Theoretical Light Craft Specification
The recent emphasis on light craft by the Colonial Independence Navy and the innovations they achieved has dramatically changed the dynamics of fleet engagements since the beginning of the war. Whereas the Colonials have developed entirely new classes of light craft to exploit gaps in UNE formations, the UNE has focused primarily on adjusting force compositions or deploying new weapons to counter Colonial advances. This approach has met with mixed success as while UNE light craft are able to hold their own in engagements, the tactical advantage is shifting ever more to the Colonials. To this end, the UNE needs to seriously consider development of a new generation of light craft to supplement or even replace the traditional fighter, interceptor, and bomber variants now in use.
Survivability has been increasingly problematic for UNE light craft, especially interceptors. Traditionally pitted against bomber squadrons, interceptors are simply too lightly armored to deal with the flak a Colonial corvette can put out and do not mount heavy enough weapons to quickly damage these larger ships. While interceptors remain effective against conventional Colonial fighters, the introduction of the heavy fighter with its powerful plasma cannon has effectively made the variant obsolete. Any new design must carry sufficient armor and shielding to deal with the increased firepower it will face.
The missile interceptor introduced by the Colonials has highlighted an interesting alternative to the reliance on torpedoes by smaller craft to take down capital ships. Due to their size, torpedoes are relatively easy targets for point defenses and even other fighters so they must be launched at close range to ensure hits. While bombers are better armored than fighters or interceptors, they are also much slower and advances in Colonial weaponry have eroded the advantages that their armor traditionally provided.
Taking into account the above issues, the Apex fighter appears to be the most suitable as a development platform for a next generation combat craft. Current models have been fitted with a wide range of weapons from plasma cannons to railguns and missiles to rockets. This flexibility, combined with the balance of performance and protection it achieves relative to interceptors and bombers, means Apex fighters are more survivable in modern engagements and can also be equipped to dish out enough damage to destroy a variety of enemy targets more easily than other light craft variants.
The hypothetical next generation design should certainly incorporate the CREW 1500ep or whatever its equivalent is at the time of deployment. Another possible addition should be the S2SSCM Swarm missile ***REDACTED***or preferably the next generation Swarm X***ENDREDACTION*** for the increased salvo densities ***REDACTED***and in the case of the Swarm X the increased power***ENDREDACTION***. The greatest limitation will however be one of energy generation. While powerful, the CREW 1500ep draws significant amounts of energy, making continuous fire like that in dogfights highly impractical. **REDACTED***An even greater concern is the power budget required to use the Swarm X missiles effectively. In addition to the need for the missiles to be primed by the ship's onboard reactor in order to achieve the targeted acceleration, the proposed multi-target system requires considerably more powerful computational systems, and thus power, to manage.***ENDREDACTION***
As detailed above, there are several potential systems that if deployed in a next generation platform could eliminate the current tactical advantages Colonial small craft possess. The greatest challenge remains how to provide the power budget needed to incorporate these systems into a single platform while still achieving the performance profile of an Apex fighter in a heavier frame. While arguments could be made to develop multiple variants each dedicated to one of the above systems, this limits their tactical flexibility. The war has demonstrated that the most successful of our current variants is the Apex fighter because of its sheer flexibility. As such, it is the position of this board that the most optimal design would incorporate all or most of the above systems. Efforts to solve this problem will likely take a great deal of time unless some breakthrough can be achieved in the development of fold generators.
Rear Admiral Atsuji Oogubo
Director, Research and Development
Bureau of Ships, United Nations of Earth
Chapter 5: In Darkness Cast
The carrier Petrushka was alone in orbit of the barren world, her escorts deployed elsewhere in preparation for the coming ambush. Suvorov relaxed in his seat, pondering the events of the past few weeks. The victory at Sybille had been as overwhelming as anyone could have hoped for and despite the slaughter of defenseless men and women Suvorov had no regrets. But since then the CIN had suffered a series of near catastrophic reversals that under normal circumstances would have meant the loss of the war. Now the UNE was pursuing the advantages it had won in preparation for a move against the Relic. On the other hand, the lone frigate had not been careful enough and was even now leading Suvorov and the Black Fleet back to its comrades. Soon, he would avenge Rear Admiral Ackers and all the others who died at Hydra and Taranto.
"Admiral, Manchester reports contact with the frigate. It's rendezvoused with a cruiser, a squadron of fighters, and Kanzeon."
Suvorov nodded as he glanced at the coordinates attached to the message. "Order Backlash to move in."
"Aye sir."
