09-06-2016, 11:42 AM
Part 2 the Battle of Madrid
After dinner we were briefed on the mission of the Foxglove and that of the 452nd CRURON, we were to be the eyes of the 45th and other forces in fact we were going to proceed through the Gibraltar Wormhole tomorrow, even though we received no word from TF Stacy or from Princess Nicole and the rest of the EXFLEET. So therefore the plan was to make the jump as a hostile one, both light cruisers were to transit in sequence followed by the destroyers and frigates. Hopefully the Corporate bastards would be asleep or even better already subdued by TF Stacy. One could only hope and pray that Soro would watch over us. I had Ms. Green assemble her section leaders and gave them a full briefing in the wardroom as soon as we arrived back to the ship. I wanted everyone one to be on their toes. I also informed Ms. Green that during the fight she was to take her orders from Lady Janice especially if the VNB – BDC link was severed for any reason. I would of course be on the VNB which is the duty station of the Executive during a battle, but since Lady Janice was not playing commodore she would be free to fight her ship from the BDC.
We made the jump without any problems and in fact jumped into a peaceful scene, well uplifting anyway. All of the Corporate orbital bases were smoldering lumps of debris and the sight of the AISS Purveyor greeting us as we exited was very encouraging. The fight for the ground was still raging but it seemed TF Stacy had complete control of the stellar arena. The Hoopskirt went back to inform our own leaders the good news.
Soon Gibraltar was crowded with the ships from both TF Stacy and TF Catherine. Her Grace however, was busy playing ground pounder so when Arch Duchess Catherine arrived she took control of the stellar assets. We had little time to celebrate as the AISS Hermitage arrived with dire news. The main body of the EXFLEET was cut off from friendly space and was fighting a desperate action to punch through the Corporate forces. We were ordered (TF Catherine and most of TF Stacy, or quite simply the 141st Fleet) to move at best possible speed to reach the 39th SF and other elements of the 1st EXFLEET. The 45th was tasked as the Van force and therefore the 452nd became the eyes and ears of the entire force.
According to the reports from the Hermitage, the 39th SF was heading towards Gibraltar and we needed to secure the path. We had our choice of either Barcelona or Madrid systems. The question was which one. The 452nd was given the job of determining which one. More to the point the two cruisers went while the destroyers stayed back. The Hoopskirt was to relay the info we found to Her Grace who would then order both the Hermitage and the Hoopskirt to make for the 39th, this would mean we would lose our Hermes until further notice. We decided on leaving the destroyers behind as they were one more ship and actually in system a Saturn could outrun anything that it could not take on with ease. Firebat got Barcelona we got Madrid
“Ma’am all systems are ready” announced Ms. Green.
“Thank you Lydia, set ship to condition zebra and prepare for jump.” I replied.
“Roger that,…”
NOW HERE THIS NOW HERE THIS SET SHIP TO CONDITION ZEBRA PREPARE TO JUMP
“…. Ma’am all sections report ship is at condition Zebra.”
“Very good, Navigation do we have everything set?”
“Aye Ma’am coordinates are locked and we are green for jump.” Replied Miss Stewart my Navigation officette.”
“Very Good, Miss Goldenstein set Voyeur to maximum passive upon arrival we need to see what this system has.”
“Aye Ma’am maximum passive, no active Ma’am?” the senior sensors Officette replied.
“Not unless we are spotted first, no need to give us away…Attention on Deck!” I shouted as Lady Janice arrived on the BDC.
“As you were girls, Ms. Parker I have the Con.”
“Aye Ma’am you have the con.” I replied while moving away from the command station.
“Cynthia, remain on the BDC until after we jump, then you may go to your action station.”
“Aye aye Ma’am.” I moved over to one of the folding jump seats and buckled myself in for the jump and looked at how smoothly 1st Watch proceeded with the jump translation.
We jumped to Madrid without a hitch. After we stabilized I headed for the VNB.
“Executive on Deck!” shouted Watch Chief Miranda Richards.
Miss Jenkins, stood out of the command station chair and greeted me. “Welcome to the VNB Ma’am, I presume you want your chair?”
“Yes Julie that would be nice, Lady Janice has the con, hopefully we get a nice routine shift up here.” I sat down and began monitoring the BDC feed. Looking at the data from the passive scans I noticed about thirty blips, but only twelve appeared to be of any significant output.
“BDC this is VNB I we are receiving data from scan it appears to be a very light Ma’am”
VNB THIS IS BDC WE CONCUR, RECOMMENDATIONS?
“Ma’am recommend IRIS sweep of the system, we recover on other side.”
CONCUR MS. PARKER, PREP AND LAUNCH IRIS PROBE AND COMPUTE COURSE AND SPEED FOR RENDESVOUS ON OTHER SIDE OF SYSTEM.
“Roger that….”
“Uh Ma’am…” interrupted one of the detail
“Wait one BDC, yes Miss Duncan?” I inquired of the Navigation Officette that dared interrupt my conversation with the skipper.
