As word of the Legion Navy’s triumph against the Republic of Belaire reached the offices of the Legion high command, an ongoing debate which had been simmering for some time almost immediately boiled over into a furious row, with reports leaking to the Legion media outlets within hours that Lord High Admiral Jack Macaria in fact came to blows with Lord Grand Admiral Tethys Argyron. The subject to cause such contention amongst the usually reserved and sensible Lords Admiral, particularly at a moment which ought to have provoked an outburst of joyful celebration if anything, was the always-controversial topic of particle beams and the Hellfire-class frigates.
The origin of this spirited discussion, specifically, was the quite enigmatic service record of the class, still regarded by most of the Lords Admiral as an experimental weapon rather than a mainstay of the Legion Navy. On one hand, supporters of the class, with Lord Grand Admiral Argyron as their foremost advocate, correctly pointed out that the class had met its mission profile to the letter, successfully engaging Belaire beam cruisers in long-range gunnery duels - always at a tonnage disadvantage, these supporters were quick to point out - and clearly outperforming their opposing numbers in the process of destroying some 30,000 tons of Belaire cruiser tonnage without suffering any losses of their own. In the eyes of the pro-Hellfire faction, then, the only serious problem with the class was that there simply were not enough of them. Superior numbers, along with of course necessary minor refits to address the few slight weaknesses of the first-generation design, would carry the day against future Belaire opponents.
On the other hand, detractors led by Lord High Admiral Macaria criticized the Hellfire class, and indeed the entire concept of a particle beam-armed warship, as a criminally-expensive red herring and a supreme waste of resources - principally, resources which could be used to expand a perfectly capable railgun-armed Navy with tried and true designs. The chief accusation leveled at the Hellfire class was that of being a glass cannon, a cardinal sin in a Navy which strongly preferred its warships to be strong, solid duranium cannons upon which their foes would be broken. Leaving aside the problem of the thin armor which had cost Hellfire her engine in her first combat action, the particle beams themselves simply burned through ammunition far too quickly and broke down in battle conditions far too readily to satisfy the needs of the galaxy’s most powerful Navy, detractors claimed. For all this, however, the most strident complaint made by the anti-Hellfire faction was that the particle beams were simply not powerful enough, putting out only one-third of the damage output of an equivalent 152 mm railgun battery and even more damning one-quarter of the expected damage output the planned 203 mm heavy batteries would be capable of dealing. The final nail in the coffin for the Hellfire, in the minds of the detractors, had been the dominant performance of the all-railgun assault fleet at the Belaire jump point - a situation which the lightly-armored Hellfire class had been woefully unsuited for, to boot. Clearly, they said, the Hellfires were unnecessary for the Legion Navy of the future and this served only to waste valuable duranium and corundium on third-class vessels, at best.
Against these complaints, of course, the pro-Hellfire faction mounted a vigorous defense. Chiefly, two angles of counterattack were taken by these supporters: first, the entirely valid point was raised repeatedly that many of the issues for which the Hellfire class was so heavily criticized could be addressed with simple refits once the Legion’s science directorate could produce the needed solutions. Notably, improved fire control technology would not only provide the Hellfires with sufficient firing range and accuracy to completely obsolete the Belaire Sovremennys as a serious threat, but would free up enough space in the hull to install additional maintenance and engineering facilities which would keep the heavy guns firing for a longer engagement. The second counterargument, and by far the most controversial assertion made by Hellfire supporters, was that the solution to an apparent lack of firepower was quite simply to build bigger guns, and mount them on bigger ships. Specifically, particle beam advocates had submitted several sets of preliminary design plans for 15,000 and even 20,000-ton heavy beam cruisers intended to combine even heavier particle beam cannons - with some designs calling for “super” cannons displacing 800 void tons apiece - with armor even thicker than that of the Defiant and Invincible classes, intending to produce an invulnerable heavy sniper which would shred entire Belaire fleets with impunity. Needless to say, the faction which saw the existing particle beam frigate concept as a waste of resources did not take kindly to these proposals.
