FT Fiction Part One(Long)

 I fought this battle last Sunday. It forms the basis of some fiction
I'm writing and can be released as stand alone so here it is. enjoy! 

*Aboard the KRS /Moltke/ flagship of KS II/14* 

*Rot Hafen (LTT 1583) system* 

*6 July, 2184* 

  The dark compartment that passed as the bridge for the NSL
Battlecruiser /Moltke/ was abnormally quiet. The overhead lighting was
dimmed, which accentuated the eerie green and red lights projecting onto
the faces of the bridge crew as they peered intently into their screens.
There was only the barely perceptible hum of the ships main drive. 

Julius Markmann wriggled against his seat frame in a futile attempt to
scratch an itch in the small of his back. /Verdammte Vacc/ suits, he
thought. They weren’t really necessary for fleet exercises such as this
one, /but you train as you fight/, and he had no one to blame but
himself.  Markmann was commander of Kampfstaffel II/14. They were part
of the famous Kriegsmarine Kampfgruppe 14. His ships were currently
assisting in a test of the new Mk IX cloaking system enhancement
developed by Spiegel Industries. One of his destroyers, the Kohl, was
out there in the darkness, cloaked with the new technology, and Markmann
was having a damned hard time finding it. His staffel of 5 ships were
spread out in a combat search pattern, looking for the Kohl, which they
knew to be somewhere in the general vicinity. Out in between the Kohl
and II/14 sat the Spiegel-owned scientific vessel /Gussman/. Its
ultra-sophisticated sensors monitored the exercise. For four hours, they
had searched, but found nothing. 

  “You see Herr Hauptmann, Spiegel Industries once again demonstrates
its superiority in electronics design.” Markmann cringed at the voice
behind him. /Damn Ross/. The civilian technical liaison from Spiegel,
stood gloating around the bridge. That arrogant bastard had been
annoying the hell out of everyone on the ship for the past week. OkRF
(/OberkommadoKriegsRaumFlotte/) had put a top priority into testing and
rushing this system into service. Why they had to come all the way out
to Rot Hafen top do the test as opposed to closer to Neu Salzburg was
beyond him. Markmann had been ordered to give full cooperation to Ross
and his cronies, and Ross had misconstrued that mandate in his head to
convince himself that he was running this staffel.  They had butted
heads a number of times over the past week. Despite his knowledge of the
great potential the Mark IX cloaker had, at times Markmann found himself
wishing Spiegel would fail. He guessed that what it came down to was
that Markmann didn't like anyone infringing upon his command. 

  “Herr Hauptman! /Von Zeiten/ is picking up vague disturbances
bearing 075 range estimated at 2 light seconds.” The Comm chief held
his hand to his headset as if to better hear the incoming transmission
from the destroyer.  “Contact is designated as Delta 01.” 

  “Post it.” An amber blip appeared in the holotank. Beside it was
the scant information they had on it. The blip was well outside the
exercise area, in fact behind the Gussman. What the hell was Peters
doing out there? "Reorient, the staffel along a heading that will
intercept the bogie.” 

  Ross, grinned and checked his personal datapad.  He knew that the
/Kohl/ was nowhere in that area. These fools were so frustrated at their
inability to uncover the hidden destroyer that they were grasping at
straws. Well, he wouldn’t say anything yet. He was enjoying Markmann’s
frustration too much to intercede now. 

  KS II/14 sped across the empty vacuum for 30 minutes. Contact Delta
01 was intermittent but remained along their bearing none the
less.    That confirmed in Markmann’s mind that he was onto /Kohl/.
Their course would take them past the /Gussman/ shortly. 

  “Hauptman!’ cried the sensor chief. “Reading three more
like-disturbances all in line with Delta 01. Posting them now.”
Markmann watched as three more amber dots appeared in the holotank.  It
appeared to be a formation in line. Markmann frowned. 

  “Herr Ross, what the hell is this? Does the Mark IX allow for
deception mode ECM while cloaked? I don’t remember reading or being
briefed about this.” 

Ross himself was confused.  "No Hauptman. That is not a feature in the
Mark IX. Perhaps your sensors are malfunctioning, nicht war?” 

  “Absolutely not,” replied the sensor chief a little too quickly.
“I ran a diagnostic before I reported the new contacts.” 