“Uh Ma’am instead of sending the entire ship to the other side couldn’t we use a Shaman to recover the probe?”
“That is a good idea Lewtenette, let’s see what the Skipper says. BDC this is VNB again, sorry for the interruption but Miss Duncan, the Nav-Oh here suggests using one of our Shaman bombers to recover the probe what do you think?”
SOUNDS GOOD TO ME OK WE’LL DO THAT MS PARKER MEET WITH AEROPS TO ARANGE RECOVERY BDC OUT.
“Ok you heard the Skipper, Miss Duncan, come with me it was your idea so you can help me pitch it to the ladies in purple.”
“Aye Aye Ma’am”
“Miss Jenkins the VNB is all yours.” I said, even though the formality of transferring the con was not needed as the BDC was still running the show.
The trip down to the hanger and flygirl country took a little bit, by the time we arrived Ms. Kemple was waiting for us. “Ah Ms. Parker the old lady said you wanted to utilize one of my birds, how can we help our sisters in blue?”
“Misty, we are launching an IRIS to make a sweep of this system, and rather than moving away from our return jump point, we think one of your Shaman bombers can recover the probe and bring it back.”
“Ah yes we could bring her back, you know those IRIS systems can be very touchy about being called it’s, however I would feel more comfortable sending a two Tempests with the Shaman.”
“Ok, well you have your people work it out Miss Duncan here is tasked as the liaison with the ship, have her give me the details and I will forward it to the Skipper.”
“Sure thing Cynthia, do you need anything else?”
“Nope that’s it just get that IRIS, we need to know what is in this system.” I said before heading back to the VNB to finish up my watch, however after the launching of the IRIS, It turned out that I had the con and so needed to head back to the BDC. One thing about being the Executive I certainly was in shape with all of the moving about the ship.
The rest of the watch was as predicted, routine, so routine in fact I had to be nudged awake by the BDCO when we got word that the IRIS was recovered. Funny thing IRIS probes, they are a marvel of engineering and science, the Independent Reconnaissance Intelligent Scout is one of the smartest artificial intelligences mass produced in Known Space. The Empire uses them to conduct close reconnaissance where sending a ship or even a manned fighter craft would be too risky. IRIS probes being as smart as they are have developed personalities that reflect the nature of their missions, they are either happy go lucky or very morose, and it is hard to tell which type you have.
The Foxglove carries five IRIS units, all of them are stored with the torpedoes as they are deployed through the torpedo tubes. Shaman bombers can be rigged with a recovery system in lieu of their own torpedoes. It is always humorous to read the unfiltered transmissions from an IRIS probe, and this time was no exception.
“Oh goody goody me, I get a mission!”
“What’cha talk’n ‘bout 35?”
“Oh they chose me 34, I get to go and explore Madrid, see (IRIS 35-K24 sends data collected from passive scan to IRIS 34-K24)
“Better you ‘dan me kid, looks dangerous.”
“Oh come on 34, it looks fun, all of those blips need a name, you think any are Pascals?”
“Why 35. but if they is, you sho don’t wanna get too close, they Pascal be real mean.”
“Ah 34 you’re no fun, well hey, I got to go, see you real soon.”
“Maybe I will, be careful kid.”
The IRIS was then loaded into the tube and deployed. “Yippeee here I go to save the day!”
“Hmm there are twenty five blips, eleven really big ones, well that cluster of four seems closest, let’s go say hi!” “She” thought to herself flying through space.
“Oh dang corporate Newtons, they are no fun, boring, but let see four Newtons on patrol, oh how original, I have seen more Newtons than I want to, maybe that group looks better.”
“Oh joy a Trig and three more Newtons, gee what are we chopped liver, hell Foxy can take all of this stuff by herself. Hmm that group looks promising….Oh well now what have we here, two Thetas, a Hawking, what, they still use those, three Trigs and do my eyes deceive me, can it be true? Yes it is true, Virginia there really is a Santa Claus, well ok, not really but a Pascal and a Dolciani all lit up and moored to an Oasis, looks like they are replenishing the Dolci, and that Pascal seems to be all taken apart, hmm let me get closer.” The probe moves in for a closer look
“Yep the engineering nacelles are opened doing a major overhaul there, well that’s no fun. What else do we got?” “She” does a longer scan with her powerful passive sensors/
“Oh well now that is interesting two more Dolcis on patrol with two Thetas and two Trigs. Oh well they look too alert to play, darn, well now let’s look at these last clusters, oh more Newtons and Trigs, that makes 14 Newtons, 10 Trigs and the lone Hawking, only two of the big ones left, so let’s see what they are…”
“Yeah! A Theta and a Descartes how nice bet the nice ladies in purple want to know about that, so better remember it. Ah a new blip, oh it must be my ride back home.”
The IRIS then headed for the Shaman and was recovered without incident and all three AS craft returned to the roost. We then went over the data collected and made our own analysis.
