Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Telgros; EFS Enterprise, June 24th 003 SDE 0930 hours:

Countryman settled into his seat, as Reynolds read a pad at a neighboring one. They had convened a meeting of the officer’s council in light of the recent recon report delivered by Beta Squadron, one of several recon flights put together over the last few days. Across from him, Williams was grumbling to herself as usual. “So what do we have?”

Reynolds spoke up, “I think we have all read the material, but just in case. Beta Squadron returned to the Enterprise at 0800 hours concluding a 36 hour recon flight, one of four such flights conducted over the nearby Telgros star system.” he paused to tap the holo controls on the table, to project the star map with recent discoveries, “During this recon, they discovered a previously unlisted Valorian outpost at Telgros IV, a rather sizeable one.

“As we can see here, there is an orbital starbase with docking slips for large cruisers and merchant ships. In addition we found an extensive ground side starport, several large shuttles were seen moving between the orbital and the starport. Local scans revealed several large settlements on the surface, industrial markers indicate this is mainly a mining colony with extensive mines at several locations, the main starport also houses massive metalworks and refinery installations. We also found a large fuel depot in the area with several million liters of deuterium in reserve.”

Williams looking less bored, leaned forward, “Oh? That sounds interesting, we could use more of that. That machine wastes too much of our fuel as it is.”

As she spoke Ruri came in and settled at her own seat. Took a moment to review what was said and then interjected, “We should also look into acquiring the rare materials, Beta squadron reported detecting in the local warehouses, they found Erudite, and Ephon crystals, but more interestingly they picked up the signature of Tungari.”

Frowinging Williams inquired, “Tungari? What is that?”

Countryman answered her, “A material listed in the Krall database, from what I understand it's basically super-tungsten.The Krall use it in the construction of spaceship hulls and armor alloys. We could certainly use it ourselves, even small stockpiles could prove useful.”

Reynolds nodded, and said, “We could and by the size of these warehouse districts they likely have sizeable amounts.”

Drakes interjected, “So am I to understand that we are all considering a raid? Hitting that transport was one thing, but this would be aggressive action against...”

“We are, and you are right. This would be an act of war too, but we are effectively already at war.”

Williams glared at Countryman, “Your war.”

Ignoring the outburst, Drake asked, “Defenses?”

“Three local cruisers are moored at the starbase, there are three groundside air bases, and the starbase does have several hangars. Estimates indicate about four to five hundred starfighters available to defend. Scans also indicate limited ground shielding in the form of base shields around military installations and the main starport. They are strong enough to withstand a limited orbital bombardment but shouldn’t hamper groundside operations.”

Countryman manipulated the controls to bring up a groundside map, based on the previous flyby by Beta squadron, which showed everything they knew. “Hmm, those shields appear focused on protecting from space, a fighter squadron could fly under them with minimal effort.”

Drakes leaned forward, “Agreed.”

Reynolds nodded, “An orbital bombardment would be quicker, but if we go with an air attack we could conceivably neutralize the ground defenses before we enter orbit.”

“I was thinking along the same lines. A simultaneous air attack against the starbase, and the three air base installations first, should give us orbital control and air supremacy in one stroke.”

Williams frowned, “Why does this sound familiar?”

“Because we have several historical attempts of similar strategies. Some are very famous.”

“Did they work?” inquired Williams.

“Well yes, but if you want a history lesson now isn’t the time.”

The meeting soon shifted to discussing battle tactics, and combat planning. All seventy-two strike craft in the fleet were planned for use. That included the sixty 1204 starfighters and the 1208 Sparrow bombers. In addition, they started preparing 1205 in gunship and light bomber configurations. The Enterprise had three hundred and forty X-1205 assault shuttles, far more than it had strike craft. That would help immensely with the ground attack mission. There was some debate on how many to outfit for bombing missions. In the end, they decided on three hundred light bombers and forty gunships. With the gunships carrying the secondary mission of conducting aerial insert missions. Each gunship was going to carry a single squad of marines for airdrop. Those marines were to secure ground objectives, deny key points, and prepare for the main ground landings.

The initial wave would be rather limited, but they knew that troops behind enemy lines could inflict considerable damage even in small numbers. History proved it time and time again from various conflicts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and onward into the twenty-second. The second wave however would need to be more substantial as by then ground batteries and shields would be on alert, so for best effect the first wave troops would need to take out planetside guns that could threaten the landings. Once neutralized and the Enterprise is in orbit, the main landing could take place.

They identified several promising sites and debated extensively on the pros and cons of each location. While also discussing what forces would be employed in the main landing. The Enterprise had a reasonably large number of troops. By design, she had been intended to carry around 1200 tanks, eighty scorpion battle platforms, and enough auxiliary vehicles for a troop complement of 20,000. Some of that had been missing at launch, but he did have the full complement of 1200 tanks, and Scorpions. He’d left them in reserve, most of the shortages were actually in trained troops, but plenty of people had volunteered. Now after three years he had about 10,000 elite soldiers along with an additional 10,000 trained volunteers. If needed there were plenty more with at least basic training in the use of light weaponry and armor. Many civilians felt the need to feel useful, like they could do something, so they were allowed basic military training. It had done wonders for on ship security, discipline and morale.

