All That Glitters Ch. 56

All That Glitters - Ch 56

Battle.

The Asoc and Unaayel slug it out toe-to-toe.

© bigtddybr Mar. 2023. This story 'All That Glitters - Chapter Fifty-Six' or the series 'All That Glitters', cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com in whole or in part without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and bigtddybr must be credited for this work.

Due to the number of abbreviations, ship listings, and list of characters, in this story, I include a glossary that is now in a stand-alone chapter called 'All That Glitters: Notes v 12'. Any and all information that you want or need to know about the series is included in Notes. It will be updated frequently simply by re-issuing the chapter to Literotica as a new version.

There is little attempt to explain the back story, so it is necessary to read previous chapters to fully understand where we are.

As before, I claim sole responsibility for the story line. This story is a fantasy, with no basis in reality. Any similarity that you may perceive to current events, people, or situations real or imaginary is completely unintended. Look no further than the story line for its intent and purpose.

A big shout out to my editors, who wish to remain anonymous, for all their help. I have recently lost Saddle Rider as an editor due to changes in her life. I wish her all the best and send my deepest appreciation for all that she has done for this series. If you find any errors still left in this chapter, they are mine, as I have ignored sage advise to make a silly point.

Please rate and comment. But keep your comments respectful. If you rant and rave or are disrespectful in your commentary, it will be deleted.

'Nuff said...enjoy.

DA Ensch, Unnamed Star System, Twenty Light Years from AsocAR, the Asocan Realm

The DA Ensch came into the system slightly over 1,000km from the scene of combat. They immediately picked up multiple Tactical Displays from the Clemency Fleet as, with the NS Trim damaged, there was no one ship acting to coordinate the display. The Ensch took all of that, filtered it and sent it back out as a single Tactical Display of their own, synchronized to the blue force ships. It would make the Ensch a target as the flagship of the fleet but that couldn't be helped, the fleet needed one filtered Tactical Display and they now had that.

The capabilities of the fleet's ships came up on the tactical display as well as did confirmation of who was who in the enemy fleet where the ship name was known. It did not look good, the blue force fleet had taken multiple hits and had some serious damage, though none of the ships were currently out of action.

"All ships, this is the Ensch, Sostoc Murld Mutt Mattas commanding. We are coming in with reinforcements. If you have them, I need the electronic signatures of the enemy drives. We will set torpedoes to track those signatures. No torpedoes are to be fired without those settings on them, to you."

Signatures snapped onto the tactical display form the ships of the fleet. Confirmation on multiple targets was given and they had their signatures posted with the red designator. The fleet could now more effectively engage the enemy. As soon as they had that, the Ensch set their 150cm torpedoes and fired a full volley of eight to major effect. They immediately fired a second volley within fourteen seconds. The torpedoes ran fast, homing in on their respective targets who suddenly started releasing countermeasures. Some of the countermeasures worked, however, six of the enemy ships took at least one hit and causing serious damage to at least two.

More of the enemy ship's engine signatures were being confirmed and the Ensch fired another double volley of 150cm torpedoes, this time hitting four additional ships. The enemy now had ten ships with reduced capacity or severely damaged.

The blue force ships started firing its own seeking torpedoes at the enemy vessels. What had before been a hap-hazard attempt at targeting the enemy, now became an effective onslaught against them.

While this was ongoing, the Ensch opened its shuttle bay doors and released the two hunter/killer assault groups into the mix. They coordinated their efforts between the two groups, the fleet, and the Ensch. The battle had suddenly shifted in the fleet's favour, not that it was won yet. Multiple ship battles in space were battles of maneuver and often took hours to complete. It had now been less than twenty minutes since the Ensch had arrived in system, it would be several hours before this battle was finished.

"Comms, take a snapshot of the Tactical Display and send it to the remainder of our fleet where they have taken the surrendered ships. We need combat ships back here now," Murld ordered, getting a crips 'Aye Sostoc' in return.

"Heavy torpedoes aimed at us!" The Tac O called out. "At least five 280cm torpedoes coming at us."

Murld got the track of the torpedoes on one of his personal displays at the Captain's Chair. The speed of the oncoming torpedoes was too great to allow for the jump drive to spool up. They would have to use maneuver to end this threat.

