From: zack24
A: No
From: Guest
A:No.
Give examples of such misconceptions/bad fanon.
I agree.
I will try.
Chapter 11
=place: Citadel; December 9, 2179 =
"I see that the next meeting went well." - Ambassador Goyle told her Alinatian counterpart, a certain Mikoliros Dariel of the Galman Republic. Due to the rushed appearance of these races, they temporarily had to share an embassy with the Arcturus Coalition. This isn't the most convenient but for now the only solution.
"Unfortunately, we have received nothing but assurances of neutrality from the Citadel and their expressions of sympathy." - said Mikoliros - "It won't help my people under occupation any more than it will help defend Amare."
"I understand that your enemy's fleet is already close." - Goyle said. She may not have been the best military leader, but she could read people better than most.
"Unfortunately, their fleet will be in your 2 days." - said Mikoliros - "I don't know if we're ready. We have never fought a battle of this magnitude, and this battle could end the war in our favor if we win."
"There have been many authoritarian regimes in our history." - Goyle said - "Even if you are totally victorious, they will want to fight to the last man, woman and child. Operations to destroy their forces will take many more years."
"Probably you are right." - said Mykoliros, looking at the ceiling.
=location: Amare native system, December 11, 2179 =
"The Interstellar Alliance fleet has arrived, I count over 500 ships and they keep coming." - said an officer aboard the battleship Courageous.
"Let all ships begin an immediate retreat to Kilami and prepare for battle. Call in all nearby patrols and fighters in the area to cover our retreat." - said Admiral Ermor Dalaran. Kilami was the eighth planet of the system and the closest to its fleet, with a base and defense posts.
The crew quickly got to work. As it was the older Ethos fleet, it had 87 cruisers and 3 battleships. More firepower than modern ones with 3 battleships, 27 cruisers and 60 frigates, but slower and more vulnerable to bombers and other strike ships.
As the fleet began to retreat, enemy forces kept arriving. According to the forecasts, around 8,000 ships should arrive, from super transporters, through corvettes and frigates to battleships. The number of ships quickly began to reach this level and the first elements detached to begin the pursuit.
Two Boral Federation fleets were tagged on the radar, both consisting mostly of destroyers with a single battleship per fleet for command, and support of some 100 patrol ships. A total of 228 ships gave chase.
Smaller and faster ships quickly began to catch up with Admiral Dalaran's fleet. Their formation wasn't fancy. They just gathered together and used their speed to chase them.
"Prepare for a short FTL jump around." - said the admiral. The crew immediately obeyed and in less than a minute, the entire fleet was on the FTL jump, taking up defensive positions around Kilami. With more ships joining fast. One of the Amare fleets, 2 groups of frigates from Mazan States and about 200 patrol ships gathered on the spot.
"Get me the base commander quickly." - Ermore said. A moment later, Commander Milira, who commanded the base, appeared. After a quick exchange of salutes, Ermor spoke - "The Interstellar Alliance fleet has arrived and has begun to set up at the outskirts of the system. Do we have any orders from HQ?"
"Yes." - said Milira - "Everyone is to retreat to the asteroid belt and prepare defenses there. The base is to be evacuated as soon as possible. How long will it take you to recharge your FTL?"
"30 minutes." - Ermore said.
"The base will be completely abandoned in about 20 minutes." - said Milira - "Meanwhile, join the rest of the forces in a defensive formation."
The Ethos ships quickly positioned themselves alongside other allied ships. The evacuation was successful and was completed before the arrival of the enemy fleet. But the Ethos ships' FTL was still loading, so the transports were escorted by half of Amare's fleet, along with 100 patrol ships, while the rest held their ground.
Just 2 minutes later, more than 60,000 kilometers from their position, the ships of the Bolar Federation and United Planets Furide, 400 in total, appeared. Their commanders needed a minute to launch the attack in the way most favorable to them.
Since the Bolar and Furide rocket weapons had a longer range than even the best Ethos and Amare energy weapons, coupled with their relatively weak AA abilities, they decided to just fire the rockets until they died. After all, it is known that the FTL drive takes a long time to load.
"Sir, the first wave of missiles is coming. I count five thousand and more are coming." - said the officer.
"Tighten the formation." - Admiral Dalaran began. - "All available power to AA guns and switch your regular anti-ship guns to firing rockets. Mazan frigates, load grapeshot and fire immediately."
