The Line of Succession Vol. 03 - The Final War

Now, at the time, the Lomaxxes didn't possess FTL drive, but somewhere along the way, they stumbled on it (read 'stole it') and they managed to secure a small group of planets and started to re-build. 1400 years later, they were ready.

Or so they thought. They had kept a low profile and had not kept tabs on the old adversaries. They had no idea what they were going up against. But they would soon find out.

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The Lomaxxes battle fleet split into four sections. The first laid in a course to the solar system and prepared to attack Earth as soon as they broke out in system. The second section pivoted to hit Mars as the planet came around the back side of the sun. It consisted of three capital ships and ten destroyer sized escort ships.

The first section consisted of four capital ships of comparable Faldavian class ships, as far as size was concerned. They were not near as well armored or armed as the Imperial ships of equivalent size, but they didn't know this. They were accompanied by ten or so frigate sized escorts, and were the cream of the Lomaxxes battle fleet.

Unfortunately for them, they would be met by the 'home fleet', consisting of 15 Morrison class Super Dreadnoughts led by HIMS Yas Limg and reinforced by three squadrons of Irish class warships and a bevy of Sussex class destroyers.

The second would run up against the HIMS Lo Shan and three other Morrisons and two squadrons of Irish class warships. Arriving in orbit around Mars, the second section would attempt to neutralize the Bassin backed Mars Defense fleet. HIMS Lo Shan provided the muscle behind the forty ships of the Bassin fleet. They were using the moon Deimos as cover and the Lomaxxes could expect no quarter.

The third section was headed for the Moon. They had remembered their last encounter and sought to eliminate the expected fleet presence there. Three Lomaxxes ships and numerous ancillary units were expected to be enough. Consequently, HIMS Berlin and Moscow were felt to be sufficient to handle the enemy. But just for good measure, six Sussex class destroyers and an even dozen Manhattan class Patrol Corvettes were hanging in the weeds to help with clean up.

The fourth section consisted of three large class command ships and about a dozen destroyer sized Raiders, as the Lomaxxes described them. They sent out picket ships to probe for enemy ships trying to sneak up on them. Unbeknownst to them, the HIMS Canberra was outside of their arrival and faced inward. The Lomaxxes weren't looking that way as they figured they had the element of surprise.

SURPRISE!! They didn't.

Meanwhile, HIMS Canberra lay in wait with three Sussex class destroyers, maintaining communications blackout, waiting for what they thought would be the command module of the invading fleet. That was when they made the fourth section. They had them.

Now, the Empire was very thorough. Over the years, they had helped out or befriended several non-space fairing races. Among them were the Go-mash. The were large (6 1/2 ft. tall plus on average), extremely strong and able to deploy to less than ideal sites to secure terrain or aid in invasions or pacification. When the Empire needed boots on the ground for long term action or to aid in shock tactics, the Go-mash were called on. Loyal to a fault, the Go-mash had been saved from extinction by the Empire when their planet's sun gave indications of going super-nova.

The Fleet had arrived and manged to convince the provisional government to evacuate. Not everyone agreed. They kept loading peoples, livestock, and any important artifacts onto Imperial space craft and whisking them out of their solar system. But a small portion of the population thought the Empire just wanted them out of the way so they could take their planet.

They were so wrong.

Ten of the older Faldavian class Dreadnoughts stood by while the diplomatic corps tried to reason with them. But they were unsuccessful. The remaining Go-mash were adamant. They would not be moved or removed. The Fleet was about to send in the Marines when the Science officer informed the fleet commander that their time was up. The system's star was about to make the call for them. Seven of the Faldavian class ships warped out of system on Fleet orders. That left three. Among them was the Larocyn.

All ground forces were recalled, but a small unit of Marines didn't get the message. They rounded up a small group of women and children, and they were moved to be evacuated. Three more battle cruisers warped down and finally, two hundred adult males surrendered and were led onto the cruisers. The remainder of ships and crews lifted off just as the star collapsed. They rendezvoused with the Dreadnoughts and were recovered as the large ships warped. Against regs, but they managed to escape as the star exploded. The Dreadnoughts pushed it to the 'firewall', as the old earth saying went, and exceeded the red limit by about fifteen per cent, but they made it. It became part of the legend of the fleet.

