the Great Bastonian Empocracy (updated)

ZendikaroftheWest

KrankysFirebrand48
"Would you be the GBE ambassador then? My name is Eugen Knut, The ambassador of the Neu Garmilas Empire."

KrankysFirebrand48

ZendikaroftheWest
”Indeed I am.” he makes a small bowing gesture, ”I am Ontaria, representative of the Bastonian Empocracy. I apologize for the lengthy and frustrating process to make this meeting possible. Now I presume you are here to establish contact with us, yes?”

ZendikaroftheWest

KrankysFirebrand48
"That is correct."
He seems to be on edge, as if this place unsettles him in some way.

KrankysFirebrand48

ZendikaroftheWest
Ontaria gestured for him to come into the room. ”Make yourself at home,” he said. The rooms walls were white, soft and smooth like dyed leather with a structure of marble that looked like it was made out of fine wood. At the middle of the room was a wooden table with a highly adjustable seat for the Gamilas ambassador to sit down at. The GBE representative smiles and let’s him sit down first.

kola2134

KrankysFirebrand48
The counterfire from the british forces began to engage into the CI line as they attempted the new method of cover warfare against the foe. One CI cruiser took several large hits along its starboard side as chunks of the ship and its crew were vented into space. Smoke pumping from the side as it feel from the line of warships. Another two CI destroyers along with three frigates took heavy hits that streaked across, ships drifting away from formation from damage.

Within the bridge of the flagship, the admiral held his head. Watching the counter of allied fleet vessels slowly drop with each attack that seemed to be launched against them. A designated high-power recon cruiser, equipped with strong sensors heald slightly behind the battleline using the fleet as almost a shield as its systems focus on the scanning and calculations with the number of powerful machines across the vessel. What was the goal other than battleinformation? Calculating when the fleet would peak. A counter volley was attempted with a timing that hoped they impacted as the British ships peaked over ounce more.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse boombox kola2134
German cruiser and destroyer vessels hit the incoming cruise missile with their flak. The cruise missile’s shields came up, absorbing impact after impact until they collapsed. The cruise missile went through the wall… and they never came out the other side. It had been totally annihilated.

The stealth destroyer group is hit by the dominion volley. The destroyer closest to the ID fleet evaded a few railgun shells that whipped past its black exterior. After a few misses from the major guns, until… The entire ship was shaking, followed by the creaking of dense metal and the noise of several minor explosions. The railgun shell had made a deep impact into the hull and hit several systems. Then another shell came in, and then a third, which came out of the ship on the other side, throwing out chunks of its internal systems and bending the whole ship's hull. The lights of the bridge darkened and its guns stopped firing after a while. One stealth destroyer remained and was unleashing its powerful short-range plasma weaponry while getting out of point-blank range. It took a few hits that got through the shielding, deforming its smooth hull. The dominion ships that had turned around soon found themselves on the most potent end of the defensive fleet's volleys. With their engines exposed, the Bastonian guided shells from the defensive fleet suddenly came whipping past with nuclear payloads, detonating the payload if they came close enough. Due to having turned around, they were now the focus of the most powerful weaponry they had available.

Strike group bravo was under heavy pressure. Trying their best to negate the incoming fire. The Germans firing strategy proved effective. Negating evasion paths was standard Bastonian practice for long-range engagements, and the Germans could figure out why. The fleet's power was steadily decreasing. As each ship was being focused down they were incapable of taking effective evasive actions, being beaten down. Frigates were annihilated. The industrial behemoths that were cruisers were durable enough to keep fighting, but they were taking heavy damage. Their guns kept thundering. The main batteries now started focusing on cruisers, while the weaker guns focused on soft targets. As the main battery shells came in they proved more potent than the other guns. It was a question of whether they would hit though. Most hits were merely their enormous payloads detonating in proximity fuse. A full hit would mean a point-blank gigaton nuclear explosion. Even this small group remained a threat. The group of 4 frigates were namely Sython-class frigates, designed to punch above their weight. They carried massive, spinal-level particle lances under their bow. As they arrived at medium range their lances lashed out with blue streaks of light reaching across space before the Germans could react, striking the Germans from the side, penetrating through armour through a single tiny point of four unlucky key GSR vessels. Suddenly the passive scanners noticed a tiny increase in signature. The hidden threat edged closer until they were close enough…
”Captain!” yelled one bridge member. The captain couldn’t who tell amidst all the chaos. ”10 infrared signatures on our port side! Missiles sire!”
”Fire point defence!” he didn't even have to say it, the automatic interception system of both ships was already firing on the torpedoes. But it hadn’t gone a second before the torpedoes had already struck. The explosions shook the ship, throwing crewmembers and objects around. The shaking was so violent that the fragile electronics systems of the warships crashed and burned. Each successive torpedo tore through the hull, hitting against hard armour, exploding off the side. The HMS Jurisdictions lights dimmed while the HMS Capable’s rear went up in flames, lighting up the entire battlefield with orange light. The formation tried to compensate, moving their ships to the port side of their two remaining cruisers.

