Horse and Sun, Dragon Falls 05
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Comstar HPG Compound
Galtor III
The control room of the HPG station held as much resemblance to a throne room as a temple and as a ship's battle bridge. The Precentor of the station sat on a raised chair, overlooking stations below and a main screen just ahead.
Monitoring the battlefield had the problem that the HPG station was situated around New Derry, which while at the equatorial region of the world still meant that most of the action was happening 'south', past the world's curvature. As a B-class station, the site lacked many features and amenities more common to heavily industrialized worlds. Comstar had to rely on portable astronomical monitoring equipment, on a boat somewhere off the coast of Changlee.
Precentor Felix Manaudu steepled his fingers together, his face hidden under the shadows of his cowl as the battle progressed. Naval action of such numbers and intensity were rare, and this would be valuable information for the ComGuards, and any of the Great Houses would also compensate Comstar well for this information.
The screen flashed briefly. Then again.
"What was tha-...?! Precentor!" screeched one of the Adepts. "That… that was a nuclear detonation!"
Precentor Manaudu could not help but to smile. Good. Yesss. This was very good. "Yes. And?"
"That… is that legal? I mean… uh, in terms of war… is that allowed? Isn't that a war crime?" Is this something Comstar should condemn? was the unspoken question. Ah, how young. How naive.
"Is it within fifty thousand kilometers of a planet?" the Precentor asked in turn.
"Ah… it is… within forty thousand kilometers, yes."
Precentor Manaudu shrugged and waved that aside. "The Ares Conventions were rescinded by the Star League under Addendum II in 2579, and formally renounced by all powers in the First Succession War. An informal 'honors of war' have replaced them, based roughly on the Conventions, but the use of nuclear weapons in space is not considered an atrocity."
"... As you say, Precentor," the young man in the blue Comstar robes responded.
"Put aside your fears, young one. We do not make judgements on military necessity. Comstar is neutral. All we have to do here is to report… the truth. To all that may listen."
He leaned back on his chair, feeling such satisfaction. May this allow the Lords of the Inner Sphere feel it is more acceptable to *break* each other again, that Comstar's prophecy is fulfilled by rising over their blasted radioactive ashes.
The Eridani Light Horse have been surprisingly hard to infiltrate and collect information on, but if this escalation is the end of things, why - it would perhaps be interesting to encourage it.
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DCS HAGURE
Vengeance-class DropShip
Admiral Nitta smiled.
It took but a moment.
Before, a Drost IIH warship spun on its axis. After, the pointed arrow slab of that craft's nose crumpled inwards and leaked a cloud of vaporized material, plasma and fuel. The thrusters were silent, and it continued to spin around, wallowing like a shark going belly-up; once a predator now abruptly turned into a cold dead thing.
The holopool screen briefly flashed and a region of space turned wavy to represent the spreading EMP burst. However, nukes in space, lacking an atmosphere to energize and turn into a shockwave, delivered and faded away in but a second or two.
A deep hush fell across the bridge.
"... Tai-sho, this… is this not dangerous for us too?" his aide asked softly.
"If they bring assault dropships, we will remove them with the appropriate nuclear response. Anything that is close to a warship will merit anti-warship weaponry. They must realize the consequences for their escalation."
There was more where that came from. There were four more fighters ready to go, hiding in the shadow of a Union. Any more fighters only had to recall back into the carrier and re-arm. This was a classic 'escalate to de-escalate'. As soon as the local space cleared of radio interference, he would be able to threaten a temporary ceasefire and orderly withdrawal of both forces.
Yes, he had lost four assault dropships. But he still had access to half a wing of fighters.
And the Light Horse's JumpShip fleet was over there, oh-so-vulnerable.
Admiral Nitta raised his hand. "Give me an open channel to that battlegroup and to the world."
The Vengeance-class carrier, with its fusion engines, had more than enough power to drive beamforming antennas to deliver transmissions in a cone.
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#GALTORCOM
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Was that a nuke?
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) That was a nuke!
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) No! These Kurita worms! How dare they?!
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) There is nothing so low they cannot sink to!
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BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) Unfortunately, even the Ares Conventions do not disallow the use of nukes in space.
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) It was… expected, that Kurita would quickly resort to nukes as a counter to our pocket warships..
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) But we didn't expect them to resort to it this soon.
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) …
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) Friend Computer! How did you miss this?!
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EYE: EYE Apologizes.
EYE: The Enemy discarded normal weapons load in order to free enough mass to hitch a heavy missile without noticeably reducing thrust factors.
