by TheOtterPops (Lutra Gaming)

Battle of Santiago

Warship Riptide, System Santiago IV Zenith jump point.

Deep Periphery

May 18^th, 2987

Star Commodore Nadia sucked the straw from the pouch of tea as she surveyed the rapid, efficient preparations taking place across the bridge of the Congress-class Frigate Riptide. Each station was reporting preparations complete for the jump into the Santiago system.

“Navigator, how long until we jump into Santiago?” Nadia asked, taking another swig of her tea. It will be good to get a rest after jumping across the Periphery. These last few weeks of system survey have been exhausting.

“Commodore, we are 30 seconds and counting until all ships will make a jump into the system.”

“Alert all hands that a jump is in process and to be ready for jump procedures.” A soft female voice over the ship comms echoed over the loudspeakers. “Jump will commence in 10 seconds.”

Nadia began counting down in her head. 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

“Jump. Jump. Jump.” The monotone voice declared again as the massive K-F drive began the jump.

Nadia let her tea pouch float in the micro gravity of the ship a moment before the jump and held onto the arms of her chair. The familiar, unpleasant sensation of nausea that she felt after every jump washed over her. Just one more time, she told herself, a mantra that had become ritual across her countless travels through the void. The Riptide and the three smaller Jumpships cracked a blue flash of light as they vanished to reappear in the zenith point of the Santiago system.

Commodore Nadia let out a long breath, adjusting to the nauseous feelings jumping left her feeling, then snapped out of her daze when she heard warning alarms on the bridge. Red lights began flashing on screens across the various control stations.

“Commodore, unidentified ships are on our port bow. The range to target is 80 kilometers, four

ships, three jump ships, and a Volga-class Warship, unknown affiliation, bearing one-six-five,

mark fifty-two!” the ensign shouted over the loud alarm echoing overhead.

“Identify!” Nadia yelled back. “I do not want to start an engagement with any Clan forces if I do not have to.”

“No, Commodore, I cannot at this range, and they do not have any IFF readings,” The ensign replied as he tried furiously to adjust the scanners of the Riptide to get better readings of the unidentified ships.

“Best guess, ensign.” Nadia said, looking towards him.

The ensign tapped away at the console to input commands, trying to get a better scan of the four ships. Normally all ships run IFF beacons to not accidentally attack other ships of the same or an allied Clan. Also, seeing how this ship, according to the scans, has the outline of an older SLDF design, it is most likely a pirate Warship with jump ships in tow. 

“Commodore, I would guess that the ships are pirates because they are running silent with their IFF and it is an older SLDF design.” The ensign said, his voice tinged with the edge of certainty.

“Savashri…” Nadia muttered to herself as she read the signatures on the monitor, then looked at the communications officer. “Comms, alert the fleet to make an emergency jump to rendezvous point alpha immediately. Sound General Quarters,” 

Nadia smiled as she surveyed the bridge, her crew responding very well in a tense situation. “Helm, adjust course to bearing two-six, mark seven, intercept the Volga. Put us between

the Warship and our fleet. I do not want them to engage the Jumpships before they jump.”

She turned to the Lieutenant tactical. “Weapons I want firing solutions on that Volga yesterday.”

“Aff, Commodore!”

“All hands, General Quarters. All hands, General Quarters! This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not

a drill!” The communications officer announced, echoed a moment later across the ship’s intercom system. The bridge crew strapped themselves in their seats, battle was about to be joined.

“Commodore, all stations have checked in and are ready.”

“Weapons, lock Naval Cannons one through four and fire when-” Just as Nadia was going to give the order, the ship rocked from something hitting with tremendous force. She grabbed onto the armchair to brace herself and avoided and undignified fall to the deck.

“Report!” Nadia shouted, looking over the monitors above her, trying to figure out what just

happened.

“Commodore, we just got impacted with a Naval Gauss round. It hit our portside armor with

minimal breaches… Our armor held.”

“Aff! Weapons, fire all batteries at that Volga! I want that ship out of my space!”

“Aff Commodore!” The weapons lieutenant punched in the commands to fire the four naval autocannons; their firing solutions locked onto the Volga. 

The naval autocannons gave off a slight hum and then a mild vibration on the deck plating as the massive weapons’ fire rocked the ship. The massive shells struck the Volga in the fore and aft sections of her hull, shattering the hull plating and flinging it out into space. Several decks seem to have been breached, but not enough to cause celebration.

The crew cheered a little as the monitors showed multiple explosions on the Volga, but Nadia grimaced. The old SLDF Volga’s are tough transport ships. It’ll take more than that to cripple her. 

“Quell that. We are not done yet.”

“Weapons, load white shark and killer whale missile tubes one and two, and launch as soon as a

firing solution is achieved.” Nadia ordered as she surveyed the ships’ positions.

Then another Gauss round hit the Riptide, and Nadia was knocked off her feet. She reached up and gripped the arm of her chair, steadying herself against its arm. Freebirth! Another hit like that, and they could cripple us! I will not let my ship be set adrift!

A second Gauss round slammed into the weakened section the first had impacted, ripping apart more of the armor and some of the superstructure of the ship. A stream of atmosphere began venting through the hull breach throwing debris into the vacuum of space.

“Another Gauss round hit, breaches on multiple decks! White Shark and Killer whale missile tubes are non-responsive Venting atmosphere, but bulkheads are

holding now, damage control teams on route! We cannot take another hit their Commodore!” The ensign at ship’s operations yelled, a tinge of fear in the crewman’s voice.

