Chapter Two Sixteen Battle of The Lodge (Patreon)

September 6th, 008 SDE; The Lodge:

Felki watched her screens, as the Stormwolf prepared to intercept the enemy. They’d done everything they could to prepare for this battle. Hylix and his engineers had managed to put together sixty makeshift railgun emplacements to protect the Lodge and they’d also put minefields at key locations along the Raider advance. New defensive platforms had also been put into place. With the rush, they’d had to cut a few corners, and the best they could put on them were makeshift railguns and just a few rounds per platform. With luck, they’d take down a cruiser or two before the Raider’s superior guns knocked them out. 

Not only were they ready for the battle, but they had twenty transports to evacuate the non-combatants. She recalled there had been some consideration towards slapping cannons on them, and fitting them with spare armor plate to convert them into makeshift warships, but Hylix had shot that thought down. Personally Felki didn’t think twenty makeshift warships would make much of a difference. However, getting the noncombatants and any valuable materials they could out of the way might just make a difference in the long run. They could always retake The Lodge, they couldn’t replace people.

On the screen she could already see the Raider forces entering the system, their composition quite in line with what the Enterprise had told them. Two battleships, one of which was down an engine and some fresh hull breaches, along with a dozen heavy cruisers, thirty light cruisers and over two hundred destroyers and frigate-sized hulls. One hundred and seventeen of them were later identified as drone carriers, each with a complement of some two thousand drones. The Refuge claimed they had destroyed about three thousand of them during their ambush, but she found that number a little crazy. How could a dozen fighters take out that many drones? Sinking a battleship with a dozen fighters was actually impressive enough, and the scars the other battleship showed were proof the engagement had taken place. The rest of the fleet looked fairly unscathed though, which didn’t surprise her, a dozen fighters couldn’t possibly carry that much ordinance. They likely ran out of torpedoes taking out that one battleship and wounding the other.

Unfortunately taking out one battleship still left them with two more to deal with and a crap ton of drones. Turning to her first officer, she inquired, “How far out is the Enterprise?”

“Still over an hour away, our own reinforcements will be here sooner. But I’m not sure what good two heavy cruisers and their escorts are going to do.”

Felki sighed, “Not much I’m afraid.”

Her first officer said nothing and she took a moment to review her armaments and defenses. They’d had time to fully arm and repair, she wasn’t going to count on the shields. All they were doing was keeping them safe from the storm, so she’d be more reliant on her main armor belt. It was about eight meters thick around the main citadel, but weaker near the thrusters. The polycarbonate alloy was reinforced with polarized structural fields that would help it resist enemy fire, at least as long as the field had energy.

The Positron Shock Cannons had been given a full overhaul as well, to make sure she could deal as much damage as possible. More importantly, she had a full complement of plasma missiles, both interceptor and anti-ship missile types. Not to mention a fully loaded complement of torpedoes. Somehow she didn’t feel it would be enough.

On the screens, the approaching fleet crossed the system line while reducing speeds to combat velocities. Turning to her monitors she held her breath, watching them close on the minefields. This was it, the battle was about to begin. A simple blip on the screen was all the sensors showed her as, far in the distance a high-yield matter-antimatter charge detonated, striking the hull of a two-hundred-meter-long frigate.

The resulting energy burst claimed the ship and kicked the hive. The drones previously flying along the fleet in formation were suddenly in a frenzy as they surged forth. Active scanners suddenly started flooding the area with high-intensity scanning signals, just moments before the second mine went off. This time striking a destroyer, the seven hundred meter long vessel went up in flames as her bow disintegrated, secondary detonations tore down the spine of the ship as she was sent spinning by the force of the detonation, then a second mine hit her amidships. It was an end to the misery of her poor crew.

Several nearby frigate crews panicked, turning every which direction, which sent them right into mines. If the poor fools had just held course they would have been fine. Felki watched the charges go off, and the poor ships just ceased to exist—a testament to the power of antimatter explosives. Felki recalled arguing with Hylix over using valuable antimatter in mines, but seeing the effect, maybe he had been right. Still it didn’t change the fact that the raiders had a numbers advantage, and so far only smaller ships had been deleted.

A drone found the next mine, and she watched it explode claiming only a single tiny drone. Felki knew that one had been a waste. Yet she continued to watch, even as she ordered her crew to stand ready for battle. There just weren’t enough mines to sink the whole fleet and the field had gaps. Unfortunately, they’d just not had the materials to spare for a denser minefield. Didn’t help that mines just weren’t a weapon you regularly kept on hand, in space warfare they were often rather niche. It was a rare moment where you knew exactly when and where an enemy would attack you from, which is why they had deployed mines.

