|
The Crusade- Ord Wylan
| |
| Gerard_Rex | Date: Friday, 14 February 14, 12:45 PM | Message # 1 |
 Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 44
Status: Offline
| Having made his rendezvous in adequate time, Gerard Rex watched the countdown timer on the command console in front of him. The fleet, of which he was a part, would be due to arrive close to Ord Wyland. Indeed, Rex had ordered the navigators to plot a jump to ten thousand kilometers outside the world's mass shadow, largely to give them a greater element of surprise. There had been a slight bit of dismay when he'd declined the command seat on the Basilica, the crusade's heavily modified M-class liner and elected instead to have all commands routed through the Blended Jade's own advanced communications and tactical suite. While Rex could well understand the allure of the converted liner, his own small yacht was much faster, more agile and a far less tempting target.
As the clock ticked its final seconds, Rex prepared for the slight lurch of reversion to realspace, and the fleet came out in a roughly appropriate formation. The Basilica was first and foremost, with an Etti-class freighter to either side and distant by five kilometers. The ten TL-1200 transports were to their rear by a good five kilometers, in a flight pattern stacking them five low and five high, with a kilometer's maneuvering room between them all, and behind them came the unarmed pair of Action-II transports and the pair of Gallofree tankers, with the final ship being the Blended Jade, which took up a position above the Basilica.
"Comms, jam all long-range frequencies," Rex ordered the officers on the M-class. "Prepare for immediate defensive posture." Shields were raised and weapon systems went hot across the fleet. "Open a channel to any nearby vessels for me," Rex said to his own pilot. With the short-range comms open, Rex considered his words and addressed any ships of Ord Wylan in the nearby vicinity.
"Defenders of Ord Wylan, rejoice! This is a joyous, glorious day for you! I am the High Prophet of the Church of the Good Deity, come to spread the word and embrace all of you as new brothers and sisters into the fold of plenty. Come with us, my friends, and we will go planetside to tell the duke of our good works and friendship, so that he may know enlightenment and become one of us!"
Gerrard 'Grendel' Rex
|
| |
| |
| Duke_Wylan | Date: Sunday, 16 February 14, 3:55 PM | Message # 2 |
 Private
Group: Users
Messages: 11
Status: Offline
| Two Gozanti Cruisers, the Indefatigable and the Reprimand rose from the planetary surface and powered shields, one heading on an intercept course for the fleet of crusaders. Also from Port Wylan a pair of Cloakshapes, equipped with hyperspace sleds took off and headed in the opposing direction, away from the fleet and away from the Gozantis, using the planet's shape itself to sling them around and increase their speed as the sought to escape away from the crusade and to get far away enough to jump to hyperspace.
"The Duke says to go bugger yourself with a bollock dagger, and then cut your own bollocks off with it, you Republic Arselings. Take your superstitions with you and bugger off."
The lead Gozanti cruiser of the two, a few hundred meters ahead of the other and to the right and fired a proton torpedo across the bow of one of the Etti-class ships, a true warning shot across their bow.
Duke Charles Wylan
________________
Pro-Duke of the Duchy of Ord Wylan
|
| |
| |
| Gerard_Rex | Date: Sunday, 16 February 14, 4:35 PM | Message # 3 |
|
Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 44
Status: Offline
| Rex was not unsurprised by the response; it was unlikely that they would take him at face value and if the Duke was like many royalty, he would be far from willing to give up the comforts of life to become part of a greater whole. Of course, Rex could quite understand; he'd have likely given the same response if someone had come knocking at his door with the same message. However, Rex had his own motives, and the crusade that the Arch-Lector had put together was a stepping stone towards those ends. Fortunately, Rex was willing to deal with this the hard way.
Coming out of hyperspace from a slightly different destination point emerged the final portion of the crusade fleet: the eighteen Hieronymus-class XX-7 vessels. Emerging in the path of the Cloakshape fighters, still out of range of smaller laser cannons, the unconventional ships warmed weapons and opened fire on the pair of smaller craft, full on. The onslaught was designed to devastate, and being relatively small and likely nimble enough, intended as scout craft, the XX-7s should have had little trouble defeating their much smaller enemies.
