[Fan Fiction] Vanguard

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dragoongfa
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[Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

Diclaimer: Outsider and any and all related content is the intellectual property of Jim Francis a.k.a. Arioch

I hereby claim no right to his works, nor any intimate knowledge to the story of Outsider.

Vanguard is an old concept of a story I had been working on concurrently with 'The Pale Horse'. The idea being that Humanity is in a position of being able to enforce their neutrality against either combatant; the issue is that Humanity is not really 'united', underlying tensions dictate a course of action that would bring humanity into the fray. In the end I 'shelved' Vanguard and elected to work on 'The Pale Horse' for two reasons: It seemed more challenging as a story and the outline was shorter.

I make no promises that I will be working on this story, I believe that it has its own strengths and weaknesses and I admit that I do want to write certain battle sequences that I had envisioned when I was fiddling with the basic premise of the story.

I will post the Prologue and Chapter 1 which is as far as I wrote when I was actively working on the story about two years ago. Like always I had a wide outline and some background information laid out so if anyone is curious about it I will answer any questions about the concept and the story I had in mind.

Table of Contents: Prologue

Earth
15th of November 2259


He should have followed Ellen’s example and retired decades ago, there were certainly plenty of times that he was close in doing just that and now he wondered how things would have turned out if he had elected to retire.

“So… Admiral Jardin, why do you think that you should be the one to be given overall command of the contact mission?” Senator Williams of the United States of America asked, his voice and expression barely betraying the condescension that the biggest loudmouth of the Homeworlder faction held for him.

“Because I am the best man for the job.” He replied while standing at attention, looking straight ahead as if he was still a cadet; he hated even being in the same room with these wastes of oxygen but if he was to achieve his goal he had to keep up appearances and make sure that the politicians would feel good with themselves, even at his expense.

“A has been relic that should have retired decades ago?” The Senator remarked with a smug grin on his face, a grin that all other representatives in the selection committee shared. Earth’s nations still held disproportionate political strength which was more than enough for the entire committee to be comprised exclusively by members of the Homeworlder faction. The very ones who constantly pushed for Earth to have overarching authority over all of the colony worlds, even the ones that had long since been self sustaining, thriving and would in a matter of years be strong enough to rival Earth’s combined strength.

“I am pretty sure that I have three continents, two moons and one gas giant named after me; this in addition to the Fleet’s scout ship that the admiralty saw fit to name after me despite me still being in active service.” He replied while keeping his expression straight and emotionless, a skill that took some time for him to master. He saw the Senator frown, everyone in the committee knew that this whole hearing was a farce; that the Homeworlder faction had already decided on who to give command of the expedition but he had a few aces up his sleeve to make them change their mind and his positive reputation with the colonial populations played a key part in his argument. He was after all the one who discovered half of the garden worlds and he was the constant pain in the ass for the military industrialists who run politics on both Earth and the Colonies.

“That’s true…” The Senator acknowledged. “Now tell me, why do you think that you are the best man for the job?”

“Because I am going to give you exactly what humanity needs right now.” He replied while keeping his expression stony cold.

“And what is that?” The Senator asked, his expression betraying both his surprise and curiosity.

You mean besides you in prison you fucking kiddie fiddler?
He thought as he finally allowed his face to break into a smile as he stared straight into the senator’s eyes.

“War.”
Last edited by dragoongfa on Sun Mar 28, 2021 4:00 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

Chapter 1, part 1

14th of July 2260

“Jump Successful, all systems green!” Vanguard’s operation’s chief bellowed the very same moment Admiral Jardin let out the breath he was holding. He allowed himself a moment for his mind to reorient itself before glancing at the fleet report on his console. All ships reported in as he expected and they were quickly forming around the massive super-battleship that served as his flagship for the contact expedition.

He glanced at the star system’s report, a barren red dwarf just like the scouts had reported; he eyeballed the distances involved and realized that it would take a little more than a day to get to the next star system he had plotted the course to. The Loroi had proven themselves elusive so far but he was certain that it was only a matter of time before the fleet would run into them, he had taken steps to avoid suspected Umiak territory and by now they should be just about to enter Loroi territory which would open up the next part of the plan.

