Strat-4 Chpt-39

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==Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 - Chapter 39 - Consolidation Phase 2==
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===Buying Time===
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"Tannhauser’s Bell system...
As soon as the jump effects dissipated and her screens cleared, Billie didn’t like the look of this system. There was clearly a large space-borne population here with the large bell shaped asteroid belt.
So where were the defense stations? Active patrols? This wave should have started with more resistance, not less.
There were a pair of Invader class JumpShips loaded down with what looked like space station modules at the nearby planet-moon L1, but before Billie and her squadron could cover even that distance they jumped out.
All that were left were small little satellites and the local burrows.
“They’re jammer satellites.” Ensign Ortega had this shift at Communications.
“Weapons and fighter squadrons clear them from my sky.” Billie ordered.
Once they were swept, the distress beacons from the burrows could be heard. They were begging for food, water… any supplies really.
“They stripped them. Just to slow us down. Force us to deploy our logistics assets here.” Ensign Ortega was angry.
“And it might have worked if Amanda hadn’t grabbed that supply convoy. Ortega, start working that panel. I’ll coordinate anything we can spare to the most critical cases until relief can show up.”
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===The securing of Natsu===
Natsu system...
Tabarinth studied the system. It was clearly a fairly substantial production center for the Sons of Plunder. But the defenses, well what she could see, were inadequate.
The only reason that made any sense, is that the Sons of Plunder knew what was coming and were starting to pull back.
The quartet of Pinto class corvettes that she could see thanks to her Naval Comm Scanner were in formation with three Merchant and five Invader JumpShips at the Zenith Jump Point.
“No need for anything fancy. We’ll just take them and roll up anything the planet can muster later. Straight forward defeat in detail.” Tabby informed her crew at the same time she sent the orders out over her ATACs.
Engines came up to full acceleration.
The only reason the battle lasted more than five minutes once joined was because the Pintos decided to die with drained fuel tanks, futilely running for their lives.
A week later the planet failed to muster any immediate response.
“They’re figuring out our tactics. Knowing we’re focusing on any sort of sortie before our invasion force arrives, and destroying what defenses we can. And unless I’m mistaken, those mountains near the main settlement are stuffed full of Surface to Orbit emplacements. Communications, advise follow up forces accordingly. We’re not going to be able to clear this without getting bogged down in unfavorable fighting.” Tabby said for the benefit of her human crew.
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===Overtaking forces in Silesea===
Silesea System...
Amanda studied the plot. "Back again," she said. The traffic was lighter than it used to be. She could almost see where the AIs had killed a Baron class Destroyer here, and she'd taken a Star Lord.
Back at the scene of the crime. She sighed.
"Contact! Sixty degrees port, range eighteen thousand kilometers!!"
"Identify it," she ordered.
"Vincent Class Corvette, model 39, transponder is SLS Voerhoeven."
"Well, they're not friendly at least," she resolved. "So where’re his buddies?"
"Ma'am?" Sensor operated asked 
"A Vinnie is a recon bird," she said. "She's spotting for someone, and probably has us spotted. Spread the formation out, overlap your sensor coverage. She let us see her. Means her pals are nearby."
The Vincent's engines lit, and she began pulling back.
"Oh, clever girl… Lori, signal Piorun. The Vincent's hers if she can take her. The rest of the formation will fly in support-he's trying to draw us into a kill box… So let's see what she's got to kill us with."
"Neutrino spray, picking it up roughly ten thousand kilometers along her vector, multiple sources."
Amanda relaxed. "Well, they laid out the party mat. So let's not disappoint our hosts. Open the formation another thousand kliks. They want a kill box, let's oblige them. Pass a message to the Reserve, there's work for Fleet ships here."
There is an art to turning an ambush. The trick is to let the ambushers think they're unseen while your reserves arrive behind them. This deep outside the jump limit, that's pretty simple, really.
Space rippled as the heavier WarShip group slid into three dimensional space, containing the four Pintos that had been laying doggo in the outer system.
"Surcouf formation, break off," she ordered. "Piorun and Cossack, just linger enough to keep the stopper on them. The rest of you with me. We're going to make some nightmares come true. Advance on the Zenith Point first."
The enemy had picked up their arrival, had this planned ahead of time. And burned their jump charge getting in position.
It could have worked, if the sensor suites were still 'Star League grade' on the Privateer ships, but between Helena and Acton and multiple updates?
Not so much.
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As the Bonaventures from Surcouf A moved on the now-lightly-protected Jump Point, men died in darkness and silence, sandwiched in a kill box wrapped around their kill box.
Cossack merrily waltzed through the Pintos, their frail frames not withstanding her superior firepower. Until only one was left, and signaled surrender.