The Commodore snapped her head to the left, seeing the HMS Capable’s demise, like a bright light suddenly turned on far away. ”Fleet control, what’s happening?”
”Both of our Sunrises from strike group bravo have been eliminated. Enemy stealth craft are expected to be in our vicinity.”
”Give me a replay and keep our active sensors covering all blind spots. I want our frigates and leftover corvettes to go to our port side and act as escorts.”
”Yes ma’am.” The ships get into the position as they continue their orbital peaking manouever. The ID warships could do nothing to retaliate. They turned further along the planetary orbit, to their port side trying to get around the planet and get a clear firing solution. The Bastonian ships simply orbited further in to stay behind cover at all times. Even worse, the ID and CI ships were wasting a majority of their munitions. In some cases, the Bastonian ships would not peak at all, leaving the ID and CI ships shooting at nothing and giving the Defence fleet time to rearm. Each time the fire was stopped or weakened to conserve ammunition, all ready Bastonian ships peaked above the horizon and unleashed their guns. Each time the enemy fired a volley, they didn’t peak. They waited for it to pass until it was safe. The ships peaked at random times that weren’t possible to predict unless you had the very coding of the AI. The only reliable source of damage for the ID was strike craft, and missiles. They were running out of the latter quickly. The deployed bombers met heavy resistance from corvettes. Their escorts engaged in a dogfight with GBE interceptors and fighters. Missiles were exchanged and railguns were fired. A few bombers came through the shield of point defence and the pursuing interceptors. Though the shipyard was far embedded behind the defensive stations and repairing ships, they retargeted, making bombing runs against the cruiser HMS Equatorial, knocking its guns out of commission.

boombox

KrankysFirebrand48

Slipping into sub space, the U-Boats moved laterally to the enemy fleet, seeking to flank around their port side.
On board of one of the boats a sailor held a ticking stop watch, waiting... and waiting.. Until a faint boom could be heard, and cheering ensued in the vessel before quickly dying down as he ushered them to stay quiet...
"29.. 30... 31.. Scheißaale.."
..Then the second cluster of booms could be heard, the end of the HMS Capable, and cheering ensued again as the sailors laughed, having secured two major kills.
The captain nodded to himself. "Glug Glug, Tommy.. viel Spaß im Weltraum."

Silently and nearly undetectably the U-Boats relocated along the flank, their dimmed engines pushing the black vessels through the void while inside new torpedoes got loaded into the breeches of the torpedo tubes using a crane system of a kind.

Kriegsflotte 5 & 8, Conventional Segment.
The German main fleet, seeing their kill line tactics proving to be effective, continued this assault farther, even as the last main battery shells of the HMS Capable and Jurisdiction rained in with deadly precision, the Panzerschiff "Seekuh" being hit into the aft of the vessel as it turned sideways to unleash its next volley, knocking out the three main turret ensembles in the back and swinging it back straight with the force of the recoil, while fire broke out aboard.
Two smaller cruisers, the "Polterhain" and the "Laubershausen" got caught in the rain of the heavy artillery shells and ripped to pieces, their burning corpses lighting up the German fleet.. Yet still the German engines roared brightly as the armada quickened its assault, seeking to close the distance for some reason, rolling in towards the british fleet.
Another volley of high caliber artillery rained in from the armada towards the brits, now turning the kill lines towards the four Sython-Classes, while the smaller vessels, destroyers and such, solely focused on point defense.