As is usual with such hotly-contested debates, the matter was at this time settled not by logic, reason, or even thoughtful discussion among equals, but by violence. Officially, Lord High Admiral Jack Macaria was reprimanded and lost significant political capital within the Legion high command for committing the purported cardinal sin of assaulting a superior officer. Unofficially - though not unreported by the less reputable Legion media outlets - the reprimanding and humiliation of Lord High Admiral Macaria was due to his commission of the true, and far graver, cardinal sin of being soundly defeated in the ensuing episode of fisticuffs by his superior, Lord Grand Admiral Tethys Argyron, who had not after all been promoted to Lord Grand Admiral on the basis of her charm and good looks.
In any case, in the moment this brief row dealt a significant blow to the anti-beam faction, though hardly a crippling one. Indeed, the virulence and violence of the escalating debate forced the pro-Hellfire Lord Grand Admiral to temper her own enthusiasm for the continuing particle beam project, which was already consuming an increasing share of the Legion Navy’s research and development budget in addition to its shipbuilding resources. Ultimately, while particle beams would remain a central component of the Legion Navy’s research efforts for the foreseeable future, the anti-beam officers would win an important concession as any plans for beam-armed cruisers would be shelved for several years yet - ensuring that the next evolution of the Legion’s heavy warships would be a railgun-armed flag vessel rather than an “experimental mutant child” to quote one particularly colorful Lord Captain.
Of course, while this debate was flaring up and then winding back down again, business carried on as usual in the Kuiper 79 and Belaire systems, for an ever-evolving definition of “usual”.
19 January 4009
While the Belaire jump point assault had been convincingly won, the Legion fleets were in no position to let their guard down. The original numbered fleets were ordered to form up again on the jump point, with Cruiser Squadron 5 returning once again to the Belaire system. The exception to this would be Frigate “Squadron” 2, now reduced to the jump frigate Executor and three piles of duranium dust, which would return to the Kuiper 79 base after collecting the survivors from the Kiev squadron which had been hunted down by Cruiser Squadron 5. Finally, Frigate Squadrons 3 and 4 along with the fleet auxiliaries would be ordered to transit into the Belaire system to support the battle-weary combat fleets. Beside giving out orders, Lord Admiral Criasus also saw fit to announce the awarding of the Belaire Campaign Ribbon to all officers and crews who had served under the Kuiper 79 headquarters for this operation, and further granted the newly-commissioned Belaire Assault Ribbon to Lord Captain Selene Styx and all who had served under her operational command during the battle.
The Belaire Assault Ribbon was perhaps most notable for being a color besides blue.
Intriguingly, survivors from the Belaire warships collected in the aftermath of the battle seemed unusually well-motivated by their recent defeat to share useful information with Legion intelligence officers. Perhaps most notably, a squad of ordnance technicians who had escaped the destruction of one of the Kirov-class battlecruisers proved unusually eager to divulge technical details of their magazine feed systems in exchange for promises of slightly larger cells with slightly thicker mattresses on internment at Kuiper 79. This new technology did indeed generate some small amount of idle discussion amongst the Legion flag officers regarding the potential merits of missile-armed combat vessels. Less immediately useful, though of strategic interest, was the turning over of Belaire star charts which once deciphered provided complete jump survey data on the DEN 0817-6155 system previously discovered by Adamant.
With the survivors of the battle recovered and sent to Kuiper 79 for processing, the Legion Navy turned its attention to the siege of the Belaire system. Frigate Squadron 3, now in-system to provide long-range monitoring capability, would be split up to carry out several missions. Bad Omen would be sent out alone, trusting on her speed to outrun any Belaire patrols she might encounter, to scout the outlying eighth planet in the system as well as the distant jump point to Giclas 9-38 for any Belaire presence. Meanwhile, Broken Wind was seconded to Fourth Fleet, which would also exchange Destroyer Squadron 7 with First Fleet in exchange for Cruiser Squadron 3, as the destroyers were crucially needed to strengthen the jump point defense against Belaire missile attack in light of recent losses. The reconstituted Fourth Fleet would use the sensors of Broken Wind to scout out the four gas giants in the system as well as the sole comet, and raid any Belaire sorium harvesting or mining operations they might come across. Finally, Brutal Legend would remain at the jump point to provide necessary sensor coverage for the main fleets.