Unofficially, every ship's captain was brought up on charges. But how can you prosecute a hero? They had placed themselves and their crews in great danger, but had rescued fully 75% of the planet's population. They WERE heroes, because they would not leave until the last minute.

The Go-mash were relocated to a small planet outside of the solar system, very similar to their original home world. They took to interstellar space travel like fish to water. That was seven hundred years ago.

When the first artificial planet was constructed in orbit around Earth, twice as far out as the Moon, the planet was deeded to the Go-mash civilization. They moved in and over the years, they became Earth's shock troops, dropping in on planets that were being liberated, rescued, or involved in any hostile action against the Empire, and specializing in planetary evacuations. The Fleet built and equipped three large transport class ships for deploying up to three divisions of Go-mash forces and capable of evacuating almost 100,000 souls each, at a clip.

So the Go-mash forces loaded up and moved to join up with the HIMS Canberra.

They waited.

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The Lomaxxes broke out of hyper space without the spit and polish of the Imperial Fleet. They broke into their assigned combat groups and moved to their assigned targets. The Fourth element hung back and started to beam comms back to their home planet.

HIMS Canberra slept in orbit but her passive electronics, tracking computers, and A/I suites were working over time, monitoring the outgoing comms back along the path of attack from the Lomaxxes home world.

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Caleb and Cwasir shook off the boredom and stoked the fires of the combined Earth and Bassin strike force. HIMS Canberra's battle cruisers were checked, armed, provisioned and readied for combat. Intelligence types were communicating back and forth from the regimental staffs to the situation room and keeping everyone up to date on the status of the Lomaxxes plans.

Then the break came.

One of the computers was monitoring a Lomaxxes transmission, when they picked up a reply from out in the Crab Nebula. From one of the outer arms a subspace micro burst was detected, beamed to the Lomaxxes principal command ship which had been identified as the battle cruiser Kledrif. They had been given the go-ahead to commence the 'retaliatory' strike against the Trionian Star Empire for 'crimes' against the Lomaxxes hordes. It was signed by the Lomaxxes Supreme Council, and the Locs Dem-ab, as the ruling body and leader were known.

The exact location and planetary co-ordinates were plotted and relayed to he Imperial Fleet H/Q, the battles cruisers were loaded, and we waited for the pricks to appear.

When the Lomaxxes fleet broke out of hyper space, the first element moved towards Earth, but immediately ran afoul of Battle Station Camelot, the farthest out space station of Earth's defenses.

They had never seen anything like Camelot. The structure was 1000 kilometers in diameter, and housed fifty thousand civilian souls. Almost all were internal. The fusion power supplies were well shielded and the force field projectors were the latest generation available. There were twelve ports to the outside to facilitate the launch of sting ship fighters for defense, but the station also had surface to space anti-ship missiles. More than one hundred defensive batteries were positioned around the equator and the north-south circumferential axis of the station. More than twenty thousand military personnel were also stationed on the Camelot to man the defense installations and to staff the surveillance umbrella reaching out from the space station several million kilometers into the outer void.

The Camelot was the place which had intercepted the pod launched by HIMS Response from the Hoslen system that had started the whole scenario. It was not immediately known that some of the more cautious analysts had initially discounted the reference to the Lomaxxes threat. But more aggressive heads prevailed, sighting the historical events of the last incursion. The more pragmatic heads held sway and the massive mobilization ensued.

Thank God, whoever your deity is.

Anyway, the Lomaxxes first segment immediately moved to attack the Battle Station. Four of the enemy's capital ships were moving into position. They wanted to neutralize the battle station before proceeding to attack the Earth. Their twelve frigate class escorts streaked ahead to 'soften the target' somewhat. They were met with over one hundred and fifty sting ships.

As the old Earth saying goes, "No good battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." This proved to be true. Not so much for the Imperial Fleet, but more so for the Lomaxxes.