Seconds ticked by, the Raiders still reeling as they recovered from the first blasts. Her gaze locked on a cruiser getting close to one of the first railgun platforms, when another blip drew her attention to another vessel on the other side of the formation, she’d struck a mine. The high-energy burst had simply deleted the bow of the unfortunate light cruiser and sent her into a tumble toward a raider destroyer. Said destroyer reacted by firing her thrusters hard to port, right into a second mine, it hit them center-mass and exploded. In an epic fireball, the poor ship was split in two, the separated halves sent tumbling in opposite directions.

The formation broke in panic, weapons fired at shadows as ships changed directions at random. Several more mines went off, then that railgun she’d been watching fired. A high-yield explosive shell struck the cruiser she’d been eying amidships. The resulting hit, while less spectacular than the mines, was no less destructive, the round slammed into the shield before unleashing a focused detonation. The resulting energy punched right through the cruiser’s shields, armor and hull. The next hit was far more devastating, as the shields had gone out for a moment. Letting the second round explode inside the armored citadel. While the third and final round finished the cruiser.

A second ship entered range, just then taking two hits before she located and destroyed the railgun platform. Regardless, those two hits had been impressive, both penetrating the shields and rupturing the starboard plating, one of them detonated close to one of the magazines but sadly failed to set them off. Felki had hoped the railgun might get a few more shots off but they hadn’t expected them to last long.

Elsewhere two more railgun platforms opened up. The first managed two kills, the second three before they were destroyed. Then another mine hit drew attention as a heavy cruiser ran into a mine, the result just as spectacular as every other hit. The high yield charge detonated on the forward shield with such force that the shields flickered and failed, the remaining energy crumpled the bow and sent the ship into a brief tumble. Leaving her easy prey for the nearby railgun platform, it fired twice before reporting a critical malfunction of the main turret. Yet those two hits were spectacular.

The first one tore a hole through the plating on the starboard side, the molten round just melting through like a plasma charge before the warhead finally cooked off deep inside the belly of the cruiser. The hull ruptured outward blowing equipment and charred bodies into space. Mere seconds later the second round hit, molten tungsten and iron punched through three decks and the inner belt next to the forward torpedo magazine before exploding. The resulting secondary explosion simply annihilated what was left of the cruiser’s bow. With that she was pretty much finished.

Seconds later a drone swarm swept the area clearing several remaining mines and destroying the malfunctioning railgun platform. Her gaze however was on a red line, a line that several raider vessels were about to cross.

Turning to helm, she gave an order, preparing to intercept the fleet. It seemed the raiders were starting to get through the traps, but the traps had done their job, scattering raider forces and sinking many of their ships, a drop in the ocean it may be. Something that would make her job of defending the Lodge just a little easier.

_____________

One Hour later:

The ship rocked, “Return fire, all secondary batteries!” She barked, “Engineering! Where are my main guns?!”

“Working on it! Five minutes!”

“We don’t have five minutes!” she snapped back.

“Hull breach! Deck four section thirteen alpha.”

“Bring us about, heading two one four mark six-eight, increase speed flank!” she barked, “Tactical launch all available missiles.”

“Sir! The Lodge! She’s under fire!”

“On my console!” She barked before checking the feeds, one of the two raider battleships, now identified as the Yurifa, had reached orbit and had opened fire on the colony. Ground shields were already failing, and the ground side rail guns were doing crapall against the ship, her shields easily absorbing the high-velocity shells and photon detonations.

“New heading, one one four, mark six, load all forward tubes!” she ordered, as the ship rocked again.

“Hull breach! Deck forty-two, sections thirteen through ninety-one alpha.”

Felki prayed her ship would hold together, the hull plating was failing, they’d lost shields five minutes ago and were under attack by multiple raider cruisers. All in all, things were just peachy.

Then some welcome news came, “Ma’am! We’ve restored the dorsal batteries!”

That wasn’t all her gun batteries, but 11 turrets was a hell of lot better than none. “I’ll take it! Tactical!”

“On it ma’am, target locked!”

She watched her turrets spin up, eleven triple-mounted medium shock cannons locking onto one of the light cruisers tearing into her ship, and they opened fire. The storm lit up as blue-white beams slammed into the armor of the other ship one after another. The hull of the other cruiser just melted, her armor failing in multiple locations. Several detonations tore through the hull, just moments before she broke up. Tactical cheered, “Target deleted!”

“Just give them hell!” she said, focusing on distances. More fire rocked the colony, as the transports were launching.

She cursed as she saw the battleship target them, several rounds tore into one of the transports, but she held... for now. Felki decided to give them something to keep their minds occupied. “Target the Yurifa, full spread, fire!”

