transponders!"
"Ah, they are using our own signals against us." Howard remarked.
"Maybe." replied Price. They hadn't tried that tactic yet… Price thought to himself.
"Weapons hold! No one is to fire unless fired upon! Relay this to the fleet. Get me a ship to ship line, Priority channel One." he ordered before picking up the horn.
"Attention unknown vessel. This is the Battlestar Invictus operating on behalf of the Imperial Navy. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon."
For a moment, nothing happened. But the increasingly growing signature of the unknown contact suddenly stopped and It's fighter groups began circling as opposed to committing to intercept courses.
A few tense seconds later the radio crackled to life and a calm, but deeply authoritative voice answered.
"This is the Imperial Navy Super-Carrier Ark Imperial to the ship claiming to be the 'Battlestar Invictus'. Respond or feel her ancient fury!"
Ark Imperial? The mightiest carrier in the entire navy was beside them?! The Imperial lieutenant could barely believe what his ears were telling him. There where rumours she was active around the Orar passage, but he thought they would have passed this ship long ago with one of the FTL jumps. Apparently, the old ship was faster than he thought.
"Ark Imperial, Authenticate your ID with recognition codes immediately."
Another pause followed. The codes coming through after a slight, almost hesitant, delay.
A smile and confident nod from the Imperial LT told Price more than enough. The codes sent were authentic. Ark Imperial was flying beside them!
"This is High-Admiral Byzantine calling the Commanding Officer of the Invictus. You are a Non-Imperial vessel. Send your deployment orders and reason for being here immediately."
"You are speaking with Commander Price. Deployment orders are to reach the Orar system with best speed, given by Lord-Admiral Ravensburg himself. Coded transmission under way." Price replied while gesturing towards his communication staff.
"Stand-By" was the only reply that came back for a while. All the men could do was wait.
"He is probably talking to our escort." Goradin answered the question everyone was silently asking. "We are still outsiders. Codes alone are not enough."
"I guess we'll get to see the true colours of our convoy." Howard murmured under his breath.
Five minutes later the horn crackled back to life.
"Orders verified, Invictus. You seem to have the confidence of several Imperial commanders. Close formation and prepare to report to me with the other commanders in three hours."
"Understood Ark Imperial. Invictus out." and he put down the horn.
A great sense of relief filled the room. Instead of another enemy to fight they finally found what seemed like an ally, and a powerful one at that.
In his fighter, Mercer was ecstatic. The vast fighter formations of the Arc Imperial passed around the Viper formation, taking up positions around the supercarrier and convoy of escort vessels. The sight of Imperial fighters close to THE carrier of the fleet made the Flight Sergeant laugh in relief and joy. He never thought that he would ever see this legendary and ancient vessel with his own eyes, now he had practically bumped into it in a forsaken Nebula! This was certainly one of the more interesting days of the Imperial's life. Maybe they just might live through this. And with that though, Mercer and Bingo turned for home, wondering what surprise would come next.