Turn 75 - I Put You There Under That Stone
It is early March when the medevac
Caravel finally arrives in Nowa Warszawa, loaded with survivors from Thanh’s task force, including your sister. The task force had managed to kill both the
Farragut and the
McKenna, but all but a few shuttles and ASFs had been destroyed. HMS Pfiel had killed the
Farragut with a ram, and HMS Pilum had done the same with the
McKenna after both light cruisers had been completely crippled in the close. Thanh had been physically kicked off of her own flagship by the captain just prior to the final death ride of HMS Pilum.
The medevac vessel had been held in system by the operational commander until comprehensive SAR was completed. There were less than a hundred survivors of the engagement, fewer than two dozen from the warships themselves. Your sister is in very rough shape, in a medical coma at the moment but expected to recover, albeit with cloned legs.
From the report, Thanh had realized that the Black Steel would expend just as much firepower trying to kill a fighter or shuttle as a combat dropship, showing absolutely no distinction or reason in their rage. So she had ordered that every single small craft be launched from the formation, simply to boost the number of targets. The sheer mass of fire from a pair of battleships was still utterly devastating and overwhelming, with most of the squadron dying long before they could strike back at their tormentors, but it allowed them to finally get close enough to fight back. In the end the last two somewhat mobile combat units, HMS Pfiel and HMS Pilum, had elected to use the last weapon they had available to finish off the enemy, themselves. That’s when Thanh was kicked off of her own flagship by her flag captain ordering a marine to physically carry her to the nearest escape pod and keep her inside while it launched.
You now have a fuller view of your losses as reports come in and additional attacks fail to materialize.
| Naval Losses | Army Losses | ASF Losses |
- 4 Dart
- 10 Dagger
- 38 Majestic
- 28 Independence
- 28 Long Beach
- 27 Bainbridge
- 74 PPG-001
- 10 Shannon
- 10 Colchester
- 3 Puller
- 6 Vandergrift
- 81 Trenton
|
- 3rd Brigade Combat Team
- 4th Armored Division
- 10th Armored Brigade
- 11th Armored Brigade
- 12th Armored Brigade
- 3rd Cavalry Division
- 8th Cavalry Brigade
- 9th Cavalry Brigade
- 10th Cavalry Brigade
- 6th Infantry Division
- 16th Infantry Brigade
- 17th Infantry Brigade
- 18th Infantry Brigade
|
- 10 Carrier Wing
- 18 CAP Wing
- 1 Planetary Defense Wing
- 2 Fighter Wing
- 1 Patrol Wing
- 1 Strike Wing
- 1 Interceptor Wing
|
The report notes that the only reason you
only lost 4 divisions worth of ground forces was the shift to the
Trenton class, which had reduced lift capacity enough that they had to downsize the Second Wave from the initially planned 10 divisions.
Reports from the ground forces on Okusawa are good, the fighting continues to be intense but the ground forces are able to rotate units from the forward fighting to the rear for repairs. Drac resistance is crumbling. They are requesting that the warship squadron which you dispatched remain for orbital bombardment support and, if possible, a colonial infantry division be sent forward to assist with rear area security and handling the captured civilian population.
There is another bit of ‘good’ news, Ensign Takeda wasn’t on board HMS Pilum for the battle, but was attached to the Corps HQ as the naval liaison communications specialist.
Reports from Sukiashi continue to be grim, your brothers are confirmed dead, there were no survivors in that entire area. Your youngest son Quan and his family had been with them and are also confirmed dead. You still have no news whatsoever on the rest of the family as they’ve not been able to cut through the interference to contact the deep shelter, which is, in a rare spot of good news, confirmed to be intact. The question is if anybody made it there.
You know that you are terrifying your staff, as the Grim God Of War persona is on full display and you are not a pleasant person in that mode. Strangely it seems to have the opposite effect on your oldest granddaughter, who is acting almost like a mini-me to you. You force yourself to try and be less than a grim warrior around her, but it’s difficult, very difficult.
There are now daily rallies and vigils about the palace by the inhabitants of Griffsport, which is rather touching. It appears that the people at least are fully with you, despite the disaster. But the dreams are back, the feel of blood on your face, the remembered terror. And your wife is missing, hopefully alive, possibly dead. You don’t know how many kids you have left.
There have been no more attacks. So far. In some ways that is almost worse, because you have that clawing dread waiting for the next blow to hit. The fear that they are only waiting for you to lower your guard to hit you again, and the gnawing uncertainty over when and where the blow might land.
Aid convoys are already assembling to bring critically needed supplies to Sukiashi, which is disrupting trade routes but, at the moment, nobody seems to care all that much. You get a note from the new President of the NRR offering assistance in the form of transportation assets. You gratefully accept, as your own are stretched very thin indeed. Likewise, the NRI is making similar offers, which you also accept. It’s nice to see your allies acting like, well, allies.
