Vandalvagabond

Scavenged Restoration 67

Added 2026-01-08 00:33:34 +0000 UTC

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

And for you Zoomers out there.

6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7! 6 7!

And for the rest of us older folks.

6 x 7 = 42

-VB-

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 67

-VB-

[10:01] …

[10:02] …

[10:02] There were hostiles in the system.

[10:04] At their current speed, they would make landfall in 2.5 days. They would reach orbit in 2.3 days.

[10:04] Current orbital infrastructures are within the 75,000 kilometers, which are within the limits set by Article I of the Ares Convention.

[10:05] Enemies were deliberately putting forth the black diamond insignia of the Duke of New Syrtis before the yellow sun of the Federated Suns. Enemy forces are most likely under the command of Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, the March Lord of the Capellan Marches and a known hater of all things Capellan.

[10:06] The likelihood of enemies using nuclear weapons on orbital infrastructure… Moderate.

[10:06] Likelihood was high enough to warrant pre-emptive assault before they reached orbit.

[10:07] The likelihood of system-wide assets driving out the Davions… Low.

[10:07] Guardian 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 can respond immediately.

[10:07] 6 and 7 are in dry dock or too far from Command.

[10:07] Defense 1 through 18 were all online, but only 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, and 18 were able engage in the defense, leaving 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, and 16 unavailable for defense. There were not enough tugs to push the unavailable Defense into position by the time the enemies made it to high orbit.

[10:10] Likelihood of success for Guardians to succeed without the support of Defense (deep void battle)... Moderate.

[10:17] Likelihood of success for Guardians to succeed with the support of Defense (high-medium orbit battle)... High.

[10:18] …

[10:18] “Then begin calculating based on medium orbit battle.” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5

[10:20] …

[10:20] Calculating.

[10:30] Calculations done.

[10:32] Plan A has the highest chance of success but the lowest casualties for both sides.

[10:32] Plan B has the second highest chance of success but creates a high kill-ratio scenario for our side.

[10:33] Plan C has the second lowest chance of success but may deliver us a total victory.

[10:34] JOKE - but perhaps Plan D may suit the needs of the chancellor: to make a repeat of the Battle of Sian but even funnier for us.

…

[10:37] “And what do you know about being funny?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5

[10:38] …

[10:39] …

[10:40] ANSWER - Sian Media suggests that capturing as many enemy mechwarriors, stripping them of their clothes, and then frog marching them across the capital city of Necromo for all to see - and record - is funny. Is this answer satisfactory to you? Y/N.

[10:44] Y. -AUTH00128-WATCHER5

[10:45] Then shall we proceed with Plan D?

[10:46] “No. We will do as the chancellor bids us. To achieve the greatest victory with the least number of casualties on our side. We go with Plan B. Explain it.” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5

[10:46] …

[10:47] …

[10:48] Confirmed. We must first by predicting the enemies’ trajectories and determine the point of no return.

---

General Corin Nakara realized that something was wrong.

Despite the fact that he and his fleet have been visible throughout the system for over two days now, there were very few activities across the system.

Just as the intelligence given to him showed him, there were many orbital infrastructures, and if he got it right, most of those weren’t shipyards.

Most of those were orbital defense platforms.

‘Of all of the Great Houses, it’s the fucking Capellans who are getting back to the height of the Star League first,’ he thought acidly.

The Star League was a beacon of prosperity and greatness. The Capellans?

The fucking Capellans?

They were the very idea of prosperity warped to match the wet dreams of dictators. Even though the Free Worlds League and the Lyran Commonwealth were nations with bastardized systems of governance that mocked inalienable rights of men and women, they were at the very least democratic in some sense (or too much sense). The Capellans?

The fucking dipshits who couldn’t speak up their idea without pissing their pants in “fear of their glorious chancellor” like they were still living in the 20th century?!

The very idea that the Capellans were ahead of the Federated Suns infuriated him like nothing else, which was part of the reason why he accepted his role in this assault.

But more importantly, that many orbital infrastructures could not be cheap to build even for the Capellans and their centralized planned economy. His success here would mean that the Capellans would be set way back. Exactly how back was up for the analysts to debate over, but he would be doing his job as a citizen of the Federated Suns to end the Capellan threat.

