“Ready on the second salvo?” Vladameer asked, watching the burning enemy cruiser drift away from the battle, towards the planet’s protective shields. For a second, he almost felt sorry for the poor bastards on the dying ship. But there was no time for that – the battle didn’t stop for the death of one man, or one thousand. Do unto others, and the enemy was out there trying just as hard to kill him as he was them. War was like that. He might have wondered what drove the defenders to such lengths – they were simple employees of a corporate enterprise, hardly fighting for their homes or government. If he wasn’t mistaken, he might have mistaken them for a real military…
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
“Aye, General.” The response from the ship’s XO broke his train of thought. Quickly, he put his ponderings aside, putting his mind back on the battle taking place outside. There were two enemy cruisers of significant size left, neither quite as large as the
Zen and both damaged, but they still posed the greatest threat to the Imperial fleet. Aside from the surface guns, of course. But the enemy fleet was still below them, shielding the Imperial ships from the deadliest weapons the enemy had.
<o =""></o>
And taking the brunt of the Empire’s attack.
<o =""></o>
“Target the enemy’s number two.” Vladameer ordered, frowning. There was no time to consider what it might mean – the families – this was war.
<o =""></o>
“General! Surface fire!” There was no time to brace, no time to do anything but hear the shout and feel the flagship shudder as the surface gun’s fire hit home on her bow portion, collapsing shields and burning into hull plating. But the lights didn’t fail, the bridge wasn’t thrown into darkness or disarray. The
Zen hardly reacted; her guns continued to fire, pouring energy into the enemy cruisers.
<o =""></o>
Seconds later, the heavy guns fired, sizzling in space and delivering tremendous amounts – unheard of amounts – of energy into the flanks of the enemy ships. Armour plating was boiled away, melted and evaporated by the intense heat of the continuous beam turbolasers aboard the
Zen.
<o =""></o>
“Sensors! Give me a report on Number Two.” He said, smiling thinly. That ship was burning now, its hull grotesquely disfigured by the massive guns. Turbolaser fire was now pouring in from all directions, overwhelming the enemy cruiser and plunging it into darkness.
<o =""></o>
“General. Report from sensors.”
<o =""></o>
Vladameer watched the results scroll across his screen; the cameras that caught the disaster as it unfolded. The enemy’s surface guns had fired, sending their destructive energy into orbit. Unfortunately for them, the proximity of the two fleets meant that they’re targeting had to be very, very precise.
<o =""></o>
They weren’t.
<o =""></o>
The first shot had hit the
Zen, coming from the planet’s equator and managing to strike against the flagship’s bow. But the second shot had been intercepted, the bolt smashing into their own ship and bringing it’s shields down just seconds before the continuous beam turbolasers had fired, leaving it wide open for the devastating attack.
<o =""></o>
Not even Simon Kaine could have planned it better. The end result was that the enemy cruiser was reduced to so much space junk, caught in orbit over the planet.
<o =""></o>
“General! Fighters!” Vladameer was getting sick of the constant shouts, turned to say something, and swore. Swarms of starfighters were closing with the ship, models he had never seen before. If they carried missiles…
<o =""></o>
Already the antifighter guns were firing, streaks of ruby red light slanting through space and towards the enemy ships. Several exploded, but the majority came on. Now he could make them our more clearly, but the design eluded him still. They had fired their warheads, and now were breaking away.
The
Zen’s antimissile defences had started firing even before the warheads appeared, but there to many to prevent a strike. But the attack wouldn’t be repeated – the fighters had to slow to turn away, and in doing so they opened themselves to the fire from the flagship’s light guns. Their explosions were like tiny stars, materializing for a brief second and then fading once more. The fleet’s fighters followed, grinding the opposing pilots into the dust.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
The missile struck home somewhere in between the action, rocking the
Zen and further weakening her shields. But the flagship was one of the finest in the Empire, built to soak up abuse and keep on fighting. It would take a lot more to knock Vladameer out of the fight, and by the looks of things thus far the enemy didn’t have what it would take to do it.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
“Damage?” He queried, stepping back. The bridge crew had reacted as expected, not panicking as the ship returned to the fight in full.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
“Shield integrity down substantially in the forward quarter; minor hull damage, contained; some weapons reporting malfunction.” The report came back. Calm, concise. Decidedly Imperial.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
The rest of the fleet had faired quite well, considering. The enemy’s main effort had been focused thus far on the
Zen, and the other ships had taken advantage of that fact to pummel their opponents without mercy. The enemy’s smaller ships were feeling the burden on having two of their commandants knocked out of the fight, and were struggling now to turn the tide of the fight.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
“Reinforce shields,” Vladameer ordered, “bring us about and keep us out of the field of their guns. Reload our warhead launchers. Get me the status of the fleet.”
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
It wasn’t over yet.
<o ="">:p> </o>:p>
<o ="">:p>[size=2]Damages[/size]</o>:p>
[/color] [size=1][color=DarkOliveGreen]ASD Zen – 60% shields, 90% <st1:city w:st="on"><st1 ="">:place w:st="on">Hull</st1>:place></st1:city> & Weapons
Minor-Moderate damage to rest of fleet[/size]
[size=1]
<o ="">:p></o>:p>Immolator Class Battlecruiser- Fireburst – Crippled/Out of Action
Immolator Class Battlecruiser- Infinity -- Crippled/Out of Action
Immolator Class Battlecruiser- Paradigm -- Heavy Damage
5 Rapier II-class Gunships – Moderate/Heavy to Heavy/Very Heavy Damage
5 Punisher Class Pocket Cruiser- Punishers – Heavy to Very Heavy Damage
5 Punisher Class Pocket Cruiser- Punishers – Moderate to Heavy Damage[/size]
This is a good time because Kas is so up-tight you could stick a coal up his ass and in two weeks you would have a diamond.
-Theren Gevel