It was unfortunate only one of his cruisers was in position to immediately intercept but with their corvette escorts, a single cruiser and frigate should have little trouble dealing with the UNE warships. The Kanzeon was of greater concern but Suvorov doubted it was so capable that it could face off against all the fighters he had sent along. The analysis from Taylor had been interesting but the performance suggested was surely impossible. Suvorov was of the opinion the exercise had pushed the parameters for Kanzeon's abilities quite a bit beyond reality. From a purely engineering perspective, he found it hard to imagine the UNE could have achieved the breakthroughs in power generation that Taylor's mockup of Kanzeon would have required and kept it completely black.
Minutes passed and the mood on the flag bridge remained focused but calm. A single status update came from Backlash as it folded in and Suvorov was somewhat taken aback by it. Apparently Manchester was heavily damaged with most of its weapons offline. The rumors regarding Kanzeon forced themselves to the fore of his thoughts and Suvorov began to grimly consider the possibility that they were not as exaggerated as he once believed. It likely would not matter however as Backlash and her escorts would be more than enough to deal with a crippled frigate and the cruiser protecting it.
A second update arrived not long after and as Suvorov reviewed it his confidence slowly unraveled. The numbers of corvettes and fighters lost indicated a complete slaughter of their ranks and the amount of damage Backlash was reporting seemed unreal. All of its heavy weapons were gone along with half of its point defense turrets. Backlash needed reinforcements if it was going to even survive, much less complete its mission and defeat the UNE force.
"Deploy two squadrons of interceptors and same for heavy fighters," Suvorov said. "Order them to join provide support to Backlash."
"Aye sir."
"Status on our other ships?"
"They're vectoring in but our light craft will still beat them there," Matthews said.
Suvorov nodded unhappily. He had been forced to spread his fleet out too thinly in order to create a large enough net to catch the enemy frigate and now he was paying for it. If only even one of his other frigates had been in range, the results would likely have been very different. Now his light craft just needed to get there in time to-
"Fold signature!"
Suvorov's eyes immediately fell on the plot before shifting over to the bridge's window. The telltale flare of a fold event was already fading but he could make out the miniscule outline of a UNE frigate.
"Three contacts! UNE frigate, fighter, and the Kanzeon!"
"Get an update from Backlash, now!" Suvorov snapped.
"Aye sir!"
"Target change, interceptor launches after Unie light craft, heavies after frigate."
"Sir!"
The frigate was veering away, trying to put some distance between itself and Petrushka while its fold drive cycled. The carrier was slowly accelerating but she would need her children to whittle away at her prey first. The two light craft protecting the frigate were hopelessly outnumbered and Suvorov expected they would be brushed aside with little difficulty, though Kanzeon's reputation was enough that he was playing it safe by deploying two squadrons of interceptors before sending out the heavy fighters to cripple the frigate. Petrushka might not even have to open fire as the enemy frigate was obviously already damaged and would likely fall quickly to the heavy fighters.
The first wave of interceptors was already away and raced forth to meet the two lone light craft. Before they could open fire however they were greeted by a massive salvo of missiles. Suvorov paled as nearly all of his interceptors were squatted out of space in an instant. The survivors continued their approach but were completely ignored as the Kanzeon shot straight for the carrier. It hardly mattered as its wingman opened fire, cutting apart the first target with plasma before unleashing a pair of missiles to finish off the remaining interceptors.
"Prep additional launches!" Suvorov shouted. "I want all heavies deployed!"
Someone probably replied to his orders but Suvorov was too focused on the impending storm of missiles to listen. They barely felt a thing on the flag bridge but the blaring red icons marked the wide swath of damage the carrier had suffered.
"Forward flak cannons are down! Plasma turret banks two and three offline!"
"Second wave launched! Third wave prepping!"
The interceptors veered upward and back as they gave chase, forcing the Kanzeon away from the Petrushka. One by one however the interceptors exploded until the remaining handful ran straight into a third salvo of missiles. The heavy fighters were finally out and raced towards the frigate. Before they could open fire however, the warship was engulfed in a blue wave and disappeared.
"Enemy frigate has folded out!"
Their work done, the two other UNE vessels pulled away and disappeared moments later. The battlefield fell silent, the Black Fleet trying to grasp the magnitude of the events. The engagement had lasted a few scant minutes but Kanzeon had crippled or outright destroyed two dozen of Petrushka's light craft wing in that time. That was an absolutely unheard of kill ratio for a single light craft especially considering Petrushka's pilots were the elite of the CIN. Kanzeon's pilot was obviously just as good but Kanzeon itself was the true marvel. Killing it might well be as important as defeating the other stragglers.
"Sir! Fold signature!"
