Resurgence - The Week of Hell Day 4

==The Week of Hell Day 4==
Flyovers from both FedSun and Raven aerospace fighters seemed to keep the Blakists at bay through the night on the surface below. Dominic slept the couple hours he could get in the war room. After the victory on the ground, the enemy fleet seemed to drift closer and closer toward the Stormhawk formation.
“Galaxy Commander, they have breached the phase line.” The voice awoke Dominic, causing him to yawn deeply before sitting up in the rigid ‘couch’ he used to sleep. The seemingly solid mass was bolted to the floor so it feels like sleeping on a piece of ferrocrete. He inhales deeply one last time, stretching his muscular arms wide all the way out through his fingers. Rushing blood through his arms and torso jolt him awake. Suiting up with his uniform he activates the shades and security glass to open and clear the windows to the bridge.
Walking to his position beside the Captain, both fleets display in a hologram before them. While they are not advancing, the Blakists are not actively trying to keep outside of extreme weapons range. At this point, in a few kilometers, both sides will be able to fire upon each other. “What are your thoughts, Captain?”
“They just won on the ground but, they know they will not win outright up here. They have shown to be clever as well. We have our active scanners and electronic countermeasures active constantly, so they cannot hide from us, Galaxy Commander.”
“Indeed, it looks like they may pick a fight after all though. Perhaps just to test our resolve, since they already defeated the Federated Suns. Have my trinary prepared to fight and my fighter ready, Captain.”
“Aff, Galaxy Commander.” Responds the Captain who turns to issue the orders to the hangar bay personnel with his comms. 
The distant Blakist ships seemed to be small dots among the stars. Even the Swordship seemed tiny and harmless at this distance. Activating a panel on his console, the screen lifted up and he zoomed in on the Swordship to take another look at it. Blakist fighters and dropships flew past and around it, completing routine activities that take place among large fleets. Except this time the bottom of the Swordship began to separate, like two panels swinging open.
“Captain, bring the Swordship up on the main projector.” In seconds the image of the Swordship appears and the entire bridge places their focus on it. “Captain, put all pilots on alert.” McKenna stated as he sits on the edge of his seat watching. Puffs of smoke shoot out into space, then a spherical object emerges. Then another. Then another and they keep coming, along with fighters.
“Galaxy Commander, we might have a second ground force.” Says the Captain stricken with awe.
“Galaxy Commander, IFFs are coming through on those ships, our system knows what they are!” shouted a crewman on the bridge.
“How do we have their IFFs?” asked Dominic.
“Sir, I am getting the li-li-lu-lu-list nowwww….” His voice changes as he speaks from confident and ready to fearful. Stumbling the young man gets up and runs to the Galaxy Commander, handing him the list before returning to his station.
Dominic looked at the young man quizzically as he runs back across the bridge, he quickly shakes his head and looks down to start reading… Lady of Blake, Wanton Deception, Uneasy, Licht Venture, and more. The bottom of the sheet simply read, “Confirmed IFFs of dropships attached to the 44th Shadow Division, Avitue’s Avenging Angels. Declared MIA 3074.  Lady of Blake is confirmed to be flagship for Commanding Officer Avitue.”
“Kerensky save us.” Dominic mumbled. He then focuses on the bridge, “Where are those ship’s trajectories?!”
“Sir, to the surface, currently toward the Academy grounds.” Responds a crewman.
“All fighters from both the Ravens and Federated Suns scramble now! I want formations harassing those dropships!” Dominic stands, walking toward the front ferroglass canopy as he continues to bark the orders. He can see approaching flights of Blakist fighters as the dropships continued departing the Swordship. “Prepare for contact!”
“Aff, sir!” The bridge shouted in unison.
***
Waves of fighters departed the fleet as they advanced toward the new invading ships. The initial ground battle was fought between militia and the FedSuns.  Now, the FedSuns are nearly shattered and a Shadow Division is en route.
