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The Gyst - Chapter 5 It had been a long evening. Admiral Penny found relief in the form of writing performance reviews in his cabin. The dinner with Sharrsa had, again, devolved in a discussion about the lack of advance on the part of 1st Security Fleet in Gyst territory. Being the mouthpiece of the Magisterial Council gave Sharrsa a reinforced sense of bravado, poking at Penny’s sedentary stance. The verbal fit always ended the same way, with Penny stating that without substantial reinforcement no meaningful advance could be taken. Security concerns in rear areas tied down ships that would’ve been a great help now. Also the fact that the Vault front was getting first dibs on new ships was thrown in for Penny’s benefit, just so he could watch Sharrsa defend the Council’s stance with histrionic greatness. The past four months had seen the ongoing fortification of the Silverware/Barn warp point. Only one probe of the defenses was made by the Gyst, sending seven frigates in one wave last month. All had survived long enough to send one drone each before succumbing to laser buoy fire. At the very least the buoys arrived from Bhohim in quantity. Mines helped too, but Penny, like any admiral, wanted more of everything. Six small beam bases and three larger missile bases, reassembled by a horde of construction ships, held guard over the warp point. They accompanied the six hundred laser buoys and three hundred sixty patterns of mines hauled into Silverware since its capture. As crews went the base personnel were still green, and in two more months six more big bases will only further bolster the defenses. When those bases are in place the only thing holding the admiral back was ships. Currently Penny had eighteen battlecruisers (nine Privileges and nine Brokers), nine CLs, nine DDs, 36 FGs and 18 CTs. With more destroyers, and nine more minesweepers to supplement the nine already in attendance Penny felt he could launch another assault. But now the fleet held station at 4.5 light seconds from the warp point. With the demonstrated ability of the energy beam and the thickness of buoys and mines any conceivable assault the Gyst cared to launch would have to be overwhelming. Fighting to get past Vault appeared to be more of a priority for the Gyst and their King than recovering lost territory. So it was that Penny felt safe in the thought that if the Gyst had the gumption to return to Silverware they would’ve done so by now. A blaring klaxon took Penny from his paperwork duties in an instant. He grabbed his shipsuit helmet from its storage space and sprinted to an intraship car. “CIC, report status,” he barked into the suit’s communicator as the car began to move. “Enemy ships transiting into the system, Admiral,” said the CIC Chief Controller Currdu. “Five battleships, a battlecruiser, and a destroyer. Tenders One and Four have activated. I’ve ordered the full expenditure of the first buoy group.” Penny hummed in agreement. “If the next wave has five battleships as well expend the second buoy group. All ships will remain where they are until all activated. Active missile units will fire on cripples until further orders.” “Understood, Admiral.” In twenty seconds Penny entered Paymaster’s CIC. The holoimager showed the emergence of a second wave. It had the same composition as the first wave. However, the expenditure of 100 laser buoys should’ve breached the armor of all the first wave ships. The five battleships must have very heavy armor; the battlecruiser was clearly breached and the destroyer was gone. More disturbing was that the battleships mounted a weapon capable of bypassing shields and armor, disabling internal components. Five of the six beam bases reported hits and have lost some of their weaponry in the process. Currdu, at the imager’s primary control, displayed new data for Penny. “The second wave battleships have fired the same kind of weapon used by the first wave BBs. Our second buoy group had its fire thinned out thanks to the newcomers, but the beam and missile bases, those that have activated so far, are doing damage. Another DD has died, and the first minesweeping BC has joined it.” “I see that they’ve launched assault shuttles,” Penny observed, reading a secondary display, “and they’re using them to attack buoys. The first wave BBs are using point defense to take out buoys as well. They haven’t fired those new weapons again.” He surveyed the damage done so far by the second buoy group. It wasn’t enough, so Penny ordered the third group of buoys, all 100 of them, to fire. A reward came to sight