|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 1, 2008 0:23:21 GMT -5
Two Nest Ships exit hyperspace at the outer edge of the Ilium system. They're detected by Iliums long range sensor patrols and reported back to Iliums air traffic control.
The Military forces scramble into right defensive formations against th pron, putting themselves between Ilium and the nest ships. The nest ships however, don't move. Aside from light radiation coming from their reactors, the massive egg shaped ships lay dormant and silent at the edge of the system.
Captain keyes jumped up from his seat and turned to his CAG. "Form the CAP on our bow and launch the alert fighters. Get crews to the flight deck now and get ready to launch the rest. By the force the Galactica might be out of this fight but we're not going to sit here with our thumb up our asses and watch. Recall all the work crews. tell them to lock whatever they're working on down and seal it up."
The bridge crew sprang to life and started to comply with his orders. Meanwhile, over on the Lysander, Captain Walton was scrambling his own fighters into formations off his bow.
several squadrons of old Sith fighters were scrambling from the surface of Ilium. They were sold as surplus and bought by the Ilium home defense force. They were nearly 50 years old but the home defense force kept them in good condition, however their pilots were inexperienced.
The RNS Tom Sawyer, a Hammerhead cruiser that had been in the Ilium shipyards for engineering inspections deployed from dock and formed up with the Lysander, launcher her squadron of Aurek fighters.
A large cluster of 90 meter long blocky craft also launched from the surface. These antique corvettes were Iliums first model of space military craft. They had 30 laser cannons along their port sides, no shields and meter thick durosteel hulls. each ship carried 40 men who were trained for space combat as well as ground combat. Their bravery was commendable, but no one in either the Ilium HDF or the Republic fleet thought they would have any impact on the battle.
In all, Iliums defenses consisted of one advanced carrier (Lysander), two hammerhead cruisers (Tom Sawyer, Nero), a Picard class cruiser (Roger Young) Three Corellian corvettes belonging to CoreSec, one Civilian Frigate belonging to a private security company hired by Corellian Refugees, and 19 antique Ilium corvettes.
From a distance it looked like Iliums defenders had the advantage of numbers, but when the fact that each nest ship carried hundreds if not thousands of dartships, the sides were pretty even.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 12:38:11 GMT -5
Jor, piloting a Y-35 cobra and given temporary command of Knight squadron, formed up at the head of his new command. 12 Y-35's in a delta formation at the lead of a huge group of fighters deployed from Lysander, Galactica, the surface of Ilium and two hammerhead cruisers.
To his left, The Suicide Kings, Galactica's top squadron. To his right, the Corellian Yellow Aces, the best fighter sqaudron in the Corellian system, and possibly all of the core worlds.
They had all formed up together and headed out towards the Nest ships which were still silently waiting at the edge of the Ilium System. Republic brass had decided that a preemptive strike would have been better then waiting for a prepared attack by the enemy so the fighters had been dispatched to cause as much damage as possible before the bigger ships moved in.
Jor didn't like the plan at all. With only a few squadrons hanging back, the majority of the defense force would have little to no fighter support while most of the fighters depleted all their missiles against targets they couldn't hope to bring down without capital ship support. Still, he supposed the plan had merits, so he went along with it.
They were 500,000 kilometers out still so it would be a while before they got there at their present cruising speed, and a while to get back, so Jor planned to inflict as much damage as he could.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 13:00:31 GMT -5
"Control, this is Knight one. I'm in range, i have tone." Jor said over the open comm.
"Knight one, your cleared to go hot. Good luck." A female voice said to him back.
Jor double clicked his com and switched over to his group frequency. "All flights, were cleared to go hot. Squadron leaders go first followed by their flights. the rest of you target the explosions."
A chorus of acknowledgments rang over the com and Jor pushed the throttle up to accelerate him ahead of the group. his targeting computer gave him a tone on the closest Nest ship and he was registering a missile lock.