From his place on the Blended Jade, though, even as the XX-7s emerged from hyperspace, Rex had dropped back to the crusade fleet's secured comms. "It seems they don't want to take us seriously, my friends. Basilica, open fire heavy cannons on lead Gozanti's bow. Show them we mean business. Etti's one and two, swing wide and take out the second Gozanti's engines. I want them intact, if possible."
The Basilica's pair of quad heavy turbolasers thundered out their first salvo, striking for the lead Wylanite ship's bow, aimed for maximum damage. The pair of Etti-classes accelerated, swinging wide left and right respectively from where they were, flanking the Basilica, aiming a wide turn as their quad laser cannons came to bear, firing off as much as they could while attempting to swing out and around behind the slower Gozanti cruiser.
"All transports, prepare to enter atmosphere and proceed with assault on Port Wylan. I want their defensive ship sunk and the Duke taken as quickly as possible." Intending to lead the transports, Rex's own ship accelerated, breaking off and away from the fight the larger vessels were conducting as the TL-1200s began a following maneuver.
Gerrard 'Grendel' Rex
|
| |
| |
| Duke_Wylan | Date: Thursday, 27 February 14, 10:46 AM | Message # 4 |
|
Private
Group: Users
Messages: 11
Status: Offline
| “A mule has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity”
Robert Green Ingersoll
Soldier, Abolitionist, Supporter of Women's Equality and Freethinker.
The XX-7s were truly not vehicles built to engage with starfighters. While proficient against capital ships they lacked anti-fighter weaponary on their 15m hulls, and also lacked any ability to redirect the weapon from forward firing position while in space, only when landed could they track targets. As such the XX-7 ships fire was easy to avoid as the reliance upon forward facing turbolasers on these relatively slow craft caused the Cloakshapes to be able to run circles around them.
They approached spinning evasively in erratic corkscrews and jinks as they approached, avoiding any of the ships being able to effectively target and hairpin turned to bring the swiftly in behind the group of lumbering Mules (aptly named), they opened fire with laser cannons and concussion missiles (who's automated tracking the Mule is extremely unlikely to be able to avoid due to lack of countermeasures, agility or close in weapons) upon the sluggish and almost defenseless turret ships. While it hadn't been the original plan, another 6 Cloakshapes took off, similarly equipped as the reports of the XX-7s being easy meat got back to the surface via local communications. The Cloakshapes closed on the XX-7s, isolated as they were from the rest of the fleet and began to line up attack runs. The slower turning circles combined with slow firing fixed axis guns would begin to hobble the Mules rapidly as the planetary forces launched coordinated strikes on these siege ships in pairs, avoiding the riskier targets around the planet they were wolves among the flock. Solid as they might be, the Ord Wylan Royal Starfighter Corps was able to allot circa 2 Concussion missiles to each target in the 18 XX-7 formation, hitting each with an initial missile, bringing down the shields with laser cannon fire, and where needed using the second missile to destroy the target. The fact was that constant laser cannon fire combined with a pair of concussion missiles each was too much fire for a 15m scout ship to survive.
The Cloakshapes would hunt in pairs, swiftly eliminating these egregious sub-capital turbolaser ships. Unless support arrived it could be over in a couple of minutes, as there isn't any effective way the XX-7s could repel an attack constantly coming from different directions, pairs of these predators swooped, struck and came around on a random trajectory for another pass. The best comparison might be a Bomb Ketch like HMS Carcass (1759) that had only it's mortars fighting a Sloop like HMS Speedy (1782), although similar in Length the Sloop is generally more manouverable than the heavily built bombardment vessel, thus while a Bomb Ketch might better level a shore battery than a Sloop, it would find itself helpless as the faster, more agile and more suitably equipped Sloops (instead of a small number of fixed angle big cannons, a number of smaller guns with more than one angle of fire and the ability to evade the ponderous siege guns on a Bomb Ketch.