Until then he still had time to run some more combat drills, his captains had gotten sick of them but he had to admit that they had finally gotten better with the basics which made him wonder if he should give them an AI opponent or if he should just OPFOR half of the fleet and run a full scale mock battle. After a few moments of thinking about it he decided that it was time to see how they would fare with a ‘proper’ fight and not one with a preplanned outcome like the usual drills the admiralty liked to run.

He brought up the fleet’s manifest and wondered on how he should split the sides for the mock battle, he could just have the computer split the fleet in half and give each side roughly equal capabilities but that didn’t feel right. They had to be able to adapt on the fly against the unknown and if he was to see how the fleet’s officers adapted then that would mean that the drills themselves had to reflect that.

Four Super-Battleships, eighteen battleships, six carriers, forty heavy cruisers, sixty missile cruisers and ninety two destroyers. Should I also count the auxiliaries? No, not yet. Let’s see how they handle a fight before putting the auxiliaries in.
He thought before sighing at the fleet’s disposition itself, an armada that was about as strong as the entire Orgus fleet if the reports from the refugees were correct; it should be strong enough to impress either of the two combatant and it was small enough to not be irreplaceable to the fleet at large. To an outsider observer it would represent humanity’s martial might but to him it represented everything wrong with the TCA and the cancerous corruption that helped build the entire TCA fleet.

Shaking these thoughts away he focused himself back to the mock fight he wanted to run. He had plenty of ideas he wanted to try, especially now that he had free reign to try and break the established doctrine. In fact he had selected his staff from officers that were all to happy to do just that.

“My adjutant.” He whispered as he tapped the button on his suit’s sleeve.

“Yes admiral?” The holographic image of lieutenant Anders appeared in front of him.

“Have you, Captain Nahamura and Commander Bailey come up with anything about the assignment I gave you?”

“Yes sir, we have come up with some unorthodox tricks to try out in a simulation.” The lieutenant replied.

“Good, I want to set up a mock battle between all available warships of the fleet; you three are to organize both sides while keeping what you want to try in mind.” Admiral Jardin ordered.

“A mock battle sir? Not a simulation against an A.I.?”

“Yes, a mock battle. It’s about time we have one of those without some moron in the admiralty having decided the outcome before the drill even started.” He replied at that.

“Yes sir. When should we schedule it to start?”

“In two hours.” He replied before remembering something. “Did the politicians give up yet?”

“No sir, all four of them have again requested a personal meeting with you at your earliest convenience.” He let out a sight at that.

“They are fully intent on giving me a headache aren’t they?”

“Yes sir.”

“Fine, tell all of them to come meet me at my cabin in 20 minutes.” He said at that.

“All of them sir?”

“Don’t tell any of them that other three are invited as well.” He instructed at that.

“Yes sir, politician meeting at your cabin in twenty minutes.” The lieutenant acknowledged and closed the channel.

“Captain Kirkland.” He said to draw the attention of Vanguard’s Captain as he stood up.

“Yes sir?” Captain Kirkland replied as he stood from his station in turn.

“I will be indisposed for the next hour and a half; the fleet will receive today’s combat exercise orders from my staff.”

“Yes sir.” Ellen’s grandson acknowledged. Ellen, much like him, didn’t want any of her children and grandchildren to join the TCA. Some of them did anyway, if only out of spite. He wondered if she had cursed herself for retiring all those years ago when the news of the Orgus refugees and the war they warned about reached her. They had both joined the TCA scout corps at the same time almost a century before but she elected to retire when the TCA started to turn into the mess it was today; now he was the one leading the contact expedition and she was blissfully retired on one of the garden worlds they had discovered, probably living in a town named after one of their ships or something like that.

You made the right call Ellen.
He thought as he returned the salutes of the two marines that were standing guard right beside the bridge’s blast doors.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by entity2636 »

dragoongfa wrote:Four Super-Battleships, eighteen battleships, six carriers, forty heavy cruisers, sixty missile cruisers and ninety two destroyers. Should I also count the auxiliaries?
Huh, not bad for a Contact mission, eh? A bit of a "Vulcan hello", one could say. Do I see it right, that we, as in the TCA, do not come in peace? :D

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

Officially the contact mission is meant to emphasize humanity's desire to remain neutral and the TCA's preparedness and willingness to enforce said neutrality by any means necessary. Unofficially?

