Hoist the colors - Panasu raid on Daravat [320 AG]

Extra Canon
1

The cluster hasn’t seen a entity like Panasu, a state run by pirates. But the collapse of Gaia made for perfect ground to create a state like that, and it only continued to exist for one reason: Alarian. Alarian was funding the state, giving them weapons, ships etc because a pirated cluster is a unstable cluster. And a unstable cluster is one that needs to buy ships and guns. Raiding was a just a nother part of life for the cluster.

But this raid was special, for it was massive. 10 ships, all alarian made. Their target? Daravat. More precisely Voidgate. They have been humbled by the Daravat navy in recent times, this was a show of force.

As the ships cross the hyperplane they enter detection range. They waren’t in a situation to waste weeks on stealth. This mission was to be done quickly and dirty. They had 3 days allowed, after which they’d have to turn back. And 15 hours untill contact with the first colony.

3 Likes
2

Voidgate wasn’t just any system. It was often described as the “Passage to the Great Beyond” by many early Gaian explorers. Instead of a star, this system had a massive central black hole. None of its planets were habitable and the black hole disrupted scanning and communications with the other half of the system. It was used as a military base even during the Akizo Yoke. Now mostly new cadets were stationex there to get them trained while repelling Panasu raids. But they weren’t expecting this.

10 ships, clearly not the quickly welded junk from scrapyard parts they usually deployed. The system had around 30 ships stationd in total, but they were spread out. The Home Defence Fleet was too far to provide reinforcements, just like hundreds of other inactive vessels. The station protecting the hyperlane with Panasu housed 5 ships, 1 cruiser and 4 destroyers, as well as 5 squadrons (one squadron is 5 planes) of starfighters.

The alarms were heard accross the whole station, while Commondore Alexander Peterson was trying to mount a defence.

“Send a request for reinforcements the Admiral. Preper the starships for launch. We will use tthe nearby planet to hide our presence and set up an ambush.” Despite his young age, the Gaian managed to maintain calm and organize the stations personelle. “Launch all starfighters and let them harass the pirate fleet. But don’t stay in the crossfire for too long, just hit them as hard as you can and run. The station is to start firing as soon as they get in range, slow them down until our ambush takes place.” He instructed his ensignes as he donned his power armor and boarded the cruiser.

3 Likes
3

Fleet commander Ervin Lazarus, better known as “Ervin the menace” wasn’t just any regular pirate admiral. He was probably the most skilled pirate in the cluster. He had a reputation for not holding back and having no compassion for the enemy.

“Captain, they’re deploying fighters”

“I doubt in the fighter’s point defense. Launch flechette torpedos at them in a spread, detonate well before impact. I want a screen of shrapnel between us and them. If that doesn’t deter them launch a nuke.”

“Aye captain, ordering the fleet to launch flechette”

2 Likes
4

“This is R5, we’ve got torpedos on radar.”

“This is LB1, copy that. What type?”

“Unknown.”

“Activate point defence. Y, launch decoys, be prepered to intercept. Guns only, don’t waste missles.”

Some of the planes launched small drones, supposed to appear as starfigters, mimicing radar profile, movement, heat signatures and several other parameteres. When pursued, they became much more nimble and activated piint defence, simiar to the one in starfighters. From each fighter a small turret appeared. It was meant to intercept uncoming missles with lasers. It wasn’t much compared to what landing craft or starships had, but still something.

“This is LB1. G and T pick a target and strike. B, Y and R on me, try to identify their command ship.”

2 Likes
5

The torpedos do not change their trajectory, for they do not target specific ships. Just in point defense range of the fighters they detonate, releasing a cloud of shrapnel in front of the fighters, a dense artificial debree region

"Get coil gun lock, if any of the fighters pass the debree shield prepare to spash them. "

“Aye”

The coilguns on Ervin’s ship, the battleship Fire breather, swivel to life and lock, powered by advanced Alarian targeting software, soon followed by the rest of the fleet. They waren’t going to let some fighters stop them.

2 Likes
6

The decoys started zigzagging, flying in random patterns when they detected the lock.

“This is LB1, change of plans. Both groups, try to attack ships on the fleets periphery. We will use their own ships as shields.”

The two groups veered off in opposite directions, drastically increasing their speed, ready to fire toroedos and missles as soon as the get in range. They also activated jammers, but they weren’t sure if they will be able to fully block targeting software of these new ships.

