WoWS3 Chpt 62

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 62 - ==
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===Fleet Assignments===
Office of the Director-General & Star Lord
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
May, 3145
"...one Wolf Clan convoy down, their escorting corvette was eliminated in seconds." Amanda laid the report on Helena's desk, "Sam picked up survivors, can we dispatch a contact team? I think we're going to get more mileage if Sam and the Anecdote keep playing 'follow through' than if we recall them every time they dust a convoy until Alaric starts beefing up his escorts."
“Do it. But I suspect Alaric is about to launch his attacks anyway. We should make preparations to respond to a distress call from Terra at a moment’s notice.”
"That's a given, I think. But the commerce-raiding game isn't about some decisive halt it's about degrading his future performance and applying indirect pressure."
“He’s already used the truce to stockpile and prepare. The CONTROL reports confirm it.”
"Aye, but he has to move those stockpiles forward or they're no good at all to him." Amanda reasoned, "This war plan is a long game, not a sprint…so who gets to head up the Sol relief?"
“Okay you’ve been playing by the rules so how about I give you Taffy 1. For Foster I think Tribal, I know they’re short Cossack and Haida for a bit.”
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" Amanda said, "I'll have to bring my boat in or ride without it." she sighed in frustration.
“If it’ll make you feel better we still have Gremlin and Ghost to fly your flag on.”
"No, I get it. It's got to be a Star League force, not an SLDF force with a Privateer…I'll take Gremlin for flag," she leaned on the table, "I want Trinh Vu Dao and Olivia, we just took delivery of two hulls of the Alpha configuration, non-export models Erin asked Kolossus to send."
"Let's see…Spectre and Revenant, if I remember correctly? That is fine if Alaric lets us have the time."
"We can have the installs done in a week, which is about the amount of time it's going to take getting Taffy 1 and Tribal fully fueled, armed, and their crews recalled from R&R." Truck offered.
“Okay. Trinh for Specter and Olivia for Revenant I think.” Helena nodded.
"If he consolidates in the Sol system, we'll just be catching him in a dispersed position." Amanda noted, "we hit, he has to react, because he'll have to defend. Defense is stronger on the ground, it's weaker in space, and it'll be even weaker because the two weeks it takes us to get there if we launched today, are still two weeks where he's trying to organize things and establish control on Earth, Mars, Titan, and Luna. That's a lot of open territory he's got to patrol and god help him if he thinks he needs to pull the Beltas in, because that's going to spread him out even more. If anything, we stand a better chance if we give him a full month to get all dispersed and ready for defeat in detail."
“It’d be nice if we could give him that sort of time but if we let him dig in for that long on Terra with his ground forces we could get bogged down for a long time. So we’ll see what we can do.”
"By your orders, Majesty, I need to get Taffy One ready then." Amanda said.
"Good hunting, dismissed.” Helena nodded.
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Sol system…
The Wolves had gained space superiority, but Khan Alaric Ward had been keeping to the Tharkad agreement. Which let the final line of defense for Terra keep going.
What had begun as a storm had turned into a brutal siege. Defense can be stronger than attack, but not if relief isn't coming soon.
The Republic Fleet had quickly pulled back to Mars. For now he was glad to let them stay there, but he knew what it really meant.
Helena was on her way, and soon.
He’d already deployed his reserve fleet against Luna to neutralize that threat and soon Operation Haephestus should begin for real.
He was annoyed that an error had caused that operation to be delayed but he was confident Titan would be his soon. The Republic had deployed their retirees and recruits aboard some of their most ancient museum pieces there. The fleet at Mars was only marginally better equipped really but it had their best people according to the Watch reports.
The other fly in the soup, was something the Watch had ignored. The Sol Belters, isolationist were dispersed and not a threat that stands obvious, were making the siege of Titan frustrating.
This meant his best move for the moment was to not antagonize them any more than absolutely necessary, keep this a fight between Wolf and the Republic.
A situation made slightly less sublime, because one of the abtakha ship commanders had engaged a burrow on Io against orders, losing two stars of 'mechs and a star of Elementals to local conditions and pockets of resistance before they even reached the settlement.
When said settlement was finally pierced, all they found were signs of an orderly, organized move-out sometime weeks prior to the situation erupting. No civilians, no fighters.
Ganymede? A little more…results..at least, at first.
Alaric adjusted his own suit, and looked around the ruin here on Ganymede. "They fought here?? There is nothing HERE!"
