NationStates Jolt Archive

The Cestus Asteroid Belt, for lack of a better name, had been known to exist since the first patrols of the Cestus Defence Force (Navy) to the outer world of Cestus Four and their subsequent scans beyond what was officially deemed the edge of Cestustian jurisdiction and the edge of the Cestus system – i.e. the orbit of Cestus Four itself. Little had been done about it for now, until developments in long-range scanners allowed the CDF to discover that the belt contained a large quantity of raw materials – gold, uranium, iron ore, and several other metals and minerals that would make an engineer drool at the resource capability. So once the resources became available, an Oceanic Class Transporter was dispatched with a complement of soldiers and engineers and the materials to construct a mobile mining outpost to test the quantity and quality of the potential goldmine. The results were incredibly positive, but large-scale production of the mining outposts was not available at that time. The outpost had been in position for almost half a year when fate took a swing in its direction…

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The Maxwell Outpost had a small complement of engineers and soldiers, numbering about a dozen each of both. The structure itself maintained no defences itself, but possessed the rudimentary scanning radar that assisted the tracking of incoming vessels, notably supply ships. So it was not necessarily unusual when Lance Corporal Peter Davidson picked up an incoming object on the radar scope. He leaned over and switched on his microphone, contacting his superior two decks down on the mining computer section. “Captain, we have an incoming vessel about two hundred and fifty clicks out and closing.”

Captain William Farrell looked up as the communication was patched down into his compartment and frowned in confusion at the message. Leaning over to his second-in-command, he cleared his throat. “I thought our next supply run came in next month?”

Sergeant Gregory Redford frowned as well. “So did I.”

Will turned back to his microphone and pushed the reply switch. “Davidson, are they transmitting the standard response beacon?”

Peter checked the radar once more, and then rechecked it again. “Um, actually no sir, they’re not. Shall I…”

Davidson went silent for a moment as a second blip appeared on the monitor screen, as if merging from the already present radar contact. He reached for the microphone again and opened his mouth to report this new development when he noticed that the speed of the second contact was alarmingly fast compared to the first. Davidson realised just moments before the hit, when he shouted, “Captain, I-”

Davidson never finished his sentence, as the missile slammed into the top of the spire-shaped mining outpost, the onboard nuclear warhead decimating the upper two floors of the structure and causing the atmosphere to vent at an alarming rate. The last action of Captain William Farrell was to activate the emergency distress beacon, before gripping his throat and falling to the floor, gasping desperately for oxygen that was no longer there.

The Amazonian Otari-Class corvette fired off another three missiles to finish the installation for good. Captain Jacob Taroli smiled with glee. Death was his specialty.
The Amazonian Rebels (or the Imperium Restoration as they preferred to be called) had been causing chaos everywhere recently. A branch of the military that had been dissatisfied with current governmental peaceful philosophies, the rebels had taken a chunk of the military forces of the FedAB and seperated, parting ways with the Federation and vowing to restore the Empire that had once long ago been the FedAB. The rebels had been surpressed initially by Federation forces, but had come back strong, and now were looking for resources to continue the fight against the Federation. The Cestus System's asteroid belt, barely guarded, seemed very promising, and attacking and securing it would be no problem as long as the rebel forces kept the Amazonians tied up in engagements in the Amazonian colonies.
Taroli had been a lower-ranking officer before branching out with the rebels, promised a good position with the new government if the insurgency was a success. And now he had been tasked with the important job of initial attack on the station...and his work had been done well. Taroli needed to stay in-system to wait for the policing fleet that would come in to ensure that the Cestans didn't interfere. If they did, they would be wiped out. The battleship Vortex would carry out that task.
Taroli deployed several Retribution interceptors to scout out the now-smoldering mining base. Reports came back quick-none alive, the mining outpost a wreck. The transports and fighting ships would be in soon. Taroli smiled. Another job well done.

The transmission from the colony took several hours to reach Cestus Three from its origin, and lasted merely a few seconds before vanishing from existence due to the destruction of its transmitter along with the station itself. A receiver station in the southernmost populated area of Cestus Three picked up the signal and relayed it to a satellite in orbit, which in turn directed it towards the Cestus Defence Force High Command complex in Cestus City. The transmission was quickly analysed before being sent to the upper echelons of Naval Command.

