Chapter 21: Background on Battles

Jen sighed. “Well, the first thing I have to admit is that the information that Earth receives is heavily censored. Central Command doesn’t want to admit that we’re getting pushed back across the whole front.”

“Oh?” Richard asked.

Jen nodded. “The pickup system hasn’t been able to move enough people. That’s why we are getting the Kilo class ships into service now. Honestly, they aren’t truly ready but the needs of the navy and marines demand more and more people picked up. Eventually we are supposed to have cube ships that can carry tens of thousands of pods at a time, but until we get more Kilo class ships built a good week of pickups will move fewer than a thousand citizens.”

Bruno whistled. “I thought it was a lot more.”

“It makes sense we all thought that,” I admitted. “People are panicked enough already. Every time we’ve seen any video of the Sa’arm they are dominating the screen and destroying anyone who attempts to stand up to them.”

Richard nodded. “Damn, that is so true. I’m trying to remember any video that talked about the available ships the navy is using, and other than the videos talking about the Aurora class ships being used in pickups.”

Jen nodded. “And the Aurora class ships are not custom built. We were given them by the Confederacy. They are some of the largest freighters used by the alien races we are trying to protect. This ship, Princess Victoria, is one of the first of its class to see passengers. Honestly its not supposed to be used as the entire class is still in tests and trials, but the front desperately needs more personnel. Borneo is currently in dire need for more men and ships. They lost a couple battles recently and that cost them a carrier, six battlecruisers as well as several destroyers and corvettes. Our group will add only two battlecruisers and four corvettes to their line of battle.”

“How?” Richard asked. “And their admiral wasn’t cashiered?”

“The orders that led to the two battles came from Central Command and Admiral Himmel was careful to clearly and carefully document both his protest against the tactics being pushed, as well as his efforts to ensure the survival of the ships being sent out. The first battle at Ursus twelve involved a carrier group that had no defensive fire ships heading into an unscouted system. They were caught by a large Sa’arm force that was able to approach from their starboard flank,” Jen said.

Bruno shook his head. “If all they had were Hero class battlecruisers and then smaller destroyers and corvettes I can see the problem. I love the heavy railgun on a Hero, but they are definitely a bit undergunned along their flanks and need support. Why did they not have an Asia class with them.”

“Which class?” Richard asked.

“Asia class destroyer. They carry thirty medium particle beam cannon in dual turrets. They aren’t quite as flexible or powerful as a Goddess, but they are faster, harder to hit and have a good level of survivability,” Jen said.

“Don’t the Goddess class ships use an electrified grid and mobile particle beam cannons? I can’t understand why they wouldn’t make a destroyer with the same system,” Richard said.

“It wouldn’t work,” Este said. “The gunballs need space to move around and a destroyer wouldn’t be that large. I’d expect that no more than a dozen single gun units could roam the surface of an Asian if you built it to host gunballs. And those would be lighter cannon. A Goddess carries forty heavy cannon and as long as the gunners work together you can maneuver around the surface of the ship.”

“That is just one battle. You inferred there was more than one,” Richard asked.

Jen nodded. “I’m still trying to find out more information on what happened at Wolf three six seven. All I can confirm is that Central Command issued a panicked order that the Sa’arm in the system were to be kicked out. Admiral Himmel sent two carrier task groups as well as just about every destroyer he could scrounge up. They were supposed to clear the system to allow the marine assault transports to follow up and conduct combat landings.”

“We conduct combat landings?” Matilda asked. “From the training I watched I thought we quickly abandon any system where the Sa’arm manage to land on the planet.”

“I thought the same,” Bruno admitted.

Jen shrugged. “I couldn’t say. I know that some of the marine generals insist that it can be done and there are at least four colonies that exist purely to train up marine brigades. We have even converted a number of alien freighters to turn them into combat transports capable of delivering marines to a planetary surface. We do need to gain experience in fighting against the aliens on planets as eventually we expect them to arrive at Earthat.”

“Damn,” Richard said softly. “Anyways, we were talking about this system Wolf something something seven.”

“Three six seven,” Jen said. “The records I’ve seen said that the Borneo forces lost three Hero class and one Goddess class in that battle. The full analysis wasn’t available, but what I could read shows that the senior carrier commander refused to listen to the multiple warnings coming from the other ship commanders as they approached the planet. It didn’t help that the commander of Asase Ya held off on sending out the ships gunballs until the shooting started.”

“Why would that matter?” Richard asked.

“Asase Ya was a Goddess class and was supposed to cover part of the formation. Morrigan, Athena and Sif all sent their gunballs out early, and all three ships survived. Asase Ya died early, leaving a massive hole in the formation. Pollux and Gilgamesh were in the area that Asase Ya should have covered. Neither ship survived. Nor did two Asia class destroyers that tried to fill the gap,” Jen said.

“Wow,” I admitted. “That’s a lot more information than I expected. And I remember you said that Admiral Himmel is going to be changing the way the navy operates going forward.”

“He has to,” Jen said with a sad nod. “The Leo district is the nearest one to Borneo district and they have lost their main naval planet. They have two planets that the Sa’arm have already made landings on, but which the marines are still fighting for, and then DECO is opening up two new planets to try to maintain some level of defense. Fortunately, the aliens have no major planets nearby so giving up some ground hasn’t caused issues. But Borneo district doesn’t have that option. If the Sa’arm take Borneo and Moreton they will be able to jump to three alien colonies.”

“So we need to fight hard, but smart,” Richard said. “I hate to ask, but what do you know about Admiral Himmel.”

Jen frowned. “Not all that much. He was a corporate turnaround specialist on Earth. I hear he has at least four children with CAP scores high enough to volunteer and all of them have joined the Confederacy. Rumor has it that his wife became one of his concubines. I never attended many of the naval staff meetings, but what rumors that did spread through Central Command indicated that he was a good manager and well respected by the other admirals despite his lack of prior military experience. Most of the district governors and naval district administrators were in an Earth military before joining the Confederacy.”