Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the various X-COM games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not written for profit. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 5: A taste of things to come
=SF=
Part 5
CIC
SSV Tokyo
"Captain, we're being hailed!"
"Check for any surprises and if its safe put the signal through a stand alone system and patch it to the admiral and me." Petrovsky ordered.
"Scanning… No cyber attack detected. The signal is clear of psionic interference..." Klaudia reported.
A new holographic window opened in front of Oleg's face and his eyes bored into an image of an alien no human had seen alive for more than a century. The Ethereal was tall and thin, towering over a ring of consoles that surrounded it. A pair of bulky Mutton guards wearing heavy black armor could be seen standing at attention near a door at the back and even those two small mountains of muscle, weapons and armor looked short compared to their leader.
"Greetings, Humans. Prepare to be tested!" The Ethereal declared in a flawless English before cutting the connection.
"Sir, the enemy fleet is advancing. We're being pinged with LIDAR, radar and hyper-wave sensors! Their energy signatures are spiking." The sensor officer reported.
"Admiral, orders?" Petrovsky asked.
"Tokyo and the heavy cruisers will concentrate on the Ethereal dreadnought. I want that thing dead ASAP. All lighter ships, target the enemy escorts. Fighters, maintain CAP. Bomber squadrons – keep back until I give the word… All units keep random evasive maneuvers within the formation…" Duboa began rapidly issuing orders. There was a barely perceived edge in her voice that Oleg recognized only because he had served under her command for the last two years. It wasn't fear, he heard. It was hungry anticipation, the same thing he felt. "The fleet is weapons free. Captain Petrovsky, you're cleared to engage once the enemy is in range."
"You heard the Lady. Weapons, status on the primaries?" Oleg asked.
"PACs are at eighty five percent charge and climbing. The lasers and railgun are ready to fire. We've got a targeting solution, though at this distance I can only guarantee Hades hits. They have enough space to potentially evade PAC and railgun fire." The commander in charge of Tokyo's weapon system answered immediately.
"Fire when the PACs are fully charged." Oleg ordered. "Tactical, analysis of the enemy formation? Sensors, any observation of note?"
"We've got approximately two hundred and fifty enemy vessels, sir. Two hundred plus frigates, followed by thee hundred plus fighters are screening the larger ships. All enemy units with the exception of the small craft are of an unknown configuration. We're sweeping them with all active sensors, though all I can tell for sure is that their larger units appear to have heavy armor and power signatures at east equal and usually exceeding our equivalents..."
"The enemy fleet appears to be assuming a modified phalanx formation. It will give them clear forward firing lanes, though their flanks might be vulnerable depending on their weapon configuration…"
"PACs charged. Firing." Weapons announced.
Klaudia opened a new window in front of Oleg's eyes. Tokyo shook for a second when her massive spinal mounted railgun sent a twenty kilogram slug downrange. For a brief second the deck plating below Petrovsky's feet shuddered, then twice more in a quick succession when the particle accelerator cannons followed suit. In contrast, there was nothing felt when the two x-ray lasers unleashed their fury a few seconds later.
"Hades strikes on E-1 confirmed. Analyzing..."
Oleg waited and watched the virtual representation of the slug chase two balls of compressed particles as they all raced through the enemy formation. In the last possible moment a cruiser equivalent flew in the path of Tokyo's first salvo. The captain never knew if it was a fluke or deliberate action. In the end, it didn't really matter. The PAC's shattered whatever shields the cruiser had and the heavy slug went in unopposed. It hit the enemy ship slightly above the nose at a light downward angle and slashed through the armor to bury itself deep within the vessel's superstructure. The impact was more than sufficient to to shatter the containment system of the kilo of anti-matter that was the heart of the weapon.
The resulting explosion was more than enough to entice the cruiser's own ordnance and reactor to join the fun and the Ethereal vessel was briefly transformed into a miniature star. When the fireworks were over a few seconds later, there was nothing left but an expanding cloud of cooling debris.
"Good job, weapons. Now please hit that big dreadnought."
"Energy spike! E-1 is firing!" The sensor operator shouted.
"Brace for…"
The Tokyo shook as if a giant had picked her and was attempting to shake off all the crew. The straps holding Oleg in his seat bit uncomfortably in his flesh when the shock of weapon's impacts attempted to throw rolling on the floor.
"Status report! What hit us?!" Petrovsky snapped.
"Shields down to sixty one percent… Spot failure at impact points. Ablative armor is gone and a third of the primary armor belt is compromised at sections seventy three and ninety one. Minor shock damage to energy distribution network at decks..."
Oleg ignored the rest of the damage report. Nothing vital, not yet.
"Tactical?"
"Fusion lances sir. Much longer ranged and more powerful than ours. Two hits and one near miss."