"Knight one, Nerf 2, launching." Jor said as he pressed the button on his flight stick. a lone concussion missile streaked out of the launch tube and into space, bound for the 8,000 meter nest ship.
The com was alive with missile launching reports. "Knight two, Nerf 3 launching, King one, Nerf 2 launching, Knight three, nerf 3 launching, Ace one, Nerf one, launching..."
Jor pushed down on the stick and did a short vertical sideslip to get himself under the plain of missiles being leveled at the massive capital ship. He watched the missiles streak into the hull of the ship and strike it's powerful shields. He watched the shields glow brighter as they sustained more concentrated hits.
Then, the second wave of missiles streaked over his cockpit. The rest of the fighters had launched theirs after the first flights had. hundreds of missiles hit the same spots the first volley had hit causing the shields to go opaque and then collapse around that area. multiple strikes hit their mark and stabbed explosive plasma into the nest ships hull.
two hull breaches opened up bleeding air, parts and fire into space but they were quickly sealed off by damage control teams.
"All fighters, prepare for another run, same spot." Jor said over the coms.
"All flights, this is Ace 5. Incoming bandits!" a panicked voice said over the com.
Jor looked down at his sensors and saw that indeed they were no longer alone out here. The two nest ships began spilling out dartships like ants from a drowning colony. hundreds of them, even thousands of them entered space and began engaging.
"All flights, belay my last order, engage fighters, repeat, engage fighters. Control, this is Knight one, requesting capital ship support!" Jor yelled into the com.
The female voice came back to him, clearly nervous over how serious the situation had grown. "Stand by knight one... thats a negative on capital ship support. Things have gotten interesting on this side of the battle."
Confused, Jor focused his sensors back at Ilium and saw what she meant. The Polar Star and several other ships had exited hyperspace closer to Ilium and had begun engaging the capital ship force in orbit around the planet.
"All Flights, this is Knight one. split into pairs and dig in for a fight."
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 13:01:45 GMT -5
"Captain, new contacts! a fleet just exited hyperspace 300,000 kilometers out!" The sensor officer on the Lysander shouted. "Registering... eight capital sized craft."
"Bearing!" Captain Walton demanded.
"Bearing 187 mark 10. they're inbound, strait for Ilium." The sensor officer replied.
"Bring us about, coarse 270 mark 10. safeties off the missiles, crews to their guns. I want status on individual ships as soon as they come in." Walton ordered.
The Tom Sawyer and the Nero moved in to flank the Lysander to prepare for the incoming capital ships.
"Every fighter that stayed behind is to form up behind the capital ship line and prepare for incoming enemy fighters. Launch multiple missile warhead, target enemy engines." Captain walton ordered.
Two warheads launched from her bays and streaked across space towards the incoming ships. They split into multiple missiles, each missile bearing down on one of the capital ships engines.
The missiles never reached their targets however. A cloud of dartships stood between the Lysander and the enemy ships. these dartships moved in the way of the missiles and impacted them long before they got close to the capital ships.
"Negative impact, their fighter screen is too thick." the sensor officer declared.
Captain walton sat down in his command chair and buckled in. "Then get ready for a slugging match. this one is going to get ugly."
|
|
|
Post by Elifain on Dec 3, 2008 13:30:06 GMT -5
Elifain dropped out of hyperspace in the Claw of Mando, and quickly powered down, to view the surroundings. He had cought a few signals from nearby, and so figured he would drop out, to investigate. What he found was a lopsided space battle. He steps up to the comm device, and to the defending fleet, says This is Tracin'ya Drakain. Anybody there need a helping hand?. He wasn't so sure how he would be welcomed, due to the Mandalorian war that had been waged a few years earlier, but he was determined to make an attempt to ease past greivences. While he waited for a reply, he turned to a weapons control, removed the safety locks on the 2 conc missle launchers, powered up the blasters, and preped the space mine deployance system.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 21:55:13 GMT -5
"There's a vessel out there requesting to assist." The communications officer on board the Lysander said. "I can't get an accurate transponder fix because of all the fighters clouding the IFF system but i think it's a private ship."