as the first wave BBs finally belched atmosphere and debris. “That new beam may have a slower firing cycle. Ah!” Currdu exclaimed, “a third wave is entering. Same composition as before and the surviving first wave BBs have fired those new beams again. All bases report fresh damage to internal systems.” If Penny had eyebrows they would’ve furrowed in concern. Only one BB was destroyed thanks to energy beams, missiles, and laser buoys. The shuttles from the first and second waves were knocking out buoys along with the second wave minesweeper. More ships were still becoming active, but Penny was determined to advance in one solid mass instead of in driblets. That’s how the Gyst won the first battle of Gold. The commander there sent in his frigates as they became active, and they were picked off before they got into effective range. Still something had to be done with all these battleships. He ordered buoy groups four and five to fire into the mass of Gyst ships. The CIC crew was rewarded with the sight of four battleships, survivors from the first wave, exploding like fireworks. All five BBs from the second wave had breached armor while those in the third took the hits in stride. So far the enemy lost five BBs, 2 BC(MS), and 3 DDs. On the others side of the ledger 60 out of Penny’s 72 beam-armed ships were active, as were 11 out of the 18 missile units. In another 30 seconds, 60 tops, the fleet will move in and crush this assault. The loss of buoys and the damaged bases was just an inconvenience in Penny’s mind. Once he got the ships he requested… “Fourth wave transiting,” Currdu spoke. “It’s composed of three battleships, three cruisers, and a frigate.” “Use what’s left of the sixth buoy group immediately,” Penny barked before fitting his helmet to his suit, “before more of them are shot up.” Seventy buoys expended themselves on the collection of 18 Gyst ships. While the damage done on the newcomers was light those hit previously suffered, especially the second wave battleships. Then the Gyst returned fire. Lasers of hideous power lanced out from the new BBs and CAs. Five of the beam bases disintegrated while the sixth barely had life support. Only three of the second wave BBs died, but additional hits on the missile bases remove more missile launchers. On a tertiary screen Penny saw reports on the damage. Perfectly round five centimeter holes were laced throughout the missile bases. Where those holes bisected control banks or the supports for missile loaders the associated launcher was rendered useless. This ‘drill beam’, as Penny labeled it right then and there, apparently could only fire once a minute. But it was quite likely this new laser could fire at twice that rate. He rapidly made a decision. “Yerrga,” he said to his Operations Officer, “All beam units are to close on the enemy. Those ships not yet at actions stations will have to catch up. Set initial speed at .067c. Missile ships are to orbit the warp point at their maximum effective range.” “As you ordered, Admiral,” replied Yerrga. As the fleet went to its business the fifth wave appeared. In the opposite direction one second wave BB, the third wave BC, and a fourth wave CA went back through the warp point to Barn. Penny watched as his missile bases received the full attention of the Gyst ships. Both drill and laser beams lacerated the interiors, but revenge was achieved with the destruction of a third-wave battleship. At a range of 2.5 light seconds the sixth wave came, and it was a simultaneous transit. Twenty four frigates, most likely Spars, emerged. Four frigates tried to share the same space at the same time and exploded far more violently than normal. Due to the range, only one Gyst battleship was destroyed and another made into a shorted-out wreck by the combined efforts of the fleet. One of Penny’s BCs and three frigates were singled out and ruined. Then, for some reason, one of the Gyst CAs exploded after it fired its lasers. It had been completely untouched from weapon hits. There would be time after the battle to solve that mystery; Penny ordered the range to be closed further. At a range of only 1.5 light seconds from the warp point he saw the seventh wave join the ever-growing violent battle. This time it was six BCs and a FG, all laser-armed and proving it against his ships. Now the energy beams did more damage. In conjunction with missiles and force beams two Gyst laser BBs were axed with two more and a CA receiving internal damage. Two of the Spars fell to missile fire from the Midbow CLs. Another of Penny’s BCs was gutted with a second losing armor and a pair of engines. Seven