The sting ships jumped the frigate class ships but stayed out of range of the larger sized warships. They stung and feinted with the enemy, and manged to destroy two of the ships, but at the cost of thirty-two of the Camelot's fighter craft. But they drew them off from the battle station. That forced the capital ships to engage with the Camelot. As they pressed their attack, they encountered the robust force fields that protected the station.

The ship to ship weapons were ineffective against the Camelot, so the Lomaxxes closed to attempt to sunder the force field with heavier weapons. When they got within range, the first layer of defensive weapons opened up and massive electromagnetic pulse waves struck the incoming ships. It didn't do much structural damage (actually, none at all) but the EMP wave screwed the living day lights out of the ships command and control systems. The ships continued on their course, streaking out of control and the well trained missile crews on Camelot targeted them. An obligatory 'heave too and surrender' order was broadcast, but not only were they unable to control the ships, they were unable to receive the demand to surrender.

It didn't matter to the defenders on the Camelot and the order to fire was given.

The first wave of fusion cored anti-ship missiles leapt from the launch tubes and streaked toward the incoming ships. Not even the controls for the defensive shields controls worked. On three of the ships anyway, while the fourth ship had managed to get theirs up before the EMP attack. Her commander saw what was happening and broke off the assault while still a good distance away. Even so, she was targeted with at least fifteen missiles and took hits form all of them. As she turned away the missiles caught up with her and 'the hits just kept on coming' as they say.

Finally, her aft shields broke down and the back third of the ship disappeared. The interior vented to space and the remainder of her shields collapsed. Her fusion cores collapsed and the rest of the ship followed the back third into oblivion.

For a brief instance, lest than two seconds, rescue beacons flashed on the battle station's screens. But as was noticed, two seconds later there was nothing.

The other three ships were less fortunate, if that was possible. In space, there is no friction, so the momentum was carrying them to their doom. Of course the fact that none of the ships control systems were functional meant they were unable to affect even their throttle systems. The Lomaxxes were just along for the ride.

The incoming missiles were locked on to the attacking ships, and the resulting confluence was truly spectacular. Two of the ships disappeared in a flash, leaving not even a trace of matter. The last managed to last about thirty seconds longer. No one could guess why. Then it disappeared in a ball of anti-matter and light. That's the problem with combat in space-no noise. Very anti-climatic. The frigates tried to get away, but the sting ships now were in a frenzy and were harassing them with missiles and fusion cannon fire.

The battle station tracked the fleeing ships and again broadcast a 'heave too and surrender' order which resulted in five of the remaining frigates slowing and flashing surrender responses in English, Bassin, Lomaxxes, and Blokish- the common language of all space fairing species. The remaining five ships were targeted by missiles and fired on. The resulting cataclysm destroyed all five ships. The five remaining frigates broadcast surrender signals and their position lights started to flash, a universal sign of surrender in spaceflight. Looked like the Lomaxxes had had enough.

But as the sting ships and supporting Manhattan Class Patrol Corvettes and three attendant Destroyers closed to take the invaders prisoners, the five remaining Frigates exploded in an orgasm of death and destruction, taking an additional one hundred sting ships, twenty Patrol corvettes, and one of the Destroyers with them.

The Battle Station's control room was shocked and the stunned silence was filled with muted sobs and gasps. No one expected this outcome.

But professionalism won out. Com channels immediately reached out to all command nets and informed them what happened with the warning to approach surrendering enemy ships with extreme caution and shields engaged. This was immediately countermanded by Imperial Fleet Command ordering no quarter to enemy ships. "Destroy on contact" was the standing order.

So the first attacking group was wiped out without coming into contact with their initial target.

All the attacking groups were maintaining communication blackout outgoing to all the other Lomaxxes vessels. Incoming comms were micro burst transmissions only. So no one else knew of the first groups destruction.

The second group was intercepted approx two million miles out from Mars. The Bassin fleet engaged the enemy and the HIMS Lo Shan and her sister ships dropped on them from above. It wasn't pretty. The Bassins closed and started combat with heavy missile fire. They were not looking for niceties with the Lomaxxes and they were going to prosecute the attack with extreme prejudice.

