[FT] The Long Journey Home (AAR) Part 5/6

> CONTINUED FROM PART 4 >>>>

As their respective courses saw the fleets streak past each other all but on
the perpendicular, Marie realised she couldn't let them get on her tail,
equally she couldn't let them drift too far away if she was going to make
coordinated SM launches really count. She called for the fleet to swing around
180 degrees, push to the starboard and head back at two thirds speed along the
way they'd come. She also called for the fighters to attack the escort cruiser
and for the fleet to launch a full salvo spread targeted on two locations. As
the ships roared along their programmed paths it became clear that she'd not
only crossed the NARC's T she had dropped the SMs straight onto their
battleship and escort cruiser just as the fighters reached the cruiser.
Marie's pulse quickened and a heady surge of adrenalin kicked through her as
Nerais reported their targets' condition... "The battlship's been hulled, its
weaponry, screen, bridge and life support systems are offline. The escort
cruiser has taken heavy damage, over half its PDS are down, as is its ADFC,
FTL and screen." "d'Tournay, status of the Clemenceau's fighters?" asked
Marie, swinging her attention to her tactical officer. Had the missile barrage
been enough to save the pilots from fire? "I'm having trouble picking up group
beta's signatures... no they're still there! As are the rest, though group
alpha has taken another casualty..." Therese d'Tournay returned, her attention
remaining firmly fixed on her panels, her face a mask of concentration, as her
hands danced across them, playing them as expertly as she had caressed the
keys of the ship's pianoforte the previous evening. "Well we'll see what we
can do for them then, open fire on the escort cruiser." Marie enjoined. The
extra pounding the cruiser took from the Richelieu's attention saw it slip
towards oblivion and its Captain struck its colours. Seeing that target
removed the Clemenceau swung its guns toward the wounded light cruiser and
opened fire knocking out the forward beams and pulse torpedo. Under heavy fire
itself the Ribas concentrated on making sure the light cruiser was little more
than a drifting hulk. Unfortunately the Ribas ended up in the same condition
and in its already critically weakened state it didn't take long for the De La
Vega to follow suit. Marie felt chilled by the sight of the ships listing
through space. The arcing flares of short circuiting power conduits briefly
illuminating twisted metal and dull panes were there should have been windows
vibrant with the light of a working vessel. The usually sapphirine patchwork
of panels and rubicund markings, which so closely matched those she'd been
admiring on her Richelieu only a short while before, were now tarnished by
burns and rent by gaping, moribund maws. Just as in life the colours of her
fleet conjured unbidden images from her childhood of the great windows from
Chatre and Notre Dame, so in death they summoned thoughts of dead birds, their
grace sullied by their mortality and their fragility laid bare to worldly
ridicule. Yet again Marie, resisted the temptation to embrace the melancholy
capering at the edges of her consciousness. Instead she focused on the pain of
seeing her nephew's ship dark and lifeless and made it a wet stone upon which
to sharpen her determination. Keen to capitalise on her adversaries loss of
their greatest sources of fire power, Marie ordered her remaining forces to
drive at three quarter speed straight ahead and drop another full salvo
spread. At the same time the remaining heavy fighters turned their attention
to the heavy cruiser. As the swarming fighters began pounding their target,
the missiles caught a frigate and the remaining light cruiser. The frigate was
lost, but the light cruiser only took damage to its armour, its PDS and
counter measures ensuring few missiles actually got in. "Minor damage to its
forward section, we've knocked out her forward battery and one of her fire
control systems Admiral, but she's still pretty healthy" Nerias pronounced.

Nevertheless, that proved to be enough and the concentrated firepower of the
Richelieu and Clemenceau saw the cruiser's hull quickly crumple. It was not
all one way though and it wasn't until the Veneto cleared the erupting bursts
of fire from the remaining NARC that Marie realised that she had been holding
her breath. "Status of the Veneto?" Richelieu's commander asked, needing to
know how her forces stood, the calm eloquence of her tone the epitome of cool
professionalism. "She reports light damage only."

> CONTINUED IN PART 6 >>>>>>>