Admiral of the Line Samuel Rodriguez stepped off the moving conveyer that eased his transit through the long corridors of the High Command building. Using his legs for a change, he stepped briskly across the marble flooring to a large, vaulted door at the centre of the building that was flanked by two armed guards. Receiving a salute from both, he continued forward to be identified by a retina scan, gaining access to the inner sanctum from a large steel door nearly a foot thick. Rodriguez then took a guarded elevator down several floors, deep into the rock and stone which made up the ground below the complex. From here, the elevator opened directly into the Council Chamber, ten miles below the ground.

The Council was not in session, so the only person in the room at the time was the man that Admiral Rodriguez was due to meet was the Chairman of the Council, the man theoretically most powerful in the Cestus Dictatorship. Rodriguez stood to attention and saluted the man in his most professional and respectful manner. “Chairman Forsyth,” he said formally.

Frederick Forsyth looked up from his paperwork, and nodded to the Admiral. “Rodriguez,” he replied. “What have we got?”

Rodriguez took a seat. “Chairman, we have a situation in the asteroid belt.” With one hand, he fed a data slide into a slot on the table. A holographic starmap appeared in the centre of the table, rotating slowly. “Several hours ago, I received a short but strong distress signal from our mining outpost on the outskirts of the belt. We have lost contact now, and I wish to dispatch a detachment from the fleet to investigate?”

Forsyth thought for several minutes. “Danger level?”

“Medium,” was the reply. Rodriguez shrugged. “We don’t know what happened out there; could be a communication failure, could be an attack.” He leant forward. “I wish to dispatch a pair of Council Class Destroyers along with one of our Vanguard Cruisers to investigate and assess the situation.”

Forsyth considered it for a moment. It was a large expenditure, but the benefits of mining the belt far outweighed the costs. He nodded. “Very well, send the ships.”

OOC: Will post more tomorrow – need sleep now.

Five Bulwark-class transports jumped in-system, along with two Pinancle-class cruisers and three-Nova class frigates. The advance force had arrived. Captain Taroli immediately hailed the incoming ship group.

"This is the corvette Freelancer, the colony has been wiped out...none are left alive."
"Very good, Freelancer...we shall move our ships into position. THe rest of the force is on its way and should be here in another two hours. Out."

OOC: My ships do not have a FTL drive at the moment, so it will take quite a while for my vessels to arrive. In this case, I'm going to jump forward 24 weeks for my ships to arrive at a speed of 60,000 Km/h in the distance between Cestus Three and the asteroid belt. With this in mind, feel free to have fortified your position somewhat and established a base, seeing as it would give you time. IC post coming later.

The detachment had taken several weeks to get to the Cestus Asteroid belt from Cestus Three. At 60,000 Kilometres per hour, the vessels cut an impressive sight at they arced through space at an incredible rate, yet it still took 12 fortnights in standard Earth time to reach their destination. Now however, the three vessels were approaching the edge of the belt.

Captain Frederick Wilhelm stared moodily out of the forward observation window of the Bridge and shifted in his seat. Outside the window he could see clearly along the forward hull of the Vanguard Class Solar Cruiser ‘Manchester’ and, beyond it, the spinning grey rocks of the Cestus Asteroid Belt itself. Flanking the vessel on either side were the Council Class Destroyers ‘Davidson’ and ‘Goldberg’, manoeuvring into position with the larger vessel that would serve as the command vessel for the Detachment.

To his left, Commander Navjit Rampi stood to attention and saluted. “Captain, we have a confirmation report on long range scans. It appears out entire outpost has been destroyed.”

Wilhelm looked over at him, an expression of guarded alarm on his features. “Have we got any indication as to the attacker?”

Navjit shook his head. “Negative at this time, but we are still out of range for detailed scans in the area.” He turned to look out of the forward window. “It seems possible that we could have an alien presence, sir.” The young Commander’s voice was tinged with excitement that could not be hidden beneath his veil of professionalism; none of the personnel in the Navy had ever gone into battle against anything more than a few pirates that had taken to plaguing Cestustian shipping transport as it orbited Cestus Three to its destination.

Wilhelm was cooler; years of training in the Navy had done so. He felt more curiosity and a sense of determined professionalism that had built itself into his system. He did not reply, but simply continued to stare along the bow of the Cruiser as the retro rockets lit the metal in an eerie blue as the vessel slowed to a more manageable velocity.

“Contact sir, we’re in range!” The Radar Supervisor called out across the bridge. “We are receiving contacts on several ships, unknown configurations, likely to be of non-Cestustian construction.”

