Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 342

342 The Star Dragon, Pt Federal Naval Repair Yard TNLB Alpha, Tenlaub System, Federal Colonial Territories

The entire repair yard was abuzz with activity, far more than the station’s crew had seen in the past year. Sure the Federation and the Hegemony had been fighting a great deal, but those were usually minor skirmishes.

Fights between frigates and fighters and mecha broke out all the time, and so they were the largest ships they saw in the yard.

But now there was a full-on battle fleet here, with half of their ships currently being refitted and rearmed. One of the fleet’s cruisers loomed above the repair yard, while the other sat in one of the capital ship maintenance bays, where its armor was being replaced.

The other maintenance bays around it also had a handful of destroyers in them, and they too were getting their armor swapped out.

Not that any of them were exceptionally damaged. Most of the armor plating being removed only had dents and scratches on their surface. But apparently, it was enough for them to perform a complete refit.

The panels themselves were lifted up by the massive maintenance arms, but precisely maneuvered by the numerous drones that were assisting. Once it was free and clear, the drones then disassembled the plate into various smaller pieces, then carted them to the parts dump nearby.

From there, the many pieces were picked up by more drones and sent to the materials recycler, where they were separated back out into their original elemental components. Whole blocks of various metals and ores and elements were sent to the depots, and were picked up by yet another set of drones.

They carried entire blocks, one after another, straight back towards the maintenance bays. Specifically to the printers that sat nearby, where replacement plates of armor were already being crafted up.

.....

Finally, one of the maintenance arms picked up one of the large plates of armor, and assisted by its drones, lowered it down onto the destroyer and affixed it securely to its structure.

Although the maintenance and hangar bays had a few ships in them, many more were in the other half of the repair yard. Dozens of fighters hovered near their assigned frigates or destroyers, all of whom were in the middle of being rearmed.

Their munitions bays were all opened up, along with the armor plates that surrounded them.

While they hovered in place, countless drones flew to and fro between the ships and the munitions depots. They carried all manner of munitions with them, from drums filled with tungsten sabot rounds to pods containing incendiary missiles to canisters filled with corrosive mortars.

The drones worked diligently to fill up every ship’s munitions bays until they were filled to the brim with all manner of death and destruction.

And despite how much they fed the ships all around, it seemed as though the many depots never ran out of stock. In fact, fresh amounts of munitions were constantly being printed up nearby, and ensured that there was plenty enough for everyone.

Close to the center of it all, in between the massive materials recyclers and depots, was the actual heart of the station’s operations. And technically where the entire thing was organized and coordinated.

In one of the many break rooms scattered all throughout, a handful of Naval officers and engineers stood around a MealBar dispenser. One of them tapped on one of its controls, grabbed the MealBar it spat out, and began snacking as the others chatted.

“I heard productivity is 12% up over at M-Bay 22,” said an officer to another. “Good for you, friend.”

“Yeah, I really pushed the team to get into top shape in the last few months,” the other replied. “So we were ready when the real rush hit. Which has been out of control. Never expected it to get that rough.”

“Better brace yourself then. There’s orders coming down the pipeline that’re gonna double up the entire yard.”

The officer whistled in response. They were already quite a station – it was manned by thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands of drones.

“Not just that,” added an engineer. “Every yard’s gonna double up across the sector. Part of the admiralty’s plans to completely take it all over.”

“About damn time we kicked out all those Hegemony squatters,” said the first officer.

“Yeah, about time,” said the second. “We’ve been pouring all our resources into this whole damned sector, but somehow they’re getting all the benefits. It isn’t right, it isn’t fair.”

The rest nodded adamantly and murmured in agreement.

The one who was quietly chewing on his tasteless MealBar perked up suddenly.

“Hey,” he said. “Did you feel that?”

They all stopped talking and moving, just for a moment. And at that moment, felt the floor vibrate ever so slightly. A barely-noticeable tremor traveled up their legs, which caused them to look at each other in puzzlement.

Then, another. But it was far stronger, and they definitely felt the whole place vibrate suddenly. As though a wave of force swept through the entire facility.

Then, the lights flickered to a low orange, and a klaxon rang up and down the passageways.

“Alert,” said the emergency warning system, “hostile ships approaching. Prepare for combat actions”

Outside, waves of shock passed through the station, one after another, as the cruiser that sat above it fired a cannonade out to the distance. Out there, many kilometers away, one sixth of the 5th Hegemony fleet came barreling towards them.

It had two cruisers, seven destroyers, and four dozen frigates. All were heavily armed and armored, and clearly ready for a fight.