Admiral Alexander Jardin will seek to give humanity exactly what humanity needs at the moment.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by Werra »

Admiral Alexander Jardin will seek to give humanity exactly what humanity needs at the moment.
Is that plundering technology or did mankind catch up already?

And sweet mother of god, can you imagine the numbers involved after a century of wartime production and expansion of industrial capacity with the Loroi and Umiak?

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

In this story humanity is roughly equivalent with the tech of the two combatants, ahead in certain areas, behind in others.

As far as weapons go the tech was focused on particle cannons and torpedo/missile technology; with the added human niche of the mass use of 'smart' drones in lieu of manned fighter craft.

The TCA tends to go big and over engineered in its capital fleet, big Battleships and Super-Battleships backed by a solid backbone of Heavy Cruisers while screened by up-armed missile cruisers and destroyers. Numbers wise the combined TCA and colonial fleets should outnumber the Loroi and fall a little short to the Hierarchy fleets; the chief issue being a well established distrust of the various colonies towards Earth and the TCA. The reasons of this buildup are simple in their usual human way; following the discovery of several defunct and ancient alien artifacts alongside evidence of widespread orbital bombardment dating back hundreds of thousands of years the TCA elected to field enough warships to be in a position to combat a possible 'alien menace' despite the fact that humanity had yet to make first contact and all the evidence they found showed that no space faring race had visited the area of human expansion for 250.000 years.

This armament of the TCA sparked what is best described as an orgy of armament procurement and research; fueled and sustained by the combined military industrial complexes of Earth and later the various colonies. With no enemy in sight humanity built weapons and ships not just in case but because it was in the best interests of certain influential groups. In the end the combined military industrial complex of Earth and its colonies ended up fueling the mutual distrust between Earth and the thriving colonies, both seeing the continuing armament of the other as preparation for either an impending rebellion or a coup depending on who you asked.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by Werra »

Did the Umiak Loroi war start in this story at the same time it started in the comic?

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

No, the human calendar is simply +100; humans advanced 100 extra years, the rest are the same. All things considered I think that humanity advanced a little too quickly to get where they are but I wanted to have a bitter old Alex trying to do what he thinks is best with the hand he has been dealt.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by Sweforce »

dragoongfa wrote:No, the human calendar is simply +100; humans advanced 100 extra years, the rest are the same. All things considered I think that humanity advanced a little too quickly to get where they are but I wanted to have a bitter old Alex trying to do what he thinks is best with the hand he has been dealt.
Some of those alien artifacts may have helped as well, not only as an inspiration but for reverse engineering. Especially if said artifacts had been found in space where only some meteors may threaten the hull of old ships and bases. They could be old wrecks thou but still.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

Chapter 1, Part 2

If there on thing that still filled him with some joy that was causing misery to the ones who had in turn caused misery to him. He knew of course that the four small fish in front of him hadn’t been directly responsible for any of the recent major headaches that politicians had caused but all four of them fully intended to be a relative thorn to his side which meant that he would have to put them firmly in their place in order for things to go smoothly when hard decisions would have to be made.
Thankfully all four of them were colonials which meant that all four of them held two very useful mental traits, the first one being a general anti-TCA bias and the second one being that they were all fans of his. The later of the two traits having already proven its worth by eliminating their anger for being played into believing that he would be meeting them one on one in private which made plenty of room for sulky disappointment to take root.

“First of all I would like to apologize to all of you for not having had the time for such a meeting up until now. I trust that the accommodations that have been given to you are befit for the chosen representatives of four of humanity’s worlds.” Admiral Jardin begun with his time tested and proven ‘I am totally bullshitting you but you will never realize it’ face; all the while dreaming of how nice it would be to put four politicians in the brig, weld the doors shut and then toss away any and all tools that could be used to get them out of there.

The dream breaking by the sad sight of all four of the small fries trying to speak at once, only to stop and look at each other in confusion before Admiral Jardin electing to force the issue on who would talk first and thus stump out the sad attempts of ass kissing that would inevitably follow.