As the flare receded, Colonial signals appeared on the plot. Their tags immediately identified them as part of the force that attempted to ambush the UNE frigate and cruiser and their significantly reduced numbers hinted at the mauling they had taken.
"Sir, Backlash and Manchester have been destroyed," Matthews said quietly.
"Status on Petrushka," Suvorov said far more calmly than he felt.
"We've lost a third of our point defenses and one of the beam turrets," Matthews answered. "Our light craft wing has been reduced by 30% as well."
"Re-concentrate the fleet," Suvorov ordered.
"Yes sir."
As Matthews relayed the orders, Suvorov brought up a map on his own terminal and punched in a few calculations.
"Schedule the fleet to move to foldpoint 551 in fifteen hours," Suvorov ordered.
"Sir?"
"The stragglers are going to move against Prometheus to try to steal the research on the Relic," Suvorov said. "From there, they'll attempt to make best time to intercept Admiral Kosygin, which will take them through 551."
"Shouldn't we attempt to stop them at Prometheus then?" Matthews asked.
"Not with the damage we've suffered," Suvorov said grimly. "The best we can do is stop them before they reach the main fleet, but by God we will stop them."
"UNE ship, stand down your engines and weapons. You have five minutes to comply or we will destroy you."
The single frigate ignored the ultimatum and continued to run even as a squadron of heavy fighters barreled down upon it. Its captain rolled ship, forcing the pursuers to circle about to avoid falling into the capital ship's field of fire. Beams crossed the frigate's vector from the pair of cruisers converging on it but UNE ship dipped downward. Even as it began putting more distance between itself and the cruisers, the suddenly change of vector actually gave the heavy fighters more time to strafe the frigate.
"That ship's captain knows what he's doing," Taylor said.
Kosygin said nothing as she simply watched the plot. Here and there a fighter's signal disappeared as the frigate picked them off but even so its own point defenses lessened. Fragments of its hull splintered off from the continued pounding it suffered and the frigate began to slow as the damage took its toll.
"UNE frigate, this is your final warning," Summers said. "Stand down or be destroyed."
Suddenly the frigate changed vector once more on a heading straight for one of the flanking cruisers. It opened fire with everything it had including a salvo of torpedoes.
"Admiral!" Summers cried out. "We just got a burst transmission from the frigate!"
"Put it on," Kosygin said.
The main display flashed to reveal a smoldering bridge and a UNE officer defiantly looking into the visual pickup.
"This is Captain Keller of the frigate Amerigo. Go to hell, you Cindy bastards."
The screen went dark as the message ended.
"Admiral," Taylor said.
"I see it," Kosygin said.
The frigate was now on a direct collision course with the cruiser and now it was the CIN ship's turn to try to evade. A cruiser was however more massive than a mere frigate and considerably more sluggish than even the damaged warship charging at it. The cruiser hurriedly tried to turn about even as it gave the enemy a wider body to aim for. Weapons pounded the frigate mercilessly but the ship refused to be blown off its course. Plasma splashed off the cruiser as the frigate continued its own bombardment. Even worse, the range meant there was little time to intercept the frigate's torpedoes. As the cruiser continued swinging about and reduced its profile, it was also reducing the field of fire of its own point defenses. The consequences of that reduction soon became clear as explosions tore through the rear of the cruiser.
"Arcturus has lost two engines," Taylor reported. "She won't be able to outrun or outmaneuver the frigate."
"She shouldn't have swung about like that," Kosygin said. "That slowed her down too much and gave the frigate too large a target. Order Arcturus to abandon ship!"
"Aye ma'am!"
Kosygin paid attention long enough to make sure Summers was not getting any undue resistance to the order before focusing back on the plot. New signals started springing up as escape pods ejected from the cruiser but Arcturus continued to maneuver in a vain effort to avoid the frigate. Despite the odds her captain nearly pulled it off, but nearly was not anywhere good enough when tons upon tons of armored constructs clashed. The frigate's bottom tapped the cruiser's hull and that impact was all the warning there was before the smaller ship exploded. The blast ripped through the cruiser and broke its back before the larger warship's own reactor joined in the inferno.
"Survivors," Kosygin asked.
"Some of our pods were caught in the explosion," Taylor reported grimly. "We won't know how many made it off until we've had time to conduct a search."
Kosygin nodded. "Expedite."
"Of course ma'am."
Kosygin sank back into her seat, her face stiff but tired.
"I didn't want the war to take this turn," she said.
"Ma'am?"
Glancing over at Taylor, Kosygin's grimace darkened further. "The Unies obviously think they'll be killed no matter what so they're not holding anything back. In the process, people on both sides are dying that don't need to. If this keeps up, they might actually be insane enough to not surrender when we take Earth."
