Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 316

316 A Question of Dominion, Pt Orbital Communications Array 99-Alpha, Planet Tyreia, House Gerveaux

A dozen boxy, utilitarian Gerveaux fighters wove up and around the massive orbital array. Their beams cut through the numerous defensive turrets scattered in their path. Some were sliced into pieces though most were simply slagged on the inside.

The fighters quickly entered defensive maneuvers the moment a wing of hostile enemy drones swung around a corner and bore their AA guns on them. They spread out in every direction as the drones’ shells burst all around and flung razor slivers in every direction.

One of the pilots screamed as an AA shell burst right in front of him. The shrapnel tore through him as quickly as it did his fighter. Both were completely annihilated by the blast, and ultimately exploded in a ball of fiery plasma a moment after.

Closeby, a Gerveaux fleet watched as their fighters ripped through the array’s anti-capital defense turrets. But were in turn ripped apart by the array’s anti-fighter defense drones.

The admiral on the bridge grimaced as he watched it all unfold on one of his screens.

“Sir!” a technician yelled out from his terminal, “Squadron 55 reporting close to 25% casualties. They’re requesting a regroup.”

“Request granted,” the admiral replied. “And launch Squadron 42 to press the attack in their place.”

“Aye, sir!”

.....

As the admiral watched the fighters pull away, the face of a grizzled old man flashed on the bridge’s comms display. A derisive sneer was painted on his face.

“Is that all you got, Admiral?” he said. “Yannow, all you’re really doing is sacrificing your people to my defenses. We’ve got enough food and supply and ammunition to last us months up here.”

“Your defenses?” the admiral shot back. “You must be referring to the Gerveaux property you’ve illegally commandeered.”

“So it’s a battle of semantics, then. Fine. You know, all you’re doing is sacrificing your people to... your own defenses.”

The admiral’s eyes narrowed just for a moment. Irritation and frustration swept through him at the reality of his situation. No matter what, they were ultimately at a loss.

“In case you didn’t realize we Gerveaux designed those defenses, and we know how to get around ’em,” the admiral replied. “More than that, it doesn’t change our purpose – to eject you out of it.”

The grizzled old man simply laughed heartily, as though what he had heard was the best joke he’d heard in his entire life.

“As far as the Sovereignty of Tyreia is concerned,” he replied, “you’ve illegally parked your operations array in our territory. We’re simply impounding it.”

“I see you’re not well kept up on history,” the admiral replied. “The Sovereignty of Tyreia hasn’t existed for over two hundred years. The Sovereign families – yours included – long since ceded control of the planet to House Gerveaux.”

“Like hell we ceded! My forebears were coerced into giving away our planet! This has been our birthright since it was colonized over a thousand years ago!”

The admiral crossed his arms in vexation. Tyreia didn’t cede to some war, or political pressure. The ruling families gave the planet freely. Because managing it had become too expensive to maintain.

“And it would have collapsed two hundred years ago, if it wasn’t for House Gerveaux,” the admiral replied firmly. “All the wealth you’re enjoying now is because the Royal Families of Tyreia begged us to take control.”

It was the grizzled old man’s turn to darken.

“Lies,” he said flatly. “Our planet was always rich, our people wealthy. It was you Gerveaux that came along and jealously stole it from under us.”

The admiral couldn’t help but shake his head in utter frustration. It didn’t matter what he said, or what the truth was – the old man was simply not listening.

“There’s no point in talking to a delusional maniac like you,” he said. “Prepare yourselves to receive the full brunt of Gerveaux justice.”

“The Sovereignty of Tyreia doesn’t acknowledge the authority of House Gerveaux,” the old man replied. “Get the hell out of Tyreia space. Or we’ll throw you out.”

The screen winked to black as communications were cut off.

“Sir!” said an officer. “A fleet ported in on the other side of the array! They’re identifying themselves as the Tyreia Sovereign Defense Fleet. Three heavy cruisers, seven destroyers, sixteen frigates, and 148 fighters.”

“Enemy fleet advancing on ours, sir,” added another technician. “10 kilometers and closing. Bearing 55, 12, -37.”

The admiral’s eyes went wide. Though he was fully expecting some resistance, he didn’t expect that they would have as much as they did. Three heavy cruisers was definitely a problem.

Their own fleet only had two light cruisers, and their fighters were also weakened from their assault on the station. Luckily, they had twice as many destroyers, and a few more frigates than their opponents.

It would have to make do.

“Goddamned terrorists,” he muttered. “Pull back all fighter squadrons into a defensive line. Then maneuver the fleet into the Crane formation! On the double!”

“Yessir!”

The Gerveaux fleet immediately went into action and shifted their entire formation. They went from a relatively aggressive formation, and moved to a sweeping, defensive one. At the same time, the enemy’s first fighter wave sped forward at breakneck speed.