  “New contacts have also been confirmed by the other ships,” added
the communications officer. 

  Markmann turned to Ross. “Well Ross, what kind of scheisse this?” 

  “Hauptman! “ Markmann looked back at the holotank in time to see
the icon for the /Gussamn/ flare up and wink out. “The /Gussman/ has
just exploded.” 

  “How? What caused that?” 

  “Oh my God!" Shouted Ross. "What have you done? Opened fire on our
ship?” 

  “Shut the hell up.” Markmann fixed Ross with a glare. 

  “Negative, no ships fired”. Confirmed sensors and communications. 

  “Hauptman, contacts firming up. Bogies now confirmed as ships, mass
equals destroyer size. Unable to determine type, however they have
definitely unmasked. Bearing 015 at just over 1 light second. Speed
point 6, bearing down upon us. No visual as of yet. Perhaps by the time
we close to half a light second.” 

  “Sound action stations, no drill." Luckily they were already at
Action Stations-Drill, so it only took moments to power up for combat.
"Put the staffel into formation green two. And get me some data on those
contacts!" 

  "Matching signatures with database." 

  "Who are they? FSE?” 

  "Signatures do not conform to any known human vessels." 

Markmann's mind was racing. No known human vessels. /Hmm/. Suddenly he
felt a shiver of cold. /That means they must be/… 

  "Kra'Vak, Herr Hauptman. Closest match in our database is with
Kra'Vak." 

Markmann mulled over his options. What were they doing here? Obviously a
raid against the colony. Could they have known what he was doing here?
What they were testing? He made some quick decisions. 

  "Leutnant Braun, send an emergency message to the colony. Inform them
that we've encountered what appears to be a Kra'Vak raiding party.
Append all sensor log data to the message and keep the dump open. Warn
the two system corvettes." 

  "Jawohl, Herr Hauptman." 

  "Herr Ross, where exactly is the /Kohl/?" There was no answer. He
turned and looked at the civilian. The tall thin severe looking
administrator had turned ashen white and was trembling, his eyes
transfixed on the four red blips in the holotank. "Herr Ross! What is
the position of the /Kohl/?" 

  Ross muttered something, his eyes wild with fear at the thought of
impending real combat. Markmann jumped from his seat and landed an open
handed slap to the side of Ross' head. It sent the man sprawling to the
deck. The rest of the crew pretended to study their consoles and not
notice. Ross let out a short yelp and held the side of his head. 

  "Goddammit snap out of it man! I need to know where the /Kohl/ is
NOW!" 

Ross' eyes cleared and he looked at the pad. He punched something in and
held it up to Markmann. "It, it is somewhere inside of these coordinates
Herr Hauptman. It could have moved slightly but it's here." 

  Markmann scooped up the datapad, looked it over and tossed it over to
Braun, who barely glanced up in time to catch it. "Braun, I want you to
send a narrow beam secure transmission in that direction. Tell the
/Kohl/ they are not to decloak under any circumstances unless I order
it. Remind them not to acknowledge. Quickly." 

  "Captain?" Asked Kreps, the XO. 

  "They are just one little destroyer. My guess is that they probably
can't swing the engagement one way or the other, but if they stay
cloaked we'll accomplish several things. They may be able to surprise
the Kra'Vak at an opportune time in the battle. Second, we'll see if the
cloaking technology works against them. And third," he looked intently
to Kreps, "If something happens to the staffel they'll be able to report
back to fleet vital intelligence. I just hope they get the message
before." 

  "Message sent", reported Braun. 

  "Open up a voice channel to the rest of the Staffel." 

  "Channel open." 

  "This is Captain Markmann. As you are aware we have encountered what
appears to be four Kra'Vak vessels headed in system. We must not let
these creatures into the colony.  Two hundred thousand citizens are
counting on you. We must buy some time.  Ensure that you gather as much
data on these aliens as possible and dump it back to the colony. They
will get it back to headquarters. What we learn and do here today could
make a vital difference in the future. Do your duty. Markmann, out." 

  "Range passing through one half light second Hauptman." 

  "Visual?" 

  "I'm working the enhancement filters. They're very difficult to spot.
There!" 

