VENGEANCE WEAPON PART TWENTY-EIGHT

"Now we will begin the 20's true destruction" 422 thought to himself.

He had been patient. He had been dedicated. As near as he could tell, he and the BRETHREN FLEET were all that remained of his civilization.

He had begun to contemplate what to do if he should suddenly have no enemy to pursue.

He kept pushing it to the back of his minds, but he could not prevent the thought from bubbling up from time to time. Perhaps he would need a new purpose?


TASK FORCE 3 with it's 14 new ships were total untested but had been named as had all the other ships.

They had only selected their names as they were finished with trials-

The attached FLEET ASSAULT & SUPPORT SHIP was now named BEAMER.

The 3 MAIN BATTLE SHIPS were now COLLODIAS, GIERGENTUM, and MOSSTRANIS (DESIGNATED TASK FORCE 3 COMMAND SHIP).

The 2 TORPEDO SHIPS were named for admirals of the fleet [when there had been a home world and a home fleet] FLEISTER and GRUSPER.

The 6 VENGEANCE FLEET ESCORT SHIPS were named for the planets of the old home system MRADUS, YJEDGERI, ERSTE, MARDIN, TIUST, VENDERIS

The RESUPPLY AND TRANSPORT SHIP was named simply FALOOM no doubt in anticipation of something great. The THIRD FLEET WAS A QUESTION waiting to be answered, but they had been given the same weapons and had all the accumulated experience of the FLEET / 422-

An incoming information stream drew his attention.

Passive probes at the outer boundary reported the 20's arrival and he focused on the battle at hand. Their ships dropped out of UDW and their gravidic engine fields built and spread. Yet the fleet slowed to .8 max gravidic velocity.

Bridge 20 Fleet Command Ship _ The leader once again kept the entire force together believing strength of numbers, concentration of weapons, and sheer mass would carry the fleet to victory if any resistance were found.

This system had been his and had been a base briefly.
The facilities had been mostly destroyed or damaged, but the facilities would be re-established.

"This system is going to be the production center for our new fleet" He thought.

The brightest of his officers had begun studies and were educating themselves. They believed it was possible to build a production facility and produce new ships.

A few fragments of the hull as well as a power unit and damaged engines from a small ship of the enemy had been recovered. This one had been destroyed in the disastrous battle at system 35i2756 [Dremla]. Returning to that area after the battle these fragments had been recovered and were clues to how they could build similar ships. They needed time and a place was all.

Meanwhile__

All ships of the BRETHREN FLEET were powered down to the lowest level and waiting.

All first wave fighters were ready and waiting for launch. The launch tech bots were standing silently but ready near to the loading rails. Lift bodies were all prepped and needed only to glide into place to mate with their payloads and then they too could launch.

2 tiden passed and the 20's Fleet crossed the orbit of the outer most planet. The fleet maintained velocity and headed for the old base planet.

The 20 fleet launched fighters to protect and scout ahead.
The leader was taking no chances and launched a full third of his fighters.

Their fleet was too far inside the gravity well of the star and too close to the stars mass for activation of the UDWD Generators.

422 opened his mind and became COMMAND:

COMMAND TO FLEET UNITS: OSTUKAR FALLOOM!

Simultaneously, he sent the operational plan.

No units acknowledged the orders as this time there would be no transmissions at first, but all began to move at once.

The task forces in the belt of asteroids moved now.

TASK FORCE 1 moving at MAX GRAVIDIC thrust above the plane of the systems planets [all fell into the same plane here].

TASK FORCE 2 moving at MAX GRAVIDIC thrust below the plane.

TASK FORCE 3, which had been at distance from the system, jumped to UDW and sped to the edge of the system.

ABOARD THE 20 COMMAND SHIP__

Tracking of the ships which had suddenly revealed themselves _ reports indicated two groups of ships. "Which to strike at ?" THE LEADER contemplated.

The force his scans identified as Unknown Group 2 [TASK FORCE 1] seemed the weaker. He gave the command. The fleet wound finish off Group 2 and turn on the other afterwards.