"Targeting solutions locked. Firing." Weapons interrupted.
"Are our primary lasers effective?" Petrovsky asked.
"Not really. E-1 has some kind of ablative armor too. We'll have to burn through it before dealing any real damage. On the bright side – their shields don't appear to be more effective against lasers than ours."
Which really weren't, however ablative armor and a meter or two of Vahlenite alloy could take a terrible amount of punishment from such weapons before being cut through.
The captain returned his attention to the tactical display. The smaller ships would enter their respective weapon envelopes any moment now.
"Weapons, ready all secondaries. Fire as the enemy escorts enter range. All PD systems are released under Klaudia's control."
"I'll handle everything they throw at us, sir!" The AI exclaimed cheerfully.
At least someone was enjoying themselves.
"Energy spice!"
The Tokyo shook when Klaudia overrode the helm controls and set all starboard thrusters into emergency burn. A moment later the dreadnought shook again when a fusion lance struck her straight upon her heavily armored nose.
"Shields at fifty seven percent. Single hit. Armor is holding. Only forty one centimeters of penetration this time."
"Good work, Klaudia. Weapons?"
"Three solid hits, sir. Both PACs and railgun. Analyzing effect..."
The enemy frigates chose that moment to accelerate and hurl themselves at Third Fleet closely followed by a swarm of saucer shaped fighters. Their formation sifted and it became clear that they were aiming to come from above and below the fleet, while leaving a clear corridor for their bigger cousins to pour in their weapon fire.
"Frigate packs, you're free to engage. Fighters, remain on CAP and deal with any leakers. Destroyer divisions back up the frigates. All cruisers, refine your firing solutions and concentrate your firepower..." Duboa ordered.
Just a few seconds later, the light escort entered effective weapon range and tore at each other like rabid dogs. Lasers, plasma and chunks of metal accelerated to a fraction of light speed were hurled in all direction followed by short ranged missiles.
By the time the cruiser entered range thirty seconds later, it became painfully obvious that the human frigates were simply outmatched. The small ships were vanishing one after another with alarming speed. Even when aided by the secondary weapons of the cruisers on the fringe of Third Fleet's formation and the destroyers dispatched to help them, the light escorts paid with three of their own for every single Ethereal equivalent they managed to bring down. The bloodbath only got worse when the enemy fighter slashed through the fur-ball on their way to the fleet.
"All units, I want a Rapier strike on the enemy frigates. Put two full broadsides in them then implement fire plan Bravo Three." Duboa ordered.
"Bravo Three, aye." Petrovsky confirmed. "Weapons, two Rapier salvos at each frigate group, then proceed with Bravo Three." Oleg ordered.
The captain glanced at a window hanging to his left showing Tokyo's status. There were already couple of dozen crimson needless stabbing through the forward armor. The Vahlenite belt held firmly so far, but it was just a matter of time before it was chewed up. Oleg certainly hoped that Bravo Three would be enough to put a solid dent into the Ethereal dreadnought before his ship experienced whatever the enemy had ready for medium range engagement.
Petrovsky returned his attention to the tactical plot just in time to see tiny blue dots explode from everything bigger than a destroyer and streak towards the enemy frigates. Hundreds of Rapier missiles under VI control hurled themselves at their targets. The smart programs were the only chance Third Fleet's frigates had to avoid friendly fire while being engaged in a point blank slugging match with their counterparts.
Despite all the chaos and confusion of that melee brawl, the Ethereal ships saw the incoming danger and redirected their point-defense clusters from carving up human frigates. Dozens of Rapiers were shot down before they reached their destination, at least ten had to deer off course or self-destruct to avoid slamming into friendly ships, yet still more than two hundred missiles reached a good firing positions and detonated. Six hundred bomb pumped lasers slammed into the lightly armored hides of the frigates. Shields and kinetic barriers were able to deflect only a fraction of the furious energy unleashed upon the vessels they were meant to protect. Ablative armor vaporized, then the Vahlenite alloy belt protecting the frigates boiled away and finally the bomb-pumped lasers bit deeply into the vulnerable decks of the small ships. Forty frigates simply blew up, with another thirty left as little more than drifting hulks.
Meanwhile, Human and Ethereal cruisers began tearing at each other with fusion beams and plasma cannons. Seconds later, missile swarms were launched from the two formations and the small smart weapons flew at their targets surrounded by the siren song of jammers and enticing decoys looking more dangerous and real than their more dangerous counterparts.
While the capital ships were busy exchanging fire, drones and piloted fighters clashed just above and below Third Fleet. The human CAP slammed at the incoming saucers greeting them with missiles, lasers and plasma. The Ethereal small craft returned the favor in kind using miniaturized fusion lance and small, fiendishly accurate missiles of their own.
