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Of the coming attack on the 14 of August, their strike would be the most important. The federation shipyards at Harokir had to be disabled at any cost. Defending the ships yards would be 30 viciously armed federation capital ships, ranging from smaller cruisers to larger carriers. The alliance battlefleet consisted of 20 capitals, and it's entire fighter and bomber compliment, Serators III and Embers, respectively. The Fleet's Flagship was one of the fleet's three Ayron class Light Carriers, the Suran Tarri. At 540 meters ( 1,800 feet) long, an Ayron class carrier had light fire power but the campability of carrying an immense 352 Serator, Serator III, or Ember class fighters. It was aboard this particular Flagship that Admiral Votaka had been berthed for his last Command of the 5th Battle Fleet. There were also 10 Novanro Class Light Cruisers, and 7 Chotar Class Medium Torp Crusiers, with special starboard and port torp launching bays. Each had an additional Squadron of fighters to add to the full compliment. Additionally, it should be noted that of the Five Battle Fleets sent to finish the war that had lasted nearly four years, this fleet was to capture the primary Federation Shipyards and Foundries. without these, the federation would lose any chance of resupply and repair. Since this task was of utmost importance, this fleet was the only to recieve TWO squadrons of Elite Pilots, the best the Service Starfighter Corps had to offer. Only six elite squadrons were commissioned; of those six, Optura and Garell Squadrons were chosen. As Admiral Votaka would soon learn, Disaster was in the immediate future for the fleet, and there would be one sole survivor from the entire force, an elite pilot from Garell squadron, one Jadonima Turonin by name, from the soveriegn world of Kintar. what follows is a full and accurate as possible third person account of the battle of Harokir, supported by salvaged fleet recorders, cams, and black boxes.
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The fleet left Stardrive at 0318.84, 3 minutes ahead of schedule. Upon Convergence of the stardrive fields, all craft began launching their fighter compliments in prepration for attack. "Fighter command... Deploy Serator screens, and Ember loadouts, with escorts... Command to fleet, all hands to stations, bring bearing 345 by 90 degrees, form in SOTL Formation 2a..." Admiral Votaka was readying his fleet, as the bridge crew worked busily at their stations, managing their areas of expertise. "Sir! i've got enemy sensor contacts... 73 by my panels..." Edginess could be heard in the voice of the Sensors officer, her fingers typing at her panels furiously. "what in blazes? Intelligence indicated only 30 for this sector and for defensive of the shipyards... Comm, get command, and inform them of this..." Votaka's movement in his seat suggested sudden foreboding. "Command gives the go ahead... sir... " The thick gruff voice of the comm officer reported. Votaka thought for only an instant. "Command to fleet... Despite lack of data for the unaccounted for ships, we are to proceed with caution, but as planned... Gun crews, make every shot count..." Numerous "aye, aye sir"s filtered back to the bridge, and the entire fleet began to move straight up from the plane of the convergence towards their objective, fighter screens forward, ready to engage any hostile fighters or bombers that would move in on the fleet. Fifteen very tense moments passed, as the fleet closed the vast distance with the defense forces, which were rushing to assemble their large numbers into a defensive screen. "Two minutes to maximum range, sir!" "Fire long range torps!" long range torpedoes were an ingenious method of getting the first shot. they were dead fired out of torpedo bays via a magnetic accelerater, and then upon coming in range of their targets, their engines and guidance systems would become live, when a live fired torpedo would be about to run out of power. All seven Chotar class cruisers fired 5 volleys of long range torps into the still organizing federation fleet. "Sir, torps away, 37 seconds to range..." "All hands... this is it... gunners... crews... good luck!" all guns in the fleet were angled and positioned to fire on the closest targets as soon as they entered effector range. "6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... we're at range!" "Fire at will, all guns!" Votaka took his seat, as did all the rest of the bridge crew, preparing for impacts that were sure to come. Loud thumps filled the hull as the larger effector cannon, with longer range, began to fire as fast as their conduits and capacitors would allow. "Sir... we have incoming!" Red flashes of the effector rounds hurled at each other, both fleets began to pull evasive action. "Full evasive, three degrees starboard, fifteen degrees!" the Suran Tarri shook violently as the carrier's shields deflected and dissapated the hot detonations of the incoming effector rounds. "Sir, fighters inbound, Mantas and Bombers..." a squadron commander reported from the foremost screen. "Optura.. take your compliment of fighters, and free engage, but keep up with us..." "aye, sir... " The Suran Tarri shook