“It’s been an honor serving with you.“
The crack in the bridge’s windshield expanded rapidly, shattering.
____
Andrew Bates snapped awake, shifting to get his bearings. He quickly adjusted to the ambient light and sighed a breath of relief. Getting out of bed, he walked over to the viewport.
Outside, a pair of Guardian fighter craft patrolled the airspace around Washington Shipyard, one of the Liberty Navy’s main production shipyards. Looking in the other direction, he could see the LNS-Drayton, a Liberty Assault Battlecruiser which was nearing completion. Andrew smiled as he looked at the glistening un-painted hull of the Drayton, as it was to be his first command. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the notification strobe on his computer pulsing softly, indicating a new message.
Andrew began to walk towards his desk, but then stopped. He shifted and walked to the lighting console near the door, switching the lights on. He squinted for a second and once his eyes adjusted he walked over to the kitchenette within the room and pulled out a pitcher of water. Pouring himself a glass, he walked over to his desk and sat down, the computer automatically sensing his presence and hummed to life.
“Identification and Activation Code please.”
“Andrew Bates, Commander, Liberty Navy. Identification Three Zero Two Nine Charlie Tango”
“Identification Confirmed.”
The screen connected to the Washington Shipyard Intranet, showing Andrew’s new Neural Net Messages. Skipping over a few, he activated the link to the current Duty Roster. Much to his dismay and annoyance, no Executive Officer had been assigned, with most of the other officers being newly trained Richmond Military Academy graduates. Rapidly, Bates typed a quick message to the bureau of Navy Personnel, requesting an XO be assigned.
Skimming the message he had just written, he tapped the send button. After downing the glass of water, Andrew put his computer into standby. Getting up, he walked over to his dresser and picked out his uniform for the upcoming day. Stepping into the bathroom, he closed the door and turned on the Shower, beginning his daily routine of getting ready.
It was 'morning' at Richmond Military Academy, as much as morning could happen aboard a space station. Clocks may dictate what time it is, but a space station never truly slept.
Caitlyn StarNight had learned this quickly, though she had, at times, forgotten that there was no sun or moon in the sky to judge times. If you left a light on, you could very well pull an all nighter you didn't know you were pulling.
Caitlyn was a senior here at Richmond, and the past three something years had been interesting to say the least. Different from anything else she experienced, she'd grown into the roll of an officer and a student.
With dark brown hair and hazel eyes, StarNight was a bit of an oddity. Considering her last name was a bit odd attracted her some attention from her peers, but most seemed willing to leave her to her studies. She didn't speak much about where she was before, but she was an overall nice person with a firm grasp of what she was doing. She had her flaws and idiosyncrasies, like every other person here. She would not be graduating at the top of her class, she'd gotten into trouble too many times for that, but her grades were kept at a good level and she tried to keep up with all work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caitlyn yawned as she awoke to the sound of her alarm. It was time for another day, another few classes. She reached over and pulled her brown hair into a ponytail, then stood, found her uniform and got dressed.
Andrew, now dressed in his Navy Uniform, opened the door to his room with a quick palm scan. Opening the door, he walked into the room, closing it behind him. He bit into the apple he grabbed from the officer’s mess and walked to his console. Noticing the strobing light, he powered it on to read the messages. Sure enough there was a message from The Bureau of Navy Personnel. Knowing it was a response to his inquiry about an Executive Officer for his new command, He sat down and tapped the screen to display the message
(09-25-2013, 05:32 AM)Office of Navy Personnel Wrote:TARGET ID: Commander Andrew Bates, LNS-Drayton
SUBJECT: Crew Assignment
Commander,
As it stands there are no active duty personnel that are not currently assigned that are available for assignment to be the Executive Officer on the LNS-Drayton.
However, due to the increasing need for Quick Response Force warships on the Gallic Front, you are hereby ordered to proceed to Richmond Military Academy. You will observe and evaluate the graduating OCS personnel, and choose an officer to be your XO.
Bates sighed, and powered down his computer and checked the shuttle schedule to the Academy.
____________________________
The Shuttle to Richmond was not very full, with only 3 people in the Officer Only section. As the ship disconnected from its mooring line to Washington Shipyard, the pilot hit the intercom.