“This is LB1. Most of you already know that some of us won’t get to go back home after today. But our sacrifice will ensure that we don’t find them in flames when we do. And mark my words, if we are to die today, these pirate scum are going with us! For the Federation!”

“For the Federation!” A choir of other pilots responded.

“For the Federation.” Whispered Peterson.

2 Likes
7

“put PD on high alert and order the side ships to enter a spin. Burst fire point defense, we do not want friendly fire. We won’t be able to shake the fighters off as easily as i hoped. Deploy some of our swarmers to attack them and put the fleet on high acceleration, we want to strike the target as soon as possible.”

Point defense comes to life as the ships on the edge ships, the destroyers Huntress and Executioner, enter a spin to use PD ammo evenly. Swarmer drones are deployed and dash at the fighters. They ware small and nimble, equiped with missiles and guns similar to those used in point defense, as well as chaff and flares to distract missiles.

Ervin feels like he’s been kicked in the chest as the engines of his ship roar, burning like hellfire, pushing him to the target at a ever faster speed. Soon enough they’d enter range of the station.

2 Likes
8

The point defence on decoys and fighters engaged the swarmers. Whenever one of the enemy craft crossedtheir sight, the fighters fired their guns, svoring a few kills. When they got just outside the missle range, they deployed flashes. They were a mix between flares and flachette torpedos. They spewed out shrapnel and confused sensors of the swarmers. The fighters fired multiple volleys of anti-ship missles and reateated towards the station.

Some starfighters were definately lost in the battle, but there was no time to count the loses. The next phase of the battle was about to begin.

The station was in full combat readiness by now, thanks to the fighters buying it time. It was equiped with large numbers of missle launchers, railguns, point defence, swarmer drones and heavy armor. It would be a formidable opponent, even for the pirate fleet.

2 Likes
9

The flanking ships stop spinning. The roaring engines of the fleet suddenly go quiet. The ships flip using their maneuvering thrusters and then burn even stronger than before, putting the crews under great stress. Usually only the desperate burned like this, but for pirates these kinds of maneuvers ware routine. Their tactics ware all speed.

But Ervin had a nother trick up his sleeve

“Steady, steady, NOW!”

From each ship large objects detach. There wasn’t much time to debate what they ware as engines light up, burning a blinding yellow. These weren’t alarian, nor ware they actually missiles. These ware originally Orion lanerunners, using the coveted godspeed drive. Now they ware modified with alarian tech into high yield torpedos, some nuclear. No one but pirates would be crazy enough to put godspeed engines on torpedos, they ware way to expensive for that. You could buy a large ship with the money spent on them. But they wanted to send a message.

They ware burning ridiculously, accelerating faster than any conventional torpedo. Stopping one wouldn’t be the easiest, but 50?

2 Likes
10

The remaining starfighters fired the last couple of missles while the torpeados flown by them, destroying a couple of them. When they got in range of the station, a major design flaw shown. While they could outrun missles chasing them, there was nothing they could do when the fire came from before them.

Coilguns and missles managed to eliminate most torpedos, including all nukes. But 10 still got through, doing severe damage to the station. It was still operational and a formidable opponent, but another volley like this would leave the station almost defenceless.

“Aim for ther remaining torpedos, try to detonate them while they are still attached to the ships. Utilize nukes if you have to.” Peterson commanded. The fleet was still too far away and too strong to perform an effective ambush. This worried him, especially that he was hoping the starfighters would do more. These ships definately weren’t pirate vessels. Heck, they matched Federation vessels in quality. If they had more of these ships, these small skirmishes could devolve into open war.

Fortunately for him, the Admiral Morgan Peterson just received his disstress call and was moving with his fleet of 15 ships, including a heavy cruiser. It would take them a couple hours to reach the combat zone, but when they did the pirates stood no chance.

2 Likes
11

“We register 10 hits, admiral, but no nukes.”

“20% hit rate. For how much they cost it could be better. Open heavy torpedo fire on the station, aim for the weapons. Also lock coil guns for when they get in range. They can’t hold too much longer. Prepare boarding pods.”

“Should we try the Alarian robot soliders?”

“Not a bad idea. Let’s wait though for their weapons to be depleted further before we launch their pods. Would be a shame, not to mention expense, if they didn’t reach them.”

