.png){kind=link}
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 -
Chapter 37 - Order of Battle, 1st Wave[]
Invasion of Darado System[]
Darado System...
…Taffy A slid into existence and began shaking out as each vessel arrived. On telescope, the environmental damage to Darado's main world was visible: strip mines ran streaks across the almost Terra-like world, interrupted by pockets of urban development and village-like encampments.
The latter would be where the slaves lived, exposed to a world of tailings and dust, while their masters lived in the domes, protected from the runoff and dust of massive mining and smelting operations.
"Amanda's report on Darado suggests she didn't know what the local ecology had gotten to before humans started tearing the place up. The Evanescent didn't get that close, but based on albedo and spectral readings, the planet's got a barely-breathable atmosphere mix with higher-than normal concentrations of CO2 and water vapor."
"What's the green?" Ensign Martins asked from the helm station.
"Algae in the water," Lieutenant Winters answered from Navigation.
It would matter more for the follow-on forces. For now, the mission was what all that mining and smelting were feeding: a small fleet of JumpShips at the planetary L1 point, there to meet DropShips from the surface. And occasionally to send DropShips down.
.png){kind=link}
Invader Class JumpShip
Most of those, to replace losses in the workforce.
Presently there were six Invader class Jumpships, and two Star Lords. The Star Lords had Mammoth type Cargo DropShips docked, ready to depart.
“Engines to max for ten minutes. Ease back half a g each minute after that until we’re down to one g. We’ve got time. Keep an eye on the passives.” Billie Hoel focused her crew.
It had become a well practiced routine. Jump in far enough out to get your own look with scopes, burn for a while outside known detection ranges of planetary or moon based sensor systems, then pounce on the enemy before they knew you were there.
It was on the second day of the burn when they saw the small station. It was clearly more of an anti-piracy defense station, with its own small collection of DropShips for defense and likely fighters as well.
“It’s outside the limit,” Lieutenant Walker said from the weapons station.
“Tempting, but we should save those for bigger fish.” Billie declined the use of special munitions.
“Should we shorten transit time again?” Ensign Martins asked.
“Yeah, 1.5 gs for ten minutes. Back to 1g after. Repeat that at the top of the hour until we hit the turn over and coasting point.” Billie calculated the strain and rest periods needed.
By the time enemy radar would have enough resolution to detect them, they should be practically on top of them. And plenty of targets with only partially charged drives waiting for them.
The next three days were tough on the humans in the crew, but there had been no active sensor pings detected from the enemy yet.
That happened on day 5.
“Samantha, be a dear and take care of the station. Joana screening duty. Ottillie, any DropShips that launch. Lucy, let’s start deploying our fighters now.” Billie ordered.
The station scrambled a full aero regiment, and the two Titan Fighter Carrier DropShips it scrambled before weapons range was entered almost made Billie laugh.
.jpg){kind=link}
Titan Class Fighter Carrier
“Establishing ATACs links now. ECM active,” Billie alerted her crew.
The telemetry from the drone fighters was already flowing in. In about an hour, they’d have no trouble swatting the station, DropShips, and supporting their own drone fighters with AA mode Capital Laser fire and Capital Missile fire. Likely even some bracketing Naval PPC fire.
The hour passed quietly. The planet was scrambling its own response as well, but it too was pitiful.
Four Mule Q Dropships launched from the surface, and perhaps if they could have linked up with the Titans might have been a viable threat that could cause some armor damage and shoot down more than a half dozen drone fighters.
But thanks to the ATACs feeds, Taffy A’s weapons fire was far too accurate and deadly and sliced through the closing DropShips and Station in a scant three minutes. The surface force launched fighters before being destroyed two minutes later.
The enemy pilots were certainly skilled and brave, but now completely outmatched. Some tried to ram to extract some measure of revenge, but those too were effortlessly swatted aside.
“Adjust velocity for enemy JumpShip group. Now we’re on the clock. Get the boarding parties away.” Billie ordered.
Within ten minutes after engaging the Station and local defenses, Taffy A was now starting their boarding operations. It would take only another ten before all targets were secured. One of the Star Lords significantly damaged its core trying to rush its charge. The others also tried to rush, but their cores were in much better shape, or completely undamaged.
Invasion of Jasper's Mines[]
Jasper’s Mine system...
Taffy B Taskforce found the system militia well organized and alert. They were also largely unprepared to fight anything more serious than a light raider.
This state of affairs had to do with how the system actually worked. Jasper's Mine wasn't and had never been habitable. The actual 'mine' was on an airless, rocky, pseudo-Mercury rock orbiting not even a tenth of an AU from the dim red dwarf primary. Most of the system's defenses were concentrated in a series of stations, including a somewhat decrepit and worn O'Neill cylinder that was the main port and habitation for the planet's overlords. The labor force was confined to burrows and domes on Jasper's Mine's surface.