EYE: Removing the LRM-20 is sufficient for a Shilone, and the AC-10 for a Slayer.
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BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) We underestimated Kurita.
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) Damn it.
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) They were brave men and deserved better.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) I am sorry for your loss, general.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) We will make them pay for this perfidy.
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BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) It is too soon to count Taffy Fleet out.
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Yes, yes of course. There *are* still three ships left.
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EYE: EMERGENCY UPDATE.
EYE: TRANSMISSION FROM DRACONIS COMBINE CARRIER.
EYE: PATCHING THROUGH.
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DCA_Admiral: Davion forces!
DCA_Admiral: You have fought well, but you cannot stop us.
DCA_Admiral: Even with all your tricks, we still fight. We are strong. We can and we will overcome!
DCA_Admiral: But you know as well as I do that this war cannot be solved out in space.
DCA_Admiral: By my mercy and honor, I will offer you this brief respite. Withdraw your assault dropships, and let our conventional forces settle this in more worldly combat.
DCA_Admiral: Refuse this generous offer of a ceasefire, and I will slay you all.
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Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) … I have no words for this.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) No words that should be said out loud by a decent man.
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) …
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) … General.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) … As much as it pains me to say this, this sounds like an actionable compromise.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Our whole plan had always centered around settling this on the ground.
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Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) …
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Damn it all!
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) But Armstrong-! I do not expect you to send your men to their deaths just to make a show of not giving into Kurita threats.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) It would embolden them to do more of this next time.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) They have nukes and I want to make sure they will not be able to use those nukes agains civilians.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) But I do not have the aerofighters, and I cannot speak for how much either way would risk the people of Galtor.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Either way, I will stand with you.
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) … the use of a nuclear device against planetary targets should be an atrocity that even the Combine should stay away from.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) That would demand reprisal, we do not want to go that road again.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) It feels like cowardice, but I… I must admit that we are caught in a vice here.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Since we could not stop their forces anyway, was the use of Pocket WarShips necessary at all? Did we just recklessly escalate for no reason?
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Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Armstrong earlier said that Hanse Davion knows how to make capital weapons now!
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) So why should Davion be prevented from having what they need to win?
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Lasers are not nukes! Effective weapons are in no way against the accepted rules of war.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) If Kurita were not *cowards* and *butchers* they should have something better than just to resort to weapons of terror yet again as a first resort! That they are carrying nukes again is a threat! Do as we say or we will restart the Age of War.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) They are trying to strangle others from having any advantage over them just by the threat of mass murder yet again - forgetting their history of doing that is why we fight them so hard in the first place!
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) What can they do? They do not have pocket warships.
Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) Nukes are the easiest, cheapest, and most effective counter.
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Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) I know. Damn it, I know.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) But if they can get away with threatening away defenders from their invasions once, then they will be able to do it every time.
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Mrgv_Douglass_(12thVega) That is fair… but regardless, I present my 'vote' that we accept this ceasefire and withdraw space forces. Aerofighter defense should still be valid.
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Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Ugh. I also vote… accept.
Lt.G_Mandella_(33Hussr) Next time they should just be smashed earlier and more thoroughly so they cannot use tricks like this.
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BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) …
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) …
BrvG_Armstrong_(ELHc) … heh.
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SLS Johnston
Taffy-class Pocket Warship
Someone was desperately gasping "Oh Jesus oh jesus oh jesus - save our ship. Wait, what?!"
Captain Lancaster blinked the spots from his eyes. The air inside the bridge stank faintly of ozone.
But…
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#FLEETCOM
SLS_Hoel- JOHNSTON!
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SLS_Heerman- NO!
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SLS_Samuel- Those bastards!
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SLS_Johnston- …
SLS_Johnston- error
SLS_Johnston- reconnecting
SLS_Johnston- connection established
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SLS_Heerman- … The hell?
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The brief shocked lull in combat has ended. Fighters and dropships now fought with even more desperate anger around a floating hulk.
The cockpit area of the stricken DroST suddenly glowed bright yellow from the inside, showing shuttered blast shields.
Its drives sputtered - once, twice, then a steady fusion flame on the third attempt. The ship, groggily, came alive.
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"We're… alive?" Captain Lancaster wheezed out. Everything seemed to be spinning around him. Then "... *How* are we alive?!"
"D-damage report!" Waterson yelled hoarsely, blood dripping from the side of his mouth.
