Chapter 15
"Never mess with a ship name Gloria"
Two Kinds of Minbari Warships
Sharlin
Class: War Cruiser
1,700 meters in length
Standard Minbari Sharlin weapon emplacements: 131
18 Gravitic Neutron Cannons,
18 Gravitic Fusion Beam Cannons,
24 EM Neutron guns,
24 EM Fusion Beam guns,
42 Electro-Pulse anti-aircraft Guns,
4 x 4-tubeMissile Launchers,
1 antimatter Cannon
Fighter complements:
48 Nial Fighters (doubled from 24 fighters) and a crew and troop complements of 9,200
Armor and Shields:
Gravitic Shielding and 12 meter thick reinforced Poly-Crystalline armor hull (added two meters more since the start of the war)
Power and Propulsion:
Quantum Singularity Reactor, eight Fusion Reactors and Gravity Drive
Quantium-40 Jumpspace Initiator
In a standard Minbari Tinashi, they carry over 19 weapon emplacements
4 Gravitic Neutron Cannons
8 Fusion Beam Cannons
4 Electro-Pulse Guns
2 x 4-tubes Missile Launcher
1 antimatter Cannon
Fighter complements:
20 Nial Fighters and a crew and troop complements of 1,000
Armor and Shields:
Gravitic Shielding and 10 meter thick (from the 8 meter thick) reinforced Poly-Crystalline armor hull
Power and Propulsion:
Quantum Singularity Reactor, four Fusion Reactors and Gravity Drive
Quantium-40 Jumpspace Initiator
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The Gloria
Class: Battleship
1,500 Meters in Length
265 Meters in Height
695 Meters in Width
Weapon emplacements: 284
2, Main Guns Model 12 Heavy Particle Beam Cannons.
The Secondary Main Gun attached to a winged podmounted just forward of the lower hangar bays and can rotate like a gun turret.
10, Mk.33 three barrel gun turret and
20, Mk.42 two barrel gun turret, phase beam medium converging cannons the anti-ship guns (Both guns are rated 3000 to 5000 MJ per shot.)
180, Warkeeper Anti-Air/Mecha Defensive single-barrel light converging beam turrets (CIWS),
14, Bofors Mk.12 10-tube Ballistic missile launchers,
58, Bofors Mk.146 12-tube Defensive Missile Launchers
Fighter Complements:
2,200 Mecha/Valkyrie and AUX Shuttles and Transports complements and over,
30,500 crew and combat ready troops
Armor and Shields:
Class 5 Omni Directional Barrier and Pinpoint Barrier system with 2 x 1.5 meter thick Trinium/Tritanium double layer reinforced armored hull
(Tritanium is 21 times harder than diamonds and Trinium is 100 times stronger and lighter than steel)
Power and Propulsion:
1 Zero Point Reactor, 3 Class IV Neo Reflex Furnaces and V26 Antigrav and FPR12 Pulse Fusion Plasma Reaction (Impulse Drive)
Long Range Warp Drive and Hyperspace Fold Drive.
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The Sharlin class Warship, is said to be one of the largest and most powerful vessels in the Galaxy.
It is the 'Ship of the Line' for the alien race known as the 'Minbari' a space faring people that prided itself for being in space for a thousand years where the Sharlin is the symbol of their strength, their grandeur and technological achievements since the first ship flew out of dry-dock.
The Sharlin have remained unchanged with barely any improvements from the first ship built a thousand years ago and even the design is still being kept. For a THOUSAND YEARS, the Minbari warships are regarded by the aliens inhabitants living in the Beta Quadrant as 'the big fish in the pond' and in a way they are that, for there are very few ships there can actually match or equal it in size, firepower and technology.
(That is until they pick a fight with the UN Spacys)
No Minbari has ever thought that there might be anything out there that can challenge the might of their spacefleet except the Vorlons. They believed that they are invincible after a thousand years unchallenged by any race in their part of space. Reasons why they embrace the Holy War of the Vorlons that their people owe their existence to, and whom they have great respect and revered like gods.
Without question, they followed the Vorlons blindly, and in the first assault on the Alpha Quadrant, they found themselves facing off with the Major Powers of the Quadrant which resulted in massive casualties and losses on their forces that they have never ever imagined that could happen to them.
