Rear Admiral of the Fleet of Everlasting Autumn
BATTLE_IN_ORBIT
PEACEKEEPER II
RAGE & SCREAM
Allies
Des Harz | Savoh Muskah | Var Koon | Fiolette Fortan | Kormov Alten | Dracken Pryce | Gordon | Captain Gallius Orcana
Hostile Combatants
Thaelius Ordo | SV-2121 | Onrai | Moff Drybis Lyken | Grand Moff Aut-X | Sith Vessels
Des Harz | Savoh Muskah | Var Koon | Fiolette Fortan | Kormov Alten | Dracken Pryce | Gordon | Captain Gallius Orcana
Hostile Combatants
Thaelius Ordo | SV-2121 | Onrai | Moff Drybis Lyken | Grand Moff Aut-X | Sith Vessels
Aboard the Valediction, Naier was starting to feel the rhythm of his ship. It started with a few cursory check ups on stations, hovering mere millimeters over the shoulders of his ensigns and turned into a full interrogative session between his junior officers- as good of an exercise at it was for his mental faculties, it also kept the rest of his bridge crew on edge.
When the battle commenced- Naier could never tell which side was the catalyst for the opening shots- the tension broke out into a flurry of familiar activity. Many onboard were new faces, but transfers from other ships. Either damaged, or otherwise no longer operating in the churning maw of war. The survey of the situation around him left him a grade more optimistic than before, although it was hardly a noteworthy achievement. Back on the command deck, Simone had launched into her tactical assessment of the battle.
That they were heavily outnumbered and outgunned. Naier nodded in agreement, pulling out his hickory smoking pipe.
That their forces were piecemeal at best, or otherwise incorrigibly aggressive as Captain Orcana had shown himself to be. It was perhaps not Imperial-standard, but he knew the hallmarks of Imperial Naval Academy training when he saw one. Overly aggressive and near-foolhardy maneuvers. Had the man attempted his attack with a larger battlegroup, it would have been the right kind of distraction the defenders needed. As it was in reality however, the commodore rated it as a spoiling attack at best- it did pull away a not-insignificant portion of the enemy forces away from them-, or a suicidal distraction at worst.
His captain gave him an uncertain look that said all that was necessary. Naier shook his head as he puffed away. "The captain's made his bed."
She paused, but agreed silently. They didn't have the numbers to carry out an extraction, and it was merely another Cuirassier. If it had been a Star Destroyer, it might have warranted action from their part.
Autumn remained steady on her slow course. All around her however, the planetary defense stations thundered silently in space- the enemy appeared to be of the notion that Bastion was to- "What was the saying, Captain?"
"Hmm?"
Naier clicked his tongue. "The enemy. Their maneuvers, intent- all of it." Simone looked at the map, and then back at her superior, a confused look etched across her weathered features. "Sir?"
That was when it came back to him. He smacked the desk top, startling a passing ensign. "That's right! Under the impression that we were going to 'go quietly' into the night." The look of intense confusion remained, although this time she cocked her eyebrow. "I take it, there are orders stemming from this observation-"
The bridge alarm flooded their conversation space with blaring klaxons and shrill alerts. Dropping the contemplative guise, both officers rushed over to the overhead railing overlooking the command stations. "Crewman-"
His voice barely cleared his throat when the communication's officer interjected him. "Mass communication blackout! I repeat, mass communication black out in effect, coming from friendly signatures!"
The Rae Sloane. It had to be. The commodore nodded, as the captain barked the next set of orders to the bridge. "Power up contingency communication systems, now!"
Contingency communication systems. Just another term for most of the older, redundant systems that had been repurposed from their original intent to act as an auxiliary system for various critical stations. Communication in space was always unstable at best, with the array of potential communication jamming devices in the military market today- as one side of the communications war upgraded, so too did the other. Interception and signal-breaking, trying to race ahead of one another.
But there was very little headway on laser-based communication. Because it wasn't marketed as a communications system. It was an older version of their range finding systems. Since lasers had no theoretical limit to its range in space, it was useful for a time to gauge distances and allow for projected calculations and estimated hits. That was, until advancements in tracking systems blew it out of the waters. By all rights, there was no point in continuing to mount these antiquated systems- but antiquated as they were, redundancy had its role.
One downside of laser-based tracking systems was that the target knew whenever it was being marked- hard to be stealthy about it, and the main reason current electronic based tracking software was all the rage. However, this property was exactly why most of the older ships in the New Imperial Order's Navy still held onto these clunky, cumbersome auxiliary systems.