This dependence on even the most basic commodities moving from the greenhouses of the Habitat to the labor camps on the surface meant a bit more active protection to secure and monitor things.
How cluttered the inner system was with so many worlds and moons also gave ample opportunity for places for defenders to hide.
"I count two Merchants, three Invaders, and a pair of Star Lords, looks like twenty Mules, three Aqueducts, and a Mammoth cargo haulers active between the Primary and the Station. That's our target list. Defenses look like six big Achilles class Assault DropShips backed up by a pair of smaller Pentagons Assault Dropships and a pair of Titan class fighcarriers… Plus whatever's based on the station or the planet."
Orders were issued, and Marines went to their boarding ships, while fighters were readied. "We do this as a two-pronged assault to keep the patrols from protecting the JumpShips."
The Assault teams launched relatively early, to run up on cold thrust under stealth blankets, while two of the Destroyers moved to present the threat that would draw the defenders away from the true targets.
"Remember, we're playing this one tight. We don't have the manpower to take the Habitat OR the surface base. So we're just taking the JumpShips and taking out the garrison's AeroSpace fighter and DropShip assets."
Fighters rose from moon bases as the formation closed into detection range. The DropShips, to their credit, at least the armed ones, assumed a combat formation and began their run on the first ship to enter detection range.
Two of the JumpShips tried to thrust toward the point, beginning to furl their sails… And then they drifted, sails half-furled.
It was as good as launching a flare. The boarding parties were already in place when the destroyers began their run.
One by one, the JumpShips jumped out as the defensive forces arrayed to give battle.
In a sense, this was as one-sided as you can possibly get. The defending units had no chance at all.
The last of the JumpShips vanished as they finished off the defense squadrons. Taffy B moved to a mapped transitory point and departed, leaving the mining colony untouched, aside from the destruction of two squadrons of combat DropShips and forty-two fighters.
The remaining forces, mostly ground units tasked with crowd control in the labor pool, didn’t know they'd been stripped of transport and cut off. The invasion wasn't coming for another eighteen hours.
Nilea's Garden Raid[]
Nilea’s Garden system…
Surcouf A TaskForce arrived outside the jump limit, and immediately deployed sail. Amanda studied her target. "We'll have to do this quick and smooth," she judged. "Last time we passed through, they had damned near no defenses at all, and we got a good read on what’s produced here, and for whom."
She rolled her shoulders. "Mister Chester? You’ll observe that we have two selections of targets here. I count eleven JumpShips in various stages of ready to go, but none of them are actually fully loaded yet."
"Aye, ma'am," the Elemental Marine nodded.
"We're going to steal them all. Or as many as we can lay our blackhearted grubby hands on, anyway. I want priority on the heavies with those Mammoths docked to 'em, because that's food for the enemy, and we want to be eating it instead of them. Miss Lori, pass down the formation, we're going to do this one systematically: Marine teams will attend in the order I give. But we're going to steal all their stuff. Sam, did we kit up the rest of the squadron with your special stealth setups?"
"Yes, we have, and it's been tested," Samuel replied. "Heck, I even got advice on improvements."
"Did you implement them?"
"I did."
She grinned. "Good. It's time to steal their rations."
"What about the defense stations?"
"Oh, we're going to kill those," she asserted quietly. "Stations, any off-planet air bases, and any fighters they muster. This is invasion prep. But we're going to steal their supply ships first. Have all ships in the formation ready to begin attack runs…" She mentally calculated, "Six hours after the Marines head for their JumpShips. We're going to be covering the retreat of our prize crews, and that's going to be all the combat anyone could possibly want here."
She nodded. "Let's begin. Jolie Rouge is the signal. Yo Ho Ho."
.png){kind=link}
Human-like Robotic remote of the AI, Piorun
"How're we going to do that?" Piorun's avatar asked.
"Well, once our Marines are in motion, I'm going to tell them who we are," Amanda said casually. "That should bring out every defender in the system, given what I did last time we were through here. They'll focus on us and on 'holding us back' long enough for the prize crews to make off with their logistics. It's pure psychology."
“Ah, similar to how I goaded the Blakists when I transmitted in the clear that ‘I am a Caspar and I am free’. Got it. Should be fun.”
"If it isn't fun, what's the point?" Amanda grinned. "This is going to be a hella more fun than killing spacers from range because they sail under the wrong flag."
"You should've been born a Caspar."
Amanda laughed, there was a slight maniacal twinge to her tone, "Now why would I be that, when I can be The Greatest Pirate they'll ever see?"
“The two states are not incompatible. And I remember my human source well enough, even after all these centuries, that I can enjoy this. I am a Caspar, and I am free. What more can I want?”
