Mission 5 - History Begins to ‘Creek’ - Part 2

  TA419 - 14/02,

  Bridge of ‘His Majesty’s Axe’ - Station in Airspace Near Defence Platform 3.

  The TSU orbital ‘Defence Platforms’ stood as monuments to the half-decade of peace achieved at the end of the prior war. Larger than any warship, these space stations represented a shift in TSU ideology to government.

  Before the war, the planet Bhaile's defence net was laughably slow, primarily because of the belief that no one but TSU could ever field many spaceships. The net, an array of ordinary satellites, and smaller space stations (many commercial and so small they couldn't possibly hope to keep track and process all the natural traffic in the solar system) would detect an anomaly - an asteroid entering the solar system say - and beam that information down to TSU headquarters on the planet below. At this point, headquarters would analyse the data, confirm it as a threat or not and then pass it to an authority. Said authority would then give a command that would be beamed back to the satelite, which would finally notify the nearest fleet.

  This was fine for notifying TSU of slow-moving objects, like asteroids entering the solar system, that were entire days away and most likely to burn up in the atmosphere anyway - the issue came with warships.

  A satellite spots a flotilla moving between the two sister planets, six ships. Unable to track all flight paths, it presumes these ships to be nought more than merchant vessels. The flotilla changes course by just a few degrees, heading slightly more in Bhaile's direction. Still nothing to worry about; until that is the course changes three more times to be pointing right at the planet.

  At this point, the satellite raises a flag. After a delay, a fleet is finally sent to intervene. By the time it arrives, the enemy flotilla is already on top of them, deploying Vijiak's at close-quarter range while TSU vessels scramble to launch antiquated fighter jets. It was by this simple method, among many others, that the Abhialen Revolutionary Army used to overwhelm and decimate the already outdated and underfunded warships of the TSU Navy five years ago.

  After the war, fixing this system was the highest priority; the Defence Platforms had been the answer. Each station orbited the planet on a different path, with the absolute best of sensor equipment and processing facilities. They could track every legal movement in the solar system and instantly flag any rouge courses.

  Platforms 2 and 3 were both commanded by a rear admiral and number 1 by the grand admiral, meaning no more delays in action; an instant authority to respond as news came in. Add to that the cannon equipped to each station, magnitudes bigger than even the strongest battleship's equivalent - and the platforms had become the marker of the Union’s rebuilding efforts - the pride of Admiral's Columbae's military reforms. And something any would-be enemy of TSU would have to face...

  Admiral Agitate glanced around his bridge. He stood at the front, a standing console hooked to all other stations in front of him, no chair. Abhailen Admirals never sit. Not much of a boost without gravity on your shoulders, but a staunch tradition, no less. A railing by his side, Abhialen Admirals also shouldn't get ping-ponged around should the bridge be impacted.

  Before him, the rows of operators at their stations, all linked through his terminal, ready to maintain every aspect of the ship in the coming fight.

  "All stations ready, Sir."

  "Excellent, put me in contact with the field commander," the Admiral said. The Scarlet Scourge's face, with its wild mane of crimson hair, appeared in the terminal, "Admiral, Sir."

  "You are our arrowhead today, Commander. I expect great things. An addition for you: one extra ship has been spotted heading for the Platform. We believe it to be the Vijiak-Carrier of a TSU ace. If the need arises, hold them off, but only go for a kill if one presents itself on a platter; the main mission takes priority."

  "Roger that, Sir. I'll keep a lookout for it."

  "Very good, then let's begin phase two, everyone. Commander, you have the go-ahead to launch."

  ****

  TA419 - 14/02 - Same Time,

  TSU Vijiak-Carrier ‘LongParish’, Hangar Bay, Far Side of Defence Platform 3

  "How much longer?!" Major George Elton barked.

  "They're not sure, Sir, the techs are doing what they can," his young aide said.

  Elton was known as a Vijiak Knight, one of TSU's most elite. Although his ship had its own captain, everyone knew it was his. The LongParish, a modern Vijiak-Carrier. The long rectangle had a mouth at either end, running along its entire length, two magnetic high-speed rails - the largest runway of any carrier in service. The LongParish was the best in its class for rapidly deploying its twenty-six mecha at incredible distances rapidly. It was also broken.

  It had been a terse couple of days. Ordered to back up Defence Platform 3's defences, a Platform known for being underfunded, was one thing. Ending up arriving late, only for the catapults to malfunction? That was catastrophic.