Wilhelm looked up. “Tactical,” he ordered. The forward glass was overlaid with a holographic grid system, showing a green indicator displaying the position of the Cestustian fleet, and several red indicators for the enemy contacts. Wilhelm sighed. “Mister Rampi, take us to Battle Stations and power up the weapons systems.”

“Aye, sir.” Rampi walked across the deck and stopped by a console, switching on the microphone and leaning into it. “All hands, this is the First Officer. Battle Stations, Battle Stations, all hands standby their positions, charge weapons and energise defence grids.”

The lighting turned a dim blue and a single ringing alarm sounded for several seconds. The Bridge crew strapped themselves into their seats as their monitors showed reports from different areas of the ship as they called in. Rampi watched one of the monitors as a diagram of the ship showed different areas change in colour from green to blue as they called in ready for battle. Navjit turned to the Captain. “Sir, we are ready for battle. The Destroyers report in also.”

“Very well, Mister Rampi,” Wilhelm acknowledged as he strapped himself into his own chair. “Communications, send the pre-prepared message.” He turned to the First Officer. “Standby fighters.”

The three vessels braked heavily as they slowed for contact with the unknown enemy. Inside the Vanguard, fighter crews prepared to standby their 50 Cosmo Tiger Fighter craft as they prepared for possible launch into combat.


This is the Cestus Defence Force Vessel 'Manchester', conducting investigations into a loss of communication with our mining colony. We request you identify yourselves.

OOC: Seeing as I'm most likely going to be damaged quite badly in the upcoming battle, would you mind me possibly bringing somebody else in as support for my forces?

Taroli scanned over the forces. His prefab mining complex alone may be able to handle this...but he decided he would commit forces.

"All ships, prepare for imminent engagement."

Taroli's corvette led the battle line, adjacent slightly to the Cestans.

"Cestan cruisers, this is the Imperium corvette Freelancer. We demand you change course and leave or we will open fire."

Captain Wilhelm listened as the Imperium Frigate responded to their message with a threat of violence. He snarled in disbelief. “They’re asking us to retreat?” He looked at Rampi. “They attacked our outpost and now they ask us to retreat?”

Turning back to the forward monitor, he watched the six opposing vessels as they manoeuvred adjacent to his own vessels in a classic battle line. He muttered to himself about impudence, before turning to the Communications Officer. “Send the following response,” the proceeded to dictate the reply. As the Officer nodded and turned back to his station, Wilhelm looked across at Rampi. “Executive Officer, launch all fighters and standby.”

Inside the flight deck of the Vanguard vessel, alarms rang throughout the length of the craft. Pilots ran to their fighters as they were prepped for launch and attack before they were committed to possible battle. With a roar of engines, Cosmo Tiger fighters roared out of the massive yawing forecastle of the craft and began forming into attack groups, the light for nearby stars glinting off the metallic frames of the craft and the nuclear torpedoes slung under the craft. On the Vanguard itself, its torpedo tubes slid open silently in the vacuum, followed by the swivelling of plasma turrets to target the battle line. The two Destroyers formed above and below the Vanguard, creating a moving wall as they slid parallel to the Imperium forces, their own torpedo tubes and turrets making ready for possible battle, their braking thrusters firing to stabilise a firing position against the moving enemy.

To: Imperium Corvette Freelancer
We will not remove ourselves from this location until the destruction of our mining outpost is investigated and concluded. Any fire upon Cestus Defence Force Vessels will be considered an act of war by your authority against the Dictatorship of Cestus Three, and will be met with swift retaliation.

Taroli smiled smugly with the response. These poor people...

"Deploy all base system ground guns and ready fighters and attack shuttles. Fire when ready."

Out of the Imperium Restoration battlefleet, ion rockets and positron torps were volleyed out. The streaking projectiles swung into the Cestan formation. Fighters and attack shuttles boiled out of the capital ships as the cruisers opened up with their heavy turbo-bolt laser cannons. The base turbo cannons on the mining outpost opened from retracted bays and began spilling out blue energy bursts.

"Set all capital ships to shields full."
"Yessir."

Across the capital ships, the bands of energy and particle shields enveploed the craft as countermeasure systems were activated.

Several alarms rang out across the bridge as the tactical display overlaid on the forward viewer showed masses on contacts spreading out from the Imperium battlefleet and accelerating towards the CDF detachment. The Radar Officer turned to the Captain. “Sir, we have incoming torpedo and rocket fire, massive strike, impact in thirty seconds, recommend evasive action.”

