THROUGH FIRE AND ICE

KrankysFirebrand48

Part one

Admiral Blue was half-asleep in the medical room, soothed by the gentle humming and vibration of the HMS Pride. He had lost complete track of time. Both in the sense that he didn’t know what standard planetary time his body was set to or how long it was since he had defeated TIE at the FTL magnet. Someone nudged his shoulder. Blue forced his gaze upwards unto Fleet Admiral Estrix. Her face betrayed little emotion as usual, but Blue couldn’t help but notice a subtle sense of pity in the way she looked at him. It was patronising. Or maybe he was just imagining it. After all, his eyesight had never been the same since the explosion. Since she remained silent Blue decided to ask her first.
‘Achieved any more victories, Fleet Admiral?’
’We’ve destroyed another dockyard. I assigned Commodore Ignis to eliminate a military research base at Lacfillio. She should have secured the objective soon. There’s one more dockyard we need to strike. So far we’ve been unable to allocate additional resources after our first assault failed.’ she explained with a slight tone of weariness.
’Ah, the Dionysus system. Can we bring the battlegroup?’
’Admiral, if you’re so interested I will make sure the full report lands next to your hospital bed at once. This is not the matter I came here to discuss.’ Estrix said sharply. ’The admiralty and the Chief of Defence have a meeting. We’ve already discussed the campaign. I assume you were in no condition to pick up a report so let me deliver this information to you: they want to demote Grand Admiral Stantine.’
Blue looked at Extrix with seriousness but she showed no sign of discontent or indignation.
’I am opposing the preposition myself,’ she said, ’but Fleet Admiral Phoenix has suggested you take the role as Grand Admiral. Your strategic efforts have been outstanding so far and it better suits your skill set… according to the Fleet Admiral.’
Blue tried to convince himself that he had a duty to uphold on the frontlines. But he was aware of his own intent and pushed it aside to embrace his true desire. Being Grand Admiral would allow him to be safe in some command centre far away from battle. Far away from all the death.
’Grand Admiral Stantine is an excellent tactician. He insists on taking command of ship groups and being present for the battles himself. I think he’d be more comfortable in my position.’
’I don’t think you understand how much that man sacrificed to gain his current position.’ Estrix responded, ’He was practically raised to be an admiral. He never had a choice. You really wish to punish a man of duty? Everything he’s known is to sacrifice for the greater good and you want to rip the place he earned away from him.’ Estrix spoke slowly and coldly but with an edge to the words.
’You speak of the greater good. Then let the admiralty adapt in a way that will end this war faster.’ Blue responded while hardening his face. Estrix squinted at him and paused for a few seconds as if imposing judgement.
’You’re a coward, Admiral.’
’I understand your dislike of caution but it is no excuse to misplace Stantine. He is reckless and emotional. And you believe that his emotion cannot be sacrificed for the lives of my crew?’
Estrix scoffed. With Blue in a hospital bed, she could continue gazing down at him as if she was an unremorseful parent looking at her child. Perhaps she was tired or she decided it was a waste of time. Either way she had had enough and left, leaving a holopad on the table next to the admiral.

Orange light cast into the bridge of the TIE warship Redemption as Bastonian railguns struck one of his ships and tore through it. The Lacfillio system he was defending did not have a sun near its centre. Instead, Lacfillio was filled with the presence of a massive black hole with a bright accretion disk. It was within this system TIE had constructed a military research facility which Bastonia had sent a small task to eliminate. Hoscian was caught up in the battle with neither inferior nor superior forces. So far he had suffered heavy losses from the Bastonian artillery tactics as he was waiting almost idly for his turn. The Bastonian task force now was very close to the black hole. Their shapes were beginning to morph in the distance.
’All ships: full burn forward and initiate an orbital manoeuvre. PD craft should be at the front and ready all strike craft.’
’The Humiliator cannot comply, sir. Their main engines can’t be repaired. Neither can the Retaker or t-’
’Leave them.’