  Elton was not happy about more than that, however. The LongParish was his. His shiny new carrier ship intended to ferry his men and his Casnel. The Cheval De Troy, the ship that had carried the First Casnel, the spearhead that had ended the last war - had fought near daily for an entire year in some of the fiercest battles in recorded history - so how was it his carrier had fucked up this badly on its very first foray?

  Elton was well aware that Platform 1 had the home fleet, the grand admiral’s five hundred ships. Platform 2 had a defence fleet, too, one hundred ships. But 3 had only finished construction months ago, and there'd been growing resistance; parts of TSU that wanted to focus less on defence and more on oppression, the radicals. Others wanted to return to pre-war policy, cut military funding, and invest instead in colonising further into space.

  The bureaucracy and heel-dragging had led to a measily twenty-five ships and the station itself being here. Elton was the Columbae’s attempt to ease that. His twenty-five-man battalion were the best of the best, and he had been given one of the new Casnels.

  But now they were late, too far away to help when the largest Remembrance fleet deployed so far in the ongoing conflict, fourty ships, was barrelling towards the Platform.

  With a heavy sigh, Elton turned to his only remaining option, "Tell the Captain to get this damn thing fixed, I'm going out."

  "Out, Sir. But to where?" the aide replied

  "They gave me a Casnel with supposedly the longest-range weapon in existence. Pft, they said this ship was the best, too. Let's hope the Casnel proves more reliable.

  ****

  TA419 14/02

  Orbit around TSU Defence Platform 3

  A massive flaming great-axe swung through the air and smashed into the frontal armour of a MBT-Mk2. The blocky, beige mech floundered, the sheer impact more than it had ever been designed to withstand, the grinding, snarling teeth of the axe's chainsaw blade ripping apart its armour. A moment later, The Scarlet Scourge's calabar mk2 bisected her foe.

  "Alfrick, fail back. You're too extended. Jasta, move left a bit; keep that package in your shadow at all costs," she spoke into her comm lines as Chevalier 002 laid the still-red-hot axe on its shoulder.

  The battle had entered its opening blows. Scarlet's battalion of twenty-one machines had gone in first as an arrowhead, diving into the twenty-five ships and over a hundred enemy mechs defending the platform. They moved fast and viscously, going for the fastest kills possible and ducking between anit-mech fire on all sides from the defending warships.

  Behind them, Admiral Agitate’s fleet had also opened fire; with the numerical advantage and the ability to manoeuvre more than the TSU ships - stuck holding positions around their stationery Defence Platform - the Remembrance fleet had already sunk one TSU ship. Things were going exactly as planned.

  It was challenging by any metric. This was quite the baptism for a first fleet battle as a field commander. Her single battalion was outnumbered and outgunned; they had to move fast, any hesitation in her orders could lead them to be cornered. However, any more units would be unmanageable and leave their fleet open to a similar assault. So dozens of other Remembrance mechs had stayed behind in formation around the Admiral's ships while her force flew between the endless streams of fire, literally metres away from the tall boaws of the enemy vessels.

  Just as Scarlet was picking her next TSU MBT to cripple, a frantic sound broke from her comms board, "ARGHHH--"

  "Ma'am, Jeroumo has been hit, I didn't even see it!"

  "Calm down, soldier," Scarlet spoke firmly into her mic, "Check, any sign of what it was?"

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Can't be but, but I could swear there is a mech out there, but it must be miles away!"

  Scarlet didn't hesitate, "Jasta, Manfred, take over, I'll check it out."

  The TSU ace she'd been warned of, if a Casnel like the ones encountered by Sesha was here, she knew only the Scourge could hope to face it.

  ****

  Agitate rubbed a hand through his short bearded chin; he stared out the large windows of his bridge. In front was the Platform, the cross-shaped beacon of TSU supremacy. Around it, the now only twenty-four ships, each emitting continuous rays of all colours, energy beams cutting across the black night sky.

  His fleet deployment was a simple pattern: a capital ship in the centre, two lesser ships a piece to the north-west, north-east, south-west and south-east of it and repeat. Thirty ships aligned like this, and ten were behind them, ready to swap in and out as needed. This allowed the force to keep up a constant barrage while also letting any damaged ship retreat and plenty of room between vessels for more complex manoeuvres. If something came at them from above or below, they could turn without risk of harming one another. It was a solid formation in a battle with the superior numbers on their side.

