The Offensive Continues
To: Admiral Lord Nelson Commander of Crusade fleet Prime Imperium.
From: Imperator Lord Dyson Supreme Commander His majesty's armed forces beyond Icara sector.
Re: Operation Spearpoint
"Admiral Lord Nelson you are requested and required by his supreme majesty of mankind and all Icaran races Emperor Leonidas the XVII to divide your fleet into three sub forces and invade target worlds of Marjoram VII, XII and XIV within a period of one month, these worlds must be taken at all costs for our offensive in Marjoram to be a success and if you fail to capture these worlds you are herebye authorized though not encouraged to use maxim charges (tectonic torpedoes) to destroy said worlds and their popualtions.
Admiral It is strongly recomended you not use the main body of your fleet to launch these invasions but instead deploy the carriers in your fleet to support whatever regimental transports you decide to send into battle as fighter bombers will have better success against high numbers of weapons platforms then Capital ships.
You are NOT authorized to deploy any of the Legio in your fleet for the invasion of these worlds and if you do so you will be punished under the articles of security act #1856/42
May the Divine will be with you:
Your Supreme Commander Lord Dyson
As Nelson read through the dispatch just brought in on a messenger sloop the grimmace on his face could no longer be hidden, Command had just ordered him to use 2 small fleets to invade 3 heavily fortified worlds and although he had faith in the men and women under his command Nelson knew that this task would cost many lives and may even fail outright but orders were orders and Nelson tabbed the comn link in his office.
"Yes sir" came the energetic reply from a human male that sounded about 25 or 26 years of age, Nelson instantly recognized the voice to be that of Flag Captain Menson and he remembered suddenly just how young the man was, how young all of his troops were.
"Captain get me in touch with Commadore Bright aboard the Rightious Warrior I want him his wing commander and the 1st Mar'Gan and 1st Mandow regimental commanders in my ready room in three hours." Nelson tabbed the button again not giving the young man a chance to reply as he walked over to his closet and pulled out the dark blue dress uniform of the Stellar Imperia and uncomfortably buckled the jacket over his undershirt as he pulled off his grey duty uniform pants off to replace them with the dress white pants that belonged on a man of his status.
Within three hours Commadore Bright, Captain Sumora, Colonel Demetri and Colonel Fowler were all sitting around a table in the Admiral's ready room looking intently at a 3d holomap of the first targeted world Marjoram VII, a series of red dot's showing the location of enemy defensive lines and of planetary weapons platforms that would threaten the invasion force.
It soon became obvious that the reason the carrier squadron had been assigned the assault on this particular world was the fact that the 6 weapons platforms would find the big capital ships of the fleet too easy a target for their big guns and the massed bomber wings aboard the carriers would have a better chance of a successful assault against such defenses. And so it was agreed that Captain Sumora would lead his bomber wing against the surface targets and clear the way for the troop transports.
And so only a few hours later Captain Sumora boarded his Black Tiger class fighter and launched from the Rightious Warrior, most of the fighters in the fleet were the old Starhawk class bombers so Sumora ordered them to follow behind the 100 Black Tiger fighters and break formation only when they were within range of the surface targets.
The 100 pilots of the Black Tiger fighter squadrons were all that stood between the bombers and certain death at the hands of the enemy defense fighter squadrons and planetary defense stations and each pilot knew his duty well as they closed at maximum speed on their targets. However as was expected an enemy fighter wing launched from the planet's surface and began closing to within range of the Black Tiger interceptor screen. Within seconds space was lit up with the golden streaks of Meson bolts from the Imperial fighters was broken with the blue DU cannon shots from the earther fighters and here and there a new star was born signifying the death of a fighter. Sumora himself managed to down 2 enemy fighters before he noticed to his horror that the enemy's Planetary defense grid had opened fire and was even now knocking out dozens of his Black Tigers, as he ordered his pilots to break up their formations and make themselves harder targets for the planetary defenses Sumora noticed an entire enemy fighter squadron had slipped past his Black Tigers and were even now tearing into the helpless bombers of the 101st bomber squadron.
Within minutes the entire 101st was nothing but smoking debris and floating bodies but Sumora managed to keep his cool and to his credit rallied 20 Black Tigers to his wing and managed to intercept most of the remaining enemy fighters before they could do any more harm, however a few did manage to get through and more bombers exploded under their heavy fire, by this time the comns erupted with battle chatter as three bomber squadrons had broken through and were even now bombing the surface of Marjoram VII causing massive damage to the planet's defensive networks.
"Captain Sumora to troop ships we have them under control hurry up and drop your troops before they can rally!" Sumora snapped as his squadron managed to destroy the Last 2 enemy fighters from Marjoram saving the bombers from more harassment.
The troop ships did make it through and thanks to the valiant efforts of the bomber and fighter pilots managed to acheive victory, although it was at a high cost, more then half of the Black Tigers had been destroyed and so many bombers had been lost that 2 entire carriers lay empty in space and another only had 91 out of it's 120 bombers left intact. The 1st Mar-Gan too lost over 800 of it's soldiers and 80 tanks in the invasion. But word also began to spread throughout the fleet that another hostile target designated Marjoram XIV had been invaded and captured by another task force however they had lost a dreadnought and another had been crippled leaving 4,400 spacers and 300 soldiers dead at the end of that invasion.
Less then a month later the Carriers and their attached troop ships deployed again and Sumora led his remaining fighters to victory over Marjoram XII earning his entire fighter wing the Emperor's Cross for courage beyond the call of normal duties. And earning the 1st Mar-Gan the Campaign Cluster medal for it's successful capture of not one but two enemy worlds in the name of Icara.
OOC: BTW if you can't tell I am trying to tell this in a limited character view and getting more of a Documentary style feel to it...but I dunno if I'm doing to good yet
Rise of Icara (cont\'d)
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