Ivan Kal - Warpath

About half of the point defense lasers missed their target, destroying only 6000 missiles in a span of seconds. The Sowir defense net now changed protocols to match the Empire’s now evading missiles. The Sowir had studied the records of their battles with the Empire’s ships, their new defensive system designed specifically to battle them. The Empire’s missiles were more advanced, faster and more maneuverable than before, but the Sowir defenses were more advanced as well, and the number of their ships coupled with their positioning meant that Sowir had an upper hand. Over the next minute their defenses destroyed all of the Empire’s missiles.

Harbinger

Adrian watched as his fleets missiles were destroyed by the Sowir.

“They’ve upgraded their defenses.” Iris commented.

“Yes, we knew that it was likely they would do so. We haven’t observed their ships in battle since our last encounter.” Adrian said. But he was impressed, his ships were capable of firing much larger load, and his battleships had fired only about 10% of their supplies, and only their standard missiles – the Striker MK 7 missiles. His ships were equipped with other types of missiles, but this first attack was a test in a way, he wanted to see how effective the Sowir defenses are. He was sure that his fleet could fire enough missiles to overwhelm the defenses, but then he would be dangerously low when the main Sowir force returns. The battleships ammo supply was just too small for this kind of engagements.

His fleet now stood at a relative stop, across from the Sowir ships. Battles in space could take many different shapes depending on circumstances. Now the Sowir force was blocked between Nelus and his forces, if they tried to move and escape they would only make things worse by turning their backs to his and Nelus ships. They were forced to stay put and wait for their main force. So the three forces would stand at a distance and fire at each other.

Adrian noticed that four hundred Nelus ships had moved out of the protective area of their stations and engaged the two hundred Sowir ships positioned at the back of their formation. Nelus ships were technically on the same technological level as Sowir, or they were thirty years ago at least. But half of the Nelus ships were converted merchant ships, another hundred were their new cruiser class and the last hundred their old heavy cruisers. The Sowir force consisted out of two hundred battleships, three hundred heavy, and hundred light cruisers, presumably all upgraded with all kinds of technologies they got in the last thirty years as proven by their much better defenses. Thirty years ago the human ships managed to defeat Sowir mainly thanks to their kinetic weapons against which Sowir had no defenses. Now Adrian couldn’t use those weapons against the force in front of him, any miss could find its way to the Nelus force behind the Sowir, and in the worst case he could accidentally hit the planet or the installations in orbit.

He was forced to use laser and particle weapons. The clock to his right showed another eleven minutes until the main force reached firing range. He started manipulating the command board and issued orders to his ships.

December; Year 31 – Nelus

Three hundred and fifty ships of the Warpath Fleet opened fire with their laser and particle weapons, just a moment before the Sowir fired with their own weapons. The Sowir fire included their own missiles, and every second hundreds of missiles launched and sped towards the Empire’s ships, only to be destroyed by their defensive fire.

Powerful lasers struck at the Sowir ships scorching their hulls, forcing the Sowir ships to move or roll their ships in order to dissipate the heat. Each of the Empire’s lasers held their fire for five seconds before stopping to cool down, the Sowir lasers doing the same. In the opening minute of fire the six hundred Sowir ships managed to inflict light damage to fifty of the Empire’s battleships with their particle and laser weapons, while the Empire’s battleships destroyed twenty of their heavy cruisers, fifteen light cruisers and eight battleships. But soon enough the fire from the Sowir ships changed focus as they started targeting less ships, but brining to bear more fire on them.

The Empire started losing ships.

Harbinger

Adrian watched his holo as reports started coming in from his battleships, they were taking more and more fire, forcing him to move the damaged ships back. The Sowir ships were not as technologically advanced as his battleships, but their weapons were obviously more powerful than 30 years ago. And they were fighting smart, firing with as many of their ships as they were able on a single one of his.

But even with their numerical advantage the exchange favored his fleet. For every one of his ships lost the Sowir lost five. Adrian knew that he could have destroyed more of their ships if he had ordered his Vanguard ships to fire with their full capabilities, but he didn’t want to tip his hand and show what those ships can do before the Sowir main force arrives.

He glanced at his holo to see how Nelus side of the battle was going. The exchange there was more even, Sowir lost thirty eight ships and Nelus thirty two. Even though Nelus had numerical advantage.

Adrian turned and checked on the Sowir main force that was now moving at full speed towards his ships, the clock read another six minutes until they get in range. Adrian adjusted his orders.

The fire between the Empire and Sowir intensified as nine ships from the Empire’s side increased their rate of fire. Suddenly the Valhalla opened up with its particle beams and they started hitting the Sowir ships with deadly precision, destroying ships in a single shot. Laser fire several times more powerful than that of the Empire’s battleships reached out and burned the Sowir ships without stopping for the cooling periods, melting through the Sowir ships cutting them in half.

Invictus and Ras’tar launched missiles, two hundred each. The most advanced missile that the Empire ever produced sped towards the Sowir at amazing speeds, closing the distance in a short time. The Sowir defensive net attempted to take them down, but the missiles evading protocols were far more advanced and the missiles were equipped with the field defense technology. They couldn’t keep the field up for long, only a couple of seconds. But that was enough to get them through the defending laser fire.

Four hundred Enforcer MK 1 missiles smashed into eighty Sowir ships, five missiles per ship. The eighty Sowir ships disappeared in a flash of fire, their debris flying out in every direction, hitting and damaging nearby ships.

In fifteen minutes Sowir had lost one hundred and forty four ships while he lost nineteen of his battleships. On the Nelus side the Sowir had lost another sixty three ships while Nelus fleet losses raised up to eighty nine, their ships just couldn’t stand up to their enemy’s. With only four more minutes until the Sowir main force arrives, Adrian pushed one of his formations in front to screen the other as he positioned it to wait for the main force. He raised the formation his ship was in above the two others, allowing it to fire at both Sowir forces while the wall formations in front still provided defensive and covering fire.

Adrian was tempted to fire more of the Vanguard fleet’s missiles, but he knew that he would need them when the main force arrives. He checked to see the main force’s progress and saw that they had entered the range of his battleships. He sent out orders, keeping in mind the timing, he needed to get this just right.