Ruukil- LC1

[Ru the Boatswain]

As he seated himself in his captains chair he looked around the fake command room around him. Command had made sure the room mimicked the reality of space, but the little things were all too clear. The calm was gone, the feeling of gravity too foreign. It was also dark, no ship was ever dark.

Then it happened, everything came to life. Consoles lit up and the crew entered. Kieth slid in an ear bud, that was how he was to speak with those running the simulation.

"I'm ready to go. Start the simulation."

-------------------------------

Sliding into his captains chair he ran the usual checks. His forces were one heavy cruiser, Rhea; one destroyer, Colbert; and two Corvettes, Loftis and Iphigénie. He immediately recognized that he was fit for patrol, but he realized he had no fighters. He decided to ignore it, it was a part of the simulation.

"The situation is this, Raven: A small enemy fleet have moved themselves into a agricultural system in the expansion region. Should this system Fall to enemy hands, supplies will become harder to provide in the region, and worse yet, just beyond is a major trade spine, holding the system is imperative! You are to best the enemy in combat, reinforcements mark a penalty. We place you at pre-engagement Rally."

The microphone slicked off audibly and on his overview the ships appeared. A planet showed on one of his screens, a system map and the enemies location.

"Alright, I want the Loftis and Iphigénie to jump in first-out of range-, hail the enemy and establish communications. You will relay my transmission and prepare for combat."

The captains of his ships responded in affirmation, Kieth was going to only let his enemy see a very small number of ships in order to lure them into combat.

"Fleet align.... and corvettes jump! Fleet stay aligned, We're jumping on a dime so stay prepared. I want everything on the enemy as you hail them."

The two corvettes confirmed landing around sixty kilometers off of the nearest enemy ship, far out of range for this kind of engagement. He waited for the intel to flow in.

 

[Empress]

an enemy patrol fleet near even to the Republics own sat quietly above a small green and gold world, small and void of defenses of it's own. The enemy consisted of the heavy cruiser Defiance, destroyers Poodoo-ma and Kentah and the Corvette jakea sat in silence at first, however at the arrival of republic forces formed up in a diamond on their horizontal plane until they could better assess the republics intent.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

The twin ships hailed the enemy repeatedly, all the wile activating scanners and attempting to zero in on communications frequencies.

"Sir, the ships are in a diamond formation, we continue to hail their position but have yet to receive connection. Forces are a heavy cruiser, two destroyers and a corvette. They have formed up in a diamond. We're transmitting their position."

"Good, begin approaching the enemy formation and keep me updated."

Kieth then spoke on another channel, this was to 'command' who were also the operators of the simulation, but all the same he treated it like he was supposed to.

"Command, this is Raven. We have sighted the enemy off of the planet. They have taken aggressive formation and we are preparing to issue warning and then engage."

 

[Empress]

response to the hails came across quite clearly as the lead cruiser fired off a warning blast from it's port bow. Twin destroyers which made up the " sides" of the diamond loosened their formation slightly and angled themselves so Their their port,, and starboard sides were slightly more positioned to unleash greater amounts of firepower.
The Corvette came tighter behind, and slightly below the cruiser.

While the formation itself was more than a clear indication that the Enemy fleet was not here to play games.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"The enemy has engaged. We are returning fire."

"That's an affirmative, jam their communications and you are weapons free, shields up and begin orbit. Keep range and fire on the corvette, soften him up."

Immediately the enemy would find the frequencies previously being emitted from their ships overwhelmed with noise, they individual captain of the enemy ships would now decide what to do separately. With their ability to communicate disrupted Kieth only had to wait.

With confirmation his ships began their orbit and firing on the corvette. At such range hits would be far from common, but Kieth knew what he was doing. The enemy would become less and less patient. Under pressure they would make a mistake and Admiral Raven would take advantage.

"Command, the enemy has engaged."

 

[Empress]

Seeing that the Republic was not going to back down after it's show of force, one of the destroyers nearest the planet broke formation and began to drift for a moment with the rotational pull of the planet before turning to " swim with the current " . The Corvette did similar, accelerating as they followed the planets rotation away from the battle.

This left the Cruiser, and a single destroyer behind. They were apparently not intending to go anywhere. Both held their ground, altering position to maximize weapon exposure. The destroyer taking up a position slightly above the cruiser, taking its time.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"Sir, two ships have broken formation, they are retreating."

Kieth realized this meant they could be running from the fight. Of course the Admiral saw other possibilities. It would take the two ships about two hours or a pair of microjumps to return to the fight. If the enemy were allowed to return themselves to the formation fresher than his own ships he could be at a loss. Instead he knew what he could do.

"Track their positions and give me projections of their flight paths. I want to land when they are one hundred kilometers from their comrades. Begin calculations."

Numerous individuals began working at the calculations required to figure out the microjump. Taking into effect travel time and gravitational pull along with the other hundreds of factors that only the computers could measure, his crew gave to him the numbers. They were of course double checked and done with all due haste. This was after all a test of sorts and he was not the only one in the room.

