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The ARK: Revised
Posted By: Spencer Gregoire<spencergregoire@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 16 October 2008, 6:41 pm
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Note: I realized after I posted my story about Vadum's victory over the Brute fleet that it was horribly inaccurate. So I wanted to post a version that accurately accounted for the number, and types of ships that each fleet had, hope you like it.
Rtas'Vadum only recently became the self appointed ship master of the Elite Separatist's fleet. Despite his lack of experience his genius in the field of tactics seemed to transfer quickly from ground combat, to fleet action. The seamless transition was necessary as it was amazing. Vadum had taken control of the carrier Shadow of Intent, after the brutes managed to hold it for a short time during the battle of High Charity. He had heard that the flood was present on the Human home world. This prompted him to seek the planet out so it could be glassed, and therefore completely rid of flood, and millions of potential vectors. But there was a change of plans. After learning of Truth's actions and the possibility of a solution to the flood, the Ship Master set aside his discontent about the humans. Now his abilities would be put to the test.
Vadum knew that a Brute fleet likely waits on the other side. Based on the human Intel, it was likely to be very large. Vadum scanned over the bridge of the Shadow of Intent. Wazik' Karazium was his Navigations officer, the crimson armored Elite was experienced, and reliable in combat. Huro' Nakatowa manned the weapons console he was also armored in a crimson suit typical of bridge crew. He knew he could count on his crew to function well in combat, meaning that it was up to him to figure out a way to destroy Truth's fleet. Based on human reports, at least twenty ships made up Truth's fleet. Meaning that depending on where the fight took place, the Brute ships would likely be crammed close together, or spread out, he preferred the former to the latter.
On a more positive note, his ships would have the element of surprise. He intended to take full advantage of that.
"All ships, charge your weapon's and be ready to fight. This will likely be the final battle of the war, the battle that will forever remain in the histories of both Humans and Elites. Brothers, it has been my greatest honor to serve by your side. We can not fail, we will not fail."
"Honor Light your way ship master." Vadum could not hold back the fighting any longer. It was time for battle, he would smash the bastard Truth, and damn him to eternal darkness.
The fleet moved into the portal, ready to fight.
Vadum's fleet re-entered normal space. The predictions had been wrong; there were more then twenty ships. Twenty nine ships appeared, twenty seven cruisers, and two Assault Carriers
"Brute ships, staggered lines." Vadum was glad to note that the Brutes were forming into a single tight mass; their Plasma lines were not yet hot. Surprise had been total; his fleet had a chance to win. "Ship master they outnumber us three to one." Vadum glanced over at Wazik; he nodded to him as an acknowledgement. Then he spoke with unwavering confidence.
"Then it is an even fight." Vadum had an idea, if he could wound the ships on their lateral surfaces, he could knock them off course. His ships could wound about a third of the fleet, which would be enough to send the ships flying from the lateral borne explosions. The out of control ships would cause the rest of the tightly packed phalanx to break up; most of the ships would lose their shields. But it was risky, luckily his ships caught Truths fleet off guard, they were ready to fire. The brutes had just begun to heat their lines. "All cruisers make sure your lines are hot and your lasers are charged." He pondered his plan and then spoke again. He was sure it was the only way. "All ships transfer controls through the Shadow of Intent." He paused to look at Huro' then gave him his orders. "Work out a firing solution, target ten cruisers within their phalanx, for the first salvo use pulse laser turrets and a few torpedoes if needed. Have the second salvo use torpedoes to damage their lateral lines and buffet them off course." Vadum had shoved a lot of orders into Huro's ears, but he did not complain. All he said was
"Yes Ship Master, one moment" He hands danced across the keyboard. Seconds later a solution appeared on screen. "The firing solution is ready."
"Go, Launch the first salvo." Vadum noticed that the Brute ships were advancing. Truths ship was absent. Vadum assumed that he went to ground to combat the humans, in which case, they would outnumber the humans by extreme margins. One Assault Carrier pulled ahead of the pack, that ship was his personal target.
"Get me the human ship master, tell her to target that carrier, get as much fire on it as possible, as for us, heat our main line, and charge the Projector."
"Yes Excellency, orders have been relayed the human ships is firing, what shall we do Ship master?"
"Fire all weapons, take that ship down." The Elite fleet fired its opening salvo, Pulse laser turrets and plasma torpedoes leapt from the ships. The Brutes did not have a chance to fire. The opening salvo dropped the shields of nine ships.