The warships Redemption’s main sublight plasma drive fired up and engulfed the debris behind it in a blue drive plume as Hoscians strike group followed. They closed in on the enormous black hole as Bastonian shells whipped past. Even the smallest hit could threaten to cripple a ship enough to be unable to escape the black hole Lacfillio. The accretion was close and cast a light so strong into the bridge that Hoscian and his crew were completely blind, trusting the computer to guide them in. As they got close they could feel the G-forces pulling on their bodies. The ships were shaking as the gargantuan black shape passed and obstructed the Bastonians. The were moving in an orbit around the black hole away from the enemy. It was a slingshot manoeuvre right into the rear of the enemy formation. Behind them, a couple of torch plumes emerged. The hostile ships flickered between reflecting the intense light of the plasma disk and flying in the shadow of the Imperial task group. They were Bastonian attack corvettes of the Redeemer-class and they were in pursuit. They were significantly quicker. Plasma weapons fired in bright blue flashes and torpedoes dropped down from the hull before catapulting off towards their doomed targets. Imperial point defences intercepted a couple before two struck the TIE light cruiser Korikans rear. Its engines went dark and it fell out of formation. Hoscian could only see it as a black shape, a shadow that fell backwards out of sight. The corvettes intercepted it and devoured its hull with plasma fire as they passed at ridiculous speeds. The light cruiser fired its plasma accelerators and launched every available missile. The Bastonian attack corvettes pushed their drives to the limit and evaded in multiple directions, throwing out all the PD ammo they had. Missile after missile connected with more than half of the corvettes. The rest continued forward and struck a TIE frigate's engines. The frigate fell out of formation just as the Korikan had. After finally being able to read the display Hoscians targeting officer exclaimed:
’Shit! They’re up our ass. We still have 4 hostiles in pursuit!’
’Will we continue a stable orbit if we cut our engines?’ Hoscian shouted over the rumbling and vibrating of the whole ship, not able to tell anymore what direction he was facing.
’No, sire.’ the lead navigation officer yelled back, "We'll be at a safe distance from Lacfillio for 2 minutes with how tight our orbit is.’
Maybe Hoscian was in awe because he became silent. Or perhaps his voice was drowned out by the noise. But in reality he was quelling his uncertainty. Hoscian knew that hesitating brought them, his people, closer to defeat and his crew closer to death. With a knot in his stomach, Hoscian yelled: ’This is a command only regarding this ship. Cut the main drives and turn us 180 degrees now! Bring all forward weapons to bare!’
The Bastonians fired more torpedoes. However, the brightest drive plume, that belonging to the Redemption flickered off. The ship began turning while still flying away from the corvettes, bringing its massive forward armament against the corvettes. Point defence intercepted every missile except one that struck the side of the ship instead of the engine. A storm of plasma now came down upon the corvettes. Each strike superheated them to the point that they could no longer operate and spun out of control and began their descent into the gaping black hole. The Redemption, facing backwards, was getting alarmingly close to the accretion and it was showing as the cruiser almost erupted into a fireball. The shaking and light on the bridge was even more intense, almost throwing all the crew out of his seat. The shaking threw the sweat off of Hoscians face. The navigator turned the main drives against the black hole and put it into full burn. He could not see his display, so he operated on muscle memory alone. Gravity stretched on the ship and on Hoscian as he was dragged onto the steel floor. The ship groaned and shook as pieces from the damaged side loosened and threw themselves into the singularity. The ship pushed itself back into stable orbit, catching up with the rest of the fleet which now only consisted of the Redemption, two destroyers and four frigates.