“Unfortunately the situation and our mission is such that nothing more can be done about said accommodations. As you are undoubtedly aware this fleet’s mission isn’t simply the pursuit of peaceful contact but the armed exploration of what is believed to be the scorched frontline of a genocidal war with the intent to martially impress both combatants that human neutrality is to be respected. This is a military operation and your observatory advisory presence here is only due to political maneuvering and concessions done between the myriad of governments and organizations that make up the TCA. As such I will only be available to you if you have meaningful political advise to give me or if you have any complaints about unprofessional conduct of TCA personnel towards your person. If you contact me with the intent to interfere in military matters or attempt to gain any sort of political leverage I will simply ignore you and I will become permanently unavailable to you.”
‘That shut you up, didn’t it?’ Admiral Jardin thought as he looked at the dumbfounded faces of four politicians. For a moment he contemplated about telling them exactly that but instead decided to press on with putting them on their place.
“Now as to why I called you here for, I simply want you to make sure that you all understand the military nature of this mission. If and when this fleet manages to make first contact with any of the two combatants you are to do as you are told and simply observe. You will not be allowed to meet or contact any alien representatives alone and unescorted, none of you will be given access to classified information, nor will any single one of you receive any sort of special privileges. All four of you are here as a courtesy to all of humanity’s worlds, many of whom do not trust the TCA.” He let that hand for a few minutes in order for them to process what he just told them before giving the finishing touch of his opening. “And said trust is lacking for plenty of good reasons.”

‘That got them perked up...’ He thought before continuing with the next part.

“Not that both I and the TCA don’t have ample reasons to distrust you in turn.” He begun before eyeing the first of his targets. “Congressman Laurel of Rosgoth, Aurelia. In many of the interviews you gave prior to your departure you made it abundantly clear that you and I would work amicably to ensure that humanity remains out of this alien war.” The middle aged man smiled and made to speak but a simple ‘The Admiral is pissed at you’ stare was more than enough to stop him in his tracks. “Saying that we two will cooperate so amicably and closely when we had yet to be present aboard the same ship only makes you seem like you are full of yourself. The only thing you know of me is the fact that I regularly piss off politicians for more important and corrupt than you. The truth is that there are tens of thousands of sailors and officers in this fleet that will put their lives on the line for humanity as a whole, I know them, I command them and I will trust their judgement far more than any single one of you.” All four of them suddenly had their eyes filled with shocked trepidation but he was far from done yet.

“Not that the other three of you are any better. Senator Leva of Corvus’s Delphinus principality let some pretty obvious innuendos that she would seduce me. Nevermind the fact that I am three times her elder despite my looks.”

“I was...”

“Save the excuses all of you.” He cut her off, raising his voice just enough to put them into the perfect defensive mindset. “All four of you are the elected officials of states whose combined populations barely match 1% of humanity’s total. I won’t meet any of you in private, I will not make a deal, nor will I endanger this mission in any minutiae way for any of you. Am I clear?” By their sight they seemed ready to explode, only needing just an extra push to serve themselves on a silver platter.

“We cannot just accept this!” One of them finally blurted, he didn’t even care which one it was.

“You say that like you have any choice in the matter!” Admiral Jardin snapped back. “I remained in the TCA to keep Earther at first and then Colonial politicians from fucking everything over. I pushed to be put in charge of this expedition to keep incompetent and warmongering boot lickers from doing the same. Your mere presence here helps your career immensely so do the smart thing and go with the flow without getting in my way.”

“Yet another TCA fascist!” One of them finally snapped.

“You can say that mister Jeong Kwang and I can say plenty of things about the sizeable bribes Prime Minister Choi took in order to make sure that certain ‘accounting’ errors to the procurement of the new system defense light cruisers for New Khangai were overlooked.” Admiral Jardin said matter of factly with a dead even voice.

“That’s...”

