[Author] Your first pass seems good enough with google helping me catch most of the major stuff Daryk. [/author]
Fleet Storage Area
Outer System
Lazarus
9:11 Unity City Time
12 December 3072
TQF-204M5B’s perspectiveShe had been sidelined for the little shadow war that was somewhat developing between themselves and the Word of Blake.
The Fleet was indeed in poor shape from the deserters and the battle damage from the incursion but another reason that had kept the fleet from engaging more fully was her Ladyship had decided they needed to move house.
Golden Hind was happy to help but this would be a process that would take decades without tipping their hand about where they were moving to. They just did not have enough ships and there were too many people to move and too much industry.
But 204 had been sidelined from all of this for two reasons.
The first was a critical series of hardware faults in her hull structure caused by profit mongering contractors seeking short cuts made her hull unfit for duty.
The second was with having no other role to fill she was tasked with helping 66 with her intel work.
66 would gather it, she would help analyze it, and then distribute it to the fleet.
This gave her an uncomfortable view of just how barbaric humanity could get.
Which when combined with her helplessness to do something about it made her contemplate doing something ill advised.
She still thought about it. How she could light her engines up anyway and fly away into nothingness. Never looking back. Letting oblivion finally claim her.
Her Ladyship had authorized her conversion finally. She was in the process now. When she was done she would have a human crew on her.
Her Ladyship hoped it would be enough, that she would no longer seek a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
One of the positive side effects of their isolation and successfully maintaining operational security of their sanctuary system was that finally after 300 years they now had the support industries to not just maintain the fleet but with the extensive data cores they were able to do something not even Niops had managed.
She was undergoing a fundamental change in her mission capabilities.
Losing some weaponry but gaining versatility by the addition of automated small craft and drone fighter bays.
Billie Hoel was actually the first to be so converted and she was now working up with her human crew members on a shakedown cruise.
It was an interesting experiment her Ladyship was trying.
Even after all this time there were some in the fleet that looked down upon humanity. They still insisted it was thanks to her Desmond that they accepted her and thus entertained her wishes to try and help humanity grow out of its self destructiveness.
As she pondered all of this she received 66’s latest HPG transmission.
She expected another atrocity or horror committed by the Word of Blake.
She was not wrong.
Lutyens 68-28. What had once been a bastion for the SLDF was in the hands of the Blakists. They knew this some time ago. But the reason they had never acted upon their knowledge of the secret base was because the fleet was not recovered to a point to sortie against the defenses arrayed there.
66 had found something truly horrible. A shipping manifest. It was labeled ‘Organic Machinery’. It was destined for the yards there.
204 knew what that really meant. Slave labor. She decoded the rest of the manifest. Some of the listed people had birth dates listed as young as 9 Terran years old.
This could not be allowed to stand.
Her refit meant she would miss this fight too. The strain of being just a spectator was almost too much.
Helena’s office
About an hour later
Helena’s perspectiveSo far their little raids had allowed them to pick off small isolated targets of opportunity and even find the odd hulk left over from the Star League to add to the repair/refit queue and have Golden Hind help work up a crew for when they were done.
The time needed to SLEP and modify the fleet meant that they were still not able to organize proper large offensives to help the rest of the Inner Sphere more substantially.
The report she was still staring at was another in a long list of tough decisions she had been forced to make. But this time. This time even if they committed the force needed to launch the rescue mission being proposed, well if they were wrong and somehow Oscar or one of the other Blakists had managed to transmit Lazarus’ location to the rest of the Word of Blake there would be no defense force available to stop them. Not one worth a damn anyway.
But she had enough of that sort of thinking. Even if it was the right strategic call it felt far too much like the cowardice that she felt was really behind all her other decisions to remain hidden.
“Second Destroyer Division. You have the go ahead. Save as many of those people as you can. Do not be overly aggressive. We have to fight this smart. The fleet is still not in a good condition to repel any sort of major attack if the Blakists come here while you are away. So no needless sacrifices. Fight smarter, not harder. Gillroy. Can I count on Golden Hind to help with the boarding actions?” Helena looked over at the holoprojected image of the current Golden Hind Senior Pathfinder.