His fleet changed polarity and the vector as it moved to MAX GRAVIDIC velocity at once. He launched every fighter now but kept them inside the FLEETs COMBINED GRAVIDIC FIELD.

All ships increased shields to MAX. They were climbing above the plane as well.

All possible responses of the 20 had been gamed and tested by the BRETHREN FLEET. All knew which counter to employ now.

TASK FORCE 1 REVERSED POLARITY WITH MAX GRAVIDIC thrust to slow to a near stop and launch the fighters in a steady stream.

TASK FORCE 2 moving at MAX GRAVIDIC thrust began to climb back towards the plane. As they were nearing the plane they launched all their fighters. Then they too REVERSED POLARITY WITH MAX GRAVIDIC thrust to slow to a near stop.

TASK FORCE 3, dropped to normal space, continuing with 30% GRAVIDIC thrust  as they launched.

COMMAND TO ALL SHIPS IN ALL TASK FORCES:
VENGARANI OSTUKAR FALLOOM! [INITIATE VENGEANCE AT FALLOOM!]

With that all the ships OF TASK FORCES 1,2, and 4 armed weapons, brought shields to MAXIMUM and rotated the polarity of their GRAVIDIC ENGINES such that they began to orbit the 20's huge fleet.

The ships OF TASK FORCE 3 maintained it's course and velocity.
245,000 fighters were in motion forming up into divisions of 5,000 each. [running a major risk the fleet ships retained barely 941 for combat defense patrol around the ships_ these were in the launch tubes waiting as a ready launch force]

These too stayed in "orbit" around the enemy fleet. All 49 of them   
kept a distance from the enemy and stationed them selves so as to intercept any of the 20's fighters attempting an attack.

But the ships all computed the 20 fleets trajectory and adjusted for this so that they stayed at distance from the 20.

ABOARD THE 20 COMMAND SHIP__
The leader was frustrated and ordered them to begin long-range bombardment of the enemy. He also ordered all ships to maintain MAV GRAVIDIC thrust. The 20 tried to close with the nearest ships of the BRETHREN [which were now from TASK FORCE 2]
and the 20 Fighters formed a sphere around the fleet as they weren't sure what the enemy fighters were up to.

The Leader ordered every ship to fire on the largest [and nearest] of the BRETHREN SHIPS. With so many ships firing, even at a fair range, the weapons were felt by the BRETHREN.

BUT_

TASK FORCE 3's ships began to tumble....
Not since 244's near death had this tactic been employed.

The ships all became spinning blurs as they closed on the 20 and

THEN>

TASK FORCE 1, 2 and 4 fired back! The energy weapons of both fleets blasted away at their opposites without stop. This hadn't happened before, as most combat had been small ships attacking with missiles and their versions of energy weapons. Twice missiles had done most of the damage. This time, the discharge of these monstrous destructive weapons was to go on for several tiden as the fleets danced.

TASK FORCE 3 had transferred all their fighters to FLEET COMMAND and had no defensive fighters. The 20 defensive fighters were able to close and attack easily, but point defense missiles took out many. The 20's ships continued to fire on the ships they'd already locked on, but not for long.

Now, TASK FORCE 3 passed into the space of the 20 fleet and began to fire as they slid between the various ships. The 20 fired back and missed. But not always. They hit sometimes and also each other in the melee that was going on. Once the TASK FORCE reached the center and took out some larger ships, the 30 started to redirect fire on them where possible.

And now, all the ships of TASK FORCES 1 and 2 fired a wall of missiles set to detonate as the ships of TASK FORCE 3 exited. 8,000 of them coming in and the TASK FORCE 3 dodging them as they reached the 'orbiting' ships. As they did so, they added another 2,000 [launching missiles of their own set to retrace the path the BRETHREN SHIPS had just taken].

In the insane and sudden panic this caused, the leader ordered a return fire of 5,000 missiles of his own set to detonate in the 'orbital belt'. The battle zone became a confusion of thermonuclear explosions, main armament firing, and fighters attempting to strike at the BRETHREN before they could get away.