Making contact with Erik was somewhat difficult as the enemy had begun to harass his people on their long march South to the spaceport. Finally, he gets through. “Champion Actual, this fight for the planet is over. Avitue’s Avenging Angels, the 44th Shadow Division confirmed by IFF is en route to the Academy right now.”
“With all due respect Galaxy Commander, how would you know that?” asked Erik completely unbelieving his statement.
“All ships in Raven fleets have records of all IFF transponders that we have ever been able to record from our own interactions and others. That is on top of the confirmed numbers four-four on the side of each hull.”
“We can still regroup if they are going to set themselves back and go to the Academy.  I will not give up yet, we will still need continued air cover though as we approach the spaceport.” Said Erik defiantly.
“I say again Prince’s Champion, I will not see my people exterminated and I will tell your men to load up or get left behind if I have to decide when to leave for you.  Whatever is on those ships we do not have the men to defeat it. Galaxy Commander McKenna out.” He kills the comms to the surface.
***
The clanging of Dominic’s boots on the metal gantry echoes through the bay as he moves toward his prepared fighter. Long has his Wusun served his well. Other fighters did pack more of a punch with individual weapons, even some other variants of the Wusun. However, the volume of fire matched with the thrust and armor drew him to this fighter. 
Once he sent fighters to try and intercept the Shadow Division dropships, the Blakists sent in swarms of fighters, followed by the fleet itself slowly approaching. His suspicion is that this is a ploy to draw the Ravens and FedSuns off the dropships and keep us locked in a space fight. Either way, it is time that I join the fight. His fighter is carried by the hangar lift arm out of its berth and then releases it to depart.
Quickly, his trinary forms up on him as they depart the Raven’s Nest. A massive vessel, the Thera class warship docks at least one hundred total Aerospace fighters. Even as his command trinary continues to move toward the nose of the Raven’s Nest additional fighters are pouring out. Ahead of them fighters are already engaging in the deadly game of chase. Passing by the nose, multiple weapons systems cycled and continued firing, including Naval PPCs and Naval Autocannons from the Warship. The huge flashes of light bounce around the metallic surfaces of the fighters and inside the cockpit. 
Same goes for the rest of the formation, huge volleys of fire arc toward the Blakist fleet. The Blakists already sent pocket warships forward and are getting hammered by the combined weapons fire. “CL-one, this is Storm Zero, do you read?”
“Aff, Storm Zero, we are showing a huge battle ahead of us.  Will be within extreme weapons range of major Blakist assets in less than five minutes, over.” Captain Lankenau responded. 
“With our pilots doing so well, I will stand by and support where needed, Storm Zero out.” Now, Dominic will wait. He is dead certain that the Blakists are not just attacking head on without something up their sleeve.  Soon enough though, he finds it. Coming in from the angle of the system’s sun, glimmers catch his eye.
“Storm Zero to all Ravens and Suns pilots, we have contact!  Enemy units are using the sun to cover their approach, engaging now!” Dominic banks his Wusun hard, followed by his trinary.  Where the Blakist’s main fleet attacked from the front this new wave approaches from above and to the starboard aft of the fleet.
Moving in fast to engage, his trinary will be the first to make contact. Even with the visors made to help deal with the sunlight, flying right toward the sun is rough on the eyes.  Soon though he spots the full strength of the force.  Multiple dropships and boarding craft escorted by multiple Level IIs of fighters. His trinary opens up one of the boarding craft and soon the nearest group of Raven dropships add their fire to his trinary’s. The venting atmosphere of the first dead boarding craft sent bodies afloat into space in all directions.
Dominic’s trinary of thirty fighters fly past the attacking force and then break into three separate stars of fighters. Like swarms of angry bees, they come about and begin chasing the enemy formation. “Storm Zero, Mechwarriors and anti-boarding parties are preparing, CL-one out.”