“As you all know, the trade lane from Richmond to Washington is down, so we will be cruising for this trip. The estimated trip time is five minutes, however due to heavy traffic at Richmond we will be delayed an additional five minutes before we will be able to dock. “
Andrew pulled out a small Neural Net tablet and began to scan the roster of the class he would be observing, making note of officers that had promise.
As Caitlyn walked through the passages of Richmond Military Academy. It was currently in between classes and she had another couple minutes to reach her next class, Tactics. that class was smaller that her History class which she had just come from and as she entered the room and took her seat, her teacher, a well seasoned captain, walked in a began to draw up holograms which he would use for the class.
the rest of the class filed in and she nodded to the people next to her.
"Alright class, today were going to look over a famous conflict which took place..." Caitlyn typed in a few notes to her terminal and looked back up as people began to ask question and the teacher waved them off.
"Hold your questions until after I show you the battle." He said and everyone fell silent. The hologram in the middle of the table came to like with forms of five separate ships, two in yellow, three in red. The two yellow ones were bigger, but the three red ones were smaller.
The battle ended with the two yellow ships dying while the red ships were left with two heavily damaged, yet still functional ships.
"Now can anyone tell me what went wrong here?"
Everyone was silent, but Caitlyn rubbed her nose and looked down at her terminal. She took control of the hologram and reversed the fight to a particular point in the battle.
"Sir, If the yellow ship, Alpha 1, had gone down relative to the plane of the system rather than staying in lockstep with its partner, it would of been able to rake fire out of Beta 2, one of the ones still left at the end, rendering it useless rather than damaged and still functioning."
The instructor nodded then turned to the rest of the class. "What does everyone think of Cadet StarNight's thoughts?"
the class began to chatter and point out various flaws in the plan while StarNight tapped reminders into her terminal as people suggested improvements and ideas.
Unbeknownst to the Cadets, in an observation room, Navy instructors evaluated the students responses. Among them was Andrew Bates.
After the Cadet explained her proposed battle maneuver, Bates tapped in the maneuver into a terminal, editing a few parameters. Executing the simulation, he smiled as the result was displayed on his screen. This Cadet was a wildcard, but she did successfully complete the simulation.
Satisfied, he typed a quick message and attached a scenario to it, and sent it to the Instructor’s console.
The instructor scanned the scenario, and hushed the class.
“Quiet down. This next Scenario is a test. Please pay attention to the holoprojector.
You are commanding a battlegroup in a defensive formation. Attached to your group is one Phalanx class Liberty Assault Battlecruiser, twelve Guardian Very Heavy Fighters divided in two flight squads, and 6 upholder bombers.
Opposing your force is a Gallic Royal Navy Battleship with standard combat escort of two squadrons of fighters. The Gallic force has detected your Guardian recon element, but due to the current tactical disposition your Battlecruiser has not been identified.
Your objective is the destruction of the Gallic Royal Navy Battleship and her escorts, minimizing friendly casualties. The Battlecruiser must survive, as it is key to the long term defense of the battlespace. Use any tactic you see fit to accomplish the objective. Begin.”
StarNight listened closely and began to recreate the scenario at her terminal. She set up the simulation and studied it for a moment. She moved her recon into position and stopped.
the fighters could technically be a problem, as hit and runs from them could easily pick off weapons. She's have to send in most of the fighters to engage the Gallic fighters to keep them away from her bombers and ship.
Now the bombers and ship, what was she to do with them. A BC could never take on a BB toe to toe, especially with that large forward cannon the Gallic had. She thought for a moment before she she programmed the the bombers to make a pass on the battleship, avoiding the fighters and trying to hit a point on the ship, on the starboard side. The battle cruiser would loop around, and use her greater speed to do quick, yet deadly, hit-and runs, staying out of range of the cannon by attacking the sides. The bombers could continue to help by providing a distraction wherever the battlecruiser wasn't.
Once everything was programmed she hit the 'submit & play' button and watched her battle unfold.
