Lore Event: The Multi-Faction War (Battle 2)

Sombreroman

Badwolf66 Also, Props, because the two dates are both me and my brother's birthdays!

Sombreroman

Badwolf66 (Mine's August 11)

Solarwatch

Sombreroman that says march....

Sombreroman

Solarwatch Oh. XD

Badwolf66

Sombreroman Yeah episode 2 is half done the series is still an early concept but glad you like it.

Xavius

Sombreroman
<... Reports from long distance scanners show signs of incoming FTL, but it's from designs far, far too small to host an FTL drive. And a lot of them; approximately 288 separate jump signatures detected, all incoming.>

...

Sombreroman

Xavius They have the perfect opening, as cross is focusing on preparing a direct assault against the Voidians at this time. But, The 8XFTL cube will active after the first big ship goes out of FTL speed.

Xavius

Sombreroman
<... Sire, the first ship coming out of warp is... a Crescent Wrath? Common design, and this one looks like it's streaming fire, atmosphere, and coolant and... oh, it's nearly in pieces, and there's a distress call coming out from it. Very scrambled, though. From the looks of things, the Loyalist Fleet is chasing it down. There's a... very, very, very large number of very, very small fighters coming out of FTL right now, all of them using an unidentified laser weapon. Looks very short ranged, low power. But it's cutting through the Wrath's rear armor easily, especially given the sheer number of them.>

Amazing_Goob

Xavius Can It be?..no, not the Abh mod!!!

Sombreroman

Xavius ...Scan designs now. Exploit fighter weaknesses, and especially scan that wraith. I need to check what the heck is on it. Remain in formation, but deepen in the Drakes. The boss will not be happy if the facility falls.

Xavius

Amazing_Goob
Nope, never installed it.

Xavius

Sombreroman
<The Wrath appears to be suffering 67% structural failure, and has no detected weapons systems remaining. Fighters appear to be utterly streamlined; there is no detected armor, and the thrusters are as minimalistic as we've ever seen. Estimated parts cost is... barely more than a car, sir.>
<Scanning>
<Fighters appear to be labeled as the 'Shiv MkXIV', based on reports from Liberator League files. Displaying External Scan Image: >

<Strengths: There are nearly 290 of these ships currently pursuing the enemy, and are, near as I can tell, meant to be disposable.>
<Weaknesses: It is almost literally a gun with thrusters. There is no armor, and almost no maneuverability. The components are almost comically small and light, and I suspect the small reactors are just as explosive as their larger counterparts. However, their drive signatures are making it almost impossible to scan what's behind them, but it appears to be very large...>
<We've been scanned, sir. Whatever the larger ship is, it's well-equipped with a much stronger scanner system that we have access to. Your orders, sir?>

Sombreroman

Xavius Tell the survivors to speed up if possible. We'll give them repair comfort. But right after the wraith makes it, activate 8XFTL pronto. Let's watch the enemy tear to dust. But be primed for the smaller ships that will survive the verdict. Those ones worry me. Their tech is sophisticated.

Xavius

Sombreroman
(I'm not familiar with what 8XFTL stands for)

Sombreroman

Xavius It's in mining ships. It's an experimental shield that blocks heavy objects flying at FTL speed. It's on the Cross Mining Co Page

Xavius

Sombreroman
(Gotcha, sorry.)
<Sir, the larger ship has already transitioned to normal space, I just can't scan it through this mass of smaller ships. Until it gets much closer or the fighter craft are destroyed, we can't be sure what it is, only that it's large, and if it's made by the Garrokans, it's in their 'Heavy Cruiser' mass range. It doesn't match any of our records for specific drive signature, though.>

Sombreroman

Xavius ...Aw Crud. Send light scouts to check it's design. Try to deal maximum damage upon engagement.

Xavius

Sombreroman
<... Scouts are successfully skirting the edge of their fighte- the Crescent Wrath's remaining reactors have just detonated from the combined fire of the fighters, who appear to be slowing to regroup. I don't think they have much autonomy given to their pilots.>
A few minutes pass...
<Scouts have gotten in range to scan the... sir, I've never seen this many weapons packed onto a ship this size, and most of these weapons... I don't recognize half their designs. Gravimetric, magnetic, and shield readings are unsettlingly high... in fact, of the components I recognize, most of this is purely experimental for our own R&D departments. While I would guess those smaller reactors are even more powerful and explosive than the ones on those fighters, I'm reasonably certain those larger cannons in front are very powerf->
<IMPACT IMMENEN-> the scanning station is cut off by a loud explosion.
The sudden destruction of the scanning station is from far out of range of any weapons currently on record - and matches cannon-style destruction. One of the scouts reports that the two massive-barreled weapons on the front charged for a moment, then emitted something at a speed unheard of by current launchers short of the mass drivers used by mining colonies to transport ore halfway across the system. To have weaponized it like this? That is very bad news indeed.
<S-sir, initial telemetry confirms that the larger ship fired through four of its own fighter screen to hit the scanning station, and still penetrated many meters into the station's unarmored hull. However, it did also fire two shots - and the second was entirely stopped by our shield projectors, with minimal damage. I suspect it's meant for a finishing blow or attacking from extreme range. I'm more worried, though, about what it would take for a fleet's captain to fire through his own people like that...>

Sombreroman

Xavius Full charge, Maximum attack. Aim for the big one. Shave off it's weapons pronto. Support other fighters engaging fleet in the meantime, to get an opening for the mining ships. We'll cut them into meat siz- Wait. I know what we'll do. Get ONE punisher aboard. That's our best ship. Let's make it count. Prepare a boarding party, load your weapons. If you all are hitmen, convicts, and soldiers, you already know what to do. Aim for subsystems first. Disable reactors, then kill them all. As for all other fighters, cut an opening, like I ordered earlier. Other punishers prepare in case.

Xavius

Sombreroman
<Understood, sir, Punisher has been ordered to action, and our station defenses are beginning to hit the fighters. There's... there's just so many of them. They aren't even trying to dodge, though, they're running headlong into our fire. Did the Garrokan Loyalists develop robots? There's no way they've cracked AI in the last five years. As for that big ship, it's firing- wait, I have a visual scan of it now, received from the scout ships:>
Claymore
<It definitely doesn't match previous records, sir, I'd say it's something new they're rolling out... and... wait, it has sidewall shields, and shields that cover spherical sections and... sir, this technology is far advanced of our own. I don't think our Electro-Bolts will have much trouble disrupting their shields, but they're far better-covered that anticipated.> A crash is heard throughout the forward command station. <Sir! Additional FTL signatures detected on the edge of the system - the far edge! Smaller than that monstrosity, but there's at least a dozen of them! How can they field such a large fleet so quickly?>

Sombreroman

Xavius ORDERS! Move punisher in through the middle. Begin Boarding attack. Take over control rooms and other key points. Let's use this thing against them... To assure success, I order all punisher crew to board. That's an order!