The Fall of Pack'no Station

Stardate 130208/11/07 

The Fall of Pack’no Station

Stardate 130208/11/07 Pack’no Station, 4 hours before the fall of Pack’no Station

Second Lieutenant Jag stepped out of the starship hoping that the worst the day had in store for him was over. He was then met by a flurry of questions from Major Ma’nok.

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Second Lieutenant? Where is your commander? Your patrol corvette? And why did you just request docking clearance for a known pirate vessel claiming that there is a priority-one message that the Marine commander of this station needs to see?”

Second Lieutenant Jag walked down the ramp and sighed. Of all the station security forces, why did he have to deal with this idiot? 

“If you looked at the priority-one message you’d have known what the situation was and you wouldn’t be asking these questions,” Second Lieutenant Jag retorted.

“Do you mean to tell me that a border incursion from Valor forces is the reason you're here? The Valor have not challenged us in decades; neither of us have ever had the resources or support for the type of prolonged war that could come out of open conflict,” Major Ma’nok replied. 

“It’s not a border incursion, it's an invasion force we're dealing with here. Now get out of my way, Major, and let me see the commander of station security,” Second Lieutenant Jag stated clearly and calmly.

“That is no way to treat a superior officer, Second Lieutenant. Now stop making excuses and tell me what really happened,” Major Ma’nok responded, his voice rising.

“I told you that it’s a priority-one message, meaning that it is for the station commander first and then the rest of the UPA’s military to hear later,” said Second Lieutenant Jag trying to keep his composure. 

“Disobeying orders is a court-martial offense, Second Lieutenant. Now tell me what happened or I will have you court-martialed,” Major Ma’nok yelled at the lieutenant. 

“Get out of my way, Major. In cases of national emergency, the chain of command can be overridden to get a message to the highest ranking officer in the area. So you can court- martial me, you can dishonorably discharge me, hell, you could even throw me in prison, but for now just get out of my way and let me do my job,” Second Lieutenant Jag yelled back at the major

Major Ma’nok and his marines stepped back to let Second Lieutenant Jag through.

Pack’no station was carved out of the largest object in the inner asteroid belt of the Chetran system. It had a diameter of 870 km, was home to two and a half million people, and played host to the largest dockyard in the sector. It was by all means an extremely important asset in the Western Core reaches of the Alpha galaxy on the easternmost part of the United Pack Alliance-Valor border, but it was also a civilian station. Because of this the UPA only had a small military peacekeeping force of 500 marines and 5000 army locals on the station. UPA forces patrolled the border, constantly vigilant and prepared for Valor forces. On a few occasions small groups of Valor forces acting on their own had crossed the border and been destroyed. The Valor hadn't been at war with the UPA for over 60 years. Because of this most people didn’t know what it meant to be in a total war. 

Second Lieutenant Jag finished explaining the situation to the station commander. The UPA patrol corvette, Enk’ta, had been hunting pirates in the region when they came across the “Ardent Venture” pirate vessel. The ship had been set as a trap for UPA forces. Second Lieutenant Jag had boarded the ship right before the Valor arrived and managed to make it back to the station with help from the remaining crew.

“I’ve contacted UPA Command, they’ve already received other reports like yours. That means this is not an isolated incident, it’s an invasion.” said Commander Vastin. He immediately turned to his communication station to make a station-wide announcement. “This Is Commander Vastin head of security on Pack’no station. As of now, wartime-law has taken effect. Martial law is being imposed. All civilians are to take only essentials and board refugee ships. Failure to comply will result in use of force.” 

“Now, all military personnel are to gear up at the nearest armory and group up with their units. Each unit will then move to its designated position and defend their objective. All defensive craft are to escort civilian ships out of the system. Do not engage with the enemy unless they engage you or a civilian ship first. Once all the civilian ships are away you need to get back as you will still need a ride out of here if reinforcements don’t arrive soon. Now get underway, all of you,” Commander Vasin barked over the comms. 

“Second lieutenant Jag, you are to move to and defend Port Five. Also, congratulations on your promotion to First Lieutenant,” said Commander Vastin.

The station buzzed to life as civilians stopped whatever they were doing and made their way to ships around the station. They boarded whatever ship had room and anyone who would not comply with the commander's orders had their ship seized for civilian evacuation.

Stardate 130208/11/07. Combined Pack’no Station patrol and defense fleets, 3 hours before the fall of Pack’no Station.

“Captain, several contacts identified as Valor frigates and destroyers have just dropped out of Endospace,” said communications officer Hess.

“They’re firing on the transports, Sir,” yelled First Lieutenant Braka. 

“Form into a defensive line and protect the civilian ships at all costs,” barked Captain Glastin, Commander of the Visitail class heavy frigate Plastan and the Pank’no station defense fleet.

The UPA’s fleet was composed of one heavy frigate, the Plastan, four frigates: Kelt, Glas’tou, Lis’tou, and Gnak, seven destroyers and thirteen corvettes. They moved into position against sixteen Valor destroyers, thirty-two Valor corvettes, and sixteen Valor gunboats. The fleets exchanged fire for several minutes with the Valor vanguard  breaking off when it became clear that they did not have enough firepower to break through the UPA fleet.