The engineering station officer on the bridge reported "… holy mother of god, we're burning hot and limping, but… sir, that took out a hundred layers of armor in one go and ripped out the forward quad PPC turret. But… apart from structural frames bending inward, we… we seem to be mostly intact?! I don't… how…"
Someone else murmured "I know nukes are less deadly in space due to not having an atmosphere to propagate the shockwave, but… the fuck was that?! You can't just shrug off kilotons! That's insane! Who does that?!"
"Apparently we do? I mean, that's what ablative armor is for, right? They are best against thermal effects."
Lancaster blinked. Dimly he recalled someone back at the Declan II nanoforge mentioning that five hundred goddamn layers of Ferro-Aluminium armor could, theoretically, be able to survive a single four-gun bracketed fire volley from a goddamn Heavy Naval PPC battery.
"HAIL ROBOTNIK!" someone suddenly yelled.
"PRAISE THE SON!"
"Everybody shaddap," Lancaster groaned. "BROTHER EYE, update me. What happened?"
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EYE: EYE can answer that question.
EYE: 5 kilotons on contact, though dangerous, is less than the expected thermal component of a volley of two four-gun Capital Laser bays of full-scale Heavy Naval Lasers. Eight NL/55s. Such as from a Dante-class Frigate.
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Granted, the procedure In Case of Dante was just to Run Away - since both the Dante and the Taffy-class ships were capable of pushing 5/8 - but due to the Eridani Light Horse's severe manpower shortage that could never be adequately compensated for by oddly sassy robots, the Light Horse cared the most about survivability.
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EYE: You had 16% chance of instantly dying from ruptured internal structure and rapid integrity collapse.
EYE: Conversely, 84% chance of surviving an Alamo hit on any facing.
EYE: EYE do not recommend being as confident against a Santa Ana.
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"... That rocks," someone muttered.
"We're not out of danger yet! Stations! Get us back in fighting order!"
"Yes, Captain!"
"Drives, online! Weapons, online! Sensors - compromised! All systems- active!"
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EYE: To the Draconis Combine Admiralty commander.
EYE: This is Eridani Light Horse High Command. This is our counter-proposal.
EYE: Effective direct-fire weaponry and tactics are in no way against the accepted rules of warfare. Indiscriminate weapons are.
EYE: There were multiple avenues of non-nuclear responses you could have taken. We refuse to give in to nuclear blackmail.
EYE: We refuse to give up the right to defend our worlds and its people from the slavery and tortures you wish to inflict upon them.
EYE: But we may let these regiments resolve their differences on land, unmolested by these DropShipTanks.
EYE: But in exchange, you, by the criminal use of nuclear weaponry and the threat of nuclear terrorism, get to DIE.
EYE: The one that dares to break open the long-shunned vault of nuclear horrors, will never be forgiven.
EYE: These horses shall chase all those responsible to the very edges of space.
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DCS HAGURE
Vengeance-class DropShip
Admiral Nitta sat up, wincing as his spine protested the action. "Im-impossible?!" he whispered.
Wounded, smoking, yet sharklike and ominous as ever, the DroST II Pocket Warship pulsed its drives and faced the closest Union DropShip. Lenses swiveled to follow a bright thermal signature. Something glittered at its nose-
*FREEM*
- and a nearby Kurita Union dropship was peeled open like a pomegranate.
The Kurita fighters were only stunned momentarily from the sight, and the robotic drone fighters were quick to punish their inattention.
Then, almost as one, the Kurita fighters apparently decided that they should finish off the SLS Johnston at all costs. They ignored enemy fire and swooped down, firing their guns with wild abandon, internally screaming, and then suddenly, one rammed into the SLS JOHNSTON's side - just narrowly missing the engine pods.
Until more damage assessment could be done, it was unsafe to suddenly thrust in any direction, even at 1 g.
"Continue the operation!" Admiral Nitta hissed.
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#FLEETCOM
EYE: WARNING.
EYE: Nuclear devices detected on inbound fighters.
EYE: Targets marked.
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SLS_Hoel - A second wave!
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SLS_Samuel - Get behind us, Johnston!
SLS_Samuel - Everybody else, get out of my way!
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A squadron of fighters came out from behind a Union, hidden in the opaque plasma sheath of its drive flare. While far enough not to be damaged by the heat, drive plasma was normally radar-opaque. This was something Justin Allard would have used later to hide a whole Leopard-class DropShip in the shadow of an Overlord.
Four Shilones and two Sabres.
The SLS SAMUEL surged out, thrusters at full burn, its weapon ports firing furiously. It attempted to put the SLS JOHNSTON in its own shadow.
Fighters converged on the wounded ship, and a few more aerofighters in their fanatical anger at being denied an obvious victory attempted to kamikaze into it.