"Doesn't matter." Walton said. "I'll take all the help we can get. Have it form up."
The comm officer nodded and turned back to his console. Opening a channel he responded to Tracin'ya. "Message received captain, request you form up on the RNSx Lysander and prepare for incoming fighters."
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 21:55:25 GMT -5
"King four, Nerf one launching!" the announcement rang over the com as another missile was launched and struck against the unprotected hull of the Nest ship.
"Knight one, this is Knight five, we aren't causing enough damage! We're interceptors, not bombers!"
Jor sighed. "i know, keep at it. and watch out for any weaknesses."
Jor pulled hard left as a pair of laser bolts blasted by where his cockpit would have been. Two dartships were on his tail and they wouldn't leave. whoever their pilots were, they were good.
"Standby knight one, i got you covered." said the pilot of King six over the com. "King Six, Nerf two, Launching!"
The concussion missile sprang from the launcher and impacted on one of Jor's unwanted tails. the dartship exploded in a brilliant flash spilling debris into space. The other dartship peeled away to avoid the same fate.
Jor finished his pull to left and ended it with a barrel roll which put him in behind a flight of dartships. he squeezed the firing button on his flight stick sending a stream of laser fire. The fire stitched across the lead dartship. The dartships shields absorbed the first few hits but one penetrated into the engine casing causing it to explode, the other through the nose of the fuselage crippling power to the forward part of the fighter. the dartship spiraled out into the black with no power, while it's other two friends turned off in evasive maneuvers.
"Knight one, this is King one. i think i found something! The shields are weaker around the fighter bays. a missile might be able to penetrate after enough laser fire has weakened the shields further."
"what are you thinking?" Jor asked.
"According to data from our Dragoon support, the Dartships are using some kind of methane for rocket fuel. they refuel inside the fighter bays..."
Jor smiled, "Yeah, that might make a pretty big bang. Squadron leaders, do a weapons check. I want a full inventory of all the unfired missiles."
Jor pulled right and dove down towards the Nest ship. His targeting computer outlined one of the fighter bays for him. He put his crosshairs over the fighter bay and held the trigger down. laser fire stitched out across space into the shields over the fighter bay.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 3, 2008 22:57:48 GMT -5
"incoming fighters!" The sensor officer announced. Walton watched the hologram of the several hundred dartships pass over the Lysander.
"Transfer all auxiliary power to the point defense laser canons. Focus the turbolasers on Polar Star" Walton ordered.
The Carriers turbolasers sprang to life. their rapid fire capability put streaks of turbolaser bolts into space impacting against Polar Star's forward shields. The Star responded with two assault concussion missiles.
Without an adequate fighter screen, the huge concussion missiles had no problems crossing the space between the two ships and impacting Lysanders hull. The bridge rocked from the impact.
"Damage report?" Walton demanded. "Minimal damage sir, to the port side, amidships. shields took most of it. Shield status on port side is 67 percent and dropping."
"Transfer power from starboard weapons into the port shields." Walton commanded.
The Tom Sawyer and Nero focused their turbolaser fire on the enemy ship Patron Saint but with the cloud of dartships between them only a portion of the turbolaser bolts made it through.
The Roger young was bearing the brunt of the fighter attack. laser bolts were striking along it's shields from every angle as the dartships peppered it. Her shields weren't as efficient as the other ships in the fleet and they were failing fast.
|
|
|
Post by Elifain on Dec 4, 2008 0:30:09 GMT -5
Elifain quickly ran a targetting algorithm, that set his blasters into a flurry of firing at the incoming dartships. He had pulled back to the requested ship, but played more on the defensive. Be advised, if you need defense from these darts, my ship can set up mines in critical places. He quickly turned his ship to set up a better defensive position to thwart an oncoming flight of darts.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 4, 2008 1:03:16 GMT -5
Jor's missile struck against the shield over the fighter bay and detonated, it's explosion expanding out into space rather then deep into the bay. "This is Knight one, that was a negative impact. shield took it. Someone else get set for a missile run."