“Accounting errors that were there because some idiots wanted to make sure that those cruisers and the upcoming destroyer line could easily be refitted with jump drives.” Admiral Jardin interrupted the MP before turning his attention to the last of the politicians; Senator Macaria Ato from Amazonas, New Potico. “Which was at least subtle, not unlike certain someones who actually built their warships with jump drives already installed, only to remove them after said warships were commissioned.”

“That was a mistake on the contractor’s side.”

“It’s amazing how often such mistakes happen on practically all self sustaining garden world colonies. Especially after the pro-autonomy parties you are all part off gained mainstream traction a decades or two ago.” The Admiral let a reassuring smile form on his lips at that. “Yet this is something that everyone with two braincells working together would see coming a light year away since it was the TCA who begun the arms race against non-existent enemies.”

“We all know against whom all these TCA warships were built Admiral! The very same people who have been paying the ever increases taxes and tithes for them!” Congressman Laurel interjected drawing nods from the other three politicians.

“You know fuck all...” Admiral Jardin replied dryly. “If it was up to certain someones in the TCA, Earth and some of the colonies none of the ships in this and all the other TCA fleets would be worth a damn in a proper fight. In fact I still have doubts as to the combat worthiness of the ships and their crews even now.”

“What...” A dumbfounded Congressman Laurel begun but the Admiral simply ignored him.

“The only reason as to why the TCA fleet exists is to finance the military industrial complex that is present on all human worlds. The TCA and the colonies getting proper ships and equipment out of everything was always an afterthought when compared with the vast fortunes that were made. It may shock you to hear that ship readiness on all classes was always unacceptably low, at one point in the past decade more than 60% of the fleet was in need of drydock maintenance due to faulty equipment. To put it bluntly, less than five years ago the combined defense forces of the various colonies easily outnumbered the combat capable TCA warships of the time. The only thing missing would be heavy cruisers, battleships and carriers but since the drone A.I. leaks a couple of years ago it should be fairly easy for certain colonies to throw some makeshift carriers in a quick enough fashion.” Admiral Jardin savored the shift of their expression from petulant self righteous indignation to stupefied confusion as they looked first at him and then at each other before someone actually spoke what was on their minds.

“I have... trouble... understanding why you are telling us this.” Representative Jeong said. “The fact that the TCA fleet is frequently being upgraded was always seen as inherent corruption by most people, especially since all of the contracts always seemed to be awarded to particular corporations. We have seen nothing about such a systemic problems in the various reports that got to us.”

“You would be surprised on how easy it is to cloud things up and how much one is able to sweep things under the proverbial rag.” Admiral Jardin replied as he reached into a secure drawer and took out a small black box which contained four data coins. “As for proof...” He pushed the coins at their side of the table at that. “You will find plenty of that in there. I suggest you start with the cancelled Apollo class super carriers. Only the message exchanges about them between the admiralty and various interested parties would be eye watering about the amounts of money that went into bribes in order to ensure that the ship’s problems would be hushed. Thankfully a certain faction whose I am but a member managed to ensure the project’s cancellation. After that take a look at the Lancer class of light cruisers that are so prolific in certain colonial patrol fleets; he bribes that went there are arguably smaller but far more people saw their pockets fattened so it evens things out. These and all the rest that are included should keep the courts and prisons occupied for plenty of years”

“Admiral Jardin this is unexpected to say the least; you know full well that... but why?”

“Hard as it is to believe there are still many in the TCA who hold the ideals on which it was founded. I want to believe that I am still one of them. These files are the result of their efforts and they were bought with their sweat, tears and blood. Make no mistake Humanity will need to not only present a united and indivisible front to major external threats but to also be able to maintain such a front in case such a threat moves against us. These files will force people in power on all sides to clean house and come to the negotiating table with meaningful concessions for what humanity needs to do if we are to survive as a species.”

“You honor me... us, with you trust Admiral!” Senator Leva said, with surprise and outright adoration clearly visible not only on her face but all the others as well. As if they suddenly realized that the hero they so fervently believed in and was sitting in front of them was greater than they ever thought he was. A foolish sentiment but one that was useful in its own way.

