[Starhawk]

Heh dang I made it all the way to the second page of this forum

2413.1 Operation FireFrost
A messenger drone arrived onboard Redoubtable fifteen minutes after Admiral Babcock had begun his flag briefing. A breathless rating came bursting into the briefing room a flexi in his hand. The Captains gathered around the table frowned and more then one were glowering at the young Spacer.
“Admiral sir, messenger drone from 3rd fleet, Rear Admiral Ross sends his compliments and says he engaged a 15 ship Phong fleet. He reports that HMS Manticore has been destroyed.”
“Is there anything else spacer?” Babcock said harshly as he took the flexi out of the spacer’s hand.
“Yes sir message ends with Operation Firefrost is a go.” Babcock tensed momentarily then waved the man out of the room.

“Ladies and gentleman the invasion of Mavin Parsis is a go how long will it take us to reach our first target? Babcock was excited almost to the point of glee, finally it was time to carry out his mission and rid the universe of those damned yellow freak’s grip.

“Admiral, my astrogator informed me this morning that it will take us approximately 5 months to reach our target as we must re-supply in the Tempel system before we proceed.” Captain Yu Lin looked at Babcock with a slight smile, she too had been looking forward to carrying out Firefrost and avenging her father and it was almost time only a few more months now and they would strike the beginning of a death blow for the Phong Federation.

“Alright, so we have Five Months, lets get Colonel Drago involved in our next series of briefings so he can give us the best opinion on how to use his troops during the invasions.” Babcock and began to stand up “Well Ladies and gentlemen until tomorrow.” he finished with a slight nod of the head and his officers began filing out of the room, all except Yu Lin Pe.

As the Last officer filed out Babcock tuned to the young woman still seated and smiled gently “Something I can do for you Captain?” his tone was almost fatherly as he returned to his seat.

“Sir, I am not sure about Firefrost, don’t get me wrong Admiral I think we need to strike a deathblow against the Phong, but why risk the lives of Icaran troops to do it?” Her expression was almost pleading as she looked at the older man, her piercing almond eyes alight with fire and a spark almost of hatred. “Why not just nuke the bastards and end it?” she folded her hands together, pressed her elbows into her chair arms and rested her forhead against her folded hands.

“You haven’t slept in a while have you Yu?” Babcock asked softly and grimaced as she shook her head. “Lin, listen to me I know what the Phong did to your father and the other members of the 3rd fleet at the third battle of Fornax was terrible, and if I were you I’d probably want to nuke the bastards too but look at it from the Admiralty’s perspective.” He paused as she looked up at him with tired eyes and cocked her head in interest. “The Phong under our control would expand our borders far more then our current populace would allow, more then that they would already have an established economy, one that appears to be fairly strong by the industrial output we’ve seen thus far. The Rebel Alliance actually cost us money and resources for the first two years that we controlled their territory, the Phong territories would increase our resource base and allow us to expand still further into other star nations like those Neo Star scum.” He ended his statement in the same neutral tone he had started it.
Yu Lin nodded slowly as she thought about what he had said, the Phong had killed her father and millions of other Icarans but in their subjugation they would pay far more then if the Navy simply went in and glassed their worlds, they would pay in ore and resources, and any of the fools that thought about resistance would pay in blood, if not at the hands of her or the army then at the hands of the Blackshirts of the State Security brigades. A slight smile crossed her face but it soon faded, no matter how much the Phong paid in the end it would never bring the dead Icarans back and more Icarans would die before this ended, she just hoped to God and the saints that it would be worth it.

Babcock patted the young woman’s shoulder and startled her out her thoughts “Lin go get some sleep I’ll need you at full speed when FireFrost goes off and I don’t want you to have to be on stims or neural restoratives.” Babcock’s smile was sincere as he helped the young woman to her feet.

“I think I will go back to Lenin and get some sleep sir, I could probably use it.” She smiled back at him as he escorted her to the hatch.
“Oh yes I’ve been meaning to ask you, how you are liking your new command?”
“I Love it sir, I’m just grateful Grand Admiral Hallice chose me over Patterson.” Her smile changed to a grin as she considered that pompous *** that almost became captain of one of only three Heavy cruisers in the first fleet.
“Good day Lin.”
“Good Day Admiral.”

Once Yu Lin was gone Tyson Babcock returned to his desk, pulled out a sheet of flexi’s and began writing various Messages back to the Admiralty, but he paused and wondered just how heavy the price of this conquest would be to his own people, afterall the third fleet had suffered massive casualties during their first engagement….

The Planning continues

"Colonel Drago it is your conisdered opinion that the 1st Icara could take over both targets within the alloted amount of time correct?" Admiral Babcock's grin showed from across the room, he was begining to like Colonel Wilheilm Drago but the man did have a habit of being overly conifdent in his regiment at times.

