The TriStars: Victory or Death
The last stand of Steven Olar and the battleship Titan.
Admiral Olar has 5 battleships and a battlecruiser compared to the 10 enemy dreadnaughts he is facing. Two more battlecruisers are with Admiral Falcone at the great Colony of Alexandra, the breadbasket to the kingdom. In spite of the odds, Olar is confident, for he has a secret weapon: the Titan. As far as the enemy knows, the super-battleship is still in drydock after her last battle, yet she is not as badly damaged as they suspect. Olar’s flagship is 3 kilometers long, about 1/3 larger than other battleships, and armed with a single massive plasma gun running half her length. Her advanced "tortoise shaped" hull is comparable to the Tani fortress shielding, the strongest armor in existence. The admiral looks to Titan to even the odds in the coming fight.
Before the struggle for the homeworld commences, the humans receive heartening news. Admiral Falcone with the battlecruisers Courageous and Champion defeat an enemy task force off Alexandra. Falcone is an agressive and experienced warrior, the Navy’s first choice to command the Home Fleet. King Samuel considers him too reckless for the awesome task of defending Memphis and sends him to the colonies instead, giving Olar the top command.
The Memphis fleet Olar leads suffers for lack of frigates, so he is forced to use his only battlecruiser, Liberty, to scout out the enemy. He regrets the reduction to his tiny squadron but there is no choice. It proves a wise strategy however when contact is made with the enemy, but Liberty is caught off guard. She comes too close upon the entire Tani battlefleet, is overwhelmed and destroyed.
The admiral grieves the loss of Liberty, but at least the invaders are discovered. As the two awesome combatants converge, Olar deploys his battleships in a strange pattern. The older ships fall back slightly behind Titan in an arrowhead pattern. The Tani are formed in 2 lines of 5 ships each.
As the titanic struggle ensues the admiral’s tactic are clear. The flagship is shielding the lighter skinned warships behind its solid bulk. Disrupter rays, effective against most space vessels, bounce harmlessly off Titan. In contrast, the missiles of the Memphens are taking a toll on the enemy, as the first line of warships is pierced.
Just at the moment of victory, Olar receives alarming news from Memphis. A wave of Tani motherships loading swarms of small gunships is attacking the dockyards on the far side of the planet. If the docks are destroyed, Memphis will lose the war. The admiral realizes there’s no choice. Turning command to Captain Toller in Eagle, he orders Titan to sail for home. Yet the transmission to Eagle is garbled in the heat of battle. All that’s known is Olar once again runs from a fight. Anger and confusion seethes through the fleet, but nothing can be done.
Only after the fog of battle is everything clear. Toller manages to destroy 2 more Tani battleships, while the 3 Littorian ships present abandon their allies and flee for home. Victoriously the Memphens sail for home to confront a supposed coward Steven Olar. Back at port they are faced with carnage. Though the docks themselves are unharmed, all around are broken and burning warships. Nearby is the battleship Titan, wounded but intact. Obviously there is a story here.
It is now known Admiral Olar raced immediately homeward at the urgent request of the king. Faced with a swarm of enemy gunships from 12 motherships, he attacks without hesitation. Despite the suicide tactics of the enemy, they are routed, but at great cost to his ship. Olar is wounded and many of his crew is dead. The admiral, now an unquestioned hero of Memphis will survive and lead his planet to victory over Tanis!
Next: Blood and Toil.
Thanks for the graphic from The Space Junction
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