KrankysFirebrand48

Part two

Blue was only present in the meeting through his voice. His likeness did not appear in the form of a hologram as usual because he was still confined to a bed or a chair. Stantine was present at the standard high command meeting room who had a serious expression on his face. Blue noticed that most of his hair had been shaved, having chosen a buzz cut to relate to his marines.
’The HMS Lokion is outdated equipment and is confined for a defensive role only. When you provide me with the warships I requested I will show my usefulness.’
The Chief of Defense leaned forward. He was significantly older and more experienced than Stantine. Stantine thought he was no better than the “couch admirals” in the embassy's media. He had written a book in warfare theory but Stantine thought he was praised for writing down mere apparents.
’The Grand Admiral’s tasks are too saturated.’ the Chief of Defense said, ’He will make decisions on a strategic level for the whole navy. You, Rollington, are an excellent tactician.’
’I have only displayed skill and loyalty against the bloodcult and imperial remnants. I have never fai-’
’While commanding a single battle group.’ the Chief of Defence interrupted, speaking quietly. ’And while being present. This isn’t a demotion… we’re handing you the position you gave yourself, Grand Admiral.’
Estrix sighed quietly through her holographic avatar as if she was about the explain something complicated to a child and said: ’With all due respect, sir, Stantine has thrived in both roles. The lack of regulation on his deployment has caused this issue.’
’No. Let me take the fight to them.’ Stantine said with a sudden burst of energy. ’I will support this proposition, given that I will replace Estrix as Fleet Admiral over the Reckoning.’
’Consequently Admiral Blue takes the position of Grand Admiral.’ Phoenix added. The Chief of Defence responded:
’Then that’s the consensus. Perha-’
Before Estrix could correct him, he was interrupted by Stantine standing up with hesitation. ’Get the paperwork done. My representative speaks for me from here.’ He left for a shuttle without delay.

After being slingshot and launched right into the Bastonian formations, Hoscian was easing the headache he had gotten from the intense light and immense shaking. The Bastonian ships were now within visual range, reflecting the light of Lacfillio just like the crescent moons did.
’Prepare all guns on both broadsides. Prepare all torpedoes and missiles and set their relative velocity to their launcher ship to 0. This command goes for all ships.’
’Consider it done, sire.’
The sides of the imperial ships burst with fire and streaks of white smoke as every self-guided payload detached and flew alongside their launch ship. Streaks of kinetic point defence swiped up and done, annihilating any missile or strike craft that was hit. Bastonian missiles whipped past and were shot down as they now were in firing range. Mere milliseconds later, imperial ships were right beside bastonian warships at point blank range.
’Fire all guns… and cut power to engines.’
Evading now was useless. The surviving missiles struck at the bastonian ships, removing frigates and striking at the destroyers, taking the shock with their hardlight shell. Bastonian railguns responded and cut clean through a frigate shortly before it burst into nuclear fire. The plasma from Hoscians guns were deadlier though. The battle would be over in mere seconds. Each minor plasma bolt was as if a nuclear payload detonated right onto the hull of the ships. The Redemption found itself sandwiched between two GBE destroyers. Both broadside opened fire at the same time, ripping both destroyers batteries apart before they could fire back. Now Hoscian targeted the bridge. The destroyer to his starboard rotated and the plasma hit the armoured side, dealing significant damage.

It was the only remaining bastonian ship, Hoscian realised as burning debris and unrecognisable chunks of once great vessels surrounded him as if he was in a minefield of individual victories.

After impatiently waiting for his escort, Stantine stood in the control room of his 40 metre long military shuttle watching the two cabin crew calibrate the warp drive to take them through the Vox’Urah realm of stone at the fastest yet safest way possible. The ship came to a halt. Sublight wouldn’t get them any further than outside the interdiction. Deep within the field in Noveterra, the heart of the great empocracy, lay shipyards working as they had never before. He recalled the excitement of using transport tethers and tachyon highways to throw him around as if his shuttle was in a lowball game. As the shuttle pierced the atmosphere of Antaka they noticed the shipyards placed outside the influence of the planet's magnetic field, slim ominous monoliths of Bastonian industrial might. The sound of neosteel and carbon being moulded might as well have travelled through the void itself. Over the industrial titans he saw the precious war winnings partly of his own making. The IPD node was now a vital extension to the bastonian alpha-grade economic AI. It had been placed there to amplify the development which he had seen below. Antaka was expanding its investment offers and business as quickly as any other core world in Bastonia. And as it slowed down, Stantine patiently watched. He had not spoken with High Minister Kayelin in a year but as an avid empocrat, he knew that eventually Kayelin’s party would make the forces of the Royal Navy as capable as their economy allowed them to be. With another victory at Lacfillio which would leave the TIE admiralty lacking, soon Stantine would be in command of the greatest Bastonian warfleet since the golden age of colonialism. Perhaps noticing his deep thought, Alpha Warmind AI 6775, who was on a direct Qcomm line to his ship, notified him. It spoke right through his Neural link. He heard the booming artificial deep voice of the computer as if it was standing over him.
Can I entertain you with a question, Grand Admiral?
So the bureaucracy hadn’t caught up with the high command's decision.
’Speak.’ he said through his link, no one else on the bridge was aware of the conversation he was having.
Bastonia is one step away from becoming a military dictatorship. What stops high command?
Stantine scoffed, but moreso out of unexpected thought than mockery. ’You? Discussing politics?’
I wish to learn how you sentients think.
’Very well. All senteints have a sense of righteousness. Our government is righteous thus their people are loyal.’
I’m sure I don’t need to point out the other traits of humans. it hummed The counterbalance is delicate. The military executives are appointed by the parliament. Could not a majority in parliament overthrow the minority by force?
Considering its computational power, he suspected it already had answered its own question. It was seeking psychological data now.
’New loyalties are harder to build than old ones. And larger conspiracies are easier to target.’
So are larger powers. Our empocracy grows by the day.
’Do you worry?’
Anxiety is a weakness I was not bestowed with.
’Were you programmed with weakness?’ *though it didn’t respond. It ended the conversation. ‘Odd’ Stantine thought.