violently again with a third impact. "sir, Bow shields are at 34 % efficiency... " "Garell, you and your three squadrons escort the embers throught the ventral flank and shred them good..." "aye, sir... we're on it..." The leader of Garell for two missions, Captain Jadonima Turonin did so as ordered. By this time, the long range torps had made their way to their targets and where detonating resonance warheads, shattering shields and armor, and bringing further confusion among the already in motion federation fleet. One Novanro class, the Garan Jeko, the fleet point, had been absorbing the brunt of federation fire, undermanned as it was. the larger federation guns, once defeating the Jeko's Bow,Ventral and Dorsal shields, had turned to the rest of the incoming alliance fleet. Smaller federation guns, however, lacking the range of the larger guns, had opened fire on the now exposed Jeko. Effector after effector ripped through the hull of the Jeko, opening ugly melted slashes along her hull, devastating unmanned guns. "sir, i've got breaches across all decks in sector 1... and across the lower decks of section two..." An officer reported from the half empty bridge of the Jeko, as more rounds impacted and buried into the jeko's bow, shreding, melting and blowing away more of the hull structure. "aye... launch the bridge away... activate the extra shielding!" The bridge superstructure jolted away in a sudden lurch, the remainder of the Jeko moving at the federation fleet. the bridge turned tail and retreat, a plate of hull falling away from the stern of the structure to reveal smaller engines, that lit and accelerated with gusto. "Admiral.... the bridge of the Jeko is away!" the captain of the jeko sounded relieved. "aye, that's good news, captain.... now, make best speed to safety..." Votaka knew that the Jeko wouldn't fool them much longer. "Fleet, once in torp range, all ships, open fire... " The Jeko's bridge made fast pace back to the fleet, and had nearly made it back, when the main hull, left to cruise at the federation ships, began breaking up with large detonations. federation fire was instantly directed towards the main group. "admiral, sir... fighter screens are 23 seconds from engagement, and the ember group is 2 minutes from striking..." a tense silence fell over the bridge crew. "All hands... this is it... good luck, and good hunting..." The federation ships were now concentrating their fire on the main group. all this time had reduced the federation fleet by twelve capitals, and now, the fighters were engaging federation manta fighters to screen the capitals. the last of the still functioning federation ships finally pulled into formation and then accelerated right at the alliance fleet. just as the bridge section of the Jeko slipped past the Suran Tarri, a large caliber effector lanced out, meant for the Tarri, and cored the Jeko, causing a blinding flash. "Sir! the Jeko's... gone!" "Sir, we're in torp range... " "Fire!" Admiral Votaka sat back inhis command chair, bracing for impact. the fleet was still heftly outnumbered. "Sir, Garell here... we've been hit by heavy fighter resistance.... please advise..." "Turonin, get those bombers through!" "aye sir... think nothing more of it!" indeed, turonin's squadron, and those three following him, escorting the 6 squadrons of embers, had hit heavy manta resistance, and were making all due effort to keep the slower, less manueverable embers alive. things were hopping at the fighter screen line as well. the first of the manta fighters had slipped through, half doubling back, the other half moving on to strafe the fleet. Anti-Starfighter cannon, with the gunner compartment in between, on the surface, opened up and began to lace the area with small fire. "sir.. two of the Novanros are reporting serious damage... the Yirna Tuja has fired escape pods, and is breaking up!" one cruiser breaking up and two more close to it. Captain Votaka thought fast. "all ships... fire all the trops you've got... and then buckle down for a slugging match... optura, how are you holding up out there?" Brillaint small flashes could be seen from ahead, where fighters ducked and rolled, and twisted through space, attempting to each achieve their objectives. another novanro began to break up, and escapes jettisoned along the starboard and port sides. "Optura here, sir... the commander's gone... caught by a group of mantas... it's getting thick, and the federation's got anti guns coming inrange soon... they'll blaze us fast..." More brilliant flashes could be seen on the main view screen, and the pilot, with her view helmet was looking up towards the port, off the main view screen. "Sir, i've got threesquadrons of federation bombers coming in... " as she said it, two squadrons of screen fighters diverted and moved to intercept, having seen them as well. the bombers opened up on a chotar class that was near them, the explosives rippling along her shields and bringing them down. more explosives dived in on her and detonatedon the ships hull, shredding away armor. "Sir! there goes the Yira..." the chotar class ship began to break up along the long and horrible gash that had been left by the bomber run. the two squadrons of fighters were now dealing with