Book 4: Chapter 173: Flames of War

Book 4: Chapter 173: Flames of War

USD: 12 days after awakening.

Location: 92 Pegasi, Nu Crateris Jump Point Emergence, A3123Y

The enemy fleet contracted as A31 surged forward, almost as if it could sense something was amiss. Amys eyes remained riveted on the tactical display, keenly observing the unfolding action. From what she knew, they should have had little if any data on Starlight Revolutions units, and she hoped they would keep it that way.Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only

The relatively short range and low speeds between the two fleets all but guaranteed a decisive encounter. Drone units and light elements on both sides fanned out to protect the flanks of their larger brethren.

No more missile salvos erupted from the Corpo fleet; however, as they drew closer, the Corpo battleship began to unleash its primary beam weapons. Coherent light slammed into A31s new Double Layered D-field, illuminating the curved shield of matter sandwiched between two powerful magnetic fields.

More pinpoints of heat erupted as the other inner-system class vessels in the Corpo fleet poured on their own heavy laser weapons into the hard-to-miss battle station. The plasma sandwiched between the multilayered field rapidly increased in temperature until it was glowing with the white hot-fire of a star.

On the ships status screen ripples on the double D-field plasma layer were visible as impact points from the incoming lasers. The defense screen was reporting almost 230 heavy laser impact points across the spectrum as the Corpo fleet continue to pour on the attack. Almost half of that came from the massive energy arrays from the battleship, but the three inner system cruisers were lending considerable amounts of power on their own.

They dwarfed the outer system battlecruiser that had set back in the battleships shadow. All the outer system ships were still out of range, and Amy knew that none of them carried the high-powered heavy lasers that the capital ships could muster.

Primary D-field holding at 45% saturation, Abbey said calmly. Amy nodded and couldnt help but notice that Abbey had grown much more professional in her starship command.

A faint shudder coursed through the station as power systems struggled to keep up with the tremendous energy expenditure required to maintain the stations defenses.

Primary batteries preparing for fire, Abbey announced.

Amy watched the stations power reserves dip as reactors strained to keep up with the sudden demand. The large laser arrays sprang to life, with energy capacitors surging to feed the weapon systems. Thick metallic heat sinks absorbed wasted energy, protecting sensitive components.

Flashlight drones and flanking forces ready for volley fire as per operations plan, Amy said quickly.

Abbey nodded. Opening Fire.

Nearly seven times as much heavy laser energy flashed back toward the Corpo fleet. Unlike the Corpos, they had spread their fire to focus on the more vulnerable outer-system warships. Heavy lances of death crashed into their relatively light D-fields, punching through them like they werent there. The thick beams carved gashes and wounds throughout the enemy fleet with wild abandon.

Dozens of cruisers and destroyers erupted into balls of plasma as they were skewered. Only the quick thinking of a few more experienced captains managed to prevent a complete disaster as they deployed chaff canisters. The refractive shards reflected most of the energy away, but Amys plan wasnt over yet.

Chaff detected, redirect fire to enemy battle cruiser, Amy announced.

Abbey nodded, and suddenly the diffused weapon energy curved inward, converging on the battle cruiser that had led the Corpo retreat from Nu Crateris. The entire SR battlegroup redirected its fire with machine-like precision. The battle cruisers D-field lit up before dying in a sudden flare. Hundreds of gouges dug into its heavy hull plating while chaff canisters deployed only to have their contents vaporized.

With the battle cruisers control elements fizzling out and power lost, Abbey redirected their weapon fire toward the next targets: Corpo IS-type destroyers. Although smaller than the battle cruiser, their defense suites were high-performance and they carried their own heavy laser arrays making them a threat.

Amy stared at the tactical screen, her heart pounding. PDC-L range, 23 seconds. Lightshows are ready.

Dozens of drones had perished, their relatively light D-fields flickering out even from near misses; hostile heat scouring their hulls and burning through their plating.

The SR destroyers and corvettes fared much better, their single-layer D-fields holding up firmly under the assault. However, some missiles managed to weave through the defenses and strike unsuspecting ships that had been preoccupied. The chaotic nature of the Corpo missile targeting meant that certain units received far more attention than othersa few unlucky ones found themselves swarmed by dozens or even hundreds of missiles due to higher signatures or clearer pictures captured by missile systems.