The XX-7s were being outmatched and outmanouvered thanks to a total lack of anti-fighter weaponary and due to the fact they were in no way shape or form designed to fight snubfighters, it was like sending Tartan-class ships against DP-20s. Out of their depth and seemingly out of options, calling for help from the distant rest of the fleet would seem to be the best option that resulted in the crews not all dying. The Cloakshapes squadron leader would offer an olive branch over short range comms to the Mule force "Surrender and abandon ship immediately and you will be treated with all dignity as prisoners of war. Until I receive a signal of your acceptance of this and see escape pods being jettisoned, your raiding gunboats will continue to be eliminated." The Cloakshape pilots were confident, even after allotting each mule 2 torps in most cases, they still had over half their missile loadout intact and were performing excellently.
_________________________________________________________
Back at the Main battleground.
The Gozanti-cruisers became abundantly satisfied with a scan as they fired their warning shot, having merely exited the atmosphere by a fraction and at the extreme range of proton torpedoes to fire their warning shot were abundantly satisfied their message had been sent. As a Turbolaser and Proton Torpedo have approximately equivalent effective range, firing the warning shot across the bow wouldn't put them in dramatic danger of Turbolaser fire from the M-Class being accurate, especially as they swiftly made an about turn, relying upon the force of gravity to drop them like stones into the atmosphere.
Dropping down back toward the planet they allowed themselves to plummet into an electrical storm east at sea of the capital, masking their sensor readings in the wild electrical storm out at sea. They each made sure they had a torpedo primed in the tube and kept low within the clouds. As craft better equipped to plummet thanks to their compact shape, it'd be hard for any of the corvette size Etti-class ships to try and take the same course. They kept in contact with the Port Wylan barracks sporadically, ready to be called out to engage aggressors or provide supporting fire.
The Iron Swan fired off sensor retarding high density smoke canisters across the small cove next to Port Wylan which it lay in. Making it difficult to accurately target from orbit, especially with the electrical interference as it moved up and down the shallow bay taking evasive action. It would require spotters on the ground or in the air to call down accurate fire on this seaborne relic. From Port Wylan itself laser cannons and heavy repeating blasters in a variety of locations sat hidden but ready to switch on at a moments notice and eliminate any prowling "spotter craft".
Likewise, the Ord Wylan sensor array was effected by the storm meaning it had trouble isolating anything directly with modern sensors unless it approached within 50km. Fortunately, both the ship and the Portmaster's Buildings were mounted with older radar that while less precise allowed for targets within a hundred km to be pinpointed, alongside this was a network of spotters with telescopes and binoculars across the town, able to radio in when they had sighted an enemy. There were also marks and boys floating at sea that conveniently marked coordinates and ranges in a pattern only the locals new, meaning even without a cutting edge artillery control system they could still organize fire effectively in any direction.
The capital garrison doubled the sentries on the wall but didn't order a full manning except for gunners and spotters at this time. The main wall-manning garrisons were underground in their bombardment sheltered bunkers dug under the walls in some cases and under sub-basement floors made of duracrete and steel in others.
It was tense, at sea the storm system raged.
On the ground.. Silence. The Duke himself took a drink from a servant as he sat in the command center. "Tell those bloody Gentleman Pilots" he said with a disdain reserved for the Cygnite Noble run Royal Starfighter Corps "to stop engaging the XX-7s and either return to holding patterns in the atmosphere or to retreat to the closest world posthaste to call for reinforcement. This is an invasion and the last thing I want is my Air Cavalry (as fighters were referred to in the Cygnus Empire) seeing some juicy targets and hitting them rather than doing their job!" he put on his blue cocked hat. "Gentlemen, there is no cause for panic" he addressed his staff. "These are renegade religionists from the Republic. Both the Republic, the Hutts and the Empire will be down on them in a few days, we just need to hold fast here and we can hold them off until reinforcement arrives."
It was to be seen what the pilots did.
Duke Charles Wylan
________________
Pro-Duke of the Duchy of Ord Wylan
Message edited by Duke_Wylan - Thursday, 27 February 14, 10:49 AM |
| |
| |
| ArchLector_Sejanus | Date: Thursday, 27 February 14, 3:03 PM | Message # 5 |
 Private
Group: Users
Messages: 15
Status: Offline
| One of the Arch-Lector's Shadows was already on Ord Wylan. He had been doing work for several weeks, moving unseen at night and getting the lay of the land around the port itself. Marking out landing zones with sprays visible only in IR to guide craft in, spreading a little fear..