the bombers, and little fire came from them. "Ey, sir! Garell here... i've got the embers to the federation line, and i've got pilots blasting antifighter guns... but the embers'll not last long!" Turonin's voice was urgent, and suddenly, three of the federation ships began to glow as their shields failed and Resonance warheads buried into their hulls, and then blew with bright flashes of light. two of the cruisers began to break up, the third was spouting fire, and atmosphere. "aye, garell, good hunting..." The admiral held himself tightly in his seat as the federation fleet opened fire on the three Ayron class carriers. the ship starboard of the Tarri, the Huyko Notyo, flashed brilliantly, as a large calibre effector buried into the hull of one of the ships forward mandibles and detonated, shredding armor in all directions and venting atmosphere and flame. "Sir, we've lost five Novanros three Chotars, not including the Jeko... and now the Notyo's spines broken!" The connector structure which the hull was built around on the ayron had snapped in two due to a effector splitting the engines from the rest of the ship. "Evasive action!" the Tarri shuddered as shrapnel bounced off it's now unprotected starboard flank, smashing armor, and damaging some of the guns there, mostly small antifighter guns, killing their gunners. the big portion of the hulk veared wildly to port away from the Tarri, and straight into a Chotar, and both collided, smashing them both, and shredding the two hulks beyond recognition. "Damage report!" "Section 1's been evacutated sir... too many breaches to close out, and we've lost 38% of our guns, mostly starboard... Bows shields are down... and we're losing the restof our coverage!" Two more Novanros broke up with massive detontations, and by now, escape pods were littering the immediate space, all attempting to feel. The fighter screens were beginning to fail, being over run. the Embers were doing a magnicifent job, dispite their loses. "The fleet's lost an Ayron, seven Novanros, and five Chotars... we're down to seven functional capitals sir, and we're taking a great deal of fire!" "and the Federation forces? how arethey fairing?" "Ey, Turonin here sir.... i've got visual on 38, no... 37 federation craft on power... we've halved them, sir..." "it's not enough... we need to get out of here... all ships how can still here me and is under power... withdraw and collect escape pods and fighters as you go..." The other Ayron class carrier, the Ryton Hupit, wavered as the remaining ships of the fleet being evasive manuevers to retreat. "Admiral... The hupit's slow to helm... she's taken a beating sir.... " The Hupit came around, inertial conveyors groaning with the effort. "she'll be slow getting out of here, and..." the captain's voice was cutoff as two effectors cut into the bridge superstructure, one after the other. Escape pods jettisoned as plumes of fire and atmosphere jetted out into space, lighting the darkness. a heavy effector lanced out and cut into the port side engine, detonating there, and setting off the reactors in a spectacular chain reaction. once the light dimmed, all that was left of the Hupit was the husk of her bow, what had not been already blown away, and large shreds of armor plating. The Tarri shuddered. "Admiral, i've thrown all the power i can into the stern shielding and the engines, but mantas are closing fast, and i don't have power for the guns!" the fighter screens had been over run, and were making fast for the retreating ships. "Dead fire the rear twin torp laucher, as many times as possible, and give us more speed... Garell, how are you doing?" the Tarri thudded several times as torps were dead fired back into the pursueing federation fleet, causing more damage. "Garell here.... ey, The embers are all but shreds, but we're on our way out, and skirting the mantas, taking as many as we can.. i've lost seven pilots, but all in all... it's bad there, ey?" "aye... get here now, or, you won't have a ride home..." Admiral Votaka climbed back into his seat, another near miss shedding more armor and tossing the ship about. Main bridge lighting had gone down, and a small calibre effector had gone off in the back quarters area of the bridge. the actually bridge was for the most part intact, but the weapons officer's panels had blown producing some smoke, and enough shrapnel to fill have the bridge, killing the officer, and wounding eight more. "how many are left? us and them..." "three, no two capitals left sir... and they've stil got about twenty-seven capitals after son full power... " the Tarri shuddered again, and foreward cams displayed a large chuck of the hull structure breaking off, and narrowly missing the bridge altogether. the Manta fighters turned back, no longer giving chase. "what are they doing?" *the admiral watched the rear cam view on the main screen. "they're destroying escape pods! those blasted wretches!" the Tarri shook violently, and her sole accompaniment, a heavily damaged Novanro, the Itari Huro, began to lag behind. "Captain, what are you doing? withdraw!" "Admiral, they are destroying non combatant escape pods, we must stop..." the comm cut silent, as the Huro swept sideways, away from the Tarri, and began to