NationStates Jolt Archive

one thousand seven hundred ships sat ready for the order to move, every single one a twenty five thousand ton [gross mass] cruiser, and two hundred more of the same waited at the jump point as sentries, preventing any other ships from leaving. several hundered troop transports waited further out and would come through once the fleet had taken control of the system on the far side of the jump point.

Michal Alexander Ferdenand, captain of the Bitter Triumph class cruiser [insert ship name here]*, of the 5th squadron of the 9th battle group of this massive fleet watched his screens, making last minute checks while listening to 'ready' reports from the various officers in charge of the ship's sub-systems.

fifteen years ago, after much deliberation, the Prince of Angloia had ordered the construction of this fleet. with only one habitable planet, and that small and inhospitable, the constant population increase was straining the principalities resources. some relief was to be found in orbital stations, but they required atmosphere, raw materials, and constant maintenance. essentially, they were not enough.

so, only one option was really available. expansion. the principality faced a choice: a dead end, erratic jump to a system that would have met their needs, were it not for the fact that they could not support a colony there due to the nature of the jump point, or the invasion of Incognitia.

the latter had been chosen, as one of the prince's adviser had put it; "it's not like we don't have the raw materials and manpower to expend in such an endeavor. even most forms of defeat will help"

and so it had come to this.

"captain, Commodore Valkese's compliments, 5th squadron goes through in ten minutes."

"very well, Lieutenant, response in kind, orders recieved" he acknowledged, then clicked the intercom switch on his seat's arm-rest, "all hands, prepare for jump in ten minutes."

ahead of them, the first battle group's 1st through 5th squadrons, twenty five ships in all, reached their maximum functional velocity, cut their drives, coasted into the jump point, engaged FTL drives, and vanished. a few seconds later, 6th through 10th squadrons did the same, followed by the first half of the second battle group. there would, inevitably, be some scatter upon arrival at the other end due to minor variation in velocity, but each ship was, at least in theory, moving fast enough to clear the jump point at the other end before the next wave came through.

some time passed, and at thirty seconds, a warning sounded throughout the ship, followed by a countdown from ten.
5....
4....
3....
"engage FTL drive on my mark."
"mark!"
0.

the ship, and it's sisters in the 5-9th of the Angolian Grand Fleet, winked out of existence.




*the clerk in charge of the paperwork for commissioning the ship had, for some reason, failed to enter a name. it got through the entire system before it was picked up on, and with so many new ships under construction, the officials responsible for such things decided to leave it alone. all official documentation referred to it by it's registration number, "PASS BT-1027", anyway.

There had long been fears amongst the Incognitian High Command regarding the Angolian Principality.
Ever since they had contacted this nation through the jump-point, the realisation that they were a dead-end, trapped behind Incognitia, had raised fears that they would at some point want control over their access to the outer galaxy – meaning the Incognitian system.

These fears, while waxing and waning over time, had never truly subsided. In the midst of the Uplift War the intervention of the Border Guard in the battle of Cyone had come as a real shock – they were expected to be on the border at all times.

Equally, as soon as the war came to an end, the reconstruction of the country and the economy focussed in a significant way on the Navy. For the Council it was a way to kick-start the economy, and also a way to ensure the war would not re-commence.
One of many means employed to re-unite the people were efforts to focus them outwards, both on the possibilities of colonising the empty system, and on the threats posed by external powers.

As a result when traffic through the jump-point ceased, and the scout sent to check conditions on the other side did not return, a few actions were taken automatically according to procedure.

First: All non-military traffic through all three jump-points was ceased, with immediate effect.
Second: All naval and military leave was cancelled; all ships in for repair and re-fit were readied to ship out as soon as possible; all ships in work-up trials were ordered to full readiness.
Third: the nearly completed colony ships for Anonymosa, the empty system, were hurriedly prepped. Terraforming was incomplete, but it would be possible to live with merely a breathing apparatus outside and a basic dome over a dwelling.
Fourth: The Council gathered Fleet Command to discuss options and plans.

A long and stormy meeting, primarily because Fleet Command’s preferred option was seen as ‘crazy’ by most of the Council, it ended with a grudging acceptance of the Dawes Plan, as it was named, and an order to carry it out to the best of the Fleet’s ability.