“Ma’am I think this is a gift from Soro, come on three Dolci’s, a Descartes and a disabled Pascal, we could do some damage with just this one ship.”
“I know that Ms. Parker but we must get that information to the fleet.”
“Yes Ma’am so send a Shaman back, hell, rig up an Ocelot with a One Shot, but we should remain here and keep tabs on things, or even get in a good position to take out a few baddies ourselves.”
“Ok, that will work, Ms. Kemple have one of your birds jump back to the Hoopskirt, and send word for both the Double L and the Lorington to jump back.”
“Aye Ma’am, may I suggest an Ocelot, that way 2L can recover her, and we are not deprived a shaman.”
“Ok very good, oh and if the Firebat is around suggest that Lady Marie likewise follows, or she can wait for Lady Amanda and the rest of the 45th.”
With that we broke up and began planning our next moves. I met with Ms. Kemple and Ms. Duquesne to look at what we could do to ruin the Corp’s day.
“Well Christy what do you think?”
“Dunno Cynthia, but looks like that Pascal is not going anywhere nor is that Dolci. I think LRAMS, full magazine, coordinate with the 2L and Lori, on the other Dolci’s.”
“Sounds good ok when can we expect the bastards to detect the missiles?”
“Well if we do it right, not until it is too late to do anything, but we need to be 180 degrees from our present position on the system axis.”
“Right ok, we will wait for the two destroyers then move into position.”
“Misty what is your plan?”
“Well as much as my gals would love to play with that Descartes, or even the Dolcis, that is asking a lot for a light comp squadron.” Ms. Kemple replied.
“Agreed, so what do you want to do?”
“My Warriors should be left to protect the Foxy and destroyers from anything those bastards throw at us, but the Tempests and Shamans can play rough with that far group of Thetas and trigs.”
“Ok sounds good, now if we get the Firebat?” I asked her.
“Well they are senior, but again a 2 comp squadrons still not enough to take on the wing of a Dolci, let alone that fat cow of a Descartes.”
“Right ok so we give that tempting cluster our missiles and use the little birds to play with their scout cruisers, that leaves our guns and torps…”
“Ma’am stay out of Torp range those quasars are bigger and faster than our Angels.” Ms. Duquesne stated.
“Ok so guns then..”
“We can chew up the Trigs and that Hawking, best if we work with the destroyers on that, 45th has some big gals in 1st and 3rd Squadrons.”
“Right plus the carriers, and that’s not taking into account the rest of TF Stacy and our own command shit. Ok I will run these by Lady Janice and act accordingly, I will do everything I can to persuade her to let Foxy get in the fight fast and early. Christy I will send one of my girls with the nav coordinates so you can get the LRAMS programmed. Ok let’s get to work ladies.”
2L and Lori jumped in with our shuttle and a message from the TGR, she gave us the go ahead to position ourselves for a flank strike but we were to wait until the AS craft jumped in before doing anything rash. It seems the TGR doesn’t want to risk the big girls for this pathetic system, so besides the three ships already present it will be an AS show.
With that news we decided that once the LRAMS were launched we would charge the Descartes, our Strike birds will still only play with the Thetas, in fact we launched them early and had them orbit just out of sensor range of their selective targets, which was quite easy to determine as every once and awhile the morons did an active scan. As for the missiles they were targeted and all we were waiting for was the signal to launch.
The signal came, the jump signature of nearly 200 AS craft is quite noticeable even to the blind wonders that must be manning the sensors on the Corp jerks. As soon as the blooms from the first wave faded we launched our missiles and then did an all out run for the Descartes, the two destroyers struggled to keep up. However we had to close the distance, the strike craft likewise accelerated to attack speed and headed for their respective targets.
As predicted the Corp ships reacted to the obvious threat of the AS strike and the Dolci’s and Descartes began launching their own fighters, and strike craft, assuming that our capital ships were en route shortly. The Tempests zoomed ahead of the slower shaman bombers and blew huge paths in the onrushing quadratic and pi fighters. Everyone ignored the lumbering numeric bombers which were now orbiting in figure eight patterns wondering where the ships were. At this time the theta group that we designated for our own AS strike detected our fighters and warned the Dolcis but by this time it was too late, because our LRAMS filled their sensors just as they activated their terminal thrusters. Each Destroyer carries 40 of the big missiles while we carry 20, but our guns were bigger.
Any way you look at it 100 LRAMs is not a fun thing especially on a flank attack. Twenty of the weapons were destroyed by defensive fire but fifteen from our strike and 65 from the destroyers got through to their targets. Because the Oasis was still moored to both of the cap ships, all of our missiles were targeted to that cluster, five hit the Dolci, four hit the Pascal and six slammed into the poor Oasis. The Dolci’s shields absorbed all of the hits but the last one knocked out their shields (we saw it flare), as for the Pascal, it did not have its primary shields up and took a pounding with the four hits, but, all of that was moot, as the Oasis, nothing more than a converted civilian freighter took six direct hits, blowing the ship to smithereens, because it was still moored to the other ships the explosion tore into the two other ships, and gutted the Pascal and ravaged the Dolci. The Pascal was a twisted hunk of metal when the fireball dissipated. As for the Dolci she was an operational kill.