frigates were destroyed, and it was going to be the energy beams that will decide the fight. With the minefield still holding back the Gyst the advantage remained with Penny. New orders went out. All ships went to maximum engine modulation at a speed of .033c. At just one light-second range a further six Gyst BCs with an attending Spar entered the fray. Three more laser BBs and four FGs were gutted or exploded. Penny winced as eight more of his frigates and three corvettes died. Then the Gyst found the range to the BCs Third Shift Super and Paymaster, his ship. Angry lasers ripped into both ships’ vitals. Paymaster’s CIC went up in a pyrotechnic display, and Penny’s world went dark. The Bhohim fleet was at half a light-second from the warp point when the Gyst ninth wave emerged. Of the seven ships the most important one was the Lord Skylar, Admiral Lysaan’s new flagship. Ensconced in his flagship’s CIC, Lysaan saw that his projections on the battle were proven correct. The enemy was fixated on destroying the x-ray laser armed ships. At this range even the massive amount of erratic maneuvering employed by the Bhohim frigates and corvettes won’t matter much. Casualties climbed for both sides, but the killing power of the new lasers was telling. It was such a desperate situation for the Bhohim that they even risked entering their own minefields to do as much damage as possible. Lysaan was glad that the Bhohim Admiral, for whatever reason, decided to initially place his ships far from the warp point and waited until practically all of them were active. But that didn’t mean they died for nothing. Seven of the new Incendiary BCs were weaponless. The eighteen Bhohim missile ships had concentrated on the Spars. By the time the remaining enemy corvettes were at point blank range all the laser frigates were out of the picture. The eleventh and twelfth waves were composed of light missile cruisers. After them will be the minesweepers. If the Bhohim missile ships think they’ll be safe once the destroyers were gone then they had another thing coming. The long-range laser fire came as a surprise to the Bhohim; two of the BC(R)s losing their weak armor after two salvos. In return they kept on squashing those destroyers and frigates that arrived with waves eleven through fourteen. At sight of the first set of minesweepers the Bhohim commander decided to ‘bug-out’, leaving behind three cripples that soon succumbed to capital and standard missile fire. Seven and a half minutes into the battle Lysaan order his eight relatively intact battleships to accompany the twelve Explosion minesweepers into a section of the minefield that held sixty patterns. The patterns in question were set to ‘double-rate’ fire, meaning the ships would face twice as many mine attacks as normal. It also meant the battleships would get attacked twice whereas ten of the true minesweepers would have to only face one attack each. All eight battleships, including two from the third wave, were heavily damaged after the mine onslaught. The Explosions, using their tractor beams in wide angle mode, removed the 280 mines that remained. Lysaan’s Lord Skylar wasn’t going to be in any battles for at least three months. The victorious admiral waited patiently as his remaining waves emerged. The only ships left with the sustained speed to catch the fleeing Bhohims were five Spars, six Infantry DDs and eighteen of the Prism-Ls DDs. With three Eagle Eye frigate scouts to act as their long-range eyes those fleet little ships, now dubbed Task Group 111, were going to prevent those Bhohim from escaping. A chime alerted Lysaan that the recovery transports and Royal Army troopships, loaded with 80,000 soldiers, made transit. The admiral transferred his flag to his brother’s ship, the missile BC Visor. Search and rescue operations were conducted as well as boarding actions on those Bhohim ships that failed to self-destruct when called upon to surrender. The task force Lysaan now commanded could handle the eight Brokers and seven Midbows should they decide to regroup and engage in a missile duel. By the time the admiral reached Silverware orbit he didn’t have to worry about those ships.