The Dawes Plan came in three parts. Actions at and around the gate; actions in the Inner System; actions in Anonymosa system.
The main Fleet action to defend Incognitia was to take place within the Belt; as a result most of the Fleet was to be gathered there, and swiftly.
Of a total of 170 battleships, 120 would be gathered around the Belt. From a total of 1060 cruisers fit for service, 750, with perhaps a handful more, would also gather by the Belt.
The remaining 50 battleships and 250 of the 300 cruisers were headed for the Angolian transfer point. Some were already there, of course. The rest had been selected from the closest, in terms of both position and current delta-v, to being able to reach it.
The last 50 cruisers were strung out between Incognitia and Anonymosa. The colony ships would follow as soon as they were able.
With the decisions taken, and the plan set in motion, a deceptive calm set in. Now they could only wait.

Anonymosa System
The Year’s Midnight popped out of the jump point. Commodore Jennifer Morton surveyed what she saw on her screens. She had 50 cruisers, several ‘fleet tenders’ so-called, which ‘mined’ the gases necessary for fusion from gas giants, and the first of the colony ships; the remainder were still en route.
And now she had to plan for the worst…she had to plan a defence of the Anonymosa system if the Incognitian system fell.
First order of business was to start the tenders on their mining duties. There was a gas giant 20 AU out from the star, fortunately on this side.
Then her orders specified setting up defences around the jump point while the colony ships continued to the planet; so she ordered the cruisers to begin dragging sizeable bits of dirt out of the Kuiper Belt. They would place sizeable objects near the jump point; create a minefield of sorts which any incoming vessels must navigate. It would do nothing to a ship that came through slowly; but something coming through at high speed would be given a fairly high probability of impacting an ice-ball.
It would take a little while, but they had some time, or at least they should…after all, no-one had yet reported incoming enemy forces…

Incognitia System, Angolia Jump Point, Same time
Task Force Red Hot Poker was assembling. A lot of mathematical calculations had been done, and as soon as the last members arrived and were refuelled they would be ready any time invaders appeared to begin accelerating towards the jump-point, to pass through it at about half of delta-v, also known as just over half an AU per day. This would take, at full acceleration, 50,000 km and just over 51 minutes.
Of course, they ideally didn’t want to impact an Angolian ship coming the other way, so they initially had a watching brief, and they weren’t going anywhere until the remainder of their ships joined them.

Leading Hand John Oates was on watch, on the forward sensors for the Lambda class battleship Omega. As he gazed at his screens, he saw first one, then another, and within a couple of moments as many as 25 contacts come up. First in a lurid, blinking yellow…then as sensors corroborated and schematics came up, they went to red.
“L-T! Enemy spotted. First wave 25 cruisers, second wave just coming through, looks to be the same size.”
The watch officer, Lt Thomas Sturgeon, flicked his screen over to view the incoming.
“Very well.”
He picked up the tannoy mic. “All hands! All hands! General Quarters! General Quarters! Enemy cruisers spotted. This is not a drill.”
He then replaced the mic and turned in his chair.
“Comms, message back to Fleet Command. Invasion confirmed; Red Hot Poker anticipates contact in under an hour.
Enemy coming through in waves of 25 cruisers. High delta-v of over 900km/s or approx 0.5 AU/day means our contact will be brief indeed.”
As he finished, Admiral Oli Talbot, commander of the Task-Force, arrived on the Bridge. After a quick de-brief he began reviewing the simulations that the computers and weapons techs were already beginning to churn out on how to achieve the most damage against the enemy as they went zipping past.
Contact would come soon.

OOC: Dead?

ooc: possibly. very much stalled due to the evils of trying to figure out what the hell actually happens next in a hard Sci Fi environment...

OOC: You'll have to fight an action against the Belt Fleet if you want to hold the system for any length of time. On the other hand, you also get to choose the time and place (as restricted by your fuel capacity, of course) to do it because Incog is pinned to his worlds to a certain extent. If he wants to defend them from you, he must attack you. If you want to take them and hold them, you must attack him. In space, there isn't that much 'terrain', so unless you decided to be tremendously stupid and attack him in the belt (ships can hide only if there is a mass blocking them and their emissions to all of your sensors, and a belt is a good place for that, as is the backside of a planet). Probably you try to bypass the fleet and make them come to you if they want to fight you. Remember, you can come from any of three dimensions, or a mix of the two. Yes, it'll take time and fuel to burn "vertically", but if you can pass by his defenders inside the belt by doing it, it might be worth it.

ooc: actually, no, the problem's more specific than that. it's when my guys come flying out of the jump point at some high velocity, get shot up a lot by his large lasers, etc.

basically, trying to work it out is a headache due to angles etc.

in other words: the work factor outweighs the fun factor by Way too much for it to be worth the effort.

that, and i useually write this kinda stuff at stupid hours of the morning.