The other Dolcis and their escorts encountered 65 LRAMS, each Dolci had twenty apiece and the remaining twenty-five were divided up amongst the escorts, 10 to each of the Thetas and 5 for destroyers, two and three respectfully. Even with full shields twenty LRAMS is asking for a miracle, and well Soro did not favor the Corp bastards today. The first Dolci ate all twenty, and blew apart, lost with all hands. The 2nd one took 10 to the chin and 5 more near hits; it was rendered lifeless and Dead in Space.
The Thetas each were a bit more lucky only one was rendered DIS, the other was seriously damaged but he had a short reprieve as the strike from the carriers were on their way to deliver the angels of death. We never did find any sizeable wreckage of the destroyers, but both were engulfed in massive fireballs, so we chalked them up as kills.
All of that carnage was just from 100 missiles, next to suffer were the Thetas and Trigs that were hit by our own AS craft. Although smaller than the massive Arch Angel LRAM, the Angel of Death torpedo ignores shields. The Tempests fired two torps apiece (none of ours were rigged wholly as fighters) at the destroyers while the four shaman fired eight torps each into the Theta scout cruisers. This attack erased two more Thetas and two Trigs, the Hawking and the last Trig somehow managed to avoid the fighters.
Our losses were two Tempests, but both AC were recovered after the fight. Surprisingly none of the Shaman bombers were even damaged. The Carrier birds now got their chance to play, and they roughed up the Descartes and took out the crippled Dolci and all of the remaining Trigs and Thetas.
The Newtons wisely jumped out of the system, four heading to another Corp system and 10 to try to take on the carriers. As I found out later, all 10 jumped right in front of the Dragoon and were obliterated without any Imperial losses.
All that was left was the crippled Descartes, and the luckiest Hawking in the entire FMA. We exchanged fire with the Hawking, but only managed to wing him before he jumped out, as for the Descartes between the two destroyers and the Foxy we pounded her to submission.
Miss Rochester took her entire troop along with the two convents from the destroyer to take the Descartes as a prize. I Took 2nd Watch Command and Engineering for the prize crew.
Lori escorted us back once; we got the bucket’s engines on line. I ate dinner that night in the flag dining room aboard a flag ship, with as my guests Ms. Tracy Greer, the Engineering Officette for 2nd Watch, and Miss Travis, Miss Rochester and one Fleet Commodore Robert Donaldson, FMA and company. It was probably the best meal I ever had in space until gaining my own flag.
The Foxy and 2L remained until the 3rd Squadron (453rd BATCRURON) jumped in, in the mean time I took the FMS Connelly to Gibraltar. Her Grace, actually Their Graces were both astonished to see a Descartes being escorted by a lone destroyer. In fact the only reason I wanted the Lori with us so none of our own side would get nervous and lay into the enemy flagship.
Commodore Donaldson was cooperative enough, if a bit of a boor, but then again after losing not only his ship but the rest of his command one would expect him to be a bit melancholy.
Upon arrival to Gibraltar the prisoners and myself and my senior staff including Miss Rochester were summoned to meet with Their Graces, actually Her Highness as Stacy-Leigh received a communiqué from Goddard via Goldstone of her promotion to Wanaxxae, and first governess of Gibraltar.
We each gave an account of the action as we saw it, and I praised Lady Janice for her quick thinking and superb tactical sense, likewise praised Ladies Wendy and Gloria (the skippers of the destroyers) as well as the leaders of the aerospace especially Ms. Temple. As I found out from the AAR, the battle of Madrid was a resounding success; we lost twelve Craft, only three with all crew. All others had their AC recovered, although sixteen (shamans have a crew of 3 and Tempest a crew of 2) AC were wounded and not fit for duty for a while.
The Corps lost a Pascal, 3 Dolcis, 5 Thetas, 1 Oasis Tender, destroyed or rendered DIS and later scuttled by their crews prior to capture, plus the Connelly captured as a prize, and 10 Trigs and 10 Newtons also destroyed. Only the Hawking and 4 Newtons managed to evade capture or destruction. Even better Madrid system was now in our control, at least long enough for the 141st to make a link up with the 39th and friends.
For our part of the battle of Madrid, Lady Janice earned a Gold Cluster and the Department heads a Silver cluster. Ms. Kemple and three of her girls got Ruby Clusters, and five more of her girls got Gold or Silver clusters. Everyone else got decorated according to their position. Even better we got to add the silhouette of a Pascal, and Descartes to our Awards plaque plus the sale of the Descartes made everyone very wealthy. My share as ship’s Executive was 20,000 IGC. Lady Janice got nearly 100,000 IGC. Even Troopie Green, the newest girl on the Foxy got a 100 IGC bonus. As for Commodore Donaldson, well she retired two years ago as Lady Admiral Roberta Grenville.