Dominic knows this Captain Lankenau is one of the finest, it is great to see him living up to his name, ready for anything. Focusing on taking down Blakist fighters, the dropships are targeted by the larger Raven fleet vessels. This will not take long at all. Dominic started thinking. Well then, maybe not. He added to his initial thought as the half dozen Blakist dropship’s hangar doors open to reveal numerous small craft departing and heading straight toward multiple vessels, including the Raven’s Nest.
He breaks off his chase when a Level II of enemy fighters approach laterally. Two of his own star corkscrew off in flames, exploding. “Command star, bring them down!” Dominic accelerates to maximum thrust with his wingman beside him. The six other fighters in his star barrel roll in all directions as the enemy follows Dominic, trying to keep up. His own maneuvers are dodging nearly all the incoming fire. Seconds later his star returns and collapses on the Blakist fighters, ripping them to shreds before regaining their formation. A maneuver called ‘Imploding Star’, given that there are up to ten fighters in a star, that much fire from returning fighters crushes many who try to follow.
Focusing back on the boarders, it is too late to try preventing them from landing. The Raven’s Nest has a half dozen small craft, including a Level II of mechs on the ship’s hull. Same goes for other ships, including the Conqueror and Lord Death.  Dominic brings his Wusun near the Raven’s Nest’s hull to evaluate the fighting. A pair of War Crows and trio of Carrion Crows already engage the attacking mechs.  Hyper Assault Gauss Rifle rounds, Lasers, and SRMs already began savaging the attackers. A Vanquisher loses an arm and armor to space as slugs pierce the armor, shattering it.
On the hull, troopers from each side move to engage. Raven Elementals charge into enemy Inner Sphere suits while regular troopers take cover and attempt to suppress the opposing side. Banking away from the Raven’s Nest Dominic realizes that Raven Warships already began engaging the enemy warships and even the Swordship. As one, the Stormhawk formation begins turning to port, bringing about huge broadside volleys on the nose of the attacking ships. 
While salvos of fire from the Blakists focus on the immensely armored warships, most of the return fire slams into dropships and assault dropships. A single full broadside from the Lord Death kills two dropships, giving Dominic a grin.  Already the fleet combat weighs heavily in favor of the Snow Ravens. The skill of the Conqueror Star simply is unmatched. Damn shame we lost the Storm Crow and Kerensky’s Hope.
Coming about Dominic lines up with the hull of the Raven’s Nest flying very close. With the fighting just ahead, he lets loose the SRMs and Medium Lasers, shredding an Osprey attempting to flank one of the War Crows.  By the time his star finishes their flyby both the Vanquisher and a Crusader have been vaporized. 
Similar situations clearly had taken place as nearly all the fighting on the hulls of the Conqueror and Lord Death were winding down.  Any Blakists that remained or tried to escape were shot. Beyond that the Blakist fighters did not even enter the main formation as any that did found themselves targets of mass fire.  With losses at even extreme range, the Blakist fleet began pulling back, as did their fighters, breaking contact.
With the battle over, Dominic brings his trinary back to the Raven’s Nest, docking and departing his Wusun. Getting to add another mech kill to his fighter gives Dominic a grin as he pushes himself away from it. Damage in the hangar showed that a boarding team tried to make entry to the ship itself. Judging by the Snow Raven Elementals standing guard, the Blakists failed miserably.
Upon returning to the bridge the Captain greeted Dominic with an update on the Shadow Division ships. “At best Galaxy Commander, one dropship was crippled on descent. Far fewer fighters returned than expected. Spectral fighters covered those dropships as they entered the atmosphere and they were something monstrous. BattleROM footage is available in the war room.”
“Regardless, fine work keeping our damage to a minimum and dealing such heavy blows to the enemy fleet. Well done Captain.” Dominic reached out and firmly shook the Captain’s hand. “I will evaluate those recordings now.  Continue to keep flights down to the surface to support the Prince’s Champion, he will be ready to leave the planet by the time he arrives at the spaceport.”
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>>The Week of Hell<<
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>>Day 3<<
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>>Day 5<<
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>>Return to Main Page<<
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Category:Resurgence
Category:Works by Minis&Dumbbells