I'm not up to figuring out that kinda stuff at that time of day.

Ick. I didn't see anything that demanded that specific of a response, though. Just talk about how your computers do all the combat manouvring or something though, that takes a lot of the headache out of it.

Yeah, I just want to see some ships get blown up.

OOC: since I've been informed (by Anj) that his ships won't be manouevering much I can safely assume my ships can let rip :D
Oh, also, having reconsidered the range of large lasers, I've edited my General Quarters to immediate rather than 20 minutes delayed. You don't hang about when the enemy's already in range, right?

IC: It had taken around five minutes for most of the ships in the Fleet to prepare for combat.
Every combat vessel carried five large lasers, and every single one of those large lasers was in range of the enemy vessels.
One and a half thousand large lasers, all in range of the enemy, all being prepped to fire at an enemy passing by like a sitting duck, unable to return fire in the entire 50 minutes it was in range.
"Word to all ships: fire when ready."
The Fleet was already split down in to various mutually supporting sub-units, with the smallest comprising approximately ten vessels. Each was to focus it's fire on one enemy vessel until that vessel was disabled or out of range, then switch fire to a new target.
As the first lasers fired, both silent and invisible to the human eye, they were represented on the bridge screens.
It was sad, to see the results of human artifice and so much labour being wantonly destroyed...but to see your enemy's invasion force being hit hard? That was sweet indeed.

PASS BT-1027 and it's squadron mates in the 5-9th came through the jump point far enough back down the line not to suffer the full wrath of the enemy's lasers. the first and second battle-groups, however, were not so fortunate. while their crews probably still lived after the vicious assault delivered by the Incognitian fleet, the ships themselves were stripped to the hull, and often deeper. salvageable, but ballistic and, for all intents and purposes, dead in space. in most cases even the life boats were stripped away.


in hind sight it was blatantly obvious that something such as this would happen, for were not some two hundred Angolian cruisers sitting on station at the 'home' end of the jump point to do much the same? given a course which brought them into range, Angolian cruisers had a much heavier weight of fire. unfortunately, it was made up entirely of medium lasers, shorter range, individually lower powered, though much faster firing and more numerous. given the advantage...

still, Ferdenand slammed his fist into the arm of his chair "Damnit! how did no one see this coming?"

of course, the reason was simple. over confidence, flawed basic assumptions, and, to some extent, compromised operational security.

and now they had no choice, given course, fuel, ranges, and weapons, but to weather this assault and continue on.

"damn it." he muttered once more, as another ship was stripped and one of the Incognitian groups re-targeted once more, this time onto members of the 15th battle-group

what solace there was could be found only in the fact that the ballistic lead ships would cover the approach of those following from similar devastating ranged fire when the Angolian fleet encountered the Incognitian main force.

assuming they didn't physically run into anything significant before then, of course.

The fire streamed down on the last of the Angolian cruisers as they sped on into the inner system.

"Cease firing across the Fleet!"
Admiral Talbot's voice struck out across the Bridge, and the relayed order was swiftly obeyed.

They had done less damage than he had hoped, but been so much more successful than he had feared.
Nearly 10% of the enemy fleet was disabled or heavily damaged, as far as they could tell. For one third of the Incognitian Fleet in an action where the enemy couldn't fire back, it was less than ideal.

However, and here he ceased his pondering, they had a job to do. A job which would hopefully render any actions in the Incognitian system moot. All their projections of the size of the Angolian Fleet left no more than one hundred enemy ships on the other side.
Despite that, he would not waste the ships he had; at least, not before they'd had a good look at the other side. Intelligence could be wrong after all.

"Form up for transfer."
"Aye sir." picking up the mic "All ships to transfer formation."

It took a few minutes. Then again, what were a few minutes when the fate of the world hung in the balance?

A report was radioed back to Incognitia, at the heart of the system; Task Force Red Hot Poker readied itself; and then they began accelerating up to speed to jump through at 1/2 delta-v.
It would take 53 minutes and 13 seconds for the first elements to appear through the jump-point, in the Angolian system.
They used the break to allow the crews to stand down swiftly, fully expecting to be in combat once they reached the other side, possibly for some hours.
Going through, much as their unwelcome guests had come, in groups of 25, they would make 12 groups. Each group had 4 battleships amongst the 25, except the two command groupings in the middle, which had 5.
Their spacing was only a few seconds, and the entire Task Force should be through and in combat in the space of less than a minute.

"Ifni help all those who are going to die here - but we will not swerve from doing our duty."