After dinner we were briefed on the mission of the Foxglove and that of the 452nd CRURON, we were to be the eyes of the 45th and other forces in fact we were going to proceed through the Gibraltar Wormhole tomorrow, even though we received no word from TF Stacy or from Princess Nicole and the rest of the EXFLEET. So therefore the plan was to make the jump as a hostile one, both light cruisers were to transit in sequence followed by the destroyers and frigates. Hopefully the Corporate bastards would be asleep or even better already subdued by TF Stacy. One could only hope and pray that Soro would watch over us. I had Ms. Green assemble her section leaders and gave them a full briefing in the wardroom as soon as we arrived back to the ship. I wanted everyone one to be on their toes. I also informed Ms. Green that during the fight she was to take her orders from Lady Janice especially if the VNB – BDC link was severed for any reason. I would of course be on the VNB which is the duty station of the Executive during a battle, but since Lady Janice was not playing commodore she would be free to fight her ship from the BDC.
We made the jump without any problems and in fact jumped into a peaceful scene, well uplifting anyway. All of the Corporate orbital bases were smoldering lumps of debris and the sight of the AISS Purveyor greeting us as we exited was very encouraging. The fight for the ground was still raging but it seemed TF Stacy had complete control of the stellar arena. The Hoopskirt went back to inform our own leaders the good news.
Soon Gibraltar was crowded with the ships from both TF Stacy and TF Catherine. Her Grace however, was busy playing ground pounder so when Arch Duchess Catherine arrived she took control of the stellar assets. We had little time to celebrate as the AISS Hermitage arrived with dire news. The main body of the EXFLEET was cut off from friendly space and was fighting a desperate action to punch through the Corporate forces. We were ordered (TF Catherine and most of TF Stacy, or quite simply the 141st Fleet) to move at best possible speed to reach the 39th SF and other elements of the 1st EXFLEET. The 45th was tasked as the Van force and therefore the 452nd became the eyes and ears of the entire force.
According to the reports from the Hermitage, the 39th SF was heading towards Gibraltar and we needed to secure the path. We had our choice of either Barcelona or Madrid systems. The question was which one. The 452nd was given the job of determining which one. More to the point the two cruisers went while the destroyers stayed back. The Hoopskirt was to relay the info we found to Her Grace who would then order both the Hermitage and the Hoopskirt to make for the 39th, this would mean we would lose our Hermes until further notice. We decided on leaving the destroyers behind as they were one more ship and actually in system a Saturn could outrun anything that it could not take on with ease. Firebat got Barcelona we got Madrid
“Ma’am all systems are ready” announced Ms. Green.
“Thank you Lydia, set ship to condition zebra and prepare for jump.” I replied.
“Roger that,…”
NOW HERE THIS NOW HERE THIS SET SHIP TO CONDITION ZEBRA PREPARE TO JUMP
“…. Ma’am all sections report ship is at condition Zebra.”
“Very good, Navigation do we have everything set?”
“Aye Ma’am coordinates are locked and we are green for jump.” Replied Miss Stewart my Navigation officette.”
“Very Good, Miss Goldenstein set Voyeur to maximum passive upon arrival we need to see what this system has.”
“Aye Ma’am maximum passive, no active Ma’am?” the senior sensors Officette replied.
“Not unless we are spotted first, no need to give us away…Attention on Deck!” I shouted as Lady Janice arrived on the BDC.
“As you were girls, Ms. Parker I have the Con.”
“Aye Ma’am you have the con.” I replied while moving away from the command station.
“Cynthia, remain on the BDC until after we jump, then you may go to your action station.”
“Aye aye Ma’am.” I moved over to one of the folding jump seats and buckled myself in for the jump and looked at how smoothly 1st Watch proceeded with the jump translation.
We jumped to Madrid without a hitch. After we stabilized I headed for the VNB.
“Executive on Deck!” shouted Watch Chief Miranda Richards.
Miss Jenkins, stood out of the command station chair and greeted me. “Welcome to the VNB Ma’am, I presume you want your chair?”
“Yes Julie that would be nice, Lady Janice has the con, hopefully we get a nice routine shift up here.” I sat down and began monitoring the BDC feed. Looking at the data from the passive scans I noticed about thirty blips, but only twelve appeared to be of any significant output.
“BDC this is VNB I we are receiving data from scan it appears to be a very light Ma’am”
VNB THIS IS BDC WE CONCUR, RECOMMENDATIONS?
“Ma’am recommend IRIS sweep of the system, we recover on other side.”
CONCUR MS. PARKER, PREP AND LAUNCH IRIS PROBE AND COMPUTE COURSE AND SPEED FOR RENDESVOUS ON OTHER SIDE OF SYSTEM.
“Roger that….”
“Uh Ma’am…” interrupted one of the detail
“Wait one BDC, yes Miss Duncan?” I inquired of the Navigation Officette that dared interrupt my conversation with the skipper.