  The situation gave the Admiral a nostalgic feeling. Once, Abhialien warlords had spent two years in fights like this. Outmatching TSU fleets in both tech and tactics, they had overwhelmed and crushed thousands of enemy vessels in battles like this, to the point that even five years later, TSU had barely rebuilt an eighth of the forces it should probably have proportionate to its population.

  For the last few weeks, his forces had been fighting a guerrilla war, small detachments, smaller targets. After today, that would be the case again, but for just now, here he was once more. Standing upon his bridge, overseeing a straight battle, with clear lines, with more than a handful of ships on either side - for the first time in five years, it almost felt like ‘the good old days once more’ - sad then, that such a straightforward battle was only the allusion he intended to give.

  They were moving forward but not at max speed. Aside from sending in Scarlet's battalion, the admiral had no intention of entering Vijiak range nor of ever actually getting his forces that close to Defence Platform 3; he merely sought to give the illusion of a charge.

  The results so far were excellent, but just then, he saw a single lightning bolt. It came from far behind the station, miles away, in fact. What he saw, was the first live-firing of the enemy Casnel, though even he, with all his experience, couldn't know that. It was to Agaitate just a beautiful, destructive light cutting across the battle lines.

  His attention turned to the station itself. A barrel the size of a warship ran throughout the platform, and it was beginning to glow. In reality, it was no different to the cannons on his ship or even a Vijiak’s rifle. A massive stream of superheated energy used as a projectile.

  He licked his lips. Finding out what that cannon could do in practice was a secondary goal of this mission; "All ships prepare for impact, evasive manoeuvres!" he bellowed.

  The Defence Platform fired. A scalding, golden light lit up the black of space, its ridiculous pulsing diameter streaking through the sky between its defending ships. Any Vijaik caught in its path was eviscerated, instantly atomised.

  The admiral lay a hand on the railing before him.

  A Moment after firing, it struck the ship northeast of His Majesty's Axe. It instantly pierced the small triangular vessel, cutting into it with a violent surge of heat. Then, the beam was gone. The attack finished.

  The Admiral craned his head to see the damage with his own eyes. The fore and aft of the ship remained, yet its centre was simply a hole where a warship had once been. He bawked at the unyielding power as the stricken ship began exploding, as every not evaporated system and fuel cell malfunctioned and meltdowned.

  The Defence Platform’s weapon was even greater than they'd expected.

  ****

  Scarlet whizzed through the battlefield at unreasonable speed. Warship cannons and dozens of Vijiaks alike tried to gun her down, but like a red comet, she passed between laser fire and bullets without ever losing speed.

  Before long, she was behind the battle, ignoring the firing of the weapon completely. She came out from behind a rear guard TSU warship and into a relatively empty space. Finally stopping, she set her Casnel's magnification to max. The main thing she saw was the pixelated shape of a rectangular grey vessel, clearly the extra ship the admiral had mentioned. But just barely visible, a way out of from it, was something little more than a ‘stickman’. She knew instantly it must be the enemy Casnel, a sniper ace of unbelievable portions.

  She took a deep breath and reached into the drawer underneath her pilot's seat, retrieving a glass syringe, then plunged it into her arm, "Pah, weak shit," she murmured.

  The Scarlet Scourge was no stranger to doping, usually much stronger product than this, but she knew going berserker against an enemy literal miles away was utterly pointless.

  This syringe did little more than force her adrenaline up and open her endorphins. For most, it would have been an almost debilitating chemical experience. To The Scourge, it was barely a scratch of the itch. Still, she knew she needed every ounce of reaction time. Two of her men had already been shot out of the sky by that far-off foe. She had to hope her presence would be a juicy enough target to force the enemy to fire just on her.

  She rose her Casnel's shield over her cockpit block. Could one Casnel's superweapon pierce another’s armour? She had no intention of testing that. With bated breath, she watched the tiny figure grab a stick from its back, presumably a metal rod of some kind and insert it into its right arm. She couldn't make out details or design from here, but she could guess, "Some sort of railgun then? Hyper-accurate at range, strong as heck, but slow firing. Suits me."

  It would be impossible to dodge once it fired; she would have to dodge the second before that, some small telegraph, some tiny tell the weapon was ready.