On the bridge of the "Seekuh" faint smoke filled the air as crew rushed to extinguish the raging fired on the aft of the ship.
"Vorwärts!" - The captain bellowed, shouting his command at the officers infront of him, who nodded, some frantically, others very calmly, and the battleship began, with its burning thrusters, to pick up speed.*

Dokkisse kola2134
Meanwhile, as on the opposite side of the planet from where the thunder and hell reigned where the German Armada stood and advanced with slow and deadly pace, the ID and CI received an encrypted telegram message.

//Transmission: GSR Encryption//
"sacbc cgynl tcpeq bisqj nkril qyjqo gwqqh ziciv kdx"
//Transmission End//

KrankysFirebrand48

@Brank TL;DR:
ID fleets rear:

stealth destroyers + attack corvettes focus fire on ID ships’ engines and targeting as they turn around
stealth destroyers making distance from ID fleet
one stealth destroyer critically damaged
attack corvettes push

Defence fleet:

the small vanguard force takes heavy losses
defensive corvette screen, engages enemy bombers
3 squadrons sent to shoot down ID bombers
other fighters protect against missiles and engage CI bombers
main defencive force pass below the horizon
repairs and rearming initiated
intermittent peaking maneuvers initiated
defence platforms and orbital defenses protecting from missiles passing around the horizon

strike group beta:

holding their own against GSR forces
group of frigates begin flanking

ZendikaroftheWest

KrankysFirebrand48
He sits down and smiles.
"Shall we get down to buisness?"

KrankysFirebrand48

ZendikaroftheWest
Ontaria sits down on the opposite end of the table, stirring around a glass container of smoking liquid which was emitting an aroma of alien spices that reminded of an autumn evening. Ontaria placed his hands gently onto the table and smiled. ”Yes of course. Would you like information on our nation?”

ZendikaroftheWest

KrankysFirebrand48
"Yes, that would be... most helpful. I would not want these negotiations to be ruined because of a lack of information."

KrankysFirebrand48

ZendikaroftheWest
”Of course.” he says and reaches into a draw in his desk and pulls out an information stick. ”Everything you can possibly know about our culture is on this chip. Bring it home with you. Now to put it in simple terms, our nation is an empocracy, which means that we have entrusted our democratically elected state to provide welfare to every individual of the galaxy.”

ZendikaroftheWest

KrankysFirebrand48
"Ah, so it is similar to the old Garmilas. Before... What happened."
With the mention of this, a small tear runs down his face, but is quickly replace by the diplomatic mask once more.

Dokkisse

boombox KrankysFirebrand48

The primary Dominion fleet was being battered hard by the GBE forces abusing the planet's very nature to poke their cannons out and firing off a salvo before the Dominion guns can reply.

Onboard IDS Revelation and all ships of the Dominion, the encrypted message is quickly received and decoded.

"They want us to...what?" Anastasia says, her fleet being turned with their backs facing the GBE. The shields are managing to absorb some damage from the British salvos, but...what to do about the stealth ships? "Alright. Send an order to some of our cruisers to pin down and keep these stealth ships busy. The rest of the ships will return to formation and charge.*

All cruisers of Fleet Theta keep their guns pointed at the British stealth ships and open fire, with a heavy amount of supporting fire from the other capital ships present. Hopefully, with such coordinated and focused fire, all of these stealth ships would go up in flames and have their reactors implode.

The other members of the Dominion fleet also receive this message and, seeing as anything's better than being picked off like fish in a barrel, all obey Anastasia's order, thruster power being pushed beyond maximum to try and catch the British off guard. These ships, having already taken heavy losses from the British fire, send back an encrypted message to the GSR. This battle will take a massive turn very soon.

//Transmission: ID Encryption//
kbx mq tn qzeb xa jd z q vt jz vt
//Transmission End//

Seraphim Squadron, having spent far too long out in space, are forced to redock back on Revelation. The losses are heavy amongst both pilots and their drone wingmen, but it kept their ships alive for the upcoming second round. It's unsure as to what the hell Anastasia is thinking, charging in her ship like this, but they're going with the ship whether they like it or not.

