As soon as Mantis broke out of the atmosphere new challenges began.
As Mantis neared the upper regions of the atmosphere here sensors started detecting orbital and showed a sizable vessel 10 degrees off their aft centerline and what appeared to be an exo-atmospheric fighter almost directly ahead.
As Mantis broke out of the atmosphere, she became more clearly visible to ships in space. She was almost immediately scanned and hailed, “Caravel, this is Jaje Defense Boat Krabex. You are in violation of import and air traffic restrictions. Cease burning and prepare to be boarded.”
Mantis noted, “The Krabex, a 400-ton defense boat appears to be the vessel to aft, currently in orbit but starting to burn to catch us as we accelerate. Ahead is a 20-ton fighter.”
Ximon, “Great. We’re going full burn straight ahead. Doyle get ready for any incoming and take out that fighter if necessary.”
Ximon responded to Krabex, “Krabex, this is Caravel. I’m afraid you have us confused with someone else. We have complied with all provided regulations.”
Then Ximon kicked the Mantis into a full burn and they were all slammed back into their seats breathing hard under the strain. Mantis shot forward, heading straight toward a couple sizable satellites.
Krabex immediately fired 4 missiles and a few stray laser shots, Doyle fired chaff against more laser shots, and Mantis started ECM against the missiles.
The fighter in front of them continued to get closer, as did the missiles, but they were pulling away from the Krabex.
Doyle fired lasers at the fighter and got a hit, but the damage was minimal, and the fighter started evading as it closed rapidly. Then it fired a missile as well.
Ximon swung Mantis swiftly to port, aiming straight for a derelict space station.
Ximon, “Doyle, take out those missiles.”
As they swung past some satellites, one of the missiles impacted a satellite and disappeared.
Doyle was able to take out the fighter’s missile with the laser, but 3 missiles from the Krabex were still catching up fast.
Ximon swung the Mantis close past the space station as the missiles got perilously close. That, combined with the ECM, led one missile to hit the station.
Doyle, “2 still inbound, firing flares.”
Ximon yelled, “Fire them all.”
Doyle did, indeed, shoot off several sets of flares. One more missile veered off toward those and the final one hit a flare shortly after it was ejected by Mantis. It wasn’t a direct hit, but the explosion rocked Mantis and alarms started sounding.
Ximon, “Elsbeth/Mantis, status?”
Mantis replied, “Multiple shrapnel punctures in the hull. None have created a full hull breach, but we must exercise caution.”
Elsbeth chimed in, “Remember the not dying part? That was dang close. We’ve got multiple punctures we’ll have to check, probably a bit more sensor damage, and it looks like we have a slow fuel leak. I’ll do some calculations to verify, but I don’t think it’ll prevent us from getting back to base. I’ll let you know if it develops into a larger problem.”
Ximon, “Great, a lot of things to be careful about when people are shooting at us.”
Ximon took the Mantis around Jajerus as the continued accelerating and soon the Krabex was beyond the horizon but still back there. Ximon headed for Jajerus’ moon FAST, whipping past it and gaining a minor slingshot boost. Then they ran almost straight toward the projected position of Jajedix.
Krabex did not pursue – they must have orders to stick close to the planet, but they’d certainly be alerting any of their ‘buddies’ further out.
Ximon kept burning far longer than he normally would. If he encountered anything else, he wanted to have a lot of speed to play with. He also edged their course to go very close to the Republic Navy patrol zones – he was hoping that any 10 Kingdoms craft would tend to avoid that or get slapped down.
The way back was, luckily, without incident. They detected some potential enemies at long range, but they never came close. On the way back, Ximon composed a report of their run. He also opened the small box the Canids had given them and shared it with the crew. It contained small, spicy pieces of dried meat. Ximon and Doyle both found the very tasty and Elsbeth considered them OK.