“Commodore, twelve small craft have launched from the Volga and are heading towards us, bearing two-six mark twelve, an intercept course. I think they are boarding craft.”

“Launch fighters, no delay that! How long till our fleet jumps to the emergency point?”

“One minute till the fleet jumps, Commodore.”

“Navigation, set jump procedures for the Riptide immediately!” Nadia ordered sharply.

“Security, prepare to repel borders.” This is going to be one hell of a fight.

                                                      ***       ***

A few moments later, she heard heavy footsteps as metal power armored hooves clacked on the deck plating as two Clan Elementals took up positions on the bridge. The massive, imposing figures were impressive at any time, towering above normal humans and thickly muscled. In their power armor, they stood over eight feet tall, bristling with weapons capable of slicing Battlemech armor open, with a pair of missile launchers riding over their shoulders.

Dismissing the comforting presence of the security detail from her mind, Nadia turned her attention back to the battle. “Helm, roll the ship ninety degrees; I want our starboard side facing the Volga. We cannot take another hit from the Gauss Cannon on that side.”

“Weapons, fire the Starboard cannons once you get a firing solution on the Volga and set the lasers to target the small craft on an intercept course with us.” Nausea returned to Nadia’s gut as she shouted out orders. I’m not losing my ship!

The Congress Class Frigate was an even match in a slug match verus the Volga Transport ship but having them get a surprise hit on the Riptide had them at an advantage, and boarding parties being also very worrying. Are they really this confident they can seize the Riptide?

A roar rumbled its way throughout the ship and the deck plates rattled underfoot followed by a low hum as the engines of the Riptide fired up. The ship began a graceful roll onto its starboard side. Following the arc of the roll, the weapons angled after the enemy Warship, covering one side until the other was able to acquire the target.

The frigate’s large lasers fired continuously through the maneuver, seeking out the small boarding craft approaching the ship, trying to cripple the shuttles and lower the number of boarders heading inbound.

Just then, a flash of light filled the bridge as the fleet vanished, their jump to the emergency rendezvous point alpha completed. Nadia let out a sigh of relief as she watched the fleet escape. Now she could focus all her attention on protecting her ship and crew.

“Range to the boarding craft.”

“Ten kilometers and closing fast, Commodore.”

“Security, are your teams in place?”

“Aff, commodore, our elemental armor units are in the most critical areas of the ship and stand.

ready.” The security officer replied.

“Navigation, how long till we make our jump?”

“Commodore, we jump in fourteen seconds.”

Just then, several loud thuds echoed along the corridors as boarding craft impacted the hull.

A moment later, several small explosions could be heard as the boarding craft set off their breaching charges. 

“Intruder alert, intruder alert, all security teams to your stations.” The automated woman’s voice echoed through the ship’s comm. The armored-clad elementals moved outside of the bridge and into the hallway, taking positions to intercept anything that threatened the command center of the ship.

The automated warning began counting down for the jump, and Nadia braced herself. “3… 2… 1… Jump. Jump. Jump.”

With another brilliant flash, the Riptide tore a hole and vanished, then reappeared another thirty light years away to join with the rest of the fleet. Nadia fought back the desire to heave, her body struggling after two jumps in so short a time, but she had to keep her composure.

“Comms alert the fleet, that we have arrived. Tell them to send over the Elemental units to help repel boarders on the Riptide.”

As the affirmative came, several loud booms and gunfire thundered down the hallway where the Elemental security forces were stationed. Nadia reached down to unlatch the safety clasp on her holster, her eyes flicking to the door.

“As soon as you can, I want a full damage report,” Nadia said, doing her best to ignore the gunfire down the hallway. I’ll not lose my ship on the first mission!

She barely heard the reply, her attention still fixed upon the fighting going beyond the door. Somewhere deep inside, her heart thundered, begging her to go out and drive the invaders from her ship in bloody combat. She resisted the urge, tempering herself as she awaited the reports.

The crew applied themselves to their tasks, working off the adrenaline of combat as they struggled to get information from the ship. Power failures and broken lines of communication were delaying the information, and Nadia was certain that her crew were resisting the same urges she felt as they worked. 

Several tense minutes passed before the reports became clear and the sounds of battle in the hall fell silent as the security Elementals put down the boarding parties. As bold as they were, the Bandit Caste pirates still lost their nerve when facing down the massive, power armored warriors.

“Commodore, I have the damage report on screen now.” Nadia replied, her eyes scanning the screen. She felt her heart sink as she looked over the damage reports and lost hands. Her first mission in command had not gone well, and the loss to Clan Sea Otter would be a hard one to bear.

Congress-Class Frigate Riptide

Damage Report

Portside armor: 23%

Starboard armor: 60%

Hull breaches: Sections 6, 10-12, 24-26

Loss of power: Sections 6, 9, 10-14, 17, 22-28.

Port Autocannons 1 and 3 inoperative. 

47 Crew killed-in-action.

90 Crew wounded

Active crew compliment at 53%

Nadia slumped back in her command chair, thinking of what just happened. At least we should have taken prisoners to figure out who attacked us, but in our current state, we do not have the resources to engage them again.

“Comms, alert the fleet to coil up their Jump Drives and recharge them. Once all ships are fully recharged, have the fleet set course for home.”

“Aff Commodore,” The communications officer said with a low voice.

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