"Captain, the enemy energy signatures spiked again!" The sensor operator reported.
The first Rapiers were about to reach engagement range when the Ethereal defensive fire tripled. The few missiles that made it through the plasma flack were woefully insufficient to seriously threaten ships protected by heavy ablative and Vahlenite armor.
"Captain, enemy flack is now intercepting PAC and rail cannon shells..."
Oleg zoomed in the tactical display and saw the PAC shot lose containment long before it could hit the enemy dreadnought. The mostly solid slug shot by the railgun was hit by enough plasma to deflect it or so it seemed when it anti-matter charge lost containment and it vanished as it blew up.
"Time to secondary weapon range of E-1?" Petrovsky asked.
"At present velocity – twenty seven seconds."
"Target E-1 with all secondaries that can bear on it. Re-target primaries on leading enemy cruisers until the secondaries are in range, then hit E-1 with everything we have…"
"Implement firing pattern Beta Seven in forty seconds." Admiral Duboa ordered.
The only good news so far was that the Ethereal fighters were mostly gutted when the CAP pounced at them. The human fighters and drones were a match for them and when the fleet's PD was added to the equation, the enemy small craft simply burned under all the firepower directed upon them.
The remaining frigates were holding their own too now that the heart of the enemy light escorts was torn off by the missile strikes.
The capital ship duel on the other hand wasn't going so well. The massive increase in defensive fire from the enemy heavy ships revealed an unpleasant reality – their PD was accurate and powerful enough to intercept both plasma and missile strikes. In order for those cruisers to be killed, their flack barriers had to be overwhelmed first and then there were their passive defenses to overcome.
In contrast, the human cruisers had to either evade or absorb the incoming fire. Their defenses were unable to reliably target the enemy plasma shots, much less the fusion lances. The later at least were an equal opportunity weapons – the Ethereals were apparently unable to intercept them either. Instead, they concentrated their fire on the human ships equipped with the weapon and they were being either disabled or outright destroyed one after another.
"All capital ships, keep twenty percent Rapier reserve until the last phase of Beta Seven. Commence rapid fire now." Duboa's strained voice sounded in Oleg's ears.
"This better work or we're in for it..." The captain muttered. "Beta Seven, execute." Petrovsky ordered.
Third Fleet's fire slacked for couple of seconds until new targets were locked in and then the weapons on every remaining ship erupted. The PD on the leading enemy cruisers were overwhelmed in seconds and they buckled under the onslaught. One vanished in a massive explosion. Another was literally cut apart by couple of hundred Rapier strikes. A third was gutted by fusion lances, then another died when Tokyo's primaries slammed into it. It was only then, when the human dreadnought unleashed its own fusion lances and began carving up every Ethereal cruiser that came into range.
A hole opened in the front of the enemy formation, making a clean way to the large dreadnought in its center.
"We've got a clean firing lane."
"Fire everything!" Petrovsky's voice snapped as a whip.
Tokyo's launchers went into a sprint mode, launching missile after missile as fast as they could and the cruisers followed suit, all the while Third fleet continued to keep the way open by shooting to pieces every Ethereal ship that attempted to close the corridor.
It couldn't last. There would be mere moments before the enemy formation collapsed upon itself and denied the humans a clear firing lane.
Fifteen point three seconds to be precise. That was how long passed before the corridor was opened and the time multiple cruiser divisions maneuvered to close it. In that time all hell broke lose. At least two hundred Rapiers and hundreds of fusion lances struck the Etherial dreadnought. Two PAC salvos and a pair of rail shots went home too.
Cruisers, both human and Etherial died one after another, some left as shattered irradiated wrecks, others becoming short living stars and leaving tiny pieces of cooling lumps of metal where there huge forms used to be.
In the midst of that slaughter, the two leviathans making the heart of each fleet unleashed all their firepower at each other. The Tokyo buckled and shook as fusion lances shattered her shields, stripped the ablative armor and finally cut through the Vahlenite armor belt to stab deep into the vulnerable deck below.
Mere seconds before the corridor could be closed, the Ethereal dreadnought unleashed a weapon no human had ever seen before. A single beam made of thick crimson energy stabbed through Tokyo's compromised defenses and speared the massive dreadnought lengthwise. Her battered forward sections simply disintegrated under the colossal energy transfer and by the time E-1 stopped firing, the forward third of the human dreadnought was simply gone. Half of Tokyo's remaining compartment were sealed personal crematoriums for her crews. Only Klaudia scramming the reactors in the moments before the beam hit saved what was left from the dreadnought from being blown apart by her own Elerium power cores.
Seconds later, the Ethereal fleet was engulfed by a purple vortex centered on E-1 and vanished without a trace, but not before gutting a third of the still operational human ships.