|
The Howlert was part of the Ruhar 7th Fleet under Admiral Kune's command and tasked with supporting the Alien Legion above Stiglord (Squidworld). The dubious honor of being the first assault carrier in the second wave went to the Howlert. She was burdened with two battalions of Achakai soldiers, twenty-four hundred fanatical warriors who were eager to get into the fight. The Ruhar crew of the Howlert were less eager to be the first ship to jump in for the second wave, but their opinion was not solicited by Admiral Kune. What he knew was that his counterpart Admiral Kekrando wanted the Howlert to go first, and Kekrando had volunteered his entire fleet to escort the assault carrier. The Howlert jumped precisely on a revised schedule, accompanied by two Ruhar frigates. The frigates had been assigned because Admiral Kune lacked confidence in the Achakai's abilities to fly and fight their ships at the same time, if they encountered a combat situation. With two 7th Fleet frigates above, formations of Achakai warships both above and below, and the battleships feeding sensor data, the Howlert’s crew did not need to wait for their own sensors to recover from the spatial distortion of the jump wormhole. Landing the two battalions required twelve medium-lift Dodo dropships of the type that humans called ‘Dodos’ and eight of the Whale heavy-lifters. Add eighteen ‘Vulture’ gunships as escorts, and the Howlert’s launchers spit out thirty-eight spacecraft rapidly, so rapidly that the ship had to be careful about adjusting to the sudden loss of mass that would change its center of gravity. Ten gunships were first to launch, spreading out to provide coverage for the troop-carrying dropships launching right behind them. Clouds of decoy drones were ejected by the assault carrier and the two frigates, filling the sky with sensor-jamming electromagnetic interference, and projecting holograms that gave each of them the appearance of dropships. The launch operation proceeded exactly as planned, and soon the Howlert’s launch bays were empty. After the dropships were away, the Howlert began clawing its way up to jump altitude while launching cargo pods. Above the Howlert and above the upper formation of Achakai warships, a twisted tear in spacetime appeared in a burst of gamma radiation, and a Bosphuraq light cruiser suddenly emerged from nowhere. At the same time, a pair of Bosphuraq destroyers emerged in the middle of a formation of three Ruhar battleships, and began launching missiles even before their sensors had fully reset. The Bosphuraq light cruiser was battering the sheilds of the Howlert. The three hundred crew of the Howlert were sacrificed in order to protect the dropships.[1] |
References[] |