As the X-rays and gamma waves wrecked many 20 fighters and damaged some of the 20's main ships as well, TASK FORCE 3 was making good it's exit when  MOSSTRANIS, TASK FORCE 3 COMMAND took multiple projector hits after a nearby explosion damped the defensive screens, followed by power generator fluctuations and multiple torpedo hits. MOSSTRANIS sent word that two main fusion rectors were in a runaway condition and the the MATTER-ANTI-MATTER CONVERTERs magnetic bottle was opening up. Short form> it was going to explode as a huge bomb.

That detonation destroyed nearby fighters, a large and two small ships of the 20. It also damaged several others as well as blanking all sensors for critical minums. It was a major disaster as the ability to retrieve those lift fighters assigned there was lost, along with all the armaments and lift bodies it contained. It was the first BRETHREN MAIN BATTLESHIP lost in direct combat with the 20. It had been pure bad luck for a new ship. The fighters were able to land on other BRETHREN SHIPS to be rearmed and changed, but there was not room to keep all aboard at one time_yet.

COLLODIAS assumed COMMAND as it and the other ships of TASK FORCE 3 reformed and continued on their way leaving holes in the enemy ranks and more debris. The dead zone from the explosion had caused complete disruption of the 20 formations as they had spread out to avoid damage from the explosion.

The 20's missile salvo had forced the BRETHREN to trade space for safety, but they were largely unharmed. Unfortunately, they were not close to the ships of TASK FORCE 3 now.

The leader decided to try to finish TASK FORCE 3 as they were so close and attempted an englobment, but too late to really succeed as the TASK FORCE was increasing it's distance from him and his ships were strung out. His forces tried never-the less_

BUT> now all the BRETHREN FIGHTERS rushed towards the 20 fleet.

In the next 1.5 tiden, an intense battle first between the fighters of both fleets and then between BRETHREN FIGHTERS and the 20 fleet as a whole raged.

With his fighters being depleted, quite a few ships lost and it seeming he had inflicted major losses, the leader ordered the fleet to greater efforts.

But then as the BRETHREN still possessed 240,000 lift bodies as fighters, they began refitting some bomber lift bodies to create a new attack force.

TASK FORCE 4 positioned itself as a blocking force and maintained a huge volume of fire to cover the landing and refitting of the fighters.

Now the battle had been going on for 6 tiden and all the 20 ships were reporting. Some were complaining of damage, some reported the crews were losing their spirit, some were tired and wanted rest.

ABOARD 20 Fleet Command Ship >> The leader made a sudden inter fleet address to urge them on and told them the enemy was nearly without resources (this was surely a lie on his part_ he must have known otherwise)

His fighters were beginning to require service as well and so he rotated them for rearming and refit. As fast as his newly re-trained crews could do so, the fighters were returned to the their launch bays and sent back. Had they been this fast in an earlier battle, the BRETHREN might have been defeated, BUT_

WHILE>> The BRETHREN launched all their fighters and bombers. They still possessed most of their force having lost about 5,033 lift engines and their fighter bodies. All torpedo ships were transfered to COMMAND as well as all lift bodies save 908 for combat patrol [ship defense]. 20,000 bombers [10,000 loaded with flash bombs and 10,000  loaded with pellet bombs], and 160,000 fighters [2,000 armed with standard torpedos] formed up with the 6 FLEET TORPEDO SHIPS.

They formed a totally new sort of assault group.
All headed right into the center of the 20 which had not altered course since the beginning of the battle. Still on a general orbital heading that would intercept the old base planet after passing through the largest concentration of BRETHREN SHIPS.

The TORPEDO SHIPS launched their torpedos as close as possible and turned away. The Fighters tore into the formations of 20 defense fighters and/or launched torpedos targeting launch bays on many of the 20 main ships. And then the decoys showed up followed by the bombers. It looked like the BRETHREN had an unending supply of ships.

