Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

The Battlelord leaned forward as the reading came in. He grinned, his teeth showing as he reveled in their luck. They had come across a human battlegroup in the storm, which seems to have masked their approach as well. Even better they had managed to unleash a full volley of torpedoes on the battleship without those pesky missile defense systems of theirs engaging. A hit like that was sure to inflict crippling damage, possibly even destroy the ship in question.

Only reality didn’t always conform to one’s expectations, “No damage my lord, enemy hull plating is intact. No energy fluctuations, nor breaches. Not so much as a scratch. Our torpedoes had no effect!”

That was nonsense, it didn’t make sense. A hit like that should have had an effect. A moment later someone reported, “Confirmed, no damage.”

“Any response from the enemy yet?”

“Negative, I’m reading zero emissions of any kind. They haven’t returned fire, yet either.”

It occured to them that the storm might be affecting them in someway. How he wasn’t sure, but it seemed odd that they had not yet responded to his attack. A moment later, he got his response.

Countryman observed the ship that had attacked them. It was of a design he recognized, even if he had not personally witnessed one in battle. Predatory hawkish lines, a forward-swept hull, red and orange painting, and markings no human would fail to recognize. It was a Cathamari Harbinger, a fast recon cruiser often used as a precursor to a major assault. It featured powerful engines, a sturdy hull, decently strong shields, and a powerful set of sensors.

He mentally reviewed everything he knew about the ship class. There was a reason they were often a precursor to a major assault. Ships of the type were built for combat recon missions of the type the Cathamari often engaged in. Harbingers were tough, and fast. They used their sensors to identify targets, but he knew they were also used to hit weaker targets to soften up an enemy prior to the main attack.

A single cruiser of this type was no match for any of his ships, but while the Enterprise had withstood the first attack, they were not in a position to return fire nor could they quickly change position. Not only were they shielding an allied vessel with their bulk, but the engines were cold. It would take time to restart the engines. He sighed, and the weapons were not charged either, it would take time to charge the capacitors, and get the weapons ready to fire. A matter of minutes for both, but those minutes could be too long. Especially if the harbinger decided to attack one of the more vulnerable Valorian vessels. Something that might be likely to sink such ships were often a precursor to an invasion. To his knowledge the only major worlds within striking distance of this position were Valorian.

That didn’t mean he had no options however. He glanced at the tactical position. Excellent, the enemy position was perfect. He smiled, “Get the pilots to their fighters, I want them in the storm ASAP. Have medical standing by for immediate radiation treatments.”

Misaki replied, instantly, “Aye sir! Deploying fighters.”

Behind him a door opened. Without turning he said, “Come to learn what is happening.”

“Who would be attacking in the middle of a storm?” asked a familiar voice.

“The Cathamari, so far we only have the one scout ship on sensors, but there may be more.” he replied turning to see the pair that had entered his bridge. Ruri had no doubt been the one to authorize Reia being here. Although Countryman wasn’t sure how wise that would be.

Reia frowned, “You don’t sound particularly worried.”

“One ship isn’t much of a threat, they would need to pack something bigger in their torpedo tubes honestly if they actually wanted to be a threat.” he sighed, “Although that’s for us, your ships are decidedly more vulnerable, especially your sister’s ship.” said Countryman. Leaving unsaid that their current invulnerability was largely related to the fact that the hull plating was in an overcharged state, and being further bolstered by energy taken from the raging storm outside these bulkheads. He also left unsaid his worries about the fighters he was about to launch. The X-1204 had been designed with the interstellar capabilities of the Enterprise in mind, and included a starship grade hull lining to protect the internals, including the cockpit from radiation. Unfortunately the ship was too small to mount a shield generator. That meant those pilots were going to be exposed to some of the radiation out there, the storm was putting out far more radiation than the liner could absorb and block, but that liner did stop enough to prevent it from being instantly fatal. According it his mental calculations those pilots would have about three hours before radiation levels in the cockpit reached fatal levels, after leaving the safety of the ship’s shield that is. In theory that was more than enough time, but in practice who knew.

Misaki looked up, “Port and Starboard hangers each report a dozen fighters ready to launch”

“Deploy fighters. Have the rest readied for standby,” ordered Countryman.

Reia blinked, “Fighters? In this storm!? Are you crazy, the storm would shred such small ships.’

“They’ll be fine.”

“Fine!? I wouldn’t deploy our Lancer fighters into this, and they have some of the best fighter shields in the quadrant.”

Countryman chuckled, “I wouldn’t either, but our 1204s are built differently. We don’t have the fancy energy shields your people do, but what we do have is a superior understanding of structural fields, and reinforced hull design. The 1204 makes use of a DYNAMIC structrural integrity grid, and overlord scheme armor. That structural grid is designed to redirect structural field energy where needed to counter stresses on the hull. Combined with our reactionless drives, and an intertial damper system the combination of these systems allow for the incredible agility of our fighters. As a side benefit, it also makes our fighters quite durable. They can take a bit of a pounding.”

She blinked, “Wait you mean they actually can survive in that?”

Countryman nodded, “Not as well as the Enterprise, but yes.”