Murld ordered the ship turned accordingly. "Weapons free, unmask the 50mm rail guns, release countermeasures in ten seconds," Murld ordered.

As the ship turned to starboard and rolled away from the torpedoes. The Tac O fired four counter measures on her own initiative into the space they had just left as she counted out the ten seconds until she could fired the required set of twelve.

One of the five torpedoes was fooled by the first set of countermeasures and detonated there, the remainder followed the Ensch. Tactical released the set of twelve countermeasures just as the rail guns let lose on the targets. Three of the remaining torpedoes exploded either from contact with the countermeasures or because of the 50mm rounds. One came on and hit the Ensch as the pilot rolled the ship to take the hit mid-ship where the Gara-Hinn shield was strongest. The Ensch rocked from the explosion. Some of the systems momentarily lost cohesion from the blast effect but came back relatively quickly.

Murld noted damage reports coming up on his other monitor indicating that systems were still functional, though some showed yellow instead of green on the boards. A mur later damage assessments started coming in.

"Sir, Engineering, the hull plates in the area of the explosion are still sound. No indication of escaping gases. Our systems have taken a little shock effect but are still functioning most within the green," the Engineer's mate sitting at the Engineering Board called out.

Murld acknowledged the report. That was good fortune considering that they had been hit by a heavy torpedo. Even with the Gara-Hinn shield, heavies tended to do damage.

"Sir, Tac O, more heavies targeting us!" the Tac O reported.

Their tracks came up on Murld's monitor. He split the main monitor and put the tracks on the big screen. They were coming at the ship from three directions. There was little the ship could do in terms of maneuvering, so they went in straight, opening the rail guns up at max range to the targets. The Ensch was being targeted by fifteen heavies, all running in on the ship in a way that meant the countermeasures would not be effective. Murld cursed as the heavies homed in on his ship.

The pilot took the initiative to float the ship up and over the oncoming torpedoes, helping the Tac O who let lose some countermeasures and allowing Weapons to lock on and destroy some of the targets. The countermeasures spoofed three of the torpedoes. The rail guns took out another five but that left seven missiles.

On his own initiative, just prior to impact, the human pilot jumped the ship to 100km on the other side of the combat, leaving the heavies behind on the far side of the combat from them.

"Quick thinking, Pilot," Murld said. The pilot was one of the more experienced human crew and he had just shown the bridge crew what it would take to be a pilot on a war ship. His Asocan counterpart, was sitting beside him at another pilot station. One or the other station could be engaged but not both together, though the Asocan's station was slaved to that of the human pilot so that she could see what that pilot was doing. The two pilots bumped fists and grinned at each other at the captain's praise.

The ship took a moment to reorient itself and take back the Tactical Display. They rolled over and sped towards the combat, releasing their own heavies in two quick volleys. Twelve of their 280s ran in on four of the larger enemy vessels who no longer had enough countermeasures to deal with them. Two of the enemy ships died. The bridge crew let out a cheer as they saw the markers go dark on the two ships and hit indicators on others.

"Sir, Weapons O, these ships are going down too easily. There were no indications that they had been hit previously. They should have fared much better."

"Science, take a closer look at our adversary. What do you see?" Murld demanded...

SSP Piscium, Unnamed Star System

SSP Piscium came into the system thirty-five minutes behind the Ensch, opened her shuttle bays and released four hunter/killer assault groups. She then backed off to 5,000km as she did not have the weapons to go against war ships. At this distance, she could run from any torpedo or missile fired at her but was still within the 'local' comms space, meaning there was no time lag on comms.

Because of who she worked with, the Piscium had some extra capabilities that would not be found on other civilian supply ships. One of those was the Command Suite built into the ship. She had a Battle Bridge.

The Piscium took up the Tactical Display and broadcast it from her own location. The Ensch subsequently became just another war ship. She could now fight without having to worry about the bigger battle and without being targeted as the flagship, the Piscium having taken that role from her.

