Resurgence Raven Alliance Chapter 5
To the Rescue
Director Devan Rebane was observing the holo projection of the battle going on at the Zenith point. The sheer scope of the battle was unbelievable. Even with all the reinforcements, it was looking bad for the Raven Alliance. When the Kutkh detonated, it shocked the formation. With only the Lynn McKenna against two warships and that new ‘Swordship’, not even the tremendous number of assault dropships could outweigh it.
Communications had been spotty at best, he could not successfully communicate with either Ronthu or McInnes. He could tell his entire formation was chafing to help their countrymen. He knew his orders were to hold the Nadir point but, if the Ravens were wiped at the Zenith…
He grimaced at the number of potential outcomes he had running through his head, he had noticed multiple times that various bridge crew were looking up at him frequently or outright watching for any hint of action. A fleet emerged far closer to Alpheratz and at the Zenith point, perhaps the third fleet would emerge at the Nadir? Or perhaps the Blakists anticipated that and would come in to a cleared jump point? Also, they could want to hit the defenses here to have successfully hit all Alpheratz’ naval defenses? “The fuck do I do?!” he quietly and angrily whispered to himself through gritted teeth, a look of rage on his face, fists clenched.
He took a moment to think back to what he recalled of the Jihad in war college courses. Then he knew what would be the best possible decision he could make given the current circumstance. Stone’s Coalition was based on fighting together, not holding on your own.
Quickly he opened up his fleet channel and gave the order, “All vessels, chart course for the Zenith point, we aren’t going to let them die alone!” with that the bridge lost its mind, celebrating the decision. Personnel were hammering away at their stations and the Marshall Ney began moving. As one, dropships and aerospace fighters changed from a holding pattern to gaining velocity. Altogether, the fleet set course around the sun to the Zenith point at best speed. It was going to be an uncomfortable flight.
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“Director, we can’t get close enough to kill that warship, we are getting torn apart!” shouted a crewman. Followed by a panel blowing out on a starboard bulkhead, some minor fires had started and been put out from the volume of fire the Lynn McKenna had withstood.
“Solid copy, bring our formation away from the core of the Blakist ships, have the remaining ships under Chairman McInnes joined our formation?!” yelled back Director Ronthu.
“Most of them have, sir, only a few stragglers are in dogfights.”
Looking over the projection and then out the cracked bridge Ferroglass it was madness. When the Blakist fleet converged, it became nearly impenetrable. Chairman McInnes was alive somewhere in the assault dropships in Ronthu’s surviving formation but something had gone wrong with her comms and he hadn’t heard from her in some time.
It was looking fairly good when the two formations were punching holes in the perimeter of the Word of Blake formation but, the volume of fire whittled them down, especially the nuclear weapons. A barrage of at least 5 nuclear warheads were fired at the two Raven formations, three hit their targets and shattered the 4th Alliance air wing formation, one finished off the Kutkh, and an aerospace pilot sacrificed herself, saving the Lynn McKenna from an impact.
“Sir, I have new readings from the Swordship!”
“Send it!”
“Bay doors opening up on the underside… More fighters!!!”
Wide eyed, Ronthu looked over the projection… there were dozens of fighters pouring out, coming directly for his formation. New? Fresh pilots and craft? As the leader he was known to be, he turned toward the Ferroglass, stood in a braced stance, his two fingers pointing ahead, his other hand in a fist, “Give them hell!”
A barrage of nose mounted weapons began firing as if on his verbal command, then numerous fighters blew by over the top of the Lynn McKenna, surprising the crew. The two formations flew directly into each other, multiple craft collided in a savage brawl. Like gods, the fighters threw everything they had into each other. Missed shots were hitting fighters beyond, friend or foe. Both formations were ready to slaughter each other.
One Raven fighter unleashed a mass of missiles, slamming into its target, hitting the target’s wingman, and even catching a friendly banking hard to avoid a collision. A Blakist fighter took a massive hit to its hull, barely in control, dove directly into a Raven lance, taking out two fighters with it. While banking, a Raven fighter took an AC20 salvo to the cockpit, it began somersaulting nose over tail, slamming into a Blakist craft.
Ronthu noticed that weapons fire between the rest of the two larger naval formations had slowed down, clearly, all eyes were on the two formations of craft that just joined the battle, he looked down at his console and realized these were the 3rd Regiment from the 4th Air Wing, the ones pursuing the invasion fleet. Looking up again he saw the last lance of fighters join the bloodbath. His console showed they were at less than 50% combat strength before joining this battle.
The mass of explosions and debris was so thick; it was providing cover from the larger Blakist vessels. “Director Ronthu, this is Director Virtanen, hope that was enough, we are down to 10% effectiveness, joining your formation with what we have left!”
