Glowing Energy?

(OOC: I never said I lost all of them. in my post it says the ones that didn't explode came back and regrouped)

*Paladin Komtur Jager was a face of calm with the hectic battle going on in front of him but inside he was getting nervous. While the tactic he performed was working it was in a very limited fashion and he had ordered his ultra-dreadnoughts to continue blowing up mines with the FOABs in the hopes of thinning out the field but that was tearing through his stock of FOABs faster then he would like. He totally pushed the Gar'zhog aside in his mind when he received their transmission. He quickly thought for a moment and sent a quick, terse reply*

Jager: More guns to shoot the Hildenburen with? Yes please.

*The Paladin Komtur then returned to his duties when the comms alerted him of an incoming open band transmission that any of the allied fleets could hear if they were listening*

Transmission: This is the ultra-dreadnought T.S.F. Burning Crusade, Ordenreich Task Force Insurance is arriving and will begin setting up positions next to our Brothers. All allied fleets be aware we have 5 ultra-dreadnoughts in our fleet as well as half the entire Ordenreich fleets. Fur Den Auftrag.

Commander Aaron looks at the holomonitor in frustration, trying to figure out what exactly (if anything) the Centauri fleet could do in the situation. They had already lost a massive swath of their fighters, and the capital ships had sustained quite serious damage from distant fire. Though they did manage to take some pressure off the other fleets in their flanking maneuver, the Centauri fleet remained rather incapable of doing any serious damage of its own.

Meanwhile, he offered a quick reply to the Gar"zhog offer, "If the others would allow it, then let it be so. Our own firepower appears insufficient at the moment."

***

In the meantime, Academician Zakharov analyzes the battle data previously sent to him along with some of his colleagues, and replies to Doctor Thorgood, "Though we cannot be sure, not having been in this battle ourselves, we suspect that perhaps these bombs may be made out of exotic nanomaterials. An actual explosive device would explode on contact with any vessel, regardless of any intended targeting, but perhaps these nanomaterials can be calibrated to only react with specific substances."

OOC: No problem burn

IC:

"Let it be so, defeat your enemy once and for all and remember who it was the struck the first blow" Flavian replied with gusto to the Gar''zhog. The Veridian fleet continued its own tactics and attack against the Hildenburen ships. The minefield was something of an enigma the Veridian engineers on the ships with they could figure out. One officer considered using an EMP but the Veridians had no such technology with which to generate such a thing on such a scale to effect all the mines. Plus, after some consideration, other officer's discredited the idea saying that more than likely the mines were shield, especially from such crude measures.

Another officer believed he knew how the Hildenburen were unaffected, stating that the mines must be operating on some kind of friend-foe program, either inherit to their own design or being broadcast to them via a control ship within the enemy fleet. A third officer gave the suggestion that perhaps the Hildenburen fleet was out of phase of this reality, but that was quickly dismissed given that allied fleet weapons were hitting the ships, if abet, ineffective. Thus, the majority of engineers working on the problem decided that a friend-foe program was the likeliest scenario and Veridian ships within the fleet began using every scan they had to try and detect a signal, whether it be a program being transmitted to the mines, communication between the mines, or a form of scan by the mines, that was being used to differentiate between friend and foe.

If found and the Veridians were right, they could possibly reprogram the mines and drastically change the course of this battle.

First, found Gar''zhog ships appear, which are matched by 4 more appearing Hildenburen ships. Then another three Gar''zhog appear, which are matched, and then another 6 each. This process continues and becomes frightening very very quickly.

The Veridians identify signals that seem to be transmissions between the mines. They are basic soundwaves, in a repeating, unchanging pattern. The only thing that changes is the last sound a mine transmits when it attacks a vessel, being one different note.

So basically, a single mine is transmitting "beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...BOOP" (when it blows up).

The Burninites have cleared enough mines to spread out and lay fire on the Hildenburen from afar. They turn up the heat as the long range firefight between the Hildenburen and the Gar''zhog begins in earnest as well.

Thorgood messages the Ordenreich vessels, suggesting the use of FOABs by targeting behind the shields with a strike. He also captures a mine in a time dilation field, and teleports it to the University, with a message that reads, "I'm busy, see if you can figure it out."

*Paladin Komtur Jager receives a message from the Burninites about their suggestion and raises his eyebrows.*

Jager (sarcastically to self): A historic occasion, the Burninites actually give more than the time of day to the Ordenreich...