“Uh Ma’am instead of sending the entire ship to the other side couldn’t we use a Shaman to recover the probe?”
“That is a good idea Lewtenette, let’s see what the Skipper says. BDC this is VNB again, sorry for the interruption but Miss Duncan, the Nav-Oh here suggests using one of our Shaman bombers to recover the probe what do you think?”
SOUNDS GOOD TO ME OK WE’LL DO THAT MS PARKER MEET WITH AEROPS TO ARANGE RECOVERY BDC OUT.
“Ok you heard the Skipper, Miss Duncan, come with me it was your idea so you can help me pitch it to the ladies in purple.”
“Aye Aye Ma’am”
“Miss Jenkins the VNB is all yours.” I said, even though the formality of transferring the con was not needed as the BDC was still running the show.
The trip down to the hanger and flygirl country took a little bit, by the time we arrived Ms. Kemple was waiting for us. “Ah Ms. Parker the old lady said you wanted to utilize one of my birds, how can we help our sisters in blue?”
“Misty, we are launching an IRIS to make a sweep of this system, and rather than moving away from our return jump point, we think one of your Shaman bombers can recover the probe and bring it back.”
“Ah yes we could bring her back, you know those IRIS systems can be very touchy about being called it’s, however I would feel more comfortable sending a two Tempests with the Shaman.”
“Ok, well you have your people work it out Miss Duncan here is tasked as the liaison with the ship, have her give me the details and I will forward it to the Skipper.”
“Sure thing Cynthia, do you need anything else?”
“Nope that’s it just get that IRIS, we need to know what is in this system.” I said before heading back to the VNB to finish up my watch, however after the launching of the IRIS, It turned out that I had the con and so needed to head back to the BDC. One thing about being the Executive I certainly was in shape with all of the moving about the ship.
The rest of the watch was as predicted, routine, so routine in fact I had to be nudged awake by the BDCO when we got word that the IRIS was recovered. Funny thing IRIS probes, they are a marvel of engineering and science, the Independent Reconnaissance Intelligent Scout is one of the smartest artificial intelligences mass produced in Known Space. The Empire uses them to conduct close reconnaissance where sending a ship or even a manned fighter craft would be too risky. IRIS probes being as smart as they are have developed personalities that reflect the nature of their missions, they are either happy go lucky or very morose, and it is hard to tell which type you have.
The Foxglove carries five IRIS units, all of them are stored with the torpedoes as they are deployed through the torpedo tubes. Shaman bombers can be rigged with a recovery system in lieu of their own torpedoes. It is always humorous to read the unfiltered transmissions from an IRIS probe, and this time was no exception.
“Oh goody goody me, I get a mission!”
“What’cha talk’n ‘bout 35?”
“Oh they chose me 34, I get to go and explore Madrid, see (IRIS 35-K24 sends data collected from passive scan to IRIS 34-K24)
“Better you ‘dan me kid, looks dangerous.”
“Oh come on 34, it looks fun, all of those blips need a name, you think any are Pascals?”
“Why 35. but if they is, you sho don’t wanna get too close, they Pascal be real mean.”
“Ah 34 you’re no fun, well hey, I got to go, see you real soon.”
“Maybe I will, be careful kid.”
The IRIS was then loaded into the tube and deployed. “Yippeee here I go to save the day!”
“Hmm there are twenty five blips, eleven really big ones, well that cluster of four seems closest, let’s go say hi!” “She” thought to herself flying through space.
“Oh dang corporate Newtons, they are no fun, boring, but let see four Newtons on patrol, oh how original, I have seen more Newtons than I want to, maybe that group looks better.”
“Oh joy a Trig and three more Newtons, gee what are we chopped liver, hell Foxy can take all of this stuff by herself. Hmm that group looks promising….Oh well now what have we here, two Thetas, a Hawking, what, they still use those, three Trigs and do my eyes deceive me, can it be true? Yes it is true, Virginia there really is a Santa Claus, well ok, not really but a Pascal and a Dolciani all lit up and moored to an Oasis, looks like they are replenishing the Dolci, and that Pascal seems to be all taken apart, hmm let me get closer.” The probe moves in for a closer look
“Yep the engineering nacelles are opened doing a major overhaul there, well that’s no fun. What else do we got?” “She” does a longer scan with her powerful passive sensors/
“Oh well now that is interesting two more Dolcis on patrol with two Thetas and two Trigs. Oh well they look too alert to play, darn, well now let’s look at these last clusters, oh more Newtons and Trigs, that makes 14 Newtons, 10 Trigs and the lone Hawking, only two of the big ones left, so let’s see what they are…”
“Yeah! A Theta and a Descartes how nice bet the nice ladies in purple want to know about that, so better remember it. Ah a new blip, oh it must be my ride back home.”
The IRIS then headed for the Shaman and was recovered without incident and all three AS craft returned to the roost. We then went over the data collected and made our own analysis.
“Ma’am I think this is a gift from Soro, come on three Dolci’s, a Descartes and a disabled Pascal, we could do some damage with just this one ship.”
