[GZG] [GZG Fiction] Battle of the Two Moons - 3 of 4

The Second Moon

With the order to open the fight given, the destroyer squadrons formed up
together and covered the new incoming fighter waves. The Simmons and Chiba
squadrons joined the remnants of the main squadron and thrusted slowly to
starboard, keeping the enemy on to port. In pursuance of the strategic plan
laid down prior to the battle, this strike force proceeded to menace the iteki
vessels forming the flank, keeping their gunners attention while the new
fighter and missile strikes burned in on their rear. According to statements
subsequently made by pilots and gunners alike, the torpedo, missile and
fighter attack was indescribably fierce. The AI fighters in particular closing
so rapidly and so close that it was impossible for the enemy to deal with
them. Their surprise appearance from the moonbase, arriving at such short
range and from the rear and belly of the alien warship's meant that few of
their guns could cover them. Their large foreguns in particular could not
depress sufficiently to aim at them even as they closed on the more forward
components of the enemy fleet. What is more the iteki had exhausted their
disposable counter measures and defensive scatterguns against the first waves
from Deimos, they had little but their thick armoured hulls to save them from
the attack from Phobos.

As our fighters struck the cruisers Emden, Hansa, Erzherzog Max,
D'Entrecasteaux, Rurik and Hatsuyuki working together in line, reached the
enemy's rear cruiser squadron. Thrusting in an opposite direction to the
alien's course, our cruisers engaged the iteki cruisers, gradually passing
round their rear, and emerging on to their starboard side, where the attack
was renewed on parallel courses. We expected the iteki to make use of their
superior speed, but by then they were worn down by the new ordinance strike
and our squadrons were able to change their arc at their own convenience,
sometimes engaging the enemy on the port side,
sometimes on the starboard. After 18 minutes of this zig-zag engagement
the enemy's rear section was badly mauled, gradually falling into disorder;
two Kermits and four Kestrels having been rendered ineffective or totally
destroyed. At a little after 05:00 the remaining Katsumi left the enemy's rank
and thrusted straight for our flagship, Sol. It was a close run thing, as she
brought down intense fire on the already damaged flagship. Settsu swung around
the Katsumi from above. The Emden, Hansa and Erzherzog Max bore in from its
portside; and the Blanc, D'Entrecasteaux and Rurik from starboard. Meanwhile,
the Sol held its position off the Katsumi's bow. Thus as the fire thickened
our craft closed in on the alien battleship from three sides. Apparently
alarmed by this hostile and enveloping onset, the enemy slowed its approach,
but never slowed its fire. For the next quarter of an hour the various
sections of the combined human fleet hovered about the long and deadly arms of
the iteki monster ship, keeping up a continuous attack at close quarters.
Ultimately the Katsumi could not face the combined fire of the big guns on the
Sol and Settsu, the later having survived to this point relatively unscathed
and with all batteries in full working order. Severely injured by our heavy
fire, the Katsumi fell back and the pressure on the flagship was released.
Again, at 05.23, three of the enemy's remaining cruisers sallied out to attack
us, renewing the pressure on the Sol, Settsu and the Rurik and Ojus del
Salado, which had
come in to support our two remaining super-ships. Much as before this
iteki attack was repulsed without accomplishing anything of note.

The result of these combined attacks by the human fleet and the almost
suicidal gestures of the apparently enraged or desperate alien forces was that
by 05:33 there had been a marked development in the situation. The enemy's
rear had been thrown completely into disorder and its
forward line was little better off - though if truth be known ours was
little better with no vessel untouched. Ships in all quarters had fallen out
of their formation; all had suffered more or less injury, and a significant
number were obviously unmanageable.

At about 05:41, the combined cruiser squadron, formed from the Chiba and
Simmons squadron, with the destroyers Paramatta, Amokura and Tzayad in
support, seeing one of the enemy's Kimono carriers had become isolated, bore
down on her. The fight put forward by our various ships was vehement and most
resolute, resulting in the Kimono being hulled and forced from the battle.
This combined human force also fired heavily on the other Kimono, though she
held up disappointingly well and was not so very badly damaged as far as we
could discern.

About this time our destroyers pulled down below our bigger ships so they
could more easily join up with our refueled and revitalized fighter
groups - that had flown back to Phobos and had now returned. Working
together, they pursued and dogged the enemy's disordered cruiser squadrons and
smaller ships. While this was in progress, two of the enemy's warships (the
two Kermit's that had been the lead scouts all those hours ago), which had
been forced a little way up and off from the main fight thrust back into
action; sweeping down by our main squadron, thrusting into a lower orbit so
they could rejoin the bulk of the alien force. Thus their destroyer and
lighter cruiser sections became engaged with our first destroyer squadron.
This contest quickly grew into a quite intense engagement, the two sides
passing with in incredibly short
range for a time. All suffered more or less, with the Kemal-Reis and
Lady Grey the worst off for us, but fortunately their injuries were not too
serious and they survived the encounter without serious loss of life.

Previously to this the Blanc, flagship of the Simmon squadron, had been hit in
her port cargo bunkers. Captain Simmons had pushed her hard so as not to
weaken our attack, but eventually the structural damage and stress of the
fight began to take its toll. Simmons voluntarily took her from the line with
the purpose of effecting temporary repairs, but it became obvious that she
would not rejoin the fight that day so at 06:11 he transferred his flag to the
Ojus del Salado and rejoined our remaining ships so as to take part in the
pursuit of then splintering Kra'Vak fleet.