"Do you really believe that ma'am?"
"Look at what the Unie frigate just did, Vincent. It tried to ram one of our cruisers and when it only managed to graze it, her captain blew the ship's reactor. I'd say the Unies have decided they've got nothing to lose so they're going to try to take as many of us with them as possible. And somehow I can't quite convince myself they'll restrict themselves to just military targets."
Taylor returned his admiral's unhappy grimace and nodded. As far as the UNE was concerned, the CIN really was committed to glassing Earth with the Relic. When faced with that kind of impending atrocity, rationality might not be in sufficient supply to avoid compounding the tragedy.
"Should we attempt to intercept one of the other Unie ships?" Taylor asked.
Kosygin shook her head. "No, no more wild goose chases. We'll move on Earth. That will force the Unies to come to us where we're concentrated instead of us dispersing to try to run them down."
"Yes ma'am."
Letting out another sigh, Kosygin watched as her own ships moved about collecting escape pods. She had ordered the crew to abandon ship fast enough that there were quite a few of them and there would have been even more had the UNE captain not blown up his own ship in his determination to take out the cruiser. All Kosygin could hope for was this incident would be the exception, not the rule. Enough people had died and would die soon enough to make her want to kill even more.
The two dozen or so corvettes that composed Suvorov's strike wing floated gracefully in orbit as squadrons of fighters settled into formation around them. Over half of his light craft was being committed to the attack and the admiral had no idea how many would not be coming back. If Kanzeon's last performance was not a fluke, the losses would be heavy, Suvorov thought grimly. Combined with the loss of Manchester and Backlash this would be the costliest 'victory' the Black Fleet had ever achieved, assuming they actually succeeded in killing Kanzeon and its carrier. While Suvorov was not about to admit it openly, privately he was beginning to doubt their chances of success.
"Admiral, the strike force is ready to move out," Matthews, Suvorov's chief of staff, reported.
Suvorov nodded. "Deploy the fleet."
"Aye sir."
The cruiser Vainglorious folded out first and then each of the squadrons blinked out in a tight sequence. Two frigates remained to protect Petrushka while they waited. It seemed ridiculous that the Black Fleet was forced to rely on hit and run tactics against a mere handful of capital ships but the presence of Kanzeon seemed to rewrite every law of warfare. Suvorov was starting to wish Taylor had not chosen to name the ship after a goddess as the comparison was proving far too apt for his comfort.
Reports filtered back as the strike force made contact. For some reason the UNE carrier was alone though with Kanzeon flying escort that meant less than it would have normally. More messages arrived, each worse than the last. Despite adopting the same strategy Radek used when fighting the UNE fleet at Sybille, Suvorov's corvettes were unable to split the carrier's defenses. With its multi-targeting ability, Kanzeon was able to cover entire sectors by itself.
The bandwidth of the FTL connections were not that high so Petrushka was only getting a fraction of all the sensor data his corvettes were pulling in. The amount of data also decreased rapidly the moment a corvette squadron came under attack as they devoted power and bandwidth to dealing with more immediate concerns. It was still enough however for Suvorov's crew to piece together exactly what was going on.
After dealing with a torpedo salvo, Kanzeon would race towards a group of corvettes and unload upon them with its conventional rockets before moving on to the next group. Three entire squadrons were slaughtered in this manner before Suvorov received a message indicating the survivors were retreating. They were simply taking too heavy losses against just Kanzeon without even managing to scratch the carrier. Suvorov grated his teeth at yet another failure to deal with the UNE stragglers.
"Have Vainglorious hold position and wait for the survivors before rejoining us," Suvorov said. "Then fold us to the enemy carrier's position."
"Aye sir."
That of course assumed the enemy carrier did not decide to escape while Suvorov was reorganizing his fleet.
"Remaining corvettes have withdrawn," a rating reported. "ETA to rendezvous, twenty minutes."
Settling back into his chair, Suvorov considered what options he had left. His standing strength was getting badly depleted and he was honest enough to admit that was mostly his own fault. He was not expecting the UNE forces to be so strong but in retrospect any group that managed to survive the massacre at Sybille either had a lot of luck or a lot of skill. Once he could concentrate his fleet, Suvorov would be in a position to try hammering the UNE forces again.
"Sir!"
The alarm in Matthews' voice startled Suvorov and his eyes settled quickly on his aide.
"Vainglorious is reporting she's under attack!"
"IDs?"
"A squadron of Unie fighters and Kanzeon!"
Suvorov's eyes darkened. "Have two heavy squadrons move in to reinforce Vainglorious."
"Yes sir!"