“Trust Senator? I learned not to trust politicians the hard way when your parents were still toddlers. This is the price that I pay to you in order to let me do my job in this crucial mission. I know that you will make good use of this information because it is in your best interests to be at the fore front of the house cleaning duties that will follow once said files go public in a few months time, depending on if and when this fleet returns home. I hold no trust towards you but I do hope that everyone involved will do what needs to be done in order to ensure humanity’s future because make no mistake; peace may not be up for discussion if the war is of the nature that the Orgus’s have told us about. Not because we seek war but because neither side will even consider allowing us to be at peace.”

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

Who remembers this one?

Guess what, I have decided to pick it up. Always wanted to write a proper military sci-fi story and Vanguard is exactly that. Best to feed my writing cravings if I am to write at all. Will also have to pick up from where I left from Reforged and since I changed my writing process a bit I may be able to juggle two or three stories at the same time without fucking it all up.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by GeoModder »

I had to start from the beginning again. ;)
Sofar, its more a politician's wet dream then a military story. :)
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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by Kensai »

my dude....

Way cool. I look forward to your next chapter here and over in Beacons.
The Philosophical Kensai

Still trying to master my craft...
As all Saints of the Sword do.

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Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard, Updated 03/28/2021

Post by dragoongfa »

Chapter 1, Part 3

Long ago, when he was still an idealistic fool Admiral Jardin would have balked at the idea of publicly dressing down someone. It was bad for morale and bred animosity between officers but sometimes said public ridicule was actually needed to preserve what shred of sanity and actual competence was left to be had. Now, in Vanguard’s flag operations room he found himself in the unenvious position to having to dress down Commodores and Captains in front of all of their peers, not that any of them were free from blame.

“All I want to know is how the hell did such a simple exercise became such a giant clusterfuck just in a few hours. Surely every last commanding officer in this fleet has been trained to do their fucking job which does include: The command of warships and fleet formations in combat. Thankfully the mess I just witnessed was simulated and didn’t include the firing of live munitions because I am certain that more than a few of you would be dead right now. At least it would give me the pleasure of writing: I am sorry to inform you that your Son/Daughter died like an idiot who didn’t know their job. Killed by another idiot who also didn’t know their job.” He begun and angrily slammed a few commands on his console to bring the holographic map view of the now concluded exercise back to the beginning.

“So here we are, the first actual mock battle exercise where commanding officers from the rank of Commodore and below were left to their own without direct oversight from a full flag officer. Without a ridiculously detailed battleplan to limit your options and certainly without a pre-determined outcome for the exercise itself. The moment to shine for all officers involved, to actually show case the fruits of your training and career and all I get to see is a mockery of a battle where both sides actually failed to fulfill their objectives!”

“First we have Task Force Blue one. With the six carriers and a single super-battleship at it’s core, with the usual lighter units as escort. Their objective being a simple transition through a hostile star system and enter a holding pattern at this jump vector here, waiting for Blue Two. Task force Blue Two would be jumping in and with the help of Blue one they would clear the jump vector for long enough for the combined force to escape. With a total of six carriers, one super battleship and six battleships the Blue team holds a definite advantage in drones but is completely outnumbered in terms of line warships and escorts. Then we have Task Forces Red 1 through 4, all of them dispersed in jump point suppression positions in four distinct jump points, each force roughly of equal size and abilities.” Admiral Jardin explained before starting the replay.

“Pretty straight forward isn’t it?” He asked as the initial movements unfolded, with Blue one immediately rushing at their closest jump vector which Red Two was defending; a jump vector that wasn’t the target for their escape. The Admiral then paused the replay at that.

“Now I know that the mission briefings for the Red Team didn’t include the target jump point for the Blue Team and as such it would be prudent for all Task Forces to remain on station until the objective made itself obvious. However, how the hell did no one in the Red Team simply say out loud: ‘Hey, we should perhaps send a destroyer or two to be on the lookout at the other side of our jump points. The mission briefing only said that said jump points lead into hostile space and as thus could be suppressed but we have to know from which jump point the reinforcements will come from.’ I am certain that some of you were thinking about it but I have the fucking logs and no one, not a single Captain, Fleet Captain or Commodore said this, how much contemplated about ordering it.”