One of the objectives of the mission was to test out new Alarian tech. Alarian would pay them heavily for the data from a battle of this scale. All they got on their own ware small anti pirate actions.

The ships got ever closer to the station, and weapons fire got just louder and louder. This attack was probably the biggest pirate raid in the whole cluster in the last few decades, but Daravat didn’t know that yet.

2 Likes
12

Unfortunately the plan of hiting the torpedoes didn’t work, as the piarate ships repositioned themselves in time. The combat raged on with the station taking heavy damage, but one of the previously damaged ships was on its last legs too. If only they got within coilgun range.

On the station, preparations were being made to repel boarding attempts. The garrison stationed in Voidgate was familiar with pirate tactics and predicted they would rather take the station then destroy it. In command of these preparations was Captain Miyazaki, an Akizo.

“Close all airlocks and hangars. Set up machinegun positions on every junction and important rooms. I don’t know which one if you needs to hear it, but no rocket launchers.” He gave instructions over the statios interanal comms. “These pirates got a massive upgrade in technology, so expect simething more challenging then the usual meatgrinder. Lets make our ancestors proud today.”

2 Likes
13

After making sure the defenses of the station ware weakened enough the pirates entered coilgun range and quickly shot at the remaining ones, moving in a unpredictable pattern to avoid any shots fired at them. Soon enough they got in range of the boarding pods.

“launch the alarian robots, let’s see what this tech can do.”

Small, very compact boarding pods launch from the ship. You can fit combat robots in a much smaller space than humans. Some get shot down, but most smash into the station, releasing cutting edge alarian killers onto the defenders.

2 Likes
14

When the robots got onto the station, they were met with machinegun fire from behind solid baricades. Soldiers in shining white armors fired from their rifles, attached granade launchers and sometimes flamethrowers, with their white-hot flames melting the robots (and sometimes the corridors). Though Federation armor was stronger, made of layers of titanium, kevlar and “spring plating” (material that squeezed under pressure, increasing resitance to explosions and blunt damage), the robots required several rounds, sometimes above 10, to take down, due to their internal structure. Particularly effective were armor-piercing rifles, which were disigned to take out robots and light mechs. Their shells exploded inside the bots, shredding them to pieces and damaging neighboring units. However, they were rare and only available to Akizo, due to the strenght required to wield them.

Despite the efforts of the defenders, they were getting pushed back. Granades were particullarly dangerous for them. They weren’t very lethal, but brought chaos and disrupted formations, allowing the droids to advance.

“Fall back to the second line, there is no point in holding the current perimeter. Seal off blast doors while you retreat.” Miyazaki commanded.

Now the defenders, despite taking significant loses, were more concentrated and separated from their enemy by multiple layers of blast doors.

“Reinforcements are coming, we just have to hold a few more hours. After that the pirates are going to flee as fast as they can. And don’t believe the High Command will let this slide. Next week, they will be the ones desperately fighting for every meter!”

2 Likes
15

“Prompts to Alarian for making combat robots, but they’re far to slow and bulky. Send them reinforcements, we still got more robots. And activate the lanerunner we left at the lane, the station is basically taken, we need to move forward. Our orders are to do as much damage as possible.”

“Shall we destroy the station to that cause?”

“Let the reinforcements decide that. We’re here only until they come.”

More pods with robots slam onto the station, releasing more combat robots.

With the lanerunner activated soon 10 more ships cross the hyperlane. But these waren’t for the most part high quality alarian ships. Only 3 ware. The rest ware standard pirate ships, scrapped together from old civilian ones. But it would take them time to come to the station.

2 Likes
16

While the pirate ships were close to the station, awaiting the outcome of the “ground” battle, Peterson decided this was the right opportunity to strike. His fleet of 5 ships, all shining white, emeged from the radar shadow of the nearby planet and fired a volley of missles at the pirate fleet. None of them were nuclear to avoid damaging the station.

The Panasu fleet was covered in a cloud of explosions. One of their ships suffered critical damage, its reactor and arsenal detonating, spreading further confusion among the pirates. The Federation fleet opened coilgun fire. Two squadrons of starfighters emerged from the Federation cruiser, being by the eighteen survivng planes fron the station, fully restocked on various munitions.

The Federation vessels position theselves at the less armed “bottoms” of the Panasu shipa that carried their Godspeed Torpedoes. They could rotate in a matter of seconds, but every bit of advantage counted in such an unequal battle.

