Eaters Attack! Month 106, part 2
Continued from part 1....
"Very good. We may control the upper reaches of their government and
corporations, and through them their military, but if the average
Jurgenn-a ever becomes aware of the extent of our penetration, or even
worse, our goals, then the game is lost. They outnumber us thousands to
one, and we must always keep the threat of the Eaters in mind as well."
The Esalin around the table nodded as if this was new information, even
though they had all heard it many times. The survival of the race demanded
that they do whatever was necessary to secure their future, and words of
caution could never be repeated enough. "We must accelerate our fall-back
plans now that the Eaters have discovered our hiding place. All must be in
readiness for the time when they break through the warp point defenses. I
will speak with our contacts within the military to ensure that they will
do their utmost to delay the Eaters as long as possible. In the meantime,
begin putting our people into stasis now."
The Esalin around the table nodded and murmured their agreement. They
risked much for the good of the race, but the survival of the race was all
that mattered.
*******************************
One week later....
The warp point had been clear for the last week, with no sign of Eater
attack, but even so the defenders were keyed up. After all, the Eaters
knew they were here, and they would attack again. Everyone, from the
lowest maintenance worker in the bowels of the huge BS5’s to the highest
admiral on the command decks knew that.
Jurgenn-a (Defender) Order of Battle:
6xLuhu Class SD(R9), 3xLuhu(C) SD(R9), 3xTribal Class BC(R9), 6xDDE,
4xCVE, 84xF0
2xBS5C, 2xBS5, 4xBS3(D), 156xF1
50xIDEW-E
The defender’s fears were confirmed when ships began pouring forth from
the warp point. Large battleships began coming through, and each began
firing at the defending Superdreadnoughts almost before it exited the warp
point. The defenders had just begun firing back when an incredible number
of ships appeared on the warp point. For a millisecond there were one
hundred and sixty two ships on the warp point, then brilliant explosions
wracked the new arrivals as many of the attacking ships collided in the
crowded area. When the explosions cleared there were one hundred and
sixteen ships left, a mix of battleships, heavy cruisers, corvettes, and
explorers. The defenders concentrated their fire on the largest ships, the
battleships, while the attackers returned fire on the largest mobile units
in range, the SD’s. In spite of their large numbers, the attacking ships
were hampered by transit effects, which meant that their targeting sensors
were degraded and their ECM wasn’t active. As a result the exchange of
fire was very one sided. The Jurgenn-a SD targeted by the attacking fleet
lost about half of its passives, in exchange for one BB destroyed, three
heavily damaged, and heavy damage to five cruisers. Fifty IDEW-E’s fired
at this point, targeting the damaged BB’s as well as the cruisers and some
of the corvettes.
From that time on the warp point and its surroundings became a whirling
maelstrom of destruction. Eater ships continued to pour through the warp
point at the regular rate of one ship every five seconds. The new arrivals
were all battleships and battlecruisers, in alternating groups of threes.
Each new ship, as it arrived, was met by a hail of laser fire from the
defenders that only got worse as more and more of the defenders activated.
Sometimes the new arrivals managed to get a salvo off from their own heavy
lasers before the defender’s laser fire ravaged them, and sometimes they
were gutted before they even had a chance to orient themselves. The
Jurgenn-a BS5’s were particularly effective as each had the broadside
strength to heavily damage the biggest Eater ship even at 1.5 light
seconds.
The Eater ships that had arrived with the massive initial transit
recovered quickly from their disorientation and focused their fire on a
trio of Jurgenn-a SD’s, and were in turn preyed upon by the Jurgenn-a
fighter force. The Eaters quickly noticed that the Jurgenn-a didn’t use
missile weapons at all, and thus were able to turn their point defense
suites on the tiny fighters that were darting and weaving through their
tightly packed formations.
Ninety seconds into the attack Jurgenn fire had intensified to the point
were each newly arriving ship was crippled or destroyed within seconds of
arriving, usually before it could fire its own weapons. The Eater ships
were piled up close to the warp point, avoiding the minefield they knew to
exist around the warp point and striking back at the Jurgenn ships that
were killing them as best they could, but it was an uneven contest between
Jurgenn HET lasers and anti-matter close attack missiles and Eater
standard lasers and force beams. Finally, ninety seconds into the attack,
a single Jurgenn SD exploded when Eater lasers finally ate their way
through its armor, but, if anything, Jurgenn fire only intensified. As a
seemingly unending stream of new ships arrived a few crippled Eater ships
managed to retreat before they were picked off, but it was a mere trickle
compared to the number that had entered the system.
Less than thirty seconds after the first Jurgenn SD exploded the second
followed it, but by then all Jurgenn units were active and eater ships
were being destroyed as soon as they entered the system. The Eater cruiser
force had been devastated by the waves of anti-matter armed fighters, and
while the corvettes had yet to be attacked, they would die quickly once
the last cruiser succumbed to Jurgenn fire.
Eater ships continued to arrive with rhythmic regularity, only to be met
by intense HET laser fire as soon as they exited the warp point. Jurgenn
fire was beginning to lessen, though, as a third Superdreadnought
succumbed to steady fire from the Eater cruisers and corvettes. As the
Jurgenn HET laser fire slacked off, rather than allow the new arrivals to
recover from transit effects, the last wave of Jurgenn-a fighters roared
in and took up the slack, ravaging the new arrivals with their anti-matter
close attack missiles.
