New WC Story

Sylvester

Vice Admiral
My new story, what do you think of chapter one.


Wing Commander: Eternal Flight
By Joshua "Sylvester" Dworkin

Here's a prelim character rundown:

Vice Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn Commander 14th fleet.
Captain (TCN) Alexander Haston CO TCS Kipling
Commander Rapheal Valquez XO TCS Kipling
Lieutenant (TCN) Kevin Sanches Helm TCS Kipling
Colonel Kathryn "Moonshine" Sabrine CAG TCS Kipling
Lt. Colonel Quentin "Mace" San George CO 146th Squadron
Major Ralph "Switchbalde" Smith XO 146th
Major Alexa "Ghost" Evendas Pilot 146th
Captain (TCSF) Louis "Stardancer" Preston Pilot 146th
Captain (TCSF) Jeffery "Biteme" D'Eramo Pilot 146th
2nd Lieutenant Peter "Pan" Entardies Pilot 146th

Ships:
TCS Kipling CVA 9 Bengal Class Carrier
TCS Arthur DD 321 Gilgamesh Class Destroyer
TCS Waterloo CA 1 Waterloo Class Cruiser
TCS Hastings CA 7 Waterloo Class Cruiser
TCS Concordia CVS 65 Confed. Class Dreadnought

Setting:
Year: 2666.043 (February 12th, 2666)
Place: Enigma System

Chapter I: Fight or Flight

“Shit” swore Captain Alexander Haston as his ship vibrated from yet another blast from the Anti Matter Guns from the Fraltha class cruiser directly to port of the carrier. He checked the shield display of his ship, the TCS Kipling and swore again. The old carriers shields were starting to show the strain of this engagement, the port shield was degrading and woudn’t stand up to punishment much longer. He called out to his helm officer, Lieutenant Sanchez and ordered, “Sanchez!, bring this damn thing around to face that Fraltha, and signal the Arthur to keep that Ralari off us!”
“Yes sir!”, Sanchez replied as he simultaneously entered the course change and signaled the TCS Arthur. Due to the losses the carrier took in the last engagement when most of the bridge crew was killed, Sanchez was doing double duty as comm officer and helm because their weren’t enough officers left to fill the positions. Alex then called out to his XO, Rapheal Valquez, also doing double duty as weapons.
“Rapheal, lock tubes 1-4 and the AMG’s on the Fraltha and prepare to fire.”
“Yes sir”
As his XO acknowledged the order, Haston wondered how the pilots of his carrier were handling the engagement.
**
Captain Jeffrey “Biteme” D’Eramo pulled his Rapier around into a sharp turn to avoid the blast of the neutron guns from the Kilrathi Sartha fighter on his tail. The 28 year old pilot with 21 kills winced as another shot from the Sartha cut deeply into the rear shields of the fighter. Biteme jinxed and weaved to get the nimble light fighter off his tail.
He thought, hmm, maybe I can’t shake the bastard but I can outsmart him. He shut the throttle and the Kilrathi sped past him and proceeded to do a immelman to reverse direction. Biteme hit the afterburner and sped toward the Sartha at 1400 KPS. At 600 meters he opened up on the fighter with full guns, tearing into its forward shields and heard the distinctive ping alerting him that the Spiculum missile attached to his wing was locked. At 200 meters, he fired the missile and banked hard left. The ImRec slammed into the Sartha’s cockpit destroying the fighter. Biteme rejoiced as the computer announced his 22nd kill but then was shaken as a heat seeker slammed into his ass.
**
Major Alexa “Ghost” Evendas pulled her Epee light fighter into a hard turn to get on the tail of the Drakhi that was about to give Biteme a very bad day. She fired her Particle Cannons straight into the Kilrathi’s engines. She kept firing at him as the Drakhi attempted to avoid her fire. Her last volley penetrated the light fighters aft armor and hit the engine core. The ship spun violently out of control and then exploded.
“Thanks Ghost!” said Biteme
“Don’t mention it!” she replied.
Ghost then heard a loud whine and saw the AMG’s of the Kipling fire. She watched as the blue streaks impacted the Fraltha in coincidence with three torpedoes. The hull of the cruiser buckled and then exploded into a fireball, destroying two Drakhi and a Krant in the process.
She signaled the carrier “Nice shot Kipling!” but then looked on in horror as a torpedo slammed into the Bengal’s engines, disabling them. “Kipling, come in… , this is Major Evendas to all ships, the TCS Kipling has been disabled.” She then saw another flash as a torpedo slammed into the side of the Gilgamesh class destroyer TCS Arthur. The explosion ripped through the hull and sent debris flying through the side of the ship.
“Shit!”
“All pilots, this is Lt. Colonel San George, prepare to retreat to take up defensive positions around the Kipling!”
Evendas maneuvered her Epee above the carriers bridge. Their were 5 enemy contacts, 3 Drakhi, 1 Sartha and the Ralari that had torpedoed the Kipling and Arthur. Their were 10 confed fighters so the enemy fighters were no problem but without torpedoes, it seemed hopeless that they could save the Kipling.