Old hatreds died extremely hard in Bassin history.

Two Lomaxxes capital ships succumbed almost immediately and several of the escorting ships went up in the cross fire. The remaining capital ship ceased fighting, having taken heavy damage to her propulsion units. Seven of the escorting ships were gone. That left three escorts which turned to engage the Bassin fleet. HIMS Lo Shan and her sister fired on the escorts and they disappeared in a ball of fire and fusion debris. The remaining, identified as a Houkuo Class Capital ship, was left drifting in space.

The Bassin fleet moved to retrieve the drifting hulks with shields engaged. One of the Houkuos attempted to power up and maneuver, but the fusion plant said 'Sorry, we quit', and blew up. No other word for it. The ship disintegrated and imploded in a nuclear mess and the Bassin warships were lucky to have their shields up. Four ships were close enough to take the brunt of the blast.

Even so, they were rolled and jostled about and numerous fail-safe systems shut down everything from the fusion-drive power plants to the ice cream makers. But casualties were minimal; no fatalities but numerous serious injuries. The Bassins pulled back and regrouped, keeping the Lomaxxes under observation but maintaining a discreet distance, while assisting the four damaged ships to move away from engagement.

HIMS Lo Shan and her escorts approached the remaining two Houkuo class ships and demanded unconditional surrender. The two ships were unable to raise their shields and could not maneuver but refused to surrender. So the combined fleets took up defensive positions and deployed battle cruisers to attempt to board.

Meanwhile, Caleb was on the comms with Fleet, monitoring the activities around the Solar System. That's when the action at the moon broke.

The third section made their way to earth's moon. The three Faldavian class equivalents were exceedingly confident of their success. So confident, in fact that they were broadcasting their progress to the know solar system and bragging about their actions. That's when they encountered the decoy 'planetoid', beaming signals to Earth. But the Lomaxxes didn't realize that that's all it was doing. It was approx. 800 kilometers in diameter, and contained four ship class fusion reactors set to detonate when sensing an attack. The shields were there because obviously, you had to protect your transmitter. (Heh, Heh, Heh!)

The Lomaxxes zeroed in on the decoy and proceeded to attack. The first two volleys of missiles burst harmlessly on the shields, and even the planetoid/decoy said, 'Huh? What was that?'

The enemy massed their ships and moved in closer. Three capital ships and approx. twelve destroyer class vessels fired a targeted salvo at the planetoid. This time, the planetoid/decoy sensed the shots and the sensors woke up and said, 'Oh, we're under attack.' While the Lomaxxes massed for another volley, the shields on the planetoid/decoy collapsed and the four ship class fusion plants exploded and burst outward.

The old axiom that in space, no one can hear you scream rang true. Thank God, whichever one you believe in.

Their shields didn't help them. The resulting cataclysm engulfed the enemy fleet, and all twelve destroyers and approx. twenty four thousand crew members disappeared in atomic fire. The three capital ships fared almost as bad. Two of the ship's shields collapsed and they crumbled and literally melted in the cloud that consummated them. A total of twenty thousand additional enemy combatants perished. The third ship was, luckily, trailing the two others. Her shields were 90% compromised and she turned into a blazing fireball. By the time rescue vessels arrived, there was little to save. They managed to rescue five crew members, three of whom died from radiation and fire injuries. The remaining two were remanded to cells under isolation.

The area was marked and made a 'no fly zone', as they used to say, for the foreseeable future. Not that any pleasure craft or commercial spacecraft would be in the area.

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That left the command section, group four. They had been frantically trying to raise the three attack groups to no avail. HIMS Canberra, with her activated newly installed stealth technology, smoothly moved to intercept the command ship and her escorts. Canberra's three destroyers moved to flank her and back her up. They edged just forward of her and increased speed slightly. That's what gave them away.

But it was no matter. Kledrif's escorts picked up something on their sensor screens and immediately started to scan. But they only came up with the three Sussex class destroyers as the Canberra's 'cloaking' technology worked better than advertised.