One particular interstellar nation that the Minbari got the worst of it is the 'United Nations of Earth' and their armed forces, the 'UN Spacys'. Their encounter with them was certainly unforgettable.
Unforgettable because those who really, really wanted to forget their encounter, CAN'T forget their encounter.
Alyt Branmer is one of a very few commanders who have survive a battle with the Spacys with his sanity intact, because most of those few who came back after encountering them, have never been the same again as the insanity of the war (a.k.a. Robotech style) shattered their minds beyond recovery.
They were there only less than 7 days committing more than a fifteen thousand warships and hundreds of thousands of his people as it was the first strike to establish a foothold on the quadrant. At the end of the 7 days, they fought their way back to the Beta Quadrant for 7 days with their tail between their legs and barely a quarter of their original number that was sent came back.
The UN Spacys and Alpha Quadrant Species are no pushovers as they unleash a counterstrike, spearheaded by the Robotech Mainfleet followed by the Jurai Royal Spacefleet and the Galaxy Army of the Galaxy Alliance.
The Sharlins, Tinashis and Vorlon warships that are able return from the fight were barely operational, as almost all of them are badly damage after fighting the Alpha Quadrant races. Most of their losses however, are the result of fighting the UN Spacys warships that numbered in the hundreds of thousands and armed twice or thrice that of a Sharlin.
Their big battleships like the 'Gloria-class', fires an insane amount firepower on any target they confronted to the point of overkill. They gave no quarter to any enemy in a battle.
Their invasion was costly both in lives and resources and one would think that they would stop and evaluate what they have done wrong, but instead they shifted their attention to the other quadrant and then drafted other races in their area of space to help wage their war as the Vorlons insisted it to the Minbari.
In their shift to the other quadrants, Alyt Branmer hopes that there are no races as powerful as the ones on the Alpha Quadrant, especially the UN Spacys
That hope however was dashed when they saw a UNS scouting ship spying on them. Seeing one UN Ship means that there are others nearby, and when they attempt to capture the scout ship for Intel, the UN Spacys ship uses their Hyperspace Fold which they ended up to an unknown system surrounded by unknown ships manned by Earthers.
At first they found the current enemy (Zaft) different but pose little threat to them. Despite the crippling of several of their weapons due to an unknown interference, namely N-Jammers, they felt confident that they can handle them as ships fell one at a time, their mechas are formidable but the Sentri were handling them well enough as they attempt to rescue a damage Sharlin from a spacefortress.
The situation was under their control, until the spearheaded warship they called the Gloria-class destroyed 4 ships using their primary weapon. Branmer felt like a vein just open up somewhere and bleeding out blood from his body which is making him more paler than usual, for there was nothing worst than facing off with one of their big battleships.
The Firing of the Main Gun of a Gloria-class Battleship announces the entering of Alyt Branmer living nightmare. The giant monstrosities that layed waste too many Minbari/Vorlon fleet is right before him once again, and are deploying its fighters by the thousands.
He still remembers that particular monstrosity that layed waste to a small fleet of 10 Minbari ships and one Vorlon Dreadnaught with its entire fighter screens. It was a fleet he led and lost in the Alpha Quadrant. Once again, another spearheaded ship is before him and he's about to loose another fleet.
UNS Hawaii
The ship opens up it's antiship guns and begins to adjust their firing line as it focused its attention to another Sharlin. On the bridge of the Hawaii, Captain Fa Yuiry watches the tactical screens as red crosses (targeting lights) which are the antiships is taking aim at the enemy.
"Antiship Guns, target the unlucky Sharlin number 7!" she ordered
"Aim at the lower fins at the point where it connects to the main body," she said "let's see if that overgrown fish can swim without it"
With accuracy, 20 forward antiship guns were focused on the Sharlins two lower fins. That's where the navigational drives of the Sharlin are located. The Gloria's antiship guns fire a shot every five seconds, the weapons fire sheered off the two fins after 30 seconds of series firing which left the ship unable to maneuver.
