[FT] AAR -- Cygnus Fleet Proving Exercise (L-O-N-G) Part 2

AAR - Cygnus Fleet Proving Exercise

http://members.xoom.com/rlyehable/ft/pbem/cygnus/

<part 2>

Turn 16: CJ1 and SS1 intercepted Ftr-Gamma. The two fighters of CJ1
opened
up and destroyed the last fighter of Ftr-Gamma, just as the low fuel
warning sounded. The last fighter of CJ3 burned in on Archamedies ducking
below the 6 PDS arrays to lay open armor and penetrate to the hull of the
massive war ship. AD237 fired at long range at Claim Jumper, but the shot went
wide. Bogata, however, opened up with a full broadside breaking the carrier
into debris. Fleet Random Effect (Noam) opens up all ships on Fleet Stray
Cat's Missouri. Schrodinger's Hammer ekes one past the screens to blister some
paint. Shot Noise's beam is mostly stopped by Missouri's screens, but does
manage to blister more paint. Reality Graft's mighty beams penetrated the
screens to begin to do some real damage. Mojo Filter fired its beam through
the hole that Reality Graft opened in the screens to score superficial damage.
Untidy Intentions beams tore through the screens to vent atmosphere from
Missouri. Division by Zero's beams, however, only glanced off the Mighty
Missouri's screens.

Turn 17: "Vampires locked on!" was the call on the deck of Missouri.
Immediately the command was given "counter measures". But the call was too
late as the Point defense system swept the sky clean of both the offending
missiles. Reality Graft (Fleet Random Effect [Noam]) fired its heavy beams at
Missouri (Fleet Stray Cat), but the weapons bounced harmlessly of the thick
screens of Missouri. Archamedies' (Fleet Aron) main guns cut through Atlanta's
screens as if they were not there scoring on the craft half its size. Firing
at long range Untidy Intentions, Mojo Filter, and Shot Noise (Fleet Random
Effect) managed to shred the screens of Missouri that Reality Graft could not
penetrate. Iowa and Atlanta (Fleet Stray Cat) returned fire upon Archamedies
punching past both screens and armor. Division by Zero's (Fleet Random Effect)
heavy beam also fails to penetrate Missouri's screens. Bogata (Fleet Aron)
scored on Atlanta for minor damage. And Schrodinger's hammer bashed through
the screens of Missouri.

Turn 18: A momentary lull in the action was observed in the Cygnus Fleet
Proving Exercise today. Fleet Random Effect fired on Missouri of Fleet Stray
Cat for minor damage. And Fleet Stray Cat saw two additional ships leave the
arena. Bill withdraws from the game as he feels that he cannot overcome the
disadvantage of 3 black flags (and more to come as he cannot slow his fleet
enough to avoid exiting the arena).

Turn 19: A momentary lull in the action was observed in the Cygnus Fleet
Proving Exercise today. Fleet: Target: Aron Brendan Brendan Noam Noam Aron

Turn 20: A momentary lull in the action was observed in the Cygnus Fleet
Proving Exercise today. Fleets reposition to get in range of their new
targets.

Turn 21: More maneuvering

Turn 22: Reality Graft of Fleet Random Effect (Noam), clawed into Rose (Fleet
Brendan), but its sister ship Untidy Intentions failed to penetrate Rose's
screens. Schrodinger's Hammer, Division by Zero and Shot Noise scored minor
damage on the Rose. Mojo Filter's shot missed Rose.

Turn 23: Reality Graft of Fleet Random Effect (Noam), clawed into Rose (Fleet
Brendan), leaving it streaming atmosphere. Untidy Intentions also tears open
the side of the beleaguered ship. Hit by Shrodinger's Hammer for minor damage.
Division by Zero poured salt, in the guise of heavy beam fire, into the wound
in Rose. Shot Noise and Mojo Filter's shots failed to find the deflowered
Rose.

Turn 24: Reality Graft of Fleet Random Effect (Noam), bounced 3 beams off the
screens of Rose (Fleet Brendan), leaving it no worse for wear. Untidy
Intentions mirrors the effects of its sister ship Reality Graft. Schrodinger's
Hammer manages to punch one beam through the screens. Immediately sensors
detected a Power Spike from Rose. Rose was hit by Division by Zero, Shot
Noise, and Mojo Filter for minor damage.

