Thr35Fingers
Ambush at Demeter
"The RTS John A. Worden arriving in the Demeter system"
The Second Battle of New Andrea very early demonstrated the capability of the Rapier-class. The Naval Intelligence Office had received indications of increased Nipponian activity throughout the Agamemnon sector. Evidence pointed to clandestine efforts to set up forward observation and early warning outposts.
The RTS John A. Worden, commanded by Captain Rick Woodson, was dispatched to search the Galactic East quadrant of the sector. After arriving in the New Andrea system, the Worden intercepted some garbled transmissions from a nearby asteroid field orbiting a gas giant's moon. Woodson ordered a flight of Dauntless bomber scouts to investigate. The bombers entered the field while the Worden cut velocity and hovered nearby. They quickly reported visual contact on a Nipponian frigate off-loading equipment, but before they could attack or report any additional information they were destroyed by plasma fired from a hidden Vesuvius-class cruiser.
The John A. Worden was badly caught out of position, and though Woodson immediately sounded general quarters, a massive missile barrage from the Nipponian ship, later identified as the Parabellum, overwhelmed the Rapier's point defence lasers. Decks 5a through 10a were holed and explosively decompressed, killing 211 crewmen instantly. The auxiliary machine shop suffered a direct hit and was totally destroyed, and Dauntless launch bay 2 was gashed straight through. One engine was disabled, along with the rear top deck turret. A console exploded on the bridge, wounding two officers and starting a small fire. Captain Woddson himself used a fire extinguisher to put it out.
By now, although the John A. Worden was badly damaged, its guns were manned and it was underway, widening the gap between itself and its foe. Woodson knew his armour was no match for his opponent's, so he retreated, lobbing shells at the Parabellum to entice it to chase. The Nipponians happily obliged.
Feigning much worse propulsion damage than was actually the case, Woodson held the Worden on a steady vector and launched all his remaining bombers with all systems shut down. As the giant Nipponian heavy cruiser closed in, the debris breaking loose from the Republic ship helped hide the Dauntless strike force. When the Parabellum went by them, the bombers burst into action, swarming its rear defences and unloading all their ordnance into its stern, destroying all its engines and partially breaching its core chamber.
With the tables now turned, the Worden rounded on its drifting opponent, which was far from defeated. Woodson was betting that most of the Nipponian's missile batteries were not yet reloaded and still depleted from its initial volley. However, the Parabellum still had most of its plasma turrets operational, even if the core breach limited their power.
Every weapon aboard the John A. Worden was brought to bear, including point defence lasers. Capt. Woodson even had his marines tethered to the deck in spacesuits firing handheld anti-tank weapons. One marine sergeant was observed emptying his sidearm in the general direction of the enemy ship.
The Parabellum's armour proved no match for the fury of shot and beam coming at it, and its armour buckled and split, the entire ship breaking into three large pieces that slowly drifted apart. The surviving Dauntless' bombed the remains, then proceeded to subject the frigate and outpost to the same fate. The final volley of plasma fired from the Parabellum had struck deck 8b, disintergrating three ratings and one officer, but the rest of the men in the compartement were wearing suits and so were unharmed by the decompression.
The John A. Worden headed to the Heaven's Rim station for repairs, where it reported mission success.
Ambush at Demeter
"The RTS John A. Worden arriving in the Demeter system"
The Second Battle of New Andrea very early demonstrated the capability of the Rapier-class. The Naval Intelligence Office had received indications of increased Nipponian activity throughout the Agamemnon sector. Evidence pointed to clandestine efforts to set up forward observation and early warning outposts.
The RTS John A. Worden, commanded by Captain Rick Woodson, was dispatched to search the Galactic East quadrant of the sector. After arriving in the New Andrea system, the Worden intercepted some garbled transmissions from a nearby asteroid field orbiting a gas giant's moon. Woodson ordered a flight of Dauntless bomber scouts to investigate. The bombers entered the field while the Worden cut velocity and hovered nearby. They quickly reported visual contact on a Nipponian frigate off-loading equipment, but before they could attack or report any additional information they were destroyed by plasma fired from a hidden Vesuvius-class cruiser.
The John A. Worden was badly caught out of position, and though Woodson immediately sounded general quarters, a massive missile barrage from the Nipponian ship, later identified as the Parabellum, overwhelmed the Rapier's point defence lasers. Decks 5a through 10a were holed and explosively decompressed, killing 211 crewmen instantly. The auxiliary machine shop suffered a direct hit and was totally destroyed, and Dauntless launch bay 2 was gashed straight through. One engine was disabled, along with the rear top deck turret. A console exploded on the bridge, wounding two officers and starting a small fire. Captain Woddson himself used a fire extinguisher to put it out.
By now, although the John A. Worden was badly damaged, its guns were manned and it was underway, widening the gap between itself and its foe. Woodson knew his armour was no match for his opponent's, so he retreated, lobbing shells at the Parabellum to entice it to chase. The Nipponians happily obliged.
Feigning much worse propulsion damage than was actually the case, Woodson held the Worden on a steady vector and launched all his remaining bombers with all systems shut down. As the giant Nipponian heavy cruiser closed in, the debris breaking loose from the Republic ship helped hide the Dauntless strike force. When the Parabellum went by them, the bombers burst into action, swarming its rear defences and unloading all their ordnance into its stern, destroying all its engines and partially breaching its core chamber.
With the tables now turned, the Worden rounded on its drifting opponent, which was far from defeated. Woodson was betting that most of the Nipponian's missile batteries were not yet reloaded and still depleted from its initial volley. However, the Parabellum still had most of its plasma turrets operational, even if the core breach limited their power.
Every weapon aboard the John A. Worden was brought to bear, including point defence lasers. Capt. Woodson even had his marines tethered to the deck in spacesuits firing handheld anti-tank weapons. One marine sergeant was observed emptying his sidearm in the general direction of the enemy ship.
The Parabellum's armour proved no match for the fury of shot and beam coming at it, and its armour buckled and split, the entire ship breaking into three large pieces that slowly drifted apart. The surviving Dauntless' bombed the remains, then proceeded to subject the frigate and outpost to the same fate. The final volley of plasma fired from the Parabellum had struck deck 8b, disintergrating three ratings and one officer, but the rest of the men in the compartement were wearing suits and so were unharmed by the decompression.
The John A. Worden headed to the Heaven's Rim station for repairs, where it reported mission success.