Furthermore, the primary Dominion fleet were being battered hard by the GBE's tactical ingenuity, heavy losses being suffered, until they then receive the message from GSR ships. Its message was simple and left zero room for interpretation. The main commander of the Dominion fleet, having long weathered the British storm, finally sends the order.

"I want all Dominion fighting ships to RUSH THE BRITISH! GIVE THEM NO TIME!"

It was exceedingly bold as the Dominion vessels weren't especially well-armored, but with luck this insane plan might pull off well, though it would require that the CI and GSR forces uphold their ends of the plan.

kola2134

boombox KrankysFirebrand48
The orders rang across the comms. The commander simply tapping his chair. The bouncing of British vessels, an ignoring problem. Even the finest ai could not predict it. As the bombers closed, the ones that broke through could be seen unloading hundreds of not thousands of guided munition that streamed in multiple directions. Moving to crush into lightly protected targets.

A battleship began to leave from the formation, a following of cruisers and frigates with it as they began to advance towards the British fleet looking to close the distance. The remaining vessels continued to fire in the attempt to suppress the enemy formation to allow the split off force to close distance. GBE fire would find mark on the CI stationary force as about her frigate took impact across it's center mass, slicing it in half, the same round traveling and cutting into another frigates frontal half.

KrankysFirebrand48

boombox Dokkisse kola2134
The commodore was tired and exhausted. She had taken some breaks to sit down but she had mostly stood, monitoring and responding to each part of the battle. Oddly enough she now felt relief that the Dominion ships seemed to have given in. She ordered her fleet to not take the chance to destroy them as they were coming in, instead they would patiently continue the maneuver as they charged. She then notified the weapons on the ground to calculate when they’d have to fire to catch the dominion fleet, should they be foolish enough to try and enter orbit. The dominion warships were heading at her at full speed yet she felt relieved… As the ID ships’ cooling and power were strained the Bastonians responded with a carefully coordinated missile volley. The missiles flew together with interceptors and decoys. Just behind the missile volley were the main payloads. Several high yield torpedoes meant for the IDS revelation. Their ECM was in full use and the swarm of missiles in front of them tried to hide the torpedoes from enemy sensor views. Unlike the enemy ships, the Bastonians, having rearmed, fired at their maximum fire rate, thundering like drums against the fabric of reality. The Bastonians eagerly waited for the enemy to get closer, encouraging them, awaiting their prey to step right into their nest. Their fore particle-beam gates opened like jaws, ready to swallow the enemy the moment they entered orbit. CI bombers came in, putting the hurt on corvettes and frigates. Attack corvettes went to intercept and where destroyed in the process before auxiliary escorts came to intervene.

The GSR artillery was far too much for the four meer frigates that had maneuvered against their flank. The Sython’s were blown away, leaving little evidence that they were ever there in the first place. This gave the rest of strike group Bravo to recover their formation as two of their cruisers had been erased from the map. The U-boats found it hard to move around the rest of strike group bravo since it was always accelerating backwards, always moving away from the enemy ships.

Dokkisse

KrankysFirebrand48 @kola2134 @boombox

The charge would continue as planned, and the Dominion vessel's main element pushed forth without falter, firing a ragged volley into whatever British vessels they thought they could penetrate. Spinal weapons ripping through space with their flashes of light, aimed right for any British ship. Meanwhile, at the backline, Anastasia...was having doubts.

"Ma'am, no matter what happens here, the main elements of our fleet is doomed. Even with the order you gave, it won't be but so long until they are battered beyond repair or salvage, even if they manage to take many enemies with them. Perhaps another course of action would be advisable." the captain onboard Revelation informs his superior officer.

"Commander, are you aware of what that amounts to? That's treason, point and simple." she replies, anger caught on every word.

"You can't push the Dominion further if you waste your life and skill here. The main fleet is doomed in all likelihood. However, Theta has a chance to survive, and you with it. Do your journals and other manuals not say that tactical withdrawal is allowed?" he says, cold and collected.

"Commander, you..." her words would falter. While the superior in this conversation, Anastasia had lost the flow of battle through her position at the back line. No matter what the main fleet did, they would either be pushed away by anti-orbital fire or the British guns, and the same would've been true if they held course at the beginning. But, now was not the time to finish this conversation.