“That was the reprieve we needed Director! Our formation is coming around the debris field now!” switching to the formation channel, “All forces come about, carve a hole directly through the right flank of their formation! Kill that warship this time!”
All the vessels surged forward, the Lynn McKenna nearly leading the charge. As the remaining “wrecking ball” formation, they swung in hard and fast, penetrating the defenses, unholy volumes of devastating fire going in every direction. As they began passing the elusive Blakist warship they had been hunting, the Lynn McKenna opened up with everything it had left. Massive chunks of armor were ejected as decks decompressed, finally ending with the catastrophic explosion as the ammunition magazines were hit. Some of the debris even slammed into the swordship, the one time it seemed splash damage was useful.
Multiple Raven dropships had been picked off during the penetrating maneuver and the formation was continuing to shrink, combat loss grouping was upon Ronthu, this battle was going to end for both sides or be a slaughter. It appeared that a slaughter was the chosen option as the Marshal Ney’s IFF appeared on the holoprojection.
Cutting between the sun below and the Blakist formation, the Marshal Ney’s forces intended to merge with the Lynn McKenna as Ronthu’s fleet departed the Blakists and came about. “Holy shit, Director Ronthu are you there?”
“Yes Director Rebane, barely, has anything happened at the Nadir point? Why are you here?” Ronthu asked in return, torn between the Nadir point being abandoned and these sudden reinforcements causing the Blakists not to pursue as the Ravens gave a wide berth after punching into the Blakist formation.
“We need to stay together, that’s how the Coalition beat them in the Jihad, watching you die up here was a no go for me. Another fleet entered at the Pirate point and it looks like they are en route to Alpheratz.”
“I will certainly side with that thought process at this point. Once our formations have fully merged, we are going to do another attack run, we are going to hit them laterally, not from the front.” Ronthu responded.
Many of the dropships in the formation were bleeding flames that were quickly extinguished in the vacuum of space. Even with the reinforcements, many of the crewmen across the fleet felt it wasn’t enough, even Ronthu felt it in the pit of his stomach, no matter how much he presented as fearless in the face of these invaders.
Having finally come about, the fleet accelerated, extreme range weapons fire begun, then light flooded the bridge of the Lynn McKenna. Shielding his eyes, Ronthu yelled, “What is that? Are they jumping? Nuke?”
“No sir!” a panicked voice yelled. “Jumpships and warships emerging behind us!”
Surrounded. They were surrounded! “Hold fast Ravens!” Ronthu commanded through the open fleet channel.
Waves of fire from the Swordship’s fleet impacted the front of the formation, while a fleet of new vessels emerged behind them, turning to give chase and firing as well. The moment of hope with the Ravens from the Nadir point was sunk by the new Blakist reinforcements.
Multiple flashes were happening within the Raven formation, nuclear warheads were detonating, vaporizing dozens of fighters and multiple dropships at a time. Ronthu stood, defiant at the front of the bridge, the cannons mere meters below him firing at the nearest Blakist vessel, ripping it to shreds. He peeked over at the holoprojection showing entire groups of allied ships blinking out of existence. Aerospace fighters and dropships that hadn’t been hit were putting space between each other. A flaming fighter was cartwheeling out of control as it flew past the Lynn McKenna.
Ronthu walked over to the Director’s chair and brought up the Lynn McKenna’s battle damage… it was critical across the board, 80% of weapons lost, hull integrity critical. His bridge crew looked at him. Some had tears streaming down their faces. Some stood and saluted him. Some rested their heads on their consoles.
He looked ahead from his seat as what little was left of the Raven fleet was entering the Blakist formation’s flank. Standing, he returned the salutes one final time, returned to his seat, and altered the ship’s course. Thunder that was echoing through the ship from blown out decks and impacting weapons fire seemed to be a distant sound as he prepared for the inevitable. Slowly, the Lynn McKenna changed course, he knew she could do it, he knew her from nose to tail, inside and out.
He stood, balled his fists a final time, and let out a battlecry that seemed to shake the deck. A colossal impact on the side of the Swordship was the last thing the Blakists expected. The Lynn McKenna impacted the side of it, crushing itself as it broke through massive armor plates. Unfathomable amounts of kinetic energy caused the swordship to shift to starboard. Punching a gouge through the port side of the Strength of Blake was a defiant last stand.
No doubt hundreds of personnel would have been injured from the unexpected impact, combined with multiple decks decompressing, and cascading damage effects throughout the Swordship. Any surviving Raven craft scattered into all directions, most of which were hunted down and killed in the vengeful bloodrage of the Blakists, livid over the damage to the Swordship.
Without even needing to take some downtime, the Strength of Blake surged forward, both fleets merging into one gigantic flotilla. Thousands of drones began emerging, analyzing, and working on the damaged hull to seal decks and make use of the armor plating that fused from the Lynn McKenna’s impact. On to Alpheratz…..