The first group of ships encountered by TG 111 was the minesweepers. Composed of nine Weed Killers and eighteen Glass Jaws this group was waiting fifteen light seconds from the warp point. Once the Gyst breached the minefield the group moved away at 0.1c towards the Silverware/Manor warp point. No thought was given to de-tuning the BCs engines; with their exit warp point on the opposite side of the system enough engines would’ve been burnt out in the process. Watching as the DDs close on his ships the Bhohim Group Commander, Junior Commander Copper, wished the missile ships had closed on his position instead of fleeing on separate trajectories. So instead cursing his luck Copper hoped to occupy his pursuers as long as possible so that the missile cruisers could put more distance between themselves and the DDs. Royal Navy Commodore Hirsyth, in charge of the TG 111, was the personification of all destroyer crews. Taking aggression to the limit to compensate for his small ships’ fragility, Hirsyth repeatedly called upon Copper to surrender his ships. The first four calls went unanswered. Finished making requests, Hirsyth then began making less than complementary comments about the SSF. His taunts ultimately culminated into assertion that SSF crews couldn’t hold their liquor. Whether or not this slight affected Copper’s decision to attack remains unknown for he didn’t record it in his last log entry. The range had finally closed to five light seconds. Hirsyth, wanting to keep the true range of the spinal laser a secret a bit longer, had his Prism-Ls hold their fire. His Infantry DDs, however, did open up on the Glass Jaws. In the initial volley two of the ESs were damaged, one heavily. At 4.75 light seconds two more ESs were reduced to half speed. It was here that Copper decided to attack. The Glass Jaws turned and closed on the Gyst ships; those at full speed and the heavily damaged one of the first volley were now at a range of only two light seconds. As for the Weed Killers they kept moving but turned 60° to subjective starboard so they could fire their externally mounted capital missiles. Had the minesweepers been equipped with datalink, then it was conceivable they could’ve destroyed two or even three frigates. Even with the help of the ESs only one Spar was reduced to one engine room while another just lost its shields and some armor. Five Glass Jaws were destroyed in turn. Ever shrewd, Hirsyth judged that the remaining escorts would attempt to ram. He held his ships together in one spot, practically motionless as ten escorts de-tuned their engines and threw themselves at the task group. All of them were fixated on the frigates, even the barely mobile one. Four escorts successfully rammed, doing light internal damage on two Spars, destroying the cripple and rendering another into a one-engine wonder. All the remaining Glass Jaws were destroyed by lasers and missiles, but not before another ram-damaged Spar was crippled. The Weed Killers kept going, heading back onto their original course for the Manor warp point. Hirsyth had his ships return to speed and close. At 3.75 light seconds range he ordered the Prism-Ls to open fire. There was no point in having the Infantry DDs waste their ammunition against such missile-proof targets, not until they were clearly crippled. In response the Weed Killers de-tuned their engines. They now moved as fast as the DDs, and that was just fine with Hirsyth. The longer he could keep the Bhohim in ignorance about the true range of the spinal laser the better. After two volleys of laser fire the minesweepers launched their assault shuttles. It was the crews escaping; all the shuttles were heading towards Silverware. Hirsyth couldn’t know for sure this was the case and kept firing on the big ships. Thus, twenty minutes after the first missiles were fired all the Weed Killers were gone. He had his damaged frigates and one Eagle Eye conduct a search and rescue operation for life pods from their fallen brethren. Further in-system the task group ran down one of the buoy control ships. The crew scuttled their ship and left in a shuttle. Then came the eight Broker class BC(R)s. This Bhohim commander of the Brokers, Senior Commander Farthing, also knew the odds. Had he stopped to reload his external ordnance the task group would’ve closed the range dangerously. Slowing down to maximize ECM would only hasten his ships’ destruction, so he opted to maintain max military speed and maneuver to keep the DDs out of his blind spot. Hirsyth figured that Farthing would go down fighting. When the range finally dropped down to the maximum reach of capital missiles he had the ships detune their engines for ninety seconds. So instead of six volleys of missiles the task group faced only four, just long enough to get with maximum range of the spinal lasers. His ships stopped detuning, and at 5.75 light seconds range they proceeded to pick off the Brokers one by one. Throughout the battle the BCs would zigzag to keep the RN ships out of their blindspots. For the Prism-Ls DDs