"MA'AM! TORPEDOES SPOTTED!" a spotter cries out.

Shocked right back into the flow of battle.

"Evasive manuevers, NOW!" she would yell, and lurch as the ship's mass began to move. The hulking beast that is the Revelation began its movements, but, with engines cut to a lesser power, the torpedoes would slam side-on into a packet of ERA. A massive explosion is seen off the side as several torpedoes hit this small section of armor plating, and...the clock is ticking. Bulkheads for air are sealed as soon as possible as the torpedoes punctured the thin hide of the carrier.

"Ma'am, we have to leave! We'll die if we stay!" the commander shouts, over the typical yelling following an impact.

"And condemn our allies to damnation!?" Anastasia replies, rushing back to her station.

"Now, it is a question of life and death, not of objectives. Do you want to get home or not?!" he would reply.

Silence. Pure and utter silence would follow from both the bridge crew and the admiral. What the commander of the Revelation put forth as the only course of successful action was as clear as the morning sky- retreat, or die...

This silence would continue for just a few seconds more, but those seconds felt like minutes, hours, days even.

"I believe...your point is made." the admiral would reply. "However, for your own life, I will have to shoot you out of the vessel. What you've said here is paramount to treason, Commander, and if possible, we will try to retrieve you. May the Dominion look kindly upon you."

The commander would then be grabbed by his shoulders and shoved into an escape pod as the IDS Revelation charged its FTL drives, with a large part of the crew exhausted from battle, and many, many having seen friends, comrades, family even, die. So many were the casualties. So many had lost their lives, and for what? Nothing.

From the rest of fleet Theta, there was chaos. What the hell was Anastasia thinking, why were the FTL drives charged? Sure, the battle was going poorly for the main fleet, but Theta was still mostly intact. Then, one order, short and to the point, came to the bridges of all remaining fleet Theta units. "All Theta units, charge your FTL drives and jump with me. We have too much to give for the Dominion to die here."

A similar shocked silence befell the crews of these few ships remaining. Similar sentiments to the commander of IDS Revelation were felt across the fleet, and the order, while controversial to say the least among the lower enlisted men which erupted into near mutinies, was heeded. Soon, fleet Theta would be limping away from Vulcan, with little to show but the scars of battle.

KrankysFirebrand48

Dokkisse @boombox @kola2134
Commander Alihna kept looking onward, staring deep into the screen displaying the position of her enemy, their real forms hidden behind Vulcan's veil. Her breath was heavy, but its rhythmic nature calmed her. She felt a slight sickness from being pushed around by plasma thrusters for hours. Her eyelids were heavy and she had found it hard to focus if not for her drugs and wetware yelling and screeching at her nervous system to stay awake, stay active. Her manoeuvre still proving potent and after a short resupply of fuel and munitions, she felt her cruiser, the HMS Retaliator, fly back into battle, back into the onslaught, seeing munitions whip past and dig into the armour. A voice came and broke her mind's stasis.
’Ma’am?’ *repeated fire control. Alihna shook herself back to reality and said: ’I apologize. What is it, officer?’
’We’ve confirmed multiple torpedo hits on the enemy command ship.’ he said, looking into this interface and correcting firing patterns.
’Prepare another missile volley and get us some anti-orbital missiles up, now. It is imperative.’
Affirmative ma’am. Missiles launched. the AI confirmed. She slumped into her seat and put her hand to her forehead. Touching her face? She knew that was a comforting mechanism and came to the realization that her bodily desires were returning to her. She could rest and leave it up to her advisor but she knew she could not sleep with the guns thundering or with the crew's lives on her conscience.
’Ma’am? We need your attention now.’ The fleet coordination officer reminded her.
’Oh, right.’ *Alihna said and straightened.
’We’ve lost five more warships in the last three minutes. But two destroyers are returning from a resup- ma’am? Enemy FTL drive signatures.’
’What?’ exclaimed the Commander and straightened further. She looked at her interface. ’Confirm? Not all ships are charging FTL.’ She could see that only the Imperium and parts of the ID fleet was leaving. A flanking maneuver? No. Why the reckless charge if they never intended to get close? With the interdiction field they’d exit at least 1 AU away from Vulcan.
’Data confirms enemy ships are retreating.’
The knot in Alihna’s stomach that made her feel slow loosened. She realized she hadn’t noticed it being there in the first place. She felt like she could breathe again. They were retreating. As the IDS Revelation and the majority of the charging fleet jumped into nothingness her cruiser shook a bit and expelled gasses from its exhausts as if sighing in relief. She fired a particle lance volley to eliminate the last ID strugglers and their smaller GSR support fleet
’Ma’am HMS Catastrophe has lost its bow section. The captain is abandoning ship. Only the HMS Fallout remains of the cruisers in Strike Group Bravo and is expected to be destroyed in a matter of minutes.’
The knot in Alihna’s stomach returned, and this time she noticed. She looked out to her left into the void. Far out was the HMS Fallout alone with its small support complement, away from Vulcan’s veil. It pushed itself away from its recently destroyed sister ship that was desperately launching escape pods. GSR shells whipped past it. She felt a sudden anger at the incompetency of Admiral Phoenix but pushed it aside. It would not deter her focus, which she felt was already fading.
’Regroup what’s left of Strike Group Bravo with us now. They’ve held their own long enough.’
The HMS Fallout turned its bow towards her and began its mad dash to safety. As she began to adjust the exact same peaking manoeuvre she had used on the ID against the once again overwhelming GSR fleet.
THWACK
A large calibre shell exploded into the HMS Fallout’s side. She knew how many crew members were on that ship and could only watch as it met its inevitable destruction. Bastonia had lost its first full strike group in 17 years and it was because of her.
´ Strike Group Bravo lost. ´ The AI said calmly as she wished her fleet coordination officer had said it instead.