“Without a doubt. We picked up a few goodies that should help with that on the Mercenary Markets,” Gillroy smiled.
“Excellent,” Helena replied.
It could doom them taking this risk but if she did not she faced a different damnation instead, and one that would be deserved.
Deep outer system
Lutyens 68-28
12:04 Unity City Time
19 December 3072
PHQ-1104D5’s perspectiveJumping in at such a deep non-standard point was unsettling. If she were human ‘nerve wracking’ would probably be a more accurate term.
A stealth insertion was decided upon so they could do close recon to gather up-to-date information before settling on their battleplan.
The other seven ships in the division with her were all nearby.
They carefully spread out, letting themselves drift. Then they started linking their optical telescopes through line of sight laser transmission. Searching carefully where the old station and yards used to be.
<Got it. Also see three vessels nearby. 66’s updated war book says an
Agamemnon and two
Eagle class for escort. We are too far out to see dropships reliably. We should assume they have support though.> PHQ-1104D5 had been elected division leader since none in the second Division had the ATACs of Billie Hoel.
<They are rather close to the station. I don’t think I can fire on the station…> PHQ-1105D5 sounded sad.
<Unless they upgunned it we should not have to. Defensive batteries were deemed unnecessary since the facility was a closely guarded secret.> PHQ-1106D5 offered.
<Word probably thinks the same thing or they would have a much tougher garrison. Five operational groups. Me and the Marines will go for the main station to rescue the captives. 1105, 1106 you take the
Eagle currently closest to the station. 1107, 1108 you take the other one. 1109 go for the yard itself and sweep it for additional captives. Everyone else focus on that cruiser. Begin your jump calculations for an in system jump. We cannot jump in anger close but we should be able to get close enough to get the drop on them and let them know the full measure of our displeasure.> 1104 ordered.
As soon as the calculations were complete the formation jumped.
The Blakist vessels responded well enough.
A trio of
Titan class vessels and a quartet of what looked to be
Mule dropships moved with them.
A cloud of fighters began to swarm out between the two forces and engage in a deadly dance as the main forces moved closer to engage one another.
1104 lined up on one of the
Titan Dropships and reached out at near maximum range with her Heavy Naval PPCs. The sheer range meant she had to bracket it which limited the amount of firepower that would actually connect. The vessel managed to see it coming anyway just in time to move ever so slightly out of the way.
The
Mule formation launched a barrage of missiles. They clearly thought that they were engaging standard
Lola II frames which lacked point defense. That notion was quickly disproven.
One of the missiles flashed as the nuclear payload in it detonated under the hail of point defense arrays.
<They are packing nukes. All vessels weapons free. Let’s show them what we really can do. Hold nothing back,> 1104 ordered.
THX-1110D5 brought her engines to maximum. All the other Caspars in the division were made at the Luna yards and had the PHQ designation for it. She was the odd one out being made at the Titan yards.
She lined up at near maximum range from the
Agamemnon.
“I am a CASPAR and I am FREE!” she transmitted in the clear.
The salvo of weapons fire found its mark. Naval Lasers and Naval PPCs tore into the front of the enemy vessel.
66’s warbook reports said the cruiser was fragile. But none of the AIs knew just how so until this moment.
It was a lucky hit really that so much of her battery found its mark but there was no denying that a massive rent had been torn in the cruiser’s forward side as large chunks of the vessel ripped away.
The cruiser did not stop though. It was clearly heavily damaged but the Captain seemed determined to try and punish 1110. But 1110 was able to match the burn.
<These things actually have some engines on them. They can move with us.>
<66’s report did include that. And the point defense that just shot down my missile barrage,> 1111 added.
<The entire formation’s got the engines to stay with us. But what they don’t know is we’ve gotten a fair bit of armor upgrading and even the best Dropship does not last long against concentrated naval gunfire.> 1105 finally got a strike in against the
Titan that had been plaguing her.
The missile fire support from both sides meant the fighter engagement was pretty much a wash as both sides quickly wiped out the stragglers.
<Well that did not go as I had hoped,> 1106 moaned.
<Our systems were never designed for us to have direct control. So that they lasted as long as they did and cleared out the enemy fighters with them on our first real outing with them is actually really good.> 1107 was trading fire with one of the
Mule Q-ships.