The flash bombs began to blind and damage right after the wall of 6,000 phased shift torpedos got through the 20 ships shields. Sensor screens were blind and the BRETHREN SHIPS launched all their drones at that time. Suddenly the screens began to clear as dozens of new ships [drones] were approaching.
That did it. The 20 fleet was in a shambles and panic spread rapidly.

BRETHREN Fighter losses went up sharply, but the bombers suffered little as they finished and retreated.

20 Fleet losses were the worst ever and The Leader ordered his personal command group to break from the main body and head out of the system. He knew when to disappear and he did so now.
Repelling away by reversing polarity suddenly, he used the massive combined fleet gravidic field to slingshot his smaller group of ships outward.

The 20 Command Group made it to safe distance relatively fast as a result. They jumped to UDWD under the watchful eyes of passive probes watching on the edge of the safe distance zone.
They noted apparent direction of the jump.

The BRETHREN FLEET sensed a change in the enemy and pressed the attack. They let The Leader go as the main fleet was the bigger target. Although the bombers were depleted, the TORPEDO SHIPS were not and these made a second run to fire 6,000 standard propulsion torpedos which managed to finish some ships already damaged or crippled.

By this point the 20 Fleet was breaking up as a unified force. They'd seen their leader abandon them and now it was every man for himself. Sub commands began to abandon each other in a hasty effort to get out of this. As the mass tried to retreat,  it broke into twelve fragments each coalescing around a sub commander others trusted. The 20 were beaten though and knew it.

The BRETHREN began to crowd the 20 as their ships came closer to the enemy. As the BRETHREN FLEET was much closer now and the massed fire of their 50 + SHIPS was devastating; especially when the enemy was more concerned with escape than with anything else.

Singly and in small groups of ships of the 20 fleet began to escape at the edges. Some copied their leaders act by accumulation of momentum [riding the excess force of the combined graviton field] from their fellow ships. This was reducing the combined return fire, reducing the fleet graviton field strength, and furthering the fleets panic.

BRETHREN FLEET UNITS continued to shoot up the enemy and the 20 just ran for it. For the last time, the 20 acted as a single fleet. For the first time, the BRETHREN watched as the 20 fled from them.

This date, the 20 went from feared to fearful.

422 realized it wasn't a good idea to dilute the BRETHREN FLEET at this moment and ordered

<<<COMMAND TO ALL SHIPS! > TARGET PRACTICE.>>>

With that, the BRETHREN FLEET surged forward seeping the enemy before them and destroying every ship they could.
20 fighter strength was falling rapidly as their parent ships tried to recover them while retreating at the same time.

Ever more quickly, ships of the 20 fleet reached the minimum safe distance for UDWD activation and were gone.

Their seemed to be numerous headings so obviously there had been no plan for reforming somewhere else after this eventuality.
Suddenly there was nothing left to see but the last few damaged and exploding ships. The rest had escaped.

But it was a crippling outcome for the 20.
FLEET ASSAULT & SUPPORT SHIP BEAMER and RESUPPLY AND TRANSPORT SHIP FALOOM joined to rebuild the base here, and in a few rotationals, built bases on two of the others .

An attack that overwhelmed the 20's recently reestablihed base succeeded in destroying same barely 3 revolutions after the battle at FALLOOM.

Losses in the battle had been relatively small for the BRETHREN

1 MAIN BATTLESHIP LOST and 1 DAMAGED SO THAT IT MUST UNDERGO MAJOR REPAIRS.

3 ESCORTS RECEIVED SOME MINOR HITS.

2 TORPEDO SHIP SHIPS RECEIVED MINOR DAMAGE

NO HITS at all on any of the CRUISERS.

LOSSES: Besides the expending of 10,000 Missiles, 6,000 Phase Shift Torpedoes, 2,000 Standard Torpedoes, 10,000 Flash Bombs and 10,000 Pellet Bombs the fleet lost 27,081 lift engines, 26,985 fighter bodies, and 24 bomber bodies. All of MOSSTRANIS weapons and lift bodies had been lost except for the fighters.

A major resupply would be needed to bring the fleet up to nominal levels again, but they had checked the enemy and held the system.

And the SACK was now closed. And the 20 were inside it.