"Freedom is why we're here." Amanda chuckled. "Six hours, be ready for my signal. We need to let the boarding teams storm those ships."
“Well then, I should probably get my remote back to my ship.”
Five and a half hours later, Chester was standing on a JumpShip's bridge, with the enemy commander's override in his hand. "Pulse the signal, then prep for jump."
The signal went out.
Over a general channel, broadcast from multiple transmitters including the much more powerful ones mounted to the pair of M5s…
"Your attention, Ladies and Gentlemen and All Ships at Sea!! I am The Dread Pirate Roberts, and I have Come for you All!! There will be no quarter expected nor offered, your souls belong to me and I will take them to hell!!"
The reaction was swift panic, and combat DropShips began thrusting from surface bases or patrol routes, as ground based detection showed a lone Bonaventure class Corvette burning toward the planet.
Right into the kill box formation, as eleven JumpShips moved from station keeping to jump. Nobody on the ground or on traffic control really blamed them. Roberts had savaged merchant ships mercilessly not a year and a half ago. Nobody wanted to be there for the next round of it, so they didn't realize those eleven ships were already stolen.
Piorun and Cossack had to settle for wiping out Achilles and Pentagon class DropShips, plus the pair of Titans, while the Bonnies in the formation and the fighter squadrons dealt with enemy fighters.
The battle was as one-sided as any the Caspar had record of. And when the coup-de-grâce on the polar stations was delivered twelve hours later, it was more or less a mercy killing.
Nilea's Garden would prove to be a relatively simple conquest for the Allied forces, having been effectively stripped of Aerospace assets in a single evening of brutal fighting.
Fleet Engagement: Fort Zimbabwe[]
Fort Zimbabwe system…
…was a fortified site. Somebody with access to DOME equipment had spent a lot of time fortifying the system.
"Her reports suggested this would be a major base…" So far, the comprehensive data gathered by Evanescent's run through the home territory of the Sons of Plunder had been reaping nothing but benefits. "What do you think, Phoenix?"
"I think that's a Potemkin with a pair of Essex IIs flying escort," Phoenix stated. "We can take those??"
"With help," Mina said judiciously. "Lots of help… and look! We have somebody to call in!"
"I don't have enough boarding troops to take an Essex, never mind the Potemkin." Phoenix stated.
"You do not need them. You need to focus on these…" Mina showed her a cluster of standard JumpShips at the system Nadir. "We can take those, we can not take the battlewagon. But the Reserve formation can... And if we time it right, they can keep the big bastards so busy they will not know we are stealing their logistics transports."
"But… won't that-"
"I make some effort not to be as foolheaded as Dave's protege, Phoenix. I am not going to put your Bonaventure hull anywhere near the capital fire a Potemkin class can sling, never mind an Essex II. That bunch is for the Cruisers in the Reserve Group. Maori, you are our backup band."
"Backup band?"
"Because only an idiot would leave those JumpShips without a watchdog," Mina asserted. "I am calling in the Reserve to hit the troop-cruiser and her escorts. When they are good and on the way? We hit the logistics formation at the Nadir point. I want two transports minimum from each of you."
"TWO?"
"Two. If you can not swing two, grab one and blow the other one in place. If you think you can grab three, do so," Mina said. "We have a betting pool to win."
“Challenge accepted. I have some payback to get on these bastards after all. They wrecked my favorite remote.” Maori smiled.
[]
Attackers:
Reserve Group
SLS Sparks, Aegis Class Cruiser Block II-AI Jonathan Morgan Formation Command
SLS Betty Laffey, Essex II Class Destroyer - Captain Kevin Armington in Command with AI support
SLS Tartar, M5.1 Drone Destroyer
SLS Zulu, M5.1 Drone Destroyer
Defenders
SLS Belleau Wood, Potemkin Class Transport - Lord Admiral Jason Alexander David Louis Winston XIIth
SLS Milton-Keynes, Essex II Class Destroyer - Lord Commander Enid Roberta Paisley Jane Winston Xth
SLS Salmonford, Essex II Class Destroyer- Lord Commander Philbert Devon Lucas Winston the VIIth
- Scenario Rules & Specifications
- The 2215th Composite Squadron SLDF (Enter from starting map edge, turn 10)
Special (experimental) rules: Defenders may not use Bracket Fire as they have not been trained in it.
Boarding Actions take 4 turns per attempt to resolve. Each small craft involved in the boarding action increases the defender's survival roll target number by 1 (Rolled once per shuttle, per turn). It requires 4 successful survival rolls to repel the boarders per boarding unit (small craft) employed. Four failures (including non-successive) results in the targeted vessel 'flipping sides'.
Each failed survival check generates a critical hit to ship's systems.