Trace Coburn
BattleTech Starfighter Analyst
- Location
- NDBBM, New Zealand
I barely heard that transmission; I was too engrossed in examining the tactical situation. The surviving destroyers were still lurking behind their constantly-refreshed smoke-screen, now about seven clicks to my north. Off to their east, TorpedoTerror was staying inside the screen I'd laid for her, rippling off spreads of Type 93s as fast as her tubes could cycle, laying down a constant wall of explosive death between the DDs and me to discourage any of them from making a torpedo-run against me. No-one needs to tell that woman how to run her ship! The Vals had strayed too close as they tried to circle around to my south-east to set up their run, and a single broadside of PFHE from my 5.25s had torn two of them from the sky before they could get back out of range. The Jeans had split into two sections, trying to pincer me from the south-west and north-west.
Emphasis on trying: I'd read The Book on torpedo-tactics too, probably more thoroughly than many starter carrier-drivers, and once the Vals had backed off, I'd concentrated my 5.25s and starboard AA batteries on the northern section of torpedo-bombers. Even as Sanctum's transmission ended, the last of the northern B4Ys took a burst of 40mm from 'Q'-mount that ripped off its lower left wing at the root; the upper left wing tore away with it, and the rest of the plane cartwheeled across the wavetops, disintegrating in a long spray of chitinous-black chunks.
That makes this a bit less complicated. The fellow across the table must be feeling a little vexed with us right now.
Even as I shifted the helm a little, bringing my guns and AA batteries onto the southern wave of B4Ys, things got so much worse for 'the fellow across the table': Sanctum's fighters arrived, howling up from the south-east. I blinked as I recognised them. Sea Vampire F.20s? I'd call that 'completely unfair', if these weren't Abyssals we're fighting — or if it wasn't so good for my chances of staying alive!
Give them their due: the Claude drivers in the enemy CAP had guts. They had to know they had no chance of surviving or winning, but they still dove in to attack the oncoming jets. Only one flight of Sea Vampires turned to meet them, but the result was no contest. Three of the six A5Ms exploded or fell flaming from the sky before the merge, shattered by the quad Hispanos of the British jets, and the others lasted only as long as it took for the Vampires to come back around.
The other two flights of Sea Vampires fell on the D3As like wolves on a crippled deer, which pretty much ended any chance of a serious dive-bombing attack.
A quick glance to the south-east showed me one of the most wonderful sights I could have hoped for, and even as the surviving B4Ys pressed their attack — more despairing than truly hopeful, I imagined — I found myself laughing. I swear, I raised a fist and cheered. An Implacable-class carrier? Whoever he is, he has superb taste! "Hurrah for the best of British!"
Meanwhile, only two Jeans had made it to drop-range, and I'd already turned to comb the tracks. The 5.25s couldn't track on the biplanes as they went down either side of me, but they didn't have to: 'P'-mount Fast Forty tore the tailplane off of one, and the other flew into the streams of tracer from two of my starboard twin-30mm mounts and just dropped straight into the sea, utterly riddled.
«Looks like we scared 'em off, Ralston!» TorpedoTerror crowed. I glanced at the map and saw she was right: the sudden loss of their air-support must have convinced the Abyssal destroyers that they couldn't win. According to the data-feed from Sanctum's fighters, and the Avengers coming up behind them, the DDs had used the smoke and the distraction of fighting off the air-strike to leg it to the north-west at top speed, harried by TT's guns. «Shall we chase 'em down, give the party a big finish?»
So they can lead us into the cruisers/battleships that must be escorting that carrier? Yeah, not a great idea. "Nah, they've had enough for today. Once they get out of range, leave 'em for Sanctum's Avengers — let the Brylcreem Boys earn their flight-pay for a change."
Still, that doesn't mean we can't let them know we care. I did turn my own broadside to the fleeing quintet of Sampson-analogues and throw another few salvoes of SAP after them. Even with RN guns, I didn't really expect too many hits against targets so distant, especially ones giving me a rear-quarter aspect in full-speed retreat, but once again luck and skill met: two shells from the second salvo plunged down into the second-rearmost DD, and it staggered to a halt, burning amidships. TorpedoTerror had a little luck of her own, scoring a hit on another's stern, but he managed to maintain speed until he got out of our ranges. We both switched our fire to the cripple after that, pummeling the little bastard to a gutted, flaming hulk with our combined batteries.
Even as my guns worked on the dying Sampson, I watched Sanctum's torpedo-bombers loop out ahead of the four fleeing destroyers, already knowing that they'd probably miss. That rule of thumb had been around since the early days of the game: you could kill cruisers or battleships with torpedo-bombers, but for destroyers dive-bombers were the more optimal choice. Unfortunately, the last DB the Royal Navy used was the Fairey Barracuda, and that was retired long before the Sea Vampire made it aboard British carriers! Nonetheless, I do love watching pros work, and their attack was a textbook-perfect perpendicular strike across the centre of the destroyers' formation, launched from barely a kilometre out. Two of the destroyers managed to dance between all of the fish that came their way; a third almost pulled it off, but the spacing on the criss-crossing spreads was just too tight, and a single hit broke it in half. The last was the one TorpedoTerror's shell had hit; she must have knocked out the steering gear, because even though it altered speed to try to slip the pattern, it didn't turn at all. Two torpedoes smacked into its starboard side, and it turned turtle in less than a minute.
With that, the Sea Vampires and Avengers turned back towards Sanctum to land. Even as the first plane entered the landing pattern, the minimap flashed an 'attention' signal on a particular sector, off in the islands to the south-west, as the carrier sent a new transmission my way.
«Sounds like he thinks it's friendly,» TorpedoTerror chimed in on a private channel.
"Yeah, it does. What do you think?"
«It's worth a look. Even if it's more Abyssals, we might actually find some answers there... once we finish cleaning the place out.»
"Took the words right out of my mouth, TT." Back on the public channel, I cleared my throat before speaking. "Lead the way, Sanctum; we'll watch the back-trail, in case those destroyers find enough friends to have another go at us. Be advised, TorpedoTerror and I intend to remain at Action Stations until we confirm that base's loyalties and intentions."
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