Mission 17 - The Magi Cabal - Part 1

  TA419 - 21/04,

  Orbit of TSU Defence Platform 1, Left Flank.

  Major Elton was on the move; it was beginning at last. For miles around the large cross shape of the Defence Platform were hundreds of TSU warships. At nearly their very centre, the LongParish had been ready to deploy Elton and his elite troops in whichever direction the enemy Casnel’s came from.

  Word had just come in from Grand Admiral Columbae, and thankfully, it aligned with the direction Elton would have gone either way - disobeying orders would have been such a shame.

  Two enemy battalions were approaching the stationary homefleet from the left and right flanks, both led by one Chevalier each. Elton was, of course, heading right for the one with red highlights painted across its armour. This was the starting bell; within minutes, those battalions would undoubtedly be joined by a rush of Remembrance’s warships and other mecha forces. Soon, all carnage would erupt. Today was the day, just as the Grand Admiral’s sources had said.

  There was still a little distance to cross, but the speed granted by the LongParish’s runway allowed Elton to cover it ludicrously fast. With his engines running at full, he’d left his troops in his dust. But that was alright; he’d stop soon enough to line up his opening shot.

  Ideally, he would do so miles away, but sadly, that would involve a lot of shooting past and, worst case through, their fellow defenders. Besides, he wanted a good, up-close picture of his rival's demise.

  The zoom of his rifle lens showed the furthest out line of TSU’s Vijiak defenders reforming to repel the incoming enemies. Elton felt about as sorry as he could for the poor bastards. He did not doubt that only he could tame The Scourge, the rest were as good as fodder.

  ‘Well, hold out if you can; I’ll be there soon,’ he mused breezily. The day he’d waited for had finally come.

  TA419 - 21/04,

  TSU Assault Carrier Curadh, Bridge.

  Having made haste since recieving the gift from Vanadis and the co-ordinates from the Grand Admiral, the Curadh finally found itself in sight of its final goal. As they approached the coordinates given in the dying spy's last breath, it became clear to Head Captain Synapse and his forces that they were in the right place; it was impossible to miss it.

  There was nothing for hundreds of miles around - no Nation-States, debris shoals, or satellites - pure empty space in its most natural form - a bold strategy, one that spoke a lot to the commander who'd ordered it - it meant they couldn't be snuck up on but likewise meant no environmental defences whatsoever.

  Synapse had considered having the Curadh approach alone, but it wasn't like he could turn the ship invisible. So it was that the ten remaining ships of the rogue unit approached the eight Remembrance ships out in the open. The rogue unit had been bigger, but Synapse discreetly had the admiral take about half back into the fold, including one important one. This had been for a few reasons: the size of the fleet was getting concerning, the admiral would need every ship he could get anyway - and well, sending back just that one ship might have been a little suspicious. Still, he seemed to have the advantage in numbers, but it was a little more complex than that.

  With such a clear view, they could see the enemy's exact deployment hours before entering combat range: two capital ships and six smaller vessels. The capitals were a carrier-class and one of the sloping triangular heavy cruisers Remembrance had left over from the last war. Synapse’s force, on the other hand, had solely the Curadh for Capital ships. Moreover, while an assault carrier itself, they kept only four pilots, meaning the enemy likely had the greater number of mechs, presuming its carrier was at capacity.

  From there, the Captain’s thinking had to get more minute; for example, the Curadh was one of just two Troy class ships ever made; it wouldn't be exaggerating to say it counted for two battleships in one. In contrast, the enemy vessels lacked any real firepower. The carrier was a pure type, mainly made to do just that: carry mechs. The cruiser class was known for being strong, defensively and decently fast, but also for having laughable firepower.

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  Their mecha painted a similar picture. Over the course of these last few months the Vijiak-Special had come out as something of an unsung hero. In a straight fight, the unit would almost never lose to Rememberance’s Type-Bs, even if the TSU pilots had less skill or experience. All told, the Captain had concluded he had the advantage, all before accounting for his two Casnels.

  There was just one issue - the enemy had a fortress.

  Fortresses were an oddity from the end of the war, more technically known as ‘micro-warships’. The Abhailens had deployed them en masse to counter TSU creating the early Casnels. It had sort of worked; a Fortress could plough through MBT types, but they were costly, complicated to both pilot and manufacture and in general, a bit 'odd'.

  Nonetheless, they held a place of respect among soldiers. The Golden Meteorite had eventually taken down the god-like First Casnel using a bespoke Fortress in a kamikaze attack that had gone down in every history book that wasn't propaganda.

  The one in front of the Remembrance fleet was definitely of the odd variety. The size of a small housing block, maybe 40 metres squared, it was a simple curving brown 'X' shape. Coming out from each tip of the X were several square, evenly spaced boxes, between which ran visible lines of energy - a shield. If the boxes were folded back in, it gave the vague look of a shield. Right now they were very much so deployed.

  The Curadh had fired a single shot about an hour ago, and the shield had completely dissipated the energy. That was no joke; it meant that this Fortress, like many others, was a ‘technical Casnel’. Fortresses were too small for a full ship's generator but far too energy-hungry for a poultry Vijiak engine, and thus, most had identical power supplies to Casnels.

  Fortunately, unlike Casnels, they generally were more specialised. This one probably put all that Goibhnui to work on that absurd chain link fence in space. It perhaps had enough thrusters to move up and down and few if any, armaments. That still left them with ‘a wall in space.’

  Synapse could order the fleet down or up, but the fortress would likely move accordingly. He could send half his force to attack from the opposite side, but then it would be five lesser ships against eight. The fortress would no doubht prioritise staying in the path of Curadh.

  So, too shoot through it or not? That was what Head-Captain Synapse had spent the last couple of hours musing as he sat in the command chair at the centre of the Curadh's oval-shaped bridge. He could of started shooting with the warship’s cannons hours ago, but that had drawbacks. The shield Fortress would simply drop its shields, and the ship’s behind it would have most likely flee, or worse yet, most of them would have stayed while the one hiding the cabal made a break for it. No, getting as close as they had was not without advantages.

  "We have entered effective fighter range, Captain," the first mate finally announced. The half tension the bridge crew had held these last couple of boring hours immediately doubled. What would be their choice?

  A barrage would break that shield, it had to. That Fortress could have five Casnel engines for all Synapses cared; a shield like that would break before long. But how long was that?

  Chances were the decoy assault on the Defence Platform had already begun. Right now, the Grand Admiral could well be facing three Chevalier types with just the one G-type of Major Elton. But what if that was precisely what this enemy wanted him to think? The Fortress itself could be a decoy, a Chevalier hidden in one of the ships behind it.

  The Captain took a deep breath and activated his armrest comm-link; "Commander Moncha, launch all fleet mecha and form a defensive line. Have Ensign Yazan take two squads of your choosing to assault the Fortress with. Meanwhile, you will attempt to use the Casnel to break straight through the barrier; its possible your armour can pull it off."

  "Roger that, Sir," Moncha said back.

  "And Commander," Synapse paused for just a moment but shook it off. Even if there were a Chevalier here, Moncha would handle it. If there were two, they'd handle it as a fleet. The Admiral needed him right now, that light of the future, Chas, "Immediately deployed Ensign Chas with the long-range booster module. Give him my regards. I'm sure he'll do us proud."