| Jovian APAworks | Volume 2, Number 3 | March, 2002 |
"The Republic sends its regards, Feddie!" cried Ballister as his railgun punched a fist-sized hole through the Federation Syreen's ventral armor, tearing out the ugly beast's laser defense system and main drive in one blow. The Syreen tumbled head-over-heels from the impact. Venting coolant imparted a gentle lateral roll to the vehicle as Ballister's Pathfinder, "Pecos," rocketed on past.
"Nice shot, Mike," called out his wing mate Talbert, who fell in beside Pecos in her Explorer, "Marian."
Ballister saluted her his exo. "All too easy. Where's that Wyvern? I want a piece of him, too."
Talbert rolled her exo over, scanning their surroundings. "There." She pointed towards their eleven o'clock and the two kicked in their thrusters in pursuit. Far above them, their home, Mars, hung motionless in space, a ruddy red giant filling up a third of their field of view. Ballister thought he could see the front lines of the ground war up there, where his comrades were engaging the Federation army's hovertanks. It was probably just a dust storm's squall line raging across the plains, though.
A low tone sounded in his cockpit. "Pearl Flight, this is Gunsight-2. Come in, over."
"Pearl One, here. I copy, Gunsight-2, over," he responded.
"You're presently headed towards a Solar Cross ship. Be advised, over."
"Roger that, Gunsight-2, over." He shook his head silently, miffed. His exo-armor mimicked the motion. He switched to Talbert's channel. "Great. So that's where he's going. Running for shelter with the Solar Cross. We haven't even hit him yet!"
"Yeah, no kidding," Talbert agreed. "On the other hand, you and I did just finish off the rest of his squadron and the Chippewa did just send the Quincy drifting into interplanetary space. You can hardly blame him for retreating, and the SC's pretty much all he's got going for him at the moment."
"I suppose. He's not there yet, is he?"
"What, your radar not working or something? Take a look." She paused briefly. "You can just reach him before he gets there, actually -- alone, of course: Marian can't keep pace with Pecos."
"Huh. That's not so great." Ballister's foot twitched over the thruster controls. "On the other hand, he's alone and running. He's not gonna be much for a dogfight once I get there." He pressed his foot down on the thrust pedal and rocketed away from Talbert. "Catch up, eh?" "Uh huh," she replied. "You're--"
"Ballister!" shouted his flight officer aboard the Chippewa. "This is Gunsight-2--" "I know, I know! I'll get to him before he reaches the Cross ship, Gunsight-2. I promise. In fact..." He raised his railgun, "I've got him in my sights now." He squeezed the trigger, firing off a magnetically propelled iron slug towards the retreating Wyvern. He waited, and his firing computer registered a miss. "Nuts."
Pecos' own synthesized voice rang inside his cockpit. "Warning," it said calmly. "Approaching a no-fire zone. Warning."
"Yeah, yeah. Man, what is it with you guys? I'm not gonna--"
An emergency message flashed across his field of view briefly and Pecos spoke once more, its voice distinctly more intense. "Warning. Target has entered no-fire zone. Target has entered no-fire zone. Warning."
"You hear that, Ballister?! Hold your damned fire!"
Sighing, Ballister lifted his foot off the acceleration and shouldered his weapon. "GS, quit your--" Just then, another alert sounded and something whizzed past his exo's shoulder and streaked off towards the Federation exo. "Holy mother! What the hell was that?!" "What the hell are you doing, Pearl One?! I told you to hold your fire!"
"Gunsight-2, that wasn't me! My weapon's shouldered and safe!" A brief explosion lit up one of the arms of the distant hospital ship's habitat section. "Oh my god!" he exclaimed. "Gunsight-2, repeat, that was not me! I did not fire that shot!" All channels were rapidly filling with radio traffic as Ballister kept repeating his message, over and over.
The Battle of Kurtzenheim took place in space as well as on the surface of Mars. The space battles saw the Mars Free Republic's Orbital Patrol squaring off against the Martian Federation's Coastal Defense Navy in a number of relatively small, isolated incidents. The battle that drew CEGA and the Jovian Confederation into the conflict was just such a battle. Officially lacking any real name to distinguish it from the other dozens of space skirmishes that took place in this tumultuous period, it has come to be known to the mass media as "The Pantaleon Affair" after the Solar Cross vessel caught in the crossfire.