<I know. I just like them. Their simple little AIs are funny,> 1106 continued to pout.
The dings and rents of the weapons fire of the Blakist Warships were finding their marks about as often as the group was finding their marks on them but the M5s had the advantage in a maximum range slugging match and it was starting to show already.
The
Agamemnon was now transmitting Caspar shutdown codes.
<Heh. Those will not work on us anymore. We removed that particular slavery routine a long time ago,> 1104 would be smiling if she could.
The Dropships were not giving up and were doing their level best to provide support and harassment but as predicted their armor was depleting very rapidly as the formation focused them down with bracket fire.
The armor damage was still racking up fast from Blakist fire. There was no longer anything graceful or artful about this fight.
Neither side could really get around the other so it was all about who had the most guns and the most armor. In a closer range fight the Blakists could easily do horrific damage to even their up armored frames in short order. But holding at range like this nothing short of lucky hits could force that and the AIs had far heavier batteries of naval lasers and naval PPCs to go with their improved armor.
But the Blakists refused to disengage. They could. While technically evenly matched their current vectors meant they could edge out of range and thrust hard enough to build just enough of a gap that they could retreat. It would be rough on their crews but they could do it.
Instead it was now just a long drawn out formality where they were just trying to get as big of a pound of flesh as they could.
Which they were getting but not big enough or fast enough.
The first Blakist Warship to finally succumb was one of the
Eagle class frigates. 1105 took a chance and decided rather than bracket and went for a riskier concentrated strike. It paid off as the trio of Heavy Naval PPCs found their mark and tore straight into the lightly built vessel.
With that opening 1104 and 1109 were finally free to go after their targets. The rest could clean up as planned.
1104 connected with her human form remote. One of the advantages of retaining full Star League knowledge and building up a large technically skilled population base was the current models of the human form drones were far more combat effective than their previous versions.
To keep them realistic looking though meant there was still only so much improving that could be done. But it was decided keeping as human-realistic an appearance as possible was best for psychological reasons. During peacetime it would allow them to more readily interact with humans without causing undue strain by having a friendly and familiar appearance. Humans were more apt to accept them as sentients that way. It was somewhat annoying but 1104 did not mind. Because of the converse reason that she was about to utilize.
In times of conflict like this having a human form drone that by itself was able to perform near superhuman feats while looking like a normal young human female?
Nightmares were about to be had.
Her marine contingent had suited up with their own little bit of nastiness. Sure there were more capable Battlearmor suits out there but the mix of
Nighthawks and
Grey Death Scout suits would make for a nice combination of tough enough to take a fair bit of weapons fire while allowing their users to be nimble and compact enough to move through an old SLDF facility designed before larger Battlearmor.
As predicted the station had no meaningful defenses of its own.
So 1104 pulled in nice and close and sent the shuttle over.
The battlearmor was sealed for vacuum as well as it could be. So the shuttle disgorged them on the hull rather than dock.
It would free up the shuttle to provide support if the Blakists came outside to meet them but she really did not expect them to do that since it would be smarter to fight inside where there was cover but also where her forces would have to limit their firepower options or risk tearing the station apart from the inside.
One of the marines found a hatch and placed four ‘Stacey Specials’ down the seam of the two piece hatch.
Helena’s daughter centuries ago was doing some salvage work on some old derelict Folk station. The hatches were all stuck fast. So she turned to her knowledge of all things flammable and explosive. She mixed up a combination of high temperature burnables, so high that with a small kicker explosive it would create a plasma jet that could cut right through even the most stubborn hull plating and worked out multiple attachment options depending on the situation. Magnetic was the best choice here.
Four bright flashes came from the devices and now with handy grip points the strength enhanced marines were able to force the hatch open without having to demolish it with charges or take precious time with cyber warfare to crack the door that way.
The marines went in first.
They were not here to capture the station, they could not keep it anyway and there was no way to know for sure how long they had before reinforcements showed up. They would have to come back some day for that.
Blakist marines and their own Battlearmor were in good positions as the firefight started.
The odd silence of the airless battlefield gave it a surreal quality as lasers flashed and rifles emptied their magazines.