The heavy fighters would likely help but Suvorov wondered whether they would reach the cruiser in time. Kanzeon had demonstrated a frighteningly swift ability to strip capital ships of their defenses, leaving them vulnerable to dedicated bombers or other enemy capital ships. If Vainglorious was to survive long enough to return, she needed a strong enough screen to keep Kanzeon from bombarding her. Perhaps if the corvettes-
Suvorov stopped mid-thought and frowned. "Status on the corvettes?"
"We've received nothing sir," Matthews replied.
That was all the confirmation Suvorov needed. They had been chased down and destroyed on the way back and now those same hunters were going after Vainglorious.
"I want all fighters in space now," Suvorov ordered. "When the UNE forces arrive, we're throwing everything we have at them."
"Yes sir."
The launch took only a few minutes and soon nearly a hundred light craft were circling the space around the Petrushka.
"Admiral," Matthews said very softly. "I just received another message from Vainglorious."
Suvorov took a deep breath before replying. "Read it please, Simon."
"Yes sir. 'Freedom or death. Never submit.' Message ends."
The flag bridge fell silent save for the occasional beep of a console. No one knew what to say upon hearing the death cry of the Vainglorious, no one save Suvorov himself.
"Freedom or death. Well, it's time their deaths give us our freedom."
As if on cue, alarms blared and dozens of signatures popped up on the plot.
"Multiple contacts! UNE fighters and Kanzeon!"
"All heavy fighters focus on the Kanzeon," Suvorov ordered. "Interceptors, keep enemy fighters from offering that ship any support."
"Aye sir!"
Fighters and interceptors vectored in on the unwelcome intruders, all grimly determined to avenge their fallen comrades. Many knew they would likely join those being avenged, but that no longer mattered. So long as Kanzeon died, it would be worth it. Suddenly, another signature, this one much larger, flared on the plot.
"New contact! UNE carrier! Detecting interceptor and bomber launches!"
Suvorov grinned darkly. "And now it's a fight."
The two formations of light craft seemed to smash into each other and the battle devolved into an incoherent mess. Missiles whizzed about, losing and gaining lock moment to moment as EM pulses burst in every direction. Exchanges of plasma and bullets riddled space with explosions capping the light show. Throughout all this a single blaze of fold energy burned through the hash of jamming and lidar. Wherever it went, death was left in its wake as fighters and interceptors shattered under the punishment of its guns. From time to time the signature would disappear but it would always reemerge less than a minute later.
"Admiral, frigates are in range of the carrier," Matthews reported.
"Open fire. Take that ship down before it gets any closer."
"Frigates firing."
Unlike the frigates assigned to other CIN formations, those of the Black Fleet mounted a cruiser grade beam cannon as well. Now those cannons let loose and left scorched burns across the body of the carrier. Their target however was built to survive such strikes, at least for a while, and returned fire with its own set of cannons. The beams sliced through the frontal armor of the much smaller frigate, wrecking its sensors and even worse the torpedo tubes. Its consort was undamaged however and a quartet of torpedoes thundered forth. And then, each exploded in furious balls of fire as Kanzeon slashed through in front of the frigate. Flipping over, the ship transformed and unleashed its own salvo, ripping apart the bean cannon and heavy plasma turret before reverting to its flight mode and making its escape.
A wave of UNE fighters was right behind Kanzeon and the frigate was soon bathed in plasma and more missiles. All the topside turrets were smashed in the run, leaving the frigate dangerously exposed. Her captain however did not flinch and held the ship steady as another salvo of torpedoes was prepared.
The first frigate got off another blast from its beam cannon before Kanzeon arrived, just having finished neutering the other one. The cannon exploded as the bolts of plasma cracked its barrel and again UNE fighters followed upon Kanzeon's performance to finish neutralizing the warship. Even worse, the carrier now had all of its heavy weapons trained on the ship and was pounding away mercilessly. No frigate was meant to withstand such punishment and armor shattered as the hull began to buckle. When containment finally failed on the reactor, the explosion was simply a funeral pyre for an already dead ship.
Another salvo of torpedoes were barreling down on the UNE carrier but were quickly brought down by her fighters. Missile interceptors were much more agile and several weaved through the massive melee between the capital ships to begin their run on the enemy carrier. None made it through as suddenly a storm of missiles swept through their formation. No one had time to even try setting off an EM burst to shake the locks. As Kanzeon followed through, only wreckage drifted past the ship.
Even as the frigate died, it managed to unleash one final quartet of torpedoes. Its last gasp of defiance was however brushed almost contemptuously aside as Kanzeon let loose with its machine gun. And then the ship turned toward the Petrushka and began accelerating.
"All batteries focus fire on Kanzeon," Suvorov ordered.