Now, finally, almost three minutes into the attack, the situation changed.
Instead of alternating groups of battleships and battlecruisers, the
stream of new arrivals changed to all battlecruisers and then petered out.
The Jurgenn-a defenders concentrated everything they had on the new
arrivals, ignoring for a few seconds the remaining cruisers and corvettes
on the warp point, and managed to kill or cripple the last arrivals before
most of them could fire. While the last battlecruisers transited in, a
steady stream of crippled Eater ships, accompanied now by intact EX’s,
retreated through the warp point. The Eater forces, perhaps sensing that
they no longer had the strength to destroy a Jurgenn SD before they were
in turn destroyed, began concentrating their fire on a battlecruiser and
two destroyers.
With the steady stream of new arrivals now finally ended, the Jurgenn-a
units could concentrate all of their fire on the few remaining cruisers
and corvettes. Again the big BS5’s were particularly effective, killing
four corvettes each in less than thirty seconds. In twos and threes the
Jurgenn-a ships and bases burned down the small Eater corvettes, while the
eater units, in turn, struggled to score a few laser hits on a damaged
Jurgenn-a DD.
Finally, four minutes after the battle started it was over. Two crippled
Eater cruisers transited out, leaving the last twenty-seven corvettes
behind to finish the fight. The corvettes managed to score only two hits
before being annihilated by heavy laser fire from the BS5’s and
anti-matter close attack missiles from the first newly rearmed squadrons
of fighters.
For the next ten minutes the Jurgenn crouched over their consoles,
watching and waiting for the Eaters to return, but nothing else came
through the warp point, and slowly, almost reluctantly, they began to
relax. Cutters were dispatched to search the hulks of the six Jurgenn-a
ships lost during the attack, and to pick up the life pods drifting
throughout the area. Every single defender, from the highest admiral to
the lowest rating, was stunned by the ferocity of the attack. In just four
minutes over one hundred and fifty ships had died, and everyone knew that
when the toll was finally counted thousands of Jurgenn crewmembers from
the three dead Superdreadnoughts wouldn’t be going home again.
Additionally, ninety-two fighters had been lost during the intense
fighting on the warp point. Throughout it all not one life pod was
launched from an attacking ship, and the three Eater hulks remaining on
the warp point after the firing ceased self-destructed before they could
be boarded.
In the end the Jurgenn held the warp point and kept the Eaters out of
their system. They did their job. By the numbers they had destroyed almost
ten times their own mass in attacking ships. It was a great victory, and
celebrations were declared through Jurgenn space. The defenders, though,
for all that they were hailed as heroes, couldn’t help but look at the
warp point and what it hid with a sick feeling of fear that seeped into
their souls in the dead of night. The Eaters would be back.
Losses:
Jurgenn-a units destroyed: 2xSD, 1x SDC, 1xBC, 1xDD, 28xF0, 64xF1
Jurgenn-a units damaged: 1xDD
Total HS lost: 592
Total MCr’s lost: 16,751
Eater units destroyed in Simul-transit: 9xACA-A, 22xSwarm-A class CT’s,
2xSwarm class CT’s, 10xSpecial Attack class EX, 1xScout class EX
Eater Units destroyed in Battle: 13xBB(Lx)-B, 16xBCA(Lx)-B, 17xACA-A,
48xSwarm-A class CT’s, 7xSwarm class CT’s
Total Eater Units lost: 13xBB(Lx)-B, 16xBCA(Lx)-B, 26xACA-A, 70xSwarm-A
class CT’s, 9xSwarm class CT’s, 10xSpecial Attack class EX, 1xScout class EX
Eater Units damaged (and retreated): 4xBB(Lx)-B, 2xBCA(Lx)-B, 9xACA-A
Total HS lost: 5481
Total MCr’s lost: 93,827
Author’s note: This was a good battle. To be honest, I wasn’t totally sure
that the Jurgenn-a could survive the battle, but they did a lot better
than I thought they would. The combination of crack ships, their tech
advantage, fighters armed with fRAM, and their beam only design philosophy
meant that they were able to inflict a loss ratio of over twenty-four to
one in numbers. The ratio declines to eighteen to one if you exclude the
losses from the simul-transit, still a respectable number. A comparison of
the HS and MCr’s rations is revealing, though:
Loss ratio (HS): 9.5 to 1
Loss ratio (MCr’s): 5.8 to 1
Ostensibly, this is a great victory for the Jurgenn-a. A comparison of the
two nations shows this to be false. The Jurgenn-a destroyed 9.5 hull
spaces for every one they lost. The Eaters can build 12 hull spaces for
every one that the Jurgenn can, if both fill their shipyards to max
capacity. Unfortunately, the Jurgenn don’t have the economy to fill their
shipyards, while the Eaters can and do fill their shipyards every month,
and are building more yards as this battle raged. Economically it is worse
for the Jurgenn-a. On a value basis, the Jurgenn-a destroyed 5.8 MCr’s for
every one they lost. To break even with the Eaters they would have to
destroy 81 MCr’s for every one they lost. As amazing as it may seem this
battle was an economic loss for the Jurgenn-a.
For now, though, the Jurgenn-a remain in control of their system and Eater
units are not bombarding their planet. That is all that really counts.
They only have to lose one battle, though, to lose it all, and now the
Eaters know they are there.
(
geocities.com/mwadwell)