They practically crashed into the Gerveaux defensive fighter screen with guns blazing, and tore through a number of them with great ease. The entire defensive front quickly devolved into chaotic dogfighting as battle lines blurred and dissolved.

Thousands of rounds of chaingun fire were met with countless beams of plasma as the fighters jockeyed for dominance over the other. The fighters’ armor was slagged or perforated or otherwise torn off in the vast skirmish.

And the pilots inside fared equally poorly – their bodies were burned to ash or blasted to chunks as their enemies’ weapons tore into them.

As the fight prevailed, the rest of the Gerveaux fleet slowly advanced forward and gave the fighters as much support as they could from a distance.

Frigates at the head of their Crane formation fired dozens of missiles into the swarm of Tyreia fighters. The missiles themselves arced around their targets, then burst into smaller cluster missiles two hundred meters away.

They sprayed the area around many of their enemy’s fighters, and exploded all around them. The shockwaves rocked the fighters from multiple directions, which tore them to pieces as a result. Pilots were flung out into the void as their ships were ripped open.

It wasn’t long until the Tyreia’s own frigates got into the mix. Like their fighters, they pushed right into the middle of all the fighting and supported their pilots right up front. Their chaingun turrets tracked every Gerveaux fighter in proximity and shot at them with relentless fervor.

More than that, they fired their AA guns into the defensive front’s rear and flanks, to keep the Gerveaux fighters from fleeing and regrouping. Or, more accurately, they kept them in the Tyreia’s killbox.

And it was incredibly effective – any Gerveaux fighters who needed to retreat were instead caught in clouds of shrapnel. Their already-damaged ships were torn apart even further as they fled – the shards ripped into any exposed structure and dug deep into their systems.

A handful of fighters were completely torn apart in the dark gray clouds, and exploded violently as they passed halfway through them.

But the Gerveaux were far from done.

As the skirmish intensified, they pushed their main fleet further forward and engaged a number of their destroyers. They specifically flew through the AA clouds and broke them apart, while at the same time fired their forward guns on the enemy frigates.

Their massive topside cannon batteries tore through the frigates’ relatively weaker armor with ease, and punctured their hides with ruthless efficiency. Their interior decks were immediately torn open, and any crew inside were flung out into the depths of space.

One of the destroyers went full-bore and rammed one of the Tyreia frigates with maximum thrust. Their armored front easily bore the brunt as the frigate they struck collapsed into itself. The frigate was then shoved into another frigate behind it, which also crumpled from the violent collision.

Satisfied with its job, the destroyer placed all reverse thrusters on maximum, then pulled back from the two wrecked frigates. As it did so, it fired its topside guns into the two and finished off the job it started.

Their armor was torn off from the vicious cannonade, which took no time in drilling into the structure underneath. The first frigate exploded as the destroyer’s shells punched through the power plant and ruptured it.

As all this was happening, the Tyreia heavy cruisers and destroyers rocketed past the chaotic skirmish at the front with maximum velocity, and headed towards the two Gerveaux light cruisers.

They too fired their topside guns and missile pods at their enemies, and peppered their position with all manner of munitions. Their guns dented and punched into the Gerveaux’s armor, while the explosions warped them wholesale.

Though their weapons easily wore away at the Gerveaux’s two cruisers, it was clear that their enemies didn’t take the punishment lying down. They watched as their cruisers and destroyers turned their broadside guns towards them, and returned fire with equal ferocity.

Hundreds of cannon shells and missiles crashed into the incoming Tyreia fleet, which received just as much damage as they doled out. Even the heavy cruisers’ armor was torn and dented from the furious assault.

The Gerveaux’s heavy 880mm cannons were utterly devastating, and left huge dents in their reinforced forward armor. Worse, they concentrated their heaviest fire on one of the heavy cruisers and constantly pounded its nose.

They ultimately pounded through the armor and burst through to the decks beneath. Not that they stopped – they continued to punch deep inside the ship and tore it apart from the inside out. The heavy cruiser slowed as the Gerveaux battered them to oblivion, and eventually burst in a violent explosion from the inside.

Sections of the cruiser were blown off as its systems were torn to pieces. Her crew was absolutely brutalized by the assault – many were torn apart in the explosions, some were flung out into space, and others simply burned to ash.

Despite how much the Gerveaux annihilated the first heavy cruiser, the other two continued to barrel their way towards them. They plowed through a number of destroyers in their path as they violently charged the Gerveaux’s two light cruisers.

At the same time, their topside and broadside guns were blasting out at every ship around them. Their large cannons easily ripped through the smaller frigates and reduced them to floating hunks of scrap. They also easily dented and tore at the destroyers all around them.

They were all hell-bent on annihilating every single Gerveaux ship around them.