"roger that Knight one. This is Ace 2 setting up for an atta...." Ace two was cut short as his fighter exploded in a brilliant yellow explosion as a dartship laced it with laser bolts.
"Damn it." Jor said more to himself then anyone else. He banked hard right stitching laser fire as he went. Fire struck a dartship causing it to explode, sending debris out, impacting the dartships wingman and damaging it's cockpit canopy. Jor finished the second dart ship off with another burst of laser fire. "Who else has some missiles?"
"Knight one, this is Darkwing 8, i have one concussion missile left. Setting up for an attack run."
Jor pulled his fighter around in a hairpin turn that required him to use the force to stay conscious. his turn brought him around behind Darkwing 8. "Ok, King 4, and Ace 3, form up on my wing, we're going to cut Darkwing 8 a path through this cloud."
Jor heard com clicks as the fighters formed up on him. Jor hit his afterburner launching him past Darkwing 8. Jor held the trigger down, spitting laser fire into the space between the fighter bay and Darkwing 8. King 4 and Ace 3 joined him and a river of laser bolts lanced out across space. Two dartships were caught in the wave of lethal energy and exploded.
"Darkwing 8, Nerf 2 launching!" The younger pilot said as he fired his last missile. The concussion missile left a wispy trail of smoke behind it as it flew strait and true. The missile hit the fighter bay shield, penetrated through it and exploded against the far side bulkhead with in the fighter bay. The explosion caused a dartship undergoing repairs within the bay to explode, which in turn ruptured a liquid methane storage tank. The methane ignited and seconds later a massive explosion rocked the launch bay.
"Direct hit!" Jor announced. He watched the fire burn within the wreaked hanger bay until the lack of oxygen starved them out. In reality, the damage done was minimal but it was an emotional victory for the fighters. Jor could feel their tension release slightly, but they were still in the fight of their lives. Their numbers had been whittled down significantly. What had started as a fleet of a few hundred fighters had dropped down to only a few dozen, and the enemy still numbered near the nine hundred range.
"All fighters, press the attack on the enemy fighters. Tag the loners first and stay in pairs. We need to fight our way out of this." Jor said.
|
|
|
Post by Elifain on Dec 4, 2008 1:17:30 GMT -5
As elifains ship wrapped up what was left of the enemy fighters that he had engaged, while taking damage, he noticed the explosion in the bay. He said a quiet prayer, noticing the outnumbering forces, before redirecting his ship back for the enemy. The only problems he could see with the enemy forces was the larger ships that had closed on the fleet. He blinked slowly as he thought of a way to help take out the enemys ships without sacraficing the defense fleet in response. He looked back to the Lysander, noting the dartships moving towards it, and turned to intercept. Lysander, may I suggest you pull your intercepters back to back up the fleet. They might be able to take out the fighters there, but if we add them to the defense fleet here, they might last a little longer, with cover fire from the ships.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 4, 2008 1:26:10 GMT -5
"Your suggestions been noted Claw of Mando but they're 500,000 clicks out engaging a superior enemy force. If they turn back now the slower fighters and stragglers will get fried and that will only lead that group of dartships back to the fight here." The Lysander's com officer said over the channel.
Meanwhile...
Sarah's bone wings dug into the ground behind her, to stabilize her as the bridge of the Polar Star shook under the attack of Lysanders turbolasers. Sarah glared at the advanced ship as it fired. If she'd had her way such a vessel would already be under her control, but she'd just have to wait for the next of her kind to be constructed.
She walked around the bridge to where her new friend was working at his terminal. "Are you ready yet?" She asked.
"Yes my lady. I have all the codes ready for you." The computer slicer said.
"Good work. Send a signal to the defenders. I want them to lower their shields." Sarah said.