The darkness of the thicker wood lines and gullys kept him from site, hearing by the local comms that the attack had begun, he made his way up to a rocky outcrop a few miles away from Port Wylan with a decent view of the sky, he then opened a cylinder with a tripod that glowed for a second before he turned it's light off, beaconing on simple radio frequencies to the fleet with his code signal. It began to transmit the intelligence he had picked up from the past few weeks night marches and observations. He had even had an OP over the town of Port Wylan until patrols came too close and he had decide to leave rather than be bumped, the process of transmitting the intel would be slow, but the locals would be unlikely to detect it and the data he has could provide invaluable to the cause.
+++ Data Parcel One +++  +++ Data Parcel Two: Port Wylan Surveillance and Intel +++ Compressing for Transmission +++
The Shadow then said a soft prayer and found a crag under a rocky outcrop in a hillside of scree that would shield him until darkness, then he would use all his combat drug stimulated muscle power to make haste for a spot overlooking Port Wylan. His main task was completed but if he could find a secure hide within a couple of kilometers of the city with a view of the walls, there was just a chance he might be able to shoot their Duke if he walked that section of the the wall. It was a long shot but worth it. It was possible, if he could take such a shot at night, he might even escape live into the deeper valleys and hills of the interior.
Further images from Probe droids 1 and 2
The Most Holy and Thrice Blessed Lord Sejanus
_____________________
Arch-Lector of the Church of the Good Deity
Vicar of the Feminine Divine,
Patriarch of all Men, Supreme Head of the Universal Church.
Message edited by ArchLector_Sejanus - Tuesday, 04 March 14, 5:04 AM |
| |
| |
| Gerard_Rex | Date: Saturday, 08 March 14, 12:21 PM | Message # 6 |
|
Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 44
Status: Offline
| (As an OOC note from here, there is no mention of the XX-7 Mule being unable to redirect their turret in space. As well, being a 15 meter 'scouting craft,' I imagine they are rather decently fast. Though it might help to hear more from Jace, who originally created these.)
Gerrard 'Grendel' Rex
|
| |
| |
| Jace_Varitek | Date: Saturday, 08 March 14, 1:22 PM | Message # 7 |
 Major general
Group: Administrators
Messages: 332
Status: Offline
| (( I can be helpful here.
Quote Duke_Wylan (  ) While proficient against capital ships they lacked anti-fighter weaponary on their 15m hulls, and also lacked any ability to redirect the weapon from forward firing position while in space, only when landed could they track targets.
This statement is mostly, but not completely true. Can the Mule "redirect the weapon from forward firing position while in space"? Probably, yes. I envisaged the Mule is completely self-contained so it can be used even on planets with harsh elements or unbreathable atmospheres, so sure, it can adjust the position of the turret while in space. However it is intended primarily as a ground-based weapon and probably doesn't have gyroscopic equipment or a targeting computer sophisticated enough to track targets while the Mule is in motion (except for a rudimentary ability to fire forward only).
Bottom line: yes it's possible, but the targeting computer wouldn't be of much help and pretty much hopeless against small, fast-moving targets. Unless you go all Luke Skywalker and use the Force, that is.
I hope this is helpful. You're both right and both wrong, basically. ))
Jace Varitek
|
| |
| |
| Jace_Varitek | Date: Saturday, 08 March 14, 1:33 PM | Message # 8 |
|
Major general
Group: Administrators
Messages: 332
Status: Offline
| (( I forgot the speed. I didn't list the MGLT because I don't find it that useful of a measurement. But it's a 15 meter ship with 8 engines. 4 of them (the KV4T8-i engines) are usually found on larger ships than the Mule, though not much larger. The other 4 (J-77 Event Horizon engines—or whatever the predecessor is in this time period) are A-wing engines, except the A-wing has only 2 of them. So basically yes, I imagine it's extremely fast, but its maneuverability is shit so the speed is of limited use except to escape from pirates or traverse celestial hazards, etc. ))
Jace Varitek
|
| |
| |
| Gerard_Rex | Date: Saturday, 08 March 14, 4:10 PM | Message # 9 |
|
Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 44
Status: Offline
| True enough, the XX-7 Mule was not a starfighter platform; certainly more intended for scouting and entrenched work. With eighteen craft, however, sharing a total of thirty-six cannons between them, it was a little hard to believe that even without sophisticated targeting equipment, the simple barrage of fire didn't hit either of the Cloakshape fighters, both of which were laden with hyperdrive sleds that would likely impede their own maneuverability. Then again, those in the crusade were still new to certain things; the Mule being one of them. Now certainly, the Cloakshape flight had the advantage, but calling the Mule sluggish was only true in most cases. It certainly didn't have the most apt turning radius, but it was fast, and fast could count for a lot, especially if you cut half the engines and engaged the other half on full to assist in that turn.