As the topic of Scorpions came up, Richards interjected, “Um, I don’t think we can deploy that many of them.”

General Forrest, leader of the ground forces inquired, “Why not?”

She scratched her ear awkwardly, “Well um... I may have used some of their parts in repairs for other systems.”

Gazes looked around the room, “How many?”

“Um, we can deploy five, give me some time and I can maybe get another five ready.”

Williams rounded on the Engineer, “What possessed you to take apart potentially useful equipment!?

“Hey!? In my defense we haven’t really used them in the three years since we left Earth and they are big machines full of useful spare parts.”

Forrest inquired, “Did you also touch the tanks?”

“Um, not yet.”

“But you were going to?”

She nodded, Williams groaned, “Great you are almost as bad as the Machine. What if we needed them?”

Countryman interjected, “Do you think you can make do with ten instead of twenty Scorpions for the perimeter?”

“It will be harder, but yes we can make do. At least we have the tanks, but in light of the reduced Scorpion presence, I will want an extra artillery division, and two more flights of X-1205 light bombers, and one extra flight of X-1205 gunships on station for air support.”

“Sounds like we have a plan.” Then, turning to Richards, “and Richards in the future I would like you to consult me before you start dismantling potentially vital equipment.”

“Aye, sir.’ was the response.

Telgros; 1300 hours Enterprise time, local time: 2200 hours; Airbase Hesa:

Dumping half her clothes on the floor the pilot spoke to her roommate, “So what do you think?”

Her roommate yawned, “That you are an idiot.”

“Huh? Why? I just want off this dull god forsaken rock where nothing happens.”

“Which is exactly why you are an idiot. It’s the people who see action that end up dead. Trust me, this dull place is the best. Free food, an easy paycheck, and a great bed, what’s not to like?”

The woman groaned, “Everything! It’s too fucking...”

Suddenly a siren went off. For a moment she didn’t know what that meant and then something exploded. Just before someone shouted over the base speakers, “Combat alert! This is not a drill, all hands report to your combat stations immediately. Repeat this is not a drill!”

She glanced at her roommate who was already slipping into her combat uniform. Her roommate glared at her, “Well you wanted action, you got it!. Now get dressed!”

Hurriedly she grabbed her discarded clothes and slipped back into them, hopping out the door as she struggled to get her boot back on. Minutes later she made it out of the barracks just as alien shuttles were flying overhead. She didn’t recognize the design, but she had very little time to think.

In the next moment, the bellies of several craft lit up, before flinging glowing blue projectiles into the hangers arrayed on the other side of the base. Then her world erupted in fire and smoke, heat brushed her skin, and then she found herself peeling herself off a wall, her back aching. Someone helped her, the man was speaking but her ringing ears didn’t register the words, she nodded regardless. As several alien fighters strafed the runway, and airstrip. Blue energy bolts tore into the pavement and shredded fighters as they sat still on the ground. For a moment she was reminded of ancient air wars and the horrors pilots faced when caught on the ground.

A weapon was pressed into her hand, as she saw several men make for one of the anti-air batteries. Just before an alien shuttle tore into it with a focused barrage of blue energy pulses. Elsewhere a few panicked men fired their rifles uselessly into the sky, as she stood there for a moment trying to make sense of the chaos. Idly she noticed the shield was still up as she finally realized that she needed to get into the air. Breaking into a run, she headed south towards a hardened hanger that hadn’t been hit yet.

Her mind finally registering the active shield above her, started connecting the dots. The shield was meant to stop things like this, it was powerful enough to withstand even orbital bombardment for a short time, but evidently no one ever considered an old fashioned air raid using low yield bombs and pulse cannons.

In front of her another set of bombs slammed into a set of hangers, leaving only shattered metal and a gaping hole in the ground but this time she was ready for it and wasn’t flung into a wall. The young pilot kept going, just as she noted the sound of Anti air batteries firing. To the left she noted someone had gotten one of the plasma missile banks up, and they were firing missiles at the attacking aircraft.

One of the alien shuttles turned, her belly started to glow and then she spat blue death at the plasma missile battery. Fire and thunder dominated her senses for a moment and when things cleared nothing but shattered metal and charred corpses were left of the battery. For a moment she was wondering what kind of nightmare she was in, but that didn’t stop her.

Seeing the open door to the hanger, a man waving her in she doubled her speed in a quick burst. Diving inside, just as alien pulse fire strafed the runway outside. Inside the building shook, as something hit it, but the local hanger shield held. Her roommate found her a moment later.

“What is going on?” she inquired of the older pilot.

“Not sure, but from what I can gather the other two air bases have also been hit and the local starbase is occupied defending against a fighter and bomber attack of their own.”

That didn’t sound very reassuring, but before she could ask more a helmet was shoved into her arms, “Come on, we need to get into the air before they completely level the base.