Beginning at 1106 on 21 January, while en-route to Belaire VIII, Bad Omen began detecting intermittent active sensor pulses from multiple Belaire vessels. As these were well outside of her own active sensor range, Commander Hera Thrace ordered her crew to maintain their course unless the Belaire were detected crossing the 83 million km active sensor range of Bad Omen.
Positions of the Legion reconnaissance forces as well as intermittent Belaire active sensor contacts, recorded at 1221 on 21 January.
In fact, the Belaire ships appeared to be in the area as a pure coincidence, on a direct course for the Giclas 9-38 jump point. In any case, Bad Omen crossed the course of the Belaire vessels well in advance of them and proceeded toward Belaire VIII unhindered.
Far more threatening was the detection of active sensor emissions and thermal radiating from a group of four Kirov-class battlecruisers approaching Fourth Fleet at 1725 on 24 January. While a credible threat, even discounting any additional ships not yet detected, Captan Phoebe Anaxagoras in command of Fourth Fleet judged that her trajectory was sufficient to remain outside of the Belaire fleet’s weapons range, at least until Fourth Fleet arrived within 20 million km of Belaire IV. Having successfully reached this objective at 2037, Captain Anaxagoras then gave the order to continue on towards Belaire V, a trajectory which would initially send off the cruiser fleet at a right angle to the present Belaire trajectory with a distance of only 93 million km between the two fleets. While the Legion cruisers could certainly outrun the Belaire ships even along this trajectory, the real gamble Captain Anaxagoras was taking was that the Belaire missile range would not be sufficient to threaten Fourth Fleet before they could re-open the range.
Position of Kirov-class battlecruiser formation detected on an intercept course for Fourth Fleet at 1725 on 24 January. Already a significant threat to the cruiser fleet by themselves, though likely survivable, the presence of Belaire capital ships assuredly implied the presence of the numerous cruisers and escorts typically observed accompanying the battlecruisers. Belaire V, the next destination of Fourth Fleet, is visible at bottom-right.
One hour and nine minutes later, the Belaire fleet crossed into active sensor range of Broken Wind, revealing the complete composition, specifically the four Kirovs were escorted by nine cruisers (3x Kiev, 3x Slava, 3x Sovremenny) and five destroyers (4x Osa, 1x Skory), this of course being a fairly standard Belaire battle fleet albeit short by a few ships from the fleet engaged at the jump point five days previously. By 0230 on 25 January, Fourth Fleet had successfully crossed the course of the Belaire battle fleet, which had failed to approach any nearer than 67 million km and in fact had underperformed the expectations of Captain Anaxagoras whose tactical officer had given a worst-case projection of 55 million km for the distance of closest approach. By 1742 the Belaire fleet had fallen off of the Legion scanners entirely.
Relative positions of Fourth Fleet, en route to Belaire V, and the Belaire battle fleet sent to intercept, as of 0230 on 25 January by which point Fourth Fleet had completely evaded the Belaire pursuit.
By 0248 on 28 January, Fourth Fleet had arrived at Belaire VII, the fourth and final gas giant in the system, having located no Belaire fuel harvester operations around any of the four planets. As the fleet still had plenty of fuel to use for evasive actions, Lord Captain Styx transmitted a revised order to the fleet posting them to Belaire V, from which fighter-based reconnaissance missions could be launched. On arrival at Belaire V, however, Fourth Fleet once again picked up the sensor signatures of the Belaire battle fleet, which had managed to sneak up on them and close to 55 million km. Regrettably, Fourth Fleet was forced to abandon their new mission and plot a roundabout course back to the entry jump point.