Turn 25: Reality Graft, of Fleet Random Effect (Noam), opens up on Harley, of
Fleet Brendan, shaving the last of its armor off and defoliating its side.
Untidy Intentions blasted through the now thin skin of Harley's side, leaving
it streaming atmosphere. Hit by Schrodinger's Hammer and Division by Zero for
minor damage. Shot Noise pounded on the injured Harley. And Mojo Filters beams
sliced through the gaping hole to penetrate an inner bulkhead, leaving the
hapless Harley disgorging atmosphere and debris. This was enough for the
judges to declare Fleet Brendan out of the competition. While Fleet Random
Effect brought Fleet Brendan low, Fleet Brendan was not the designated target
fleet for Fleet Random Effect. Thus Fleet Brendan's flag goes to Fleet Aron,
transferring the lead from Fleet Brendan to Fleet Aron (see box scores). Fleet
Aron and Fleet Random Effect now face off in the final showdown. Fleet:
Target: Aron Noam Noam Aron

Turn 26: A lull has settled at the Cygnus Fleet Proving Exercise as the two
remaining fleets reorganize and begin to stalk each other. Fleet Random Effect
(Noam) has also deployed drones to, hopefully, draw off the ships of Fleet
Aron.

Turn 27: Intercepted from Fleet Aron: <Fizzzitttt, snappp> "This is the
control calli <ssstt> LB <sss> tt8 or BC 5 <wrr...> acknowledge, please."
Commander Clark considered the Holo projection before him. Amazing we've
lasted this long, he thought. This entire engagement had been a series of
crossed lines of death, as fleet trajectories crossed one another's. Now it's
come to this, only the Yellow fleet remains, and the holo display overloaded
by data simply displays the final enemy as one blurred object. Well at least
we have time to maneuver, "Ensign expect enemy fire at 50 mu minimum". "Aye
sir." No hesitation, now there's a sharp lad. Damn those heavy beams, they've
just overwhelmed previous targets, and were down right shocking to see
engagements at such ranges. Well it's all going to come down to timing, if we
can just get our attack run coordinated properly. Though, the computers were
have little success in running the calculations. <Snap, snap, ssss> "BC 531,
we read you... prepare for data dump." Explanation: I goofed the orders for
Aron, and could not fix them in time for the next turn. No damage resulted. He
opted to play it out.

Turn 28: The last half hour has not seen much in the way of fire fights as the
fleets close to weapons range. However, both fleets have launched numerous
drones. While drones have no offensive capability, they can draw enemy
attention (or even fire) away from the actual ships.

Turn 29: [From bridge of Reality Graft] "Are they charging us Admiral?!"
"No...no. I don't think so, Nav. Look at AD. I think it's turning with the
pack." "You sure?" "Never and always, Ensign. I just don't think they're eager
to charge down our main barrels. Main gun status?" "All crews report green,
Sir" "Then open up on BC 531b. He's got at least one more unfired missile than
AD. Gunners! See if we can't take one of them out in the launch tube." "Main
Guns FIRE" "Sensors, lets be sure. Scan both BC 531's. Is either LBJ or York
in range?"
"LBJ-b is"
"Good, scan it. Now, Full Thrust!"

Turn 30: Archamedies, of Fleet Aron, launches 2 heavy missiles, and BC 531
(Fleet Aron) also sends a heavy missile streaking out into space. Reality
Graft, of Fleet Random Effect (Noam), opens up on BC 531, stripping hull away
where there was once mighty armor. Untidy Intentions fires 3 beams into the
same opening that Reality Graft created, smashing bulkheads and causing BC 531
to vent atmosphere. Schrodinger's Hammer also laid one beam into the hole, to
be rewarded with additional atmosphere venting. Division by Zero and Shot
Noise also pounds the hull of BC 531, but fail to find the hole created by the
other attacks. And Mojo Filter's shots locked on pieces of debris from BC 531,
and failed to further damage the target.

Aron had turned to face the drones that Noam had launched. When this was
revealed, Aron resigned with the following kind message:
> From Admiral Aron Clark:
I find myself in an untenable position, unable to strike an opponent who will
continue to batter my position with superior range. I must now surrender
myself to that superior position... Brian, you've certainly worked very hard
on this game. I can imagine the time and effort you spent simply setting up
the web pages to handle all of this. Thank you, I'm glad I had the chance to
play in this PBEM game.
 Noam, my hat is off to you. Who would have thought class 5+ beams.
Regards
to you both - Aron

Thanks again to everyone who made this game much fun!

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