In space, 18 kilometers was a very short distance and ships could easily accidentally ram into each other. The radioactivity still emitting from the SLS JOHNSTON's forward right 'chin' was enough to disrupt sensors.
The *crunch* of a Slayer pancaking itself on SLS HEERMAN coming up from below rang through the ship. This was melee for spacecraft and this was stupid, and a ship this big should not be so nimble at four gravities, but fuck that noise.
The amber cockpit lights of the DroST IIH glared like a baleful cyclopean eye.
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DCS PRIDE OF BENJAMIN
Overlord-class DropShip
The horror was only filtering through the regimental command vessel.
Yoriyoshi only had minutes to decide. The fleet carriers hanging back behind the formation were not safe. The Overlord DropShips, long secure in their thick armor to punch through contested orbitals, were not safe. Their Assault DropShips were being cut to pieces as he sat there stunned and disbelieving. The Light Horse could peel open a Union or an Overlord with each pass.
The orders were clear and imperative with all the weight of his words as a Warlord of Benjamin. "Land everything! Send everything down or you will die in space! Have the carriers retreat! The fighters have only one duty - cover and protect us as we descend!"
But that would leave the fighters potentially dead in space, too far from their home carrier to reach with their fuel reserves. Yoriyoshi was throwing away over 90 elite fighters, but that was better than losing whole regiments without even being able to fight back.
Would Torvald Nitta agree? The transport DropShips were under the command of the DCMS. Now it was only a question if the Admiral would choose to abandon his men. Enough of the fighters might survive to support actions on the ground, but until an airbase could be secured, there was no way to rearm and refit fightercraft.
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DCS HAGURE
Vengeance-class DropShip
Admiral Torvald Nitta grit his teeth. A dense minute passed. No more nuclear fires bloomed.
He exhaled. He would not repeat the sin of Takeo Kurita. "Signal the BAKEMONO. We move towards the Light Horse JumpShips. Fighters… pull back to the transport DropShips. Cover their approach at all costs."
The Overlords should be far enough from the DroST battle group by now. Time. Everything in space combat was about the conservation of time.
Would they be able to intercept the Vengeance carriers?
Nitta's aide was slowly coming to the realization this could not end in any way but all their deaths. "Tai-sho… do you seek to destroy the JumpShips?"
"Are you going to protest that this is also forbidden under the rules of war?"
The young officer grimaced. The Combine would make their families pay for their failure. Yet it was better to die than be a coward. And whatever publically may be said, the Admiral would be censured for his violations of the common code limiting warfare in the Succession Wars - privately, their families would at least be taken care of, instead of 'taken care of'. Destroying the enemy to their last breath was always an honorable action.
"No, Tai-sho. It… is an honor to stand by your side at this time."
After a while, he ventured to say - "But... it occurs to me, that the Light Horse JumpShips..?"
"What? Go on."
"They... have been here for most of month. Surely their drives have been sufficiently charged, this close to the sun. What prevents them from simply jumping away just before we arrive and wasting our time? "
The admiral smiled, his eyes crinkling. "Absolutely nothing." Then he leaned back and pulled down the brim of his cap. "All we would be able to do then is to keep going at overthrust speeds, all the way to the other jump point. As we are out of position and without sufficient aerofighter strength, we can not be faulted for not turning about. We would be neutralizing the enemy simply by having them chase us. We may only wait at the jump point for replenishment for the second wave. Unlike turning around to flee, this cannot be called cowardice."
"... Ah. And if the Light Horse dropship-warships manages to intercept?" He beamed with admiration at the old man. Even to the end, he kept trying for a win-win scenario.
"Then we die fighting. What else but a worthy death can a warrior desire?"
"... Nothing, Tai-sho. I understand now. Thank you."
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Galtor III
Near orbit
Fighters coming up from the space/atmosphere interface met the last remaining untouched escort wing of the DCA aero regiment. As fighters battles, the dropships punched through the last defense line.
It was now up to the individual DropShip captains how and where to land. Assigned to regiments, they had best land together.
The 17th Benjamin Regulars headed by Warlord Yoriyoshi, the 3rd Benjamin the 6th Benjamin Regulars, all clustered together intent on pushing through to the Star League depot.
Unfortunately the Overlord containing 6th Benjamin's commanding officer, General Saad Shazli, was hit and he decided it was best to land early around Changlee.
The 1st Amphigean Light Assault Group aimed at New Wuhan City.
The 19th Galedon Regulars and the 7th Sword of Light aimed towards the planetary capital of New Derry.
The invasion of Galtor III had now well and truly begun.