With all electronic systems jammed, that meant no message was going to leave their fleet- or get into it, leaving any attempt to infiltrate their ship systems null. But the naval equivalent of flashing a very bright floodlight at each other had the same effect as 2 tin cans connected by a string- rudimentary, but effective in exactly these kinds of situations. Pulling up their navy's codebook, the Valediction's communications officer began to aim the ship's laser arrays at her three frigate escorts, and fired a low intensity beam, flicking it on and off at seemingly random intervals. Moments after receiving their message, the three Escoltas repeated the action with the rest of her corvette screens.
'Communications Blackout' was only a problem for the Sith and her allied fleets. For Naier's more seasoned crew, it was just another trigger in their training. The joys of antiquation was in the smug satisfaction Naier felt, watching the enemy fleet struggle to coordinate with one another. They may have their host of Force-using space wizards, but there was only so much they could do at a certain range- not everyone could transmit messages over hundred and thousands of kilometers in space, after all. He'd eat his pipe if that was the case.
"Massive energy build up- we're being targeted, energy weapons!"
"Evasive maneuvers, now!" He barked.
The PA system barely had time to switch to the robotic announcement of 'Brace, Brace, Brace' before the entire ship lurched as several hundred thrusters surged to veer away from the projectile's set trajectory. Her sister ship, took it a step further by accelerating forward in flank speed, just as the multiple barrages nearly cut by her engines. It was a close shave, but their fleet still remained relatively unscathed. "Message from the Chief Engineer- engines running hot, power levels spiking."
"You tell Hansen he better start pissing over the coolant pipes, damn it- all ships, follow my lead. Full speed ahead!"
The navigations officer turned around, expectant. "Destination sir?"
Naier snapped his fingers, and a tactical space map pulled up on the bridge screens. Two dimensional at first- and then it rotated to reveal the full three dimensions of space. "Get us over the northern hemisphere of Bastion and over their fleet. We're going to get the angle on them- execute!"
In a flash of infra-red beams and the energetic burst of movement across multiple bridges, Autumn Division exploded into a loose array of ships in a basic triangular formation, its biggest ships managing to remain in tandem with their fastest corvettes. The fleet, small and maneuverable, drew itself away from the approaching enemy fleet behind the cover of defense platforms and densely mined sectors of space aimed at slowing down their advance. Long ago, military scholars more knowledgeable in the arts of war than Naier had determined a fully static defense to be indecisive in defense- a failure at worse.
Speed kept men and women alive, not armor or shields. Sith fighters, manned and droid alike that attempted to intercept the fleet were either they themselves intercepted by station AA defenses, friendly neighbouring fighter wings, or simply rendered ineffectual by the dense barrage of anti-fighter fire from Autumn's Escoltas.
Naier returned to his command deck, holding tightly onto the edges of the railings for stability. He pointed towards the amassed clump of Sith forces, allied or otherwise at Simone. "We've got to keep them distracted, however long as possible. We aren't so small a fleet to be ignored, but fast enough to outrun their heavier tonnage."
She hesitated before asking. "Are we getting relieved?" It was a legitimate question that Naier had no solid answer to give. Bastion was important enough to recall most of their active fleets, but who knew how long it was going to take for them to reinforce the defense? He simply shook his head. "We are currently unaware of the nearest battlegroup reinforcements, or even how long it will take for them to respond."
It was a disheartening confession to swallow down. There was an unspoken agreement between the Commodore and the Captain that they were actively losing this battle.
The other unspoken question was: Had they lost the war from the beginning?
They stared at each other, before breaking off to give out more commands to the crew- they'd cross that bridge later when they reached it.
Fleet Roster Composition
Autumn Division - 3rd Fleet |
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Vessel | Description | Status | Commander |
---|---|---|---|
NIV Inexorable Valediction of Summer | - Cuirassier-class Cruiser | - Fully Crewed, Active | |
NIV Silent Contemplation of Spring | - Cuirassier-class Cruiser | - Fully Crewed, Active | Captain Williams Arburke, [NPC] |
NIV Lack of Subtlety | - Escolta-class Frigate | - Fully Crewed, Active | Commander Serena Libertam, [NPC] |
NIV One Big Gun | - Escolta-class Frigate | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Kerin Erkhart, [NPC] |
NIV The Wild Rodeo | - Escolta-class Frigate | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Geller Janovic, [NPC] |
NIV Poor Deliverance | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Ciroix Amende, [NPC] |
NIV Ulterior Motives | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Louironna Blithe, [NPC] |
NIV Gargantuan Rooster | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Eric Bentham, [NPC] |
NIV Anonymous Anarchist | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Rickard Pline, [NPC] |
NIV Blue Sky | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Krantel Geisling, [NPC] |
NIV Ironic Tragedy | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Allison Vantam, [NPC] |
NIV Confidently Nervous | - Caçadore-class Assault Corvette | - Fully Crewed, Active | Lt. Commander Otto Bahez, [NPC] |