Elinor
For three days the ‘Skreap’ followed the transport, jump after jump allowing the transport to jump into FTL and waiting several minutes before launching it’s own Jump Drive engines and following the transport to the next calculated system.
Elinor felt like most of the crew, that they were on a wild chase of nothing. Even if the transport route had been leaked, three days worth of jumps meant that they could arrive at any time of day, and unless those looking for the transport were already in the system, they could easily be missed by a few seconds or hours. Eight jumps a day meant that after three days a starship could easily be behind or ahead of schedule, and the chances of contact were fewer after each jump.
Just over half a light year a jump the ‘Skreap’ could make, it’s furthest jump was the furthest of any Commonwealth ship at almost .7 of a light year, while the longest Commonwealth Starship could only reach .61 of a light year, and that was at the upper range of a jump, few starships jumped to max range, too many risks, and unknowns, even with fully updated star charts.
Elinor poured over the sensor data that came into her terminal on the command deck of the ‘Skreap’. The jump had already been calculated, double checked, and ran through computer programs dozens of times by different personnel to confirm there were no issues. She had already poured through everything in the system in the hours since their arrival, but it kept her mind busy as the clock ticked down to the jump which would reunite them with the transport after the next jump.
“Weapons standby,” Crown Prince Osmund said softly as he did before every jump.
“Yes ser,” Commander Nightfoot replied from his station.
“Star Lances ready?” The Crown Prince asked as the clock ticked down to sixty seconds.
“Yes ser, standing by, and ready to Jump on your command,” Commander Kosh replied.
Elinor wished he could have been with the pilots of the Star Lance starfighters. The personal project of the Crown Prince had created the only starfighters in the Commonwealth not of Furse make, to be able to jump long range FTL. No other starfighter built by the Commonwealth could jump outside a system, and was only used as a tactical option to close with enemy vessels.
The Starfighters also made the Commonwealth pilots known as crazy throughout the rest of Fabian Space. No other power used starfighter pilots, but the Commonwealth had been forced to react to the Furse threat, and the Salians had abandoned the tactic thousands of years in the past.
“You all know what to do,” The Crown Prince said and folded his hands behind his back as he stood before the massive command table that displayed all sensor information in a holographic projection. “Jump.”
The ‘Skreap’ launched into FTL, and Elinor felt her vision blur, and felt sick to her stomach. Two, three seconds was all it took for the ‘Skreap’ to leave the unimportant system, and travel more than half a light year to the location of the transport.
“Contact ser,” Elinor heard Commander Zax at Ops shout as alarms began to ring out through the command deck. “Hammer class Battleship ser, it’s already launched boarding parties on the transport and taken out it’s engines.”
Elinor's vision began to clear as the commander spoke, and could see the enemy ship on her screen as her fingers began to move at her terminal. She could see more than a hundred and fifty starfighters on her display along with three frigates and six corvettes in support roles to the massive battleship.
“Weapons target their engines and weapons,” the Crown Prince said calmly.
“Yes ser,” Commander Nightfoot replied as he issued orders to his own teams.
“Comm, tell the captain of the transport to engage gravity wells, and hail that battleship to surrender,” the Crown Prince continued. “Kosh…”
“Star Lances are moving into position, and reinforcements are leaving the hangar bays,” Commander Kosh replied before the Crown Prince could finish.
Elinor could see the full complement of Star Lances, more than two hundred which surrounded the ‘Skreap’ already moving to engage the enemy forces which themselves were already moving as weapons fire more both ships began to pour out at one another, and she could feel the light thud of the shields taking impact as the ‘Skreap’s’ own support craft moved to take action.
“Their fucking crazy,” Elinor heard a voice call out from the command deck, and she felt the same. The ‘Skreap’ was twice as large as the battleship, it had three times the support craft, fifteen corvettes, ten frigates, and three destroyers from it’s own hangar bays which were already moving to action, along with more than four thousand starfighters, and thirty assault boats exiting the hangar bays to join the vessels already in formation.
Elinor could see on her own feed that the transport had several dozen blisters as breaching pods from the battleship had attached themselves to try and take over the transport. Those assault forces would be met with a transport jam packed with marines from the ‘Skreap’ and prepared for the attack, and she could already see the ‘Skreap’s’ own shuttles, and assault shuttles moving to reinforce the transport.
The battleship was outnumbered by the size of the ‘Skreap’, other capital ships, and starfighters, but the Furse Hammer class Battleship had an impressive arrive of weapons, and could match the ‘Skreap’ in firepower, although most of that were light railgun cannons, and laser cannons, and in fact had fifty more of each than the ‘Skreap’.
The Battleship only boasted sixty point defense cannons which were sourly outmatched by the ‘Skreap’ and the two hundred and fifty it held, and already Elinor could see her screen show hit after hit on the shields of the battleship as it’s point defense system let in attack after attack from the ‘Skreap’.
“Shields failing on the battleship ser,” Zax said.
“Keep firing, and ready missiles as soon as we have a hole,” the Crown Prince said as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. “Any response to our hail?” he asked.
“No ser,” Elwin replied.
“Battleship is moving to withdrawal,” Zax called out. “It’s jump drive engines are online, but it’s still within the gravity well, and shifting fire to the transport.”
“Take those engines down, and move us between them and the transport,” the Crown Prince said sternly.
“Yes ser,” Commander Sunblade at the Helm station replied. “It will take us two minutes to get between them,” she said.
“The battleship will be outside the range of the gravity well in three minutes, and forty seconds,” Commander Zax informed them.
Elinor watched as the battle unfolded as she studied the raw data that came in, and looked for weaknesses in the enemy or anything that might help in the fight. The biggest thing was ensuring that the sensor data was accurate and being pushed to each of the ships in the battle.
“We have a hole in the shields,” Nightfoot called out. “Missiles from forward tubes one through ten launching.”
Elinor watched as her display showed seven of the ten missiles explode well outside range of the battleship as it’s point defense system took them out, but the last three stuck home, and slammed against the armored hull of the battleship.
“Engines down,” Zax said as it’s main drive went down, and the battleship’s sub light engines slowed. “It is maintaining fire on the transport,” she continued. “Shields are failing.”
“All weapons, take out weapons on that ship,” the Crown Prince grunted, and placed his hands on the command table. “Tell the transport to get out of weapons range, turn off that damn gravity well if it must, and jump with emergency engines.”
Elinor watched as the transport blinked out of view of her sensors, and the battleship shifted fire back to the ‘Skreap’, and other vessels around it, but open holes began to form throughout the hull of the ship as weapon turrets were targeted by the starships and starfighters which were now on top of the battleship and taking out weapons at close range as the ‘Skreap’ remained several hundred thousand kilometers away.
“She is losing control,” Zax called out. “Venting atmosphere, and losing power throughout the ship.”
“Why don’t they surrender?” Elinor asked aloud.
“Furse would rather die in battle than dishonor than ancestors by surrendering in disgrace,” Ensign Ros Throne said quietly more beside her.
“Ser!” Zax shouted.
“Get all ships out of there,” the Crown Prince replied quickly, and Elinor looked at her screen in confusion before she saw the signs of the battleship preparing to overload and self-destruct.
It only took fifteen seconds before the core of the battleship overloaded, and exploded in a bright ball of fire and chaos. Elinor was stunned. She was prepared to die, and knew that day might come some day, but the battle had been pointless, they never stood a chance, there was no reason to fight, nor die. It was pointless, but it did remove a major threat from the Furia Sector.
“Helm, get us to the backup location to link up with the transport so we can render aid if they still have boarding parties on board,” the Crown Prince said sharply, and Elinor could see the frustration on his face.