"Sir, the enemy is reaching the position. It's time to jump."

"Jump, prepare to target the enemy and fire the moment we can. I want all stations at the ready."

The lights of false stars stretched and they were in hyperspace. In what seemed like a blink of an eye they were coming out of hyperspace almost on top of the enemy pair. The fight was a Heavy Cruiser and a Destroyer against a Destroyer and Corvette. They were less than ten kilometers off of the enemies starboard. The calculations had been just about perfect, and they were alive. Pleasantly enough they were far out of the enemies range yet still within sight. Kieth knew that the ships against him were too small and weak to defeat him, victory was imminent. The real damage would be to his enemies morale, being forced to watch their silent comrades die would certainly shake them to the core.

"Sir, shields up and weapons ready, locking process almost done."

"Bring us about and open fire. Primary is the corvette, followed by the destroyer."

His ships immediately opened fire, the Heavy Cruisers guns along with the Destroyer would obliterate whatever shields the small Corvette had instantly and then the paper thin armor over the hull.

The battle elsewhere was far from over, the two captains of the corvettes held their positions, firing what amounted to just about nothing at the enemy. At this range it was hard to hit anything accurately without proper equipment.

 

[Empress]

With the sudden micro jump in an extremely dangerous location inside the planetary magnetosphere caught the two smaller capitals by surprise. With their shields being shredded, and hull breaches occurring, the pair had little choice but to cut weapons and divert everything to thrusters. Speed alone would not help them, however the relatively safe cover of the upper most atmosphere may make it slightly harder to pinpoint hits on them . Taking this both veered to their starboard and pushed it, hoping to make it into the safety of the planetary shadow before damages became fatal.

The cruiser, and second corvette did not need a second notice of the Republics seriousness, instantly unleashing everything they could muster from their positions while trying to crawl forward slightly, attempting to place the republic craft between them and the planet.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

The two corvettes were then in a wash of light. The enemy was firing every weapon they could at them and it was having it's effect. The Loftis reported taking a hit which unsettled the young captain. The Iphigénie captain was more confident and requested the next set of orders from his commander.

"Keep firing and pursue the enemy craft, we're going to finish them off. Slack the shields and increase power to thrusters, I want engine shots. Stop them from moving. Corvettes, begin an orbit of the enemy position destination is my position. Full speed, full shields. Keep jamming them."

Kieths ships began to slack power on the shields in favour of engine power, with this they were keeping up enough with the smaller ships to sustain fire. The Admiral was confident that the loss of the support ships would persuade the enemy to submit.

 

[Empress]

The corvette, buffeted by super heated atmospheric turbulence, and the continuous fire to it's aft sections was unable to keep up its flight, and violently pitched its nose upwards like a large aquatic beast breaching the water. It's upwards twist forming a momentary barrier as the last remaining strengths of the hull failed, flames turned into infernos as they filled the gaps of plating as the craft broke apart with one final scream of protest.

Taking the only chance they had, the destroyer increased its altitude to being just above the atmosphere, and bring itself into a long slingshot maneuver and ride the planets rotation. Any free seconds the crew had was busy isolating problem areas, closing vents and breaches as best they could. The republic would be stalled for only a few brief moments by the Corvettes demise meaning that once they rode the entire rotation to spit out on the other side behind the stationary republic ships, they would have little to no time to mount much before their pursuers returned from their trip and appeared once more behind them.

There was little the cruiser and second destroyer could do. With the larger craft, and escort giving chase, the larger cruiser had a moment of ease, though it was well know this would not last long. The Republic cruiser would eventually regroup and concentrate fire in their direction.

* there is a very faint static pop and a single 'bleep' over the speaker systems however the programs appears unaffected.*

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

The moment the Corvette pitched upwards Kieth realized this was going to hurt. He screamed for full frontal shields which he knew could not be brought to such strength in time. He was forced to sit through damage indicators to his armor wail as he watched the Destroyer escape his grasp.

The Colbert had foreseen the event and the captain had thrown up his forward shields in time to deflect any real damage. The Rhea was left with a sizable hull scratch but she would be fine as long as she didn't take too much damage to nose.

The trade had been worth it and now it was time to continue the beat down, the enemy had assumed they would come upon a stationary enemy, after the comm blackout they had neglected to realize the Corvettes had been angling right towards the surviving Destroyer. This was most fortunate for the fleet as they would be brought together to finish an enemy and then turn on their enemy once again.

"Sir, the Destroyer is heading right for our position at high speed."

"Thank you..." He said, trying to be polite to his fellow fleet leader. "Open fire and roll to his port, I will be rejoining you presently."

Kieth said this as he reached the pinnacle of the slingshot maneuver. The screen created the image of the slingshot along with the absurd readings it made, but not the feeling. Admiral Raven gave the order to slack engines and raise shields. The planet grabbed them then and catapulted them to the destroyer.

