1 February 3068
Alphard
Star Colonel Alexia Vickers had modified her plan to maximize her chances of success. The captured Aegis Cruiser, Herald of Retribution materialized at a pirate point only a day from the planet and released the 4 Overlord Dropships she carried which began a high G burn for the surface.
There, she waited until the Word of Blake forces responded to the incursion, with 2 Zechetinu Corvette's from the Nadir Jump Point jumping to the pirate point 3 hours later followed minutes later by 3 Eagle Frigate's from the Zenith Jump Point. Captain Marsha Washburn, captain of the Herald of Retribution ordered the captured Aegis Cruiser to make the jump to the Zenith Jump Point already plotted and ready. She and all of the crew onboard both Aegis Cruisers were volunteers pulled from the SLDF, Clan Wolf in Exile and Clan Nova Cat.
The Herald of Retribution materialized at the Zenith Jump Point only 86,000km from the shipyard complex only minutes before the Herald of Wisdom materialized even closer at 27,000km. She released the 4 Assault Triumphs she carried, all of which were loaded with the 218 Elementals deemed combat fit of Clan Wolf in Exile. Captain Lawrence Sinclair ordered the Herald of Wisdom to 2G as the lone Vincent Corvette began getting underway to challenge the intruders. He zoomed in the magnification on the massive McKenna Battleship and said a silent thank you, for he could clearly see over half of the massive jump core protruding from the ship itself. The McKenna Battleship would not be a threat at all. But the Vincent Corvette was.
Enough repairs had been made to both captured Aegis Cruisers that they still had some combat ability. As the onrushing Vincent Corvette reached maximum range, Herald of Wisdom launched the first volley of White Shark Capitol missiles at the Vincent Corvette. The Vincent Corvette returned fire with a volley of Barracuda missiles. Before the first missiles reached their targets, the 3 Eagle Frigates had performed in system jumps and arrived at the Zenith Jump Point. Captain Sinclair had no choice and ordered the HPG message sent. Two White Sharks slammed into the Vincent Corvette blasting armor off. The real fighting began as both ships reached the range of their massive Naval Autocannons. As the Vincent Corvette let loose with a volley of NAC/10, she was answered by a volley of NAC/35. Two NAC/10 slammed into the Herald of Wisdom causing the weakened armor on her nose to begin venting atmosphere, but the 2 massive NAC/35 slammed into the Vincent Corvette destroying both the front left and nose sections of the warship.
Captain Sinclair ordered his right broadside Naval Lasers to fire and they scorched most of the armor off the Vincent Corvettes left broadside. A quick order for his operational right rear NAC/20 bays to fire saw the Vincent Corvette going powerless but not before a last NAC/10 slammed into the right broadside of the Herald of Wisdom causing the paper thin armor there to let go completely.
While the Herald of Wisdom battled the lone Vincent Corvette, the Herald of Retribution was doing it's best to tie down the Eagle Frigates without having to actually fire on one of them for she was in worse condition than the Herald of Wisdom armor wise. She also only had one working transit drive which left her slow. Captain Washburn watched the 3 Eagle Frigates steadily closing on her badly damaged ship. Then the sensor's detected a MASSIVE emergence wave inbound. She watched as the 3 Eagle Frigates started to break off their pursuit, but it was too late for them. She watched in fascination as ships of the 1st Line Squadron began materializing and then the warships of Clan Nova Cat's Mystic Naval Star emerged. A radio broadcast made her smile broadly "Howdy all, it is not neighborly to pick on someone already whupped up on, so let us teach you all some manner's."
Aboard the SLS Iowa, Texas Battleship, Admiral Jackson Daniels smiled viciously as he gave the order to engage the enemy at will as they came into range. For the 3 Eagle Frigates, they had no where to run, no where at all. The ex-FWLS Lancelot was already trying to brake down and reverse course when the SLDF ships began emerging and she found herself only 486km from the SLS Sao Paulo, Victory II Cruiser and 631km from SLS Wisconsin, Texas Battleship. It was like swinging on low hanging fruit for the SLDF warships. SLS Sao Paulo cut loose with her 4 Heavy Naval Gauss and 4 Medium NPPC while the SLS Wisconsin opened up with her front left NPPC Bay and left broadside Naval Laser Bay. The Lancelot really had no chance at all, the massive naval gauss rounds ripped thru the ships armor as though it was not there, the Lancelot was dying even before the massive volley's from the SLS Wisconsin arrived on target. The Lancelot just seemed to break into pieces before everyone's eyes.
The Eagle Frigate, Galahad was a little luckier, she was too far from the massive Battleships and Cruisers, but not so lucky, she was within range of 3 Impavido Destroyer's, SLS Cuba, Lima and Waco. Galahad managed to get off a volley at SLS Waco hitting her with 2 NAC/20 and 3 NAC/35 shells which blasted massive amounts of armor from the SLS Waco left front and left broadside while destroying her left front weapons bay's. But her initial small victory was quickly countered when the return fire came back at her, SLS Waco left rear NAC/20 Bay's slammed home quickly followed by fire from the SLS Cuba and SLS Lima. The Waco's shots blasted the armor off the Galahad's front right facing which was followed in seconds by massive shell's from the SLS Cuba which burrowed deep into the Galahad's body detonating her forward ammunition magazine. The Eagle Frigate vanished in a massive explosion.
Eagle Frigate, Tristram found herself surrounded by Clan Nova Cat's Mystic Naval Star and though she managed to land hits on all 3 Nova Cat Aegis Cruiser's, she in return was pummeled by the return fire and quickly surrendered before her destruction.
While the naval battle at the Zenith Jump Point raged, the ships of the 2nd and 3rd SLDF RCT's jumped into the same pirate point used by the Herald of Retribution. They were followed an hour later by Clan Nova Cat's Tau Galaxy. For both the Tirana and Attica, Zechetinu Corvette it was a very distressing moment. Both Corvette's had been burning hard in pursuit of the enemy Dropships when they detected the emergence wave inbound but they were already outside the pirate point and unable to jump away. Both broke off their pursuit of the enemy Dropships and began burning for the Nadir Jump Point in an attempt to escape. Escorted by their warships, the Dropships of the 2nd and 3rd RCT's along with Clan Nova Cat's Tau Galaxy began heading for the planet's surface only 8 hours behind Clan Wolf in Exile's Beta Galaxy.
Clan Wolf in Exile's Elementals boarded the shipyard complex and massive McKenna Battleship and literally ran amok onboard. Within 3 hours, all the shipyards, supporting factories and the McKenna Battleship were in Clan Wolf in Exile hands.