that didn’t made a difference while the Infantry DDs finished off those ships moving at a crawl of .033c. The Brokers had fired some of their missiles earlier in the warp point battle. In the latter stages of this pursuit the dwindling number of BCs actually ran out of ammunition. Later Hirsyth would admit that his ships should’ve kept detuning until the range was dropped to 4 light seconds. While the battle did end in a victory for the Royal Navy with all eight Brokers destroyed, Hirsyth lost one Spar and nine Prism-Ls with some armor damage to a tenth and crippling damage to three Infantry DDs. Despite the effective loss of half his force the Commodore resolved to continue on and go after the seven Midbow CLs. With armor only one-third as effective as the Brokers killing the small cruisers would be easier and quicker. Detailing his three crippled missile destroyers and one Eagle Eye to rescue RN survivors the Commodore angled towards the not-so-distant contacts that were the Midbows. Having received word via courier drone from Farthing the commander of the Midbows, Senior Commander Yen, knew he was doomed as well. Also heading to the Manor warp point at max speed, the Midbows would be within firing range of the RN destroyers before they had to worry about engine burnout. Like Farthing, Yen was going to take down as many DDs as possible before succumbing to laser fire. With luck enough of the infernal little ships would be destroyed so that they couldn’t pursue the mobile shipyards and repair ships fleeing the system. Yen elected to come to a stop so as to load his external ordnance racks. The one thing he did lack was long range scanners. All the EX scouts had moved on ahead and formed a line, interposing themselves between Silverware and the Barn warp point. Those scouts within range of Yen’s ships did send messages with revised intercept times of the DDs. Hirsyth, anxious to reduce the time spent in the missile envelope of the Midbows, decided to use engine de-tuning once his ships reach normal sensor range of the cruisers. He was helped inadvertently by Yen, who had slowed to half speed. Yen wanted his first volley of missiles fired at optimum range. In conjunction with the capital missiles on his external racks Yen sought to cripple three DDs in the first exchange. At 3.75 LS range he got his opportunity. Two Prism-Ls, thanks to their two EDMs, lost only half their armor. The third DD was far less fortunate, though it still had its spinal laser after the exchange. Due to the detuning’s effect on fire control only the armor on the targeted CL was lost. Yen brought his cruisers up to speed, and the range dropped by half a light second. For the loss of one DD the Gyst finally destroyed the datalink of one CL and scoured the armor on another. Now at a range where his lasers could do more damage Hirsyth had his ship stop detuning. The improvement in accuracy was noticeable. Another Midbow lost its datalink while a third was reduced to one-third speed, thanks to the fire of the three Infantry DDs. Being the focus of the enemy’s attention, another Prism-Ls, its EDMs gone, succumbed to a torrent of missiles. The range inexorably dropped. With all the pertinent datalinks broken the Midbow’s fire was severely weakened. It took all of the Midbows to cripple one Prism-Ls, though it was one that used up its EDMs earlier. The slowed Midbow lost its weapons, and was quickly followed by others. To the end Yen’s discipline held. His ships kept maneuvering and firing until the last actively engaging cruiser was destroyed 1.25 light seconds from Hirsyth’s command. It had cost the Commodore four of his spinal laser DDs. Moreover one had lost half its armor (Hirsyth’s own ship) and another was badly crippled. All seven Midbows were destroyed with the last two, crippled early only, finished off by the Eagle Eye scout and the still armed but crippled Prism-Ls. It was almost a day in Hirsyth’s book. Again he detailed his damaged ships to search for survivors. Now down to just six DDs and a scout the remains of TG111 chased down another buoy control ship. This time the ship surrendered, and the crew failed to destroy the database. Upon receiving new orders from Admiral Lysaan the task group headed for Silverware for much need rest and repair.