2 Likes
17

Ervin was panicking. The Daravat suprise attack was very effective. His PD managed to take down most of the missiles but that wasn’t enough to save the Executioner. With one ship down and his reinforcements still far away he needed to think fast.

“FUCKING SHIT! Launch the remaining godspeed torpedos at these idiots and keep constant fire on them! Try to keep the station between us and them as much as possible, use it as a shield! Give our reinforcements commands to fire at them mercilessly as soon as they’re in range!”

3 Likes
18

“Break formation and disperse!” It was a risky move, but it was better then getting obliterated by these torpedoes. Most of them missed or were intercepted, but some hit. The damage was significant, but nothing to majorly impact the ships’ performance.

Commondore Peterson knew he couldn’t win in open combat. He lacked the advantage in quality to stand up against a force outnumbering him 2:1. A more drastic measure was needed.

“Captain Miyazaki, take your forces and breakthrouh towards the hangars. Evacuate whoever you can, starfighters will escort you. Plant bombs in the reactor room. We will buy you time and detonate them when we get to a safe distance.”

This maneuver was desperate. The destruction of a station was costly, but it was already so badly damaged it was practically useless. And if they got to one of the populated worlds… Peterson prefered not to think about what would happen then. Hopefully the Admiral got here soon with reinforcements. Just an hour or two more.

2 Likes
20

After 15 more bloody minutes of combat the pirates noticed the station being evacuated. They had no idea about the plan.

“Send a order to the Nightcrawler, Kestrel and Rhonin to form up with my main fleet. Have the Tycho plant a nuke on the station, while the rest of the reinforcing fleet is to move to the mouth of the hyperlane to keep it secured in case you need a avenue for escape.”

“We will destroy the station?”

“Yes, we’re here to send a message, not conquer. Now go and do as said!”

“As you order captain!”

The 7 strong reinforced main fleet turned on it’s engines and started burning after the retreating Daravat fleet, while most of the other ships started burning in the opposite direction, towards the hyperlane. Only the poor Tycho remained at the station. Originally called the GRN Achilles, it is a old cruiser stolen from Corinthia decades ago, way past it’s due date. But pirates don’t scrap ships, if it can still hold air and burn it will be used. But today it’s story would end in fire.

2 Likes
21

Cascadium Reactor No. 1
Voidgate System
Nation: Technocratic Federation of Daravat
Voidgate Border Outpost

Voidgate’s Cascadium Reactor Room hummed as per normal. The alarms weren’t, but it wouldn’t compound to the four charges planted directly to the reactor. Click. The bombs arm, and they detonate into the Primary Cascadium Reaction Chamber. Nearly immediately, the Cascadium reacts to air, the Thorium reacts to the Cascadium, and eventually…

The Cascadium-Thorium (Refered to CT, or “Reactor Soup”) now implodes inwards, as there is no stabilizing agent. The pressure builds, and as the doors are hermetically sealed, the pressure continues to cook, reaching critical levels.

Tycho
Voidgate System
Nation: Technocratic Federation of Daravat
Voidgate Border Outpost

Tycho is the only ship caught in the immediate blast of 5 Kilometers. It disappears in a flash of orange-red light, along with the station. The nuke onboard the station also detonates, Leading to another major secondary explosion, as fallout of both Cascadium and Radiation is thrown away from where the station was.

Away from the station, the fleet’s sensors initially pick up what they think to be jamming. And then most of the fleet’s power cuts. An EMP moves through. the fleet, disabling electronics. Then, the sensors pick up Cascadium Fallout. The Daravat either blew their reactor, or sustained hits made dumping the Cascadium impossible. Either was probable, and either was likely. Someone was liable, and someone could theoretically complain.

Ships nearby to Fleet they were chasing also cut their main thrusters, meaning that they too were affected. Shouts throughout their ships ring out and DC Teams swear.

Anything caught in 5-12 Kilometers are hurt. Their armor melted away by intense heat, their maneuvering Thrusters cooked, and their power is dead.

Disorganization follows.

Results:

5 Kilometer ‘Deathball,’ centered around the station’s orbit.

1 AU Exclusion centered around the Voidgate Border Outpost (High Radiation)

Cascadium Fallout within .5 AU of the Station’s Orbit

2 Likes