Meanwhile, Bad Omen reached the Giclas 9-38 jump point on 29 January, detecting no Belaire vessels in the vicinity. As she was hardly needed elsewhere, Bad Omen was ordered to take up watch duties some 40 million km from the jump point, positioned obliquely to the trajectory from the jump point to the inner Belaire system.
Given the sticky situation facing Fourth Fleet, weighed against the strong desire to gain intelligence on the Belaire home system and encouraged by the fact that the Belaire defense fleet was apparently a fair distance from their home base, one each of the R-56 and AR-56 Osprey fighters were dispatched from Second Fleet to attempt a stealth approach to Belaire Prime.
Legion and Belaire fleet dispositions within the Belaire planetary system on 30 January 4009. Recon Flight Prime, consisting of one each R-56 and AR-56 Osprey, were designated to make a stealth approach to Belaire Prime while Fourth Fleet occupied the attention of the Belaire defense fleet.
At 1923 the same day, Bad Omen reported the approach of a Kiev and a Slava towards the Giclas 9-38 jump point. These made no aggressive moves toward the frigate, which therefore remained at her present position. At 0205 on the following day, Bad Omen also reported reacquiring the Udaloy-class destroyer detected several days prior traveling along the same heading - along with its twin, which had not been detected previously. The pair of Belaire cruisers reached the jump point and transited it at 0226, while the slower Udaloys would take until 2130 on 31 January to do the same.
At 1928 on 31 January, Recon Flight Prime arrived at a holding position 30 million km from Belaire Prime, at which time Osprey 8 activated her active scanners. As hoped for, no ships of any kind were detected by active scans, only four each of the Grisha and Gordi defense platforms as well as shipyard complexes estimated at a total of 1.5 million tons capacity. Encouraged by this, the Recon Flight inched closer to the planet, carefully monitoring their sensor displays for any evidence of active sensors aboard the defense platforms which might target the fighters. Only once 7.3 million km distant did the R-56 report RF emissions from the platforms, indicating that they mounted the lowest-resolution sensors used by the Belaire and were most likely armed with short-range weapons rather than long-range anti-ship missiles. Recalling previous experience against the Mongolican light missiles, which were judged to be generally superior to those of the Belaire, the Recon Flight was granted permission to approach as near as 2 million km, but no closer. Even at this distance, no ground force signatures could be detected, although the Legion was certain that the Belaire would not have left their home world undefended against an invasion. Nevertheless, Legion analysts predicted that the largest ground army which could be safely deployed on the planet surface without being detected would be roughly 125,000 soldiers - a considerable force, which would in fact outnumber the entire Legion Ground Forces by more than 25%.
WIth their mission complete, and while less revealing than hoped for nevertheless a success, Recon Flight Prime set a return course for the entry jump point, not willing to wait around to be ambushed by the deadly Belaire Kirovs. By the morning of 3 February, the recon fighters as well as Fourth Fleet were re-assembled at the jump point with Fourth Fleet re-formed to its original composition. Fourth Fleet, however, had observed active sensor signatures from the Kirovs while returning to the jump point, suggesting that the Belaire were still set on attempting to intercept and engage the Legion vessels. However any such threat failed to materialize, and as such Cruiser Squadron 5 was shifted into reserve along with the jump destroyer Flayer on 9 February for the purpose of providing crew leave time at Bastion 1.
At this time, the thoughts of Lord Admiral Criasus and his command staff at Kuiper 79 turned towards continuing the offensive while the Legion still held the advantage. As he could stand fairly well assured that no additional Belaire vessels lay in wait beyond one battle fleet, a reinforced version of which could not even hold a jump point against the might of the Legion, the Lord Admiral was determined to seize control of the system while the opportunity was ripe.
Shipbuilding
2x Andromeda class Stabilisation Ship
1x Achelous Mk II class Terraforming Platform
1x Obsidian Mk II class Orbital Mining Platform