And that alone was good enough for him.

“Uh, sir?”

He looked up from where he had been planning his landing zones on Necromo. “What is it, Lieutenant?” he asked the man.

“I think you should come and see this, general. Unidentified ships have been sighted near the orbital installations.”

Frowning, he left the command room and walked up to the bridge. Unfortunately, due to their reverse firing thrusters, there was enough gravity for him to need to walk instead of flying in zero-G.

When he got to the bridge, the crew stood up to briefly salute him when his presence was announced, but they were quick to go back without needing his orders to do so.

They were close enough to Necromo that there might be ambushes waiting for them.

He walked over to the sensor officer’s console and waited for the lieutenant to show him what he found.

Corin looked down at the console when the image and their corresponding sensor data was brought up. He stared at it, put the pieces together, and let out a grunt.

“Fucking idiot spies. How the fuck did they miss the fact that there were pocket warships here…?!” he hissed. It was possible that the Capellans had them in dry dock, which the spies might have missed but to miss five pocket warships? As soon as he got back, he was going to insist to the march lord that whoever the current spymaster was, they needed to be replaced ASAP.

But… those were just five pocket warships. Or even dropships. There was a very high possibility that those were dropships.

If that was the case, then it wouldn’t make too much of a difference as long as those weren’t Fortresses.

He turned to leave…

But something kept nagging at the back of his mind.

It’s been a little over two days since they have been traveling.

He turned back to the sensor console.

“When did they appear?”

“They appeared from behind the orbital installations just an hour ago.”

---

[10:48] We must first predict the enemies’ trajectories and determine the point of no return.

[10:49] “What then?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[10:50] We must lure them deep into the system to the point that they are close to stopping their reverse burn.

---

“Why now and not before?” Corin asked himself quietly as he studied the data.

Then he frowned.

“Lieutenant.”

“Yes, general?”

“What are the orientations of all of these dropships?” he asked.

The lieutenant moved to comply. He input some numbers on the console, dragged a mouse over, and then a new set of data popped up.

---

[10:51] Once their trajectory has been established and they do not suspect a void assault which might cause them to veer off course, that is when we will strike.

[10:52] Guardian 3 and 5 are equipped with capital-grade hypervelocity railguns. Their firing does not show up on thermal and visual sensors, only electromagnetic sensors. Guardian 3 and 5 will be given data for when and where the highest threat targets will be. When the Davions cross the point of no return, Guardian 3 and 5 will attack, silently taking out as many of their largest threats at the same time by firing three sets of tungsten rounds at three different sets of velocities so that they will all strike at the same time.

[10:53] “And you have the data for that?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[10:53] I derived the data even before I began engaging in this conversation with you.

[10:54] “Why three sets?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[10:55] Any more launches after that will affect the barrel of the railguns. Accuracy will fall.

[10:56] “But you can still fire more?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[10:57] Yes.

[10:56] “And can you not calculate to compensate for the loss of accuracy?” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[10:57] …

[10:58] …

[10:59] …

[11:00] Yes.

[11:01] “Then I want you to do exactly what you said but keep firing until there is a chance of critical malfunction.” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[11:01] Confirmed.

---

“... It’s changing?”

“What?”

“Their orientations, sir. Two of them are changing at even intervals.”

Frowning, he looked down … and the lieutenant was right. Of the five dropships, two were changing their orientations exactly at the same time.

“How far away are they?”

“... two hundred thousand kilometers, gen-.” The lieutenant stopped as new sets of data appeared on the screen. “Unknown electromagnetic bursts from the two dropships,” he quickly reported while his fingers danced across the console’s keyboard. “More. I don’t recognize them -.” He stopped and his hands danced across the console again, and the screen changed from thermal to radar to LIDAR to visual and back to electromagnetic.

“We -.”

Then the entire bridge screamed as alarms went off.

“Resolute Shield and Black Knight are down, lost with all hands!” someone shouted from the front of the bridge. “David’s Mantle and Grand Crusader are lost with all hands!”

Corin’s eyes widened.

All four of those were Union-class pocket warships!