Again the tactics proved effective for a while. Eventually, the GSR fleet decided a different approach to the Bastonian’s mastery of artillery engagements. They purposefully decreased the velocity of their shells so they’d enter a proper inner orbit of Vulcan. While lowering the power of the weapons, the Bastonian’s were no longer free to resupply and repair ships idly while avoiding fire. Alihna was back to being exhausted and was weighing their losses with those of the enemy. GSR battleships were simply too armoured and heavily armed. Other than that, anti-orbital defences were capable enough to mitigate incoming fire. She had asked her AI to run a simulation multiple times and it came to the conclusion that at their current rate the GSR would retreat or be defeated by reinforcements. However, she realized her most potent assets had been lost to stealth ships and- Her exhaustion became apparent to her as she remembered that enemy stealth ships were still a threat and they had detected none. The knot in her stomach grew tighter.

On the GSR u-boats the calculations were already done.
’Rohr fünf bis sechs fertig!’
’Rohr fünf bis sechs; Los!’
The torpedoes were slung out again. Upon the bridge, Alihna received the information but far too late. Most interceptor-capable warships were too far away, far in front of the fleet. The torpedoes struck the main dockyard. Repair ships were thrown out of the way by the wave of fire and fury that was bestowed onto the dockyard’s mechanisms. Through the hallways and against the structure it wrought only destruction. The main station burned and shattered into two. As a wreck, it began descending towards Vulcan. The few ships still in dock were quick to activate and disengage. Corvettes made their escape, evading flying debris and falling hunks of metals. One transport was crushed by a rogue crane and got dragged down with the station while a daring patrol ship captain manoeuvred between its split structure.

There were still a few stations left. Smaller dockyards capable of harbouring a couple of cruisers. However, due to the munition constraints and the losses of their forces, the GSR decided, with one of the objectives partly completed, to leave the area. They charged up their drives and left. Left Alihna with nothing but a hollow feeling. It was hard for her to tell if she had won or not. She certainly felt like she had done more than was possible. Yet she looked at the remains of the dockyards crashing down. She turned around on the spot, drowning out her officers giving reports and information they had overlooked during the heat of battle. She was going to rest for a good while.

The inhabitants of Vulcan were told it was safe to come outside. That the enemy had been held off. The trails of anti-orbital missiles still hung in the sky like ropes dangling from heaven. Subtle grey shapes in the blue sky were flung away into FTL and the people looked on in relief. They thanked the service of the Royal Navy and mourned the loss of the selfless officers who had perished to save them. And they were bombarded with speculations and reports of new enemies and of war coming to Bastonia.