Yuiry and her crew watch the reaction of the Minbari by firing their fusion beam guns at them and some of the beams splash on the Hawaii barrier. The ship rocked from strikes but none of the beams have broken thru the barrier and Yuiry has no intentions to let that happen.
"Pull us back 500 kilometers, all guns, spread your fire and all fighters, go and engage the enemy"
With the Minbari attention is occupied by the Hawaii, UN rescue teams in Pegasus assault shuttles and HorizonT transports began towing out and evacuating damage Zaft ships and mobile suits with their crew and pilots still alive and needed immediate medical attention. Keeping the enemy's focus only to the UN Ship will increase the success of the rescue. The Veritech fighters also keep the Sentri occupied as well and guard the rescuers from any interruptions.
Minerva
A Horizont transport activated its tractor beam and latched on to the Minerva and slowly pulled the damage ship away from the battlefield as a force field is extended around the Zaft ship that include an inertial field and gravity which surprised the Minerva's crew when they felt the nudge of gravity all of the sudden.
Minerva's Captain Talia Gladys and XO Arthur Treise felt gravity and they are not even on Earth, which pretty much shows how advance the UN Spacys are. Meanwhile, Judah is talking with the HorizonT commander and then faces the Minerva
"Alright then, 'click' Emergency Medical Teams is on its way Talia," Judah said "The transports will tow you out and dock you to a waiting UN Hospital ship"
"Thank you Judah, and please watch yourself and my people ok" she spoke with genuine concern as she entrusted her people's lives in his hands now
"I will"
He turns Zeta Gundam around to face a group of Zaft Mobile Suits led by the Legend and the Impulse. Shinn's Destiny was too damage and can't be repaired, which left the two in command.
"We are still going Judah" Lunamaria Hawke said with the determined look on her face
"Alright then" he answered and then sent a request at a Horizont to drop a big special cargo container. When the container was open there were MS size wrist watches inside. Judah took one and gave one to Luna's Impulse
"Put these on" he told them "These are special sensors, connect your data link frequency to 23.5MHz and tie them to your targeting systems to acquire targeting data, that way you can see what you are shooting at properly" Simple enough as instructed, the watches gave a very clear view of the battlefield, and it even clear their radar of N-Jammers interference and also, the Stealth Field of the aliens.
"It's Payback Time!" shouted by one of the Zaku pilots
With the 'watches' Zaft Mobile Suit race back to the battlefield with Zeta Gundam leading the charge and went on toe to toe against the Sentri and the alien ships
Blackstar
As Alyt Branmer watches a fresh new assault on his fleet which is now causing heavy damage in every vessel than it was before. The Earthers they have been fighting (Zaft) is hitting their fleet more accurate and aggressive now. He reason that they are no longer affected by the stealth fields and with fresh reinforcements from the Spacys, the battle have now been turned against them.
The Gloria class, this one ship along with hundreds of fighters and mechas from the Earthers is tearing his fleet apart and if they don't leave now, none of them will see tomorrow.
His ship the Blackstar is now down to 50 percent combat effective as these Spacys fighters focus their attacks on their gun ports and missile launchers.
'They are destroying all our weapons' he thought 'If they keep this up the Blackstar will be defenseless…wait'
Branmer mind started to see what they maybe up to. The enemy, especially the Veritechs can take out a Sharlin on their own easily with a full salvo of their powerful missiles called 'Angels of Death' and yet they haven't. Instead they are disabling their weapons; most likely they plan to board their ships once they are defenseless.
He opens a comm to the Engineering and frantically shouted
"What's taking you so long on the repairs of the Jump drive!" he shouted on the comm to the Engine room and his engineer replied shouting, as they are still having trouble hearing
"My Lord Alyt, the Jump engines have been working for over an hour and we have been trying to open the Jumpspace, but the Jump Engine refuses to initiate a Jumpoint opening!"
"What do you mean?"
"We don't understand it ourselves my Alyt, but there is something in that unknown interference is blocking the creation of the jumpoints. The Quantium-40 Reactor is registering full power production for the Jumpdrive but nothing is happening!"
Right outside the Blackstar, a Jumpspace vortex is trying to open a path to Hyperspace but fails to open one.