“I know that Ms. Parker but we must get that information to the fleet.”
“Yes Ma’am so send a Shaman back, hell, rig up an Ocelot with a One Shot, but we should remain here and keep tabs on things, or even get in a good position to take out a few baddies ourselves.”
“Ok, that will work, Ms. Kemple have one of your birds jump back to the Hoopskirt, and send word for both the Double L and the Lorington to jump back.”
“Aye Ma’am, may I suggest an Ocelot, that way 2L can recover her, and we are not deprived a shaman.”
“Ok very good, oh and if the Firebat is around suggest that Lady Marie likewise follows, or she can wait for Lady Amanda and the rest of the 45th.”
With that we broke up and began planning our next moves. I met with Ms. Kemple and Ms. Duquesne to look at what we could do to ruin the Corp’s day.
“Well Christy what do you think?”
“Dunno Cynthia, but looks like that Pascal is not going anywhere nor is that Dolci. I think LRAMS, full magazine, coordinate with the 2L and Lori, on the other Dolci’s.”
“Sounds good ok when can we expect the bastards to detect the missiles?”
“Well if we do it right, not until it is too late to do anything, but we need to be 180 degrees from our present position on the system axis.”
“Right ok, we will wait for the two destroyers then move into position.”
“Misty what is your plan?”
“Well as much as my gals would love to play with that Descartes, or even the Dolcis, that is asking a lot for a light comp squadron.” Ms. Kemple replied.
“Agreed, so what do you want to do?”
“My Warriors should be left to protect the Foxy and destroyers from anything those bastards throw at us, but the Tempests and Shamans can play rough with that far group of Thetas and trigs.”
“Ok sounds good, now if we get the Firebat?” I asked her.
“Well they are senior, but again a 2 comp squadrons still not enough to take on the wing of a Dolci, let alone that fat cow of a Descartes.”
“Right ok so we give that tempting cluster our missiles and use the little birds to play with their scout cruisers, that leaves our guns and torps…”
“Ma’am stay out of Torp range those quasars are bigger and faster than our Angels.” Ms. Duquesne stated.
“Ok so guns then..”
“We can chew up the Trigs and that Hawking, best if we work with the destroyers on that, 45th has some big gals in 1st and 3rd Squadrons.”
“Right plus the carriers, and that’s not taking into account the rest of TF Stacy and our own command shit. Ok I will run these by Lady Janice and act accordingly, I will do everything I can to persuade her to let Foxy get in the fight fast and early. Christy I will send one of my girls with the nav coordinates so you can get the LRAMS programmed. Ok let’s get to work ladies.”
2L and Lori jumped in with our shuttle and a message from the TGR, she gave us the go ahead to position ourselves for a flank strike but we were to wait until the AS craft jumped in before doing anything rash. It seems the TGR doesn’t want to risk the big girls for this pathetic system, so besides the three ships already present it will be an AS show.
With that news we decided that once the LRAMS were launched we would charge the Descartes, our Strike birds will still only play with the Thetas, in fact we launched them early and had them orbit just out of sensor range of their selective targets, which was quite easy to determine as every once and awhile the morons did an active scan. As for the missiles they were targeted and all we were waiting for was the signal to launch.
The signal came, the jump signature of nearly 200 AS craft is quite noticeable even to the blind wonders that must be manning the sensors on the Corp jerks. As soon as the blooms from the first wave faded we launched our missiles and then did an all out run for the Descartes, the two destroyers struggled to keep up. However we had to close the distance, the strike craft likewise accelerated to attack speed and headed for their respective targets.
As predicted the Corp ships reacted to the obvious threat of the AS strike and the Dolci’s and Descartes began launching their own fighters, and strike craft, assuming that our capital ships were en route shortly. The Tempests zoomed ahead of the slower shaman bombers and blew huge paths in the onrushing quadratic and pi fighters. Everyone ignored the lumbering numeric bombers which were now orbiting in figure eight patterns wondering where the ships were. At this time the theta group that we designated for our own AS strike detected our fighters and warned the Dolcis but by this time it was too late, because our LRAMS filled their sensors just as they activated their terminal thrusters. Each Destroyer carries 40 of the big missiles while we carry 20, but our guns were bigger.
Any way you look at it 100 LRAMs is not a fun thing especially on a flank attack. Twenty of the weapons were destroyed by defensive fire but fifteen from our strike and 65 from the destroyers got through to their targets. Because the Oasis was still moored to both of the cap ships, all of our missiles were targeted to that cluster, five hit the Dolci, four hit the Pascal and six slammed into the poor Oasis. The Dolci’s shields absorbed all of the hits but the last one knocked out their shields (we saw it flare), as for the Pascal, it did not have its primary shields up and took a pounding with the four hits, but, all of that was moot, as the Oasis, nothing more than a converted civilian freighter took six direct hits, blowing the ship to smithereens, because it was still moored to the other ships the explosion tore into the two other ships, and gutted the Pascal and ravaged the Dolci. The Pascal was a twisted hunk of metal when the fireball dissipated. As for the Dolci she was an operational kill.