**
“Damage Report!” ordered Haston. The bridge was a wreck, consoles were blacked out or sparking, the ceiling panels had fallen and a electrical junction was on fire in the rear. He was glancing around at the shards of debris on the deck when he noticed Lt. Sanches lying on the deck next to his smoldering console. He sprinted top the Lieutenants side, he was unconscious but still alive, barely.
“Sir” replied Commander Valquez, noticing him by Sanches “I’ll get medics up here immediately, as for damage, it’s not good. We’ve lost engines, weapons and shields. We have emergency power only.”
“Damn” sighed Haston. He glanced out the windows toward the Ralari closing in on the dying carrier. He tried to enable comms but the panel wasn’t working. Remembering something one of his academy instructors said, he slammed his fist into the console and it came to life. He spoke into the mic “All pilots, were out of options, we can’t destroy that Ralari, give us cover, we’re abandoning ship.” He then heard the reply of Captain D’Eramo over the comm.
“Wait, I have an idea!” and with that statement he flipped his Rapier out of formation and headed towards the Ralari “Give me cover!” he yelled.
“Biteme come back!” cried Captain Louis “Stardancer” Preston, “Ah hell, give him cover people!” and he proceeded to defend Biteme from the incoming enemy fighters.
**
Avoiding the blast of the Ralari’s flak, Biteme pressed on toward the bow of the Ralari. He maneuvered his damaged but still intact Rapier level with the Ralari’s torpedo tubes. He then noticed what he’d been waiting for, a disturbance in the Ralari’s shields. To fire torpedoes, the Ralari had to drop it’s front shield to fire. Biteme took advantage of this and fired all of his missiles into the Ralari’s bow. The missiles made contact with solid hull and released their warheads in a bright flash.
The front end of the Ralari exploded and fractured the hull causing the ship to break in half. Biteme relished with his victory but suddenly was smashed against the side of the cockpit as the explosion of the Kilrathi ship enveloped his beat up fighter. He heard ejection alarms blaring and a monotonous computer voice announcing “Warning, hull failure in 10 seconds, 9, 8…” With a quick prayer, Biteme uttered. “Crap” and pulled the ejection handle. He felt the jolt and was soon rising quickly above the fractured mass that was the remains of his once proud but beaten Rapier.
**
Captain Haston watched in awe as the massive Kilrathi destroyer vanished in a superheated cloud of gas before his eyes. For a split second he felt relieved at the safety of his ship but then his heart sank as he saw Captain D’Eramo’s Rapier explode. But then he heard the frantic chatter over the comm system, first Major Smith.
“Biteme come in!”
“Dammit Biteme” , cried Mace. “where are you?”
Then Captain D’Eramo’s beleaguered voice” I’m here…I got out okay.”
As his pilots were expressing signs of relief over the survival of their comrade, Haston heard the frantic cry of the Lieutenant taking Sanches’s place at the helm “Sir, we have a contact coming in through the jump point!”
“Identify” the captain ordered.
“Sir, she’s one of ours…getting id # number now…sir! It’s the Concordia!” and with that sentence, the green hull of the TCS Concordia sailed through the jumpoint. “I’m receiving transmission sir.”
“Put it on speakers.” A female voice began speaking out of the bridge speakers.
“TCS Kipling, this is the Concordia, were sorry to have not gotten here sooner, we will tow your ship through the jumpoint. A Fraltha is incoming and we need to get your ships out of here soon. A tug will pull the Arthur out. We’ve instructed your pilots to land on the Concordia and we are sending out S&R to get your ejected pilot.”
Haston spoke into the mike “Thank you Concordia.”
“Any time Kipling, by the way, Admiral Tolwyn wants to debrief you once were through the jumpoint, Captain, Concordia out.”
Haston sat back in his chair with relief as the blue beam lanced out from the mighty carrier and pulled him and his beaten up ship through the jumpoint and to safety.

Comments? :)
 
More fan fics than you can shake a stick at :(.

#1 - I don't think a Bengal carries enough fighters to have a CAG. Usually, a CAG is in control of more than one flight group.

#2 - WC2 era AMG's bypassed shields.

#3 - not too sure if a Bengal carries AMG's or how many torp tubes it has.

#4 - The Sartha is anything but nimble

#5 - A pilot telling a carrier good shot when they just saw it for themselves?

#6 - He had to remmeber what one of his instructors said to smash his fist into a console? I think that would be a pretty common response if you were dead in the water and nothing worked.

#7 - Did anyone else get this much warning from a Rapier about to give? I don;t think WC computers have the 'countdown syndrome' that all ST vessels seem to enjoy.

Otherwise, nice little engagement :), too bad we didn;t get to see the Gilgamesh in action a little more.

C-ya
 
Viper61 said:
More fan fics than you can shake a stick at :(.