KrankysFirebrand48

Part three

Six Sunrise-class block II cruisers. Discreet, elegant and familiar to Stantine who now stood on the bridge of his revered HMS Triumph. He suspected that the admiralty found it comedic that Stantine had not only gained Blue’s former position but also his ship. However, this wasn’t the old independent single-ship-wonder. The block II’s were gen VI refitted and accompanied by 9 destroyers of Stantines choice. The HMS Triumph was now a modern piece in a well-balanced Bastonian strike group about to catapult themselves out of the realms of stone and into one of ice and steel.
’Entering escape velocity.’
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD

Dionysus

The dimensional anchor hauled the strike group into reality, alerting the Imperial fleet that lied in ambush. Dionysus was an imperial dockyard. The only major one in their possession. It was where Hoscian, the scourge upon the Bastonian campaign, had his forces. Hoscians ships weren’t appearing on sensors and a quick scan on the optics revealed they weren’t in dock. Intelligence suggested they were still in the system. Therefore there was one conclusion.
’Focus all attack radar and EM sensors on the cloud in front of us’
Ahead of the Bastonians was a cloud of asteroids and planetesimals, predominantly icy ones, that stood between them and the shipyard like an endless wall. The Bastonians were at long range from the cloud out of caution, but they’d have to pass through it to get to the somewhat mobile dockyard.
’We got contacts behind a couple planetesimals.’
’Fire ETA cannons and railguns, nuclear shells.’
At his command the colossal main batteries swung around with a groan, throwing off ice and dust off their barrels before stopping and unleashing their shells in fire. They disappeared at blinding speed and almost instantly connected with the planetoids, passing through them and throwing ice and debris across the cloud. The resulting damage was unseen but presumably minor since very few nuclear detonations were visible.
’Sire, failure to detonate on 52 out of 57 shells.’ fire control said monotonously.
The enemy responded now, peeking out of their individual planetesimal cover and moving across to the next one. As they did they fired long-range lasers and missiles. Bastonian point defence was put to work, corvettes in front.
’Record their positi-’ a missile hit the HMS Triumph, off the bow, shaking the ship intensely.
’Damage assessment?’ Stantine asked over the rumbling of the entire vessel.
’Our lance is inoperable. A couple of fore RCS are down.’
Going over the different tactics taught to him by command training he only found different methods for suicide. With the narrow paths between asteroids both strike craft and missiles were limited in their movement, therefore predictable. Their long range advantage had been mitigated and at this rate they would run out of ammunition before they could break through. This was the time for a radical solution.
’Sire, enemy ship Redemption is hailing us.’ the communications officer notified him.
’Put it on my neural link and isolate it from the rest of my system,’
A moment later Hoscian was on the comm line with Stantine. Was he here to bargain? He wasn’t known for mind games.
’Ah! Grand Admiral, a pleasure having you as my opponent. I’ve been waiting to fight a prestigious commander such as yourself in battle.’ Hoscian said, his voice commanding without an undertone of hostility that Stantine came to expect. He continued: ’I would be drowning in my own victory if they gave me the authority I requested in the battle against Fleet Admiral… Blue was it?’ both fleets hovered with a certain stillness, being unable to fire.
’Your own victory?’ Stantine said, ’You fight for yourself? Typically imperial of you.’
’Don’t put words in my mouth!’ Hoscian snapped, ’I have read about your victories. Battle of the Borders almost impressed me. Now we have a lot in common, no? We’re both city men. I grew up on Yashinda, which is why I can never let you reach it.’
’It is inevitable. Fate is a term you Imparasites have used for decades. Now you will come to understand that fate is determined by Lokion’s will. I am the prophet of his will and my purpose is to liberate you from yourselves.’
’Liberate us of our integrity and culture. Perhaps I should liberate your soul from your body first’ Hoscian said, finally bringing hostility into his voice, but smiling all the same.
’This is ridiculous’ Stantine thought. ‘Like children arguing! He’s testing my mental fortitude.’
’You will know justice.’ Stantine said with finality.
’I already do.’
Stantine scanned the wall in front of him, his eyes darting between the great, glimmering icy barrier and the tactical projection before him. He didn’t know what he’d expect from this. Without results he cut the transmission and set his hormone regulator to simulate dopamine. There was no obvious weak point here. The idea of waiting for reinforcements was brought up by his mind time and time again and became more appealing each time.