At the UNS Hawaii, the crew is seeing what the Minbari was trying to do but failing badly. Watching the Minbari with more interest are the Hawaii science department, and using all of their scanners and sensors, they analyze the Jumpspace formation attempts with great interest.
To enter the 'Hyperspace Dimension' they needed to create a door which they call it a 'rift' also called 'Jumpoints' in real space. Quantium-40 is a rare element used in creating the rift for its properties gives the required exotic energy particles in enormous amounts of power for the rift to be open. One of the energy particles used to open Jumpoints is 'free neutrons' and its reactions to other particles of energy is part of the process of the opening of the rift, but something is wrong.
For several times they tried to create a rift in real space in order to enter hyperspace but something is blocking it no matter how much power their Q-40 reactors is giving them, the rift refuses to open for them.
The Hawaii Science Dept. teams of scientist are ecstatic in the show the Minbari is giving them. Every scientific instruments in their possession is collecting more and more data on their failures to open the Jumpspace Dimension and with careful observation and analysis by the scientist, gives the answer why…N-Jammers
"The N-Jammers, so that's what's stopping them from opening a Jumpoint?"
"That's correct captain, Zaft N-Jammers is preventing them from opening a Jumpoint" Replied by the head science department to captain Fa Yuiry
"An interesting discovery," she said "It's impressive that the N-Jammers the coordinators develop is this useful"
"It may not be useful for long captain" the science officer explained "The N-Jammer coming from the Zaft Space Fortress is loosing strength and its coverage is getting smaller, and if the Minbari figure out the source of the interference is causing the jumpoints not to open, they will destroy the fortress"
"Then lets not give them that chance" she replied and then told him "send your findings to the others,"
"Aye Captain" Yuiry then turns to her comm officer
"Get me the Admiral on the Line"
As Yuiry crew went on their business, the main screen in tactical mode showed that 2 Minbari warships, a Sharlin and a Tinashi had just broke away from their defensive position and went on a course straight towards them with their Nials being deployed
Ignoring it for a moment, Yuiry talks with the Admiral who is moving away from the battlefield after buzzing around the Blackstar with his Lightning III, which is the only fighter that is not stealth capable. Despite without having stealth they can't hit him as the Admiral is proving himself a rather formidable fighter pilot.
The VF-4 Lightning III makes itself a nuisance to the Minbari as they try to focus on shooting down and fails miserably. Minbari gunners thought that the VF-4 Lightning III was an easy target but in reality, it was one of the most elusive targets they have ever encountered.
"That is interesting Yuiry," he said agreeing "So, keeping N-Jammers active will keep the Minbari from escaping from here"
"Yes Sir, but the N-Jammers emitting by the Messiah is getting weaker," she said
"Then we will need a new source of N-Jammers"
The Admiral look at his screens "The Archangel, the Lexington and the Eternal have returned. Contact them and tell them to bombard the enemy with their N-Jammers on all directions and have their mobile suits deployed"
"Aye Sir"
"Make another Alpha Strike in 5 minutes, it is time we end this!"
Now Flying right beside the Lightning III is Judah's Zeta Gundam in MA mode and Char VF-19 Excalibur and right beside Zeta is the Impulse and the Legend. In an agreement with the Zaft pilots, they will follow the Admiral's command for the time being.
In three directions, the Eternal, the Archangel and the Lexington approach the alien fleet with their N-Jammers broadcasting at full power. Its broadcasting interference strengthens the blocking of the Jumpoint formation which is keeping the Minbari from escaping thru hyperspace.
The Eternal deployed the new Strike Freedom, and Terminals DOM Troopers or Defensive Obliterator Magnificent with several Zakus.
The Archangel deployed ORB-01 Akatsuki piloted by Colonel Neo Lorrnoke former Blue Cosmos commander and his extended team flying their Gundam's the GAIA, ABYSS and CHAOS now calling themselves as 'The Furies of Macedonia' and squadron's of Murasame's and M-1
The Lexington launches its Gundam's as well, namely the Aegis, Blitz, the Strike Noir, Verde Buster, Blu Duel and the TS-MA4F Exus and Windams.
