Ravens of Eternity

346 The Defense of Sorallus, Pt “Am I actually hearing what I’m hearing?” Lucifer said with incredulity. “Better them than us, huh? How ruthless of you.”

“Well, it’s like you sometimes say,” Freya replied, “that’s just how we have to be.”

“That might be true, sure. But I’m also not always right.”

This time it was Freya’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Hold on, is that humility coming from your lips?” she asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

But Lucifer balked slightly. Being called humble was something ze didn’t enjoy. At all.

“Practicality is more like it,” ze replied quickly. “No-one’s right 100% of the time. Besides, I’m not into leading fights from the rear. I like shoving my fist at every oppressor in range.

“More importantly, if this region actually becomes independent, then it would create a massive buffer zone between the Federation and the Hegemony.”

“What, and you think that won’t stop them from fighting over it?”

.....

“No, ‘course not. But once trade increases and the money starts pouring in, then both the galactic nations would be more hesitant to kill each other. It’d take time, but they’d get there. Open, free markets will bring some semblance of peace to everyone.”

Freya sighed.

“You’ve got too much faith in profit,” she said. “As far as I’ve seen, most everyone in the galaxy is all too eager to kill for their ledgers.”

“Greed is a problem,” ze admitted. “Which is why we need to excise the greedy from the universe. Through fire and blood.”

“Well, that definitely sounds more like you. Thought you’d hit your head on something back there.”

“The only thing that’s out of sorts is your teasing.”

The Accursed Bootlegger shook all around Lucifer, and many of its crew were shaken in their seats. A few stumbled where they stood or walked, but otherwise kept on their feet.

Outside, the ship was pushed around as a number of flak shells burst in close proximity. But thanks to their A-ranked armor, most of the shards just scratched the surface.

And since the Accursed Bootlegger couldn’t return fire for themselves, the Viridian Nautilus did it for them. It descended down closer to the Bootlegger, and returned fire with its own guns.

They bore down all of their available turrets on the offending Federation frigate, and first scored its hull with their heavy beam cannons. The red-hot beams gouged deep lacerations into its armor, and left glowing streaks of slag in their wake.

Then, once they had sufficiently weakened the frigate’s armor, followed up with their own AA turrets. They fired directly into the frigate and caused the shells to detonate mere meters from them. Tens of thousands of shrapnel tore into it.

Worse, the Nautilus used superheated shards that embedded themselves deep in the frigate’s armor and structure, and slagged everything further.

They continued their vicious assault on the Federation frigate, and brought it closer to becoming a wreck with every volley of their AA turrets.

While the Republic defended itself from the Federation, Claire reached out to the High Admiral via comms using an Omega-Tau designation. She was responded to, very quickly.

“High Admiral,” said Claire, “this is First Feather Tysen of the Corvus Republic. We’re requesting an opportunity to advise your fleet during this battle.”

“Hmph,” replied the admiral. “Why in the hells should I listen to any of you?”

“Defensive strategies and tactics counsel is one of our nation-state’s points of expertise, of course.”

“Duly noted, Corvus Republic. But I’ve been doing this far longer than any of you have been alive – I’ve been serving the Hegemony and the de Jardins for over 50 years. I’d like to think that my experience far outweighs yours, especially in the matter of battlefield tactics.”

“And yet here we are,” interjected Freya,” doing the same thing in the same space, trying to save lives. And more importantly, beating back the Federation despite not having a half century of experience fighting against them.”

“We can chat skills and philosophies later,” said Lucifer. “Right now, we simply need to concentrate on making it out of all this. Admiral, I imagine that you’ll be rotating your carrier to the other side, yes? You take some set amount of damage, then you’ll flip?”

The high admiral nodded simply.

“And reveal fresh guns and reinforced armor to the enemies, yes,” he replied. “But that’s hardly an untelegraphed move. Knowing what I’m about to do doesn’t predicate your ability to advise me!”

“We agree, admiral,” Lucifer retorted, “but what after your maneuver? You’ll still be facing numbers far greater than you can handle by yourself! Presenting fresh guns could destroy some of those ships before they’re obliterated. But you won’t be doing any meaningful damage, not against those numbers.”

The Star Dragon grimaced at what Lucifer was trying to tell him. And of course, he knew that. He was using the carrier as a shield, not as a spear.

“The 5th Fleet will be returning to reinforce this position,” the admiral argued. “Once they do, we’ll reclaim victory.”

“You’re not actually relying on a fleet that isn’t here, are you?” Lucifer chided him immediately. “On a fleet that might not arrive at all? You of all people, with your experience, should know that counting on a force that isn’t in front of you is practically suicide. Unless, of course, that’s been your goal all along.”

The admiral tsk’d loudly across the comms. His annoyance was even evident on his face. But it vanished shortly thereafter.