Across the sky the enemy's whole fleet was in disorder, and the fighting whole
was smashed, having fallen into a pitiably broken condition. At 06:30 those of
the enemy that could fled the scene. The Katsumi and Kimono were pursued by
the Sol, Settsu, Emden and Hatsuyuki to the jump horizon before they slipped
away out of the system. The smaller human ships, led by Simmons on the Ojus
del Salado formed a group that howled after the smaller iteki, which had opted
to stay in system and link up with the force in siege of Earth. The human
cruisers and destroyers made a intrepid attempt to destroy their quarry, but
were forced to turn back as they approached the bulk of that cloud of horror
patrolling then route to Earth. Thus ended the battle of the two moons.

The above are the results of the battle, which continued from the evening of
May 30th 2196 till the following morning, ships time. Subsequently, the fleet
rendezvoused and split. One part to keep a hold on the rains of the new
liberated skies of Kasei and the other conducted a search in the mid and outer
system. Watching for the return of the alien monsters chased off, but not a
sign was seen of any of the enemy's ships in the following three weeks that
the patrol remained in those colder reaches of the system. Thirty three enemy
vessels had been among the enemy's Kasei fleet at the beginning of the battle.
Of these the ships that I believe to have escaped destruction or salvage at
our hands were limited to a few cruisers, destroyers, a single badly damaged
battleship and a light carrier. Our own looses were also tellingly heavy. All
of our vessels sustained more or less injury and many of them were
unfortunately incapacitated for future service. In detail the Sol,
Blanc, Idzumo, Tokiwa, Paramatta, Amokura, Kemal-Reis and Lady Grey were
moderately heavily damaged; the Dante Alighieri, Euphrates, Elbrus, Desaix,
Mikasa, Taku, Ying Jui and Khivinetz crippled; worse still the Szamos, Cressy,
Bayan was destroyed; but the Settsu, Emden, Hansa, Erzherzog Max,
D'Entrecateaux, Ojus del Salado, Hatsuyuki,
Muin-I-Zaffer, Sultan-Hisar, Yillman, and Tzayad were only lightly to
moderately injured. Our casualties throughout the whole fleet were 267 killed
and 638 wounded.

To my mind there was no great difference in the strengths of the opposing
forces in this action. The fighters and missiles were a master stroke for our
side but they hardly made the battle a walk over. I consider that the enemy
fought with the utmost energy and intrepidity on their species behalf.
Nevertheless, our combined squadrons won a victory that will be well noted in
the books of the future. This remarkable success will be recorded as resulting
from the tenacious spirit and the virtues of humanity. While I personally lay
my thanks at the feet of my divine Emperor and ancestor, owing nothing to any
human prowess of my own, I respect the beliefs of all those that have served
with me and who rightly deserve to claim their own honours on this bloody day.
I must note however, that when all was done and we once more had time to
discuss what had passed, everyone (our officers and ratings together),who
fought so valiantly and so stoutly found their tongues wanting, with no
language to express their astonishment at what we had accomplished. We have
opened the door for Kasei's freedom.

****

Formal Order of Battle - Kassen Kasei Ni Tsuki (Battle of the Two Moons)

Iteki Fleet 2 x Kite class destroyers 6 x Kerf class heavy destroyers 4 x
Kestrel class light cruisers 4 x Kermit class escort cruisers 6 x Kylie class
strike cruisers 3 x Kontos class heavy cruisers 2 x Kenny class battlecruisers
2 x Katsumi class battleships
1 x Katana class battledreadnaught - crippled
1 x Kickback class superdreadnaught - destroyed
2 x Kimono class light carriers 24 x Kip fighters 36 x Kart heavy fighters

Combined human fleet Main squadran (Admiral Miyake commanding)
  UNS - Sol superdreadnaught
  IJN - Settsu battleship
  VFE - Dante Alighieri battleship
  KRS - Szamos battleship
Chiba squadron
  KRS - Emden heavy cruiser
  KRS - Hansa strike cruiser
  KRS - Erzherzog Max light cruiser
  IJN - Mikasa assault cruiser
  IJN - Idzumo strike cruiser
  IJN - Tokiwa light cruiser
Simmons squadron
  UNS - Euphrates heavy cruiser
  UNS - Elbrus light cruiser
  UNS - Blanc light cruiser
  UNS - Ojos del Salado light cruiser
  VFE - Desaix escort cruiser
  VFE - D'Entrecasteaux light cruiser
Chuikov squadron
  VKK - Bayan battlecruiser
  VKK - Rurik heavy cruiser
  VKK - Taku escort cruiser
  VKK - Ying Jui light cruiser
  VKK - Khivinetz light cruiser
First squadron
  IJN - Hatsuyuki strike cruiser
  IJN - Yubari light cruiser
  BII - Muin-I-Zaffer heavy destroyer
  BII - Sultan-Hisar heavy destroyer
  BII - Kemal-Reis heavy destroyer
  RNS - Tillman destroyer
  RNS - Lady Grey destroyer
Second squadron
  RNS - Antrim destroyer
  RNS - Cressy heavy destroyer
  ATI - Tzayad destroyer
  OUDFS - Paramatta
  OUDFS - Amokura
36 x AI Interceptors 48 x AI Attack fighters 24 x Human crewed heavy fighters