Scavenged Restoration 37 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

This chapter got scrapped thrice before it came out. Believe me when I say that this was the best iteration of the four.

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 37

-VB-

Just five hours away by the dropship flies from the orbit of Andurien V, the colonel in charge of the ten regiments of the Capellan Confederation looked toward the approaching Andurien defenders with wrathful determination. 

Senior Colonel - but more importantly, the Strategic Military Director of the CCAF - Pavel Ridzik glared, and he knew that he needed to start giving out orders soon. 

With him were ten regiments:

1st McCarron’s Armored Cavalry

2nd McCarron’s Armored Cavalry

15th Dracon Regiment

Hamilton’s Highlanders of the Chesterton Reserves

Ariana Grenadiers of the Chesterton Reserves

Sung’s Cuirassiers of the Chesterton Reserves

Kincade’s Rangers of the Tikonov Reserve

Kerr’s Intruders of the Tikonov Reserve

1st Citizen’s Hope

2nd Citizen’s Hope

3rd Citizen’s Hope.

Of these regiments, the three Citizen’s Hope regiments were green, underarmored, and underarmed regiments meant to serve more as an ablative armor than actual regiments. They came equipped with mostly bug mechs, including Firebees, but also heavier Grasshoppers and a Raven light mech attached to every battalion. They were also the regiments without any aerospace fighter support, and he intended to use them as force additions to better regiments. 

The 1st and 2nd McCarron’s Armored Cavalry as well as the 15th Dracon Regiment were the heavy hitters of this force, and would be in the thick of the fighting along with the Citizen’s Hope regiments. 

Kincade and Kerr were those left of his former Tikonov Reserve; they were the only surviving regiments of what was once eight regiment strong reserve for all of the Tikonov Commonality. With just seven worlds left back home, he had brought the last two surviving regiments to do what he could. To give them a chance to unleash their wrath at their inability to defend their homes. Here, they will burn another enemy of the Capellan Confederation and the merciful Chancellor, and regain not only their lost honor but also self-esteem and self-respect for their units. 

Chesterton Reserves… They had lost their home twice now. Once in Chesterton and now with the near-total destruction of the Tikonov Commonality. Theirs was a unit whose history made its soldiers grim … but also sturdy. As bad as things can get, they survived. Unlike many units, they endured through the four Succession Wars, and will endure more as they came. 

He had three ASF regiments for a total of forty-seven aerospace fighters and ten other airborne vehicles spread across the ten regiments. It was just enough to escort the dropships to Andurien V.

And this voyage right now was the most dangerous part of this campaign.

The Free Worlds League - and thus the Anduriens - employed the highest ratio of aerospace fighters per regiment out of any Successor States. With their latest intel suggesting that there were at least four dedicated regiments on top of the four militia non-mech regiments and one militia mech regiment on the ground, he could be expecting to encounter anywhere from the same number of aerospace fighters to thrice the number he brought. 

And their enemies were waiting for them in orbit. 

“Can we tell how many there are yet?”

“No, Director,” the major captaining this Fortress-class dropship of the Hamilton’s Highlanders regiment reported. “We’ll need at least another hour of travel before we are in range for discrimination.”

He hummed. “And what’s the current estimation?”

“... Two Achilles, one Fortress, two Overlords, and a dozen Avengers.”

So three large dropships and fifteen small dropships, not including whatever aerospace fighter complements might be hiding within their bays and behind them.

Still, just eighteen dropships against his forty-five dropships and forty-seven aerospace fighters. 

“I should expect a near total wipe for our aerospace fighters,” he muttered to himself. 

As much as he hated to admit it, the Anduriens had better aerospace fighters. Wherever their aerospace fighters appeared, CCAF suffered heavier casualties.

Even with upgraded aerospace fighters, he still expected a lopsided loss for this orbital engagement. 

“Are they ready?” he asked. 

The major checked. “They are, director.”

“Good. Send them in, and wish them good luck.”

If they failed at this, then they would simply have to pay the normal entry fee.

---

Lieutenant General Xeng Garibaldi of the 1st Defenders of Andurien felt uneasy. 

He knew that this was a lost fight from the get-go. He just didn’t have enough firepower needed to contest orbital entry. 

But … But they still had to try. 

If they could exchange two or even three Avengers for a single Union or even an Overlord, then that was a price worth paying. An Overlord carried thirty-six mechs and six aerospace fighters. That was an entire battalion. If his Avengers could destroy just a few of the Capellan’s Overlords and Unions, then the ground fighting would be that much easier. 

He was prepared to give his life for the Duchy of Andurien, and so were all of the men and women under his command, even if that meant that they might never be buried in their homeworld and instead be frozen corpses that burn up in the atmosphere. 

He snorted. 

‘Actually, what’s the difference between my ass getting spread from an urn or burning up in the atmosphere? It’s the same end result,’ he thought morbidly. ‘At the very least, that’s a few ten thousand Eagles that my family won’t have to pay out of pocket after the duchy pays out. Hell, it would be a better spectacle, too. “My final gift to my homeworld is the sight of a burning comet” or some other romantic phrase.’

He might write a book about it if he survived this. 

“General, something’s happening.”

He snapped out of his thoughts and frowned.

“Report.”

“Sensors are getting disrupted, general,” the closest sensor officer told him.

