Astyanax gets to watch

 High Command decides that we can afford to mount a counter-offensive, so all of the ships on the Klingon Front are amalgamated into one fleet and ordered to descend on an enemy Battle Station at "The Elbow". This is the bend in the border at the narrowest point of Klingon space, and I know from my studies at the Academy that the station here is a possible major staging-point for any Klingon offensive towards our Homeworld. It seems to me that we are going to take advantage of three factors that are, at the moment, in our favour: the Coalition is not yet fully ready to mount an offensive, which means we have a moment of opportunity to make a lightning attack that could disrupt their plans even further; we have the new generation of impressive Stinger fighters; and we have the first true carrier in the navy. Although the Uhlan is only a Destroyer-class ship, it carries twelve Stinger-IIs and four Hellbore fighters, supplemented by another six fighters on its accompanying Escort Destroyer. This considerably boosts our fleet's already high number of fighters, and we have huge numbers in reserve, carried by the fighter supply Tug; two FCR vessels; and another newly-arrived Tug that has a carrier pod. Rumour has it that this is the only ship built at the capital in the last six months, which must mean that efforts are being directed towards improving our positional defences. Apparently the Second Fleet is making a similar attack on the last remaining Lyran border Battle Station.

Our usual place in the line is taken by a Squadron of Light Cruisers - a Traveller and two Horsemen, so this time we get to watch everything as it unfolds on the vidscreens. This is probably the most powerful fleet we have put together so far in the war: led by a Paladin Dreadnought, we have five Heavy Cruisers (three Rangers and two Dragoons); the three light cruisers; the Uhlan carrier and its escorts; two Lancer Fusion Destroyers; and a Scout Frigate. The last three ships are accompanying the Paladin. The number of fighters this lot carries is astonishing. 

It has to be admitted that there have been quite a few nay-sayers in the navy and other parts of the government and cartels about the wisdom of investing in such an expensive item as a pure carrier. After all, the fighters carried by our Fusion ships for generations have successfully worked with the Hellbore vessels, and the new Stinger-IIs and Stinger-H fighters have already proven their worth. Of course, since we are Hydrans there will always be someone who argues for the sake of it; we can be a fractious bunch. The proof will be in the sniffing, as we say back home.

The Klingons attempt to stop us with a battle at the approaches to the station proper, but our force simply brushes them aside. We are on standby to replace the Light Cruisers in the line if it becomes necessary, the idea being that the Inevitable will lead a flotilla comprising herself and two Lancer Destroyers, but it turns out that we are not needed. 

The fleet simply replaces the fighters it loses in this initial engagement and it has to be said that the Klingons handle their vessels superbly, mowing down our Stingers in waves - but we are just too many. The defenders are clearly hampered by their lack of a Dreadnought-class flagship. Our fleet's previous  destruction of the C8 Dreadnought on this front, together with crippling the lesser C5, means that the enemy is down to Command Cruisers, and it just is not enough against our weight, even though the Klingon commander is at the top of his game. The Klingons kill an amazing 52 fighters, but then our ships close on them. The D7C is crippled, as is a D5C War Cruiser Leader. Their D6 Mauler is forced to disengage due to heavy internal damage - and those things can take a real pounding. The defending fighters are simply swamped as they give as good as they take. The Klingon ships leave in a hurry before they take any more grief, and the Stingers finish the station.

Even we are shocked into silence: a carrier fighter group supplements our already outstanding fighters to a level never seen before. After this, nobody will question the wisdom of our fleets having true carrier vessels.

And even better news arrives: the Second Fleet has accomplished its objective, albeit at the cost of many of their lighter ships crippled. They have also eliminated a Lyran Battle Tug and killed the Duke of the Enemy's Blood clan!