Halta Mutt Kern was in the Piscium's Battle Bridge, which was almost a good as the one on the Ensch. She was impressed. As soon as the Piscium took on the Tactical Display, Halta began to work the battle, Capt. Cynthia Chen sitting over her shoulder giving her hints as required. Between the two of them, the battle began to change, swiftly moving in the blue fleet's favour.

"Halta, this is Murld. There may be a problem. There are not enough heavy ships here. We see smaller ships with transponder rigs that make them look like heavies," Murld sent over the Tactical Link.

"Damn," Capt. Chen called out. "That means the Asoc's fleet is heading into a trap.

"Comms O, send this information to the Asoc's fleet now," Chen ordered.

"Cannot do so, Capt. Chen. There is a suppression field in this system preventing us using the ICS," the Comms O advised. Supressing the ICS signal had proved to be surprisingly easy and did not need an ICS antenna to do so. It just required a constant signal on a specific frequency that interfered with the build up of the ICS Comms Wave. While it worked better if you knew where the antenna was, it didn't need precision to work, just proximity to the antenna.

"Well shit," Chen groused.

DA Ensch, Unnamed Star System

The Ensch was coming in from the other side of the ongoing combat just as the hunter/killer assault groups began their runs from each end of the battle. As the assault groups came in, they noted that the big ships they expected were anything but.

"Those are Torge Class Asocan Navy Vessels!" one of the Asocan bridge crew on the NS Salient called out. The Salient, a Whippet Class Escort ship with Commander Jane Aylmer commanding, noted the ships on the monitor were smaller than the Tactical Display predicted and had tubes strapped to their sides.

"They did the same thing that Liramor-23 did by adding external tubes to the Rockhounds!" said the human Science O. "They have two or four 150cm tubes. They can launch torpedoes or missiles and with those transponders, they appear to be larger vessels. We've been spoofed!

"I've got one of those ships releasing other ships," the Tac O suddenly added to the mix. "That identifies at least one of the heavies, sir."

"Sir, Comms O, there is a suppression field in the system that prevents us from using the ICS."

"Shit! Piscium, Ensch, this is the Salient. We have visual confirmation on the attack fleet. It is comprised mostly of smaller Asocan Torge Class Navy vessels with external 150cm tubes attached to them. They seem to be emitting electronic signatures of larger vessels. This group is also supressing ICS signals. The Asoc's fleet is heading into a trap!" Cdr. Aylmer broadcast.

"Salient, Piscium, we need to identify the vessel supressing the signal and take it out. But I think that the other fleet has already figured this one out. They have been at it as long as we have!" came the reply from Sostoc Halta.

"Sir, Science. I think I have the ships that are outputting that signal. There are four of those small ships. I've plotted them on the Tac Link," the Science O informed Aylmer.

"Send four of the independent Valour Class after them, the rest of us will prosecute the vessels we have already targeted," Aylmer ordered. "If we can identify the actual heavies, that would be a plus for us."

They pressed the attack on their targets, swiftly taking them out. The battle was definitely turning in the blue fleet's favour but it was far from over.

NS Dewfall, In Orbit of AsocAR, The Asocan Realm, 364 Light Years from Terra

The Asoc's fleet arrived high in the gravity well of AsocAR not long after The Ensch had begun its fight in a numbered star system some twenty light years from AsocAR. They got their first surprise from the number of ships in system.

"Sir, Science, I'm showing 106 ships on the Grazia Fleet and a second fleet of over fifty ships!" the Science O informed Capt. Henadi Noor.

"That cannot be, Science, the Grazia Fleet only numbers sixty-six warships total and we have thirty of them," Noor replied.om

"Aye, sir, however, I am seeing a number of ships that were not supposed to have been part of the Grazia Fleet," Science returned.

"Let's take a look at those anomalous ships," Noor ordered. The electronic 'image' of one of the ships popped up on Noor's right hand monitor, showing a known Ballaron Class Frigate.

"I recognize that ship, Science. We destroyed it at Adenomere. They are using electronic spoofing to make them look like a larger fleet. Let's see what's under the electronic signature they are giving off," Noor ordered.

"Aye, sir," the Asocan Science Officer gave the ships around them a much closer look and was surprised by what she saw.