Star Captain Lynn Wolf bowed her head, "My Khan, they fought here, and this place has not seen an inhabitant in centuries. I lost three 'mechs and twelve Elementals."
He stepped over a shattered column., and looked at the broken wall ahead of him, broken more thanks to the recent ground fight.
Seven stars in an oval, equally spaced. "Tell me about this crest?"
"The man we captured called it 'Free Stars', Khan…I have no idea what it means."
Alaric turned, and looked at what had provoked this. The emplacement was huge, an industrial mass-driver anchored to bedrock under the ice, that used Ganymede's frozen oceans to cool its power plant.
The Gun had done serious damage to Canis Rufus, and there had been enough light surface defense to force a landing force to take them out.
The warriors had taken out the gun emplacements, and destroyed the resistance fighters, but…
“What is the delay now with taking Titan? Our timetable is slipping.” Alaric growled.
"Nuclear mines." Star Commodore Nigel Von Jankmon said. "Passively concealed using jumpsail material, equipped with some very clever ion thrusters instead of fusion drives, and they are coordinated. We did not know those were even possible but the bombs themselves are in the megaton range. Captured Republic Naval records only mention that some of the Belters were very angry about the plan for Titan's defense and were known to be taking 'measures'."
“I see. I want a message spread to the Belters. I am willing to guarantee their neutrality in this conflict if they cease with these attacks. Let them know our fight is with Terra, the people who either ignore them in their times of need or oppress them.”
“It will be done my Khan.”
As he stood there a bright flash of light erupted in the distance.
A mine had just found the Dire Wolf.
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===Crimes against the Belters===
Miller Burrow, Kuiper Belt
Sol Star System, Republic of the Sphere
"...foreign occupiers on Terra is nothing new, Anton!" Becca Rainey scowled.
"They took Metis Station, Becca, the Metis Congress are prisoners or dead. These aren't like Stone's people, they're not going to leave us be." Anton Sweetwater passed a bulb of Kaff to his opponent in the debate. "It's past time the Outer System was respected, and besides, don't you also have kin at Titan?"
"Fanatic!" she spat, "Trying to resurrect Free Stars! This will bring nothing good to the Belts!!"
"Nothing good has already come." Briana Cloughwyn argued, "They sent raids to Ganymede, and Io, if we hadn'a evacuated when word of the wall fallin' came out, they'd have thousands of hostages! This 'Alaric Ward' is out to restore the Star Leauge as a fascist neo-tribal lunacy!!"
The sound of a cane thumping into the deck loudly came from an older figure who had been sitting there quietly for some time.
“The fight has indeed found us. Whether we like it or not it is here. The person I represent would have no qualms if you decided running and hiding was your solution. But there are those other than Free Stars that are willing to fight. Because this is a foe that must be fought. We represent something they cannot let stand.” Thomas Erik Mahan said gruffly.
"Why should we burn for Innawallah??" Theo Jenks demanded, "I say we let the Innahs burn one another!"
“Burn for the Belt then. We will not be alone and we will have the respect we crave. All of us. Or you can run. None here will think you a coward. It is a hard thing we face.” Thomas countered.
"Sovereignty." Anton said, "do you remember the old dreams, people? We can be Sovereign, no more hiding in the dark from BOTA, or fearing a reprisal, no more restrictions on our trade, no more living under the shadows among the rocks. Sovereign and free and tey will not be able to claim tey don't owe us our right to be sovereign among our selves!!"
“I am of Golden Hind, we come from the Oort Cloud, out at Albion. I speak truth when I say Lady Cameron has done nothing but treat us with respect, deals with us honorably, and allowed us our autonomy.” Thomas added.
The assembled leaders and their witnesses dissolved into individual debates, but when The Pathfinder from Martinside stood up, the room quieted.
"Am I my brother's keeper?" he asked, and when Pastor Martinside spoke, it reverberated. "We stand separate, and we stood separate when McKenna came, and Cameron, when Amaris rose, and Kerensky burned so much, we stood separated…but all mankind are brothers. So…am I my brother's keeper? God's answer was 'yes'." He thundered, "Martinside Stands with our brothers and sisters, with Cameron, and a future for mankind that is not in the chains of a brutal caste system and state-owned slavery." He turned, to Thomas. "Martinside stands with Cameron, Pathfinder."
"Stone Sky stands with Cameron!" the representative from Mercury's tiny community of burrows stood, her voice thin and reedy, like her too-pale skin from living under failing uv lamps in deep mines.
"Cormyryn Association stands with Cameron!" Becca announced, "Ganymede, Io, and Sovereignty!"