"But sir, our own fighters'll get caught in that!"
"At this point it won't matter. If nothing else, we need to take down that ship!"
"Admiral, enemy bombers have just launched!"
"Have heavy fighters and interceptors deal with them. Divert our fighters to provide cover for our missile interceptors, but get them through to the enemy carrier!"
"Yes sir!"
With their responsibilities set, the Colonial light craft split to pursue their respective targets. Suvorov was momentarily gratified to see Kanzeon veer off sharply as it ran into a wall of flak and plasma from his flagship. That satisfaction disappeared quickly as the ship raced behind his heavy fighters and interceptors. Kanzeon flared and half a dozen more of his light craft was blown out of space.
"Move us toward the enemy carrier!" Suvorov ordered. "Open fire on bombers the moment we're in range!"
"Aye sir!"
The Petrushka was a massive ship and unwieldy as a consequence. Fortunately the enemy was kind enough to be moving directly toward the carrier. Unfortunately if her crew did not perform, Suvorov might well have quickened Petrushka's demise.
The carrier rolled to bring her topside to face the incoming bombers. While this made her a much larger target, it also allowed the warship to bring more of her guns to bear. Now they let loose with reckless abandon, saturating the space immediately above. The bombers shuddered at the sudden bombardment and several veered off. Others let loose their torpedoes but at such a distance the Petrushka's point defenses had plenty of time to pick them off. The first enemy run stifled, Suvorov turned his attention to his own attack.
Suvorov's heart sank as he read the number of active indicator signals. Over two thirds of the attack group was gone and looking at the fold signature zipping around the survivors it was quite obvious what had happened. While the admiral's maneuver might have bought his flagship some time, it also meant Petrushka was out of position to support her own ships in their run against the enemy carrier. Now the back of his attack had been broken and the surviving ships could do little save nip at the heels of their target.
The bridge suddenly shook and Suvorov looked up to see the enemy carrier fast approaching. She fired again, her beam weapons slowly burning their way through his flagship's hull.
"Orders admiral!" Matthews shouted.
"All ships fall back to point gamma," Suvorov cried back. "Proceed independently, do not attempt to dock with the Petrushka!"
Matthews' fingers flew as he punched out the orders. Even as he did so, the carrier shook again and flames burst out on the bridge.
"Kanzeon on approach!"
The warning came far too late as the transformed ship opened fire. Two salvos came crashing down this time and ripped apart all of the weapons mounted atop the carrier. And then it did something even worse. A series of explosions in the rear rippled through the ship and threw Matthews from his station. Suvorov was nearly tossed out of his own chair but somehow managed to hold on.
"Status!"
"Fold engines destroyed! We can't fold out!"
"Enemy carrier is opening fire!"
Suvorov had just enough time to look out the window to see a bright light envelop it. The next moment, the flag bridge disappeared under the glare of the enemy's beam.
"Hull breaches in sectors 7 through 15, emergency bulkheads have closed but we are still venting atmosphere!"
"Damage control reports they can't reach the compartments! The entire section is just gone!"
"We've got more torpedoes incoming!"
"Goddamn it! UNE ships, this is Akira-5, we have civilians onboard that have not evacuated! Cease fire!"
The recording ended moments later and Kosygin was once more rooted in her quarters.
"Ma'am."
Glancing back, she saw Taylor standing at the entrance once more.
"Vincent. What have I said about knocking?" she said quietly, almost gently.
"I did ma'am," Taylor replied. "You didn't answer."
"Ah I see. Well, was there something you needed?"
For a few seconds Taylor said nothing but Kosygin could see the disapproval in his eyes. He never liked the fact that Kosygin continued to watch that recording over and over again. Kosygin knew Taylor thought it unhealthy and sign of obsession. He may well be right, but the admiral knew she could not stop. Even now it was painful watching the last moments of her father, but Kosygin did not do this to fuel any sense of vengeance. It was a reminder instead that she fought for the living, not the dead. Taylor likely would not understand and Kosygin doubted she could properly explain it. But though he disapproved, Taylor had yet to actually give voice to his disapproval. Instead, he went straight to business.
"The lieutenant has been cleared by the infirmary," he said. "We can debrief him any time."
Kosygin nodded. "Then let's get to it."
Taylor nodded in return and made his exit. Kosygin moved to follow but came to a halt at her desk. There lay the chessboard, two more moves into Suvorov's endgame. She could now see exactly why the admiral had been so confident of achieving mate in three. So far Kosygin had been unable to figure out a way out of his trap. Now, she never wanted to. Reaching out, Kosygin tipped over the white king.
"You win this one Aleksey," she said softly before leaving the still room behind.