67 units lost, Abbey reported, the tactical screen noting the losses for Amy to read.

All at once, the Corpo fleet erupted from their chaff cloud, a wedge of IS-type ships leading the charge. Lances of light flashed between the two groups of warships in every direction. The battleship took the brunt of the damage; a volley of heavy lasers fired from distant Flashlight drones focused on its bow, creating an iridescent dome of fire as the ships plowed towards A31.

Amy watched as dozens of units dropped from the fleet screen during the fierce attack; however, it was not without cost for the Corpos. Their lighter elements died quickly, even while trying to hide behind sturdier vessels. As the hostile formation tore away at the space separating them from A31, their formations rear turned into a ragged mess of tattered and broken hulls.

Abbey frowned, her eyes narrowing in thought. No NAI handshake request. I think their ship systems are simply at the same level of technology as ours.

Amy realized that Abbey had been searching for a response from the enemy fleet since she had asked earlier. She was about to inquire how they could manage that without a NAI when the lights in the CIC flickered. The rooms lighting stabilized before it dimmed, casting everything in a deep red hue that painted objects with stark relief.

The stations status screen indicated that their defense field had reached saturation in several areas, allowing beams to periodically punch through the weakened spots and into the stations armored bow. Although the much smaller inner field depleted the heavy beams energy, fiery slashes still tore across armor plates, leaving painful gouges. Some PDC batteries erupted in flame while sensitive detection components melted away.

The enemy flagship faced a similar fate as the Flashlight drone array and their fleets heavy laser dug into its Double D-Layer field, not just on its bow. Space shimmered with heat around the vessel as damage accumulated, and lasers found weak points to burn through and penetrate the ships armor.

As ships entered railgun range and flashed past one another, SR units reversed course to burn hard and maintain distance. Deadly rods fired at point-blank range pierced both sides vessels. A single hit from heavier batteries could annihilate an SR corvette or destroyer - much the same for every Corpo ship except their IS-Cruisers and Battleship.

However, there were far more heavy railguns within the SR fleet due to its two hundred remaining Stabber class heavy railgun drones.

The light railguns caused far less damage, but were much more numerous. Both groups of ships reeled from the assault, but as the units diverged from the jousting pass, only the Corpo Battleship and Cruisers remained operational.

388 units, lost. Abbey said flatly. Amy could see the girls hands squeezing her console arm rests with tension.

Amys stomach sank at the loss, but as she examined the state of the remaining Corpo ships as they continued forward, she realized that they had won.

All four of the remaining Corpo warships were streaming atmosphere and had devastating wounds lining their kilometer long hulls. Charred and burnt wreckage filled space behind them as more metal sheered off or shook itself loose as secondary explosions rippled like a wave.

Still, the massive vessels didnt die immediately. Return fire continued to stab out, laser mounts slagging themselves as heatsink connections failed, and power circuits released what stores of power they had left. The sputtering death throes of the fleet took the lives of more drone units, but the concentrated fire did not let up.

Life pods escaped from all four ships, and then one cruiser erupted in a titanic explosion that rippled down its spine and gutted it into a spinning hulk. The other two died much more quietly as power systems were disconnected by growing, gaping holes. Fusion reactors and anti-matter stores were ejected into space as a safety measure, rending their defensive and offensive systems inert.

The battleships double d-layer looked more like a burned rag, as plasma poured from it and fell behind the ship as the vessels four powerful linear drives continued to push it into a close embrace with A31.

Heavy railgun batteries lashed out, but the battleships weapon systems had lost their capability to track and divested their deadly payloads into space. A31 flashed by the ship, twisting to continue to face it head on. The battle stations forty triple 400mm railgun batteries fired in a single salvo. Heavy rods dug massive gouges in the crippled battleship from bow to stern, making it resemble an abused piece of holey-cheese. The wreckage failed to detonate, but its drives died and the ship fell into an uncontrolled spin and yaw.

Amy held her breath as she expected the vessel to explode, but it did not. Instead, its weapon systems finally went silent and a frantic plea for surrender arrived.

Abbey looked at her and she gave a brief nod before pulling up her communication suite to accept.