The recording continued at that point. “In hindsight Red Team realized that Task Force Blue One moved against Red Two in the hopes to draw the other Task Forces away from their positions, Red Four especially. Not one of the Task Forces move away from their position, strictly following their jump suppression mission until further developments. In not doing so they offered a window of opportunity for Blue One to engage Red Two from a position of overall numerical superiority. The two forces having parity in line and escort ships but Blue One having a monstrous advantage in terms of drones. Blue One took the opportunity, engaged Red Two, inflicting heavy casualties onto Red Two, practically shuttering the formation while suffering minimal loses. Effectively breaking the suppression cordon on the jump point. Pity that it wasn’t the one they were supposed to be jumping out of.”

Admiral Jardin paused the recording yet again. “I and my staff were actually giddy there for a few minutes for this. Finally a TCA formation showed proper initiative and seized a tactical opportunity to engage an enemy that tied themselves down to an untenable position. The rest of the Red Team beginning their moves too late to come to the aid of Red Two. I actually hoped that some of you held some promise there but no, you all simply defaulted back to the decisive battle doctrine instead of focusing on your fucking mission objectives. Blue Team, your objective was to get the carrier force past the blockade, the admiralty had a reason to issue such orders to you. You were expected to engage the enemy to accomplish that and you weren’t prohibited from attacking the enemy fleet from an advantageous position but the orders themselves implied that Task Force Blue One was needed elsewhere; you were not given free reign to unnecessarily risk your carriers and you were certainly not expected to lose every single one of them. Red Team your objective was to stop the carrier force from passing through you, this you accomplished by losing all of your capital ships, effectively crippling your hold on the area of space you were holding. Congratulations, there are few if any battles in history that could be described as ‘mutual pyrrhic victories’ but you gentlemen managed to accomplish this in a fucking exercise.”

The Admiral let the replay continue again. “Blue One tasted blood and found it awesome. Despite their damage and their depleted munitions they saw the Red Team approaching one at a time and everyone certainly thought ‘Hey, we might actually take them.’ On the other hand Red Team thought that they were in the back foot and that they should close in and engage immediately or risk the carriers escaping; only to see Blue One turn to face the on rushing Task Forces. One would expect the Red Team to realize that Red Two’s jump point wasn’t the one that the Blue team would escape through once they saw this and that they should concentrate their forces before attempting to engage but no, this isn’t what happened. Some captains voiced this concern to their superior officers but they were ignored. What followed was a disaster, Red One came into contact with Blue One, suffering heavy damage as well but inflicting some critical damage to Blue One’s Super battleship in turn. Red Three came in before Blue one could reorganize but the difference in drones showed again with the Blue drones defaulting to suicide strikes on enemy ships once they run out of ordinance but the damage was done, Blue one was essentially crippled with three carriers out of action, most of their escorts and drones gone and with the entire task force having run out of ordinance; the only thing that Red Four would need to do was to administer a coup de grace and to their credit Red Four did just that while having Blue Two hot at their heels after they jumped into system to see the mess that was unfolding. A rational commanding officer would simply take Blue Two and jump away since there was no way for the task force to alter the outcome of this disaster but no, the decisive battle mindset prevailed and Blue Two rushed into the bloodbath; ending in th...”

An urgent message alarm flashed on the Admiral’s console and he cut himself from the debriefing software before seeing to it.

URG MSG

TO: FLT CMDR TF EXP ADM JARDIN

FROM: SCF-76 HAMILTON

OBSERVATION OF FLEET COMBAT OPERATIONS IN ASSIGNED SYSTEM. SCOUT SQUADRON 3 DISPERSING AND HOLDING POSITION TO OBSERVE. WILL WAIT FOR ORDERS BEFORE PURSUING CONTACT.

ATTACHING FOOTAGE COLLECTED SO FAR.

END URG MSG

Admiral Jardin smiled and made a mental note to play the footage for everyone to see after chewing them out and wrote a quick reply for the scout squadron to hold, observe and wait for the fleet’s arrival before pursuing. Hopefully they would be able to hide in plain sight since the solar system they were in was just starting to form and there was a lot of proplyd material around to hide in. He sent the message and tried to put the development out of his mind in order to keep a stern face for the chewing out he had to finish.