"Salvo two impact, now." Vadum watched as the torpedoes lashed out from the Elite ships, and collided with the brutes. The plasma splashed across the lateral surfaces. Explosions rocked a handful of ships off course. The solution had worked almost perfectly. Out of control ships smashed into other ships. The fleet lost cohesion and scattered, the Brute Alpha trying to regain control.
"Major Huro' have battle group A. focus on the first assault carrier. Have battle groups B. and C. focus on the brute fleet; take the unshielded Brute ships down. Have them divert emergency plasma reserves. We have to fire fast." Vadum paused and then set his sights on the Brute Assault Carrier. "Fire all our weapons at that carrier." The Shadow of Intent recoiled slightly as is expelled a plasma bolt. The plasma bolt was based on an Assault Carrier. It had access to more energy, therefore it was much larger, well over two hundred meters across, and about three times the strength of its smaller brethren. The oversized torpedo splashed across the Assault carrier's shields, weakening them severely. The Energy projector overloaded the shields, and then pierced the hull. The atmosphere ignited and tore a huge gap along half of the massive ships length. Moments later The Forward Unto Dawn fired. The ship's Mac round tore into the damaged hull. Half of the ship's Missiles slammed into the wounded vessel. The carrier then took fire from one of Vadum's Cruisers. The heavily damaged Carrier finally faded from the display. Just now, Vadum's fleet was ready to fire the second round of plasma. The lights on the bridges of nine cruisers dimmed. The fleet spat out Bolts of superheated gas. By now Truth's fleet was getting itself back into line, albeit more spread out then last time. About seventy percent of the fleet was unshielded. The Elite ship borne torpedoes impacted the doomed Brute ships.
"Multiple hits on enemy ships," said Huro' a clear sign of satisfaction creeping into the Elite's voice. The remaining loyalist Assault carrier was untouched by the first barrage. It had no such luck the second time. A total of seven plasma torpedoes overwhelmed the shielding, pierced the hull, and then ignited the atmosphere. The Carrier took most of the bolts aft, in the swollen section. The explosions from the ignited atmosphere engulfed the rear end in a huge blue-whitish explosion. The Carrier's front end drifted, dead in space. The rest of the Brute ships were now leaderless, and disorganized. Their fleet took the round of torpedoes. The unshielded ships were targeted with about two torpedoes each. Seven additional Brute ships were out of the fight. That left twenty more ships. They were however, un-coordinated. Massive salvos of torpedoes needed to be coordinated through a designated lead ship. Vadum had destroyed all three potential flagships. Therefore, as he had planned, the brute ships assembled their fleet and began a charge for the elite lines. Their pulse laser turrets sparked to life and charged, several charged Plasma Torpedoes.
"Orders sir," Wazik remarked.
"Organize another Plasma Salvo; target the ships with the weakest shields. Any unshielded ships are a priority." Vadum Peered out at the brute fleet. They still outnumbered him twenty ships to his ten. Granted they were all Cruisers, and half of them paused to charge their shields and pulse laser turrets, getting ready to charge his ships. The other half spread out and turned their lateral lines towards his fleet. One of the Brutes must have risen to leader; they were preparing a salvo of plasma.
"Drain emergency plasma reserves C through H and feed them to the Auxiliary Reactor. Sound decompression alarms in all lower decks then drain them. On my signal overcharge hull shielding to maximum capacity, as we take hits I want you to divert energy to hull shields to keep then alive through the barrage." Vadum knew that the plasma from all these cruisers would overwhelm his carrier, unless he took action against it. Draining the plasma reserves would leave him with minimal Ordinance to charge the plasma turrets, but it would also minimize the fuel given to the fire. Draining the atmosphere and evacuating the decks ahead of time would limit the longevity of any fires, and therefore the damage to the ship. He could not let all those plasma torpedoes hit his fleet. This maneuver would block about twelve plasma bolts if his estimation was correct, he prayed that the measure he was taking would be enough.
"Get word to all ships. Charge weapons and then have all groups'. fall into line behind the carrier, fire maneuvering thrusters, face our Hull towards the salvo, try your best to spread the damage out."