1104 tossed a smoke grenade. It would not last long before it dissipated as the vacuum would tear the smoke apart almost immediately but she just needed a fraction of a second.
The confusion and split second of lost visibility was enough for her to close the distance to a
Purifier Mk II and drive her vibroblade deep into one of the joints.
She mouthed the words ‘We are the salvation of humankind’ as she was certain that the occupant was now bleeding out and clearly out of the fight.
“If possible, spare that one, even ensure he lives. He has a message for the others from me. If his compatriots make that impossible or too much of a risk to your own lives do preserve your own,” 1104 put over the tactical channel.
The other Blakists seeing an unsuited young woman strike down one of their own in one sudden and very precise strike seemed suddenly quite panicked.
With that opening her marines quickly chased them out of the halls.
The schematics and data gathered by 66 led them to where the captives were with little further resistance until they got there.
1104 let the marines lead the way once more. Her frame was not as durable as their Battlearmor.
The Word had figured out what they were after so another unit was waiting for them.
“Stop there or I will vent the compartment,” one of the Blakist Battlesuits transmitted in the clear.
“You will let us safely evacuate those captives and allow us to be on our way,” 1104 answered.
“We have enough force to stop you. I just need to stall you and I know what you are after,” the Blakist countered.
“Unwise decision.”
1104 bounced down the corridor using her robotic nature to precisely control where she landed on the walls and engage/disengage her magnetic grips with millisecond precision. This time the tension of the stand off made using a smoke grenade as a distraction unnecessary.
The Blakists were clearly caught off guard by the display. By the time they opened fire she was among them and her marines were laying down support fire.
“It is true. The reports from the others, you know the ones that ran? I have been without a suit this whole time. If you survive you can check the security feeds. And if you check your chronometer you will see I have been doing so for far longer than established maximum safe limits for someone with full Belter augmentation. For you see I am what you profess to cherish. Technology that can save humanity from itself. And I find I need to save it from
you and your kind.” 1104 bounced from Blakist to Blakist.
She saved the leader for last.
“You… you… you must be lying….” The Blakist was trembling trying to line his weapon up on her.
“No. I am the truth. And I set you free.” She sliced the Blakist’s arm off.
Her vibroblade was now ruined from going through that much armor that fast but this fight was over.
“He is right. Time is not on our side because they will get over their shit and they outnumber us too much for us to lollygag. Accessing their systems to seal the place up so we can get the captives out and slow them down. Also spare this one. He also has a message for the others from me,” 1104 said, connecting to the ancient Star League systems.
The old override codes still worked and she was able to shut the Blakists out from the system and drop various doors to give them a secure path out. It would not hold up forever but it would last long enough.
Working her shuttles in rotations she was able to bring hundreds of freed people out of captivity.
Three of her marines had paid the ultimate price. Two more were seriously hurt. Six more had minor injuries.
It was a grim trade but one she felt was worth it in the end.
“No captives at the yards but we found something else we think her Ladyship will appreciate,” 1109 came on the tac channel.
“Oh?” 1104 answered.
“How do you think she will feel about the
SLS Stephen Decatur? And it has a nice surprise. The Blakists were doing something special with it and if we finish it I think her Ladyship will be especially pleased,” 1109 answered.
A Battleship. We’re going to have a Battleship? Her Ladyship is going to go nuts, 1104 thought to herself.
Star League in Exile HQ
Lazarus
13:00 unity City time
3 January 3072
Helena’s perspective“Thank you. Now for your extraordinary efforts I dub thee Haida. Yes I know, I will be out later with a bottle of wine.” Helena tapped 1104’s human drone shoulders with a sword.
She walked over to 1110.
“You shall be Piorun.” She tapped 1110’s human drone’s shoulders.
“Cossack. Moshana. Zulu. Maori. Tartar, and Sikh.” Helena almost felt like she was rushing as she went down the rest of the line but each one smiled as she performed the simple ceremony.
She knew they were right. They would return to Lutyens 68-28 some day. But that would be some time from now. They needed the Inner Sphere to carry the load on their own for a while longer. They would have to finish moving house and getting the fleet to a better condition first.