He frowned. “Will it interfere with coordination with the aerospace fighters?” he asked. 

“No, sir. It isn’t intense enough.”

“Good.”

Aerospace fighters were the bread and butter of the Duchy of Andurien. In fact, he would go so far as to say that this entire debacle of a war was lost not by the ASF but the ground forces, which he partially blamed himself for. Everywhere their ASF were out in force, they were able to at least retreat in good order. Regiments, those of the duchy and mercenaries, that neglected their ASF, like the Tooth of Ymir? Utterly ruined. 

It was why he pulled out every single aerospace fighters he could get his hands on for this battle. 

Behind his eighteen dropships were eighty-four aerospace fighters of varying sizes, and of the eighty-four, sixty were home built Eagle heavy aerospace fighters. They would surely curbstomp the Capellans and their light aerospace fighters if not in firepower than simply because of the fact that they were much more rugged and durable. 

“... Sir, the disruptions are getting stronger. We may be getting jammed!”

“From this far out?” he demanded. The Capellans were at least an hour more away from engagement distance. 

Then klaxon rang out. The radar blared with sudden appearance of boogies. 

There were boogies everywhere. 

“Torpedos!” the colonel-captain of the Fortress dropship Garibaldi was on shouted. “Evasive maneuvers!” 

The entire dropship lurched as the colonel fired all of the thrusters to move the dropship away from the coming bombs… but more bombs appeared. 

Aerospace fighters and dropships alike fired their lasers and guns to try to put down the bombs, but it was endless. There were just too many of them. 

And more of them…? 

His eyes widened. “Enemy bombers! We can’t see them!” he shouted, and that got the crew to start looking frantically. 

Thermal, radar, and -.

“Found one!” someone shouted as an image was brought up. It was well within their engagement range. How …?

Then something much faster than the torpedoes and the dumb bombs released by the bombers came silently flying into their formation. 

It wasn’t a fighter or a bomber. 

It was a missile. 

And then it detonated… not?

It broke apart the moment it reached their formation, but it di-.

Lights turned off. 

Screens turned off. 

And Garibaldi’s heart dropped. 

“What’s happening?!” he shouted. 

“Everything’s shut down, sir!” someone shouted. “All of the electronics are down!” 

“It’s an EMP burst!” an officer shouted. “That was an EMP missile!” 

The bridge fell into a panic as their dropship’s thrust died with the EMP burst and started to drift. 

But it didn’t drift quickly enough to dodge the torpedoes and bombs.

“BRACE!” Xeng roared as he gripped his own chair.

But just before he said that, he saw something turning around and going away from them. It was a jet black aerospace fighter, but color had nothing to do with what radars and thermals detected.

Unless…

‘Stealth armor.’

Then the ship shrieked and exploded as torpedoes landed against her hull. 

And Xeng blacked out. 

---

Pavel watched explosions flashing all across the Andurien formation. Only once the last of the explosions died down did he speak up.

“Report.”

“Bombing run was a success, director,” the major reported. “Enemy Fortress is disabled. Five of the Avengers are completely destroyed. A third of the enemy aerospace fighters are destroyed, and another half remained disabled by the EMP and damage. There are at least two dozen ASF that have broken off to engage us.”

“Hmm. At least, they fight to the bitter end. Good. I want them to be thoroughly destroyed so that our control of the orbit cannot be contested. If any of the dropships can be salvaged, leave behind a company from each of the elements for the salvage duty. If they cannot be, then have them be pushed into decaying orbit.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And congratulate the stealth bomber squadrons for me. They have struck a devastating blow against the enemies of the confederation and should be celebrated for it. Make sure to write down the names of any individuals who are servitors or have servitor relatives. They earned their citizenships.”

“They will be glad to hear it.”

-VB-

“What?” 

Duchess Catherine Humphreys felt her hands shaking on the arms of her throne. 

“Our defense fleet has been … annihilated, duchess,” a lieutenant reported with a pale grimace. “The last message we received from them was in regards to enemy fighters that could not be detected by radar or thermal.” 

“Fighters shouldn’t have been able to destroy eighteen dropships by themselves!” Her eldest son, Michael, shouted. “Explain the situation, lieutenant!” 

“S-Something disabled two-thirds of our defense fleet. After that, unguided bombs and torpedoes struck them and permanently disabled half of the ships. The intact aerospace fighters try to put up a fight, one even suiciding his fighter on an enemy dropship but … there wasn’t a fight.”

“So we lost control of the orbit,” Mildred hummed as she crossed her arms. She then turned to her. “Mother, I’ll be with the Sixth.”

“Wait, Mildred -,” Michael began. 

Catherine knew what Michael was going to say. He was a man who took after her. Family before all else. 

And she knew that he was going to suggest to Mildred what Mildred would hate to hear. 

Mildred shook her head. “I am the commanding officer of the Sixth Defenders of Andurien. I will not hide behind my name.” Then she walked away. 

At that moment, Catherine only felt pride and regret for her eldest daughter. 

Michael took a deep breath in. “... Well, I can’t let Milly upstage me, mother,” he said with a grin. “Since we haven’t heard anything back from lieutenant general… I’ll be taking charge of the 1st Defenders, mother. James, let’s go!” 

Catherine watched as her children left one by one to defend their homeworld in a war that she started. 

Only when she was alone with her trusted butler did she allow herself to cry in regret.