[FT] The Long Journey Home (AAR) Part 5/6

>>> CONTINUED FROM PART 4 >>>>

	As their respective courses saw the fleets streak past each
other all but
on the perpendicular, Marie realised she couldn't let them get on her
tail,
equally she couldn't let them drift too far away if she was going to
make
coordinated SM launches really count. She called for the fleet to swing
around 180 degrees, push to the starboard and head back at two thirds
speed
along the way they'd come. She also called for the fighters to attack
the
escort cruiser and for the fleet to launch a full salvo spread targeted
on
two locations. As the ships roared along their programmed paths it
became
clear that she'd not only crossed the NARC's T she had dropped the SMs
straight onto their battleship and escort cruiser just as the fighters
reached the cruiser. Marie's pulse quickened and a heady surge of
adrenalin
kicked through her as Nerais reported their targets' condition...
"The battlship's been hulled, its weaponry, screen, bridge and life
support
systems are offline. The escort cruiser has taken heavy damage, over
half
its PDS are down, as is its ADFC, FTL and screen." 
"d'Tournay, status of the Clemenceau's fighters?" asked Marie, swinging
her
attention to her tactical officer. Had the missile barrage been enough
to
save the pilots from fire?
"I'm having trouble picking up group beta's signatures... no they're
still
there! As are the rest, though group alpha has taken another
casualty..."
Therese d'Tournay returned, her attention remaining firmly fixed on her
panels, her face a mask of concentration, as her hands danced across
them,
playing them as expertly as she had caressed the keys of the ship's
pianoforte the previous evening.
"Well we'll see what we can do for them then, open fire on the escort
cruiser." Marie enjoined.
	The extra pounding the cruiser took from the Richelieu's
attention saw it
slip towards oblivion and its Captain struck its colours. Seeing that
target removed the Clemenceau swung its guns toward the wounded light
cruiser and opened fire knocking out the forward beams and pulse
torpedo.
Under heavy fire itself the Ribas concentrated on making sure the light
cruiser was little more than a drifting hulk. Unfortunately the Ribas
ended
up in the same condition and in its already critically weakened state it
didn't take long for the De La Vega to follow suit. Marie felt chilled
by
the sight of the ships listing through space. The arcing flares of short
circuiting power conduits briefly illuminating twisted metal and dull
panes
were there should have been windows vibrant with the light of a working
vessel. The usually sapphirine patchwork of panels and rubicund
markings,
which so closely matched those she'd been admiring on her Richelieu only
a
short while before, were now tarnished by burns and rent by gaping,
moribund maws. Just as in life the colours of her fleet conjured
unbidden
images from her childhood of the great windows from Chatre and Notre
Dame,
so in death they summoned thoughts of dead birds, their grace sullied by
their mortality and their fragility laid bare to worldly ridicule. 
	Yet again Marie, resisted the temptation to embrace the
melancholy
capering at the edges of her consciousness. Instead she focused on the
pain
of seeing her nephew's ship dark and lifeless and made it a wet stone
upon
which to sharpen her determination. Keen to capitalise on her
adversaries
loss of their greatest sources of fire power, Marie ordered her
remaining
forces to drive at three quarter speed straight ahead and drop another
full
salvo spread. At the same time the remaining heavy fighters turned their
attention to the heavy cruiser. As the swarming fighters began pounding
their target, the missiles caught a frigate and the remaining light
cruiser. The frigate was lost, but the light cruiser only took damage to
its armour, its PDS and counter measures ensuring few missiles actually
got
in. 
"Minor damage to its forward section, we've knocked out her forward
battery
and one of her fire control systems Admiral, but she's still pretty
healthy" Nerias pronounced.

Nevertheless, that proved to be enough and the concentrated firepower of
the Richelieu and Clemenceau saw the cruiser's hull quickly crumple. It
was
not all one way though and it wasn't until the Veneto cleared the
erupting
bursts of fire from the remaining NARC that Marie realised that she had
been holding her breath. 
"Status of the Veneto?" Richelieu's commander asked, needing to know how
her forces stood, the calm eloquence of her tone the epitome of cool
professionalism.
"She reports light damage only." 

>>>>>> CONTINUED IN PART 6 >>>>>>>

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Elizabeth Fulton
c/o CSIRO Division of Marine Research
GPO Box 1538
HOBART 
TASMANIA 7001
AUSTRALIA
Phone (03) 6232 5018 International +61 3 6232 5018
Fax (03) 6232 5199 International +61 3 6232 5199

email: beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au