All and all, there are now more than 300 mobile suits, mobile armors and Veritechs surrounding the alien fleet. Centauri Sentri fighters were now down to less than 50 from the 100 fighters the Centauri's have deployed. Six to one odds went up to ten to one as the battle drag on and more Sentri are shot down. They were loosing
The Admiral put a fresh clip in his GU-15 gunpod with a Trinium armor piercing rounds with a high-explosive head. He checks the time and his screens and two Minbari ships are heading towards the Hawaii with a screen of Nial fighters shielding the ships from Hawaii weapons fire.
"My Goodness" Ranma gasp at what the Minbari pilots are doing and shows how determined they are, but sadly, it will not be enough to hold up against the firepower of a Gloria class battleship
'3 minutes before the Hawaii open fire again,' he has no doubt that Yuiry can handle them, so then he called on everybody
"Alright everyone, when I give the signal, we are going to overwhelm them in every direction all together," he said and then the VF-4 move towards the Zeta, Impulse and the Legend
"Judah, once the Hawaii finishes an alpha strike we are going on a full scale assault" he told him and showed their target "Zaft will attack this Sharlin, try to concentrate your firepower on these places," he told them "Our readings reveal that these are power controls for their weapons, so hit them as much as you can"
'Yes Sir!"
The Admiral then turns back but gave a small notice to the Legend but only just a moment before it transformed into a fighter and sped away towards the Eternal, followed by a Veritech that are called Excalibur's possessing stealth technology.
When the Admiral look at the Legend, Rey Za Burrel Immediately tense up when this white Veritech with a Black Horse emblem is manned by the leader, the Admiral of the UN Spacys himself is facing him. This was surprising that the Spacys leader would risk his life like this despite his importance, but when he sees him on his screens, for some odd reason, Rey felt like the man can see right thru him and it felt really uncomfortable.
'So he's the head of the UN Spacys' Rey thought as he felt the Spacys Admiral show an overwhelming power of confidence and chaos combined. Rey have watched this Veritech as the aliens were quite focus in shooting it down and fails. His moves look chaotic but only on the surface. Rey can see that it's controlled, which shows that he has some very serious skills and abilities in the battlefield.
'He's no one to be trifled with that's for sure'
Heading to the Eternal, the Admiral meet up with the Strike Freedom with a METEOR unit where Kira Yamato is the Pilot. He contacted him and told him of his plan
"Kira, I will need your help to take out the alien flagship, Char" he calls him
"Sir"
"Team up with Kira to help me against the Blackstar, disable their weapons and force the Minbari to surrender, got it?"
"Yes Sir I understand" Kira replied
"Understood Sir" Char replied and the Admiral went on to call the three ships
"To the Captains of the Eternal, Archangel and Lexington." He announces "power up your Main Guns and pick a target. We cannot let these aliens leave the system or we will be in bigger trouble when the others get a fix on our location"
All three captains nods in agreement and powered up their main guns, picks a target and aim.
UNS Hawaii
The Hull of the Gloria is line with weapons ports and on the hull coming out from mecha ports are the Defenders, Phalanx and the Giant Monsters. All of their guns are now directed towards the enemy and their PinPoint Barrier System is activated to do the job of the Omni Barrier as power is temporarily diverted for the immediate firing of the main gun for an alpha strike, but a situation is now before them.
The 2 Minbari ships, a Sharlin and a Tinashi left their defensive position and are now approaching the Hawaii. The Sharlin charges straight towards the Hawaii while the Tinashi turns to attack the Gloria class ship by the side and firing with what remains of its armaments that are available as another weapons port opens up and began building up power for a weapons fire.
Meanwhile, more than 400 Minbari Nials launched from every ship and began to surround the two ships like a shield to absorbed battle damage inflicted by the Veritech and Mobile Suits as they heads for the Hawaii.
'What are these guys are up to?' Fa Yuiry thought questioning of what the Minbari plans are as a sensor station officer is reporting in
"Captain, we are detecting a massive energy buildup on the Minbari ships"
"An energy buildup, what kind of energy buildup?" she ask and he answered
"Captain we are detecting antiproton particles emissions building up from both the Sharlin and Tinashi. And there's another weapons port opening from the forward launch bays" hearing that Fa now understood what the Minbari are up to.
