With half of the frontline fleet not there, the rest struggled to get even the smallest victory.
After days of desperate fighting, the reequipped half of the fleet arrived. The new weapons and shields brought a turning point in the war. And so they did. The fleets of the HDC pushed forwards, the aliens couldn't hold the line. or didn't want to...
The fleet pushes deeper and deeper into enemy territory, inflicting devastating casualties.
Finally they arrive in the center worlds of the enemy.
Everything is quiet at the alien base on a planet. Nearly peacefully. But tension is in the air, because everyone knows, that this might be the decisive battle of the war. This is the key planet to the rest of the system. The silence before the storm is nearly unbearable. Minutes pass, nothing happens. everyone is nervous. The defenses are strong, but not without flaws. The small fleet is in orbit and above the red desert planet.
The tactics are simple, but the HDC fleet, blinded by their victory streak will fall for it:
Suddenly a bright blink appears at the horizon. at first one flash, than another, followed by a few dozens more. After a minute the last flashes went dark. With your blank eyes, you cant see any ships. But radar lets you see an entire armada.
Everything gets even more quiet, if that is even possible. The defensive fleet stays back. It is small, but the most durable ships in this part of the galaxy. Once the HDC fleet is in position, the lighter, second fleet is arriving from the other side of the planet where they hit. Stealth ships bring themselves into position at first, than lighter but more heavy ships arrive.
Hell breaks lose on the flagship of the fleet. The 8 kilometer Poleaxe class dreadnought and the pride of the HDC gets hit. The engine was hi, and the strong shot directly dismantled the main reactor. "
This wasn't supposed to happen. The Aliens didn't have any weapons capable of getting through the front armor. Did a late war invention made this possible?", asks the general to himself. Suddenly a heavy explosion shatters the ship. The general can feel how he gets lighter. The artificial gravity is failing. This isn't good...
Suddenly another heavy strike. If it wasn't for the gravity slowly failing, the general would have fallen. He shouts orders, but everybody is screaming and running around. He pushes a person aside, to take a look at the monitors. He realizes, that the enemy didn't penetrate the front armor. there are enemies at their back!
They might have been hit hard, but thanks to some new shielding, nearly all other ships are in tact. The general makes himself ready for evacuation to another dreadnought. The battle wasn't lost in the slightest. "We still have an advantage in numbers. If we turn the heavier ships to all sides, while the faster ones try to break the circle, we can get them"
The bigger ships, like cruisers and destroyers forma circle around the smaller ones, who gather for a fast, and heavy attack on a single part of the circle.
The battle seems to turn, when the small ships start to swarm out against the much heavier, main fleet. its slowness made them preferable targets to get around. The first ships exploded, when a beam appeared from the planets surface, cutting right through the flagship, and sending it to the ground of the planet.
Another move the general didn't see coming. He was save on one of the other dreadnoughts, but he was scared non the less. With this much firepower on each side it is nearly impossible to win. He ordered a nuclear strike to get the ground forces of the enemy, but they were all across the desert.
Back on the ground, shells fly down, fire rains down and up. There is nothing to be heard, since the thin atmosphere of the planet, or because nearly all soldiers are already deaf from other battles. The giant cartridge casings fall down, as shot after shot is fired. Another hit is scored at a vulnerable spot of a dreadnought. A penetration, right where the thruster was. After an additional hit, it goes down and glows up in the thin atmosphere, before hitting the sand. A wave of sand sets down on the planetary defense, who isn't bothered by this. A small assault team is send to execute all survivors. The HDCs moral is shattered, but they haven't given up yet. The faster fleet has taken heavy causalities, and retreats again. Now the HDC makes its final, and fatal mistake. They break up the formation, to follow and finish up the decimated fleet. With no lose formation, a few of the vessels turned by, and flew past the followers, forcing them yet again to fight against 2 fronts while the ground forces focus their fire on the small group that followed it.
This quick maneuver made a few ships flee, while others tried to escape. In the end, the following HDC fleet was shattered beyond the ability to fight back. The now small Alien fleet can go up to the back of the remaining HDC fleet, and give it the death hit. This is a victorious day, and will definitely bring a turn in this long war.