But it didn’t stop.

“Guinevere and Vindication are lost with all hands!”

Six.

Two.

Tw-.

His eyes widened.

Those two dropships were pocket warships. And they must have capital-grade weapons to hit at this distance. But how?! There were no thermal exhaust or other signs of weapons fire-.

Then something the sensor officer had said earlier whispered from the back of his head.

Odd electromagnetic signatures.

“Deploy all fighters!” he roared. “I need a screen in front of the pocket warships and dropships! We cannot let them down anymore!”

Thankfully, most of the fighters were deployed by the dropships and Leopards and not the pocket warships -.

“Jupiter’s Wrath is lost with all hands! White Stallion reports heavy damage!”

Two more pocket warships.

‘They waited until we couldn’t run,’ he thought as his heart pounded. ‘We’re too deep in our reverse burn to get out of the system!’

And they couldn’t afford to burn back. They were still going too fast.

He could only do one thing.

“End reverse burn on all ships! Evasive maneuvers! Vary velocity!” he ordered to both his dropship’s captain and the wider fleet as he strapped himself into the captain’s seat. “However they are shooting us, keep it off balance!”

He grimaced as the Fortress-class dropship he was on lurched and swirled as the pilot did exactly as he’d been ordered.

What was a constant 1G was now swerving left and right as the pilot floored the ship for a second before hitting the brakes and then changing the flight path with hard burn of the maneuvering thrusters toward a single direction.

Then his ship rumbled and shook.

“Glancing hit!” the pilot shouted.

Corin’s stomach dropped but he gritted his teeth and kept himself thinking.

How? How could they get out of this?!

“Enemy dropships -. Enemy pocket warships are burning toward us! Enemy fire has stopped!” the sensor officer reported. “Three pocket warships and two hundred fighter-!” The sensor officer stopped. “Orbital defense platforms are firing!”

Something burned for a second as his ship rumbled again.

“Glancing hit!” the pilot shouted as her arms rattled with how hard she was fighting the dropship’s erratic flight.

Whoever that pilot was, Corin wanted him alive and shipped back to New Syrtis to teach every single dropship pilot for the Federated Suns when this fiasco was over!

“I want a report of how many dropships we still have!” he shouted over the streaming verbal reports from across the bridge.

“All Leopards are active! Twelve out of fourteen non-warship Unions are active! Both Overlords are out of action! The ODPs targeted them fi- ODPs firing again!”

Someone screamed as the ship shook and tumbled hard.

“Rear thruster 1 out! Maneuvering thrusters 3 and 5 are gone!”

Two hundred kilometers. That was at least five more hours that they had to go through to reach orbit.

Five more hours of this?

And being engaged by pocket warships before that?

He bit his lips so hard he began to bleed.

His mouth opened and closed as he contemplated doing something so utterly antithetical to his identity that merely thinking about it was making his heart pound harder and faster than active combat did.

“... Strike the colors,” he hissed out. “Send out the surrender.”

The communication officer looked shocked. No, the entire bridge looked shocked.

“Now before any more good soldiers of the Federated Suns die in vain!”

He quickly complied.

But on the captain’s chair, General Corin Nakara felt only anger.

No, wrath.

Who the fuck failed so badly that they didn’t have a single idea that the goddamn orbital defense platforms had capita-grade weapons and missed the existence of Capellan pocket warships?!

And that’s when he heard something new.

“S-Sir! Eight warships just jumped into the system!”

… Of course.

Were those Capellan warships that shouldn’t be anywhere near the Necromo System couldn’t be here? Or did the same stupid spies that missed the pocket warships fail to also discern that the Capellans had additional warships?

Whatever the case, he’d lost.

“This entire system was a trap…” he bemoaned. “And we walked right into it.”

---

[19:17] The enemies have offered surrender.

[19:20] “Take it. And … good job” -AUTH00128-WATCHER5.

[19:17] Of course. All for the Great Capellan Confederation.

-VB-

Capellan March Losses (Federated Suns):

Total captured Federated Suns personnel: 1,300

Total captured mercenaries: 2,200

Captured Dropship Count:

11 Leopard-class dropships