The Slicer nodded and smiled, going to work on his console. He would do anything for Sarah, she brought him so much joy and happiness. He used the Polar Star's codes to link to the republic computer network via the holonet. Through the network, he sliced into the Lysander's intership network using the access codes the Polar Star had on file. From there he accessed their shield generators computer system and ordered it to shutdown the shields, then he put an encryption lock on the shield generator computer.
Sarah, looking over his shoulder smiled and gently ran her hands through his hair as he worked.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 4, 2008 2:20:21 GMT -5
Captain Walton looked at the holographic display of the battle. All things considered they were holding their own, even without a fighter screen. The Polar Star's shields had sustained significant damage and the Tom Sawyer and Nero were also doing well on their own fronts. The Roger Young however was having more trouble. The mass fighter attack was playing havoc with their shields and causing minimal amounts of damage all over the cruiser, so far however it had stayed away from the big slugging match.
Suddenly the Lysanders Helmsman spun around in his seat. "Captain, our shields are dropping!"
"well raise them!" Walton shouted.
The helmsman worked furiously at his console for a few seconds. "I can't! Ive been locked out of the computer system for the generators. It's encrypted!"
Walton's eyes widened. "We've been sliced?! How's that possible, without the ships command codes.... nevermind, it's happened. Lockout the main computer and sever us from the network."
The bridge technical officer began work at once. He broke their link to the main republic military network and began put an encryption key on the systems linked to the main computer.
The ship rocked as it was hit by a small mass driver shell.
"I think we're in trouble." Walton said.
|
|
|
Post by MikDaTv on Dec 4, 2008 6:15:59 GMT -5
Jor's fighter skimmed along the surface of one of the nest ships with a trail of dartships behind him. They'd gotten on his tail and Jor had decided to try a terrain skimming strategy to try and lose them. His shields were down and both of his wingmen had been killed.
The Yellow aces were down to 7 fighters, the Suicide Kings down to 5 and Jor's own Knight squadron had only 3 other fighters aside from himself. The other squadrons weren't fairing much better either. Jor would have issued the retreat order minutes ago if he thought it would help, but even with the Cobra's speed they'd just be leaving the slower fighters behind to die and Jor wouldn't do that.
But even though Jor held the moral high ground, his men were still suffering for it. 90% of the fighters he'd lead into the battle were either destroyed or out of the fight. Dragoons were working overtime to rescue those that had ejected, but the slower rescue craft were easy targets for the fast and nimble Dartships.
To add insult to injury nearly every fighter left was reporting that their shields had inexplicably fallen like the computer just decided to shut them down. Jor didn't know what that meant, but he was sure it wasn't good.
He pulled hard left around a sensor nodule on the Nest Ships hull and put his fighter into a steep climb which brought him up into space, and then back down towards the approaching Dartships. His tails hadn't seen the maneuver because he'd gone around the nodule to quick and by the time they realized he'd pulled the move on them, he had already destroyed their leader by peppering his cockpit canopy with laser fire.
|
|
|
Post by Elifain on Dec 4, 2008 13:16:59 GMT -5
Elifain blinked for a second as sensors registered the defense fleets fallen shields. This won't end well, he thought to himself, but decided he wouldn't back down from a challenge. His ship had taken damage, but his shields had held. partially because he wasn't part of the defense fleet, and had his shields and controls locked down from the holoweb. He accelerated, as he flew towards one of the attacking cruisers to what would have been leathal in most circumstances, and launched a full tube of his concussion missles towards an enemy's hanger, along with a barage of laser fire, before pulling up, and deselorating. The shields took the brunt of the lasers, but colapsed when the 8 concussion missles slammed home, one of which entering the bay before exploding. He had seen the fighters pull a similar act over a magnified viewscreen, but had no idea how effective it might have been, but not enough to put down the ship. He accelorated towards one of the enemies mass accelorator guns, that had been laying havoc on the defenders, and dropped a few mines on the fly, right towards the gun, which he hoped would turn down its shield in the area to fire. If not, it might weaken the slug before it his a defending ship.
|
|