“Smart move. It’ll take us longer to secure you than kill you. Fine. Boarding parties away, and let them know we’ll be watching for funny business.” Cossack sighed.
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===Unexpected Request===
Karalia System...
"I know you…" Phoenix could recognize that hull. Vincent Mk 39 Class Corvette. She'd seen her before, met her, and her partner. "...I know you!!"
Convoy 22's attacker was HERE.
"Launch fighters."
Phoenix heard it then, over RF, wide band.
<<"This is SLS Tench, Lord Commander Bruno Unger in command, to Outworlds vessels. I want to negotiate a surrender.">>
"What??"
It repeated three more times before she could muster her response. "This is SLS Phoenix, on behalf of Task Force Surcouf B. What are your terms?"
<<"Decent treatment for my men, and your pledge not to bombard the civilian population from orbit.">>
"Stand down your weapons and drives, and prepare to receive boarders," she said. "This better not be a trick, Tench, over."
“I believe this is where we part ways and Foster’s special dispensation to return you to command kicks in, Phoenix.” Trina departed Phoenix’s CiC.
“Good hunting Trina.” Phoenix smiled.
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Three hours later, she was fielding the surrender messages of the planetary militia garrison, a reinforced company of tanks and Battlemechs.
"I didn't even get to shoot anyone." Phoenix marveled.
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===Phase in Review===
"In some places…
…they fight like cornered tigers. In others, they surrender without a shot." 
"Unger," Helena observed. This time, Foster was visiting Victoria over Nilea's Garden.
"Bruno Unger. Who would have thought he not only believed in Elizabeth, but decided he was more loyal to her than to Basileus Katrin." Helena shouldn't have been surprised by the man's deposition, but she was.
"Well, your sister showing up here put an end to the fighting. And her visit to Fort Zimbabwe turned that Brigade into a civil war," Foster noted. "You did more than your fair share pacifying things here."
"How bad are things at Fort Zimbabwe?"
"Katrin Loyalist versus Elizabeth Loyalist, both going after neutrals. And the Falcons are letting them, as long as they stick to the areas they already shelled and bombed out. So they only have to protect the pockets of non-combatants while the local lunatics tear each other apart."
“Shit. Well I could try swinging through there too, to see if maybe I can smooth things over. Anything to try and get some sanity taking grip there.” Helena shook her head.
"The good news is Tannhauser's Bell," Foster observed. "Republic units report the locals are friendly, and your sister's holoimage is showing up on people's walls in offices and public areas without prompting. There were few slaves in that system. Most of the population is educated."
“Helps we had all those extra supplies conveniently loaded up for redistribution that Amanda nabbed. Feeding and keeping people breathing tends to win their support.” Helena smiled.
"It's still good news," he said.
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===Frustration of Betrayal===
The facility…
…had been sabotaged. "We don't have an HPG." Katrin wanted to scream, to lash out. To express the sheer betrayal represented by the Communications Ministry destroying the HPG site rather than try to open a dialogue with the forces invading the Star League Remnant.
The facility had been destroyed, and most of the personnel committed suicide, rather than comply with her orders. The Communications Ministry, aka The Word of Blake, was NOT going to let themselves be taken by the allies.
Even at the risk of putting billions of Star League Citizens and subjects at risk of total destruction. They were never loyal.
The realization hurt. "Can we fix this?" she asked Marshall Guffney.
"We can field the truck-mounts, and relay through Naval vessels, but the HPG hub? We don't have the tooling to rebuild it, Basileus."
"Do what you can," she said. "We're blind, deaf, and mute without it!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, as you will… What will you order next?"
"That depends on whether I can get in contact with the invaders, and their… pretender. And arrange a cease-fire. If I can't, then we may have to fight to the last. If I can, then maybe, just maybe, something will be left for my successor," she scowled. "Why haven't you overthrown me?" 
"Because I'm loyal, Highness. To the end, my oath is to you," he told her. "Why else? You're the first competent Basileus in decades…"
"I got us into a war we can't win," she countered. "A war we’re losing."
"I disagree. This war was inevitable due to the policies enacted by your ancestors. You just had the misfortune of it coming during your reign, and your enemies being strong enough to win."
"If I offer a surrender, what would you do?"
"I would surrender," he told her. "If your offer was accepted, and I would order my men to do the same."
"There is hope then, because it's harder to do than you realize," she said. "I almost can't make myself do it… What if I ordered you to fight to the last?"
"I would fight to the last. My honor would be satisfied merely in my obedience, Basileus," he told her.
"I don't deserve… Thank you… Get our network up in some kind of operation." She looked at the ruined A-station. "Our mission remains what it was from the start: to preserve as much of the Star League as physically possible."
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