Wilhelm cursed silently; evasive action in a vessel this large was barely laughable. Still, they had to try and protect themselves. “Close the Blast Doors,” Wilhelm ordered. Along each of the windows and outer doors on the Vanguard Cruiser, heavy titanium doors slammed silently down across these weak points, providing some meagre increased security against the incoming weapons fire. Wilhelm turned to his Exec. “Mister Rampi, evasive action, full burn on retro rockets and vertical thrusters. All weapons banks fire at will, and engage with fighters.” He turned to the Communications Officer. “Send a message to High Command; we are engaged.”

The ‘Manchester’ and the two Destroyers burned their retro rockets with fierce fury, before engaging the thrusters along the top of the hull and pushing the vessels down. As such, several of the rockets and torpedoes flew over the top of the hull, their engine streaks leaving a thin trail in space. Many however impacted; the Cruiser was hit on the starboard broadside, rolling the vessel in their impacts against the armour. Another Destroyer took a full pounding to the rear starboard quarter, spinning out of control from the formation with its engines still burning full.

The ‘Manchester’ shook violently as it took the hits, the bridge crew being thrown across the vessel. Wilhelm looked up at one of the upper monitors to check the damage report – medium rate buckling to the starboard broadside and several minor hull breaches along the entirety of the vessel. Several casualties. They had got lucky, but a full hit on the broadside like what they just avoided would have caused some serious damage to the comparatively weaker CDF vessels.

Rampi turned to Wilhelm. “Sir, the ‘Goldberg’ is reporting its retro rockets stuck on full burn and unable to disengage pitch thrusters. They can’t re-orient themselves to fire at this time. The ‘Davidson’ managed to avoid the weapons fire and are ready to retaliate.”

Wilhelm nodded, repositioning himself. “All batteries, open fire godammit!” He yelled out.

The Vanguard Cruiser opened fire with its two upper hull plasma turrets, letting loose pulses of plasma bolts towards the Imperium battlefleet. The remaining undamaged Council Class Destroyer opened fire with its own turret, before both vessels turned through 180 degrees, halfway through the turn letting loose a full volley of six 1-Megaton nuclear torpedoes as they faced the Imperium fleet, which streaked towards the enemy. The 50 fighters that had launched from the vessel turned and began their burns towards the Imperium Battlefleet to launch their own shorter-range nuclear torpedoes.

Taroli stood at the bridge, watching the missiles come in.

"Countermeasures, activate!"

Interceptor rocket banks opened up on one frigate, spraying micro-rockets at the nuclear missiles. One missile made it through, but the corvette's jammer swerved the projectile off to the side. The plasma bolts burned into the shield banks, hitting the energy walls with force.

"All fighters and small craft, engage!"

The Typhoon-Assault shuttles broke into the midst of the Cestan fighters, opening their energy cannon banks and firing pulsing blue bolts at the enemy fighters. Swarms of interceptors flocked in, launching walls of fire. The heavy bombers and assault fighters blew past the fighter battle, homing target locks on the capital ships and firing off positron torpedoes. The small ships passed by the Cestan cruisers and rounded, volleying off another set of missiles before banking back out.
Taroli's fleet set their Repulsion Ion-wave engines to full, igniting the thrusters and setting into coordinated attack positions around the Cestan capital ships. One cruiser ripped open fire, its turbolaser turrets spewing blue fire from the barrels of the cannons. On the asteroid complex, the base guns began fire at the Cestan cruisers as ion rocket banks opened to begin fire at the fighters.

Wilhelm swore as the torpedoes were cut down before getting to impact anywhere near the Imperium capital ships. Aloud, he called, “Reload torpedoes and standby to fire again on the next turn.”

“Incoming fighters, sir!” the Radar Officer called out. Wilhelm looked up as the bombers blew in past the cruisers, unleashing their torpedoes on the Cruiser and the Destroyer. “Brace for impact!” he shouted, and was then thrown from his seat as the torpedoes detonated against his vessel.

The hail of positron torpedoes found their mark, and lit up the exterior armour of the ‘Manchester’ like a Christmas tree as it burned through the armour of the hull, and the turbolasers of the capital ships and the base guns began beating on the superstructure itself. The Destroyer ‘Davidson’ was hit in several places along its hull, ripping holes in the forecastle and tearing open the lighter armour like a tin meeting a can opener. Wilhelm looked up at the viewer as the Destroyer faltered on its axis. “Damage report on all ships!” he called.

