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Review
The Death of Garrison Station
A Combined Review and
Mission Report for Matrix Games' Starshatter
by Cat
Dragon wouldn’t
get away this time, Elena mused. Not this time.
She closed her eyes tightly and squeezed
the bridge of her aristocratic nose, trying to ignore the
migraine headache slowly building at the back of her head.
She was tired. And she wasn’t the only one. The war had
gone on far too long. Force:Space was far from its bases,
and Operation Nightfall had brought them too deep into Marakan
space for her personal comfort. She raked wispy blonde bangs
back off her forehead for what seemed like the hundredth time
and made a mental note to visit Devastator’s barber
the first chance she got.
More documents scrolled past on the
padd propped up on her desk. The life of the boss, she thought
sourly. She was still trying to complete the Report to the
Court of Inquiry on Thrale, to detail Vance’s loss in Isham system the month before. I told them not
to send an Asher DD to screen three cruisers.
Her Fifth Battle Squadron had been
tasked to take out an enemy cruiser, and in Relay orbit instead
had happened upon a true pearl of great price: an enemy carrier.
CV Serpent, a Dragon class carrier all alone
and unprotected since its escorts were destroyed. Serpent’s objective was the Terellian CV Orion, the center
of Force:Space’s First Fleet and the one ship that had
to be protected at all costs. Abandoning the search for the
Marakan cruiser, Elena had snapped an order to Devastator’s Pilot and told off the cruiser’s Tactical Action Officer
to get her consorts Steadfast and Dauntless in line. Vance had been detailed to escort and
screen the flagship against fighters, not to join the battle
line.
Busy commanding her own ship against
an inbound fighter squadron-at first, she’d thought them
to be from Serpent — as well as directing Dauntless and Steadfast, Elena hadn’t seen Vance depart station and engage two Volnaris class destroyers, part of CV Dragon’s coterie. Dragon wasn’t supposed to be in-system, but apparently
had joined Serpent in the attack on Orion. Dragon quantum-jumped away as Devastator wheeled and
fired a swarm of thermonuclear-tipped Athena torpedoes at
her, but her escorts remained behind. Alin Volnaris herself killed Vance with well-placed torpedoes before Devastator could match velocities and give the
enemy something else to think about. No matter that Volnaris
too died quickly at the tips of Devastator’s
gamma-ray lasers and Athenas. As had Serpent, when
the carrier had quantum-jumped to the next orbit toward Isham’s
sun, and Elena, ordering her consorts to the pursuit, guessed Serpent’s escape-haven right. The two Courageous class cruisers had killed the enemy carrier before Devastator even made it into the area. And then Elena’d had to report
to Vice Admiral Evars aboard Orion on their return
to Relay orbit after the action and account for why they’d
lost the destroyer. And she’d taken it on herself to
write to each of the families of Vance’s one hundred
and thirty sailors.
She’d lobbied Admiral Evars ever
since for a chance to finish Dragon off. They’d
pursued her all through Marakan space, killing her remaining
escorts one by one and now Force:Intel’s agents had her
as alone as Serpent had been. And in Garrison system,
as were Force:Space’s First and Second Fleets; Both the Orion and Antares task forces were here, with
the goal of killing Garrison Station, the Marakan fortress
where their scientists were rumored to be developing a super-weapon.
This was the Terellians’ absolute top priority. But before
Garrison Station could be assaulted, they had to do something
about the relentless fighters. The ground-based ones were
bad enough. But the naval fighters, those the battle-fleet
could do something about. The order went out to kill Dragon,
and Elena was finished with her plan.
Waypoint One would be the rally point,
where Devastator, Dauntless, and Steadfast would gather before setting off for Dragon’s last
known location. Garrison Station was somewhere in that area,
but the Marakans’ heavy sensor jamming made it impossible
to locate for sure. Regardless, she could read between the
lines and knew that Orion’s tactical fighter wing
was itching to get its F/A-38 Thunderbolts into an attack
on the heavily defended station. It would be suicide for the
fighters alone, without heavy support. Garrison Station was
equipped with its own fighters, and on top of that was armed
like a cruiser itself.
She awoke feeling refreshed; the cruiser’s
medic had given her something for the headache and she carefully
buttoned herself into the high-necked, deep blue broadcloth
Terellian naval uniform, with its silver piping and the bright
silver shoulderboards with the single golden star signifying
her rank, Commodore. Eligible for battle command of anything
in Force:Space’s arsenal, including a carrier group.
Elena was a pilot by training, as were all Force:Space recruits.
Her first assignment had been in Operation Highland, the Solus-Renser
guerilla wars against the Dantari separatists who had taken
over the Independent Solus Fleet. She’d flown F-32 Falcons
in particular, and as a Lieutenant had commanded CV Archon’s tactical fighter wing. In Renser system Elena Nakhimova led
her outmatched Falcons against a Dantari frigate that had
maneuvered itself into position to attack Archon by
stealth, and driven it off with her MRM “Javelin”
missiles, winning the Flight Medal in the process. That was
Force’s highest award for a pilot, and it outranked a
lot of other medals. Even the Gold Star she’d won during
Operation Firestorm, in command of cruiser Justice years later, at Kolchev. Her first cruiser command, Justice had taken out an entire destroyer squadron alone, prompting
the cruiser group’s commander to whisper in awe, “who
says there’s no Justice?” as the battle staff
watched the action on their holographic displays, the Devastator-class
flagship too far out to help.
Her aide brought breakfast for her,
and she asked him to pass the word for the battle staff to
assemble in Devastator’s command center
after the morning meal. It would be action stations-stand
easy after the crew finished eating. She ate, thinking of
past actions. Operation Shining Fortress had been the most
difficult of her career, personally, and professionally. The
Marakans had attacked across the Solus-Renser frontier, into
the heart of Terellian space. Two fleets were all that stood
between the Marakan advance and the Terellian home worlds.
She’d asked for a destroyer command, and been refused.
And when she’d received her commission as Lieutenant
Commander, CV Hyperion’s 22d Tactical Fighter
Wing needed an air group chief more than the destroyers under
Evars’s command had needed a captain. And Elena had gained
notoriety as Force desperately fought to defend the Terellian
home systems. They’d waited too long to evacuate Athenar,
and war took that center of Terellian culture by surprise.
The destruction of a heavily damaged Marakan Broadsword-class
destroyer under her F-36 Stormhawk’s guns, in Athenar
orbit, as the learned and artistic Athenars watched, horrified,
through the tri-dee, had earned her a measure of public acclaim,
the Distinguished Service Cross, and command of the destroyer Gamma.
Now, the shoe was on the other foot.
It was Force:Space that was advancing into Marakan space,
and Operation Nightfall was intended to drive the last nail
into the Marakan coffin. They searched for an ancient artifact
and a rare substance that could be used to assemble a terrible
weapon, and the Marakans couldn’t be allowed to have
that. Now, the war was come to Garrison, one of the Marakan
Hegemony’s core systems. Elena now led a full cruiser
group, and she commanded a powerful ship.
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