Ravens of Eternity

435 The Beginning of the End

Swarmfather Delvath paced in small circles around the center of his bridge. Everywhere he looked, his fleet was battered to death from the robust de Jardin fleet. He couldn’t help but feel despair at his fleet’s predicament.

Not once did he think that Imperial technological superiority could be outmatched. And yet the de Jardins had somehow outpaced them.

“Where’s the rest of the assault fleet?!” he demanded. “They should’ve ported in here with us at the same gods-damned time!”

“They’re citing delays due to technological problems,” reported a communications officer. “Reportedly, they will join us as soon as they’re able.”

“Pah! Gods-forsaken liars. Can’t trust any of these damned apes, even if you’re bound by contract.”

“Yes, swarmfather.”

“Call in reinforcements on our end. Let’s not rely on those Feds to -”

Delvath stopped speaking the moment High Admiral Pavir flashed on his comms holoprojector. Though the request didn’t come with flags for parley, he accepted it anyway.

“Cease your attack, or we will fire on Taloren Prime,” said Pavir.

.....

“Go on ahead, de Jardin scum,” Delvath replied. “Wipe away that infested den as much as you want. What remains of the Fyrroth clan is more than happy to relocate the center of the Empire elsewhere. Here, perhaps, in the middle of de Jardin space!”

“You can’t possibly win against us,” Pavir countered. “Our reinforcements are already enroute and you’ll soon be numerically overwhelmed by a technologically superior force.”

Delvath laughed heartily. He had seen Eris’ intelligence reports and believed wholeheartedly that the High Admiral was lying through his teeth about his reinforcements. He saw that their pool was merely 14%.

Of course, had he seen the undoctored reports, he might have been much less callous with his opening attack.

Still, he was confident enough to take the fight right up to his enemies’ faces and pressed his attack.

“Here’s what I think about your so-called technologically superior force,” Delvath sneered. “Eliminate their battleships!”

While his remaining devastators and battleships faced off against the de Jardin devastators, he had swarms of drones advance towards the de Jardin battleships and cruisers. A thousand of them shot forward with as much velocity as they could safely use, and fired on every de Jardin ship they passed.

Their thin bright orange beams did little against most of the armor they struck. In fact, all they could manage were numerous nicks and scratches, if that. But damage wasn’t what they were there for.

The sheer amount of drones completely dominated the majority of targeting lists on the field. De Jardin defenses were so overwhelmed by the Imperial drones that they locked onto as many as they could and fired wantonly. Streams of fire erupted in every direction as de Jardin frigates and destroyers attempted to repel the chaotic swarm.

Though some struck the frenetic drones, most simply missed.

And while the drones confounded de Jardin targeting systems, hundreds of Imperial fighters, mecha, and frigates advanced in right afterwards. They flew straight towards the most powerful battleships nearly unimpeded and hugged their hulls close.

As usual, they swept across the ships’ surfaces and tore them open with their weapons as much as possible.

The light fighters opened up first with their concentrated disintegration beams. Though they weren’t as effective as normal, the sheer amount of them more than made up for it.

Wave after wave of fighters ripped into the battleships’ armor and cut a patterned latticework into the plating. They passed over the same lines over and over, and quite literally cut the ships’ robust outer plating apart more and more.

Although the battleships’ overcharged armor immediately began to heal and repair rapidly, they still weren’t prepared for the heavy fighters’ turn.

Once the light fighters had weakened the armor for them, the heavy fighters came in. They too flew in wave after wave and fired their disintegration mortars with impunity. Each of the mortars crashed down onto the battleships with great force.

Their orange energies pulsed outward on impact and swept through the various circuits. While they hampered incoming energy to the plate armor, the black nuclei burst open across the armor itself. There, they contended with the energy-starved repair nanites easily and chewed into the metal-rich ores.

Despite the mortars’ destructive strength, they still didn’t get to bite too deeply in.

Once the mortars hit the gigareactive armor layers, the destructive metal-chasing nanites became all but useless. All the armor needed to do was form a thin layer of carbon polymers to protect the more vulnerable metals below.

Swarms of nanites quickly coated the surface just before impact, and simply followed the mortars as they crashed onto the surface. Some energy certainly spilled through and scarred the armor underneath, but with nowhere near the destructive force of direct contact.

Delvath seethed as numerous reports scrolled past his holoprojectors. He couldn’t believe how little damage his fleet was doing. It felt as though no matter what he threw at the de Jardin fleet, they were able to shrug it all off.

But before he could get even more irritated at his situation, the space around the port beacon flashed and warped. The frown on his toothy maw turned into a devious grin.

His Federation partner in this fight finally decided to show up.

A gray-haired man in a neatly-pressed uniform flashed on Delvath’s comms as the Federation devastator he was on flashed into space.