The other Dolcis and their escorts encountered 65 LRAMS, each Dolci had twenty apiece and the remaining twenty-five were divided up amongst the escorts, 10 to each of the Thetas and 5 for destroyers, two and three respectfully. Even with full shields twenty LRAMS is asking for a miracle, and well Soro did not favor the Corp bastards today. The first Dolci ate all twenty, and blew apart, lost with all hands. The 2nd one took 10 to the chin and 5 more near hits; it was rendered lifeless and Dead in Space.
The Thetas each were a bit more lucky only one was rendered DIS, the other was seriously damaged but he had a short reprieve as the strike from the carriers were on their way to deliver the angels of death. We never did find any sizeable wreckage of the destroyers, but both were engulfed in massive fireballs, so we chalked them up as kills.
All of that carnage was just from 100 missiles, next to suffer were the Thetas and Trigs that were hit by our own AS craft. Although smaller than the massive Arch Angel LRAM, the Angel of Death torpedo ignores shields. The Tempests fired two torps apiece (none of ours were rigged wholly as fighters) at the destroyers while the four shaman fired eight torps each into the Theta scout cruisers. This attack erased two more Thetas and two Trigs, the Hawking and the last Trig somehow managed to avoid the fighters.
Our losses were two Tempests, but both AC were recovered after the fight. Surprisingly none of the Shaman bombers were even damaged. The Carrier birds now got their chance to play, and they roughed up the Descartes and took out the crippled Dolci and all of the remaining Trigs and Thetas.
The Newtons wisely jumped out of the system, four heading to another Corp system and 10 to try to take on the carriers. As I found out later, all 10 jumped right in front of the Dragoon and were obliterated without any Imperial losses.
All that was left was the crippled Descartes, and the luckiest Hawking in the entire FMA. We exchanged fire with the Hawking, but only managed to wing him before he jumped out, as for the Descartes between the two destroyers and the Foxy we pounded her to submission.
Miss Rochester took her entire troop along with the two convents from the destroyer to take the Descartes as a prize. I Took 2nd Watch Command and Engineering for the prize crew.
Lori escorted us back once; we got the bucket’s engines on line. I ate dinner that night in the flag dining room aboard a flag ship, with as my guests Ms. Tracy Greer, the Engineering Officette for 2nd Watch, and Miss Travis, Miss Rochester and one Fleet Commodore Robert Donaldson, FMA and company. It was probably the best meal I ever had in space until gaining my own flag.
The Foxy and 2L remained until the 3rd Squadron (453rd BATCRURON) jumped in, in the mean time I took the FMS Connelly to Gibraltar. Her Grace, actually Their Graces were both astonished to see a Descartes being escorted by a lone destroyer. In fact the only reason I wanted the Lori with us so none of our own side would get nervous and lay into the enemy flagship.
Commodore Donaldson was cooperative enough, if a bit of a boor, but then again after losing not only his ship but the rest of his command one would expect him to be a bit melancholy.
Upon arrival to Gibraltar the prisoners and myself and my senior staff including Miss Rochester were summoned to meet with Their Graces, actually Her Highness as Stacy-Leigh received a communiqué from Goddard via Goldstone of her promotion to Wanaxxae, and first governess of Gibraltar.
We each gave an account of the action as we saw it, and I praised Lady Janice for her quick thinking and superb tactical sense, likewise praised Ladies Wendy and Gloria (the skippers of the destroyers) as well as the leaders of the aerospace especially Ms. Temple. As I found out from the AAR, the battle of Madrid was a resounding success; we lost twelve Craft, only three with all crew. All others had their AC recovered, although sixteen (shamans have a crew of 3 and Tempest a crew of 2) AC were wounded and not fit for duty for a while.
The Corps lost a Pascal, 3 Dolcis, 5 Thetas, 1 Oasis Tender, destroyed or rendered DIS and later scuttled by their crews prior to capture, plus the Connelly captured as a prize, and 10 Trigs and 10 Newtons also destroyed. Only the Hawking and 4 Newtons managed to evade capture or destruction. Even better Madrid system was now in our control, at least long enough for the 141st to make a link up with the 39th and friends.
For our part of the battle of Madrid, Lady Janice earned a Gold Cluster and the Department heads a Silver cluster. Ms. Kemple and three of her girls got Ruby Clusters, and five more of her girls got Gold or Silver clusters. Everyone else got decorated according to their position. Even better we got to add the silhouette of a Pascal, and Descartes to our Awards plaque plus the sale of the Descartes made everyone very wealthy. My share as ship’s Executive was 20,000 IGC. Lady Janice got nearly 100,000 IGC. Even Troopie Green, the newest girl on the Foxy got a 100 IGC bonus. As for Commodore Donaldson, well she retired two years ago as Lady Admiral Roberta Grenville.