The orders were immediately transmitted to all ships in the fleet. All the guns opened fire, only to shoot down a few more. The gold and purple beams of the Amare and Ethos ships, respectively, filled the space, some turning into explosions when they managed to hit the missile. Gray slugs were launched from Mazan's frigates, and they quickly began to shatter into dozens of smaller pieces, which destroyed the next missiles flying toward them. But even so, the hundreds of rockets continued to approach and were already within range of the smallest AA guns. They immediately joined the main gun salvos, reducing the number of rockets even further. But even so, much still broke through.
The last line of defense that separated the crews from the void of space was the armor of the ships. But this one varied depending on the size of the ship and which race operated it. Thus, while the Ethos cruisers and battleships took a few hits each, although 3 ships were overwhelmed and destroyed, the patrol ships were dropping like flies with over two dozen destroyed. Battleship Amare took most of the hits to her energy shield, but her accompanying cruisers suffered heavy damage with a dozen completely incapacitated. The Mazan frigates managed to come out of it with only light damage, thanks to a much higher density of AA guns than the rest of the ships.
However, the second salvo was on its way and was as powerful as the first, while the Allies fleet had less time to react and fewer ships to defend, with many damaged. Fortunately, the FTL drive had already been charged and they made the jump just before the asteroid belt, which they then entered. The rockets then flew and hit the abandoned base, destroying it with firepower enough to destroy the largest Earth cities.
The first clash of the Siege of Amare ended in victory for the SUS Empire and their allies, destroying 40 ships and twice as many damaged. In normal battles, this would mean complete victory and a takeover of space dominance in the system. Here, it was a small skirmish as thousands more ships prepared for the next battles.
=location: Amare native system, December 12, 2179=
There were multiple attacks in the asteroid belt at 5 different locations. Although the groupings consisted of 2 to 3 fleets of different species plus escorts, the average was 300 ships. Attacks were coordinated to find a weak point in the asteroid belt and break through it. It was then to be secured so that the rest of the fleet, including the Super-Fortress and supply ships, could safely pass through it, without being exposed to the fleet's bottleneck fire, or attacks by fighters, corvettes and other smaller craft.
However, at one point, a fleet of SUS Empire ships with corvette support, a total of 350 ships, began to break through Amare's single fleet with patrol groups, bringing them to 200 ships.
Initially, the two sides began to exchange long-range fire, where, despite having far more ships with such weapons, the SUS ships suffered similar losses to the Amare fleet, thanks to the clever use of asteroids as cover. But the fast-approaching SUS ships began approaching within range of standard energy weapons, which would add to their advantage. Recognizing this problem, fleet commander Amare ordered a retreat.
But that was just the moment the SUS commander had been waiting for, immediately ordering the fighters to take off from his carrier. In rapid succession, the Amare flagship was attacked by dozens of fighters and bombers. Although her escorts gave their best, destroying many SUS vehicles, the bombing attack was successful, destroying the flagship and many of the cruisers and corvettes escorting her.
The Amare fleet began to lose cohesion and the retreat began to become more and more chaotic, with asteroids breaking their formations into many smaller groups. Several of them were caught by the SUS and destroyed.
The rest of Amare's troops retreated many kilometers beyond the asteroid belt, at such a distance that even the most powerful energy weapons couldn't hit them. But the SUS commander felt weakness and continued his advance quickly, eager to finish off this fleet. Amare's forces began to flee even further, while more ships began arriving here to reinforce the bridgehead.
But the SUS fleet was so focused on finishing off that fleet that it failed to notice the Mazan fleet, led by a new class of Dreadnought that resembled the Battlestars from the human BSG series. Together with a weighing hundred ships, he began to swarm the SUS flank with slugs from Railguns, Coilguns, and Auto Guns. Hard metal pieces began to pierce the armor of the SUS ships, with some ending up in a nuclear explosion after the Auto Guns slug penetrated the armor and exploded inside the ship.
But that didn't stop the SUS fleet, which quickly changed direction and returned fire with energy weapons, destroying many of the older ships with just one hit. The Mazanu Fleet Commander tried to regain the upper hand, using rocket salvos and the hundreds of drones at his disposal. But the SUS corvettes managed to stop most of the attacks, despite suffering losses of their own.