Of course by the end, most of her bombers had been destroyed and the battlecruiser had taken hits, but it was still alive when it weathered the explosion of the battleship and now outnumbered the remaining Gallic fighters were killed. She winced slightly as the battle damage came up in a list, summarizing all the things that would of needed repair if the ship was real, and the lives lost. She sighed, but it could of been worse.
StarNight looked up at some of he others, she couldn't see their own simulations, but some of them looked horrified while others just looked frustrated. She shook her head, settling back to read the damage list and took notes on it to make sure she remembered what she might of done wrong and work a bit harder on the next test.
In the Observation Room, Bates scanned the work the students where entering into the system. He pulled a few and began to watch them. First, he pulled up Charlie Shang, a promising Cadet trying to earn his citizenship by enlisting.
Shang's simulation started with the fighters escorting the bombers into an attack formation. Textbook assault plan, catch the Gallic battleship off balance with a fighter assault and use the Battle cruiser to hit the Valor from behind. Good in theory, Bates thought. Executing the simulation, the computer began. The Simulated Valor almost instantly deployed its fighters into a defensive formation, with the majority of the fighters covering the rear. Once the Valor moved past the engagement line, the assault force jumped the Royal Navy. The Guardians split off, and the bomber wing simultaneously fired a Nova Barrage. Overwelmed by the incoming torpedos, the anti-fighter flak systems only interdicted two or three of the torpedos. The rest of them impacted the midships of the Valor, collapsing the shields and taking a good chuck out of the thick armor. The automated nanobot systems on the Valor automatically began to repair the cracked armor.
As the Valor's fighter force began to shift forward, the Battlecruiser emerged from its hiding spot, firing off a volley of Light mortars and missiles. The Valor, now alerted to the battlecruiser presence, began to fire its heavy guns at the Battlecruiser. The GRN fighter screen also began to shift the fire towards the warship, causing the ships gunnery crew to start defensive fire against the fighter cover. During the ensuing confusion, the Valor begun to turn, shifting its posture from a defensive one to an offensive mode. Now on the offense, the Valor began to focus fire on the battle cruiser, unleashing its superior firepower. Now damaged, and confronted with the full wrath of the Valor, the Battlecruiser begun to move away from the warship, in an attempt to present a smaller target.
However, with the Royal Navy forces focusing on the battlecruiser, the fighter assault force, now unimpeded, began to unleash as much fire into the weakened midsection of the Valor. Using the smaller profile of the Battle Cruiser, the warship skirted at the maximum engagement range of its weapons. However, the sheer volume of the Valor's fire began to eat at the hull. After about a minute as the battle continued, the Navy fighter wing overwhelmed the Valors defenses and caused a catastrophic hull breach. Hitting an Auxiliary ammo store for the snubcraft, the explosion triggered a massive chain of explosions. The Navy's simulation system was about as accurate to real life as possible, due to specifications provided by a turncoat Gallian and the RNS-Normandie. The Explosion's progression got to the forward cannon firing array, and the capacitor discharged. The Cannon fired a single shot. That shot, flying straight and true, hit the Battlecruiser with a glancing blow to the engine room. With the destruction of the Valor, the remaining Gallic fighters withdrew.
When the Naval forces regrouped, the force commanded by Shang was mostly destroyed. The Fighter wings had lost three Guardians, and the bomber strike wing lost one bomber. While the fighter strike force was relatively undamaged, the Battlecruiser was crippled. While the Crew of the warship had not suffered heavy losses, the ship itself was a wreck. The final blow from the Valor had damaged the main power conduits, severely impeding the flow of power to the main weapon systems. The Superstructure had taken a heavy beating, fractured in multiple points. The simulation system did a quick calculation, and quickly determined that the Battlecruiser would have to be abandoned and scuttled. Thus, the simulation failed.
Andrew shook his head, disappointed. You never go head to head with a superior force, especially the Royal Navy. he thought. They are well trained, hardened through years of war games and training for their assault into Sirius. Perhaps Shang would make for a better fighter commander than a task force commander. Rapidtyping a report to the Magellan secondary fleet fighter commander, he sent a copy of the simulation along with a recommendation. He switched the simulation to the next cadet, Ensign StarNight.
(To be continued when I am not falling asleep)