“Several new cruiser-sized contacts just dropped out of Endospace,” said communications officer Hess.

“Stager the line and concentrate fire on the Valor’s vanguard. If we can eliminate their corvettes and destroyers, the civilian evacuation won’t have to deal with as much harassment,” said Captain Glastin.

“Sir, the Gals’tou has suffered critical systems failures, their reactor’s going critical,” said First Lieutenant Braka.

“They’re going to try and break through with their vanguard, tighten up to fill the gap,” barked Captain Glastin.

The UPA fleet had suffered heavy losses in the face of overwhelming odds; the valor fleet now consisted of one battle cruiser, three cruisers, twelve frigates, fifteen destroyers, twenty-nine corvettes, and ten gunboats. The UPA had lost one frigate, three destroyers, and four corvettes. By this point the UPA fleet could no longer hold off the vanguard and several corvettes, gunboats, and gunships broke through.

“They’re breaking through, sir, we can’t hold with these losses. Our line is breaking,” yelled First Lieutenant Braka.

“There are only a few transports left that haven’t made it off the station. We need to hold until the-,” Captain Glastin managed to get out before a torpedo broke through the shields and impacted the hull.

“Damage report,” said Captain Glastin as he recovered from the shockwave that had just rocked the ship.

“Shields are twelve percent and dropping, decks E through G are venting air, and we just lost power to the forward railguns,”  yelled out First Lieutenant Braka.

 In the chaos of the fighting several Valor drop ships and gunboats moved into the station's ports.

As the fleets exchanged fire it was becoming more and more clear that the UPA had no hope of winning with their current forces. Plasma shots from the Valor fleet slagged two UPA corvettes and a destroyer blew apart after several torpedoes hit it. The Plastan’s reactor blew up and the ship blew apart with half its crew having evacuated captain Gllastin would not survive the battle.

Stardate 130208/11/07 Pack’no Station, 2 hours 35 minutes before the fall of Pack’no Station

“We have incoming,” yelled Gunnery Sergeant Morris over the comms.  

“Hold your fire, hold your fire! Fire,” shouted (now) First Lieutenant Jag.

Gunnery Sergeant Morris fired an RPG at one of the thrusters of a Valor Dropship. It impacted and exploded with a loud boom and started spinning out of control. Just then a gunship came from behind the Drop ship and started firing red plasma bolts at every person in the room.

“I need another RPG,” yelled Gunnery Sergeant Morris right before a plasma bolt from the gunship melted a hole in his side.

“Fall back, fall back! And somebody get me a medic! We have men down,” yelled Jag as he dragged Morris back into the inner airlock, firing at any Valor who jumped out of their dropships.

“Your orders, Sir?” asked Lance Corporal Aven.

“Seal that door and vent the port,” commanded First Lieutenant Jag.

“But sir, what good will that do?” asked Lance Corporal Aven.

“It will slow them down. Now rig the outside of the airlock to explode and let's get out of here,” he replied.

A loud thud rang through the station as the outer airlock blew open and the dock air was vented into space. Several Valent flew out having been sucked backwards by the pressure dropping suddenly.

“Make sure your suits are pressurized because I have a feeling we are going to be fighting in a hard vacuum,” First Lieutenant Jag said as he checked the seal on his own suit.

“Sir, the last civilian ship is away, command has authorized exfiltration,” Corporal Markas said over the comms.

“To do that we’re going to need to take back one of these hangers Corporal, so we should probably start moving to meet up the other platoons,” said First Lieutenant Jag.

As the group was moving through the station they ran into two different Valor boarding parties and ended up pincered in a corridor. As fire started to be exchanged the UPA army troopers' inexperience got the best of them and they suffered high casualties. Lance Corporal Aven took a hit while moving towards a downed trooper and dropped dead in the corridor.

 “Sir we need to pull back,” yelled Corporal Markas as plasma bolts flew past his head.

“We can’t Corporal. The force behind us is being reinforced by the Valent from our port. We need to break out from the front and make a run for the airlock,” First Lieutenant Jag said as he fired and took down two Valent soldiers.

Just then another UPA platoon arrived and pincered the front group of Valor. This allowed for a breakthrough and the remaining four marines and two army troopers made a run for the airlock. Jag made his move last, tossing two grenades behind him as he ran towards the airlock. The battle raged on for hours and eventually what could be assembled of the UPA sector fleet arrived. They attempted to fight off the Valor forces who were besieging the station but they were wholly unprepared for what Valor had in store for them. The UPA made the choice to abandon the station and the last of the forces holding out made it to transport and escaped. Of the troops on the station 159 marines and 3,874 army troopers would not make it off the station that day.

The  war between the UPA and the Valor would be fought for years to come. The UPA had naively believed that military might alone would stop war from starting, but the Valor had found something that gave them the upper hand for most of the war, something that would soon have galactic consequences.