Fortunately for Mazanu, Amare managed to regroup the rest of his fleet and launch a counterattack, catching the SUS fleet in a pincer attack. At the same time, both sides received information that in another sector, the Ethos fleet, with the support of the Piresian fleet, had managed to destroy the advancing forces of the Beldel Hierarch, and were already heading in that direction to aid the Mazan/Amare forces.
With these facts and the primary objective secured, the SUS officers were able to convince their commander to retreat using FTL, avoiding further casualties.
In this battle, the SUS annihilated half of the Amare fleet, 25% of the Mazan States fleet, and a large number of patrol ships at the cost of 70 ships, capturing a strategically important point. The Greater Urup Interstellar Alliance[GUIA] fleet had broken through the strongest line of defense and was able to continue its advance toward Amara.
=location: Amare native system, December 15, 2179=
After establishing a safe passage through the asteroid belt, the fleets began to pass through and massed to attack Amare Homeworld. An armada of battleships, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, corvettes, and huge transports gathered near the huge fortress began a slow flight toward the target.
But on the bridge of the flagship of the 18th fleet Piresia, the movement was noticed by Rear-Admiral Merius Torielner, who immediately passed the data to the command.
"Do we already have situations with the composition of the enemy armada?" - the admiral asked Torielner.
"Unfortunately sir, but due to our cloaking device, the scanners are operating at a much lower power." - said the officer - "But we have confirmation that the main SUS fortress is indeed moving with the armada. There are also all the ships that have ever been fielded by GUIA, and the scanners show numbers around 7,500."
"Given their offensive losses over several planetary cycles, that number is probably their entire assembled fleet." - said Admiral Torielner - "Has this information already passed to the command?"
"Yes, sir." - said the officer - "Our 13 frigates and 39 corvettes are in 100% ready and waiting for orders."
Although the fleet was normally supposed to consist of 15 frigates and 45 corvettes, the number of losses was often lower. Not only that, but like many nations, Piresia Technocracy planned to reform their armed forces and completely get rid of many fleets, replacing them with patrol and strike battlegroups. This was to cut costs and stick to the cloaking device tactic.
But many junior officers voted to create powerful new fleets that could actually pose a threat in the real battle, rather than relying on defensive satellites and hit-and-run tactics. Their main point was the inability to defend the colony from invasion if only the SUS could free resources from their struggle. For the time being, however, this has been postponed as a complete overhaul of how the fleet operates would be needed.
"We will follow them and wait for an opportunity to attack separate elements of the enemy fleet." - Merius said - "Keep your scanners on and keep your eyes peeled. You never know when an opportunity for victory will open up before us."
"Yes sir!" - the bridge rumbled.
For the next hour, the fleet awaited its chance, tracking the GUIA armada. As this armada approached more and more clearly to the green-blue planet, it began to take battle formation more and more, but at the same time many of the ships began to move away a bit, they won't be able to keep up the momentum due to the damage sustained in previous battles. Each of these ships was assigned a warship to be tracked and destroyed on a signal. Since the GUIA didn't grant or accept escorts for weak ships, Piresia wanted to use this opportunity to destroy more ships.
When they were well clear of the main armada, admiral Torielner ordered the cloak to be immediately deactivated and the attack to begin. All the frigates and corvettes, which the Terrans for some reason liked to call 'Romulan Bird of Prey', opened fire with their powerful bow weapons. Fusion torpedoes began to sweep through space, quickly overtaken by the plasma shells from the bow guns and frigate turrets. As soon as they were fired, the Pyresians began retreating, using their speed to get out of range of the main armada without the need for FTL. While many wanted to reactivate the cloaking device immediately, the cloaking device took time to reactivate, as did the FTL drive.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the flagship of the 18th Fleet of the Persians.
"Reporting." - said the officer in front of the admiral - "We destroyed 12 corvettes, 5 frigates, and 2 cruisers, belonging to the Boral Federation and the Beldel Hierarchy. None of our ships were destroyed or damaged in the attack."
"17 ships without own losses." - Merius said - "Under normal circumstances, this would be a big win, but with the current enemy numbers, and considering they were mostly small ships and all damaged in some way, I'd be surprised if they even noticed. What is the ship of our forces around the planet."
"All fleets have been deployed and prepared." - said the officer - "We have just received our orders from the command. We are to act as an independent unit to attack isolated enemy forces, with the ability to call in a larger formation. The remaining Piresia Fleets in the system, i.e. the 5th, 10th, 11th, and 14th were given the same orders."