They wove in various directions as they charged in, and avoided as many incoming shots as they could. And though it helped, many still struck them on their noses and left minor dents. Others struck them on their sides and left vicious scratches.

Some struck two of the frigates squarely, and wrenched off whole sections of their armor. They were utterly demolished after only one or two subsequent hits. They collapsed inwards from the sheer force of impact, and killed those aboard instantly.

“Concentrate all destroyer railcannon fire on the cruisers,” commanded a Federation captain. “We split them open, then we don’t have a thing to worry about. Target their primary power plants, and fire in unison. Let’s see them handle that much damage!”

Outside, the 8 or so destroyers available adjusted their noses and pointed their guns far downrange. They all plotted the two incoming cruisers’ courses and determined the trajectories for their sabot rounds. Then, they whined up as they charged to the maximum, and fired in near-unison.

All of them were pushed back dozens of meters from the recoil alone.

Their sabot rounds screamed towards the cruisers, and slammed squarely on their noses. Each of the rounds smashed into their bow armor, and dented them severely. More and more, with every hit.

But to the Federation’s chagrin, their shots didn’t penetrate. Each of the two cruiser’s front armor held.

Worse, they were barely slowed by the impacts.

“Fire again!” the captain cried out. “Keep firing until we punch through!”

But before he could be followed, another of his officers shouted out in alarm.

“Sir, enemy ships are shifting formation,” he said loudly, in a seeming panic. “And they’re still not slowing in the slightest!”

Up in the lead Hegemony Cruiser, the captain on the bridge stared at the screens that surrounded him. They were filled with numerous data points and live feeds. He glanced at the vastness of the repair yard itself, and knew it was going to take a long time to tear it to pieces.

And in the meantime, would have to deal with whatever forces were currently stationed at it. They took their shots on the chin like champions, but they couldn’t take those forever.

But there was no helping it. He had his duty, and was committed to executing it.

Down to the last ship if need be.

“Damage report,” he yelled out.

“Bow armor damaged 23.3%,” replied one of his technicians. “Bow structure 5.1% damaged. Repairs underway.”

“Acceptable,” said the captain. “Begin enspherement maneuver, prepare all turrets and emplacements, sortie all fighters.”

“Yessir!”

The Hegemony fleet spread out further and further as they began to approach the station. They curved around the station at great speeds, and at the same time gave their broadside turrets more and more of a firing angle.

Then, in unison, the largest cannons fired.

Massive shells came screaming out of their barrels and cruised across the distance between them in the blink of an eye. They smashed into multiple targets all around, ships and bays and depots and printers alike.

The powerful shells easily wrenched through armor, whether thick or thin, and obliterated anything underneath. The enemy cruiser that hovered above took a number of shells right into its side, and was pushed back from the force of the impact.

There were massive dents on its armor, and displayed the Hegemony’s might.

More than that, they completely tore apart the yard’s relatively unprotected structures. The primary materials recycler took a shell right in the middle and crumpled inward as a restule. It punched right through its thin armor plating and dug into the dense machinery inside. It easily ripped apart anything delicate, and caused the whole thing to shut down.

Another shell struck it, and wrenched it wide open. Internal parts were scattered out into space as the entire printer was turned to slag.

But the cannons were far from the only weapons the Hegemony fleet used. In fact, the moment they began to circle, even at incredible speeds, every ship opened up and utterly hammered the facility.

The frigates’ chainguns and AA turrets perforated the munitions printing stations and depots with incredible ease. They punched into the lightly armored facilities and containers with absurd ease, and caused their fragile mechanisms to get torn to pieces.

Worse, the anti armor shrapnel pierced through the countless containers filled with volatile munitions, and caused them to burst. High explosive shells were the first to rupture violently, which caused a chain reaction of explosions all throughout the depot.

And the sheer amount of chemicals packed in that little space caused a truly massive detonation that swept across every vessel parked alongside. The drones and fighters were instantly swept away by the sheer force of the blast, while the frigates and destroyers were ripped open by an overwhelming amount of shrapnel.

Hegemony destroyers were also hard at work – they aimed their missile pods at the multiple maintenance and hangar bays, and fired a quarter of what they had in a single go. Massive missiles shot out towards them, then broke apart into thousands of clusters which detonated all over.

Multiple explosions rocked the maintenance bays and tore them apart violently. The maintenance arms were ripped off and thrown around by the sheer force, while their assistant drones were slagged outright.

Any ships they were tending to were also equally hammered by the myriad of explosions. And because most of them didn’t have their armor installed, were turned to slag instantly.

Cluster bombs carpeted the hangar bays and absolutely shredded the landing pads, along with whatever was inside – frigates and fighters and technicians and pilots.

Nothing and no-one was spared.