Eeh... I know I'm new, guys, but I'd really like some feedback from the Freespace community. This story is partially character driven, but based on the opening FS2 cutscene.
The Battle of Deneb
Prologue
The year is 2335. The Great War against the Vasudans has ended with the invasion by the newly discovered race... the Shivans. This huge conflict has escalated with the emergence of the impossibly large Shivan destroyer, designated the SD Lucifer. Fortunately, there only seems to be one of these. However, that is bad enough. After the capture of the Taranis, Tombaugh Station was completely obliterated by the Lucifer. With the Lucifer at the head of the Shivan spear, the Terran and Vasudan front lines have been wiped out and pulled back repeatedly. The Lucifer fleet is currently en route to Deneb, a critical position from which to strike at both Vasuda Prime as well as the Sol system. Intelligence indicates that the Shivans have not yet determined which node leads to Sol... however, they have also informed us that the Lucifer is planning on entering the node to Vasuda Prime, homeworld of our allies...
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Chapter One: War
The Orion class destroyer assigned to the Deneb outpost slowly orbited the planet. As she crossed over the terminator, her name flashed in the sun... GTD Enterprise. As the assembled fleet saw this, a thrill of hope went through every crew members heart, be it Vasudan or Terran. The Enterprise's captain, John Silence, went over his briefing again, with a grim smile on his face. Good God... Half the Shivan armada is going to be here! Let's see... Liliths, the Demon class destroyer Eva, and the Lucifer, not to mention all the fighter/bomber escort! I really feel sorry for the poor bastards on the ground, though... it's hard enough shooting Shivans down... I'd hate to have to fight them hand to hand. I still can't believe the transmissions from that Shivan freighter. He reached over and switched on the shipwide communicator. "Attention, all hands. This is Captain Silence. As you're all aware, the Shivan armada is scheduled to be here within 45 standard minutes. Remember, people, this is the last system before those bastards can finally get to Earth. Let this be the Enterprise's finest hour!" He flicked the switch, and the comm shut off. He motioned for his first officer, Commander Riley, to come over to the captains chair. "Sound general quarters."
Lt. Commander Kyle Young ran out of his cabin, dressed fully in his flight suit.. The alarm rang in his ears... "All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill."The red lights made his surroundings seem surreal, and his movements seemed slow. Then, before he knew it, he was standing at the door to the flight deck. It opened swiftly, with a reassuring sound. He stood at attention next to his wingmates. Within the next 2 minutes, all the pilots were fully assembled: Alpha wing, Beta wing, Gamma wing, and Epsilon wing, with Theta wing as reinforcements. The XO walked over from his Valkyrie, and said to them, "Alright, pilots, you know the drill. Meet up with the rest of the fleet's fighter escort. Specifically, you'll be flying with Mu and Pi wing, of the PVD Tutankhamen, a Typhon class Vasudan destroyer. Mu is flying bombers, and Pi is cover and intercept. Help them out when you can. Gamma and Epsilon, you'll be flying bombers, so you're dismissed. Get your loadouts quickly, please. Beta, you'll be flying cover for the bombers, so you're dismissed. Alpha wing, you're flying intercept. I'll be flying with Theta wing, so Cmdr. Young, don't hesitate to call us in if you need us. Good hunting." Young turned to Alpha wing, and said, "Ok, you heard the man, get to your ships, lets go!" They ran to their section of the flight deck and brought up the loadout computers. Young always flew Hercules, no matter the mission, unless it required something faster. Quickly, he selected his preferred loadout: Prometheus cannons, Banshee lasers, one loadout of 40 Hornet missiles, and 8 Phoenix V anti-bomber missiles. Impatiently, he waited while the tech's completed the arduous task of loading the Herc with the weaponry, and then finally... it was over. He climbed in the cockpit, closed the canopy, and initiated startup. He clicked on his comm, and said, "All pilots, report in." "Alpha 2, standing by." "Alpha 3, standing by." "Alpha 4, standing by." "Alpha 5, standing by. "Alpha 6, standing by." "OK, guys, lets rock and roll! Assume escort positions." Checking his radar, he noted approvingly that the Ursa and Medusa bombers were staying onboard the Enterprise until there was something to bomb. Selecting link-fired Hornets, and set both sets of lasers to fire at the same time, he pulled ahead of the fighters.
Alpha wing screamed towards the rest of the fleet. A comm transmission soon emerged in their headsets, but it was garbled.. It soon became apparent that it was a Vasudan speaking, and the source of the interference was the translator overlay. "Welcome, Alpha. This is Pi 1, representing the Vasudan Empire. Please assume escort positions around the Tutankhamen." Young spoke into his comm, "That's affirmative, Pi. Glad to be here." Alpha 2, Ensign Bush, spoke up. "Glad? So you're happy about getting your ass shot off?" Young said, "Cut the chatter, 2. I, for one, am happy to be flying again. Been too damn long since our last mission." "Aye, sir." They dropped their speed, and positioned themselves 200 meters out from the huge brown-and-blue ship.
Young flicked on the autopilot, and took the time to examine the fleet. He noticed one other Orion, the Requiem, a few Leviathans, about five Fenrises, and for some reason, 2 Faustus science cruisers. His targeting computer said one was the Erikson, and the other was the Einstein. Young shrugged, and resumed his examination. There was a large perimeter of automated sentry platforms, both Terran and Vasudan. As for Vasudan ships, there was the Tutankhamen, and one other Typhon, and approximately 10 Aten class cruisers. Surrounding every ship was it's fighter and bomber compliment. Young nodded grimly to himself.. Oh well. We fight, we die..no matter how much, it's never enough. Seeing that the Shivans still weren't en route, he turned on his onboard jukebox, and set it to 20th century Earth rock, specifically Deep Purple.. Black Night. How appropriate. He drifted off, trusting his computer to alert him if anything happened.
All of a sudden, a bright blue-white light flashed in front of him, jolting him awake. Two large prongs emerged from the subspace node... black.. and glowing red. The Lucifer... By God... it's huge! "All pilots, do not engage the Lucifer! Repeat, do not engage the Lucifer! Fleet command: fall back! We can't stand against firepower of that magnitude! Our weapons still won't penetrate its shields! Fall back, and engage the smaller capital ships at will!" Switching to local frequency, he said, "Beta wing, protect the bombers! We'll draw the escorts fire! Alpha wing out!" And God help us all.
Subspace portals were opening up 5 klicks out from the Tutankhamen. Emerging were Liliths, two Demon-class destroyers, including the Eva, multiple Cains, and scores of fighters. Young sped towards the Demon's first bomber wing, locking onto the leader with his Phoenix Vs. As soon as target-lock was confirmed, he let loose with a double shot, and they rocketed toward their target. Five seconds later, the Nephilim was only so much dust. Not having time for another lock, he lowered his speed and fell behind the bombers. Avoiding their small turret blasts, he opened up with his Promethus-Banshee combination. Ship after ship, shields fell and hull integrity dropped, till they spun out of control and exploded, their internal bomb bays detonating satisfyingly. Then, out of nowhere, there was a quick, dull, red glow surrounding his ship. ****! Hitting his afterburners, he pulled away from the former bomber wing. Scorpions? Give me a break. He blew them apart with easy efficiency, taking only the slightest of scratches from the debris. He moved his speed up to full, and burned towards the rest of Alpha wing, sparing only a quick glance at the Enterprise.
The battle for Deneb had begun.
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