"Sir it is my opinion that my Regiment-if supported by the fleet- can neutralize the planetary defenders of those Phong worlds, I would like the ability to call upon your marines if necessary however, just in case my men need a perimiter." Drago smiled wickidly at the Marine Captain who was glowering at him from across the table,(the thougth of Royal Marines being used as nothing more then perimiter guards was enough to make any marine spit plasma) "Of course I don't mean any offense to your Capable Marines Captain, it's just my men have tanks and Last I checked yours didn't." the smile was still there as Drago turned back to the Admiral.

"Captain Yu, Lenin would be assigned to protect the Batton do you think you could provide a sufficent drop zone with your ship's cannons or would you prefer I assign another vessel to reinforce you?" Babcock fixed the young woman in his eyes and waited while she thought.
"Admiral I think I would also like Hornet and Eclipse to reinforce my efforts, I am confident in my gunners of course but Lenin is likely to draw a lot of fire from any planetary defense platforms and I would not wish to risk the destruction of the transport if my own cannons should be knocked out of action." Her tone was matter of fact and the fact that she had just recommended her brother's ship as one of her escorts seemed to just be a matter of buisness to her. Babcock was always proud of her even when she was just his atachee and he knew that her and Chin had been very good in sims when paired together but this was a real invasion, he shook his head for a moment and the flag captains and senior ground force commanders looked on in curiousity.
"Sorry Yu, I'd rather assign Republic to you and keep Eclipse at my side with the main force, if you have no objections?" When an Admiral asked if a Captain had any objections it was only a matter of tradition and respect as no Captain would ever dare object to an Admirals orders during wartime.
Yu Lin's mouth opened for a moment before closing with a click as she shook her head.

"Well I am confident Admiral, Captain that you will choose the ships you see best to escort me, but if I may point out, your ships may have to act as little more then slug catchers for Batton, as the Admiralty and Chief of the Army General Staff have both expressed a desire to take these Phong worlds as intact as possible, and orbital bombardment would no doubt have serious implications." That was yet another reason Tyson Babcock began to like Colonel Drago, he had a knack for breaking up ackward moments without being obvious about it.

"Colonel you are of course correct, however I must also say for the record that if any of my ships begin taking too much damage while guarding you they will open fire until your troops reach planet. Is that understood?" Tyson asked politely and Drago nodded, Lin too nodded before returning her gaze to the holomap o the Mavin Parsis system.

"Now Gentleman and Ladies, our first objective is Mavin Parsis Three, it is lightly defended but is home to an extensive farming facility as well as a large shipyard upon it's capture we will leave the heavy cruiser Rossovelt to stand guard as well as an SS brigade." Babcock paused long enough for the other officers to absorb the information. "Alright, our second objective will be Mavin Parsis two, it has an extensive Rad mining base and would be a great boon to our economy, if and when that is secure Parsis One will be our objective, it's mineral harvesting operations would also greatly improve the Icaran production abilities, after that the Admiralty has been kind enough to grant us independent targeting." Babcock smiled, there were only two inhabited planets left in Mavin Parsis that could be targets so the granting of independant targeting was more a matter of politeness then anything actually useful.

"Alright then, we know Parsis three will be the most heavily defended when it comes to ground forces, Parsis One is likely to be the most fortified with weapons platforms so I think we should begin planning on orbital bombardment patterns as soon as possible." Drago's smile vanished as he considered the possibilities of planetary defense stations and wondered just how many people may die at the barrel of a ground mounted DU cannon.

"I'll take Lenin and Rosevelt in with me, the three heavy cruisers would be the best option for that kind of operation as we have the heaviest shields and weapons, the cruisers can form up behind the Batton and provide any additional bombardment we may require." Babcock looked grim as he looked at the intelligence reports that had been brought in by Warspite when she had run her scouting mission with her squadron mate Hecate, Parsis One would be the hardest orbital target no doubt, it had six weapons platforms with depleted uranium cannons and those damned planetary defense platforms had proved once before how accurate they could be.

"Alright let's take this one step at a time, if you pardon me Admiral, I know I am no naval officer but I am an Army Colonel and I prefer knowing for sure what resources I'll have available to me before I commence planning an invasion, let's assume we'll have all three heavy cruisers when we go in but let us also plan for if one or more of them is somehow removed from the equation." Wilheilm grimaced as the Naval officers present nodded, they all knew that only destruction would remove any of the heavy cruisers "from the equation" and the simple mentioning of the possible loss of a heavy cruiser reinforced the notion of just how heavily fortified these worlds were.

The Admiral of the first fleet nodded solemnly with his officers "Alright ladies and gentlemen the Colonel has a point, let's start making backup plans right now just in case..."

The planning continued for hours as the first fleet entered the Tempel system and began approaching the supply base that would be their final stop before the assault on Mavin Parsis, and the first "space to shore" invasion in history was begun.