break up. Silence was on the bridge, despite the sounds of shattering metal going through the tattered hull of the Tarri. the rear facing torpedo tubes fell silent at last, having fired the last pair in the magizine. "Admiral, we've lost engine 2, and 3... they're gaining on us.." "the stardrives? do they work?" Votaka collected himself to his feet from the floor. the other injuries could not be cared for, as there was no longer a way down to the medbay. "Garell, you there, we have to get out of here, now! we can't wait any longer..." The Tarri shook violently again. "Admiral, get of to safety... my pilots and i'll get you as much time as we've got the chance to get... take care, ey?" "Sir, one of the stardrives, miraculaously, reports full function..." The ventral hull over the vast fighter hangers broke away, too much damage to the armor to do much more, as well, as the ventral shielding complex located on the engine section of the hull, section three. "good, go to stardrive in ten seconds!" the ship lurched and the orientation flips ship so that it's dorsal surfaced the federation fleet by the time the surviving inertial conveyors could stop it's spin. "what in blazes was that?" Votaka had landed against a console and shattered his left arm, which he now held to chest in pain. "The fuel cell, sir... it's gone, and we also lost the reactor coolant system... critcal in less than a minute!" the ship shuddered. "turn us around and then abandon ship!" the ships righted itself, and put engines to maximum acceleration, using the small reserve fuel cell,and then escapes launched, and fled. the bridge to the Tarri ejected as well, though it's retrieval engines were long dead. The shredding mass of the dying ayron, Tarri, plowed straight into the fast, oncoming federation fleet, and detonated, killing another cruiser. then, the remains of the federation fleet were through, and fired on the remainder of the escape pods. Back behind the main federation fleet, the fighter battle was coming to a loll. the last of the serator III's were being wiped out by devastating efficiency, due to how badly they were out numbered. the last fighter fighting, indeed, still alive, was Garell leader, Jadonima Turonin. When he was shot out of his serator III, he ejected his cockpit, and floated. as manta fighters continued to hunt down allaince escape pods and ejected cockpits. Two minutes after Turonin was shot out, the relief force, mostly out of the lightly damaged force that had taken the Federation capital, converged from stardrive, right in front of the smashed federation fleet. the insuing battle finished the remains of the federation fleet, and within two hours, the only known survivor, Jadonima Turonin, was collected and rushed to a medical cruiser, where he was treated for broken limbs, internal injuries and internal hemraging.
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In all, Admiral Votaka, long a well known and exceptional strategist, disabled 53 Federation ships of the line, before being ground into dust. 879 federation crewmen were rescued and treated from the wreckage of the battle. A day later, the federation capitulated, surrendering. 20 alliance ships of the line were lost at the battle of Harokir: 1. Suran Tarri Ayron 2. Ryton Hupit Ayron 3. Huyko Notyo Ayron 4. Itari Huro Novanro 5. Garan Jeko Novanro 6. Yuzvi Tulk Novanro 7. Hiola Sude Novanro 8. Ukair Milo Novanro 9. Freci Pati Novanro 10. Vetif Delt Novanro 11. Witlo Beir Novanro 12. Cokit Edru Novanro 13. Kolia Zurl Novanro 14. Yirna Tuja Chotar 15. Murin Yira Chotar 16. Suvin Qota Chotar 17. Flepa Caru Chotar 18. Karut Seku Chotar 19. Flaja Geri Chotar 20. Kront Kaun Chotar 21. Garell Elite Squadron 22. Optura Elite Squadron
As to why the Federation made such a drastic change in defensive strategies, it was originally attributed to espioniage. Later, it would come to be known that the commander of the fleet, at Harokir, had been planning on disregarding orders and instead of dispersing the fleet to protect the outlying areas and systems, and concentrated the entirity of the Federation fleet in that sector as Harokir. As for the lack of organization and return of fire upon arrival of the alliance fleet, that was attributed to a large number of crew on shore leave, and due to the dead firing of long range torpedos, which caught the admiral in command off guard, and led him to believe he was facing a much larger force than he actually was. Further more, the ruse of the Garan Jeko had diverted enough energy and time that the alliance fleet was able to slug the massive federation fleet for a time of nearly twenty minutes untouched. The shipyards and foundries of Harokir were surrendered upon then defeat of the tattered federation fleet when the relief force arrived. Admiral Votaka and many other Captains and other crew, and pilots, were promusthmously awarded the Crimson Star of Honor for their self sacrificing heroism. Turonin, the sole survivor, was also awarded the Crimson star, and was also awarded with the Crystal Light Medal Of Excellence. Upon reciept of such honors, Turonin was given a conditional Retirement.
Jadonima · Mon Aug 14, 2006 @ 04:30pm · 0 Comments |
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