  The smallest flash of blue, just a faith glow at this distance, a spot of navy against the otherwise white figure. Scarlet happily took it, throwing her machine controls down her mech divided. The startling, searing shock of blue lightning cut overhead, inches from her helmet.

  'Hope no one was directly behind me,' she mused, though the thought belittled the absolute rush of excitement at how close it had been.

  Her enemy was unperturbed. He drew another rod and aimed again. Scarlet dodged again at the second of the flash, this time to the left.

  "Fuck!" The Scourge yelled as the blast grazed across one of the Chevalier's feet, exactly where her torso would have been had she chosen to dive downwards again. Her cockpit shook slightly, its circular shape dissipating the force for the most part, but feeling it at all told of the attack's great strength. Scarlet’s enemy had already adapted after one shot. The leg scared, the Goibhnui armour had held, but her screens indicated clear damage. The railgun could definitely harm her machine.

  Their game of chicken continued for two more shots. Both times, she barely dodged the blue lightning, taking glancing blows that set alarms blazing, but it was enough.

  "Package delivered, Ma'am. We’re retreating," Lt.Manfred called over her comms.

  "Thank fuck for that," Scarlet replied, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. She immediately set her mech to move backwards but didn't dare turn. Flying using just the rearview cameras, she quickly returned to the reargard TSU ships.

  At the last moment, as a final bolt of blue lighting cleaved through the sky, Scarlet ducked behind the nearest enemy ship. The lighting smashed into it. Finally, in an odd sort of cover, The Scourge made her retreat.

  ****

  "God Damn her, the hell is this!" Elton screamed, slamming a fist against his control panels. He hadn’t been made a fool of like this before, it was inconceivable that anyone could dodge him at such a range, and yet. ‘No’, he slowly thought. Just once before, someone had humiliated him like this, long ago. It couldn’t be her, obviously; she was dead and had been a TSU pilot, but perhaps this enemy was similar in a way, someone who could make light of the VIjiak Knight. That thought chilled Elton’s blood.

  "Sir, report. The enemy is retreating. Also, the ship you hit is fine; it won't sink."

  Elton ignored that second bit, "Retreating, why? They have the numbers."

  "Two of their ships have fallen to the Defence Platform’s cannon, a third is listing, and two more were damaged by the fleet's fire. Plus, you took out two of their strike team’s mechs," the aide said.

  "So? Do you think they weren't expecting losses against that cannon? And it's hardly just me they're scared of. Hell, their own ace just made a fool of me. This is their only chance. After today, no one can refuse the grand admiral a full fleet to guard this Platform. Today it has twenty-six defenders, tommorow it'll be two hundred. What the hell is their game?"

  It was then Elton realised it. Had the enemy deployed a strike team of mechs, or were the mechs simply guarding something else? Did the enemy really intend a battle of attrition? Would they risk forty ships to take out twenty-six when, in the next battle, it could be five hundred ships they were up against?

  Why had the enemy ace made themself a target, only to play chicken and retreat? Why had Grand Admiral Columbae wanted Elton here to defend this place?

  "Henry put me through to the Platform’s command centre. It’s is a trick--"

  Too late.

  His specially designed scope gave Elton a front-row seat. As the Remembrance fleet dispersed to the far corner of his vision - the Platform exploded. Midway through, firing another blast of its cannon no less; maybe the attackers had rigged explosives to the cannon, have the Platform's own energy cause its destruction.

  ‘Of course,’ Elton realised, ‘The fleet was a decoy, the focus of everyone's attention. Meanwhile, the strike mechs cut in deep and dropped off a bomb or insertion team, or something. That ace wanted to capture my attention to prevent me from spotting whatever it was her men were transporting in!’ How could I be so damn blind! If only my stupid ship hadn’t broken, maybe we could have–’ Elton let his thought drift. There was no point berating himself like this; it was already too late.

  The Platform’s explosion was monumental, the massive cross shape that dwarfed the vessels around it, bulging outwards, metal changing colours, fire-spewing out only to be quenched by the vacuum of space. Multiple defending ships got caught in the blast.

  Their enemy didn't care about the defence fleet. They didn't care if all twenty-six ships survived; any they sunk was just a bonus. They had come for the Platform, and as it lit up into a massive searing white explosion - a second sun in the sky - it was clear they had succeeded.

  "Blast," Elton scowled.