Her ship thrummed as the torpedoes fired in rapid succession. Almost instantly drones and flak began to target the projectiles, two of them were hit in flight almost immediately, right before a couple more were intercepted by suicide drones. The remaining rounds hit the Yurifa amidships, her shields flared brightly but held.

Yet they did get the damn ship’s attention, as the massive battleship came about and opened fire on her poor cruiser. The ship rocked as several plasma rounds found their mark. “Hull breaches! Decks fourteen and thirty-nine!”

“Return fire, all batteries! Give them hell, we can’t let them shoot down those transports!” her thoughts turned to Delfi, “and someone get Delfi into an escape pod!”

Just then she was informed, “New contact!”

“Another Raider?”

“Negative! It’s the Enterprise.”

She blinked and put the ship on screen, just as her forward beam array fired, the ports glowing. An incandescent blue beam of death lanced out across space and tore into a destroyer’s stern, the beam swept across her broadside rupturing plating and tearing deep into the ship as the vessel was nearly bisected. Explosions rippled along the hull from stem to stern, even as the Enterprise was now targeting new ships, this time two cruisers at once. Both vessels were lacerated lengthwise by the deadly beams, as they cut right through armored plating and bulkhead as if they were butter, the shields on the cruisers doing nothing to stop them.

Her mind flashed to a conversation she’d had in the past. At the time she’d commented, “I’m not sure you should risk your battleship on our account.”

“Heavy Fleet Support Cruiser, the only thing battleship-like about the Enterprise is her armor belt and her beam array. Hmm, but our armor would be a real advantage, if most factions here have less advanced armor than you and rely on their limited shields? Mass would be the usual metric of success.”

Countryman had corrected her, but seeing it in action like this she really understood what he had meant about the main beam array. That was definitely a battleship-grade weapon, those cruisers and destroyers didn’t stand a chance. More importantly her effect on the field was drawing attention off her cruiser.

“Belay previous orders, get us out of here, best speed, set a course to link up with those transports.”

“Aye sir!”

The engines hummed loudly as they came about, thankfully the Yurifa had found someone else to target. She watched the big ship open up on the similarly sized EFS Enterprise. Heavy plasma rounds splashed against her armor with no visible effect and the Enterprise replied with a barrage of high-yield pulsed particle rounds.

Numerous turrets deployed along her dorsal and ventral hull and discharged rapid fire. The storm lit up as the gases began to glow far more intensely as the blue bolts filled the space between the two titans. Each one slammed into the Yurifa with explosive force, yet her shields seemed to hold. It was just the start of the duel, as drones started to swarm the Enterprise dozens of fighters and shuttles moved in to engage them.

With a screen established, she noted several Refuge corvettes engage larger raider frigates. Blue-white projectiles slammed into their shields and hull, alongside potent particle bolts. It was a strong showing, but it might be too little too late. On the ground, she noted several raider landing craft advancing on the settlement, the remaining defenders were doing what they could but she wasn’t sure they could hold it. The Raiders still had over half their fleet in the system, while less than fifteen vessels remained from the Drifter fleet, which included the two heavy cruisers that had arrived to reinforce.

“Incoming communique from the Enterprise, they say they will cover our retreat.”

“Understood,” she replied as she focused her eyes on the duel between the two titans. Just as the beam arrays on the Enterprise lit up, four glowing beams of death slammed into the Yurifa all at once, her shields flickered and then failed as the beams started cutting into the hull, but not with the dramatic effect she’d seen on smaller vessels. Her thick heavy plating actually seemed to be holding up, even as the beams left deep furrows in the armor. Blast after blast of heavy particle rounds tore into the plating in the same moment, but the battleship wasn’t silent. Her own guns bombarded the Enterprise back with numerous heavy plasma rounds and torpedoes.

A grid of red light suddenly bloomed around the Enterprise seconds before the space around her was filled with detonations. The torpedoes aimed at her suddenly detonated before they could impact, some of them didn’t even do that however, instead ceasing to exist as if the hand of some great deity had pulled them out of the universe. The duel however just went on, with neither ship inflicting significant damage to the other.

Her first officer came closer, “It would seem the Enterprise and the Yurifa are almost evenly matched.”

Felki nodded, “I think the Enterprise will win, but there are too many ships.”

“Sir! The other battleship! She’s broken off her engagement with the Horic and Talon, her new course will bring her into dueling range with the Enterprise.”