The Battlelord shifted in a bit of disbelief. On his screens, a massive hanger door slipped open on the port side of the human battleship. Several energy spikes registered on the scanners, as fighters slipped into the stormy void. They were launching fighters, in this storm. Something he didn’t consider as viable. Why they were doing it, he wasn’t sure, but it was clear they had overstayed their welcome.

“New course one nine eight, by two six. Increase speed, flank. I want all missile tubes loaded and ready to fire at a moments notice. Spool up the warp drive, and prepare for immediate withdraw.”

His warriors gave him looks, but they will thank him later. Assuming they get out of this. His ship had been outfitted with the latest technology, but that didn’t mean it was equipped for this kind of battle. It wasn’t, aside from a few light missile tubes, and several light plasma cannon batteries, he was lacking in anti-fighter weaponry. More importantly his ship was an advanced scout, their first duty was to report back anything they may find. Especially if it was important, and while he doubted the two Valorian ships the Humans seemed to be escorting would understand the significance of a Harbinger cruiser in this area, he knew the Humans would. Afterall, the Cathamari Empire has been at war with the Humans for almost four years now, even if the war has been cold for nearly two now. Outside of a few minor skirmishes as he recalled.

The presence of these three ships here was a threat to the mission he was scouting for. If his master was to realize his destiny, the planned raid on the Cantra system would need to go off without a hitch. He had failed to destroy that battleship, so naturally he needed to report it was there. He blinked, as a thought occurred to him. Perhaps that was a good thing? Maybe they could make use of this ship being here?

She studied her readings, as her fighter screamed through the stormy weather on an intercept course. It shook, buffeted by a bit of turbulence in the stormy space weather. A glance at her system’s display told her that the fighter was fine. Hull plating was at full strength, in fact the AIF was overcharged taking more energy from the storm than it was losing. Hull integrity was just fine as well.

Her gaze glanced back at the sensors. The cruiser was moving away from them at full speed, but while she was quite fast for a Cathamari ship, the alien cruiser was still quite a bit slower than her fighter. They were gaining, and making good speed.

The pilot double checked her weapons display, and began prepparing for her attack run. All four cannons were charged, and ready to fire. She was outfitted with a standard space superiority weapons package, however. There had been no time to rearm for a bomber mission profile. As such she only had six torpedoes total. The same was true of her wingman, thankfully there was just the one ship, so it was likely sufficient.

She let out a breath, but she wanted to make each one count. No point wasting torpedoes. They were not easy to replace, as ammunition was expensive. It was something her fellows were worried about as well. Wasting torps, only to later end up being short when they needed them.

A beep, singnaled that they were in weapons range. She held her fire waiting, as they closed the distance. She wanted to make the first hits count.

Idly she listened to the chatter, as her wing shared combat information. The distance ticked down, and her combat computer relayed targeting data to her hud. The moment seemed to stretch on forever, when suddenly she recieved the signal to fire. With practiced ease she depressed the triggers. The ship shuddered, and the distinct whooping whine of the catapults firing echoed through the cockpit. As a pair of glowing blue bolts carreened out into the stormy void lighting up the swirling colors of the storm. The sight was incredible, an awe inspiring vista of deadly colors. One she simply didn’t have the time to admire. She made a mental note to download her sensor logs later.

Under deft fingers she nudged her 1204 into an attack vector. The torpedoes sailed through space, several other lights signalling the pressence of projectiles from other fighters. A bright flare of redish light came from the Cathamari ship as her shields engaged. A few bright flashs followed at the torpedoes exploded with impressive force. Her fighter shook as another wave of turbulance shook the small craft. Her gaze glanced at the scanners, and she smiled when she noted shield fluctuations.

With a simple nudge, her fighter sailed into a gap in the shields. Her computer lit up targets, and she fired. Vibrant blue bolts screamed out into space, and rained fire upon the cruiser. Each blast ripped into the alien hull, as fiery plasma erupted under the guns of her fighter, and several others.

Reaching the end of the run, she pulled up. Coming out of the run. She ran a scan, as she came about for a second pass. Suddenly space seemed to distort, and a bright flash signaled the cruiser making a jump. The pilot sat there for a moment staring at the empty space previosuly occupied by the enemy cruiser, her target was gone.

Countryman cursed, and Reia gave him a look. “Um something wrong?”

“That was a Harbinger, and now there is a good chance they will report our position.”

She nodded, “Maybe but space is vast, and we aren’t going to be staying long.”

He sighed, “I don’t think you understand. That was a Harbinger, a Cathamari advanced scout. They are almost without fail, a precursor to a major assualt. If one is here, that means a Cathamari Armada is not far behind.”

She frowned, “An Armada? Here? That doesn’t make sense, there isn’t anything here. Outside of Cantra that is, and its an open port. We aren’t even at war with them.”

“And we are heading right for Cantra as well,” he turned, “Tell Megumi that I want the warp engines warmed up and ready to go as soon as possible. Get a team of engineers over to the Guilded Heart to shore up her structural integrity grid.”

“Aye sir!”

He turned back to Reia, “I’ll need to talk to your sister.”

“What for?”

“We are going too slowly, we will need to make better speed to Cantra if we are to warn them.”