We are joined at the second main Battle Station on the Hydran Border by the Enemy's Blood Fleet and the Foremost Fleet, which has just been constituted by new builds from the homeworld. It seems to me that the Emperor is being especially canny, because there is an old Lyran proverb that a three-legged cat is more stable. Roughly, this means that three relatively balanced Dukes provide stability, while two or four tend to cause civil wars and unwanted alliances. If three are in the same sector, none will ally with any of the others for fear that the third will call upon the Emperor.
The Foremost Fleet was in reserve awaiting events on our front, and the fact it has arrived suggests that the Hydrans are heading this way. Their preponderance of fighters gives them the opportunity for a decent counteroffensive, and we are still building our forces here - the Foremost is just the first of a series of scheduled reinforcements. The Hydrans are going to try to keep us off balance.
Sensors show that the two sides are actually evenly matched in terms of numbers of ships, so we shall just have to engage the enemy and see what happens. I sit with Captain M'mash in our accustomed places on the bridge of our War Destroyer Dark Fury and watch as our other vessels engage the Hydrans at the approaches to the station. This is always a dangerous moment, and it requires finesse to inflict enough damage on the enemy that they will pull back and try another probe. It is possible, if unlikely, for an astute defender to do this several times before pressure forces him back onto the station itself. Now that we know about the uprated Hydran fighters, we want to try - if at all possible - to keep them at claws' length.
It doesn't work. As we watch the battle unfold, it becomes clear that the various weapons suites plus fighters available to the Hydrans gives them enormous flexibility. Our main interest is in the War Destroyer Squadron supplied by the Foremost. Apart from a single War Cruiser, our vessel is the only new trimaran in the Far Stars Duchy, and we want to study how they operate in battle as much as possible. Our own experience is relatively limited, since we have had only one prior engagement ourselves, and on that occasion we were lucky not to be too heavily involved in the main part of the action.
We cheer as our compatriots cripple an entire enemy Frigate Flotilla, but this leaves our ships open to a large wave of the new Stinger fighters. Only one of the three in the squadron survives, and it is heavily damaged. At the same time, in another part of the battle, the Hydrans' largest ships take out two War Cruisers, crippling one and heavily damaging the other. Both fleets warp out at the same time, which means we do not have the luxury of readying another defensive line at a remove from the Battle Station.
We are deployed as part of our Duchy's contribution to the base defence. Fortunately, though, we are right in the middle of a concentration of most of our fleet. To our port is a War Cruiser squadron, while to our starboard are five (!) Heavy Cruisers and a Fast Cruiser. Then comes the station itself, and, off at the extreme end of our line but very close to the station, is our command element: a Battle Tug and a Scout Destroyer. Our own flotilla deploys in the same formation from last time, a V-shape with us at the apex, with two of our older and more expensive Light Cruisers trailing.
The Hydrans arrive, and facing all of our cruisers is a wave of fighters and their main command element: a Paladin Dreadnought and a Thoroughbred Fast Cruiser. Their main force is well off to our starboard side, which means that the fleets are in fact slightly offset from each other. We do well, closing to overload range on the Paladin's fighter squadron. Supported at medium range by all those cruisers, we blow away pretty much the whole lot, apart from their Hellbore fighters, which are deployed further back from the main group. Our Heavy Cruisers also cripple an enemy Destroyer Squadron. However, this presents the Hydran command ships with an opportunity. Now that we are out of offensive power, they sideslip towards the War Cruiser Squadron at the extreme left side of our deployment and vaporise the Leader vessel.
Almost immediately afterwards, there is an enormous explosion from the far side of the battle line; the Hydrans have slipped in right under the main guns of the Battle Station with a Heavy Cruiser Squadron and engaged the Battle Tug itself! They get nowhere, but they have opened up the way for the rest of the fighters, and even the ESGs of a Battle Tug are not enough as it is destroyed in spectacular fashion.
The Enemy's Blood Duke is on that ship, leading the fleet, but he manages to survive. It turns out that he anticipated what would happen when the two Rangers attacked him, supported by their Dragoon Cruiser. There are two main methods to a Hydran assault: fighters first, which means the ships get you, or ships first, which means the fighters get you. On this occasion it was the second tactic, and he ordered his crew to be ready for emergency transportation into space while wearing survival suits. These are cumbersome in a shipboard environment, but they do save lives and in the case of a sudden catastrophic assault, this really matters. A Battle Tug has a full complement of seven hundred, including marines, and the use of emergency measures like this, plus evacuation by shuttle and command escape pods, has saved almost half the crew.
A rather annoyed Lyran Duke - from: http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/lyran.shtml
The Duke simply shrugs, moves his flag to his pet Battlecruiser, and gets ready for the next round. He is obviously determined to remain in command to defend his Duchy for as long as he can. The other Dukes are happy to agree - after all, he also has more combat experience.
We get ready for another round. This time, though, the Enemy's Blood is fizzing, vowing revenge for the loss of his flagship. Captain M'mash is invited to dinner with our own Duke M'muran and, when he returns, he asks me into his ready room, the small conference suite used for private meetings with his heads of station. He offers me some rather lovely Romulan ale, so I ask what is on his mind. He strokes his whiskers thoughtfully, a mannerism I have come to recognise. "Quite a few of our cruiser captains were present at the dinner with our Duke," he begins, "and I have to tell you that he seemed perturbed at the rage of the Enemy's Blood. Even for a Lyran, he really is hyped up. Duke M'muran stressed that in the coming engagement we need to keep our cool and not take any unnecessary risks. It looks as though the Enemy's Blood vessels will be attacking quite rashly." He raises a quizzical eyebrow.