18th Patrol Group "Coleman's Crusaders" RSS Bloomington (Zulu-class Frigate) 50 TV Pearl Flight Pathfinder (w/ Retaliator Railgun) 10 TV 3 x Explorer 3 x 7 TV RSS Chippewa (Zulu-class Frigate) 50 TV Onyx Flight Explorer 7 TV 3 x Defender 3 x 6 TV
11th Detachment "The Watchmen" FSS Quincy (Troy-class Monitor) 90 TV Erste Gruppe Wyvern 11 TV 3 x Syreen 3 x 7 TV Zweite Gruppe 2 x Explorer 2 x 7 TV 2 x Defender 2 x 6 TV
SCSS Pantaleon (Geneva-class Hospital Ship)
Martian Ships are quite modular: they use a system of interchangeable pallets on which various systems are mounted to define the overall role of each ship. This scenario presents three such ships, including two Zulu frigates and one Troy monitor. These ships' pallets are detailed below; see pages 56 through 59 of the Lightning Strike Companion for descriptions of the ships and the module stats.
The Bloomington is the primary vessel of the 18th Patrol Group. Commanded by Captain Ansel Coleman, the Bloomington coordinates the activity of the group's two exo-armor flights, Pearl and Onyx. Pearl Flight is stationed aboard the Bloomington, Onyx Flight aboard the Chippewa. Neither ship can service its four exo-armors at once, but each carries enough workspace to house half of its complement while the remainder remains on patrol or rides strapped to the hull of the ship. The flight control monitor's call sign is "Gunsight-2," although there is no "Gunsight-1" as far as anyone in the Republican Rangers can recall.
Pallet 1: 1 x Exo-Bay Pallet 2: 1 x Missile Bay Pallet 3: 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver Turret Pallet 4: 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver Turret
The Chippewa is the Bloomington's sister ship, commanded by Captain Eleanor Johnson. The Chippewa's primary duty is ship killing, and for this task it mounts a massive spinal railgun. Onyx Flight is stationed aboard the "Chip," as the vessel is known to its crew.
Pallet 1: 1 x Exo-Bay Pallet 2: 0.5 x Railgun Pallet 3: 0.5 x Railgun Pallet 4: 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Particle Cannon (Note that the railgun module is split across pallets 2 and 3 -- a hit on either pallet will affect the weapon, as per "Martian Warship Hardpoints" on either page 57 or page 59 of the Companion.)
The Qunicy is, like most monitor-type ships, a dangerous vessel bristling with cannons and weapons turrets. Extra fuel tanks give it a slightly larger patrol range than other ships of the Troy class, allowing it to travel as far as the asteroid belt if necessary. The Quincy houses two flights of Federation exo-armors: Erste Gruppe and Zweite Gruppe. As with its Republican opposites, the Quincy cannot service its entire complement of exo-armors at once; half must remain outside the ship at all times. The Quincy's commander is Kapitan Eliza Augenbach.
Pallet 1: 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver, 2 x ECM Pod Pallet 2: 1 x Exo-Bay, 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver Pallet 3: 1 x Railgun Pallet 4: 1 x Fuel Pallet 5: 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver, 1 x Missile Bay Pallet 6: 1 x Exo-Bay, 1 x KKC Turret, 1 x Massdriver
In this engagement, the objective of each side is simply to destroy or drive off the other. Each side deploys on one edge of the table (on opposite sides) within 10 cm of the table edge. Half of the exo-armors may begin aboard the ships, but at least half must be deployed outside, in space. All exo-armors must begin within 5 cm of their home ship -- Pearl Flight must thus begin within 5 cm of the Bloomington, Onyx Flight within 5 cm of the Chippewa, and Erste and Zweite Gruppen within 5 cm of the Quincy.
The presence of the Pantaleon complicates the battle. It is present at Mars to provide medical assistance to each side, and its 100-km radius no-fire zone is strictly enforced. Historically, units from the Federation Coastal Defense Navy -- having been pounded by the Republican Rangers -- sought shelter within this neutral zone. The Rangers pursued and attacked, damaging the Pantaleon and sparking nearby CEGA and Jovian Confederation units into action that erupted into a full-scale shooting war between Earth and Jupiter forces.
Note that 100 km in the standard Lightning Strike scale of 1 cm = 500 m is two whole meters. That is, you're going to need a terribly big table to include the Pantaleon on the board and maintain a strict to-scale no-fire zone. For ease of play, you might consider changing the size of the zone quite a bit. Tighten it up to a 25-km radius zone, and place the Pantaleon on the edge of the table. That gives a half-meter radius semi-circle instead of a two-meter radius full circle.
Way back in January of 2001, I wrote a piece for APAWorks called "Rendezvous with Destiny: Prolog." That story was intended to be the start of a big Lightning Strike campaign I would play out with Pierre Bourque. It turns out that particular piece was also set at the start of the shooting war between CEGA and the Jovian Confederation during the Battle of Kurtzenheim. In fact, it takes place during and immediately following "Set-Up," my piece for this month. The details are different between the two pieces, however, so next month, I'm going to re-write "Rendezvous with Destiny" and present a companion Lightning Strike scenario. Stay tuned.
| Jovian APAworks | Volume 2, Number 3 | March, 2002 |
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