*Paladin Komtur Jager looked at his tactical display to see what the Burninites were getting at. He began to catch on the Burninites plan and saw that the Ordenreich reinforcements were just merging in with his fleet and syncing up their targeting parameters*

Jager: Weapons Officer, revised target for FOAB strike, coordinates being sent to you. I want 4 FOABs each from each of our ultra-dreadnoughts.

Officer: All of them sir?

Jager: All of them... I want to see 28 new suns on that spot.

Officer: Aye, aye sir! Coordinates locked in, ultra-deadnoughts firing lanes cleared, FOAB launch tubes synced, shot out!

*And with that 28 FOABs from the 7 Ultra-dreadnoughts shot out of their tubes and entered slipspace shortly thereafter*

The Veridian engineers continue to study the sound waves. Basic as it might be, they decide to start transmitting variations of the basic pattern. They do so by localizing a few of the mines, jamming its transmissions to the rest of the field while simultaneously transmitting their own signal to it. A few other ships are assigned to this task, localizing a single mine and duplicating the process save for the transmission that the Veridian ship sends to the mine. For every ship, the Veridians onboard try a different pattern.

If there is a friend-foe identifier within the pattern, the Veridians are bound to find it. As for the rest of the fleet, the aid the allied forces as best they can, unloading their weapons on the enemy Hildenburen though somewhat ineffective given the strength of the enemy's shields.

Once the University receives the mine, they assign study of the device to several of their researchers and analyze the mine for anything that might signify their workings. On the battlefront, the Centauri redouble their long-ranged attacks from the flanks and again attempt deployment of the remaining fighters now that enough mines have been cleared that they think they can make some progress.

The University scientists find small hairs that point and then pull the thing towards sources of energy at a marginally slow rate. This, they discover quite quickly, for turning a light on from any direction immediately causes the mine to float towards the light source.

However, the mine only responds to certain energy emissions -- presumably not the ones used by Hildenburen ships.

Anyway, that's the obvious result. It could be something much more complicated.

The Veridians note that there is a foe finder. Mines that explode close to other mines tend to pull other mines towards the same "BOOP," and they also explode. Mines that are destroyed by the Burninites or Ordenreich vessels (which never seem to make the foe identifying "BOOP") do not have this effect. When they isolate a mine, it seems confused and stops emitting its own frequencies, and doesn't respond to the Veridians' attempts to interfere. They only seem to respond when in groups. An isolated mine still moves around, but falls silent.

Anyway, the Hildenburen are stronger than any of the forces involved at long range firefights, which is presumably why they set the battlefield as such. Nevertheless, they're outnumbered between the Gar''zhog and the fleets of the Korel galaxy combined. The battle seems able to go either way, with Korel's forces still unable to exploit Hildenburen weaknesses.

The Gar''zhog and Hildenburen fleets keep explanding as though in proportional response to one another, when a massive Hildenburen ship appears (like the first we saw), and then the flow of Hildenburen ships stops. Only more Gar''zhog appear.

A Gar''zhog transmission: "The Hildenburen have exhausted their reserves. We have not."

At this point, the OrdenReich releases its FOAB strike.

As noted earlier by the Sacaens, the weapon targeting system that directs the FOABs in slipspace isn't exact. But it's close, and given the number of FOABs launched, well, given the probability curves the weapons officers were going for...

17 of the largest Hildenburen ships are totally destroyed. The explosions seemed to have been contained somehow within the shields before they dissipate, but the attack produced stunning results nevertheless. The remainder of the FOABs fail to appear inside the shields, and instead reappear outside, and most are blocked by the insane Hildenburen shielding. Two of the FOABs that exploded outside shields still do manage to destroy their targets, making 19 Hildenburen losses in one strike.

The balance of firepower is now on the side of the alliance.

Once the University finds out that the mines are attracted to some energy signatures, they relay that information to Commander Aaron on the field, who in turn relays it to the other commanders. In the meantime, with the Hildenburen forces now having taken a large loss, the Centauri redouble their attack and press in further towards the flanks of the Hildenburen, closing into medium range where they feel that their weapons are at maximum effectiveness.

Energy signatures, it was an interesting development. Especially so given the fact that the energy output of the FOAB was massive, yet the mines were not attracted to that area of space. Could they differentiate between weapon emissions and that of a power generation unit? The Veridian engineers were a bit put done that their own efforts to discover a weakness had not proven as fruitful. Still, the Veridians believed they did have a well enough understanding of the mines and their operating system to fool them. They understood the sound wave emitted when a mine detonated onto an enemy and others would follow towards that transmission source.

It took some time, during which the Veridians continued to engage the enemy fleet with their own weapons, however useless against the enemy's shields as they might have been, but the Veridian Engineers rigged a probe to emit the same soundwave as a detonating mine. Programmed to transmit on the same frequency as the mines were using, they hoped they could use the mine to blindly attack an enemy ship.

