Vernii
09-05-2004, 00:44
"We've entered missile range Admiral."
Admiral Ganote looked up from Repulse's flag bridge holoplot. The holoplot displayed his Aggressor forces, eight dreadnoughts and their escorts, as they raced toward the Defender force, composed of an equal amount of warships. He sighed slightly, Admiral Koenig wasn't trying anything fancy, he'd simply arrayed his fleet in a wall formation between Ganote's oncoming warships and Vernii.The range was five million kilometers, and even though his fleet was decelerating toward Vernii even as Koenig accelerated toward him, he was still travelling at 5100 KPS higher than Koenig. He walked back to his command chair and sat down, "Fleetwide orders: Present broadsides to the enemy, hold fire until four million kilometers."
Ganote's tactical officer approached him, hand pressed to the side of his headset. "Admiral, one of our recon drones just got a look at the rear of Koenig's force. Each of his dreadnoughts are towing several objects. Sensor returns aren't giving us a very clear picture yet, but CIC thinks they are recon and EW drones, there's just a lot of them. Their accel is also lot lower than it should be."
"Interesting...what's your take on it?"
"They probably are EW drones, it's going to make getting missiles through a lot harder. I recommend we hold our fire until three million kilometers. I don't know about why they are keeping their accel down though."
"Agreed. Com, signal the fleet new orders to hold fire until three million klicks, also inform Commodore Visconti to get his cruisers in tighter."
His tactical officer nodded and walked back to his station as the flag bridge's communications officer signaled the new orders. Minutes passed without anything new happening, and then suddenly threat signatures blossomed across the holoplot as sixteen hundred missiles erupted from the Defender force, followed by another vastly smaller salvo as the Defender dreadnoughts and their escorts fired off their own salvoes.
"Missile tracks, God there's thousands of them!"
"All ships open fire!"
PD laser fire swept out from Ganote's fleet, and hundreds of oncoming missiles died as lasers ripped through them. The range closed, and counter-missiles raced out, destroying several hundred more. Missile fire rippled from Ganote's dreadnoughts, a mere two hundred and eighty, joined by another couple hundred as the escort warships added their fire to it. Over nine hundred enemy missiles survived to make it to attack range, and space filled with the pricks of nuclear detonations. Underpowered lasers wasted themselves harmlessly against the dreadnought's shields, but their internal computers diligently noted which compartments should be destroyed and shut down their displays and equipment. The dreadnoughts suffered the most, the entire first massive salvo had been concentrated solely upon them, and Renown and Camperdown reeled out of formation as their impeller nodes shut down. Victoria and Rodney suffered serious "damage", and Ganote cursed as every display went dark and the lights shut down as Repulse was "destroyed". After a few seconds the holoplot came back online to allow him to observe the battle.
Koenig's fleet wasn't untouched, damage icons flickered next to a couple of his dreadnoughts, but they all were still combat effective.
The velocity of Ganote's fleet brought it's remaining units into energy range, and the icons of his light warships vanished from the plot as Koenig's ships ripped into them with understrength laser and graser fire. Ganote's three remaining dreadnoughts were no match, and two minutes later his entire force had been wiped out.
"Com signal from Bellerophon Sir."
"Route it to my screen."
Admiral Koenig's smile beemed at him, "I do apologize for any embarrasment you might have just suffered John."
Ganote smirked a bit, "Just what the hell was that you threw at us anyway?"
"BuShip's latest toy, a single shot cluster of missile tubes. This whole exercise was to evaluate their performance, and I think they passed."
Admiral Ganote looked up from Repulse's flag bridge holoplot. The holoplot displayed his Aggressor forces, eight dreadnoughts and their escorts, as they raced toward the Defender force, composed of an equal amount of warships. He sighed slightly, Admiral Koenig wasn't trying anything fancy, he'd simply arrayed his fleet in a wall formation between Ganote's oncoming warships and Vernii.The range was five million kilometers, and even though his fleet was decelerating toward Vernii even as Koenig accelerated toward him, he was still travelling at 5100 KPS higher than Koenig. He walked back to his command chair and sat down, "Fleetwide orders: Present broadsides to the enemy, hold fire until four million kilometers."
Ganote's tactical officer approached him, hand pressed to the side of his headset. "Admiral, one of our recon drones just got a look at the rear of Koenig's force. Each of his dreadnoughts are towing several objects. Sensor returns aren't giving us a very clear picture yet, but CIC thinks they are recon and EW drones, there's just a lot of them. Their accel is also lot lower than it should be."
"Interesting...what's your take on it?"
"They probably are EW drones, it's going to make getting missiles through a lot harder. I recommend we hold our fire until three million kilometers. I don't know about why they are keeping their accel down though."
"Agreed. Com, signal the fleet new orders to hold fire until three million klicks, also inform Commodore Visconti to get his cruisers in tighter."
His tactical officer nodded and walked back to his station as the flag bridge's communications officer signaled the new orders. Minutes passed without anything new happening, and then suddenly threat signatures blossomed across the holoplot as sixteen hundred missiles erupted from the Defender force, followed by another vastly smaller salvo as the Defender dreadnoughts and their escorts fired off their own salvoes.
"Missile tracks, God there's thousands of them!"
"All ships open fire!"
PD laser fire swept out from Ganote's fleet, and hundreds of oncoming missiles died as lasers ripped through them. The range closed, and counter-missiles raced out, destroying several hundred more. Missile fire rippled from Ganote's dreadnoughts, a mere two hundred and eighty, joined by another couple hundred as the escort warships added their fire to it. Over nine hundred enemy missiles survived to make it to attack range, and space filled with the pricks of nuclear detonations. Underpowered lasers wasted themselves harmlessly against the dreadnought's shields, but their internal computers diligently noted which compartments should be destroyed and shut down their displays and equipment. The dreadnoughts suffered the most, the entire first massive salvo had been concentrated solely upon them, and Renown and Camperdown reeled out of formation as their impeller nodes shut down. Victoria and Rodney suffered serious "damage", and Ganote cursed as every display went dark and the lights shut down as Repulse was "destroyed". After a few seconds the holoplot came back online to allow him to observe the battle.
Koenig's fleet wasn't untouched, damage icons flickered next to a couple of his dreadnoughts, but they all were still combat effective.
The velocity of Ganote's fleet brought it's remaining units into energy range, and the icons of his light warships vanished from the plot as Koenig's ships ripped into them with understrength laser and graser fire. Ganote's three remaining dreadnoughts were no match, and two minutes later his entire force had been wiped out.
"Com signal from Bellerophon Sir."
"Route it to my screen."
Admiral Koenig's smile beemed at him, "I do apologize for any embarrasment you might have just suffered John."
Ganote smirked a bit, "Just what the hell was that you threw at us anyway?"
"BuShip's latest toy, a single shot cluster of missile tubes. This whole exercise was to evaluate their performance, and I think they passed."