KrankysFirebrand48

Part four

There was a certain spread to Hoscians ships. There was no extreme weak point to the positioning so he would have to make one. Strike craft had to move predictably between the planetesimals, but so would Hoscian’s armada. The only issue was not knowing the timing of their peak. However, Stantine considered using a provocation. If his ships charged forward for a breakthrough, Hoscian’s ships would immediately peak to capitalise on the opportunity. The Sunrise block II’s were incredibly robust with the signature Bastonian armour worth their weight in gold times a million. There was his radical tactic.
’All cruisers form a line, perpendicular to the edge of the cloud. This will be our spear. Move with haste.’ Stantine commanded and they obeyed. Each cruiser lined up with the HMS Triumph being the third in the line out of the 7. ‘This will minimise our profile on the approach’ he thought.
’Full speed burn forward and get us an escort of 14 corvettes.’ he continued as he demonstrated the positioning he desired on the holographic board in front of him on the bridge. ’Load kinetic shells fleetwide and prepare to fire at the asteroids and planetesimals covering the 5 closest ships to our determined breakthrough path. Immediately follow up with a missile and lance volley against the targets.’
’Such a waste’ he thought as was detailing the strike. So much firepower just to remove a couple of small brawlers. The order was carried out. In a brilliant display of his forces capabilities, railguns, particle beams and missiles all fired in a symphony of energy, striking the 5 closest imperial targets. Immediately the firing line Stantines 7 cruisers charged forward. A line of grey slowly penetrated the thick wall of ice and stone which stood before them. Hoscian’s ships immediately revealed themselves to stop the advance. Plasma flooded in from the sides while the Bastonian destroyers opened fire perpendicular to the plasma against the TIE ships. Stantine looked at his surroundings and pointed to a couple asteroids.
’Strike them! Let the ice run parallel to our cruiser line.’ the AI immediately interpreted the command to targeting data to the destroyer HMS Emberstorm. With a release of railgun slugs struck the asteroids multiple times. They broke apart and were flung out as a shield of tiny ice particles. Stantine stared at the plasma striking the ice wall and resulting in weak plasma fumes hitting the side of the ship with minimal damage. ‘I am unstoppable!’ he thought. Hoscians ship launched a missile to get rid of his ships with a burst of firepower. The narrow pathways between planetesimals and rock made their paths predictable. Corvettes stood at each major narrow pathway and intercepted the majority. However a few broke through and struck the first ship in the cruiser line. It was followed by plasma fire lighting up its internals and its advance slowing to a constant speed. Stantine took advantage of this and cut the main engine, focusing all power to his shielding and weaponry. The HMS Triumph neared the destroyed Sunrise cruiser and placed the wreck on its starboard side, dangerously close. The ice shield was gone now, so now Stantine used the foremost cruiser's wreck as a shield. Its armour would still work quite well. Now being able to focus on the enemies on the port side, the HMS Triumph unleashed a broadside against the hostiles. They were too deep now. The TIE ships readjusted their positioning. The rest of Stantines force on the other side of the ice wall was almost completely cut off from them. Hoscian enjoyed divide and conquer and Stantine had divided his own force for him. Stantine watched the next Sunrise get gutted by plasma fire. Out of 7 cruisers, only 5 were in fighting condition. If he continued like this his cruiser group would survive the ice field but would be destroyed easily once they were out. As plasma tore through the hull, igniting its inside with red glow, debris was flung out of the Bastonian ship at high speed. It scattered out into space, creating a field that Stantine watched be pushed aside by his ships’ shields. The debris launching from the sides mixing with the ice particulates reminded him of how the imperial ships mixed with the planetesimals so you couldn’t tell them apart. He looked into the debris, watching munitions and missile parts zip past him. The revelation of the new tactic struck him.
’Disable the thrusters of every explosive missile we have on this cruiser group.’ he said ’And prepare for dry launch for each one.’
The order was complex, requiring each detail to be remembered. The ship's AI quickly took control of the missiles and was ready to carry out the order. Each time a cruiser got hit, relative to the amount of damage done, the missiles were ejected. With no power on, except for a battery running a detonation timer, the missiles were indistinguishable from the debris. 5 cruisers left and the cruiser behind Stantine was taking considerable damage to its armour. He was no longer focused on firing back. Other than suppressing their positioning, they could do little against the TIE ships weaving in and out of cover. He was instead focused on the debris field that was forming out of the corpses of his own vessels, saturated with missiles and armed with a time to detonate of his own prediction.
*’Breakthrough!’ he thought as his line of 4 remaining cruisers passed the last of the ice planetesimals. The space around him was no longer clustered with ice and gravel which calmed him despite the buzz and rush on the bridge. In the distance he looked upon his target: the Dionysus shipyards. Hoscian had no choice but to pursue him now. The TIE ships reorganised into an offensive formation. Realising he had his rear pointed towards them, Stantine turned around his 4 cruisers, allowing them to reverse towards the objective in the centre of the system.
`` 10 seconds to detonation.
The Imperials edged forward into the debris field. Stantine sighed to himself. They were clueless. He sat down and let his symphony of nuclear fire play. Blinding light and expanding orbs of scorching hot fire filled the debris and engulfed the imperial ships. Seconds later they subsided, leaving the grey hulls scorched but unbroken.
’Zero ship confirmed destroyed, sir.’ said fire control. ’They’re returning fire!’
’Cancel our evasion and maintain course. We’re impervious.’ Stantine said, standing back up again, staring at the approaching bolts of light. They whipped past the bridge and the other cruisers, not hitting a single one, leaving the cruiser group unharmed. ’Their active detection has been confused or destroyed completely by our missiles-turned-mines. They will start sharing targeting information from the least damaged ships. Target them first and fire all particle beams at 40% power. We don’t intend to break their hulls, only destroy the sensors.’