There were of course problems with the plan, foremost was if the probe would even survive long once it left the ship's launch deck. If it wasn't destroyed and reached its target, transmitting the signal, there was still a chance the mines would not attack as they would not be attracted the ship's energy signal. There was a lot of what-ifs, but in the end the Veridians were fighting on the proverbially doorstep of their homeworld and didn't have time to work out better plans. The probe was launched, its target a Hildenburen vessel not far off from the Veridian ship's present location.

*A cheer erupted from the bridge of the ultra-dreadnought Paladin Komtur Jager commanded. Though the battle was far from over morale soared when the FOABs devastated many of the Hidlenburen ships. Paladin Komtur Jager did not allow himself to celebrate because the battle could still go either way. He ordered his staff back to work and brought up his comm terminal and sent a message to the allied fleets.*

Jager: To all allied forces hearing this, requesting update on the status of the mine situation. We are quickly burning through our FOAB ammunition here which, apart from our ultra-dreadnoughts and dreadnought MACs, is the only weapon able to reach the Hildenburen from this range. My cruisers, frigates, and destroyers are sitting ducks and I would love to send them in to do what they do best without fear of those damned mines. As of now they are sitting ducks and cosntantly getting sniped by Hildenburen long range fire. Had to use some frigates as shields for my dreadnoughts. My fleet will have to withdraw soon due to exhausted ammunition if I cannot unleash the other 9/10s of my fleet.

Commander Aaron again reiterates the developments of the University of Planet, this time directly to the Ordenreich fleet.

The Veridian attempt to get the mines to attack a Hildenburen ship fails. Though not entirely. The probe is destroyed before it reaches its destination by mines, but it does have the effect of causing many extra mines to attack it, despite it being a pointless target. So essentially it's caused the Hildenburen to waste a bunch of mines on a small probe, but it has otherwise failed to damage Hildenburen ships.

The Burninites respond to the Paladin. "Understood. Good shooting. We're hoping to clear the mines."

They then broadcast to all (Dr. Thorgood's voice): "If anyone has any way to attract a large number of mines, relay it to me at The Spotlight. We plan on creating a massive beacon to call all the mines to attack, clearing the field for closer range tactics."

Meanwhile the long-range slugging continues. The Gar''zhog are visibly outgunned at this range, but they do maintain numerical superiority. Fire from the Burninites and Centauri vessels is helpful here.

When Dr. Thorgood asks for suggestions on how to attract bombs, Commander Aaron sends him a suggestion. "I don't know if this is the best idea, but we could jury-rig a corvette to warp in and out of the area to draw the mines behind it. I think that it should be fast enough to avoid being hit and destroyed by the mines, if only barely so."

Flavian was disappointed that their choices in actions were proving less than fruitful. When the broadcast came from the Burninites, he was hesitant.

"Damn" he said to himself, "I was hoping we'd have this cracked by now."

His aide stood dutifully by his side, awaiting his order. Flaviain knew that the war would go badily if the allies could not deal with this minefield and while hesitant, relented on this issues after some thought.

"Broadcast our engineer's findings to the Spotlight" he said finally, "maybe they'll do what we've failed so far"

Within minutes of that order, on an encrypted channel, the Veridians own findings of the mines were sent to the Burninites. Perhaps the infamous Dr. Thorgood would be able to break the code and use the enemy weapons against them.

(OOC: Will continue when am no longer in pain from having all my wisdom teeth removed. Sorry for delay)

*paladin komtur jager was beginning to grow impatient at the lack of progress*

Jager: all allied fleets be advised, FOAB munitions now down to 30%. We cannot sustain this level of fire for much longer. If I cannot deploy my other ships and we run out of FOAB munitions I will be forced to order a retreat of all Ordenreich forces. I say again we will retreat of we run out of munitions and cannot use our other ships. Jager out.

Thorgood sends a message received message to the VP fleet, which, due to its failure to adhere to any sane bit of tactics, is in the worst position of all the fleets. It's therefore nearest the danger zone in terms of mines. This, Thorgood tells them, as well as the fact that they figured out a way to get mines to attack something on a limited scale, makes them brilliant couples for what the Burninites want to do.

The Burninites propose shooting harmless lasers (ie beams of light -- photons) from their ships to Veridian ships, which will draw mines towards the laser beams (energy). The mines are already drawn to the ships themselves, so there is only a small added risk to the ships.