The door slid open and three men walked in, the two on the flanks obviously escorts. The officers seated in the conference room turned their chairs to look at the newcomer, but none of them stood. The two escorts snapped to attention and were dismissed with a nod. Their charge stood at attention, though his eyes stared blankly ahead.
"Lieutenant Roderick Evans, reporting," the man said stiffly.
"Please be seated, lieutenant," Taylor invited.
"Thank you sir."
The response was soft and distant, as if the lieutenant was not really there. None of the officers took offense however as all of them were suffering from the shock of their recent reverses. What was important now was to establish what exactly had happened, for which they needed the lieutenant focused.
"Lieutenant," Taylor began. "We are all aware of the circumstances you escaped from. But right now we need your report. What happened to Admiral Suvorov. What happened to the Fleet."
Evans blinked, almost as if the questions did not register. But then he swallowed and began speaking.
"We got the orders to go after some Unie stragglers, survivors of the battle at Sybille, after they had trashed our forward supply depot. Some of our ships had actually been on their way to help escort a convoy, but got there too late to help."
At this point Evans took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds before continuing.
"We assumed they'd be chasing the main fleet, going after the Relic, so the Admiral had us scouting in the fleet's wake. Instead, they snuck through the nebula surrounding Taranto and leveled the base, taking out dozens of dry docked cruisers and trashing the fleet assigned to protect the shipyards. By the time we heard, the UNE forces had already escaped, even if they lost a cruiser in the process. It didn't seem possible, but they really pulled it off. Rumors started spreading that these stragglers had some kind of superweapon of their own, something that could take out entire fleets by itself. We didn't really believe it, since we'd seen nothing at Sybille."
The gathered officers nodded. Those 'rumors' had come from reports made by other survivors, all classified immediately so as not to spread panic through colonial forces. Unfortunately, the successes of this particular UNE taskforce had caused wilder and wilder stories to proliferate.
"And then, we got a lucky break," Evans continued. "We caught a UNE frigate scouting one of our research facilities. The Admiral let it go, but chased it just hard enough to force it to call for help. Help came all right. According to the after action reports, they sent a cruiser, a fighter squadron, and that new ship, Kanzeon. It might not be the entire taskforce, but taking out even that detachment should end any chances of the taskforce trying to threaten the main fleet. And if Kanzeon was as important as rumors suggested, taking it out should demoralize the UNE survivors, or that was the theory at least. But things didn't work out that way."
This time Evans fell silent for considerably longer, staring blankly ahead as if he was seeing past the gathered officers, back to that fateful battle.
"Lieutenant," Taylor said gently.
Evans shook himself. "Sorry, sir. Where was I? Right, the ambush. We'd sent a frigate, some corvettes, and a fighter screen to pin them down while a cruiser was supposed to move in for the kill. Something went wrong though, cause that frigate suddenly folded in right in front of the flagship. That's when the Admiral ordered all squadrons to prepare to launch. Mine was supposed to be part of the third wave. First wave was all interceptors, which should have been able to handle the two other ships escorting the frigate. Only one of them was that new ship, and it ripped right through the first wave. I didn't even know what was happening, but the next thing I knew my squadron was pulled out of our launch rotation and more interceptors were launched. And then the flagship was under attack."
Evans shook his head, as if he still could not believe what had happened.
"The second wave was apparently able to chase it off, and my squad was launched next. We came out just in time to see that thing transform and launch a massive salvo of missiles at the remaining interceptors. There must have been twenty, thirty missiles in that launch, I don't know. I thought I was hallucinating, but next thing I knew a lot of signals disappeared. Those that survived were picked off, either by that ship or its wingman. And then that thing turned right around and charged the flagship. I thought the pilot was crazy, but he transformed again into some, mech, and fired off more missiles and suddenly there was a lot less flak fire coming from the flagship. The Admiral kept his cool though and ordered my squadron to continue our attack run on the frigate. But that ship had apparently bought enough time, since it folded out just as we opened fire. When we turned around to protect the flagship, Kanzeon was already retreating."
Evans sighed. "When I returned, I did a flyby of the flagship. I don't know how, but we'd lost over half of the flak emplacements and a third of the cannons. The Admiral called off the pursuit to effect repairs and re-concentrate the fleet. That was when we learned that the ships we sent to pursue the frigate had taken a mauling. The cruiser, the frigate, all of the corvettes, all gone. According to the survivors, the corvettes were taken down almost singlehandedly by that ship and it was also the one that crippled the frigate and cruiser, letting the UNE forces finish them off. It seemed impossible, except that ship by itself had managed to hold off a carrier. We stopped laughing at the rumors at that point."