When they got back, they were pleased to see that the base had finished installation of some connecting tubes, so Ximon and Doyle were able to get inside without suiting up. Elsbeth said she was staying on the Mantis and would work out a fix plan after some more rest. Ximon went in, reported to operations, told them he’d need a couple days for repairs and checked on everyone else. A couple of them had had a completely boring run. One had been shot at by AAA but suffered no damage. Mantis had had the roughest run of the day by far.
The folks in the mess were considerably friendlier now that Ximon and his crew were ‘veterans’ of this effort. Some swapped stories and the like. While some gave suggestions and ideas on approaches and other tactics. Ximon enjoyed it and learned from it but wanted to get back to Mantis. Doyle was clearly enjoying the camaraderie, talking, laughing, and playing cards.
Raiza managed the requisition of fuel and ammo and got it loaded on board. Meanwhile, Ximon, Elsbeth, and Peter suited up and climbed all over the Mantis to ensure that all cracks or holes were identified and that no other damage was missed. Within a couple hours, Elsbeth devised a repair schedule. It was mostly her, but parts of it included Peter, Ximon, Doyle, and/or Raiza. It took much of the next day, but Elsbeth was sure they’d gotten everything. Mantis confirmed that she noted no pressure alarms or other issues and that sensors looked 100%. They went to bed exhausted but got up the next day to check the schedule. Luckily there was nothing on the schedule for anyone, so they rested and rechecked some of the repairs.
The resupply process continued on for weeks. Mantis flew about twice a week. Most were solo missions like their first, but all were FAR less eventful. A few were downright dull, for which they were glad. On some missions they were shot at or had to run, but after six weeks none were as bad as their first mission. During that time, the group lost a couple shuttles, a few fighters, and one ship. Tamarck and his Curmudgeon rotated out and two other old KSF survey ships came in.
Finally, in week 7, they received orders for a “maximum effort” the next day. A moderately large freighter would jump in and all the little ships, like Mantis, get some cargo from it, but this freighter would be streamlined and would go to the planet with them. Dispersing some cargo to the little ships just acted as an ‘insurance policy’ in case something happened to the freighter and would hopefully make unloading the freighter faster once it landed on the planet.
The KSF forces would essentially be flying in formation with every ship, shuttle, and fighter they had, plus all the Republic Navy ships in the area. The intent was to batter their way to the planet and deliver one very large load of cargo all at once, then fight their way back out. Their allies on the planet would assist during both landing and takeoff with every aircraft they had.
It sounded comforting in some ways, going with friends, but Ximon knew it would attract every enemy in the system. He again had Mantis take backups for Raiza, Peter, and herself. He was nervous.
On that fateful day, all the ships took off from the station at around 0700 and met the freighter. There, they each got some cargo from the freighter while Navy ships arrived to join them. The freighter was large, almost 10,000 tons, and had substantial defensive weaponry. The KSF group had 4 small ships, 10 shuttles of various kinds, and 10 old fighters. The Navy provided a 3,000-ton destroyer, 2 destroyer escorts, 2 system defense boats, and 8 (much nicer) fighters. Ximon felt a bit silly and wasn’t sure what he and his little ship could do with all that mess. He and most of the other small ships were assigned to the rear flanks of the group with a job of taking out things that made it past the big boys. The fighters brought up the absolute rear. All in all, it was an imposing group to Ximon, who was used to flying solo or with small groups of small sh
ips.
The “flotilla” flew at pretty much lowest common denominator acceleration. They detected nothing until they neared the orbit of Jaje 5. There, they spotted a large enemy force, with a frigate, several corvettes, 10 system defense boats, and several dozen fighters.
The Navy ships led the force in, directly into the enemy’s teeth.
The battle was a confusing mess, with constant orders to, “Hold formation.” The enemy advanced behind a swarm of missiles and the big ships started exchanging long range fire. From what Ximon could see in the rear and make out from radio chatter, the exchange seemed even until the forces effectively met. Both sounds pounded one another, damaging big ships and taking a toll in fighters.