One of the alien vessels appeared on the main viewing screen. The dark
blue was very difficult to pick out of the backdrop of space.  It was
shaped like a U with the ends very pointy and shimmering purple. There
were no running lights discernable. 

  "Is this a type in our database?" 

  "Negative Hauptmann. Computer classifies it as a destroyer-mass
vessel. Still not getting much electronic or radiation emissions, though
they've obviously turned off their cloaking." 

  Markmann studied the enemy formation. They came at them in line
abreast with a slight stagger in their line along the X- and Z-axis. He
scratched at his beard.  Markmann commanded a staffel of six ships.
Minus the Kohl, that left him with three destroyers, The /Balck,
Mölders/ and /Von Zeiten/, one escort cruiser, the /Altenstadt/, and
his ship, the /Moltke/. Under normal circumstances a powerful little
force, but against these unknown ships he wasn't sure what to suspect.
On his own datapad he studied some pertinent information that tactical
had dug up on the mysterious Kra'Vak. 

  Unlike most human ships which carried and assortment of beams,
lasers, pulse torpedoes and missiles, (as well as defensive screens),
the Kra'Vak, relied on rail gun or mass driver technology. At first it
was believed to be a crude weapon but the velocities they were hauling
their projectiles could punch through most ships. Also it made defensive
screen generators useless against them. In this respect the NSL tended
to stand up better against the Kra'Vak because they were heavily
armored. On the downside, the Kra'Vak railgun could only fire them
through one arc, which the humans had discovered tended to be through
the front arc. He'd have take advantage of any flank vulnerability they
had. 

  "Put us into pattern green five." 

  "Green five.  Jawohl. Transmitting." 

  II/14 approached the enemy in roughly a w shaped formation with the
three destroyers three hundred kilometers out ahead in line abreast with
both cruisers following. Now both flank destroyers peeled off left
(/Balck/) and right (/Von Zeiten/). Markmann wanted to spread out his
formation and overlap the enemy on both sides, per chance take advantage
of their flank weakness. 

  "I want a five-minute burn from the staffel, cruisers at 100%,
destroyers at 50%. I want to hit engagement range at optimal speed. All
ships be prepared to open fire at maximum range." 

  "Jawohl Hauptman, said the helmsman. "Commencing acceleration in five
four three two one mark." Markmann felt himself pushed back into his
seat until the ships internal dampers could compensate for the
acceleration as the sped increased by an additional 30,000 KPH. On the
holotank he watched his W -shaped formation spread out as both flanking
destroyers swung wide. 

  "Estimate maximum engagement range in three minutes." 

  "Thank you, tactical. Order all ships to fire at will when they hit
max range." 

Only now, as the moments ticked down to engagement, did Markmann find
himself with a moment to contemplate that they had gone from peaceful
exercise to battle in the space of fifteen minutes. He shook his head.
Suddenly a flush wave of anger passed over him as he thought of the
destroyed /Gussman/. There had been no warning. In what little they had
learned about the Kra'Vak, it was clear they had little consideration
for other sentient beings. They killed at will and the fringe worlds had
been thrown into a panic despite the limited number of incidents. Now
they were here, deep into NSL space. What was that all about? 

  "Engagement range in thirty seconds, Herr Hauptman." 

  "Designate nominal point, Number One." 

  "Nominal point designated and transmitted to the staffel," replied
the XO. The nominal Point was an imaginary point between both fleets,
which would serve as a navigational reference for maneuver while the
engagement lasted. It would help the commander judge relative
velocities, courses and maneuvers as he fought his staffel. A bright
pink xyz-axis cross displayed in the holotank. If he chose he could
display his forces within a 3d grid should he choose. 

  "Tactical have targets been distributed equally?" 

  "Yes Sir. We're going for Delta 02, it's slightly ahead of the
others." 

  "Very well." 

  "All crew members assume protective posture three and lock down shock
frames", ordered the XO. All crewmembers that could would be secure in
shock frames to protect them against battle damage and the event of loss
of internal gravity. In protective posture three vaccsuits were worn
with gloves and helmets on, though face shields could remain open. 

  "Range to target passing through thirty-six thousand kilometers,"
reported sensors. "No change in enemy course, speed or emissions
posture.