“Sorry I’m late, friend,” he said. “High Admiral Tarvanos of the Federal Navy answering the call to combat. May our fight be true, and our profits large.”

“Yes, yes, may our ledgers fatten,” said Delvath. “Now help me and flank them from the other side! Let’s pummel these Hegemony fools out of the galaxy!”

The vast Federation fleet ported in over the course of a dozen seconds – their sheer numbers dictated that they simply take more time coming in. But once they were done, their numbers were overwhelming. In fact, they were more than double the de Jardin fleet.

“Here’s a full count,” said Tarvanos. “We’ll be performing a flanking maneuver as you suggested shortly.”

—

Devastators – 9

Carriers – 22

Battleships – 57

Cruisers – 218

Destroyers – 533

Frigates – 1058

Fighters – 2304

Mecha – 2588

Drones – 5132

—

As the last of his fleet ported in, the rest of them moved into position. They came in an arc around the de Jardins and did their best to flank them. Their maneuver was so awe-inspiring that even Delvath was astounded at the sight.

It occurred to him that perhaps they truly did have serious technical difficulties porting the entire thing out here. No fleet of that size could possibly move efficiently and effectively.

And although he was certainly impressed with their number, he was far less impressed with their performance.

The Federation fleet fired as many of its heavy weapons as they advanced further towards their final flanking position. Their numerous guns angled forward and pelted the de Jardin ships furiously and ceaselessly. Shell after shell struck the reinforced armor and dented them further and further every time.

Although they did little damage overall to the armor individually, the sheer barrage caused continual damage. The heavy plating they struck easily warped and bent and caved and cratered with every strike.

That wasn’t all, of course. Dozens of the Federation battleships peppered the de Jardin ships with drill-like missiles and projectiles. They stuck partially into the robust armor, then exploded violently right after. Focused kinetic energy sheared off sheets of armor all around every point of impact, including the gigareactive plating sandwiched inside the layers.

And then, the nine Federation devastators opened up their own weaponry. They followed the highly effective designs of the Terra Nach Mar cruisers and destroyers and had massive gauss cannons laid deep down their centers.

Because they were all front-facing, they had the absolute advantage during their approach. So each of the devastators pointed their weapons at the de Jardin devastators, and charged them up to the absolute maximum.

Their weapon systems’ energy signatures swelled as vast amounts of electromagnetic energy shot through the coils that wrapped around the barrels.

Then, each of them drove gargantuan tungsten spears laced with an iron-nitrogen compound with such tremendous energy that they crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. Each of the nine spears punched into the de Jardin devastators with profound ease.

The spear tips easily dug deep into the structure and further into the decks beneath. They crushed everything they came into contact with, from machinery to decking to people.

They were so large and so destructive that dozens of crew were eliminated in an instant.

And then, moments later, the Federation devastators fired again.

~

“Tighten the defensive line!” commanded High Admiral Pavir de Jardin. “Protect our heavy hitters from both sides!”

As he and his officers adjusted the battlefield and their fleet’s trajectory, all were filled with a certain amount of dread. They couldn’t help but feel it – their fleet was getting hammered on both sides. While the Federation perforated them from one side, the Empire wore away and shredded them from the other.

Sure, they were weathering the damage incredibly well. After all, the tungsten spears didn’t do much more than punch past the surface. If they had come with chemical or corrosive attacks, their devastators would have long since been crippled.

Their predicament would also be the same if their Empire’s beams and charged slugs could penetrate their more robust armor. They would have turned them inside-out long ago if they could.

Thankfully, their defenses held. For now. It wouldn’t take long until they were completely overrun and eradicated. It didn’t matter how technologically superior their armaments were – they were suffering damage faster than they could repair it.

“I want that compromised port beacon decommissioned,” ordered the High Admiral. “Last thing we need is more enemy reinforcements. Sweep around for an attack run, then raise the operational ceiling by two thousand meters. Let’s get more planetary turrets into play.”

Everyone watched with trepidation as their fleet swung around as instructed and fired on the port beacon. It exploded on the tacmap unceremoniously even as the fleet climbed up.

Pavir watched intently as they completed their objective, then issued another set of orders.

“Bring the fleet to a halt and open up the devastators’ internal port beacons,” he continued. “It’s time to call in our reinforcements. Pull ‘em down right on top of the fight.”

As instructed, the fleet slowed down to a crawl then came to a full stop. At the same time, the Imperial and Federation fleets that were flanking and chasing after them carefully repositioned themselves along the flanks.

Everyone in the control room watched with bated breath as the enemy fleet battered their defenses with absolute ease.

“Do we have enough ships in reserve?” asked the Grand Parliamentarian nervously. Worry had long since overtaken his face, clear for all to see.

“Don’t worry sir,” Pavir replied. “We’ll pull from every Omega-Tau fleet out there if we have to. We will hold this line, and we will destroy our enemies. Even if it costs us everything.”

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