The first sign of Penny regaining consciousness was his antennae moving in circles. His eyes opened almost immediately. He knew then that he was in a medical ward, fashioned in Bhohim equipment and style, but didn’t know that if he was on a ship, base, or groundside. The doctors and orderlies were Bhohim, so that could mean his side had won the battle. Then he saw the Fendalen. With light blue skin, the Fendalen wore the rank of Admiral (Second Barb) on his vest. He also had some kind of award or decoration around his neck. It was a golden sword and spear crossed over a diamond. The light glinting from the faux diamond drew Penny’s eyes to it. “Ah, you’re awake,” said the Fendalen in the Bhohim tongue. His accent was like a saw cutting into sheet metal. “I’ve been taught to speak Bhohim, but as you hear I’ve picked up the accent of the teaching program.” “Then you’ve one upped me, Admiral. Am I correct to say that you’re my prisoner?” The Fendalen laughed. “So it is true. Bhohim always make lighthearted jokes in unfortunate circumstances. Let me say some things first, Admiral Penny, before you ask for tea and chewing leafs. I’m Admiral Lysaan, commander of the Home Fleet and Knight of the Realm as ordained by King Kysjyt. Your fleet has been dealt a decisive defeat at the hands of my ships. Only your support ships and scouts have escaped. Based on what you knew before being rendered unconscious, you are correct in guessing that you have significantly damaged my fleet in turn. However, all your reinforcements will run into a thick web of buoys and mines at the Manor warp point, and I still have the strength to overcome those defenses you have on the other side.” Something inside Penny told him that this Lysaan character had gained access to his databases. He felt no need to stroke his opponent’s ego in that regard. “How many of my personnel have you rescued?” he said abruptly. “Over 8,000 have been recovered, Admiral.” That was less than half of the Bhohim personnel involved, a fact that surely was on top of Penny’s mind. Lysaan pressed on quickly before Penny raised his ire. “Bear in mind that first priority was that of my own crews. With what room we had left on our ships and transports we filled with your survivors, but for the two battles on the way to the Manor warp point we hadn’t been able to recover Bhohim lifepods. There simply wasn’t room. At present all Bhohim personnel are being held on Silverware, on which prison camps will be constructed so that they will have housing against the elements.” Penny twitched his antennae in an unconscious sign of agreement. “I expect good treatment of my men. Ask your Silverware administrators. During my watch I made sure my prisoners were well cared for and fed.” “You have my word as a Knight of the Realm that nothing unpleasant will be done to your men. As soon as you recover sufficiently, you’ll be heading dirtside to become the senior POW. These doctors will follow as well, and this base will be converted for use by the Royal Navy.” “Base?” Penny asked quizzically. Lysaan’s accent didn’t seem so distracting now. “Yes. You’re currently in the medical ward of the only warp point base that retained life support. Eight of your ships, all damaged to one extent or another, surrendered as well. Some had intact databases, including your flagship.” Lysaan’s four antennae flexed up and down twice in a Fendalen sign of amusement. “Your flagship’s primary and secondary computers were indeed wiped clean, but we found the information we needed in a data spool found on the person of one Sharrsa Coinpurse. We found him trapped in his quarters, specifically the toilet booth. I don’t know what or how much he ate, but when pressure was restored to his quarters we found him ankle-deep in his own waste. We also found a data spool he attempted to hide. Apparently he swallowed it, and in the two intervening days it passed through his gut to the other side. You may want to ask him why he thought it necessary to copy sensitive military files to his own personal data spool.” Lysaan had to chuckle. “The silly little thing didn’t have emergency erase function. If you doubt my words, just ask the Paymaster personnel that found him.” Penny’s antennae involuntarily went inverted, expressing displeasure. “I have no need to doubt where Sharrsa is involved.” “Very well, Admiral. I will make time to visit you again before resuming the offensive. You’ll have the opportunity to tell your stories, before Naval Intelligence specialists start loosening your mouth with liquor and luxury. Heal well, Admiral Penny.” The yellow skinned Bhohim watched as Lysaan left the ward. Having small talk with an enemy admiral was something to look forward to. His real wish was to spend five minutes with Sharrsa. The blithering, self-serving lies he’ll tell about the spool would certainly win him top acting awards back on Bhohim Prime.
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