"I think I see what you'e getting at, Honoured Captain," I reply. "Perhaps it is our turn to be the ones providing overwatch fire. It is probably not wise to get too close to those new fighters." M'mash nods in agreement.
When we deploy, our standard flotilla is assigned the far rightmost position on the line. Immediately to our port is another light flotilla comprising a Light Cruiser and two Destroyers from the Enemy's Blood; M'mash and I exchange knowing looks in anticipation. Next in is the station, then off on its far side are all the cruisers, six in total: five heavies and one Fast Cruiser. Four of the Heavy Cruisers belong to us, which means that we are supplying a large proportion of the fleet this time around - I can perfectly understand why our Duke is playing it cagy. We can't afford to lose this kind of power.
The Enemy's Blood himself is stationed in a Battlecruiser on the far left of our line, and I wince as I hear him hurling invective at his opposite number in a Paladin Dreadnought. I turn down the volume on our bridge speakers.
It is just as well that we were ordered to be cool on this occasion. Our little flotilla hangs back while the Enemy's Blood flotilla charges the Hydrans. We provide very effective fire support, and between us we do quite a bit of damage, killing quite a few fighters and effectively removing one of the enemy light flotillas from the battle, at the cost of heavy damage to the Enemy's Blood Light Cruiser. It warps out just in time because much of the enemy fleet is in our part of the battle, and a whole wave of Stinger-IIs from their Heavy Cruisers simply vaporises the two Enemy's Blood Destroyers.
Our cruisers efficiently remove the other group of Hydran light ships in the centre of the field, but I am getting really worried about the encroaching enemy cruisers and all those Stingers. Everyone is then distracted as the Enemy's Blood goes completely White Hot Whiskers and charges the enemy Paladin. This is a major mistake because it is accompanied by that Thoroughbred Fast Cruiser again, and the two of them cripple the Battlecruiser and kill the Duke. Fortunately for the station, though the Hydrans leave, probably because they have taken as much attrition as they reckon they can afford.
I can guarantee they'll be back, though. And unfortunately for the station, the next most senior commander is the Foremost Duke in his Dreadnought - we only have one of the earlier models. Given what has just transpired, we have actually lost our most experienced admiral (despite his temper), and the Foremost doesn't exactly have a great combat reputation. Bordering our Klingon allies, they haven't seen proper combat in at least a generation, and it shows in the Foremost Duke's preparations for the next engagement.
My rough calculation is that the Hydrans should be running out of those damned fighters soon, which means they will retire. I just hope the station and our own ships survive the encounter.
This will be my third battle in a row in defence of the Enemy's Blood Battle Station. This time a large proportion of the fleet is supplied by our clan. We deploy along with three of our own Heavy Cruisers and a flotilla of light ships from the Enemy's Blood to the right of the station; the command element is on the other side. Unfortunately for the Foremost Duke, though, he is facing the majority of the enemy force, including three full waves of those new Stinger fighters. The only thing opposing our lot is a frigate flotilla, which we remove with ease quite early on.
We watch with growing concern as all that power moves on our command element, which is effectively the only thing that stands between them and the base itself. The Foremost might not be a great admiral, but he sure knows how to handle a Dreadnought in terms of battle tactics. The confrontation between the two command elements is a bit of an anti-climax, but then the first wave of Stingers arrives, only to disintegrate completely against the combined power of ESGs from the Dreadnought and its supporting ships: another of our Heavy Cruisers and an Enemy's Blood Scout Destroyer.
At this point our clan's three Heavy Cruisers turn inwards and kill a lot of Stingers from the second wave. This actually saves the Foremost Dreadnought from complete destruction as the remainder home in on it, crippling the flagship and forcing her into silent running.
In the meantime, the Hydran have sent a Fusion War Cruiser squadron in our direction to keep us too busy to interfere; they turn in upon our little flotilla and cripple one of our sister Light Cruisers.
Things finish with a bang as the third wave of Stingers simply eviscerates the Heavy Cruiser and Scout Destroyer that have been supporting the Dreadnought. I hear my Captain whistle through his whiskers; "They didn't even bother to use their fusions! Turn off the screens; we don't need sensors to guess what will happen next."
He is, of course, correct. We no longer have enough force in the vicinity to stop the inevitable, so we warp out, and the Battle Station is no more.
I find myself thinking in the silent aftermath. Our Duke has played this so well - he must have calculated this is exactly what would happen. The other two clans have lost whiskers and eyebrows in this campaign: the Enemy's Blood because they lost a Battle Tug and their Duke, and the Foremost because they then failed to defend the station, with their Dreadnought crippled and, as it happens, their Duke wounded in action. By not contesting the overall command seat, our Far Stars is not associated with defeat in the same way, and the Foremost owes us a favour. The intervention of our three Heavy Cruiser saved his hide, and the loss of another in the final conflagration demonstrates - just enough - our support. And here are how the fleets look as we fall back towards the Enemy's Blood Starbase:
This is all that is left of the Enemy's Blood. The Commodore currently on their Command Cruiser will now take over as Duke after the demise of his uncle. It's a pretty sorry sight - even their Battlecruiser needs to be repaired.
And here are the remnants of the Foremost Fleet. We really saved their Duke's face, as the Terrans say, by giving him a chance to escape with his Dreadnought. It only arrived a few months ago, and to lose it immediately would have made things even worse for their Duke - assuming he survived, of course.
In comparison with the others, we are in pretty good shape!
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