Anyway, the Veridians start sending the mines the command to exploded along the laser. The laser isn't a probe, though, so it won't be destroyed. The Veridians just start mass sending the explode command, with the laser continually drawing the mines. In short order, the mines in the field will be cleared.

Thorgood asks for the help of the Veridians as proscribed.

Commander Aaron's idea is liked less because it entails greater risk to ships, and because it is deemed less likely to succeed. With the University's research on how to attract the mines and the Veridians on how to detonate them, all Thorgood had to do was put the two together.

"Commander Jager; this is Teresa Trimbalt of Burnination. You may move away, but please do not disengage. We are working on clearing the mines. Divert all your power to defenses if you must, but we are hoping to have the mines cleared shortly. The Veridians and Centauri have been working on ways to do this, and their research combined should do the trick. Please stand by."

To obscure the new strategy of the allied fleet, the Centauri continue firing on the Hildenburen ships in order to give the appearance that tactics have not changed.

Jager: understood. We will continue using long range fire to harass the enemy till the mines are clear. I have sent word to O.S.S.C. Command requesting resupply on our FOABs but they will most likely not arrive in time. Hurry with those mines however. My fleets are getting pounded over here. Fur Den Auftrag.

"They want us to do what?" Flavian asked, as the communication officer repeated the Burninite message.

"So they want to us draw all the mines to us, and what if this does not work?"

The Veridian engineers that had originally worked on the mine problem discussed the matter with the supreme commander. They believed that indeed it would work although there was a margin of era that would subsequently destroy a good portion of the fleet. Yet, then again they argued, that to do nothing would also guarantee the same results.

"Fine" saidl Flavian, begrudgingly "make the preparations and send word back to the Burninites once we're ready to begin."

The engineers saluted and went to work immediately, they would be ready within minutes.

As the Burninites aim their jumped-up laser pointers, the long range firefight continues. It is clear that the longer this goes on, the more of an advantage the Hildenburen will have. Gar''zhog ships finally stop appearing, indicating perhaps that they too have exhausted their reserves for this battle, and they're still losing the fight. Burnination makes more aggressive moves to take pressure off the OrdenReich fleet. Between the Centauri and Burninite long range attacks, there is some influence on the battle being exerted by galactic forces.

And yet, the mines continue to paralyze the allied fleet.

After a few more agonizing minutes of the worsening situation, Burnination signals a go. The laser pointers switch on, connecting Burninite ships on one side of the field to Veridian ships on the other with blazing white rays of light. Mines begin massing to the beacons, and within seconds masses of mines build up along the beams to the point that they're nearly detectable as the size of normal ships. (That's a lot of bumblebee sized objects.) This time, there's no probe there, and no ship, so the mines do not explode. It's like the Veridian probe, only instead of allowing the mines to choose when to detonate...

"Relay the explode command," Thorgood messages the Veridians, and then to all, "Gentlemen, the enemy's gate is down."

Burnination releases its jumpers, and they don't all immediately explode.

(OOC: Assuming the Veridians relayed the explosion BOOP)

The mines explode ineffectively along the rays of light between Burninite and Veridian ships, causing no damage to allied forces.

Whatever fighters still remain from previous attempts to mob the enemy fleet are now released, swarming the battlefield with bright green motes closing in extremely aggressively at the Hildenburen fleet, attempting the same maneuvers used in the past to burrow through the enemy shields and to fire on the exposed hulls. In the meantime, the Centauri fleet itself becomes more aggressive, now pushing hard against the Hildenburen flanks and closing up to take advantage of the relative strength of Plasma Shards as mid-range weaponry. What explosive stock remains available is now being rapidly launched in a salvo of explosive fusion missiles, and even some of the Planet Busters usually reserved to ensure MAD are jury-rigged into missiles not too dissimilar to the Ordenreich FOAB to cause even more damage.

Jager: The minefield has been breached. All fighters, frigates, and cruisers move into knife fight range and engage Hildenburen vessels at close range. All dreaadnoughts and ultra-dreadnoughts will move into medium range and bring all conventional weaponry to bear on the Hildenburen fleet. Its now or never gentlemen. Fur Den Auftrag!

"Well I'll be damn" Flavian sated on his bridge. He was surprised it worked, more so that it had worked without the destruction of his ships.

"All ships forward, all guns free."

With that order, though Veridian ships still waiting back and closer to the homeworld now moved forward. Much like the Ordenreich, Veridian ships moved in quite close to the enemy ships and fired on them at almost point-blank range. Given the size of the ships compared to those of the Veridian ships, the Dominion fleet was able to move more quickly between enemy ships though if they weren't careful, a blast from enemy fire could do quite the damage.