From the Begining New Chapter Added (9/12/06)

[Starhawk]

2438.3 They Died Icaran!:
The 4th fleet was hardly what one could consider a “proper” battle fleet it was a hodgepodge of warships that were scraped off of the other battle fleets, nothing emphasized this fact more then the Horatio its long gleaming white spindle of a hull with the hammerheads at either end obviously singled it out from any other Icaran warship in service, for in it’s past life this proud flagship of the 4th fleet had served the Mantis Starfleet as a “monitor” class warship.
The 4th fleet didn’t even have proper infantry support but instead had nearly 10,000 SS troopers assigned to quelling riots in the frontier worlds that had once belonged to the Corian Commonwealth and the Earth Corps Alliance which was in fact the only reason the 4th fleet had even been created and many naval officials looked down on the 4th fleet a as a mere “police detachment” and refused to mention it as a fleet during their briefings.

Commodore Vincent Moriarty was a young man at only 37 but he had risen to through the ranks with amazing speed as he earned a name for himself during some of the early battles of the Phong crusades, he had been on the flag deck of Saber during the first battle against a Phong warship and had been there on the deck of the Retribution when the original 3rd fleet was ambushed at the third battle of Fornax and now he was out on the frontiers quelling mere riots instead of doing what he should be, fighting on the frontlines of the Anderman crusades. Moriarty had been assigned to the 4th “fleet” as a “promotion” from his position as the 14th SD division commander 1st fleet, but as the months went by and he watched report after report of how the frontline units were doing he began to feel his current assignment more as a punishment than a promotion and often wondered which Admiral had given him the “honor” to begin with. To make matters worse the 4th fleet had been stuck “guarding” the Glakka system for nearly a year, which made Vincent feel as if his entire fleet were told “it’s too dangerous, stay here and guard the car.” So here he was “guarding the car” with 9,100 SS troops and a group of powerful capital ships that could make a difference on the frontlines, and he had no where to go because the system’s beyond Glakka were deemed “too high a risk” for the undermanned formation he commanded.
Vincent felt another surge of anger swell up as he paced his command deck, the Horatio was huge even by Icaran standards, she was only slightly smaller then one of the Artemis raiders yet had much more firepower to match her size her command deck was also a sprawling two tiered area nearly three times the size of any Superdreadnought’s command deck which Vincent was grateful for as it gave him plenty of room to pace without being disturbed “Why the hell did those dicks at command assign me here!?[/i] he thought yet again as he turned to resume his pacing; he came to a sudden halt when a startled voice came from the second tier.
“WARP fluctuation I repeat we have Warp fluctuation there are ships coming through!”
Vincent hurried back to his command chair and took a moment to fume at the fact that the ship didn’t even have a proper main plot.
“Get me an ID on who it is ASAP tactical.” He barked as he brought up his own micro-tactical display to see the fluctuations for himself.
“There are too many of them coming through to be a convoy, and none of our fleets are scheduled to enter this system until the 2nd fleet is finished with their repairs…..CONFIRMED WE HAVE HOSTILES three-one Anderman warships have just made transit!”
The bridge suddenly darkened as the entire ship switched over to battle stations barely a second later the klaxons and GQ alarms howled throughout the ships of the 4th fleet.
“All ships open fire full volley, and tell those transport commanders to get the hell out of here and warn the Admiralty.” Vincent found his own town surprising for it’s calm, he turned to his Captain as she walked up and saw in her eyes the same dread he felt, the simple numbers were all to clear and their enemy wasn’t some Xeno species, this time it was a well trained highly equipped enemy with the same level of technology as he had, all the 4th fleet could hope for was a fighting withdrawal and ensuring he got the transport fleet to safety but even there the odds were against them, the Anderman had acceleration on their side and the Icarans would have to start up cold and gain accel.
“Unless we at least slow those Ander bastards down they’ll outrun the transports easily…” Vincent whispered to Captain Lia Keyes and felt a pang of guilt as he saw the almost imperceptible nod she managed to force, she was even younger then he was and unlike him this would be her first real battle…..and her last. He thought bitterly as he turned back to the displays.