#1 - I don't think a Bengal carries enough fighters to have a CAG. Usually, a CAG is in control of more than one flight group.

#2 - WC2 era AMG's bypassed shields.

#3 - not too sure if a Bengal carries AMG's or how many torp tubes it has.

#4 - The Sartha is anything but nimble

#5 - A pilot telling a carrier good shot when they just saw it for themselves?

#6 - He had to remmeber what one of his instructors said to smash his fist into a console? I think that would be a pretty common response if you were dead in the water and nothing worked.

#7 - Did anyone else get this much warning from a Rapier about to give? I don;t think WC computers have the 'countdown syndrome' that all ST vessels seem to enjoy.

Otherwise, nice little engagement :), too bad we didn;t get to see the Gilgamesh in action a little more.

C-ya


Well on a US aircraft carrier the CAG is in contron of the carriers fighter squadrons. The term was supposed to have been changed to Commander Air Wing but no one wanted to be called a CAW.

LOAF said something about the Bengal class carrying torps and other guns besides turreted lasers so I would assume that the ship was fitted with AMGS to destroy other Capships

Ghost was congratulating the Kipling, not telling them what they had done.

I thought the Sartha was the kilrathi's priemier light fighter duringf the WC2 era? So woudn't a light fighter be nimble.

I can't edit anything now because the post is more than two hours old so youre gonna have to live with that.

Also, the WCM computers counted down.
 
Well, I think flight wing defs changed somewhere between WC1 and WCP, so I'm unsure . . . The bengal carries only 104 fighters, I think an 'air' wing is composed of around 100 fighters and a CAG is only needed if there is more than one wing, otherwise the wing commander has the authority. Angel was the Wing Commader of the Concordia and it had 120 fighters, IIRC.

Bengal should carry torps (we saw that much in the WCM) since its meant to operate as a strike carrier. I just don't know how many tubes. And the Bengal does have armament we don't see in-game, I'm just unsure if it has AMG's (again it should if its meant to operate for extended periods on its own). I guess I'll chalk that up to poetic liscense ;).

The Sartha is a little of a Kilrathi enigma. It is a light fighter but it has horrible manueverability, especially compared to the Rapier. They relied more on their powerful neutron guns and a 'wolf pack' style of flying to kill opponents.

The Rapier should only be under stress while the Ralari is blowing up, engulfing the fighter in the explosion. I don't think it would take the Ralari 10 seconds to go nova. I think the longest it ever took in game for me was about 3-4 secs.

C-ya
 
Bandit LOAF said:
the Bengal certainly had a mess of offensive weaponry, which we see in the end game sequence to WC1 (G) (Those big green guns).

Considering that the Bengal Class was designed in pre WC1 times, I'd assume that are battleship class plasma batteries as most battleships carried when the Confederation hadn't torpedos in the past.
 
Well I'm going by the fact that the bengals commissioning date was 2644 and I'm assuming that 22 years later in 2666. they would of upgraded the weapons.
 
The plasma cannons would still be good weapons, I think. They do a great deal of damage but they are only good for relatively short ranges IIRC. That made the big, fat and unmaneverable ships that carried them obsolete, because they could be downed several times by kilrathi bombers until they reach their target. But that doesn't make that weapon less powerful in defensive sense. I don't know if there were antmatter guns around in WC1 times, but those plasma cannons are are still more powerful than the heavy neutron cannons that were surely mounted on capital ships these days, plus green guns make me always make me think off plasma weapons. Heavy plasma cannons make sense when enemy capital ships have penetrated the fighter cover and come straight at the ship where they needed to be downed quickly before they inflict any damage.

And, at least I think so, strike carriers aren't designed to be uber power capship killers. They are just fleet carriers with more weapons, so that they can defend themselves more easily in battle without a shitload of escorts from all sorts guarding them. Sending a strike carrier into battle alone would still be crazy, unless there's no other way, and I don't think we see a strike carrier going at the cat's alone in any of the books, unless if there's no other option, IIRC, and even if my memories trick me, this would still be no standard operation; even if it's more heavily armed and armored than a standard carrier, it'd still be a slow and ponderous monster in comparieson to cruisers and destroyers. That makes it reasonable for me to assume that the Bengals carry plasma cannons for defensive purpose.
 
CAG stands for commander air group, so this is an officer who commands all air assets of the carrier no matter their number. There were CAGs even on escort carriers both in real and WC history - Bear for example.
 
TheLowlyDog said:
Yeah...you could say that...<<...>>...just ignore what i said...just ignore it, pretend i ain't here.

Too late. You've now caught my attention :(
 
I'd imagine the Bengal's were upgraded to hold torpedo and AMG mounts, after all the Bengal's had missile tubes in WC1. And this would allow the Bengal to stay on the front lines, and with 104 fighters on each Confed would need them on the front lines, not behind them.

Good story so far dude, you're getting me inspired to do more work on my own fan fics again.

Looking forward to chapter 2.
 
Back
Top