Thankfully the replay of the simulated exercise had finished itself by that point and he didn’t have to watch that mess again, not that it made things better.

“Sorry about that gentlemen.” Admiral Jardin begun. “Where was I? Yes, the disaster of this exercise ended when Blue Two rushed into the melee for all the good that would do. For all intents and purposes both teams suffered catastrophic loses while achieving nothing other than the destruction of the enemy force. No objectives were accomplished, both sides failed in both their stated missions and their duty to hypothetical war effort as Blue Team lost all of their Carriers and Red Team being rendered unable to keep the blockade of the system going. If any commanding officers were still alive they would be facing court martials for this blatant disregard of their given orders and the battle would be a text book example for all cadets to come on how NOT TO DO IT.” He paused for emphasis at that, bringing the holograms of the six Commodores of the fleet and as thus the commanding officers of the Task Forces to the forefront.

“And since the problems always start at the top lets start with the commanding officers. No, I know that normally each side would have an Admiral in command but this is no excuse. Red Team had trouble agreeing on which commanding officer would be in overall command despite the established rules in regards to seniority; in this case it would be Commodore Picard by a couple of months. Failure to establish a quick command structure resulted in the four Red Task forces to act independently from one an other and invite a defeat in detail. Blue Team faired a little better if only because Blue Two came late enough to the battle to see the commanding officer of Blue One knocked out of the fight when their ship exploded but not a single Captain or Fleet Captain ever voiced their concern or advised their superior officers about their course of action as is their duty and privilege, this goes for Red Team as well. I don’t know if this was due to incompetence, fear of being told to fuck off, or wanting to see your commanding officers fuck up but this show a complete lack of trust and faith to the established chain of command. You are all commissioned officers, there to lead your ships, squadrons and task forces. As leaders you are to heed the council of your subordinates and give council to your superiors; this is a duty and privilege that not one of you exhibited in this exercise. You have mouths, use them to communicate with one an other. The fact that you didn’t have any assistance from your first officers and staff members for this exercise is no excuse and we have all been trained in simulated battles before so the time compression is not an excuse either. I expect this probl...”

Another message alarm drew his attention, this time flagged as a critical message.

“Fuck...” Admiral Jardin said before cutting himself off from the debriefing again.

CRT MSG

TO: FLT CMDR TF EXP ADM JARDIN

FROM: SCF-76 HAMILTON

SCF-23 BELLARMINE ATTACKED BY UNKNOWN. BROKEN KEEL BROADCASTED. SCOUT SQUADRON 3 PROCEEDING TO LAST REPORTED POSITION.

REQUESTING REINFORCEMENTS.

END CRT MSG

“Fuck...” He muttered again as he checked if the first messenger frigate had time to receive another message before jumping back to the system Scout Squadron 3 was in. Thankfully he had a couple of minutes more, typed a quick reply and sent it before standing up to end the debriefing.

“Gentlemen, I do hope that the mess I just witnessed was an one off because it is my sad duty to report that the Scout Frigate Bellarmine was attacked by unknown forces and rendered inoperative. The fleet will proceed immediately to render assistance and engage any hostile forces. Return to your stations and await maneuvering orders.”
Last edited by dragoongfa on Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dragoongfa
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Location: Athens, Greece

Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by dragoongfa »

So here is a first hard look in the military side of things in regards of the mess that old Admiral Jardin has to manage. It ain't that the commanding officers are idiots, they just have been drilled into the established 'decisive battle' doctrine a little to much to bother thinking.

It should also be obvious to everyone paying attention that the rank structure of the TCA has departed a little from the NATO standard that we in the west are accustomed to, having adopted a militaristic flair in its ranks and outlook. The TCA fleet also has their own battle cant but I don't know how much I will dwelve in it, mainly in order to avoid confusing everyone (including me).

Kensai
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:17 am
Location: Auburn PA

Re: [Fan Fiction] Vanguard

Post by Kensai »

Well done.

and I know of at least TWO officers from my military career that can chew on folks much like you have Jardin doing. Excellent and I look forward to next chapter!!
The Philosophical Kensai

Still trying to master my craft...
As all Saints of the Sword do.

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