Then they landed maybe a minute after their enemy to dart for the enemies port side. Already under fire from the Corvettes the destroyer would now be under the guns of four Republic ships. This was the nail in the coffin.

 

[Empress]

Little time was needed to rip the destroyer shielding and hull apart. burning fishers began opening up along the seams of hull plating nearest the forward compartments, then quickly spreading before the shift between pressure, and vacuum caused the ship to explode violently, the shock wave spanning outwards like an angry sea.

The cruiser having been forced to watch it's escorts fall one by one took the next step, now born of desperation to survive, it's weapons went quite for a moment, the programs system seemed to clip for a brief second, only to refocus with the cruiser belching out the trademark fire of a Hutt Mass Driver upon the smaller craft.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

And then there were two.

"Bring us about, loose formation. Three points."

He indicated the formation on his computers, it was communicated to the other ships and they moved to positions. Three of his smallest ships were out on his flanks and 'below' him; all three were slightly closer to his enemy by about a half a kilometer.

"Bring us in at a shallow angle, orbit their position. Starboard motion. Volley fire."

Then something much scarier crossed his bow. Mass driver.

"Frak you, command."

Command had changed the enemy armament in the middle of a test. It was a curve ball that put him in a foul position, mass drivers were capable of bypassing ray shields. This meant he would have to turn up the particle shields on his ships. Unlike Ray shields, Particle shields could stop projectiles- at weaken their impact.

"Particle shields to full! The enemy has mass drivers."

At the rate Kieth was having his ships perform they were going to run quite hot. With any luck they'd finish this quickly.

 

[Empress]

The enemy heavy cruiser continued to focus it's Mass drive weapons on the republic cruiser as best it could while putting a lead on the Republic cruiser's orbit, while smaller secondary weapons trained it's sights on the last remaining escort. The battle was pitched for now, dealing with secondary fire rather than the one on one that would have been desirable. However the introduction of heavier weapons evened the odds slightly, now it was more a matter of who's shielding outlasted whoms.

There was a few instances of temporary listing by the Hutt Cruiser suggesting their stabilizers were becoming overly taxed under the bombardment. It did not seem as though there would be much time left before the whole craft was unable to feed the ravenous energy demands of it's shield banks

There was a second pop over the coms just as the Hutt cruiser fired from it's mass driver again, the shot aimed squarely at the command bridge of the Republic craft. However the projectile was quite different..different was in fact an understatement.

Scans of the incoming warhead placed it at only a meter in length, it emenated no light, and only as it approached visual range could one make out the white and sany hued vertical stripes, audio stations erupted with the odd sounds of an " IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" scream. It was no ordinary warhead indeed, and it was mere seconds from impact.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Kieth unfortunately took no notice of the device, only quizzically wondering what type of ammunition made that sound. Gripping his chair with one hand he prepared his next move.

"Prepare orders for my next mark. I want engine power killed and full load to guns on the Cruiser, fire here."

He indicated on his monitor the position just before the engines, the most likely place for the power core of the ship. Firing there would likely overload the ship and finish it before much more happened.

"Sir! The Loftis!"

He looked to his monitor as the Loftis, a small Corvette, was just being hit by the odd projectile. The hit was the underside of the ship, the projectile not quite leading the ship enough for an optimal hit. It would however strike the location of weaker armor and damage important engine systems if it penetrated. Luckily, Kieth had given the order to increase power to the particle shields, the main defense against solid projectiles.

 

[Empress]

Again the Hutt Cruiser fired another odd projectile, this one slightly smaller, and coloured like ash, still the same scream could be heard as the small, and...fuzzy....Projectile was unleashed directly at the large Republic cruiser...it seemed to be moving, flailing wildly, its gray hues broken only by tattered cloth about it's head.

This obviouslt had to have been a gag of some sort, but not one that undermined the seriousness, Mass Drive fire continued to pour from the dying Hutt Vessel as it found itself trying to keep its bow to the Republic.

thats when the small humanoid object struck the forward view port, small arms and legs spread wide as it impacted with the shielding, and in the oddest manner slid down slowly till it was out of view not damaging any systems, however did leave static like three fingered hand prints burned in to the shields.

It was in this instance the Hutt Vessle seemed to list to its port side once more, violently and with clear signs of atmospheric venting from numerous breaches.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"Now!"

Every ship in his fleet slowed suddenly as engines died and every weapon on board let loose all possible fire upon one point of the enemy ship, the republic heavy cruiser letting loose a fully charged volley of Ion fire. An unintentional, but not unwelcome, effect of slowing the ships instantly was that many mass driver shots that were to lead the enemies trajectory were to never near their target. The velocity shift had been too much a change at the range.

Kieth turned his attention to the Loftis at that time.

"Are they firing corpses at my ships?"

Kieth could almost scoff at this, was command mocking him? They had to be, they were making fun of him. To program such a thing was absurd, human projectiles were incredibly ineffective. Absurd.