SirNitram wrote:It was hard to stop the momentum the destroyers already had, but that was a double-edge sword. They had limited maneuverability now, little more than hulks of steel adjusted by atmospheric venting. Most missed wildly or were shredded into a hail of shards. Only one actually hit the target, a mostly-intact hull smashing into the Warrior from an unexpected angle.
NRS Gladius
The ship shuddered as the destroyer hit. The shields flared and died as the destroyer forced its mass against them. The ruined and burned Machine ship bored on, crumpling against the hull.
"Damage report!"
"Conn, damage control. Guns 19 through 24 on the port side are damaged and nonfunctional, as are torpedo tubes 7 and 8. Hull breaches in sections 27,30, 32, and 33, airtight doors are already closing. Major structural damage to the impact area. She's going to need a lot of time in the repair yard, sir. Engines still functional. Life support functional. We'll live for the moment, sir."
"Helm, rotate the ship on its axis, bring the starboard side to bear. Come right to 342."
"Aye, sir." The ship began to rotate its undamaged side towards the main bulk of the enemy fleet as she moved to follow the
Dauntless.
OOC: The biggest one that has the largest amount of signals coming from it.
NRS Enterprise
The carrier shuddered as she started taking railgun hits to the shields. Admiral Fisher not being a total idiot, her port side was turned towards the battle, and the armored hangar doors there were closed; the starboard hangars were open to take in fighters for rearming and repairs, but they were facing the hell away from the dreadnoughts. The carrier's own railguns began concentrating on the dreadnought, retasking from firing at targets of opportunity.
On the bridge, Admiral Fisher finished the tasking orders he'd been giving before the dreadnought had started flinging shots at his flagship in preference to more immediate threats. The ships he'd been communicating with began to form up as he turned. "Helm, increase speed to two-thirds. CAG, retask Ford and Heron squadrons to attack the dreadnought, standoff tactics. That point defense is too good to send them in close."
The carrier accelerated as the named B-95s peeled off to unleash their payloads of missiles towards the offending dreadnought. Several pilots even triggered their cannons, going for a hit across the vast distances of space as their missiles streaked forward, jinking and jamming as they went.
"Casualty reports on the fleet?"
"Sir, we've lost 5
Starlight class destroyers, one
Solar Flare minelayer, 7
Dawn Raider class frigates, and two
Sun Striker carriers.
Gladius has suffered extensive damage to her aft port superstructure from a ramming ship. Most of
Dauntless's sensors have been shot out. We've lost multiple fighters and strike fighters, with casualties most heavy in the A-127s and F-235s. The enemy has lost multiple destroyers, and has a light battleship and a dreadnought dead in space, with one other dreadnought damaged to an undetermined extent. Exact figures on enemy casualties are unknown at this time."
Fisher clenched his fists as his carrier shuddered from another volley.
NRS Antares
Commander Coleman, captain of this
Starlight class destroyer, flinched as a volley of light railgun shells from an enemy destroyer traced down his ship. His shields had failed a minute before, and he'd been maneuvering wildly, using his ship's speed in an attempt to avoid solid hits. He watched as a
Dawn Raider frigate went up a few kilometers away, a few escape pods shooting off before it was converted into a fireball by further Machine salvos. That would be him next if he wasn't careful... "Helm, hard starboard and down. Guns, retask to the destroyer at 183 mark 10; its looking a little shaky." The ship shook from another hit.
"Sir, hull breach on Decks 12 through 14, section 7! Airtight doors closing."
"Aye," acknowledged Coleman as the rumble of his own ship's guns replied, sending shells toward the offending enemy ship. Four A-127s shot past, looking to put missiles into the destroyer he was currently firing on. Two were destroyed immediately, only having fired two missiles each. One of the pilots ejected. The other two unloaded their last rockets and turned to get away; a third broke up as a rapid-fire laser traced through it, collapsing its navigational shielding on the third hit. The pilot ejected, but was hit by his bird's port wing. Only the fourth escaped.
"Bring the nose up, reverse the dive." He didn't think his ship would last much longer, and he wanted to give his crew a chance to escape should the ship start to break up. His guns continued to roar angrily at the damaged enemy destroyer. "Stand by missiles. They won't get through, but at least it'll tie up some PD guns. Fire the next time a group of fighters approaches a Machine ship, make them choose between the fighters and our missiles."
"Aye, sir."
]