A grim look of understanding was echoed on the faces of the other officers. They too had not taken the reports of this new ship too seriously. After all, nothing could possibly threaten a large fleet with a proper core of capital ships. If the UNE really had managed to hide the development of such a capable craft however, the deployment of the Relic came not a moment too soon.
"It took a while to get the fleet back together," Evans said. "By the time we were ready to move, the Unie taskforce had apparently already hit the same research facility that frigate had scouted. The admiral ordered an immediate pursuit and we managed to pounce the carrier that was their flagship. The Admiral sent in waves of corvettes to try to knock it out, but that damn ship was there again. It slaughtered the attack waves, even followed them back from their fold points. And then, it found us."
Evan's fist tightened and his eyes narrowed in remembrance. Remembrance of the alarms blaring, the scrabbling of fighters. Remembrance of the panic of having to engage that ship once more.
"They came at us with everything they had," Evans said. "That carrier launched waves of fighters to strip away our screen, or at least what was left of it after that damned transformer got through with them, before engaging the frigates. We tried to launch torpedoes, but that ship shot down all of them before they could hit. When the two frigates were down, it moved in against the flagship. My squadron was tasked with taking down the carrier, but there were too many interceptors. We'd lost our escorts to that blasted ship, but it didn't even bother to finish us off. It went straight for the flagship, taking out the flak turrets and then destroying the heavy cannons. The Admiral issued a retreat order, but the flagship's engines had been wrecked, again by that ship. There was nothing we could do as the UNE carrier opened fire. Those of us still left did the only thing we could, follow the Admiral's last order."
Evans fell silent and sank back into his seat. The other officers exchanged glances, worry and even a bit of dread showing in their eyes. Finally, Kosygin spoke.
"Thank you for the briefing, lieutenant. Please return to your quarters. We will call you if we have any further questions."
Evans picked himself up slowly and saluted before stepping out. The motion was crisp as befitting a Colonial officer, but there was a hollowness behind it, as if the belief that once inspired and drive him had been shattered. It was a sentiment all present could understand after the destruction of the invincible Black Fleet.
The admiral took a deep breath and rested her elbows on the table. "Well, ladies and gentlemen. It appears the UNE still has some fight left in it. The question now is whether it is enough to threaten the fleet and the Relic."
"I don't see how, ma'am," Captain Christoph West, commanding officer of the Independence, said. "If they dared attack, we could just disable their ships again and pick them off one by one."
"And what about the research they managed to steal?" Summers pointed out. "The modifications to protect against the Relic are not complex to apply."
"Do you really believe they'd have time to carry them out sir?" West replied gruffly.
"Regardless of whether they do or not, they are still liable to try to attack the fleet," Kosygin concluded. "Were we in their position, we would also do our utmost to protect our homes. After all, is that not what we are doing now?"
The others grimly nodded, some a bit more firmly than others. To destroy a populated planet, to murder the billions of people trapped on Earth, that was a decision that had not been made easily. Doubts were not swept away just because the order had been given, though all of the officers present were prepared to see it through. Otherwise, they would have already withdrawn before the fleet arrived at Earth. But there was still a chance the UNE could be made to see reason and they might be able to spare their conscious, or so the admiral hoped. But a cornered animal was unpredictable and there was no telling what the UNE would try now. But once the fleet assumed control of the high orbital-
Alarms blared and the gathered officers all snapped alert. The intercom beeped loudly until the admiral tapped the console.
"Report."
"Admiral, we're detecting a Unie force folding in! Two frigates, a fighter screen, and Kanzeon!"
The officers gathered in the room froze for all of a second, but that was it. Kosygin rose.
"Go to general quarters," she ordered. "Launch all fighters. Have fighters and heavies focus on Kanzeon, missile interceptors on the frigates. Move Será Victoriosa to intercept and have Indomitable flank the frigates from the rear."
"Yes ma'am."
Looking at the other officers, Kosygin tilted her head grimly. "It looks as if they really do think they still have a chance. Let us correct that misconception. To your stations!"
"Ma'am!"
End of Chapter 5
The closing debriefing of this chapter was actually the first thing written for the entire story. Assuming my memory isn't entirely failing me, I believe I called it Counterpoint. I originally posted it on the SSZ forums, and the developers actually took notice and drew attention to it on the site's front page. The basic premise gnawed away at me enough that I went and wrote pretty much the rest of the story over the course of the following weeks. I don't think I took longer than a month, but that wasn't that difficult since the total length was under 40 thousand words, which compared to my later works and even Honor is downright miniscule. This initial burst of creativity was enough to help spur me to go back and start work on various other stories again, and here we are.