As they closed, the entire area of space seemed to be a killing field. The big ships traded blasts from their main weaponry. Swarms of missiles and anti-missile missiles flew through and around the formation. Fighters from both sides seemed to be everywhere, appearing and disappearing in a flash, and sometimes an explosion. Finally, every ship in the formation was using every bit of defensive weaponry they had to try to combat the enemy ships, fighters, and missiles. With all that fire, to Ximon it was surprising that anything survived. Within Mantis, there seemed to be a constant chatter, with Mantis noting enemy vessels or missiles, Doyle marking and firing at targets, Elsbeth remarking on damage or repairs they were attempting, and Ximon trying to coordinate it all.
Ultimately, the Republic destroyer proved much stronger than its adversaries close-in and mauled several enemy ships. The enemy fighters were persistent and aggressive hard to combat due to their numbers and agility. They seriously damaged several ships and did some damage to the freighter. The fighters on both sides took substantial losses and the KSF lost several shuttles who were charged with defending the flanks of the freighter fighters that broke through the screen and got too close. The enemy force finally broke after 15 minutes of violent conflict, leaving their broken behind them. The Republic force appeared to have inflicted more damage than they took, but their screen was considerably smaller, the freighter had taken some damage, and a damaged ship and a couple shuttles had to turn back because they were unstable or couldn’t keep up.
The met another sizable enemy force as they neared Jajerus, though this one was smaller. Again, they exchanged missile barrages, long-range fire, and then clashed close-up. Again, the enemy force suffered far worse, but the Republic forces lost some as well. Mantis took some cannon fire from fighters, but most things weren’t aimed at her and she’d mainly driven off or destroyed missiles and fighters.
When they got to the planet, the freighter and all the atmosphere-capable ships entered the atmosphere while the destroyer, its escorts, and a few others provided top cover. As they entered the atmosphere, they were met by almost 40 small atmospheric fighters from their allies and they headed for the target area. As they neared it, they met a hail of ASMs and curtains of AAA. Several ships took damaging hits. A couple AAA bursts buffeted Mantis, but she wasn’t substantially damaged.
Then the AAA slackened as almost 100 enemy fighters closed in. They dove in fast and repeatedly, from almost every direction. The flotilla plowed through, but it looked like almost every ship took at least some damage before they got past and drove off the enemy fighters. Finally, the freighter, Mantis, and the rest of the group landed at the destination airfield while the remaining friendly fighters and a few non-cargo ships circled overhead.
The locals didn’t have cargo handling equipment optimized for anything as big as the freighter so offloading took quite a while. In the meantime, the little ships, like Mantis, had to offload themselves, just leaving their cargo in organized stacks for the locals to retrieve later.
There were several enemy air raids during offloading, but they were largely ineffectual. They enemy was brave but outnumbered and outgunned here.
As soon as a ship was empty, its orders were to get back up into the air to help provide cover until only the freighter remained. Mantis unloaded quickly and Ximon was relieved to get her off the ground. However, they then had to circle for a while, watching for enemy fighters. Finally, the large freighter lifted off and lumbered skyward.
The enemy fighters attacked again and had more success but couldn’t effectively damage the freighter and were driven off. The flotilla again met missiles and AAA as they fought for altitude while crossing enemy territory and suffered some more minor losses. After what seemed like an eternity, they made it into space, and joined back up with the Navy ships.
They were harassed by several attacks as they left the planet but took no other major losses. As they neared Jajedix they took stock. They’d lost a destroyer escort, a system defense boat, two of their small ships, 4 shuttles, and 8 fighters. Both the destroyer and the freighter had suffered substantial damage and the freighter needed some repairs before it could safely jump. It had worked, but it had been a costly mission.
The base at Jajedix had no missions for about a week after that and everybody nursed their wounds, repairing ships and men. Then they got back to solo missiles like they’d done before the ‘maximum effort.’ This continued for 5 more weeks with a mix of dull and dangerous days. The crew had the process down to a ‘t’, but it was still scary.
On one particular down day, Ximon headed back to Mantis after dinner and relaxed there. Only Doyle chose to sleep on the station most nights. Ximon was startled out of bed in the middle of the night by klaxons and explosions. A message came over from operations, “This is Control. We’re under attack. All ships get off the ground ASAP!”