"Ship master, our fleet is ready to fire; we can thin out those Brute ships before they can fire on us." Vadum now felt even better about the maneuver. But, it was still a risk; that could save multiple fleet ships. The Elite fleet fired, and then quickly maneuvered behind the Shadow of Intent. The Brute Ships returned with their own salvo. Then the Brute fleet move forward. The sudden movements of the Elite ships had an advantage unforeseen by Vadum. Multiple Brute ships had their aim thrown off as they fired. Several bolts missed. But nearly a Dozen were on target. The Shadow of Intent moved its hull to shield the fleet. The massive ship charged its energy shields, and executed the other orders Vadum stated. The Shields could be recharged as they took damage, allowing them to absorb plasma like a sponge, but it would drain massive amounts of energy. The Brute salvo was slightly staggered. So the power that the shields could not take on now could be added as the plasma impacted.
"Brute torpedoes impacting, Shield strength depleting." Wazik paused then added, "Rerouting power to the shields." Many torpedoes hit the shields. The bridge lights dimmed, then went out. The engines then turned off next. A few plasma bolts got through the downed shields. But thanks to the measure taken by Vadum, The flagship would survive.
"Report, Now!" Vadum growled. After a nearly un-detectable pause Wazik suddenly spoke.
"Shields down, hull breaches in most of our lower decks, weapons systems functional, we survived sir." Vadum allowed himself to relax a bit, his ship was damaged but it could still fight.
"Fleet status, can they fire?"
"Yes Ship Master, solution is ready.
"Fire," The fleet fired, the Shadow of intent powered back up. "Charge weapons, divert all remaining plasma reserves to the line, and get it charged quickly. Bring the engines to one hundred fifty percent, fire emergency thrusters, and make sure we don't drift into the atmosphere." Vadum observed the result of his actions. The Elite ships fired into the approaching Brute ships. The plasma salvo hit Truth's fleet head on. Multiple ships were destroyed. The plasma overloaded their shields, splashed across their hulls, and then ignited the atmospheres.
"All ships break and attack finish those bastards off." Nine separatist ships collided with eleven Ships of the Loyalists fleet. Pulse laser turrets fired. Fighter ships from both fleets flew towards one another. The Shadow of Intent was well clear of the Atmosphere.
"Ship master, we have plasma available for three more rounds." Huro' paused then, after consulting his console spoke again. "Weapons ready to fire."
"Noted, Wazik bring us into the fight, get ready to fire."
"Engines answering new course," Wazik paused for about five seconds then spoke again. "Weapons charged," Rtas' gazed over the battlefield. What was only a few minutes ago an organized field with two opposing fleets exchanging fire, was now filled with more then a dozen ships engaging each other. The dead carcasses of many warships floated in space. Among the chaos Vadum was able to clearly make out a pair of Brute controlled cruisers, they were finishing off one of his allied ships. As they finished this task they came to him.
"Analyze the approaching ships. Give me their shield status." Huro' complied, and a few seconds later he was ready.
"Port side vessel is without shields, the starboard one has fifteen percent shield strength, and their lateral lines are nearly ready." Vadum would need to react fast, nervousness rushed into his mind.
"Target portside ship with plasma, then hit the other one with our energy projector; divert all remaining power into the Projector." The Shadow of Intent would be defenseless after such orders were executed, but Rtas' had no choice, two cruisers possessed firepower sufficient to swat his badly damaged and poorly shielded vessel out of the sky.
"Weapons, ready" Huro' shouted, anticipation riddling his voice, "ordinance away." The plasma torpedo sailed towards the portside cruiser, splashed across its hull, and then ignited the atmosphere. Secondary explosions chained along its upper midsection, the Cruiser tore into a pair of fragmenting hulls. The energy projector shot drained the rest of the Carrier's power. The overcharged bolt of energy impacted the Cruiser, its shields failed. The beam of light hammered into the hull, severing the cruiser amidships. The two pieces drifted in space, atmospheres burning, and then cooling as the flames burned out. Rtas' fully expected to see another brute ship bearing down on him. Not much was left of either fleet; the two opposing forces had beaten each other to a bloody pulp. No one said anything; they were shocked to be alive. Wazik finally broke the silence
"We've but one other ship. The Brutes have been defeated my lord." The crimson elite rose, then bowed his head. "I could not imagine that battle being fought any better, Ship Master." Rtas' could not believe he'd won. But nonetheless, glory was his. This day would forever be remembered as the day that allowed the elites to forge a new Covenant. But, the battle was not won yet. In fact, while they had won in space, the ground battle had just begun.
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