It would still take time for the six new Cloakshape fighters to get up to where the current pair were executing their attack run; taking off, from a planet no less, in a situation where the pilots hadn't been just standing idly by and waiting for war, would take a larger chunk of time. The point being, however, that for the Cloakshapes to take off, break atmosphere and then reach the Mules would certainly be the work of a good five to eight minutes; more than enough time for the Mules to execute their slow about-face and, with their simple navigational requirements, execute a hyperspace jump out of the system, for they'd never gotten into the gravity well.
While most escaped, it was not a maneuver without loss, and the wreckage of four of the Mules, destroyed by the initial pair of Cloakshape fighters, littered space. The Mules of course, would have to be recalled to the main fleet, which would take some time in turn. Fortunately, there was not overmuch concern at the moment.
In terms of the main effort, though, the Shadow's information was invaluable, and he was most certainly directed to take the shot on the Duke, if possible, without risking himself too much. Cutting off the head of the snake was certain to assist in this fight, and time was still of an essence. As such, Landing Zone 3 had been selected as the best site. With the Gozanti cruisers having retreated to the east of the capitol, over the sea, and the Iron Swan effectively masking its sensor location, a different tactic had been adopted.
Within a matter of minutes of the Gozanti retreat, a firing solution was plotted, marking out a full-spread grid covering six-hundred meters from the Iron Swan's last known location, which had been noted only minutes before. Opening fire from orbit with both of its heavy quad turbolaser cannons, and with the fire mission carefully plotted so that it would not overlap into the city itself, the Basilica intended to destroy the sea vessel outright. Even if it were moving, it was a slow craft, older and not likely to evade the incoming fire. With a storm rolling in from the east across the ocean and with the very nature of coastal winds themselves, the smoke screen wouldn't last much longer than a few minutes anyway.
For now, actual landings were held off on, but the ships began their preparations for a ground assault, once the Mules rejoined them.
Gerrard 'Grendel' Rex
|
| |
| |
| Duke_Wylan | Date: Monday, 10 March 14, 1:09 AM | Message # 10 |
|
Private
Group: Users
Messages: 11
Status: Offline
| The two original cloakshapes would jump to hyperspace, with a course set for Cygnus Prime.
The other six would land at airbases on the antipode of the invasion and sling off their hyperspace sleds, replacing them with new fuel and a new set of missiles in minutes.
The Turbolaser fire would be noted by the captain of the Iron Swan who would see himself left with no choice after being struck a glancing blow on his hull by a turbolaser melting a long gash, he would steer his ship into the duracrete dock wall of Port Wylan, where there was scarcely 6 feet of water below his ship, and scuttle her. Relying on his proximity to the town to protect the ship from utter destruction, ordering the majority of the crewmen abandon ship and join the defenders in the town. Now the Iron Swan simply sat broadside on to the sea wall of the bay and was impotent to resist any further fire. The explosive charges of it's scuttling plugs would probably be noticable from orbit, filling the lower decks with water. Even with sensor disruption, the fact the Iron Swan was crippled and sitting on the bottom was now likely easy to see from orbit.
The six Cloakshapes, following pre-rehearsed procedures would prepare to return to the capital as soon as signal was sent over the comms to their airstrip of the sighting of enemy landing craft, this way they could hit them on the way in and inflict maximum casualties.
Duke Charles Wylan
________________
Pro-Duke of the Duchy of Ord Wylan
|
| |
| |
|