"That's all our forces can do, so I'm not surprised." - said the admiral, thinking how much their fleet lacked the powerful ships of the line like the rest of the nations. At least after this battle, maybe it will be possible to convince the command of the possibility of new designs for more powerful ships. But she'll worry about that once they've won this battle.
=location: planet Fadcanrek 4, December 15, 2179=
There has been an uprising on the planet of the Batarian Hegemony for several days now. The newly named Republic of Fadcanrek, one of many insurgent cells, declared its allegiance to the Batarian Free States (BFS) and began to actively dislodge the forces of the Hegemony. On a planet of nearly 97 million alone, there were over a million Hegemony troops, along with a sizable defensive flotilla. But as a result of Operation Phoenix, that force was reduced to just one frigate and a dozen corvettes, along with various orbital objects.
This force was easily wiped out by the combined force of several rebel cells, and orbital superiority was in the hands of the BFS. However, despite this, the Hegemony still has air and ground superiority, and regrouped units have begun to finish off areas lost to the Republic. As a result of this state of affairs, the authorities of the Republic asked for support from the BFS and System Alliance headquarters. Reinforcements arrived, but not in the way Republic authorities had expected.
"Listen to me, rookie." - said instructor Subhan Adad-Nirari - "This toy is a KA-22 'Oryx' medium tank. Equipped with light kinetic shields, 145mm/100mm/60mm hull armor, and 200mm/150mm/65mm turret armor. Its main gun is an upgraded 105mm railgun. Manned by a crew of 3 soldiers, it was one of the best tanks until we found evidence of other species and more than enough to handle whatever the Hegemony might throw at you. We brought you a good 6 battalions, which is more than enough to crush the Hegemony forces on the planet. If anyone has any questions, come forward."
One of the turians stepped forward. Although the colony was mostly populated by batarians, slavery brought many more species here. Subhan quickly asked the turian - "Name, rank and question."
"Caeldia Brulianus, Sergeant, sir." - Caeldia said - "Why did we get tanks and instructors and not fighters? Enemy air superiority seems much more dangerous than their armored forces, sir."
"That's a good question." - Subhan said - "There are several reasons. First, most of the airfields and fuel supplies have been destroyed, meaning the Hegemony fighters have a limited amount of time before they become useless. But even more important is the lack of ammunition and bombs, which means for you that the ability of their aviation to influence ground forces will be limited. The last reason is that their armored forces are mostly trucks and armored cars. Good for taking down infantry, but if they run into anything with a slightly more powerful gun like these tanks, they'll be scrapped straight away. Do you have any other questions?"
"No, sir." - Caeldia replied, returning to the line.
"That's OK then." - Subhan said - "Because of your situation, you have a week to learn how to ride and shoot the Oryx, and a few tactics to put to use before you have to put it to the test. And now to the machines."
"Sir, yes sir!" - replied the training group and quickly ran to their tanks, which had been assigned to them earlier.
Meanwhile, in the city of Reliquarcl, a battle was fought between the Rebel forces and the Hegemony, with the Hegemony gaining the upper hand.
"Fu*k." - said commander Ibrarok Pokfenak - "This is another dozen losses. How many of us have left to fight?"
"About 300 soldiers, sir." - said one of the officers - "It seems that our opponents do not have it easy either, but their initial numerical and armor superiority makes our position untenable."
"What about those Guards?" - asked Ibrarok. The Guards, actually the Free Batarian Guard (FBG or Guard), was a new military formation sent from the BFS central command. This elite unit was equipped with the best equipment that generous supporters of the Rebellion could give. He hadn't heard from them since they had set out to attack one of the Hegemony's positions a few hours ago.
Suddenly another officer interrupted him - "Sir, we have a message from the enemy command center, but the code is ours."
"Strange." - said Ibrarok - "Read this."
"Yes sir." - said the officer - "To the commander Ibrarok Pokfenak. This is the Wild Quraniss squad. We've captured the enemy HQ. Enemy command eliminated. The surrender signal was sent to their forces. Take them over before they realize what's going on. The End."
Everyone in the command staff stood in shock. These FGB guys just won their battle within hours of arriving. Top-notch skills.
But even though they won that battle, the war on the planet wasn't over yet.