Ximon ran to the bridge in his underwear and a bathrobe yelling, “Mantis, pre-flight! Get Doyle’s status!”
Raiza followed him to the bridge, bringing a large medical kit and some clothes for Ximon.
Ximon ordered, “Everyone strap in.”
Mantis reported, “The station is under attack from enemy fighters and small craft. Several ships are already substantially damaged. Our few fighters are scrambling. I got no response from Doyle.”
Several fighters (friend and foe) roared overhead as Ximon started the engines. A shuttle a short distance from them erupted in flames and cannon fire raked the entire crater.
Operations ordered, “All ships, get off the ground with whoever you have!”
Mantis noted, “Captain, still no response from Doyle and I don’t detect his comm unit. I fear we must take off or risk destruction.”
Ximon messaged Doyle, “Not getting a response from you. We’re taking off. Huddle down or get off with someone else. We’ll be back.”
Mantis lifted off and was immediately in a maelstrom of fighters from both sides. She was soon followed by a couple shuttles and then another ship. It was a confused mess, but collectively they gained the upper hand over the enemy fighters. However, then a couple enemy system defense boats appeared and fired a flurry of missiles. The operations dome took several hits, as did most of the remaining ships on the ground. This looked bad, but then they heard, “KNS Cavalier inbound flank speed” – the destroyer was headed this way, apparently with some smaller vessels alongside. The enemy kept inflicting damage until the destroyer blew both system defense boats out of the sky and they collectively destroyed or drove off the remaining enemy fighters. The fighters did not go easily though. One badly damaged enemy fighter seemed to intentionally dive into the remnants of the base, causing great damage. Another enemy fighter rammed one of the destroyer’s escorts, taking it out of the fight.
The destroyer and its remaining escorts took up overwatch while the other KSF ships landed to survey the damage. As Mantis approached, they could all see that the damage was, indeed, severe. Two ships and four shuttles were smoldering wrecks and the main domes of the station had been severely damaged, with comms, power, and cargo all knocked out or severely damaged.
Once Mantis landed, the entire crew put on vacuum suits and rushed in to assist. Luckily most area of the dome were still pressurized and had oxygen, so decompression and suffocat
ion hadn’t contributed too much to the body count. Raiza joined several medics who had set up a makeshift hospital set up in one undamaged corner of the building and treated wounded. Meanwhile the others recovered the wounded and bodies. Elsbeth and Peter were clearing an area near the destroyed remnants of the mess when Peter exclaimed, “Dear One, it is our crewmember Doyle.”
Elsbeth looked and helped get him out from under some rubble. He was badly wounded, covered with blood from numerous shrapnel wounds. Peter easily carried him to Raiza, while Elsbeth informed Ximon.
Graves was also brought in wounded, having been almost impaled by a small metal strut. However, he remained conscious as the medics worked on him and had a few of his staff report periodically on progress.
Within about 90 minutes, the picture was clearer, and most people accounted for. Casualties were heavy, with dozens killed or wounded by enemy fire or from explosive decompression in parts of the shelter. The facility was effectively destroyed and would clearly be vulnerable to future attacks if it were rebuilt.
After he was treated, Graves sat up and made a strained and painful announcement, “To the brave men and women of Jajedix … I salute you. We have done great work here for some months and we have helped our allies greatly. But today we have suffered mightily, and it is with regret that I report that our part of this mission is over. After conferring with the Navy, I have concluded that Jajedix must be abandoned. I will confer with KSF HQ on how to address this mission in the future. But, for now, we must recover and regroup. We will now move our wounded to the Naval outpost on Jaje 13 until we can arrange transportation out of the system. Once we get the ships loaded, all ships will head toward the Scout base at Manud and receive new assignments, though some of you may drop cargo or pax at spots along the way – watch for comms as you jump in system. Lt Yarvin will coordinate evacuation. Most of you will load up and leave immediately, but a couple will remain behind to take the wounded.”
Expeditions of the Mantis Page 7
