>>6355482Garan smiled to himself, he had the rebel super-capital dead to rights. No matter how big it was, there was no way it could stand up to a sustained barrage from the <span class="mu-i">Hand</span>.
“Enemy super-cap is within hammer lock, we have them.”
“Kill it.”
“All batteries fi- wait… target lost, I repeat: target lost!”
“What!?”
“E-Drive translation detected behind the main fleet!”
“A tactical jump!? There’s no way a ship that size could-”
“Sir! Incoming!”
—---
As one the entire Ghost Fleet concentrated fire on the <span class="mu-i">Hand</span>. Chimeras and Grachts unloaded barrages they had been saving for this specific moment. Scores of Mk1s, Bangers, Kazankas and other Hotdog derivatives went on a suicide charge.
The dreadnought and its escorts fought back. Chimeras were skewered by heavy particle beams, Grachts were blasted apart as they brawled with heavy kinetics and many strikecraft were swatted aside by assault pulses.
But despite their horrendous losses the Ghost Fleet began to break through. Otoris succumbed to the brutality of cope bombardments. Chimeras set collision courses with enemy ships, crushing them with their gutted hulls even as they died.
The Pact knights dueled their Imperial counterparts, giving precious cover to the waves of Bangers as they rammed the <span class="mu-i">Hand</span>. Even without support the dreadnought's secondary batteries were formidable. Dozens of frigates were destroyed, but some got through. Each hotdog derivative that made it burrowed into the dreadnought’s hull before self-destructing. With each hit, more of the <span class="mu-i">Hand’s</span> weapons were brought offline, allowing more plasma rams to get through. Eventually they hit something volatile and a massive explosion tore the dreadnought apart.
In the end there was almost nothing left, only a handful of knights and extremely lucky strikecraft had survived. The Ghost Fleet had drowned the enemy in its blood; such was the way of everything born of Ex-Nihilo.
—---
>cont 