The stars lit up with brilliant and beautiful glory as the 4th fleet turned their desperate broadsides against the oncoming foe while they still recovered from their transit, the first salvo arrived unopposed and proved devastating as the I-lasers sliced through armor, shields, and hulls with the startling ease that modern energy weapons were capable of and with that single salvo nine enemy ships were torn apart creating nine wondrous new stars for barely a split second before they faded back into nothingness.
”At least we got some of them” Vincent thought with a small spark of pride as he saw the Anderman ships turn their own guns upon his fleet and braced himself for the hellish impact as the two fleets traded salvos.
Even as her guns sliced into an Anderman’s shields Danu’s hull was rent and torn as another Anderman ship fired a devastatingly close range and accurate broadside into her, as the energy cut into her the great Icaran ship lurched for a moment as if shouting her defiance before she broke cleanly in half spilling wreckage and bodies into space.
Horatio to lurched with fire as three enemy warships focused their broadsides upon her and Commodore Vincent Moriarty was thrown from his command chair as a beam burned through their shields and impacted just forward of the bridge, the unfortunate souls on the second tier were crushed or thrown to their deaths as wreckage tore through the entire forward portion of the bridge.
“Damage report!” Moriarty shouted as body crumpled to the deck next to him and he recognized the grey green eyes of Captain Keyes staring blankly toward the ceiling her throat sliced open by a piece of shrapnel.
“We’ve only got four guns remaining, life support on decks 20 through 30 is gone, engines are gone, gravitics are gone we are operating on emergency support systems, deck 27 is totally gone sir….” The damage report seemed to go on forever but Vincent barely took notice as he watched the flickering main screen.

The Icaran 4th fleet fought like devils even as the Anderman regained control of their fleet, Yukon who’s shields and weapons were shattered plowed into an Anderman superdreadnought turning both ships into careening pieces of wreckage as the explosions and secondary blasts tore out chunks of once mighty starships.
Despot spat broadsides to the last until one shot finally breached her reactors and she turned into a mini nova though not before she killed two Anderman warships on her own.
The transports continued to flee as they had no guns to turn to the aid of their comrades, meanwhile the rest of the fleet fought to buy the thousands of troops aboard the transports even a slim chance at life.
Horatio turned her four remaining guns on a nearby SD and scored three direct hits, which were enough to tear through the already damaged warship with hellish fury and seconds after the third beam struck her the enemy ship drifted away from the battle, not a single sign of life aboard her.
“Status of the fleet?” Vincent said coldly as he knelt down and closed the dead eyes of his former captain.
“Commodore Suffolk and Europa are undamaged and continuing the fight, Al-Batani is nearly crippled but she remains on station, Justin Alverato is totally crippled, everyone else other then the transports is gone.” The tactical officer’s voice was the mechanical disciplined tone that all “proper” Icaran naval officers used during battle but Vincent heard the despair in that young voice and knew that there was nothing he could say that would make anything any better, the 4th fleet would inflict heavy damage on the enemy before they died but still in the end it would make no difference, none of the warships would escape alive and God’s grace alone would save the transports. It was just then that a brilliant light engulfed the bridge and one split second of pain registered in Vincent’s mind before his life along with the hundreds of survivors aboard Horatio were simply washed away by the broadside of an Anderman Super dreadnought.
Justin was destroyed almost out of hand only a moment later as an Anderman super dreadnought raced past to catch up the fleeing transports, it would never catch up to them however as the almost totally crippled Suffolk rammed into her in a last act of retribution.
Europa’s crew would die much more slowly as their ship was cut away inch by bloody inch by Anderman weapons and as fires burned through her corridors choking the lucky and burning the unlucky alive as they tried to reach escape pods, an unfortunate handful of crew did reach an escape pod only to have a burning piece of hull plate drop into the pod with them as it ejected from the ship.
The shattered Al-Batani suffered a death caused by her own weapons which had been so severely damaged they overloaded on her last attempt to fire tearing her apart from the inside and ensuring that none could have even hoped to survive.

As Commodore Vincent Moriarty had feared the transports were quickly overtaken by the Anderman, and a single super dreadnought destroyed three of the small transports in a single sweep of her forward chase mounts, the other transports too died running as the Anderman overtook them and mercilessly butchered the defenseless ships ending the thousands of lives aboard with what was almost a fleeting swat of the hand for the powerful warships.

So ended the 2nd battle of Glakka, not a single Icaran soldier survived the brutal hour long engagement but for their deaths they had made the Anderman pay dearly in lives and ships with 15 of their warships completely destroyed and two disabled by the valiant Icaran soldiers.
No more would it be said that the 4th fleet was not a “proper fleet” no more would they be called “a hodgepodge of warships” from that day forth the valiant soldiers spacers and state security troopers of the 4th fleet would be recognized as heroes of the Empire who died in a battle against the enemies of Icara and did not feint or flee before their foes but instead did their duty to the last.


4th Fleet Destroyed in Glakka
15 Enemy ships destroyed
Icaran Losses:
HMS Dare (SD) 6,100
HMS Danu (SD) 6,100
HMS Yukon (SD) 6,100
HMS Despot (SD) 6,100
HMS Al-Batani (SD) 6,100
HMS Suffolk (SD) 6,100
HMS Justin Alverato (SD) 6,100
HMS Europa (SD) 6,100
HMS Horatio (MN) 10,400
SS Large Transport 200 crew- 4,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 01 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 02 50 crew- 2,000 SS troopers
SS Transport 03 50 crew
SS Transport 04 50 crew- 1,500 SS troopers
Total Casualties: 69,100 dead
Anderman Crusade Casualties: 380,601 (civilian losses number in the billions)