“Fine,” he said begrudgingly. “What do you propose?”

“A number of your fleet just ported in,” Lucifer answered. “Give us control of half of them so we can harass the enemy’s flank. It’ll take heat from your position, and we get to do a little bloodletting. Your counter-maneuver will be more potent with less guns bearing down on you.

“Equally important, we need to cull them as much as we can now, in case even more Federation ships port in to take you on.”

The admiral turned towards his TacMap and watched as the Federation peppered them from afar. Of course, he knew what the Corvus Republic was capable of. After they had forced his vote during their sponsorship, he began to keep tabs on them. He needed to make sure that his own fears truly were unfounded.

Be begrudgingly found that they were as capable as they seemed. Despite his misgivings and apprehension towards them, saw their value. And that they truly did help the people of the Hegemony.

If they were willing to fight the Federation head-on, then there was no need to stop them from doing so.

“Very well,” he said. “Solidify our communications and sync up our combat intelligences. Take my forces and harass their flank. But don’t overextend yourselves!”

The Fleet of the Corvus Republic immediately peeled away from the rest of the mercenary fleet, just as they were about to approach the carrier’s defensive zones. They spun around and rendezvoused with half of the incoming 5th fleet, who had happily volunteered to do some damage to the Feds.

They quickly integrated their fleets together and began their flanking maneuver, even as the carrier and its small defensive fleet fought off any attacking frigates and fighters.

Lucifer hirself adjusted their formation precisely, and laid them in a semi-flat plane, with their broadside weapons facing outward. The entire formation zig-zagged closer towards the Federation position, and threatened them more and more.

And, as ze predicted, the Federation sent a force to respond.

Their own numbers were easily inferior to what they were facing. Besides the Republic fleet, their flanking ships only had 2 cruisers, 9 destroyers, and 48 frigates. In comparison, the fleet that was intercepting them had 4 cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 50 frigates.

Despite having the lower numbers, Lucifer felt despondent – ze hoped that they would send more than they did. But some was better than none, ze reasoned.

The Accursed Bootlegger quickly scanned the incoming ships, and highlighted the physical location of every critical system and module on them. Which Lucifer shared to the rest of the fleet with little hesitation, along with hir preferred target priorities.

Then, ze sent out hir first attack formation to the flanking fleet with absolute delight.

“Now,” ze said. “Let’s dance.”

The flanking fleet immediately moved to respond to the incoming interception fleet. Though they started as a sort of horizontal plane, the ships began to weave in every direction, which made them seem like an ocean’s surface, but on its side.

And in doing so, evaded much of the enemy’s incoming fire even while they fired back.

The two fleets exchanged broadside cannonades, and settled into an exchange as they sped forward in parallel to each other.

But then the flanking fleet also began to stretch outwards, and curled around while the Federation ships settled into an offensive diamond formation. While they were busy adjusting and firing, the Hegemony fleet swung around above and below, and finally wrapped all the way around, like a tube.

The Federation forces hardly even realized what was happening – this was a formation they never fought against, and had no answer to. All their captains could do was keep their guns prepped, and fired on every target that presented themselves.

They fell for Lucifer’s envelopment easily, partially because they were hardly worried. The Federation outnumbered the Hegemony, after all. The lead captain saw their thinned-out formation, and practically laughed.

“They’re weakening their own lines for us!” he cried out. “We ought to honor these Hegemony idiots, and finish the job they started. Kill them all!”

As promised, the Federation ships fired at every ship around them with abandon. Their guns blasted out shell after shell at the ships that surrounded them, confident that they would tear them apart with ease.

Certainly, some of their shots landed – numerous shells struck their marks, and tore at the Hegemony ships’ hides. But most completely missed their mark – their loose formation and constant evasive maneuvers ensured that their shells whizzed by harmlessly.

Not only that, but Maetel’s Lament emitted its disruption field in a massive zone around them. It didn’t scramble the Federation’s targeting outright, but it adjusted the numbers in such tiny, subversive ways. Their positions were off by just a few degrees, and their signatures were delayed ever so slightly.

More than enough to fool the Federation’s targeting systems and sensors, much to the chagrin of the gunners aboard.

And because of their enveloping position, had an incredible advantage against the clustered Federation ships. Their many turrets and emplacements bombarded them from all sides, and utterly demolished their armor.

Shells and beams and flak and flak tore into their armor, and blasted them apart with violent precision. Their ships were dismantled piece by piece as the moments ticked by, under the vicious Hegemony assault.

One of the frigates, unable to withstand the sheer amount of weaponry, exploded as its power plant was perforated. A ball of red plasma ballooned from the inside, tore the whole ship into a million pieces, and blew apart in every direction.

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