She glanced at her console, noting that the heavy cruisers in question had taken a beating and were not trying to cut the battleship off. Instead they were on course to link up with her vessel and the transports. Meanwhile the Enterprise seemed to be holding out alright against the heavy enemy fire she was already taking. Just then she opened fire on a destroyer sweeping in to attack, the focused particle beam punched through her ventral fore as the beam penetrated multiple decks and punched out the other side. Something exploded about a third of the way down her length, leading to several more internal detonations before the ship broke apart.

Felki made a mental note of the impressive multi-targeting systems of the Enterprise. Here she was heavily engaged with a battleship and she was still able to direct enough firepower at any other vessel in range to make them think twice about engaging her. Countryman may have called the ship a Heavy Fleet Support Cruiser, but to Felki the ship was a battlecarrier, she had the fighter complement and firepower to match that description.

Her helmsman looked up, “We’ve linked up with the transports, and are now on course to leave the system.”

“Noted,” she replied while keeping an eye on the screens, the Raider fleet was pushing the Refuge back. Several of the corvettes were already pulling back, their hulls ruptured in several places, but they’d made an impact with dozens of smoldering wrecks floating in the area to attest to their surprising firepower.

Wounded starfighters escorted them, she even saw one craft missing a wing, but she’d missed whatever hit had caused that. Felki wasn’t sure of the numbers to know if they had lost any craft, but it didn’t look like it.

Then the second battleship joined the duel against the Enterprise. Almost immediately, the Enterprise shifted half her fire to the second vessel, along with a volley of torpedoes and beam weapon strikes. The raider’s shields flared brightly for a moment before folding.

Rounds tore into the thinner plating of the other ship. Unlike the Yuirfa her plating wasn’t holding near as well. Rounds were punching right through, detonating inside the hull. Not that the large ship seemed that bothered as she pelted the Enterprise with high-yield disruptors and particle bolts.

“How’s the Enterprise’s armor holding up?”

“Hard to say but if I’m reading the field fluctuations right, her AIF is at roughly sixty percent and draining fast. I don’t think she can take that bombardment for more than a few minutes.”

Her first officer had something to say, “I’m impressed.”

Felki had to admit she was as well, she’d never realized the Enterprise was so well-armored. No wonder the Refuge hadn’t been impressed, she’d remembered them calling her armor dated. With armor like that, she suddenly understood.

Of course with a three way duel like that something had to change. It began with one of the Raider heavy cruisers sweeping in to engage the Enterprise. The ship was noted quickly, three lightning-like discharges struck her amidships first, then a beam weapon discharge cut into her hull amidships, the armor ruptured and then detonated as the beam tore a swath down to her engines. An explosion near the drives set the hull on fire, plasma fires could be seen jetting out of the hull being fed by ruptured fuel lines.

A torpedo hit the ship next, and Felki watched the detonation send her into a tumble. Seconds later the warship careened into the second battleship. Plating buckled and ruptured as the cruiser punched through the damaged armor, mangled metal snapped and careened off in every direction. The moment seemed to stretch on forever almost like she was watching the collision in slow motion. Finally, they seemed to stop, just moments before a barrage of torpedoes slammed into the section where the two ships were now joined. The resulting detonations could only be called a pillar of fire, when the light and dust cleared the cruiser was gone, and the battleship was decidedly smaller than before; as the ship had been split in two. A second torpedo volley slammed into the larger section, rupturing the hull and sending charred bodies into space.

More particle fire raked the wounded hull, just moments before several long beam strikes tore into the wounds. One of them set off the magazines, and the resulting detonation ruptured the hull, sending burning metal flying off into every direction as the battleship finally broke apart.

Meanwhile the Yurifa was doing much better than her fellow battleship. Her plating was scarred and pitted with fresh wounds, but nothing had breached the inner compartments.

The Enterprise was turning now, her weapons slamming into the large ship one after the other. Yet this time she wasn’t firing on the main citadel, but instead targeting the stern. One of the plates ruptured, and then a flash of light filled her screen. When it cleared, there wasn’t much damage aside from a stream of burning plasma shooting into space.

Several more plasma rounds hit the Enterprise just moments after, but this time they didn’t splash harmlessly on the hull. Felki noted the deep furrows left in the plating, but it had held. The Enterprise simply fired another few volleys into the battleship as she continued to fight.

Her first officer commented, “The Enterprise appears to be losing that engagement.”

Felki had to disagree, she was doing a lot of damage and sure she was taking damage. The issue was she was outnumbered. Before she could answer however she was informed, “We are clear of the system, increasing to cruise speeds.”

Just then the Enterprise seemed to vanish, before appearing much closer to her vessel. “Enterprise is breaking off, and joining our formation, she’s signaling that she will escort us to Anchorage.”

“Understood, tell them we welcome the escort,” she replied while being very thankful for the larger ship’s presence.