"Sir! Science! They have smaller Torge Class Asocan Navy vessels that they rigged 150cm tubes to. They now have many more ships that can lob torpedoes and missiles at us!" the Science O blurted out.

"Get that out to all the other ships, especially the Wanderer!" Noor ordered the Comms O.

"Screw that! Open the Tactical Link and advise all our ships immediately what is going on. We need our people to see the actual threat! Confirm the engine signatures if the ships we see," Noor ordered.

Instantly, the Tactical Link went live. The fleet was waiting for it so was expecting it, however, they were very much surprised by what showed up on the link.

"We have thirty warships of the Grazia Fleet in system, plus 175 modified Torge Class. We were only expecting seventeen warships. We are in trouble here!" Raymond said over the link.

He immediately sent out instructions to deploy the fleet and opened the bellies of the heavies to let out the hunter/killer groups. The fleet had jumped with twenty heavies of their own, each with at least two hunter/killer groups on board. Plus, eight of the Fairling Class ships also had their own Valour II Class assigned to them so they were released as well.

"Have the independent Valour Class go after the Torge Class ships. Targets of opportunity. Have half the assault groups go after the known Grazia Fleet ships and let the other half deal with the other, smaller Torge fleet, identify by engine signatures. We need to knock out the Torges before they start releasing their war shots!

"Get me a list of the Torge Class capabilities and send that to the fleet," Raymond ordered.

Immediately he had a description of the Torge Class on his monitor showing that they had the equivalent of a Mk-48 gun.

That could cause some issues, Raymond thought. Fortunately, all of the fleet's ships were the improved variants meaning they all had the Gara-Hinn shields. That would help them with the overload of vessels they now faced.

While the shields were good against most of the guns that the Grazia fleet possessed, they were not so good against heavy torpedoes and missiles. They fared much better against the 150cm torpedoes but even a hit by one of those could cause problems and multiple hits could be dangerous. As well, small ships hit by heavy pulse cannon was not something that one wanted to endure.

The Fleet went on the attack with the assault groups jumping in among the enemy with devastating effect. They knocked out four of the Ballaron Class Frigates in the first attack. That left the fleet with mostly Handren and Forma Class Frigates and Hadria Class Escorts, both less capable than the Union Fleets counterparts but still dangerous, especially as there were more of them.

The Warship Astigalin

Grazia was commanding his fleet from the Astigalin's Battle Bridge. He watched as four of his remaining Ballaron Class Frigates were knocked out, two being completely destroyed. That left the Astigalin the only Ballaron Class still in action.

The Grazia fleet now had eight Handren Class Frigates, five Forma Class Frigates, four Ballang Class Escorts, nine Hadria Class Escorts, and he had started with 175 Modified Torge Class of which he still had more than 150, against eighteen Fairling Class Frigates, The NS Dewfall, what appeared to be the Wanderer, and the hunter/killer groups that the ships had brought. Grazia counted at least twelve of those, with six ships per group, which is how they managed to take out the Ballaron Class.

Angry at what had happened, Grazia sent an order to advance the Torge Class to the next staging line.

As soon as the Torge Class received the order, a group of eighteen of them moved apart from the other ships and spread out over a wide area on the right flank, from which they began to send out torpedoes and missiles against the Union Fleet. Another eighteen did the same on the left flank.

The Torge Class could only fire the 150cm torpedoes and missile, but that would be enough if they concentrated their fire. Within minutes, the thirty-six smaller ships were engaging the Union fleet.

The Wanderer

The Union fleet suddenly noted that the targets were pairing up and that meant the enemy could support each other against the assault groups, thus lessening the effectiveness of those groups.

"Shit," Raymond cursed under his breath. "Pay attention people, the enemy ships are pairing up. Be careful how you approach them. They can still be taken down, but you will have to do much better coordination," he sent out over the Tac Link.

The battle began in earnest, with the independent Valour Class taking on many of the Torge Class. The Torge Class were outmatched by the Valour Class and found themselves being taken out rather quickly, even if they paired up.

All of the Valour II Class in the fleet had the newest modifications of shields and sensors, which made them quite formidable. They were also much more manoeuvrable than the Torge Class.