"I see, it's a clever move, but they have to be suicidal or no fear of death to attempt this," she remark 'They are getting close to us to force us to deal one or the other' she thought
'To avoid their strike, I will have to open fire my main gun on one of them before they could fire that gun at us, and while I'm preoccupied in destroying one of them, the other will get in range and destroy my ship with their alpha strike' she lean back on her seat cross her arms as she thought how good a plan it was.
'It's an antimatter weapons strike!'
Antimatter cannon are short range weapons up to a thousand kilometers and are designed only for planetary bombardment from orbit, now they using it to shoot down her ship which is something Yuiry will not allow it.
"Helm ahead full, divert 50 percent power to secondary main gun for quick fire, secondary target, the Tinashi" she ordered
"Incoming! Alert we have 50 Minbari Nial on port 75 degrees up angle 25 on a ballistic trajectory towards us" reports by one of Yuiry officers
"It's a Kamikaze attack!" she said and Yuiry then orders "Keep the Antiships and Warkeepers, and offensive/defensive missiles batteries on the Sharlin and Tinashi group, Defense forces, add a suppressive fire on the Nial as well, shoot them down!"
The 'Warkeepers' hundreds of anti-fighter/mecha guns and over a dozen 'Mk.12' defensive and fifty 'Mk.146' twelve tube defensive missile batteries with reflex missile ordinance and the Destroids open fired on the kamikaze Nials. The defenses created a wall of fire that keeps the Nial from getting too close and even if one did get close, it cannot breach thru the Pinpoint barrier system.
The suicide assault did not make the Hawaii flinch as the captain have no intentions of backing down a fight nor be distracted by the Nials final purpose for their fleet.
In fire of battle, the second main gun mounted on the wing pod just forward of the lower hangar bays, rotated like a gun turret and took aim at the incoming Tinashi. Heavy particle energy started crisscrossing the two booms as it waited for the trigger to be pulled.
'I'm sorry Minbari,' she thought 'your plan could have work, but unfortunately for you, Gloria class Battleships has two mains guns, one fix and another, a rotating turret'
Yuiry gave a silent prayer for those that will die "May whatever gods you worship have mercy on you" she muttered and then gave the order
"Main guns one and two, FIRE!"
The two Main Guns fired together, and a beam of heavy particle energy lance thru space and burned the path towards the two Minbari Warships that was about to fire but the Hawaii beat them to the draw.
The Beams did not destroy the two ships instantly like the ones before, and yet even at below fifty percent, it is still very powerful but a bit slow to destroy its target, namely two Minbari warships.
The Nials that quickly created a wall for the incoming beam to shield their ship were annihilated instantly. A sacrifice that they have willingly made, but brave their actions was, it did not stop the beam as it blasted thru them like paper and hit the Minbari ships and there it took a few seconds for the beam to burn thru its gravitic shields as it was too weak to hold back that enormous power.
After burning thru the shields, the poly crystalline armor was next. Its energy scattering abilities, spread the energy all over ship to lessen the damage to the ship, but it was too much power as the beam melted the armor and shred it out of the hull and exposing the ship internals.
The energy entered thru the hull breaches and every corridors and every rooms is being flooded with deadly radiation, incinerating its crew as they scream in fiery agony.
Both ships exploded right in front of a shock and awed audience from everyone who are watching a live broadcast feed from a long range TV Broadcasting satellite camera.
Admiral Saotome watch as the Hawaii destroyed the two Minbari ships. It was clear that the Minbari is trying to make their version of an alpha strike. The Nials though useless without their guns made a brave sacrifice in order to win against such powerful foe.
'They are quite determined to fight back now that the odds are against them.' he thought
Quickly he contacted the other ships, "Eternal, Archangel, Lexington, commence your attack! Now! All fighters attack now!"
The three ships unleashed their main weapons while a storm of missiles from the Veritechs streaks towards the Minbari and Centauri warships in a missile massacre maneuver and they responded with defensive fire to shoot them down. However, with so many of them coming at them, not all of them were stop.
After the storm of missiles ended, the Veritechs mobile suits and armor came charging in with a vengeance.
TBC