“For the Belt. All of it. For our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters, and beyond.” Thomas proclaimed.
"Free Stars stands with Golden Hind, and with Cameron." Anton said.
"You're all mad!" Thea Lonus said, "Hand of Plenty stands with the Belt…and I guess with Cameron."
For the first time since the scouring of Ganymede in 2766, the Belters were united, and ready to go to war.
“Good. Then we have much work to do and not much time. Seems to me there are some Republic Warships that could use some Belter guidance near Titan. And a few tricks here and there to help them out.” Thomas smiled.
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===Stiff Resistance===
Luna, Sol Star System
The first sign things were truly going to hell, was Armstrong on Luna.
It was assumed Luna would be a pushover. Their reliance on domes and sealed buildings would make them too reluctant to provide any real resistance.
Instead, every step revealed a trap or mine. Improvised hard points slowed their advance at every turn.
And when an assault captured a dome, it lost pressure, every tunnel taken collapsed, sometimes before the warriors had even cleared it.
Despite their hargel, all their experience in fighting in airless places, they were losing warriors at a rate that they could not sustain, especially with what Alaric allocated to Luna.
The rules of engagement they were supposed to operate under slowed them even further. It would be a simple matter to get back on track if they could fight within the bounds of Clan Honor but not quite so restricted…
A few officers would 'forget' the rules, only to find that reprisals begat not compliance, but harder, nastier attacks, dirtier tricks, dirtier traps.
But Luna wasn't the worst. On 22 May 3145, Clan Wolf forces finally forced the defenses at Titan…and in that unbreathable atmosphere, they found a population that refused to obey, refused to submit, refused to surrender.
Titan Yards itself burned, the support infrastructure on the planet turned to kill boxes and sabotage devices.
It had not been unanticipated that Titan could not be secured in full working order, as such the Dire Wolf had its prodigious cargo holds filled with parts and technical teams to bring them back online as quickly as possible, but after the mine found it…
The Belters never gave it a chance to recover after that.
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===Cavalry prepares to Ride===
Arcadia Class Cruiser, SLS Gremlin
Republic & Star League in Exile Fleet, Sol Star System
"...main forces are here, in this area of the orbitals, they've been pulled in a lot of directions." The courier from Hand of Plenty highlighted a region in Saturn's orbit.
Rear Admiral Amanda Roberts paid close attention. "The yards are wrecked, he'll move those forces to the seige line over Terra if we let him." she judged.
"The Golden Hind concurs with your analysis, it's why we took the risk of jumping here." the man told her.
"Here." Amanda said, "They can't afford to burn too hard with ground forces aboard, and now he needs Terra and Luna, which means he needs to take it by storm. We'll fight the battle here-at the Earth-Luna L1 point. …and we'll need to send Tribal to the Mars/Solar L1, to force Alaric to keep his forces spread out."
“Mahan is doing what he can to rally the RAF Reserve fleet out at Titan. It’s still a tall order with so many retirees and recruits. Should still serve as a solid threat though to harass the Titan forces as they withdraw.”
She nodded. "We kicked the dogsnot out of the Sons of Plunder with retirees and recruits…but these are Clanners. I guess we have to kick a little harder."
>>“You want the front door or the back door? I can bring my fleet in either side from Mars.”<< Admiral Labbe offered over the real time HPG connection.
"Tell your boys and girls to watch to the sun, Admiral. It's almost the final morning, but Rohan rides to Gondor's aid." she spoke, "It'll be a dead-man's chest…signal to fleet, it's time to go in."
“Got it. We’ll make sure they know we’re still here.” Admiral Labbe smiled.
"Get your chaplains busy praying." Amanda said, "We need god on our side for this."
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===Young Lady weeps for Mother===
Port Lazarus Station
New Lazarus System
23rd May, 3145
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Petra Roberts sat in the observation lounge, staring intently at the stars toward Sol. "Has it begun yet, Truk?" she asked.
"Yes." Truk answered.
She closed her eyes, and let her tears flow. Please god let mom come home this time alive.
Somewhere out there, the battle to relieve the Sol System had begun.
“One way or another this is it. Everything after this battle will be a mere formality.” Truk said quietly.
“You’re worried too?” Petra said as she grabbed his remote’s hand.
“Always. But this time more than most. The risk has never been greater but I also have faith. The fleet is led by experienced leaders and the crews are as trained as we can make them.” Truk admitted. “The odds are as in our favor as they are likely to get.”
Petra kept staring at the sky.
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