Rampi turned to one of the monitors momentarily. “Sir, forward armour is down to twenty five percent of structural integrity, and we have minor breaches on several decks of the starboard side. ‘Davidson’ reports that she has lost her torpedo decks and her retro rockets, and is unable to manoeuvre at this time. ‘Goldberg’ is still unable to stabilise her spin at this time.”

“What about our fighters?” Wilhelm called.

The fighters themselves were in a hell of a mess. 20 out of the 50 fighters were already destroyed by the assault-shuttles, and another 15 were tied up with being attacked. 15 managed to get through the line however, and managed to get into their maximum effective range before turning around, launching a total of ninety 500-kiloton nuclear torpedoes at the capital ships of the Imperium before turning back to the fighter fray and engaging with their micro-laser guns on the assault shuttles. The ‘Manchester’ and the ‘Davidson’ let loose once more with their plasma turrets, with the ‘Davidson’ reduced to a sitting target with no way to manoeuvre. The cruiser swung through 180 degrees once more, letting loose a further two 1 Megaton torpedoes in the direction of the larger vessels.

The countermeasure systems aboard one Nova-class frigate weren't fast enough to get all of the missiles in time. Slamming through the frigate's particle shields, the missiles that made it through the fire, countermeasure rockets, and shields smashed into the quantanium-laced durasteel. Puching holes in the superstructure, bulkheads and corridors were opened to vacuum, exposing contents to space before emergency force fields were activated aboad the frigate to contain the damage.
Abord the Freelancer, Taroli swore. He hated damage of all types.

"Return fire at those fighters, all cannons!"

The turbolaser banks of the corvette swung around on the fighters, too occupied on chasing the shuttles. The cannons fired off rounds, stinging bolts that streaked towards the fighter formations.

Wilhelm swore as he watched his fighter picked off by the turbolasers of the capital ships. He saw the numbers drop and drop until none were left; 50 fighters and their brave pilots completely wiped out. He slumped back into his chair on the damaged bridge, looking around at the broken consoles and equipment. He turned to Rampi. “We need to break off our attack,” he said. “We can’t stand this much more.”

“Sir!” one of the officers called out. “The ‘Davidson’ is firing her main engines!”

Wilhelm looked around. With a loss of her retro rockets and partial manoeuvring thrusters, her main engines were operational and she was using them now as she turned towards the Imperium capital ships. The Communications Officer turned to him. “Sir, the ‘Davidson’ is signalling. She is going to ram the Imperium’s largest vessel in order to give us time to disengage.”

Wilhelm looked around again at the monitor as the massive 250 metre long, 50 metre wide Council Class Destroyer accelerated forward towards the Imperium ships, her yaw opened like a banana peel after the impact of the proton torpedoes. Wilhelm looked at the Communications Officer. “Get me a link to the ‘Davidson’ now!”

The Officer tried for a moment, but then shook his head. “Sorry sir, but they appear to have turned off their receiving equipment.”

Wilhelm sighed, feeling helpless as he watched the Destroyer continue accelerating towards the enemy. “Move us towards the ‘Goldberg’ and instruct her to disengage her engines for grappling procedures.”

Rampi nodded. Along the top of the Cruiser, a hatch slid open soundlessly before a large grappling hook raised into position, swivelling to target the spinning ‘Goldberg’, the Cruiser turrets still firing at the same time as the ‘Davidson’ continued on her ramming target.

The damaged frigate of the Imperium Restoration forces already saw the danger. Activating what little power was left in engines, the frigate began to position itself in place to intercept the suicide-course capital ship. The shuttles and fighters continued the assault on the other remaining cruisers, flaring torpedoes and rockets before breaking off for more passes.

The 'Davidson' registered the incoming frigate and analysed the situation, before realising that the vessel would intercept them before they could hit their target. So, the Captain made his decision. Three minutes later, the Council Class Destroyer erupted in a massive nuclear explosion half a mile wide. The Vanguard and the remaining Destroyer were by now outside of that blast range, and the 'Manchester' had succeeded in grappling the 'Goldberg' and correcting her spin, before burning her main engines at full power for the edge of the asteroid belt and Cestus Four, still taking impact damage from the torpedoes launched by the fighters, the Cruiser's own guns still blazing, this time attempting to take out the swarms of fighters attacking them.

OOC: Consider this me bugging out before I lose too much - it seems you win the Asteroid belt...for now. :)

The fighters pulled off, seeing the enemy moving out. The enormous explosion tore through the intercepting frigate, ripping into the reactor bays and destroying the capital ship utterly.