At the moment of the explosion, Hoscian was confident that he could isolate the cruiser group and destroy it with ease, then clean up the destroyers on the other side of the icefield. As he shielded his eyes from the nuclear fireball, which wasn’t bright in comparison to the light of Lacfillio, he chuckled to himself as he looked at his fleet status screen and saw that no ships had major hull damage.
’Clever but not enough. Fire volley!’
’Our targeting hasn’t recovered, sire!’ said damage control as the ordered volley was launched.
’Share targeting with our least damaged ship. Think for once!’ he exclaimed. He had no time to be dumbfounded. He had to adapt to his situation and he had to be swift. The next volley was sure to miss completely, he had to prepare for the following and adjust his formation to protect the targeting-capable vessels.
’Move all ships with working active sensors to the back of the formation a- Shit!’ Three tachyon streams emerged from the spinal mount of the cruisers. This was earlier than the predicted charge time for the beams. With no time to react to the ligthspeed lances, the three remaining sensory ships were hit by the blue stream. No ships were destroyed again, but their surfaces were removed of all delicate sensory equipment. Hoscians entire fighting force was soft killed. He hit the console in anger and leaned against it as he watched the four Bastonian cruisers drift away towards the Dionysus shipyards.
’All ships recover escape pods and fall back. We’re returning to Yashinda.’